In the early morning, as dawn was just breaking, the air was damp with a faint mist, and a noticeable coolness of early autumn could be felt.
The air was permeated with the unique scent of firewood, and light blue cooking smoke rose over the village.
Following the sound of crowing roosters, the sound of washing up came from the old Liu house, yet the noises were kept quiet, for fear of waking the little person who was sleeping so soundly and sweetly.
It was quiet, peaceful, and warm.
After a short while, the little person on the kang opened her eyes diddily, sniffed hard with her little nose, rolled over, and mumbled, “Mmh, the fragrance of roasted potato.”
A moment later, she slowly extended a small hand from inside the quilt, rubbed her eyes, and sat up with a start.
Picking up the watch hidden inside the quilt to take a look, it was only a bit past four o’clock!
Liu Sitian wailed in her heart; although she had slept very well, being unable to laze around in the quilt was a very painful thing.
But she had no choice, who told her that she still wanted to go up the mountain today.
If she didn’t get up now, her grandfather, dad, and mom would quietly slip away.
Today, her Third Uncle’s family wasn’t going, saying they had other work to do at home, and her four brothers had all started school, which happened to make it convenient for her to cause some trouble.
Her grandfather had grown into a wise old spirit who didn’t speak lightly, her dad’s lips were also sealed tight—even when drunk he would just sleep heavily, possessing excellent alcohol manners—and her mom was a bit shrewd, having thoroughly inherited her grandmother’s true teachings.
Her grandmother would likely not be going, since she still needed to cook lunch for the Third Brother and Fourth Brother, who attended the primary school in the production brigade.
It was truly heaven helping her.
The right time, the right place, and the right people—it was an excellent day to pull off her plans.
Liu Sitian quickly folded her quilt and placed it at the foot of the kang; the trunk on the kang was too high for her to lift it onto, so it was usually her grandma who lifted it.
She then quickly found her shirt and trousers from the cabinet beneath the trunk. They were easy to find, as her wardrobe wasn’t messy at all, with everything folded neatly.
She put on a pair of cotton long johns for herself and layered a slightly thinner pair of floral trousers over them.
Once it grew warm toward midday, she could just take off the long johns.
For her top, she wore a navy blue floral shirt.
In truth, she wasn’t that afraid of the cold or the heat anymore, but it absolutely wouldn’t do if she didn’t wear them; her grandma and mom would certainly use that as an excuse to keep her from following along.
It had to be said that although Liu Sitian had only known her relatives in this life for two years, she understood them exceptionally well.
As soon as she heard that she wanted to follow along again, Li Sufen was the first to refuse, “No, the mountain we’re going to today is a bit further away, it’s not convenient to bring you.”
“Darling, how nice it is to stay home with Grandma. At noon, Grandma will steam a savory egg custard for you to eat, it’ll be so fragrant and tender,” Grandma Liu also chimed in to persuade her.
If her granddaughter went up the mountain too, how boring it would be for her to stay home alone.
Liu Siwei was chewing on a cornmeal cake, and before he even had time to swallow it, he said with a grin, “Little Sister, you’d better not go.
Last time you followed us, it completely wore us out. Look in the mirror and see all that meat on yourself.
You’re round and rolling, a truly substantial weight. Carrying you for a little while is fine, but over a long time, it’s exhausting.
Last time, our dad was sweating all over his head from exhaustion, and later it was Third Uncle, Grandpa, Eldest Brother, and the rest of us taking shifts to carry you. You…”
“Smack!“
Before Liu Siwei could finish speaking, he received a sharp slap to the back of his neck directly from Liu Mancang, causing some of the cornmeal cake in his mouth to spray out.
Yuck…
It completely disgusted Grandma Liu, who was sitting across from him.
Such a big person already, yet still so messy when eating.
“The second son struck well. You can still babble this much while eating things in your mouth; next time, swallow the food in your mouth before speaking.”
“Besides, where is your sister fat? She’s chubby and fleshy, looking so endearing. Other people couldn’t grow it even if they wanted to!”
The fiercely protective Grandma Liu gave Liu Siwei a good scolding. In her eyes, her granddaughter’s plumpness was just right; what was so good about being skinny like a monkey!
She then turned her head to say to Liu Sitian, “Tiantian, don’t listen to your Fourth Brother. We aren’t fat, not fat at all. This is because you’re still small, you’ll be fine when you grow up.”
There simply weren’t any excessively fat people in the old Liu family.
In her heart, Liu Sitian drew a little voodoo doll of her Fourth Brother, the little doll wearing a wicked smile. To dare say she was fat, just he wait; she would never give him chicken drumsticks to eat ever again.
Thinking this way in her heart, it didn’t delay her acting skills.
Liu Sitian’s eyes turned red, and she put down the chicken meat left for her from last night, looking as though she no longer wanted to eat.
Her little mouth puckered, “Darling isn’t fat, not fat.” It looked as if she were about to drop golden teardrops at any moment.
At this, even Grandfather Liu grew anxious and quickly coaxed her, “Our Tiantian isn’t fat. Grandpa can carry you for a whole day; your dad just didn’t eat his fill last time and lacked strength himself, it’s not to blame on you.”
Liu Mancang: … (—–___—–) How did he lack strength?
He was one of the strongest men in the production brigade, standing nearly 1.9 meters tall and earning full work points every day.
But he didn’t dare make a sound or speak up; when his daughter turned her head toward him, he even had to nod in agreement.
“Don’t listen to your Fourth Brother’s nonsense, Tiantian is fair and tender, looking so auspicious and festive. Quickly eat the rest of the chicken,” Li Sufen said, giving Liu Siwei a fierce glare after she finished.
Only then did he realize that he had incited public wrath.
Shrinking his neck, he wailed in his heart. Why was it so hard to speak the truth? His little sister was just solidly fat; holding her for even a little while dragged down his hands.
Last time she sat on his stomach, she nearly pressed his overnight food out of him.
But he didn’t dare provoke them further, quickly lowering his head to shove food into his mouth.
Liu Siwen and his two brothers: “…” They respected the fourth brother as a real man, truly brave, and worthy of being a silly roe deer.
This particular disturbance ended with them agreeing to let Liu Sitian go up the mountain.
Before setting off, Grandma Liu also changed into a pair of light cloth shoes and carried a basket, her meaning self-evident, “I am also following along today.”
Don’t look at her being in her sixties; her health over the past two years had been excellent, her waist unbent and her legs unaching.
She felt even more energetic than in previous years.
The old lady quickly went to the vegetable garden to pick a few more cucumbers and a few tomatoes, washing them before putting them into her basket.
“Let’s set off!”
Liu Mancang and Li Sufen were a little worried; the mountain they were going to today was a bit far and required walking for a long time, but they knew Grandma Liu was very stubborn, and moreover, Grandfather Liu hadn’t said anything.
If worst came to worst, they could change to a closer mountain midway.
As for the two boys waiting to eat at noon, they could just warm up the food themselves.
The Erhe Production Brigade was surrounded by many mountains, which were concentrated to the south and east; to the north were fields, and further north lay other production brigades and the commune.
To the west of the brigade was a railway track where small trains usually passed, which were used to transport timber out of the forest region.
Right next to the west of the railway track was a large expanse of meadow, and further west was a large river.
The Erhe Production Brigade was named precisely because of these two rivers. This large river to the west flowed through several production brigades and communes, and the opposite bank of the river also consisted of several production brigades.
The other river had its upper reaches to the south of the brigade and possessed a relatively wide riverbed; most of the village people washed their clothes here. This river curved and flowed past the east of the brigade, and the water from this river was usually used for watering the fields and paddy fields.
Today, they were heading exactly to the mountains to the east.
The mountains to the east were numerous, one connected to another, rising and falling continuously, with lush vegetation and rich resources on the mountains.
The closest was a pine forest; the pine forest allowed for gathering monkey-leg ferns in the spring and gathering mushrooms in the autumn.
Inside the pine forest, mostly small yellow mushrooms, grey mushrooms, and sticky bun mushrooms grew, and they planned to gather more of them this time.
These three types of mushrooms were fresher than hazel mushrooms and also possessed a better texture.
Coupled with the fact that they had gathered quite a large number of hazel mushrooms a while ago, they wouldn’t gather them this time.
Their area only had these few types of mushrooms; to occasionally stumble upon some matsutake or monkey-head mushrooms required striking incredible luck.