Old Man Liu took some tobacco from his pouch, put it into the bowl of his pipe, lit it, and took a deep drag. Feeling much more comfortable, he said, “Let’s go. We won’t carry the mushrooms; let’s find a place to leave them and pick them up when we come back.”
So, the group consolidated the mushrooms into two baskets.
They hid them in a concealed patch of grass. Stashing them away to carry on the return trip would save them a lot of effort.
They weren’t too worried about someone stealing them; mushrooms were plentiful on the mountain, and they were all fellow villagers, so it wasn’t likely.
Ever since Liu Si Tian succeeded in guiding qi into her body within her space, her legs had become exceptionally sturdy. Even after walking for so long, she wasn’t tired and hopped along as she ran ahead.
She plucked a flower here and pulled a blade of grass there, feeling incredibly joyful.
“Grandma, look at this little cluster of red flowers; they are so pretty. Wear them, Grandma.” Saying this, she snapped off the stem of the flower and showed it to her grandmother.
“Grandma is already an old woman; what would I do with flowers? Give them to your mom.”
“I don’t want them; these are too red.”
What would that look like? Li Sufen just shook her head.
“You both should wear them. Grandma isn’t old at all; you look just like Auntie Yuan next door. Grandma, bow your head, Bao’er will tuck them into your hair for you. I guarantee they’ll look wonderful.”
With this little mouth of hers, whenever she wanted to get someone to do something, she would refer to herself as “Bao’er.”
But since the old lady was a sucker for this, seeing her mouth stretch into a grin that revealed her gums, she said, “Your Auntie Yuan is only a little older than your mother; how could she be the same as Grandma?”
Though she said that, she still crouched down to make it easier for Liu Si Tian to tuck in the flowers.
Liu Si Tian didn’t know the name of the flowers she was picking; there were plenty along the mountainside—some red, some yellow, and some purple.
Old Lady Liu happened to have her hair up with a wooden hairpin today, making it very convenient to tuck in the flowers. With her small, sweet hands, Liu Si Tian finished in no time.
She tucked the flower diagonally on the left side.
“It looks so good! Grandpa, look, does it look good?”
“It looks good. Your grandma just loves bright colors.” Old Man Liu nodded with a smile. The old woman also loved beauty; when she was young, she loved flowers and such, but now that she was older, she felt a bit shy.
At Old Man Liu’s words, Old Lady Liu became embarrassed.
Her cheeks flushed with shyness.
“Giggle, giggle!” Liu Si Tian turned her back and covered her mouth, snickering.
Seeing the old lady’s face turn even redder, she quickly held it in, ran ahead to pick two purple flowers, and tucked them into her mother’s hair as well, asking her father if they looked good as usual.
Her father wasn’t as generous as her grandfather. He mumbled for a long time before awkwardly saying, “Looks good.”
His face was too dark to tell if he was blushing, but her mother clearly noticed, eventually rolling her eyes at her: “This child, always making trouble.”
After saying that, she smoothed her hair and quietly touched the flowers.
“Hahaha… hehe…” It was the first time Liu Si Tian had received her mother’s eye-roll, and she found it quite novel. Watching the adults’ insincerity, she laughed until she made goose-like sounds.
With Liu Si Tian’s antics along the way, the journey felt much lighter.
After crossing this mountain, they would reach their destination. It was the largest mountain in the vicinity of the Erhe Brigade, called Niuquan (Ox Pen) Gully.
“Grandma, why is this mountain called Niuquan Gully? Was a lot of cattle raised here before?”
“That’s exactly it. At the foot of the mountain used to be the largest… landlord’s house in our area… the place where they raised cattle. That old Zheng family had tons of money back then.”
Old Lady Liu was getting on in years, so climbing the mountain made her a bit tired, and she was breathing heavily as she spoke.
“Grandma, drink some water.” Liu Si Tian quickly contributed her small water bottle, having secretly dripped a few drops of spiritual spring water into it.
Old Lady Liu didn’t refuse. She took it and drank a couple of gulps. She knew her granddaughter was clean, so she didn’t drink directly from the bottle mouth.
“Grandma, is my water delicious? Do you feel full of energy after drinking it?” Liu Si Tian asked, seeing her grandmother’s complexion improve significantly.
“Hmm, it really is. It’s sweet, and after drinking it, I’m not tired at all, and my legs aren’t sore either.” Old Lady Liu nodded and even walked a few steps faster.
Old Man Liu, Liu Mancang, and Li Sufen: “…”
The old woman/mother really knew how to act; it was just plain boiled water, was it really necessary?
Liu Si Tian: “…” Grandma was telling the truth.
Old Lady Liu: “…” I am telling the truth.
Unfortunately, the trio all thought Old Lady Liu was just humoring her granddaughter and didn’t take a single sip of the water Liu Si Tian offered.
Old Man Liu found a tree branch for Old Lady Liu to use as a makeshift walking stick.
After walking for another ten minutes or so, they finally arrived at Niuquan Gully. It was truly the largest mountain; standing at the foot and looking up at the highest peak, it felt unreachable.
The entire mountain body looked like a gourd that had fallen over.
As far as the eye could see, everything was green. Some trees were clearly very old; they were thick and tall with dense leaves that blocked out the sunlight, making the area feel a bit gloomy.
Coupled with the chirping of insects and birds, those who were cowardly or in small groups really wouldn’t dare to come here.
Liu Si Tian was not afraid; on the contrary, she was very excited.
Since she was short, Old Lady Liu found her a hazelnut tree, pulled the branches down a bit, and handed them to her to make it easier for her to pick.
The hazelnut trees were not tall—some were over a meter, some over two meters.
The surface of the hazelnuts was wrapped in a green husk. After picking them, they would be brought home to dry, and then peeled to reveal the hazelnut shells inside.
Liu Mancang: “There are two walnut trees here.”
Hearing this, as soon as Liu Si Tian turned her head, she saw Liu Mancang already scrambling up them.
“Dad, be careful.”
“Don’t worry, my eldest daughter,” Liu Mancang replied.
“It’s fine. At this height, not to mention your father, even your fourth brother could climb up,” Old Lady Liu said cheerfully.
The tree was nearly five meters tall, and the walnuts were growing quite thickly. These two trees alone could fill two large hemp sacks today.
Liu Mancang picked them from the tree, and the rest of them gathered them from the ground.
Northeastern mountain walnuts were different from ordinary walnuts; it was incredibly laborious to get the meat inside.
After removing the green skin of a Northeastern mountain walnut, the walnut inside was oval-shaped with a black outer skin, and crucially, the shell was exceptionally thick.
Unlike ordinary walnuts, which could be crushed with some effort by hand, or at the very least with a small pair of pliers, you had to use a hammer on Northeastern walnuts. You had to find the right seam, and the meat inside was also difficult to dig out.
People usually used pointed awls or similar tools to pry it out.
They were delicious and had high nutritional value—one kilogram of mountain walnuts was worth nine kilograms of fresh milk or five kilograms of eggs.
Northeastern mountain walnuts are heavy on nourishing kidney yin and calming asthma and coughs, while ordinary walnuts are better at nourishing blood vessels and improving intelligence and brain health. (Baidu)
They were good things, but they were just a lot of work.
“Grandma, I’m going over there to pee.” Seeing her father climb down from the tree, Liu Si Tian’s mind started working.
“Shall Grandma go with you?”
Old Lady Liu was worried. She stood up, brushed the grass off her bottom, and prepared to accompany her granddaughter.
“No need, Grandma. I won’t go far, just behind those bushes.” Liu Si Tian pointed with her small hand. If her grandmother went with her, how could she take things out?
Old Lady Liu looked in the direction her finger was pointing and nodded.
It wasn’t far, only about ten meters away.
Plus, there were almost no snakes on this mountain, so the old lady felt at ease.