Heihei lay sprawled on the ground, its jaws agape as it panted heavily, as if exhausted from strenuous work. Beside it lay two blood-soaked wild pheasants.
When Heihei spotted Xia Qingyue returning, its canine face visibly softened.
“Heihei, you’re amazing!” Xia Qingyue exclaimed.
She knew the pheasants were Heihei’s catch. The dog had always accompanied the original owner’s father on his hunts, gradually honing its hunting skills over time.
She examined the pheasants; each had its head cleanly severed, ensuring a thorough kill.
“Let’s go home!”
With Heihei by her side, Xia Qingyue had no fear of getting lost on the mountain paths. Following the dog was the surest way back.
A bamboo basket brimming with bamboo shoots still awaited her in the grove, so she headed there first.
The basket weighed at least fifty pounds. Xia Qingyue braced herself with a bamboo pole to lift it onto her back, though she felt a momentary dizziness as she stood up.
The return route Heihei took seemed to be a shortcut, different from the path they’d taken earlier. This path was shorter but further from the bamboo grove.
In reality, there was no proper path at all. Knee-high weeds grew everywhere, forcing them to pick their way through, stepping haphazardly over the tangled vegetation.
Along the way, Xia Qingyue’s curiosity led her to gaze around at her surroundings. The sound of flowing water drew her attention to a nearby stream, its banks lush with trees.
“Willows!” she exclaimed.
Willow shoots are known for their anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
“Heihei, wait a moment. Let’s gather some willow shoots.”
Willow branches drooped low, laden with tender green buds. Xia Qingyue plucked several handfuls and placed them in her vegetable basket. Fresh shoots are best, so she didn’t need to take too many—she could always come back tomorrow.
The scenery was breathtaking, and she paused to admire it. As her gaze wandered, a withered tree trunk caught her eye. At its base, a ring of grayish growth clung to the bark.
It looked like oyster mushrooms.
Xia Qingyue dashed over to investigate, confirming her suspicion: they were indeed oyster mushrooms.
The trunk, long dead, was dry and brittle. Scattered around were broken branches, some bearing oyster mushrooms, others wood ear fungi—a surprisingly abundant harvest.
Xia Qingyue’s excitement surged. She knew spring in the mountains meant a bounty of wild treasures.
Now aware of this trove, Xia Qingyue decided to take her time. “Let’s go back and grab a bite first,” she said. “We’ll come back when we’re full and have more energy.”
The pair—Xia Qingyue and Heihei—returned to the Sinkhole’s entrance. Finding the cave door, Xia Qingyue gently pressed her hand against it, and the portal swung open.
The moment she stepped inside, she slammed the door shut behind her.
Xia Qingyue didn’t want anyone to discover this place. If possible, she wanted to live out her life here peacefully, avoiding leaving the mountain whenever possible.
However, completely isolating herself wasn’t realistic. While she could forage for food in the mountains, essential staples like rice, flour, oil, and salt were dwindling.
She couldn’t do without salt, so Xia Qingyue planned to wait a while before venturing down to the village to replenish these supplies, returning only when they ran low again.
After setting down her belongings, she immediately lit a fire and placed a large iron pot of water over the flames.
She shoved entire logs into the stove as she sat beside it, preparing the bamboo shoots. With a knife, she trimmed off the tough ends. Holding the thicker end in her left hand, she used her right hand to scrape the outer layers off from top to bottom, then set down the knife.
Using both hands, she peeled back the loosened layers, removing the entire skin in one smooth motion.
When she finished preparing the bamboo shoots, she had roughly thirty catties (about 36 pounds). The water had come to a boil, and she poured the shoots into the pot, filling it almost to the brim.
While the bamboo shoots simmered, she fetched water from the nearby pool and filled a large wooden basin.
The blanched bamboo shoots were tossed into a wooden basin to soak.
Next, Xia Qingyue refilled the pot and brought it to a boil, ready to scald the wild pheasant and pluck its feathers.
While waiting for the water to boil, she grabbed a hoe and went to the field to check for sweet potatoes. We can’t just eat vegetables without a staple food, can we?
After a few strokes with the hoe, thankfully, there were sweet potatoes, slightly larger than her fist. She only dug up enough for two days.
After scalding the pheasant, Xia Qingyue, having wisely sharpened her rusty iron knife beforehand, chopped it into pieces, intending to make a wild pheasant stew with mixed mushrooms.
Fresh pheasant doesn’t need blanching; rinsing away the blood is sufficient.
Lacking oil, she cut off the pheasant fat, tossed it into the pot to render, and then stir-fried the chicken pieces until fragrant.
Instantly, the savory aroma of the meat filled the air.
Xia Qingyue swallowed her saliva as she stir-fried the pheasant, adding the mixed mushrooms and water when the meat was nearly done, then covering the pot to simmer.
While the stew simmered on the front burner, she steamed sweet potatoes in an earthenware pot on the back burner.
She couldn’t bring herself to slaughter the remaining pheasant, intending to save it for tomorrow. The weather was still cool, so it should keep.
As the stew simmered, Xia Qingyue retrieved the salt jar. The coarse salt came in hard lumps, enough to last her a week.
She touched a bit of coarse salt with her finger and tasted it. The moment it hit her tongue, her brow furrowed, and her face twisted into a bitter grimace.
Ugh, this is so bitter!
The refined salt from the Dawan Kingdom was renowned for its delicate texture, excellent taste, minimal impurities, and snow-white color. Its only drawback was its exorbitant price.
If circumstances allowed, Xia Qingyue genuinely wanted to buy refined salt; she truly couldn’t stomach the coarse salt.
With only a small amount of coarse salt left in the jar, it wasn’t enough to refine. She decided to buy more when she next went down the mountain and refine it into refined salt.
As these thoughts swirled in her mind, she remembered that before her predecessor’s mother passed away, she had entrusted all the family’s money to the original Xia Qingyue, storing it in a jade-green sachet.
Rummaging through her predecessor’s memories, Xia Qingyue couldn’t find the sachet. She had no idea where it was hidden or how much money it contained.
It seems the original owner never even bothered to check how much money was inside.
She searched the cave, starting with her parents’ room and then her own, thoroughly checking every nook and cranny. But the sachet was nowhere to be found.
Fortunately, fate smiled upon her. She discovered the sachet in a forgotten corner of the storage room, long neglected and covered in a thick layer of dust, making it appear dull and gray.
Clutching the sachet, Xia Qingyue went to the burial site of her predecessor’s parents, located at the bottom of the sinkhole. The terrain there was relatively flat, sheltered from both scorching sun and heavy rain—a decent final resting place.
Kneeling before the small earthen mound, her heart heavy, she kowtowed three times. Then she opened the sachet and slowly poured its contents into her palm.
First came two pieces of broken silver—two taels!
More jingled within the sachet, which she guessed were copper coins, judging by the weight. Squatting down, she emptied the coins onto the ground. Counting them, she found three hundred and seventy wen.
In total, she had two taels and three hundred and seventy wen.
This was a considerable sum in ancient times.
Her predecessor’s father had often gone hunting, selling his game in the village below the mountain and using the money to buy daily necessities for the family.
Before they moved to the mountain, they had sold three of their four *mu* of farmland, keeping only one *mu* and a thatched cottage as a fallback. Xia Qingyue suspected that part of the silver came from the land sale.
She gathered the money back into the sachet, resolving to gather medicinal herbs later and exchange them for cash.
While wild vegetables and fruits were also available, competition from villagers was fierce, making selling herbs a more reliable way to earn money.
Hiding the sachet in her current sleeping room, she stopped by the utility shed on her way out. She had found some seeds while searching for the sachet, but hadn’t had time to examine them closely.