Not long after they entered the mountains, the group discovered a patch of mushrooms and wood ear fungus. Since all three of them had found it together, they split it evenly, and their bamboo baskets were a third full.
Along the way, Wen Shaoqing chattered on excitedly without pause. This was the first time in his life he’d ever been in the mountains, and everything looked fresh and new to him.
Li Qingge couldn’t help but glance at Gongsun Shinian, who had been completely silent from start to finish.
[I have to admit, this male lead is seriously good-looking. If he weren’t going to end up marrying Bai Wei, I might even consider making a move on him myself.]
Lost in her thoughts, Li Qingge completely failed to notice that the chattering Wen Shaoqing had stopped talking and was staring at her with a strange expression.
A faint blush flickered across Gongsun Shinian’s face. This woman had some nerve—what kind of nonsense was she thinking about all day?
“Shh, don’t make a sound.”
Li Qingge pricked up her ears and listened intently for a moment. She crept forward two steps on light feet, pushed aside a patch of weeds, and peered through.
Gongsun Shinian and Wen Shaoqing both looked at her with confusion, watching her every move.
A whoosh of wind, followed by the sound of chickens squawking. Li Qingge moved like lightning, flinging two small pebbles. The noise on the other side went silent.
Wen Shaoqing stared at her with a dazed expression.
The pheasants had been killed with a single strike.
He walked over and picked up the two pheasants, his admiration for Li Qingge growing even stronger. At this moment, the woman before him seemed to radiate brilliance—absolutely badass.
“Sister Li, you’re my real sister. From now on, you’re the woman I admire most in the world.”
Seeing how sycophantic he was being, Li Qingge waved her hand with a flourish: “There’s a stream about twenty meters from here. Go pluck the feathers, and I’ll treat you both to roast chicken.”
Wen Shaoqing’s eyes sparkled: “Sister Li, can you read fortunes or something? How did you know there was a stream here?”
Li Qingge looked at him like he was clueless: “It’s that close—of course I heard it.”
When Wen Shaoqing saw the clear stream before him, he quietly set to work cleaning the pheasants.
[Not bad. Treating them to pheasant today counts as repaying the favor from the train station. After this, I’ll owe the male lead nothing—we’ll be even.]
Gongsun Shinian felt a tightness in his chest. Subconsciously, he didn’t want to settle accounts with Li Qingge so cleanly.
[I’ll go find the team leader when we get down the mountain and see if I can build a small house in the empty space at the sent-down youth point. I can’t stand another day of that pretentious woman Bai Wei.]
Gongsun Shinian lowered his eyes. The courtyard at the youth point was fairly large, with plenty of empty space—enough for seven or eight people to build houses.
Right now it was just him and Wen Shaoqing living there, which was fine, but once new sent-down youths arrived, things would get complicated. It seemed he needed to consider building a place of his own too.
“The chickens are ready.”
Wen Shaoqing held up two plucked pheasants, their innards completely cleaned out.
Li Qingge nodded in satisfaction and piled up the firewood she’d gathered, lighting it.
She made a simple rack out of dry wood, skewered the two birds, and turned them over the fire repeatedly.
Like a magic trick, she pulled salt and seasonings from her pocket and sprinkled them on. The aroma grew even richer.
Wen Shaoqing watched, dumbfounded.
“Sister Li, did you know there’d be pheasants in the mountains beforehand? That’s why you brought salt and seasonings?”
Li Qingge raised an eyebrow: “That’s right, I can read fortunes. I could even tell yours.”
Wen Shaoqing took her seriously and kept pestering her to divine his future marriage prospects.
Li Qingge made something up on the spot: “Mm, let me count on my fingers. In the future, you’ll find a woman who loves you, and you’ll have a pair of twins—a boy and a girl.”
Wen Shaoqing listened, dazed: “Really? That’s amazing, hahaha.”
Gongsun Shinian found it ridiculous. This fool would count money for someone who’d sold him.
Li Qingge had only been speaking off the cuff, never imagining that one day it would come true. Wen Shaoqing really did find someone he loved, and they had twins.
From then on, he regarded Sister Li as a divine being, and her place in his heart even surpassed that of his childhood friend.
“They’re done. Time to eat.”
Two golden roast chickens glistening with oil lay before them, and the three of them couldn’t hold back any longer, reaching for the birds.
Gongsun Shinian ate with elegant, refined manners, yet he was no slower than Li Qingge.
Wen Shaoqing ate like he hadn’t eaten in eight hundred years, both cheeks puffed out.
“Wuwuwu, Sister Li, you’re my real sister. This roast chicken is incredible.”
Since arriving at the youth point, Gongsun Shinian and the others hadn’t had meat in a long time, let alone something this delicious.
The three of them devoured the meal like a whirlwind, quickly reducing the two chickens to nothing but bone scraps.
Gongsun Shinian dug a small pit on the spot, tossed the bones in, and covered them with dirt.
Wen Shaoqing laughed: “I know—this is called destroying the evidence.”
After lunch, the three continued wandering through the mountains when they suddenly heard Xiao Gua’s voice.
“Host, Host, there’s gold buried under that big tree up ahead.”
At the mention of gold, Li Qingge got excited too, but with the two of them present, she couldn’t show it. She secretly made a mental note of the spot, planning to come back for it tonight.
“Is that chestnuts on the tree up ahead?”
Li Qingge raised her hand and pointed.
Gongsun Shinian could hear the delight in her voice and assumed she was happy about seeing the chestnuts.
The chestnut tree was full of fruit, but because it was too far inland, the villagers didn’t dare come near, afraid of encountering wild beasts—which was exactly why Li Qingge and the others got to reap the benefits.
Li Qingge licked her lips. She had chestnuts in her supermarket too, but freebies delivered right to her doorstep were not to be passed up.
The three of them swung into action. Wen Shaoqing climbed up the tree and tossed the chestnuts down from above, while Li Qingge and Gongsun Shinian gathered them from below.
They kept at it until their bamboo baskets were so full they couldn’t hold another single chestnut.
Taking the opportunity, Li Qingge stashed some chestnuts into her Dimensional Space.
Wen Shaoqing looked at the chestnuts still left on the tree and let out a reluctant sigh. What a shame—they couldn’t take them all.
This trip up the mountain had been a bountiful haul for the trio.
Mushrooms, wood ear fungus, chestnuts—all fine goods, whether for their own consumption or to sell for money.
As the village women watched Li Qingge and the others descend the mountain, their curious gazes practically bored holes into the bamboo baskets, desperate to see what was inside.
Auntie Wang, the village’s biggest gossip, asked with curiosity, “Educated youth Li, what good things did you find? Looks heavy.”
Li Qingge shot her a sidelong glance and said nothing. In her past life, this woman had bullied the original owner relentlessly, badmouthing her behind her back every day until her reputation was ruined.
Auntie Wang raised her voice: “Educated youth Li, are you deaf? I’m talking to you.”
Li Qingge sneered. “Was someone talking? I thought it was some stray dog barking.”
“You—”
Several women who had bad blood with Auntie Wang couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter.
Auntie Wang had a sharp tongue and a fiery temper; she wasn’t about to take such humiliation lying down. Her short, stout body charged over like a cannonball.
Cursing as she came: “You little wretch, I’ll tear your mouth apart.”