“There are enemies on the tea mountain. Today, when I went up there… after I left last time, the tea leaves in that grove hadn’t grown back yet, so I walked farther up the mountain.”
Qin Ruan paused before continuing.
“I was almost at the mountaintop—just a little above the halfway point—when I heard people talking. They were speaking our language, but their accents sounded awkward.”
“What? You mean there are foreigners?”
“Yes. They said they didn’t know where the person they drugged last time had escaped to. They also talked about carrying out missions. From the way they spoke, it sounds like they’re staying on the summit of our tea mountain.”
Even as she finished speaking, Qin Ruan couldn’t stop trembling. Only now did she realize how close she had come to real danger.
“Which part of our tea mountain? Exactly where did you hear them?”
“If you go up from the little stream and keep walking straight, you’ll find it. If you’re going to check, you’ll notice there are lots of creamy milk-cap mushrooms growing under the tea bushes. I picked a lot of them today. I gathered mushrooms along that stretch, and there were still more left. That’s where I heard their voices coming from farther up the mountain.”
“All right, I’ll go take a look. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Just don’t go up the mountain alone for the next couple of days.”
“Okay, Uncle. Be careful.”
“Don’t worry. Your uncle can take care of himself. I’ll be fine.”
With that, Qin Ruofeng patted Qin Ruan on the arm and left.
Seeing Qin Ruofeng come out, Shen Jianing stepped forward worriedly.
“What’s wrong with Ruanruan?”
Qin Ruofeng frowned, then leaned close to Shen Jianing’s ear and whispered,
“Ruanruan said there are bad people on the mountaintop. They might be enemy agents from another country.”
Shen Jianing was stunned and couldn’t say a word.
Qin Ruofeng reminded her,
“Shh. Don’t say anything yet, and don’t tell Mom. I’ll go check it out.”
Shen Jianing quickly grabbed his hand.
“You’re going by yourself?”
“Don’t worry, Jianing. Don’t you trust me? I’ll be careful. I’m just going to scout the area and see exactly where the people Ruanruan mentioned are hiding.”
“Then be careful.”
“I will. I’m leaving now.”
Deep down, Qin Ruofeng had his own suspicions.
He suspected these people might be connected to the group Huo Tingchen had been pursuing during his previous mission—perhaps they were even the very same group.
After saying that, Qin Ruofeng quietly slipped out of the house and headed toward the family’s tea mountain.
As the sky gradually darkened, Qin Ruofeng still hadn’t returned home, leaving both Qin Ruan and Shen Jianing increasingly worried.
Seeing that Qin Ruan still hadn’t started cooking, Hu Yufen asked,
“Ruanruan, aren’t you making dinner tonight? If not, Grandma will cook.”
“I’ll do it, Grandma. Uncle hasn’t come back yet, so I was waiting. Everything’s ready except for stir-frying the dishes.”
“All right then. Where did your uncle go? Why isn’t he back yet?”
“Oh… he went to chat with Brother Dazhuang and the others. They came by again earlier.”
Dazhuang, whose full name was Feng Zhuang, was one of only two people in the village who were especially close to Qin Ruofeng.
The other close friend had also enlisted in the army and was no longer living in the village.
“Didn’t they just see each other this afternoon? Why did he go looking for Zhuangzi again?”
Shen Jianing explained,
“They said there were still a few things they hadn’t finished talking about. Besides, we’ll probably be busy working on the tea mountain over the next few days, so they wanted to discuss it.”
“All right, then. We’ll cook a little later and rest for a while first.”
Hearing her grandmother say that, Qin Ruan finally let out a sigh of relief.
But the uneasiness in her heart only grew stronger.
Why hasn’t Uncle come back yet?
About half an hour later, a dark figure finally walked into the courtyard.
Seeing the figure in the distance, Shen Jianing thought it looked like Qin Ruofeng and immediately stood up.
Qin Ruan saw him too.
“Grandma, Uncle’s back. I’ll go stir-fry the dishes.”
That evening, Qin Ruan made a stir-fried mushroom dish, a stir-fried vegetable, steamed rice, and served some pickled vegetables.
There was no meat for dinner that night.
When Qin Ruofeng returned, his face still wore an expression of disbelief.
Hu Yufen seemed to notice something and asked,
“Ruofeng, what’s wrong?”
“Mom, it’s nothing. Just a small matter. Don’t worry about it.”
“Mmm. Tomorrow, everyone will go up the mountain to pick tea.”
Hu Yufen began assigning everyone’s work.
At that moment, Shen Jianing spoke up. She knew something must have happened on the tea mountain. Otherwise, her husband wouldn’t be acting like this.
“Mom, why don’t we rest for one more day tomorrow? I still feel a bit tired. We can all go to the tea mountain the day after tomorrow.”
Hu Yufen couldn’t bring herself to refuse her well-behaved daughter-in-law, so she agreed.
Earlier that night, Qin Ruofeng had already called the military, requesting reinforcements to help complete the mission and capture the people hiding on the mountain.
However, the reinforcements wouldn’t arrive until the next day.
Even if they left immediately, they wouldn’t reach the village until the following morning. Flying directly wasn’t an option either, because the people hiding on the mountaintop would almost certainly notice.
Taking advantage of the darkness that evening, Qin Ruofeng had quietly followed the path up to the summit by himself.
There, he successfully located their campsite.
There were twelve of them.
Twelve people living on the mountaintop, yet not a single villager had noticed.
Qin Ruofeng found it strange at first, but after thinking about the terrain, it made sense.
That entire mountain belonged to the Qin family. Since the Qin family had moved away to the city, it was only natural that no one had discovered the intruders.
Before long, Qin Ruan’s voice called out,
“Dinner’s ready! Dinner’s ready!”
Looking at the spicy stir-fried mushrooms on the table, Qin Ruofeng grinned from ear to ear.
“Not bad! These mushrooms look great.”
“Right? There are still lots more growing below our tea mountain. This time, we’ll gather them all, blanch them, dry them, and take them with us.”
Hearing that, Qin Ruofeng nodded in satisfaction.
The wild mushrooms of Yunnan were beloved by the locals. No matter how they were cooked, they were always delicious.
“Oh, by the way,” Hu Yufen asked, “since you found mushrooms today, did you see any wood ear mushrooms?”
“Grandma, I didn’t even make it to the place where we stacked the dead logs.”
Privately, Qin Ruan couldn’t help complaining to herself.
Those logs are close to the mountaintop. The intruders have probably already ruined all the wood ear mushrooms there.
“All right then. The day after tomorrow we’ll go pick tea leaves. Bring plenty of baskets so we can gather all the mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, dry them, and take them with us.”
“Grandma, if we can’t carry everything, we could always mail it.”
“There are four of us! Shipping costs money, you know!”
Hearing the old lady’s thrifty tone, Qin Ruan almost forgot that this was the same grandmother who possessed a huge stash of treasure.
“All right, all right, I understand, Grandma. We’ll carry everything ourselves,” Qin Ruan replied weakly.
Watching the grandmother and granddaughter chatting so warmly, Shen Jianing couldn’t help feeling envious.
She had grown up without grandparents herself.