Qianxing froze for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Are you coming back for lunch?”
“No. I have nothing to do at home anyway, so I might as well gather more wild vegetables and save a little money on groceries.”
“Can’t we grow vegetables here?”
Zhou Maishu curled her lip disdainfully. “Officers at the rank of battalion commander and above can get a small plot of private land.”
“But do you know how tiny that plot is? It’s only about half a mu. It’s enough to grow some leafy greens and radishes, maybe some eggplants in summer, but the harvest isn’t much.”
“Everyone can only go into the mountains in spring and summer to gather wild vegetables and mushrooms to add a little variety to their meals.”
Qianxing mentally pictured what half a mu looked like. For two people, it should be enough.
“Where’s my vegetable plot?”
“Huo Yuan doesn’t cook, so I heard he let another battalion commander use the plot. You can have Huo Yuan ask for it back another day.”
“Okay.”
Qianxing got dressed and searched around the house, but couldn’t find a basket or anything large enough to carry vegetables.
Zhou Maishu couldn’t stand watching her struggle and quickly ran back home to bring Qianxing a back basket and a straw hat.
“Huo Yuan lives like some kind of ascetic monk. How does he not have anything?”
After complaining, Zhou Maishu added, “If you need anything later, just come borrow it from me.”
“Okay, thank you, Maizi. I actually need to buy a few sets of clothes too.”
After leaving a note for Huo Yuan, Qianxing brought along the two steamed buns she hadn’t finished eating that morning. The two women chatted as they walked downstairs.
“If you want to buy clothes, you’ll have to go into town. We can only go this Sunday. The department store in town is expensive too. If you’re in a hurry, you can ask some of the military wives who are good at sewing to make them for you. They can earn some money, and you’ll save a little too.”
That would work.
Qianxing knew how to make clothes herself, but ordinary clothes could easily be left to someone else. It would save her both time and effort.
“But even if you make them yourself, you still need to buy fabric. You don’t have any, do you?”
Qianxing shook her head helplessly.
“Looks like I’ll have to make a trip into town after all.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go with you then. I need to buy some things too.”
After Zhou Maishu finished speaking, they reached the ground floor, where a woman was already waiting. When she saw Zhou Maishu, she excitedly waved at her.
But when she noticed Qianxing beside her, the woman’s waving immediately became more restrained, and a hint of shyness appeared on her face.
Zhou Maishu introduced the two of them.
“This is Chang Shuqin, the wife of Battalion Commander Ke of the Tenth Battalion…”
“Hello.” Qianxing gave her a friendly smile. “Just call me Qianxing. Can I call you Shuqin?”
Chang Shuqin shyly but firmly nodded.
The three women were around the same age, and they quickly became familiar with one another. Laughter and cheerful conversation accompanied them the entire way.
To avoid disturbing the civilians’ rest and to maintain secrecy, the Southwest Military District’s main base was established at the foot of the mountains. The area was almost completely surrounded by mountains.
Thus, under Zhou Maishu’s guidance, it took them only a little over ten minutes to reach the foot of a mountain called Yunqing Mountain.
The mountain was called Yunqing because its outline resembled a cloud. It was broad and relatively flat, and it was also the lowest of the surrounding mountains.
Therefore, it wasn’t dangerous and was very popular among the military wives. Whenever they had nothing to do, they liked to go up the mountain and gather some wild vegetables.
“We’re here. Although this mountain isn’t high and there aren’t any dangerous beasts, it’s your first time here, Qianxing, so don’t wander too far from us.”
Zhou Maishu gave her instructions like a mother hen, clearly unwilling to let the two delicate “chicks,” Qianxing and Chang Shuqin, out of her sight.
“Okay.” Qianxing smiled. “I definitely won’t leave your sight.”
Of course, following her every step was impossible.
The most important purpose of Qianxing’s trip to the mountain was to dig up medicinal herbs and plant them in the fields inside the Treasure Realm.
When she saw Zhou Maishu become distracted by some bamboo shoots in a bamboo grove, Qianxing quickly slipped to the side, dug up a medicinal herb she’d spotted earlier, and tossed it into her back basket.
There were plenty of trees and open spaces in the mountains, so no one would notice what was in Qianxing’s basket.
Thus, she followed behind Zhou Maishu while quietly digging up the common medicinal herbs growing throughout the mountain.
After looking around for a while, Qianxing discovered that there were actually quite a lot of medicinal herbs in these mountains. In half a day, she’d gathered nearly twenty varieties of common herbs.
She had practiced medicine under her master for many years, and the rare, precious ingredients required for her prescriptions were actually very few. Most prescriptions only required ordinary medicinal herbs.
Just three or four hundred varieties were enough to cover nearly ninety percent of the prescriptions in the world.
The first thing Qianxing needed to do was prepare more than three hundred common medicinal herbs.
Once they matured, all she needed to do was harvest them and place them on the floor of the apothecary inside the Treasure Realm. The Treasure Realm would automatically process them into the highest-quality medicinal ingredients.
At noon, the three women found a patch of level ground and took out the dry food they’d brought.
Zhou Maishu and Chang Shuqin had prepared flatbreads, while Qianxing was the only one who pulled out two steamed buns.
Across from her, Chang Shuqin took out a cornmeal flatbread and handed it to her.
“Let’s trade. I want to eat steamed buns.”
The cornmeal flatbread had some pickled vegetables inside. Although there was no meat, it had been pan-fried in oil and wrapped in cloth by Chang Shuqin, so it was still slightly warm.
Naturally, it tasted much better than a dry, cold steamed bun.
Anyone with common sense would know which one to choose. Who would actually want a steamed bun?
“Thank you. I’ll let you try my cooking another day too!”
A warm feeling welled up in Qianxing’s heart.
There were certainly troublesome people and unpleasant things here, but there were also plenty of good people.
She took a bite of the cornmeal flatbread. The crispy, fragrant exterior gave way to the savory filling, and the bite was both delicious and satisfying.
“This is really good!”
Qianxing didn’t hesitate to praise her.
“You got the cooking time just right.”
Chang Shuqin smiled until her eyes narrowed.
“This is my specialty.”
Zhou Maishu glanced sideways at the two of them, then suddenly tore off half of the steamed bun Qianxing was holding.
“I’ll trade too!”
She had brought vegetable-filled flatbreads and broke one in half for Qianxing.
“Eat more. This was originally what Yan Fengshou wanted to eat, but after he ate the meal you made last night, he complained about my cooking when he got home. Hmph, what an ungrateful bastard!”
“Another day, I’ll invite both of you over for a meal. Shuqin, you come too.”
Qianxing liked lively company, and whenever Huo Yuan went to training, she’d need to make more friends and find ways to keep herself entertained.
“Deal! I’ve been waiting for you to say that!”
Zhou Maishu swallowed the last bite of her steamed bun and jumped to her feet.
“Suddenly, I’ve got all my strength back.”
Qianxing couldn’t stop laughing at her.
After resting there for a while, the three women scattered again to continue gathering wild vegetables.
They had already searched through the nearby mountain slopes, so Qianxing said goodbye to Zhou Maishu and walked a little farther away.
After watching over her for an entire morning, Zhou Maishu was much more at ease about leaving her alone. She merely reminded her to call out if anything happened.
Qianxing agreed, then turned and ran toward another section of the mountain to gather medicinal herbs.
This area was on the shaded side of the mountain, and the variety of medicinal herbs increased noticeably.
Qianxing carefully searched one area after another and eventually found more than forty varieties.
Although most of the herbs weren’t particularly abundant, as long as she had their seeds, the Treasure Realm could grow an endless supply.
“Qianxing~ Qianxing~”
A distant call reached her ears.
Qianxing looked up at the sky, gathered the last medicinal herb, and called back,
“I’m here! I’m coming down!”
Qianxing headed down the mountain. After turning a bend, she saw a group of women in the woods nearby, also making their way down together.
She recognized one of them.
It was He Manqing, the sister-in-law of Regiment Commander Hu Baoguo, who had eaten at her house the previous day.
Qianxing smiled and greeted her, but He Manqing deliberately turned her face away and pretended not to see her.
Qianxing was slightly surprised and glanced at her. She hadn’t intended to ask about it, but when her gaze fell on the contents of He Manqing’s basket, her brows slowly furrowed.
Although He Manqing was pretending not to look at her, she had actually been watching Qianxing from the corner of her eye the entire time.
The moment she saw Qianxing frown, she immediately said smugly,
“We picked all these with barely any effort. Jealous? If you want some, I can give you a bowl.”
That can count as paying her back for last night’s meal.
After thinking it over several times, He Manqing ultimately didn’t say that last part aloud. Mushrooms weren’t worth much money, and saying it might make it seem as though she were trying to take advantage of Qianxing.
I’ll give her something valuable another day.
He Manqing was still thinking about what she could give her when she failed to notice Qianxing walking closer and picking up a mushroom from her basket to examine it.
Then, the next sentence fell into He Manqing’s ears like a thunderclap:
“The mushrooms you picked are poisonous. You can’t eat them.”