The sky had just begun to grow faintly light.
Liu Lijuan was already up.
After a quick wash-up in the kitchen.
She started washing sweet potatoes to make breakfast for her younger siblings.
Liu Qingshi walked into the kitchen and frowned at the sight. "Second elder sister, didn't Third Brother say so last night? From now on, our family is eating rice at every meal. Why are you boiling sweet potatoes again so early?"
Sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes.
Eating sweet potatoes every single day.
The sight of them annoyed him now.
Liu Lijuan guessed what Liu Qingshi was thinking. She rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Don't you know what state our family is in? You still want rice at every meal? Let me tell you, if no money comes in, we won't even have sweet potatoes to eat in another half a month."
This was the truth.
A family of five, plus a dog.
The amount of food consumed every day was staggering.
"But..." Liu Qingshi started to say something, then stopped.
"No buts." Liu Lijuan glared at him. "Hurry up and wash your face, then wake Fifth Sibling. I'll steam some Spicy Diaozi Fish for you to eat with the sweet potatoes. All right?"
"That'll do." Liu Qingshi happily turned to wake Old Wu and Liu Qinglong.
Then the two brothers squatted at the kitchen doorway to wash up.
After washing up, Liu Qingsong also came to the kitchen.
Behind him trailed little sister and Little Mochi, still rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
"Why are you all up so early?" Liu Lijuan, adding firewood, couldn't help but ask.
"I'm taking the oil jug up to the pine forest on the Back Mountain," Liu Qingsong replied with a smile. "They're tagging along to play."
"Mm, Maternal Uncle said there are mushrooms to pick on the Back Mountain. I want to eat mushrooms," Little Mochi chimed in with her babyish voice.
"Wait... if you're picking mushrooms, why do you need the oil jug?" Liu Lijuan was confused.
Liu Qingshi and Liu Qinglong also looked at Liu Qingsong, puzzled.
"This oil jug I'm talking about isn't the one for rapeseed oil, it's the one for kerosene," Liu Qingsong explained. "Second elder sister, didn't you say last night that we're almost out of kerosene? I want to go to the pine forest on the Back Mountain and gather some pine resin."
Pine resin.
Just like Kerosene.
It could also provide light when lit.
And its effect was no worse than kerosene's.
Once Liu Lijuan understood, she immediately found the kerosene oil jug under the Stove Platform and handed it to Liu Qingsong: "There are wild boars roaming the pine forest on the Back Mountain. Don't take little sister and Little Mochi too far."
"Even if you don't find any pine resin, come back right away."
"Got it." Liu Qingsong took the oil jug.
"Also." Liu Lijuan glanced at the sky outside the window. "I need to pay Qingshi and Qinglong's school fees later. Remember to feed the chickens and water the chinese cabbage and green onions in our field."
"Got it, got it," Liu Qingsong said.
Even without Second elder sister's reminder, he would have done it anyway.
"Oh right, little sister, don't spend all day following Qingsong around. If the Production Brigade needs someone to herd cattle, report for duty. Even a few work points are better than none," Liu Lijuan added.
"Oh!" Little sister answered reluctantly.
Liu Qingsong watched this and smiled a little.
But he didn't say much else.
After washing up, he took the oil jug and headed toward the pine forest on the Back Mountain with little sister and Little Mochi.
The pine forest on Wild Boar Ridge Behind the Mountain was vast. It stretched to the mountain's halfway point and covered at least a thousand mu.
But Liu Qingsong didn't dare go up to the halfway point. With Little Mochi and little sister in tow, he only dared to move around in the pine forest at the foot of the mountain.
Unexpectedly, others had already harvested the pine resin that formed naturally on the pine trees. Footprints covered the ground.
As for mushrooms, they hadn't spotted many either.
Liu Qingsong was disappointed. As he was about to call little sister and Little Mochi back from chasing butterflies, the bushes ahead stirred. A plump Wild Hare darted out.
Liu Qingsong hadn't even had time to react.
The hare had already vanished into the man-high Cogon Grass.
"Maternal Uncle, there's... there's a rabbit!" Little Mochi had spotted the hare too, and in her surprise, pointed a little finger at it.
"Yeah, I saw it," Liu Qingsong said with a nod. "But we can't catch it. Let's head back!"
"Oh!" Little Mochi looked a bit disappointed.
She took Liu Qingsong's big hand, about to head down toward the foot of the mountain.
But little sister bent down and crawled into the Cogon Grass instead.
"Come back, Hongxia! It's dangerous in there." Liu Qingsong called out at once.
"It's fine." Little sister poked her head out of the grass and said in delight, "Third Brother, there are so many mushrooms in here."
"Really?" Liu Qingsong led Little Mochi over.
He pushed aside the Cogon Grass and looked. Sure enough, the ground was covered with Cogon Grass Mushrooms.
Cogon Grass Mushrooms, like pine mushrooms, were non-toxic and edible.
Liu Qingsong was thrilled by the dense cluster of Cogon Grass Mushrooms covering the ground.
He bent down, about to pick them, but the next second his whole body froze.
Then he told Little Mochi and little sister, "Don't move. There are Animal Traps ahead, and more than one."
"Huh? Wh-where?" Little sister looked around.
Little Mochi, frightened, hugged Liu Qingsong's right leg.
"Just don't move, that's all." Liu Qingsong reached out, scooped up Little Mochi and carried her away from the grass, then pulled little sister out as well.
After warning the two little ones not to wander off, Liu Qingsong picked up a dry branch and crawled into the grass.
A moment later, he emerged carrying two Animal Traps that gleamed coldly.
The traps had clamped onto the dry branch. One had snapped it clean through, leaving only a small scrap of bark.
Seeing this, little sister couldn't help but shrink her neck in.
Little Mochi looked terrified too. If one of those traps had caught them, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Liu Qingsong's expression darkened too. After all, the entire Huajiao Production Brigade had long forbidden people from setting Animal Traps in the mountains.
The rule was not aimed at hunters. Animal Traps could easily injure local villagers who entered the mountains.
A minor injury would be one thing, but maiming someone would ruin that person's whole life.
Now someone had set Animal Traps in the mountains behind his rear courtyard without telling him or any nearby neighbors. It was practically an attempt to rob them and take their lives.
"Third Brother, what should we do now?" little sister spoke up, her voice tinged with lingering fear.
"What else can we do? We have to clear out and confiscate these Animal Traps, or none of us will dare come up the mountain again," Liu Qingsong said. He tossed the trap in his hand onto the ground and rolled up his sleeves.
To be safe,
He found another branch.
And started poking around in spots that looked like they might hide traps.
Little Mochi and little sister followed suit. They picked up dry branches and poked through the surrounding Cogon Grass and bushes.
Soon, they'd found five Animal Traps.
But Liu Qingsong was not happy. His mood worsened because the memories from his rebirth contained no trace of these Animal Traps.
As he was about to inspect the pine forest in the southeastern area, movement came from the bushes ahead.
Liu Qingsong pushed aside the grass and looked. A plump Wild Hare had been caught in an Animal Trap and was struggling desperately.
But struggling was useless.
The Animal Trap had its right leg clamped tight.
Its bloody, mangled leg was probably already broken.
Liu Qingsong glanced around warily, then approached the hare with care. He knocked it unconscious with a stick and picked it up.
Little sister saw this from nearby and jumped up in delight. "Third Brother, are we going to eat stewed Wild Hare later?"
The moment Little Mochi heard the words "stewed wild hare meat."
She couldn't help but start gnawing on her index finger.
……