The moment they stepped into the grove, a smell of decay mixed with cold, damp air hit them in the face. It swept away the stifling heat, and at the same time, Yu Fuling’s adrenaline spiked at once.
“Fou—Fourth Sister, I’m scared!” Yu Lehuan clung tightly to Yu Fuling’s arm. She shouldn’t have agreed on a whim to go into the grove with her fourth sister. “Why don’t we just go back?”
“If you’re scared, you can wait for me outside.” Yu Fuling said this, but her eyes stayed fixed ahead.
The dense branches overhead were covered in leaves bigger than a palm, blocking out every bit of sunlight. Underfoot lay a thick layer of fallen leaves, rustling with every step.
Yu Fuling had often wandered through great mountains and forests before. Based on her past experience, this grove was sure to have something good in it!
“I…”
Yu Lehuan glanced back over her shoulder, and within three seconds pressed herself closer against Yu Fuling. “At least the two of us can look out for each other.”
Clearly scared to death, and yet still wanting to stay close by her side, Yu Fuling thought of how her two brothers at the Marquis’ estate would flee faster than she could, the moment they sensed even a little trouble or danger.
“Don’t worry, there’s no man-eating beast here.”
“Huh?” Yu Lehuan blinked, thinking over what her fourth sister had said. “If there really were a beast, that wooden fence couldn’t stop it, if they got hungry enough, they’d surely leave the grove and go into the village looking for food. But I’ve never heard of any villager being hurt by a beast.”
“So it’s all just rumors, then.”
Yu Fuling let go of her sister’s hand, crouched down, and brushed aside the thick layer of leaves on the ground. “The leaves here have piled up layer after layer, and the bottom layer has already rotted. If a beast had really passed through here, it would have been trampled flat long ago.”
“That’s right, if there really were a beast, it shouldn’t be this quiet around here.” Yu Lehuan’s heart felt much lighter than before. “So what are we here to look for?”
Yu Fuling looked around, and suddenly saw, under a tree about ten meters ahead, a large patch of something swaying as if beckoning to her, mushrooms?
“Lehuan, look over there, mushrooms!” Yu Fuling said excitedly, but the moment she took a step forward, her sister grabbed her arm.
“Fourth Sister, those things are poisonous, we can’t eat them!” Yu Lehuan shook her head desperately, looking anxious. “Last time, Grandpa Li ate some mushrooms he’d picked, and he was vomiting and having diarrhea, half dead from it.”
“The mushrooms he ate, were they especially bright-colored? All sorts of colors?” Yu Fuling asked.
Yu Lehuan thought it over and nodded. “Right, red, green, blue, really pretty.”
“The brighter-colored a mushroom is, the more toxic it usually is…” Yu Fuling explained as she pulled her sister over to the big tree, crouched down, and gently picked one. “It’s the opposite, this kind, dark and unremarkable-looking, is the kind you can eat.”
“Is that really so?” Yu Lehuan crouched down too, looking at Yu Fuling doubtfully.
“This particular mushroom is actually quite famous among mushrooms, it’s called matsutake, and it sells for a lot at the market.” Yu Fuling casually brushed the leaves aside and found a large patch of plump matsutake hidden underneath. “Lehuan, lift up the hem of your skirt to hold them, we’ll pick these and have Father take them to sell at the market tomorrow, they’ll fetch a good price for sure.”
The moment she heard it could be sold for money, Yu Lehuan immediately gathered up her skirt hem.
The more intact a matsutake was, the better price it fetched, so Yu Fuling was extra careful while picking.
Before they knew it, half an hour had passed.
In Yu Lehuan’s skirt hem, besides the matsutake, there were also plenty of mushrooms she couldn’t name. “Fourth Sister, can all of these be sold?”
“The expensive ones we’ll sell, the ones that aren’t worth much we’ll eat ourselves. Mushrooms cooked well taste better than meat.” Yu Fuling brushed the dirt off her hands and covered the leaves back over. “After the next rain, it won’t take long before more mushrooms grow again.”
This trip had turned out to be worthwhile, and Yu Fuling was quite pleased, but they couldn’t stay long, nor make a show of it, after all, she still knew nothing about the state of things in the village, and being too conspicuous would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Before noon arrived, the two sisters quickly left the grove, but sometimes trouble comes knocking whether you want it to or not.
“Stop right there! Yu Lehuan, what are you sneaking around doing?”
Yu Fuling stopped in her tracks and looked up to size up the person addressing her sister in such an unfriendly tone.
It was a young woman, wearing the high-waisted, brightly-colored gauze skirt currently fashionable in town, jingling beaded hairpins in her hair, skin fair and clean, standing out sharply against the dusty gray village around them.
“That’s Liu Meimei, Village Head Liu’s eldest granddaughter.”
Her sister’s one sentence answered the question in Yu Fuling’s mind. She stepped forward, putting herself between her sister and the newcomer. “I just heard Lehuan mention she has a good friend in the village, that’s you, isn’t it?”
“Eh?”
Liu Meimei, who had been fierce a moment ago, went completely blank at this. “How could I possibly be her good friend? Yu Lehuan, what nonsense are you spouting?”
Yu Lehuan was stunned too, her fourth sister’s sudden remark, coming out of nowhere, left her completely at a loss.
“If you’re not Lehuan’s good friend, then what are you looking for her for?” Yu Fuling gave her sister a look telling her to stay calm, then asked Liu Meimei with a smile.
“I…”
Liu Meimei was at a loss for words again, she could hardly say she’d come looking for Yu Lehuan just to make trouble out of boredom.
“If there’s nothing else, we need to hurry home and make dinner. See you next time.”
Seeing Liu Meimei stumped for words, Yu Fuling quickly pulled her sister and turned to leave.
Unexpectedly, the nervous Yu Lehuan didn’t hold her skirt hem tight enough, and the mushrooms inside tumbled to the ground one after another, some of them breaking into pieces.
“Oh no…”
Yu Lehuan hurried to crouch down, tears of anxiety about to spill from her eyes, but the more flustered she got, the less she could pick them up. “I—why am I so useless…”
“Mushrooms? You two went into the grove?”
Yu Fuling, who had been about to bend down to help her sister pick up the mushrooms, felt a flicker of suspicion at Liu Meimei’s words, but her face stayed the picture of innocence. “What grove?”
Liu Meimei quickly walked over to the two of them, picked up a matsutake and examined it, then stood up, furious. “This is matsutake from the grove, how dare you two break the village rules and sneak into the grove, I’m going to tell my grandfather…”
“Since that grove enclosed by the wooden fence was forbidden to all villagers by the village head, why is it that just one glance told you this was matsutake?” Yu Fuling calmly cut Liu Meimei off. “Could it be that you’ve secretly gone in to pick mushrooms behind the village head’s back?”
“I…”
This was the third time today Liu Meimei had been at a loss for words, but she wasn’t a fool either. Her eyes darted, and she said, “My family eats matsutake all the time, isn’t it only natural that I’d recognize one?”
“Oh, so is your family’s matsutake bought, or picked?” Yu Fuling asked, sounding offhand, but she’d already made her calculations inside.
“Picked, of course. My father says matsutake has to be eaten fresh.” Liu Meimei’s mouth ran ahead of her, not noticing at all that Yu Fuling was leading her by the nose.
Yu Fuling smiled with satisfaction.