She had already planned to go to the town, to bring back more supplies for both her family and herself, and to check which medicinal herbs were valuable—if she was going to gather herbs, she wanted to pick the expensive ones, so that after all the effort, she wouldn’t earn just a tiny bit of money. Seeing Li Xiufang still wanting to speak, Gu Rou quickly said, “And the money from Gu Jiandang, I’ll go get it tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll ask my classmate to help; I’ll make sure the family’s rice jar is full.”
“You can really get it?” Li Xiufang and Gu Jiandang had already gone twice, and all they managed to collect was a hundred yuan. If she could really get all the money, then indulging a little once in a while wouldn’t hurt.
“Really, you don’t believe me?” Gu Rou picked up the kitchen knife and swung it a couple of times.
“I believe you.” Seeing Gu Rou like this, Li Xiufang had no choice but to believe her even if she didn’t want to. Ever since she had fought with a wild boar, Xiao Rou’s personality had changed a lot. When something angered her, she would pick up a knife and swing it—not to hurt anyone, but to scare them. At home, she was still as calm as before and rarely lost her temper. Even so, no one dared speak harshly to her daughter, afraid she might actually do something extreme.
Seeing that the meal was ready and Li Xiufang had already nagged, Gu Jianguo didn’t continue talking. Tonight, the family feasted on oily, delicious food: a large bowl of chicken and vegetables, and fragrant rice. Gu Rou’s small belly was round and full.
After eating, as night fell, the moon and stars appeared. Gu Rou had never seen such a bright moon and so many stars, even in the apocalypse. She gazed at them for a long time, until the chill on her body reminded her to return to her room. She washed up in her space and slept soundly.
The next morning, after breakfast, Gu Rou packed her basket and went up the mountain. Yesterday, at the lower part of the mountain, she had already found plenty of medicinal herbs. She guessed there would be more higher up, and maybe even some plump little rabbits or other wild game.
Today, she didn’t bring Gu Chuan along. Bringing him would make it inconvenient to use the space tools. She gave him two biscuits and sent him off to find his friends to cut pig grass.
Gu Rou took the small path near home and headed up the mountain. The mountains around Xiangyang Village were horizontally aligned, stretching from one end of the village to the other, with the central mountains being the highest. She went straight toward the middle. The vegetation here was dense, so she didn’t meet anyone along the way.
As she went higher, she saw red and yellow flowers blooming, which were very beautiful. After admiring them briefly, she continued deeper into the mountains. She collected a lot of herbs along the way, with a decent harvest. The only downside was that she found very little meat—just two rabbits, and no other animals. Wild animals living in the mountains were very alert and would run at the slightest sound. Gu Rou didn’t spend much effort trying to catch them, since her main goal was collecting herbs. The two rabbits were caught using her space tools.
She continued deeper into the mountains, feeling a bit tired and wanting to rest on a slope. There, she distinctly sensed a different kind of energy. She had no supernatural abilities, just a gut feeling. Gu Rou stood up carefully and slowly walked toward it. Among the wild grasses, she found two small clusters of red fruits.
Her eyes lit up. Just now she had said she had no luck, but it turned out she had a little. She had actually found something valuable—genuine wild ginseng.
Gu Rou carefully took out her tools from the space and cautiously cleared the surrounding weeds. After cleaning the small area, she discovered three wild ginseng plants. She didn’t dare be careless and carefully dug up each one, making sure not to damage the roots, stems, or leaves. She wanted to cultivate the ginseng in her space later, so even a small injury was unacceptable.
It took her quite some time to extract these few plants. It was her first time seeing wild ginseng, so she couldn’t be sure of their exact age. Judging by their appearance, she estimated one was a hundred years old, and the others were several decades old.
Having found such a treasure, she tidied up a bit and headed back down the mountain. Descending was much faster than climbing. The surrounding vegetation had clearly been cut by her machete, so the path was unobstructed. Everything was quiet except for the rustling leaves and her footsteps.
She was thinking about how she would prepare the rabbits for lunch when she suddenly heard another sound in the mountains. Turning toward the noise, she saw a tall, burly man walking straight at her with a machete. When he saw Gu Rou, he suddenly smiled.
“Gu Rou, you’re so small and skinny, but you’re bold enough to come here. You made it easy for me to find you.”
A prominent scar ran near the man’s mouth. As he smiled, the scar moved with the corners of his mouth, looking grotesque and unsettling.
Gu Rou recognized the distinctive appearance—it was Lin Dafa, the son of the secretary of Xiangyang Village. Lin Dafa was the same man from the novel who had assaulted the original protagonist and tormented her to death.
This scumbag had received hints from Gu Li to find an opportunity to get Gu Rou into his clutches, to completely ruin her reputation, and along the way, claim the beauty for himself. Gu Rou’s looks were famous in the surrounding ten-mile radius, and Lin Dafa had been coveting her for a long time. Under normal circumstances, there was no way he could pursue or marry Gu Rou, but now, with Gu Li’s help, he was determined to take her today.
Gu Rou’s entire day of good mood was ruined by the man in front of her. Hearing his words, her face turned cold. How infuriating—before she even had the chance to confront this scumbag, he came forward looking for trouble himself.
“Did you come here just to block me? Looking for trouble?” Gu Rou said, carefully setting her basket down on the ground behind her.
“Gu Rou, how can you say such things? You think the worst of people! I’m just worried about a young girl like you coming into the deep mountains—it’s not safe. I’m concerned for your safety, came specially to pick you up, and yet you think so badly of me…”
Lin Dafa, guided by Gu Li, knew that Gu Rou was not someone to be trifled with. At first, he didn’t reveal his intentions outright and tried to play it off.
Hearing this, Gu Rou felt disgusted, almost wanting to vomit up what she had eaten that morning. Damn it, he looked like a toad, his face dark and ugly, and here he was pretending to look concerned—truly a sickening sight. She would have preferred it if he came straight to the point rather than putting on this nauseating act.
“Are you worried about my safety, or are you trying to make me unsafe?” Gu Rou said, gripping her machete and holding back her disgust, looking at Lin Dafa with pure contempt.
This scumbag dared to be so arrogant because he was the only son in the family, and the son of the village secretary at that. His older sisters and his mother all spoiled him. His temperament had been ruined by their indulgence. Not only was he overbearing, he was lazy and gluttonous. He spent his days hanging out with a bunch of hooligans, either playing around with animals or doing illegal things. Because of his father’s position, he was more unruly and violent than the worst of the village ruffians.