The family continued moving forward.
In fact, the straight-line distance from their cave to the mountaintop wasn’t very far. However, they deliberately chose a longer route. First, the detour was less steep and dangerous, making it easier to walk. Second, passing through more areas increased their chances of finding supplies.
Judging from everything they had gathered along the way, the detour had been more than worth it.
As they walked, they dug and harvested as they went. Whenever Tang Jiao spotted especially tender wild vegetables or medicinal herbs she recognized, she would casually dig them up. Just gathering along the way was already enough to cover their vegetable needs for the entire day.
Tang Jiao was already planning to make dumplings to celebrate today’s haul—sheep’s purse filling, specifically. The greens were so plump and fresh that the dumplings were sure to be incredibly flavorful. The idea was met with unanimous approval and enthusiastic support from the whole family.
Chatting and laughing, they soon reached the mountaintop.
Standing at the summit and looking down, fierce mountain winds swept past them without the slightest gentleness. Yet Tang Jiao felt only a sense of vast openness. Gazing at the rolling mountain ranges and the magnificent, expansive scenery in the distance, her heart swelled with emotion. Even An’an fell silent for once, quietly staring at the awe-inspiring landscape. For such a small child, this was clearly the first time he had seen nature on such a grand scale, and he was visibly stunned.
The three of them stood quietly for a while, savoring the view, before turning their attention to their surroundings.
The mountaintop was covered with wide stretches of grass and massive boulders. Gu Yu climbed onto one of the large rocks and scanned the slopes below. At this time of year, most grasses and trees had withered, turning yellow, red, and eventually brown. From above, the entire mountainside looked like a sea of dull earth tones—except for one striking patch of deep green that stood out clearly.
Gu Yu took out the compass and carefully measured and calculated for some time. Whatever he figured out, Tang Jiao couldn’t tell—she had never been good with directions.
Still, she asked Gu Yu to estimate the location and distance of that green forest relative to their cave. She planned to set aside a day to explore it. If it turned out to be a pine or cypress forest, there might be pine nuts. If it was a bamboo forest, even better—there would be bamboo shoots. Bamboo was incredibly useful, too. Compared to wood, it was lighter, and since they didn’t even have bowls yet, bamboo could be quickly made into simple containers.
It was getting late, so they didn’t linger at the mountaintop. After drinking some hot water, they quickly began their descent.
The summit was simply too cold. The northwesterly wind howled nonstop, and even with sunshine, it did little good. Without scarves and face coverings, their faces would have gone numb from the freezing wind in no time.
Going downhill was much faster. Since they still needed to process the chestnuts and transport the pumpkins, Tang Jiao didn’t stop to dig more wild vegetables. The two adults picked up their pace and made it back to the chestnut trees in about two-thirds of the time it had taken to climb up.
There were still some spiky husks hanging on the chestnut trees. Gu Yu cut a long branch, climbed up, and used it to strike the husks. They came raining down all at once, sending Tang Jiao and An’an—who had been eager to climb the tree themselves—screaming and scrambling backward.
There weren’t many husks left on the tree, and the harvest season had mostly passed, so Gu Yu quickly and easily knocked them all down.
Once Gu Yu climbed back down, Tang Jiao hurried over to start collecting. She wore her backpack on her chest and opened the zipper just enough to slip chestnuts inside. The spiky husks were picked up with two sticks and piled off to the side.
An’an copied his parents, using two sticks to handle the husks. He wasn’t very skilled yet and kept getting pricked, yelping “Ouch! Ouch!” again and again. Still, he stubbornly refused to give up, clearly determined to fight the spiky husks to the very end.
Tang Jiao watched from the side with great amusement. Every time An’an yelped after getting pricked again, she burst out laughing, which immediately earned her a round of indignant complaints from him.
Gu Yu, meanwhile, smiled at the mother-and-son duo as they joked and bickered, even as his hands worked faster and faster. Before long, a sizable pile of spiky husks had formed.
Once Gu Yu felt they had gathered enough, he decided to use the woven sack they had brought to pack one full load first. Any husks that didn’t fit would be cracked open on the spot so the chestnuts would be easier to carry.
The sack was the kind of red-and-blue woven bag commonly used by students to carry quilts—the same style that had famously inspired a certain international luxury brand. Their version, however, wasn’t the classic red-and-blue checkered pattern but one printed with cute cartoon designs. They had bought it specifically for moving from the city to the mountains. It was extremely sturdy, held a lot, and was far more practical than it looked.
By the time Gu Yu filled the sack, Tang Jiao found that there were barely any unopened husks left scattered around. About half of the pile near the chestnut heap remained, so the two of them moved over and started cracking those open as well. An’an happily joined in again, resuming his “battle” with the spiky husks.
Both Gu Yu and Tang Jiao worked quickly. In less than an hour, the once-hostile pile of prickly husks had been completely transformed into a heap of glossy, chestnut-brown nuts.
Tang Jiao poured the freshly shelled chestnuts together with the ones they had peeled earlier into her backpack—filling it to the brim. And this wasn’t just any backpack; it was a large-capacity hiking pack.
So when she zipped it up and tried to hoist it onto her back, the weight pulled her backward. She stumbled—and plopped straight down onto the ground.
This time, it was An’an’s turn to clap his hands and laugh mercilessly at her.
Gu Yu hurried over to help his wife up, giving their little rascal a light smack at the same time to keep him from getting too smug—lest he suffer retaliation later. An’an immediately wiped the gloating look off his face and rushed over to curry favor, wisely avoiding any future “maternal authority.”
Gu Yu transferred most of the chestnuts into his own backpack, leaving only a small portion for Tang Jiao. Then he found a thick branch, planning to carry the woven sack of husks together with Tang Jiao. An’an, as usual, rode comfortably in the back basket.
With everything packed up, the family set off on their return journey.
Carrying loads through the tangled forest was awkward, so Tang Jiao shifted An’an’s basket onto her own back and moved her backpack to her front. Gu Yu threaded the branch through the handles of the woven sack and slung it over his shoulder. With the sack acting as a buffer—and thick clothing underneath—he didn’t have to worry about being pricked by the husks.
This setup was much faster than carrying the load together. By the time they reached the wild pumpkin patch, the sun was still visible in the sky.
There was no time to haul the pumpkins back that day. Although the sun was still out, the light was already fading, and they still had over an hour of walking ahead. Making it home before full dark would already be a win.
Even so, Tang Jiao picked out a nice-looking pumpkin and had An’an place it into the basket. They would at least bring one back to steam for dinner.
An’an happily agreed—after all, he wanted to eat it too—and hugged the pumpkin tightly the entire way, not complaining about the weight at all.
Sure enough, by the time they finally returned to the cave, dusk had already fallen.