The next day, before dawn had fully broken, Ding Lan got up and woke Ding Qiao as well.
Using the leftover bone soup from the previous day, she cooked two bowls of noodles. After the sisters finished eating, they put on their back baskets, grabbed their hoes, and headed toward the back mountain.
The last time Ding Lan had gone to the back mountain, she had noticed that the sweet potatoes were almost fully mature. If they were not dug up soon, she was afraid that a few days of rain would soak them and cause them to rot.
The reason she and Ding Qiao had gone up the mountain early in the morning was because the summer sun was simply unbearable. If they waited until midday to work under the blazing sun, the two of them would probably suffer heatstroke.
When they set out, it was not even four o’clock in the morning yet. The entire village was quiet, and many people were still deep in their dreams.
The two sisters followed the mountain path uphill. As they walked, the dew from the grass gradually soaked through their trousers.
The village and the vegetable plots were quite far apart, and transportation was another problem. Everything had to be carried down the mountain by hand.
Ding Lan had no intention of digging up all the sweet potatoes in a single day. She planned to make use of the short period of time in the early morning each day and dig up as many as she could, then gradually carry them all down the mountain over several days.
Fortunately, the Ding family’s vegetable plots were not very large.
Ding Lan picked up her hoe and began working diligently.
There was actually a certain technique to digging up sweet potatoes. She could not simply hack away at the soil randomly. She had to be careful with every strike of the hoe, because if she hit the wrong spot, she could easily damage the sweet potatoes.
Farmers usually stored sweet potatoes in underground cellars to eat during the winter. Damaged sweet potatoes were difficult to preserve, so they had to be eaten as soon as possible. Anything that could not be finished would have to be fed to the poultry.
After ruining several sweet potatoes, Ding Lan finally figured out the proper technique.
Ding Lan worked in front, digging the sweet potatoes out of the soil, while Ding Qiao followed behind her, shaking off the dirt and placing the sweet potatoes into their back baskets.
As for the sweet potato vines and leaves, Ding Lan did not want them. She simply tossed them along the edge of the field. Later, when they went down the mountain, she would ask around the village. Whoever wanted them could come up the mountain and collect them themselves.
Before long, Ding Lan’s back basket was full.
She planned to carry the sweet potatoes home first. Ding Qiao also put a load of sweet potatoes into a cloth sack and carried it down with her.
After all, the forest here was not safe. Ding Lan was certainly not comfortable leaving Ding Qiao alone in the mountains, so it was better for them to go down together.
Ding Lan carried the basket full of sweet potatoes down the mountain.
The weight was no joke.
Fortunately, this body had spent years doing farm work, so it was not too difficult for her to manage.
After making two trips up and down the mountain, Ding Lan was already so exhausted that she could barely speak.
After Ding Qiao had helped her carry the sweet potatoes down twice, Ding Lan left her at home.
She only needed to carry this final load home today.
As for the remaining sweet potatoes, she estimated that two more trips tomorrow would be enough to finish harvesting them all.
Ding Lan sat down beside the field to rest.
Fortunately, she had gotten up early today. Even so, the sun was already strong enough to make people feel drained.
She was just about to stand up and carry the last basket of sweet potatoes down the mountain when a group of people suddenly emerged from the forest.
There were only five or six of them, all dressed simply in short work clothes, each carrying a back basket as they made their way down the mountain.
Ding Lan took a closer look.
There was a familiar face among them.
It was Ding Shouxin, Auntie Ding’s son.
She did not recognize the others. Judging from their appearance, they did not seem to be from Ding Family Village.
When Ding Shouxin saw her, he waved to the others before carrying his basket over.
“Ding Lan, digging up sweet potatoes?”
Ding Shouxin and Ding Lan had played together since childhood, so they could be considered childhood sweethearts. Naturally, they spoke to each other quite casually.
Ding Lan smiled and answered, “Yeah.”
Ding Shouxin’s family had several mu of good farmland, and he was the only man in the household. Normally, he was so busy working in the fields that he barely had time to catch his breath.
So how did he have time to go into the mountains today?
Curious, Ding Lan asked, “Why did you go into the mountains today?”
Ding Shouxin replied, “The town has been buying medicinal herbs at high prices lately. I’m going into the mountains with some friends from the other villages to gather herbs. We can exchange them for some silver. We’re just getting ready to head back to the village now.”
He glanced at Ding Lan’s completely packed basket.
Then he put down his own basket and took the basket full of sweet potatoes from her.
“Let’s go. We can head down the mountain together.”
Ding Lan looked at him and sincerely thanked him.
“Thank you so much. I really don’t have any strength left.”
She smiled wryly and was just about to pick up Ding Shouxin’s basket when she glanced inside.
She froze.
Ding Shouxin noticed that she had suddenly stopped moving and was puzzled.
Following her gaze, he explained, “This is a wild chicken I just caught in the mountains.”
Ding Lan pointed at the branch tied around the chicken’s legs and suppressed the excitement threatening to show on her face.
“Where did you get this branch?”
Ding Shouxin scratched his head.
“When I caught the wild chicken, I just pulled a small branch from nearby and used it to tie its legs. Is there something wrong with it?”
Ding Lan plucked the lush green leaves from the branch and examined them carefully.
These leaves looked far too much like the leaves of the chili pepper plants from her previous life.
Could it be that chili peppers already existed in this era?
Whether they were or not, she absolutely had to go take a look!
Heaven knew how desperately she wanted to eat chili peppers right now.
With a hint of urgency in her voice, she asked, “Do you remember where you picked this?”
Ding Shouxin thought for a moment before answering uncertainly, “I was busy catching the wild chicken at the time, so I don’t remember the exact location.”
Ding Lan’s eyes immediately dimmed.
But then Ding Shouxin changed his tone.
“However, I remember roughly where it was. Maybe we can go back and look for it.”
Only then did Ding Lan breathe a sigh of relief.
She hurriedly asked, “Then are you going into the mountains again tomorrow?”
Ding Shouxin nodded.
“I’ll be going into the mountains for the next few days. But we have to leave very early. We’ll set out during the Yin hour.”
Ding Lan nodded with a smile.
“That’s fine. I’ll wait for you at the foot of the mountain tomorrow.”
Finally, she had a lead on the chili peppers!
Ding Lan felt relieved as she picked up Ding Shouxin’s basket and carried it herself.
The two of them followed the mountain path down together.
Ding Shouxin’s house was relatively close to the back mountain.
After putting his own basket down in his courtyard, he helped Ding Lan carry her basket all the way home.
Once she returned home, Ding Lan could not stop thinking about the fact that she would be going into the mountains tomorrow to look for chili peppers.
She was so excited that she could hardly fall asleep.
She had previously thought that life without chili peppers would be unbearably difficult.
Who would have thought that her wish would actually come true?
After all this time, she finally had a lead on where to find them.
Unfortunately, judging from the leaves she had seen today, it was probably a young chili plant that had not produced any fruit yet.
If it had already borne peppers, she could have simply tasted one and immediately known whether it was really a chili pepper.
Ding Lan tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling asleep.
The next day, the moment the chickens in the neighboring courtyard began to crow, Ding Lan quickly got out of bed.
The chickens at Auntie Liu’s house could practically be considered a natural alarm clock.
They were incredibly punctual.
After quickly washing up, Ding Lan grabbed the oil-crackling cakes she had prepared the night before, slung her back basket over her shoulders, and headed toward the foot of the mountain.
When Ding Lan arrived, Ding Shouxin had not come yet.
A short while later, Ding Shouxin finally arrived.
The two of them followed the mountain path uphill.
As for the sweet potatoes that had yet to be harvested, Ding Lan had completely forgotten about them.
Right now, the most important thing was finding chili peppers!
Before long, Ding Lan and Ding Shouxin met up with the people from the neighboring village.
Although the entire group consisted of men, none of them objected to Ding Lan temporarily joining them.
The group carried their back baskets into the mountains.
The sky had only just begun to brighten, and visibility was still poor.
Everyone chatted and laughed as they walked deeper into the forest.
From their conversation, Ding Lan learned that the leader of the group was Ding Shouxin’s brother-in-law, Xue Yongnian.
He was also the one who had brought back the news about the town buying medicinal herbs at high prices.
Besides him, there was an older man from Xue Family Village whose hair was already more than half gray. He was the oldest member of the group.
When he was young, he had worked as an apprentice at a medicine shop, helping prepare and dispense herbs, so he could recognize many common medicinal plants.
The remaining two men had come from other villages. Both were young men.
The group eventually reached an old tree that looked as though it had stood there for many years.
They spread out and began searching for medicinal herbs separately.
They agreed to meet back beneath this tree at noon.
Ding Lan followed Ding Shouxin farther ahead, heading directly toward the place where he had caught the wild chicken the previous day.
The problem was that all the trees in the mountains looked more or less alike.
Being able to correctly identify the direction was the biggest challenge.
Ding Shouxin had a rough idea of which way they needed to go, so the two of them could only search as they walked.
They wandered around the small patch of forest for quite some time, but still found nothing.
Ding Shouxin wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“I came here yesterday. It should have been somewhere around here where I caught it.”
Ding Lan had already been following Ding Shouxin around the forest for a long time.
She was so exhausted that she was panting heavily and could barely speak.
She could only lean against a tree trunk and recover her strength.
Seeing that Ding Lan was almost exhausted to the point of collapsing, Ding Shouxin suggested, “Ding Lan, why don’t you sit here and rest for a while? I’ll look around nearby.”
Ding Lan helplessly waved her hand.
“Okay. You go ahead. I really don’t have any strength left.”
She took one of the oil-crackling cakes from her basket and handed it to him.
“Eat this. There’s pork crackling inside.”
Ding Shouxin was hungry as well.
The flatbreads prepared by his family had no filling, and after all the walking, he had already digested them completely.
He accepted the cake and continued searching as he ate.
Ding Lan also desperately needed to replenish her energy.
She found a relatively dry patch of ground, sat down, and began eating one of the oil-crackling cakes.
After finishing the cake in her hand, she did not wander around.
There were countless trees in the mountains, and an ordinary person could easily become lost in the forest.
If she had not been so physically exhausted, she would never have agreed to stay here alone.
Ever since entering the forest, Ding Lan had followed Ding Shouxin closely, afraid that she might fall behind.
Agreeing to separate just now had been a decision made out of necessity.
Not only had she run out of strength, but more importantly, she had clearly begun slowing Ding Shouxin down.
After sitting on the ground and resting for a while, Ding Lan still did not dare move around casually.
She simply waited for Ding Shouxin to return and come get her.
A while passed, but Ding Shouxin’s figure still did not appear.
She had no idea where he had gone.
The surrounding environment was completely unfamiliar to her, and Ding Lan could not help feeling somewhat uneasy.
Her instincts told her that the forest was far too quiet.
Ding Lan picked up a branch about the size of her fist and leaned her back against the trunk of a large tree, cautiously observing her surroundings.
Soon, she noticed that something seemed to be moving in the bushes not far ahead.
Goosebumps immediately rose all over Ding Lan’s body.
Please don’t let it be what she was thinking it was!