The wild pear tree was more than three hundred meters away.
Li Suisui followed the navigation that had suddenly appeared before her eyes, carrying Li Niannian along as they made their way.
As soon as Li Niannian saw the wild pears, she exclaimed, “Pears! Sister, how did you know there’d be good stuff here?”
“Just guessed.”
“Sister, you’re amazing! You guessed it right. But these pears are so high up—how are we supposed to pick them?”
The wild pear tree still had quite a few fruits, but they hung high on the branches, clearly abandoned by others—or they wouldn’t have been left for them to find.
“Watch me.”
Li Suisui had grown up in an orphanage, so climbing trees and taking bird eggs was nothing new.
In just a few swift movements, she had climbed onto the round main branch of the pear tree.
“Sister, you’re incredible!”
Li Niannian gestured excitedly from below, while Li Suisui could only roll her eyes.
“Keep your voice down. Don’t attract anyone. There aren’t many pears here to begin with.”
Li Niannian immediately covered her mouth. “Okay, I won’t talk.”
Li Suisui reached for the nearest wild pear and plucked it.
It felt hard in her hand, with a rough skin. She wasn’t sure if it would taste good. She took a bite and promptly spat it out.
“Yuck! So sour and bitter. Not good at all.”
She didn’t notice that Li Niannian down below was swallowing hard. “Sister, that’s a pear! How can you just spit it out?”
“Because it’s not tasty.”
“No way it’s not tasty! Give it here, I’ll try.”
“Wait, I’ll pick one for you.”
“No need—you can just give me the one you have in your hand.”
“All right, catch it.”
Li Niannian caught it and quickly bit into the pear.
“Not bad at all! I think it’s delicious—I like it.”
“This hard, sour, bitter taste is delicious?”
“Yes! The pears we had before all tasted like this. Have you ever eaten a better one, Sister?”
Well, she had… back in modern times. But she couldn’t say that now.
“Sister, I really like these pears. Pick more for me, please.”
Originally, Li Suisui didn’t intend to pick more, but seeing Li Niannian’s eager expression, she climbed back up and continued plucking.
Since her little sister liked them, she might as well get a good amount.
She couldn’t stop until she had collected half a basket full.
After climbing down, she switched on her “search mode” again, scanning her mind for anything useful—but found nothing further.
The time was getting late. She took Li Niannian and left the mountain, picking a few shepherd’s purse plants at the foot before heading home.
She needed to cook early tonight—no delaying.
When they arrived, Wang Xiulian was standing at the door, looking around.
“I was wondering why you two weren’t back yet. Didn’t you go gather wild vegetables? What did you pick? Show me.”
Li Niannian ran ahead. “Mother, we didn’t just pick shepherd’s purse—we also got lots of wild pears.”
“Wild pears? You went deep into the mountains?”
“No, we were just not far from the mountain foot.”
“How could there be pear trees at the foot of the mountain? If there were, someone would have already picked them all.”
“Mother, we really picked them at the mountain foot. The pears were just a bit high up, so Sister climbed the tree to get them.”
Inside, Li Erzhu called out loudly, “Xiulian, don’t make it hard for the kids. I know the pear tree they mean—it really grows at the mountain foot.”
“Earlier when I went up the mountain to collect firewood, I saw it too. The easily reachable pears were gone, though. How did you pick any?”
“It was Sister. She climbed the bare tree in a few quick moves and plucked the wild pears one by one. Father, Mother, you wouldn’t believe it—she’s amazing.”
Hearing Li Niannian’s endless chatter, Li Suisui felt both happy and amused. Her little sister clearly adored her, and she loved being praised—heh, so happy!
Li Suisui had Li Niannian wash the shepherd’s purse while she planned to rinse them again and mix with garlic as a salad.
As for the one and a half jin of pork, she intended to stir-fry it with the leftover cabbage from yesterday.
Fearing that Wang Xiulian would nag, she didn’t cook dry rice today, instead making some thin porridge.
Worried it wouldn’t fill them up, she steamed a few corn buns as well.
Even with all this, Wang Xiulian wasn’t completely satisfied. But never mind—so long as the food made them happy.
When stir-frying the pork today, she added extra cabbage, and the one and a half jin of pork yielded two big bowls.
She divided it into three portions: a slightly bigger portion for the first household, as they had more people and Li Laotou and Lin Guiying still lived there; a smaller portion for the third household; and, for the second household—her own family—she kept a bit more for herself.
She brought the dishes in and wanted Li Erzhu and Wang Xiulian to start eating, but they refused, insisting on waiting for the others to return.
Reluctantly, she kept the food warm in the pot.
The Li family old house was at the center of the village. Neighbors surrounded them, but each household had its own yard.
At this moment, the first household of the Li family sat at two tables eating.
At the first table, Li Laotou and Lin Guiying sat at the head, with Li Dazhu and Zhang Chune’er on either side, followed by 16-year-old Li Hong, 13-year-old Li Sen, and 9-year-old Li Lin.
At the second table sat Li Sanzhu, Li Lanzhi, and their two sons: Li Fu, 8, and Li Gui, 5.
Li Gui, being small and lively, was trying to join the first table.
“Grandpa, Grandma, you’re eating!”
The enthusiastic Zhang Chune’er immediately got up. “Oh, it’s Suisui and Niannian! Come sit and eat quickly.”
“Big Auntie, no thanks—we’ll eat later when we get home.”
Lin Guiying frowned. “At this time, you’re just coming for food? Sit down at once. Yueyue, go get bowls and chopsticks for your two younger sisters.”
“Yes, Grandma, I’ll go right away.”
Li Suisui looked at the table. The food wasn’t much: a plate of pickles, a few corn buns, and a pot of mixed fish and radish soup.
“Grandma, really, we didn’t come to eat. We came to deliver something.”
“Deliver what?”
Li Suisui put down the basket on her back and took out the stir-fried pork with cabbage, offering it to Zhang Chune’er.
“Big Auntie, I cooked this. I brought some over to give Grandpa and Grandma a little extra dish.”
Zhang Chune’er saw the generous amount of meat and immediately refused. “Oh my, this is quite a lot. We can’t accept it.”
“No, this is specifically for the first household. Big Auntie, you have to accept it.”
“Accept what? Take it back quickly. Your father and mother need it more.”
“Grandma, don’t worry about my parents. There’s still plenty left at home.”
“You only bought half a jin of meat yesterday. There’s already so much in this bowl. How much could possibly be left?”
“Actually, I bought another jin of meat today.”
Lin Guiying suddenly stood up. “What? You bought more meat? Are you planning to live like this forever?”
Li Suisui deliberately puckered up. “Grandma, why are you scolding me? I went to the town to sell seafood and earned a little money. I thought about how hard you and Grandpa have worked all these years, and how everyone helped when Father was injured.
So I bit the bullet and bought another jin of meat, hoping to let our whole family enjoy it.
Sob sob, I just meant well.”