Chapter 19:
Luo Zhi’er put the things away in the room and locked the door.
She took Miaomiao and Li Sanmao to the place where he had set traps for hunting.
The three climbed up the northwest hillside ringed around Niuwei that they had seen yesterday, climbing for almost two or three hours…
Their feet were almost blistered…
Just after leaving the house, they met quite a few villagers on the road: some going to the fields for farm work, some carrying firewood, and some busy in the garden plots beside houses…
Seeing Li Sanmao, for once, bringing his fat wife along.
The three held hands, with little Miaomiao pulled in the middle, lifted up by her parents, laughing with eyes curved like crescent moons.
She opened her eyes wide and rubbed them, feeling it a bit unbelievable.
This Luo Zhi’er, whenever she ran into people in the village, never even talked to them!
They had thought she had a personality problem, or maybe something wrong with her brain. Li Sanmao was such a fine figure of a man, how could he take a liking to her?
Probably just to repay that Old Man Luo!
Village Chief Li Zhengxin’s wife came back from washing clothes in the river, carrying a wooden basin.
“Yo! Sanmao, where are you all headed…”
“Hehe, Aunt Yinxing, we’re going up the mountain for a stroll. Miaomiao’s mother was bored staying home, so I brought them up to get some fresh air…”
“Aiyo, Sanmao really dotes on his wife!” Aunt Yinxing glanced at Luo Zhi’er and teased.
Everyone knew Luo Zhi’er had recently fallen into the river and her health wasn’t great. Staying at Old Li Family meant waiting on the whole family for food and drink, enduring hardship and aggravation!
Luo Zhi’er smiled sweetly and called out, “Aunt Yinxing, you’re going to the river to wash clothes?”
“Yeah, hehe.”
Luo Zhi’er’s round face didn’t look all that pretty.
But her sweet smile gave a really nice feeling.
This young couple was nowhere like what that old woman Zhao Xiaomei had spread around.
What mismatched pair, Luo Zhi’er greedy for food and the whole family disliking her, the two of them just making do together or whatever!
This time falling into the river, and then that incident with Li Daniu, she probably wanted to die of shame!
Zhao Xiaomei’s meaning was that her mother-in-law forced her man to divorce her! Truly pitiful, but understandable too. Sanmao must have been furious!
Unexpectedly, their feelings were pretty good. This Luo Zhi’er was quite polite too. Before, she just kept her head down working and didn’t really interact with people!
After walking a few steps, they saw Zhao Licun’s old mother, over eighty, shakily carrying water.
When going up the little slope, her legs wobbled badly, and she was about to tip backward with the bucket and fall…
Li Sanmao quickly ran over to support her and took the carrying pole. “Old Lady Zhao, let me do it!”
“Eh, it’s Sanmao! What a good child!”
Old Lady Zhao looked quite kindly, with a bit of teary eyes…
Luo Zhi’er also ran over with Miaomiao and pulled her up together…
“Grandma Zhao, be careful. Miaomiao will help you.”
“Eh, good girl Miaomiao.”
Luo Zhi’er thought, old people were just so pitiful, their bodies failing them.
They couldn’t earn silver and became a nuisance. Children had their own things to do and couldn’t take care of everything.
Neighbors in the countryside, help when you can!
Li Sanmao refilled the water bucket at the riverside and carried it to her door to pour into the water jar…
Miaomiao took the wooden ladle and trotted over to join her father…
She supported Old Lady Zhao until they reached her home.
Luo Zhi’er saw that it seemed only she lived in her house. Turns out her old man had passed away two years ago, and she still lived in a cogongrass house.
Speaking of her old man, Old Lady Zhao choked up even more. “A lifetime of bickering, life and death struggles, only in old age did I realize it was better when the old man was around!”
She could only comfort her, telling her not to go, and later have Sanmao come back in the afternoon to fill her water jar…
Old Lady Zhao nodded repeatedly…
Then the few of them headed up the mountain. When they reached the mountain, Li Sanmao put Miaomiao in the bamboo basket on his back just like Luo Zhi’er had.
Luo Zhi’er wanted to see if there were any mushrooms or such to pick; it was better than staying home.
Along the way, they picked a few turtle mushrooms, buckwheat mushrooms, red mushrooms…
Miaomiao shouted from the bamboo basket: “Mom, there’s one here, another over there. Wow, there’s a really fat one under that pine tree…”
Luo Zhi’er was spun around by Miaomiao’s directions. “Where?”
“Under the tree!”
“Yay! Such a big one!” Luo Zhi’er, plump and struggling, squatted down, panting as she pulled it out. A bit of joy showed in her eyes, like a child who had never seen the world…
Li Sanmao shook his head…
He had brought two little friends out…
The few of them were drenched in sweat. While resting, Luo Zhi’er wove sun hats for the three of them…
Rough man Li Sanmao had laughter in his eyes. “Hehe! Thanks, wife!”
Luo Zhi’er’s face reddened, and she huffed, “Husband, aren’t you being too polite!”
“Hahaha!” Li Sanmao laughed toward the sky.
Luo Zhi’er rolled her eyes and waddled off to pick mushrooms…
Li Sanmao only realized today that his fat wife was so fun!
Luo Zhi’er thought about how hard hunting was for him, and now she knew even the trap-setting spot was so far…
One could imagine how tough it was for him to carry back something as heavy as a wild boar.
“Wife, are you tired? Let’s rest a bit more!”
He thought his wife was so fat, climbing the mountain must be exhausting. She had never set foot on this hillside before…
“Not bad. I’m so fat, I need more exercise.”
Li Sanmao saw that today at the pig lung soup she only drank a little broth. Was she losing weight?
“Wife, being thin is nice to look at, but I don’t think so. Don’t starve yourself for weight loss…”
“Wife, actually, however you are, I like you! Hehe!”
He scratched the roots of his hair.
Damn, she was actually a bit moved by him again.
“Wife, what’s wrong? Why do you look a bit silly?”
“Husband, no! I’m losing weight for health reasons. I get out of breath climbing mountains, tired from work, and at night I feel like I might suffocate if not careful…”
So serious. He had never seen her mention this in front of him before. He hadn’t considered it, too careless.
“Mm, that’s a problem. Wife, however you want to lose weight, I can cooperate with you. At night I’ll stay alert too and keep you company!”
“Mm, thanks.”
“Wife, why be polite with me?”
As the two chatted, they reached halfway up the mountain. She saw a patch of short, thin, dense wild bamboo forest over by the trees—that was wild bamboo.
Thinking there might be wild bamboo shoots, she pushed aside leaves and branches and went through the forest…
Hey! Wild bamboo shoots stir-fried with cured meat, or stewed in soup—they’re so delicious!
Sure enough, inside there were many thin wild bamboo shoots. She went up and pinched the tips—quite tender.
Li Sanmao also carried Miaomiao over, set down the bamboo basket. “Wife, these bamboo shoots are too thin. They taste numb; usually folks don’t eat this stuff!”
“Miaomiao’s father, these bamboo shoots need to be blanched in water, soaked overnight in salt, then dried—they won’t be numb anymore!”
“Like that?”
He remembered pulling some back when hunting before.
His mother threw them away, saying he couldn’t hunt anything worthwhile and brought this to embarrass people—even pigs in the pen wouldn’t eat it…
He never pulled any again…
Li Sanmao joined her in pulling them up. After several, he saw red rashes on his wife’s hands.
He frowned.
“Wife, these shoots have prickles. They sting the hands when pulling. You and Miaomiao rest under the tree. My skin is rough and thick; let me do it…”
Li Sanmao said.
He looked at little Miaomiao, who was also helping. Her elbow, sleeves rolled up, was red…
Luo Zhi’er wasn’t one to sit idle; seeing shoots, she couldn’t resist pulling them…
“No, I like pulling shoots.”
“Miaomiao, you go rest under the tree. Mom and Dad will be done soon…”
“Alright!” Miaomiao’s hands were small and tender; being pricked by it in summer was really uncomfortable…
In no time, they cleared the wild bamboo shoots around the bamboo forest, filling the snake skin bag and tying it tight with a vine found nearby…
Luckily she brought a bag. She asked Li Sanmao if going down the mountain was still this way.
Li Sanmao nodded puzzledly. She found a grass patch by the roadside, put the snake skin bag in the grass, and covered it with some dry leaves.
This wild bamboo shoots they did eat around here, just a bit far.
During the recent busy farming season, these wild bamboo shoots didn’t taste great; many got stomach issues from eating them, so few came specifically to pull them…
Li Sanmao put Miaomiao on his back and set off again…
After walking over half a shichen, they finally reached the trap spot.
Luo Zhi’er looked from afar and saw something colorful tied to the rope on the branches, with a long tail, still flapping…
Li Sanmao quickly ran over, and Luo Zhi’er pulled Miaomiao along right behind!
“Husband, what is it?”
“It’s a golden pheasant!”
A golden pheasant was of course not as valuable as a wild boar; probably no one would buy it in town. But good for eating at home, making soup…
A tooth sacrifice…
“Yay! Daddy is awesome!”
Miaomiao cheered.
“Pretty good, we have meat to eat again!”
Luo Zhi’er said too. Li Sanmao felt extremely satisfied. If it were his mother, she’d say this wasn’t even enough for a tooth sacrifice.
Not worth much money, all that effort, and still have to cook for him…
Even so, what reached his and Miaomiao’s and wife’s stomachs was very little.
The later traps weren’t far; in half a little while, they saw a pile of game on the ground.
One golden pheasant, one rabbit, one wild chicken; the other two traps empty.
Though all small wild game, still a decent haul—just not sure if it’d meet Zhou Shi’s standards.
Li Sanmao rebound the ropes anew, and the three prepared to head back.
Reaching the hilltop, looking down, it was refreshing…
Luo Zhi’er pointed to the grassland on the mountain’s back side and asked: “Husband, what’s that place?”
Why was all the land there abandoned into wasteland?
