Chapter 64:
After eating some wild strawberries and drinking some water, the bitterness in her mouth from the traditional Chinese medicine was gone.
They followed the spot from last time where they picked termite mushrooms, vaguely picking some termite mushrooms that had regrown according to her memory.
Luo Zhi’er taught Miaomiao to cover the picked spots with soil again.
Miaomiao asked curiously: “Mom, why do we have to cover it like this again?”
“Because this way, the mushrooms that haven’t grown yet will grow again. In a few days, we can come pick them again!”
“Oh!” Miaomiao covered the soil following the method she taught.
On the way, they encountered acorns, and Luo Zhi’er also picked them up and put them in the snake skin bag.
She picked the ones on the trees too, climbing all the way to the mountain peak along the path.
Unknowingly, mother and daughter arrived in front of a wild hawthorn tree. Luo Zhi’er looked up…
The tree wasn’t big, but it grew very tall. Only the hawthorns at the top were ripe, in clusters of bright red.
Last time, because the fruits were still green, she hadn’t noticed. This time, the bright red ones at the very top were quite eye-catching…
Because it wasn’t August yet, the places at the bottom with less sunshine were still green fruits, which made her couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.
“Mom, what kind of fruit is this?”
“This is hawthorn.”
Miaomiao’s pleasant voice said again: “Mom, this hawthorn fruit looks so delicious. Miaomiao wants it!”
Luo Zhi’er put down the bamboo basket and observed it. This tree couldn’t support her weight…
Today she didn’t bring the sickle, so she could only find a longer branch with a hook to hook down the hooked red hawthorns…
After reaching for a long time, she was panting heavily from exhaustion and only hooked down two big clusters. The other places weren’t ripe yet.
She couldn’t reach the top… She could only look at Miaomiao apologetically and leave, with regret…
Miaomiao picked a red hawthorn and ate it. It was so sour that she grimaced. “Miaomiao, eat less of this. Mom will make candied hawthorn for you tonight.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Mother and daughter soon arrived at the place where they picked the bird’s nest last time.
The bird’s nest had long been picked clean by her. Luo Zhi’er pulled Miaomiao to look at the cliff edge. At their feet were rolling, pitch-black Big Black Mountain.
“Mom, is Dad hunting inside Big Black Mountain?”
Luo Zhi’er nodded: “Possible!”
They went up from behind their house, in the middle of the half-moon of Niuwei.
That day with Li Sanmao, they went up from the northwest corner of Niuwei, needing to follow the main road further into the mountain and climb up, with a small slope path going down…
Luo Zhi’er didn’t go toward the side leading to Big Black Mountain. She observed the general direction.
She decided to go along the back slope in the opposite direction from the mountain’s backing. Going straight down would lead toward Luojia Village, which they had seen from the mountain peak last time.
Miaomiao stood at the cliff edge and shouted loudly a few times: “Dad, where are you?”
The echo came back from the distant mountains: “Dad, where are you…”
“I’m Miaomiao!”
The echo came back through the air again. A flock of little birds flew out chirping from the forest, circling…
Miaomiao said disappointedly: “Mom, Dad didn’t answer me.”
“Sigh, if Miaomiao could grow wings like the little birds and fly, that would be great. Then Miaomiao could fly to Dad when she misses him, and Dad could pick fruits for Mom and Miaomiao!”
Luo Zhi’er looked amused at the little foodie. Her little mouth was pouting enough to hang an oil pot. She touched her little hair bun…
“Miaomiao misses Dad. We’ll see him when we go home tonight!”
After resting enough, Luo Zhi’er took Miaomiao through the wild bamboo forest, pine tree forest, thorny vines, and messy forest. In the pine tree forest and mixed tree forest, they picked some termite mushrooms, chicken feces yellow mushrooms, and so on.
Although this was an ancient rural area, and some homes were poor, everyone would come to the mountain to find food. Therefore, occasionally in the mountain, she could still hear people talking and digging sounds. She guessed they were villagers coming to forage…
Some digging yams and herbs, picking mushrooms, catching rabbits to eat.
