Chapter 102: August Melon
She carried the basket and ran over.
As expected, she saw a chestnut tree.
The wild chestnuts weren’t very big, and the outermost layer was covered by a prickly shell.
That prickly ball looked like a sea urchin and was also quite sharp.
It was the season for chestnuts to ripen, and many prickly balls had fallen to the ground.
There was no need to climb the tree; one could pick one up from the ground and see the crack on its surface, where two or three small chestnuts were packed closely together.
Although these chestnuts were small, they looked very plump.
For some prickly balls with wider cracks, chestnuts had even fallen out, and all they had to do was pick them up.
Yun Jiao squatted down and, imitating her Ninth Brother, stepped on a prickly ball with the sole of her shoe twice, squeezing the chestnuts out.
Yun Jiao grinned and picked up the small chestnuts, placing them in the basket.
While picking chestnuts, Yun Xiao Jiu reminded her, “Jiaojiao, be careful! Getting hit by a falling chestnut is very painful.”
Not feeling reassured, he used a branch to nudge many of the fallen prickly balls further away from the chestnut tree and then deposited them on the ground some distance away.
“Jiaojiao, come here.”
Yun Jiao walked over, and he pointed at the prickly balls on the ground.
“You handle these, and I’ll go pick up some more over there.”
Yun Jiao grumbled displeasedly, “I’m not that clumsy, okay? I won’t get hit.”
Yun Xiao Jiu gently touched her hair, “You’re a good girl.”
Yun Jiao: Alright.
She was actually quite fierce and could catch a lot of prey; why did her older brothers always treat her like a child?
Yun Xiao Jiu went under the chestnut tree himself. He hadn’t been picking for long when a scream was heard.
Yun Jiao immediately looked over.
“Ninth Brother!”
Yun Xiao Jiu, who had just seriously cautioned Yun Jiao, was hit by a chestnut prickly ball from the tree.
Fortunately, it hit his arm.
But it still hurt and caused him to bleed.
Yun Xiao Jiu hissed in pain, enduring it.
“Jiaojiao, don’t come over, I’m fine.”
His voice was clearly tinged with tears of pain.
Yun Jiao didn’t listen; she walked over to look at his arm and blew on it.
Yun Xiao Jiu said with a tearful voice, “Wuwu… it hurts so much.”
He was still a child after all; he had only pretended to be an adult because he felt he was the older brother and needed to take good care of Yun Jiao.
“Brother is so clumsy, you weren’t careful yourself.”
Yun Xiao Jiu sniffled, tears welling up in his eyes, stubbornly saying, “I’ll be very careful next time.”
“Then I’ll be with you, Brother. You are not allowed to refuse.”
Yun Jiao put her hands on her hips, acting very domineering.
Yun Xiao Jiu: …Alright.
The two children moved all the prickly balls from the ground to the side.
After they finished collecting them, they opened them one by one.
The pile of prickly balls looked large, but after opening them, the chestnuts inside barely filled half of the basket.
The two of them stared at the prickly balls on the tree.
Yun Xiao Jiu bravely said, “I’ll shake the tree.”
Yun Jiao: “With your strength, you can’t even shake the tree.”
That chestnut tree was quite large.
Yun Xiao Jiu immediately deflated; he had the least strength in the family.
“You’re not allowed to go.”
Getting hit by those things falling down would hurt.
Yun Jiao: “I’m not going.”
She took out her slingshot and smiled proudly, “I’ll use this.”
She was strong and had good eyesight. After practicing with the slingshot for a while, her aim became exceptionally accurate. According to Eldest Brother, she was a born sharpshooter!
Yun Xiao Jiu: “I brought mine too.”
Yun Chen Nan treated all his younger brothers equally; Yun Xiaowu and the younger ones below him had all been made slingshots.
The two of them picked up a pile of small stones, then pulled back the slingshot and released the stones in one fluid motion.
*Swish*…
Yun Jiao hit her first shot, aiming at a branch. The branch shook violently, and several prickly balls immediately fell.
Compared to her, Yun Xiao Jiu missed his first shot.
He pursed his small lips, unconvinced, and continued.
His second, third… several consecutive shots all missed.
Yun Xiao Jiu’s expression gradually became one of despair.
*Wuwu*… my sister is so much better than me.
Yun Jiao comforted him, “Brother, do you want me to teach you?”
Yun Xiao Jiu’s eyes welled up with tears, “No, I can do it myself.”
This time, he casually shot as if he had given up, and he hit it.
Yun Xiao Jiu: …
He felt like he was being bullied.
Yun Jiao: (OvO)
Didn’t he hit it? Why did it seem like Little Jiu Brother was even sadder?
Little Jiu Brother cried a lot, but he didn’t like being talked about; he would get angry if anyone did.
Third Brother said that Little Jiu Brother was turning angry from embarrassment.
The two of them worked like busy ants, picking up the fallen prickly balls and moving them aside, then continuing to open them to get the chestnuts.
They worked diligently like this until they filled a basket with chestnuts before they stopped.
Both of them were quite dirty, their originally fair little faces smudged with dust, and sweat streaks had formed prominent gray marks.
“Sister, drink some water.”
Yun Xiao Jiu handed her the water kettle.
Yun Jiao was indeed thirsty and drank a long gulp from the kettle.
“There’s not much water left.”
Yun Xiao Jiu: “I know of a spring here, let’s go get some water.”
“Leave the chestnuts here and hide them well.”
There was also an empty basket; they took it in case they encountered any good things.
Yun Xiao Jiu held the basket in one hand and held Yun Jiao’s little hand with the other as they walked forward.
“Ninth Brother, there are melons over there.”
After walking a distance, Yun Jiao spotted a type of melon hanging on the vines.
“It looks like an August Melon, let’s go take a look.”
The two walked over and found that it was indeed true; there were quite a few of them.
There was a nursery rhyme about August Melons: “August Melon, bursts in September, picked in October to coax the baby.”
The skin of the August Melon was light purple. The August Melons this month were not fully ripe yet and had a greenish hue.
When the August Melon is fully ripe, its skin cracks open, revealing a long strip of white pulp inside, though the pulp contains many seeds.
This thing was delicious but also a bit troublesome to eat.
“They don’t seem to be ripe yet.”
Yun Jiao: Disappointed.jpg
Yun Xiao Jiu couldn’t stand to see his sister disappointed, so he widened his eyes, “Let me look.”
Yun Jiao suddenly exclaimed with surprise, “I found one! There’s one over there that has a small crack.”
Yun Xiao Jiu: …I just started looking.
“Where?”
Even more unfortunately, Yun Xiao Jiu couldn’t see it in the direction she was pointing.
His eyesight wasn’t as good as his sister’s.
The August Melons grew on vines that were intertwined between two large trees. It was impossible to climb the trees even if they wanted to.
Yun Jiao’s slingshot wouldn’t work either; the vine with the August Melon was too thin and had some toughness.
They could only use a longer branch to hook the ripe August Melon and twist it.
*Plop*…
The melon fell down.
Yun Jiao picked it up and saw that it was a little larger than her palm. The crack in the middle wasn’t large, but it was edible.
Afterward, relying on her good eyesight, she found five more.
Then there were no more.
Yun Xiao Jiu comforted her, “Let’s come back in a while. The August Melons here will definitely be ripe then.”
Yun Jiao: “Okay!”
The two of them sat under the tree. As Yun Jiao was about to open a melon to eat, she suddenly heard the flapping of wings and the cry of a wild chicken.
