Chapter 230: Chapter 226: I’ve Seen It All Now

The villagers who had come to sell goods in the afternoon were gone. Everyone gathered around the brazier, sorting the dried mushrooms by type: big-foot mushrooms, porcini, morels…

The Zhou family’s three children came to help too. When Lin Lan saw how easily they could tell the big-foot mushrooms from the porcini, she laughed and said, “I’m not even as good as the kids.”

Xu Hongju said, “Cousin, as soon as kids in the mountains can walk, the older children take them up the slopes to forage for mushrooms. They know where all the good spots are and head there early every year to pick them clean.”

Lin Lan said to Wu Shufang, “Auntie, with this much stuff, we’ll need to borrow ten or so large burlap sacks and hire a few more mules to haul it all out. We already have two mules, but we’ll need your help with the rest.”

Wu Shufang smiled. “It’s no trouble at all. Only the production team has burlap sacks. I’ll have your uncle go get them right away.”

’Her family had harvested over a thousand pounds of winter squash this time. Once their eldest son sold it all, they’d have an income of several dozen yuan. If they could just make one more trip before the mountain passes were sealed for the winter, they could pay Little Lan back. And with some capital of their own, they could pay off their debt to the team next year…’

A little while later, the men from the families with mules that Zhou Dashan had summoned arrived. They settled on their wages with Lin Lan and agreed to set off for Shilian first thing in the morning.

Before dark, Zhou Xiangui came to Zhou Dashan’s house to ask Lin Lan about the policy of dividing collective land among individual households.

Lin Lan told him everything she could remember about the policies the work team had announced that day.

Zhou Dashan looked at Zhou Xiangui. “Uncle, when will Shishanling finally get to divide up the land?” ’Once the land is divided, we can clear new mountain plots and grow whatever we want.’

“SIGH!” Zhou Xiangui sighed. “We have to wait until the Lexing Team members have submitted their grain quotas next year. If things go well, the surrounding teams will start dividing their land. It will probably be another two years before it’s our turn.”

Wu Shufang said, “We’ve managed to get through so many years already. What’s another two?”

“Exactly! At least now we have something to look forward to, don’t we?” Zhou Xiangui said to Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang. “Life is hard for those of us deep in the mountains! The young men can’t even find wives. Families with daughters would rather marry them to a disabled man from the outside than to someone who lives here. You two are sharp. Help us look for a way out of this!”

His family was considered one of the better-off ones in Shishanling, yet even his grandsons were having trouble finding wives.

Lin Lan knew that even twenty or thirty years from now, these deep mountain areas would remain the most undeveloped places. She looked at Zhou Xiangui, who was not yet sixty but appeared to be in his seventies or eighties, and nodded readily. “Grandpa Zhou, rest assured, we’ll keep our eyes open.”

Zhou Xiangui smiled. “I’ll be counting on you, then. You’re busy, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Uncle, I’ll see you out,” Zhou Dashan said, walking him up the slope.

After dinner, Lin Lan and the others packed the sorted mountain goods into burlap sacks. In total, they filled more than ten of them.

Early the next morning, Wu Shufang and Xu Hongju got up to boil eggs and pan-fry some flatbreads for the group to eat on their journey.

After breakfast, Li Xiangyang and Lin Guoliang carried the sacks out from the main hall and set them down on the steps outside. The three hired men arrived, leading their mules. Everyone worked together to tie the sacks with rope, hoist them onto the packsaddles, and get ready to depart.

Wu Shufang then produced a bamboo basket filled with air-dried wild rabbit and pheasant she had bought at some point, telling Lin Lan to take it back for Old Li to try.

Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang had no choice but to accept the gift.

Wu Shufang and her husband, holding their grandson by the hand, walked Lin Lan, Li Xiangyang, Lin Guoliang, and Zhou Shitou up the slope. “Be careful on the road,” Wu Shufang told Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang. “And come visit us again when you have time.”

Li Xiangyang nodded cheerfully. “We will! And next year, you and Uncle must come to East Market for our wedding banquet.”

“Alright, we’ll definitely be there!” Wu Shufang and her husband agreed with a smile.

Lin Lan said her goodbyes to Wu Shufang’s family, and the group headed down toward the foot of the mountain.

Just as they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw Aunt Zhou standing by the path that led back up. With her was Zhou Qiaoyan, who wore a small satchel on her back. They were watching the group approach with wide, unsettling smiles.

The moment Zhou Qiaoyan saw Li Xiangyang, her eyes were glued to him.

Li Xiangyang shot her a cold glance, took Lin Lan’s hand, and continued walking.

“Shi Tou’s cousin! Shi Tou’s cousin!” Aunt Zhou called out, scurrying up to Lin Lan with a fawning smile. “Could I trouble you to take my Qiaoyan to East Market with you? You won’t have to worry about her once you get there. My family has a distant relative in the city, and she’ll go find them as soon as she arrives.”

Lin Lan looked her straight in the eye. “Where your daughter goes is her business. It has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

’I must have led a sheltered life,’ she thought. ’Across two lifetimes, I’ve never met anyone so shamelessly presumptuous.’

Zhou Shitou hurried over, frowning at the woman. “Aunt Zhou, how come I’ve never heard Uncle mention you have relatives in East Market?” ’If Uncle knew she was carrying on like this, he’d probably be angry enough to climb out of his grave.’

“Relatives in East Market? Who are you trying to kid?” one of the mule drivers sneered, looking at the mother and daughter with disdain.

Aunt Zhou ignored their jeers and turned back to Zhou Shitou. “We do! You just tell your cousin not to worry. She won’t have to look after Qiaoyan at all!”

Lin Guoliang shouted from up ahead, “Shi Tou, ignore her! We need to get a move on, or we won’t make it before dark.”

Aunt Zhou grabbed Zhou Shitou’s arm. “If you don’t take my Qiaoyan, I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

Seeing her chance, Zhou Qiaoyan ran in front of Lin Lan and dropped to her knees with a THUD. She looked up pitifully at Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang. “Cousin, I’m begging you! Please take me with you! I’ll remember your great kindness for the rest of my life! I’ll work like an ox in my next life to repay you.”

Lin Lan laughed, utterly exasperated. She stared coldly at the girl. “You…”

“Little Lan, let me handle this,” Li Xiangyang interrupted, stepping in front of her. His eyes were filled with murderous intent as he looked down at Zhou Qiaoyan, who was gazing up at him with a coy expression. In a low voice, he said, “If you dare follow us, this day next year will be the anniversary of your death.”

Zhou Qiaoyan’s face went white with terror, and she collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

Seeing this, Aunt Zhou rushed over. “Qiaoyan! What did they do to you?”

“Mom, let’s go,” Zhou Qiaoyan said, grabbing her mother’s hand. She pulled herself to her feet and dragged her away without another word.

Lin Guoliang watched them leave, then waved to Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang. “Let’s go!”

Li Xiangyang returned to Lin Lan’s side and gently adjusted her scarf. Taking her hand in one of his and the mule’s lead rope in the other, he started up the mountain path.

The group followed the winding mountain road up to the summit. There, they tied the mules to some trees and gave them the fodder they had brought along.

Lin Lan, Li Xiangyang, and the others sat down on the same large boulder where they had rested on their way in, catching their breath and eating their provisions.

Lin Guoliang looked at Li Xiangyang curiously. “Xiangyang, what on earth did you say to that girl?”

Li Xiangyang just smiled. “Nothing much. I just gave her a little scare.”

Zhou Shitou looked at Lin Lan, embarrassed. “Ever since my uncle passed away, Aunt Zhou has gotten more and more outrageous.”

Lin Lan smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Every family has a relative or two like that.”

Once both the people and the mules had eaten their fill, the group began their descent.

The group walked until dusk. Finally, they came down from the mountain and arrived outside the Lin family home. Lin Lan was the first one to step inside.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep