Chapter 68: Chapter 67: He Shouwu

“Sister Gaihua, those pickled cucumbers you brought over yesterday were delicious. He Lang liked them too. I still have some cucumbers in my plot. Could you teach me how to make them?”

Li Gaihua smiled and said, “It’s not hard at all. Just come over when you’re free, and I’ll teach you. I learned it from my mother.”

Xue Yue nodded. “I’ll come over another day.”

The hazelnuts and pine nuts at the base of the mountain had already been picked clean, so the two of them walked a little higher up.

Li Gaihua sighed. “The year Da Qiang and I were kicked out, it was right around this time. We had nothing to eat, so we came up the mountain to gather pine nuts and hazelnuts. We ate them for all three meals a day, treated them like proper meals until we were sick of them. For a few years after that, I couldn’t even bring myself to touch them. It was only in the last couple of years, because the kids like them, that I’ve slowly started eating them again.” Li Gaihua was full of emotion as she recalled those past events.

Xue Yue said, “Sister Gaihua, past hardships can also be a source of motivation. Look at you and Brother Daqiang now, aren’t you doing quite well?”

Li Gaihua nodded. “You’re right. When I think about the old days, my life now feels as sweet as honey.”

They spotted a hazelnut tree in a rocky area, and the ground was covered with fallen hazelnuts.

Li Gaihua called out to Xue Yue, “I don’t think anyone’s been here to gather yet! There are so many! Quick, let’s pick them up.”

Xue Yue quickly put her basket on the ground and squatted down to pick up the hazelnuts.

She soon filled half her basket. Xue Yue stood up and stretched her back. As she did, she inadvertently spotted a plant in a crevice of the rock. Its vines were very long, at least two or three meters, and where the stem met the root, a tuber-like object protruded. It looked like a sweet potato, but it was darker in color.

Xue Yue paused for a moment. She walked over and pulled the sweet-potato-like thing out. Once it was out, she saw that it was dark brown, a bit thinner than a sweet potato, but still somewhat similar in shape. Xue Yue didn’t recognize it, but she had a feeling it was some kind of medicinal herb, so she put it in her basket.

After gathering hazelnuts for a while longer, the two of them had picked the area under the tree clean.

Xue Yue was already sweating. “Sister Gaihua, how much have you gathered?”

“More than half a basket.”

“Let’s go back then. We can come back this afternoon.”

Li Gaihua nodded. “Alright. It’s about time to go back and make lunch anyway.”

The two of them came down from the mountain and went their separate ways home.

After returning home, Xue Yue emptied the contents of her basket into the courtyard. She picked up the sweet-potato-like thing and examined it again and again, but she still didn’t know what it was.

’Whatever.’ Xue Yue put it down and went to make lunch.

After eating and taking a short nap, she heard Li Gaihua calling for her again.

Xue Yue grabbed her basket and went out the door. She saw Li Gaihua with a little boy who looked to be about seven or eight years old. He was tanned dark by the sun, and a pair of sparkling black eyes stared at her.

“This is my son, Tie Dan. You don’t get out much, so you probably haven’t met him, right?” Li Gaihua said.

Xue Yue looked at Tie Dan and chuckled softly. “Mm, Tie Dan, is it? You’re very cute.”

Hearing Xue Yue’s praise, Tie Dan blushed with shyness, but his face was so dark you couldn’t tell.

Li Gaihua said, “He’s like a little black loach. I don’t know what happened. He was quite fair when he was little, but he just gets darker and darker as he grows.”

“It must be the sun. There’s nothing wrong with being dark; he looks healthy.” Tie Dan did look sturdy.

Li Gaihua laughed. “That’s true. You have no idea, his appetite is almost catching up to Da Qiang’s. People always say a growing boy will eat you out of house and home, and it’s absolutely right.”

Xue Yue agreed. “That’s certainly true.”

The three of them went up the mountain together. Tie Dan ran ahead, squatting to pick something up one moment, then plucking at something else the next. He was full of life.

When they reached a pine tree, they saw the three people from the cowshed.

The two elderly people were squatting on the ground gathering pine nuts, while the middle-aged man was chopping firewood.

Tie Dan had already squatted down and started gathering. “Mom, there are so many here! Come on, let’s pick them!”

Li Gaihua looked at the ground covered in pine nuts, then at the three people, and hesitated, not going forward to gather any.

Xue Yue pressed her lips together and didn’t move either.

The three people also saw Xue Yue and the others. They just stared for a moment, but no one spoke.

“Sister Gaihua, let’s keep looking somewhere else.” Xue Yue felt it was best to leave.

Li Gaihua nodded and called out to her son, “Tie Dan, we’re leaving.”

’Aren’t there a lot of pine nuts here? Where are we going now?’ Tie Dan looked up at them, a little confused.

The moment Zheng Guofeng saw Xue Yue, his hands stopped moving.

When he saw that they were about to leave, he couldn’t help but call out.

“It’s fine. Let’s all gather them together. This place doesn’t belong to us.”

Li Gaihua glanced at Xue Yue. After a moment’s thought, Xue Yue nodded.

Xue Yue said to Zheng Guofeng, “Thank you.”

Zheng Guofeng didn’t respond. He only glanced at Xue Yue before his gaze shifted to her belly, his eyes somewhat vacant.

Seeing his mom start to gather, Tie Dan was happy again and quickly began putting nuts into his basket.

Old Man Gu and Mrs. Gu had only glanced over when Xue Yue and the others arrived and hadn’t spoken to them at all.

The atmosphere was a bit quiet. The only sounds were them picking up nuts and an occasional cry of excitement from Tie Dan.

The two elderly people gathered for a while, then headed down the mountain.

Zheng Guofeng finished bundling the firewood as well. He looked at Xue Yue, his mouth opening and closing as if to speak. But seeing the others nearby, he ultimately said nothing and also went down the mountain.

Only after Zheng Guofeng had left did Xue Yue let out a soft breath. ’Is it just my imagination, or is there something not quite right about the way that man looks at me?’

When He Lang returned in the evening, he found that Xue Yue wasn’t home. He saw the hazelnuts piled in the courtyard and guessed she must have gone up the mountain.

Just as He Lang was about to go look for her, he noticed the object lying next to the hazelnuts. He walked closer for a look, and his eyes instantly widened.

“He Shouwu?”

He Lang picked the object up to examine it closely. It was indeed He Shouwu. He looked at the hazelnuts on the ground, then back at the He Shouwu in his hand, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

As Xue Yue was coming down the mountain, she ran into He Lang, who had come to find her.

“You’re back?”

He Lang nodded and smoothly took the basket from Xue Yue’s back.

“Don’t gather so much. This is too heavy for you to carry.”

“It’s fine.”

’Who says marrying an older man is a bad thing? To me, these two seem like a match made in heaven,’ Li Gaihua watched the couple with an envious expression.

When they reached the village entrance, Xue Yue said to Li Gaihua, “Sister Gaihua, call for me when you go tomorrow.”

Li Gaihua nodded, then led Tie Dan home.

The moment Xue Yue and He Lang got home, He Lang swept her up into his arms and spun her around.

Xue Yue was startled. “Hey! What are you doing? Be careful of the baby!”

Only then did He Lang remember. He quickly put Xue Yue down, gently touched her belly, and said softly, “Sorry. I got so excited for a moment I forgot about him.”

Xue Yue looked at him, a little confused. “What are you so excited about? Did you get paid?”

He Lang pulled her aside and pointed at the He Shouwu. “Did you bring this back?”

Xue Yue looked at the object and froze for a second, then nodded. “I thought it looked like a medicinal herb. And if it wasn’t, I figured we could probably eat it. It looks so much like a sweet potato.”

He Lang laughed, and while laughing, he leaned in and gave Xue Yue a kiss on the lips.

Xue Yue was completely bewildered by him. “What is it? Did I say something wrong?”

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