Chapter 185: Chapter 102: Picking Wild Bamboo Shoots (2)

Juhua smiled happily and quickly invited Liu Xiaomei and the others to go pick bamboo shoots the next morning. She didn’t dare ask them to spend the whole day, not knowing how busy their families might be. It wasn’t like her own parents, who were quite easygoing.

The spring morning was beautiful, and the air was exceptionally fresh and pleasant.

Juhua waited for Liu Xiaomei and the others to arrive before the whole group set off for the mountain. There was Lanzi with her two younger sisters, Li Jinxiang, Meizi, Liu Xiaomei, Xiu, Cui, and Yan—quite a crowd.

When everyone met up and saw each other, they couldn’t help but laugh.

Each girl had swapped her clean, neat clothes for worn-out rags. Their shirts and pants were tied securely at the cuffs and ankles, and they wore straw covers over their shoes. In their hands, they carried burlap sacks or baskets. The whole group looked so drab and dusty, they resembled a pack of beggars.

Mother Yang gave them another round of warnings, the usual reminders to be careful. Qingmu was also worried and wanted to tag along, but he couldn’t miss school. Instead, he just gave Juhua his own set of instructions. Juhua told him not to worry.

They headed for the mountain to the southeast to search. The mountain behind Juhua’s house was covered by a dense grove of acorn trees, which prevented shorter plants like bamboo from growing. While there was some bamboo, it was sparse.

As the gaggle of girls darted into the green forest, disappearing into the undergrowth, their whoops and hollers shattered the morning silence. Out here in the woods, it felt as if all restraints had been cast aside, leaving nothing but pure joy and delight!

Rhododendrons, still wet with dew, were exceptionally vibrant. A closer look revealed the leaves on the branches to be a lush, vivid green, practically dripping with color. A small bird chirped somewhere in the trees, its call clear and bright, but its form remained hidden. After searching for a long time, they finally spotted it through a gap in the foliage—a fist-sized bird with iridescent black feathers perched on a branch—only to have it take flight, startled by the girls’ laughter!

Even though these girls grew up in the countryside, they rarely had the chance to venture out like this. For one thing, there were always chores to do at home. For another, it wasn’t considered proper for young ladies to be running about all day. So today, with so many of them gathered on the mountain, they were all truly in their element, like fish in water.

Juhua watched this happy bunch, some picking flowers, others watching birds. She didn’t join in their laughter and games, instead keeping her eyes glued to the bushes, her gaze sweeping everywhere.

She spotted thin, green shoots sprouting beneath a clump of wild bamboo. Bending down and craning her neck, she reached out and snapped one off. The tender shoot broke with a clean, crisp snap.

Pointed green shoots also poked out from the grass here and there. The plants were incredibly prolific, spreading everywhere without any tending. In no time, both of her hands were busily at work.

When she found a patch of fertile soil with a shoot thicker than her thumb—short and stout, unlike the other slender ones—she would be filled with joy. The soil in such places was usually loose, allowing the shoots to grow easily. When she grabbed one and gave it a twist, it would snap clean off at the base, a sure sign of its tenderness.

She was so busy, constantly bending over, pulling and snapping, when Meizi noticed and shouted, “Hey! Juhua, you’ve already picked a bunch of shoots! I haven’t even found any yet!”

Juhua held back a laugh and said to her, “Just keep picking flowers. Pick a lot. If you don’t get any shoots later, bringing home some flowers is the same thing—you can stir-fry flowers, too.”

Everyone roared with laughter and quickly started picking shoots as well, lest they really go home empty-handed. Anyone who found a good shoot let out a cry of delight, and for a while, the air was filled with exclamations.

Picking bamboo shoots sounded like fun, but being in the thick of it was actually hard work. The thorny bushes could easily scrape against your face, and it was easy to get your hands scratched. As you ducked and weaved through the trees, the fine hairs from certain branches would cling to your clothes. If any got on your neck, you’d get an itchy welt with every scratch.

Even with all her preparations, Juhua still found it to be a real struggle!

The girls spread out, searching through the patch of woods. Suddenly, Jinxiang shrieked, “Ahh!”

No one paid her any mind, thinking she had just found another good shoot. Who knew she would follow up by shouting, “Oh, heavens! It’s a snake! Lanzi, come quick, I’m so scared!”

Juhua felt a headache coming on. ’I’m scared of those things too, even though snake soup is delicious.’ That was the very reason Qingmu had been so worried this morning—he’d spent ages warning her about snakes.

Seeing everyone run over, she quickly shouted to Jinxiang, “Don’t provoke it! Back away! Be careful not to anger it, or it might bite you.”

Although she was young, she had a mature soul hidden inside, so she always spoke to them in a protective tone without realizing it.

But she had completely underestimated these country girls. Lanzi, incredibly brave, picked up a large rock and hurled it at the snake. Even Liu Xiaomei was fiercely bold, chasing and beating the creature with a wooden stick. Zhuzi and Lin Zi stood nearby, cheering excitedly, showing no intention of running away.

For a moment, the air was filled with the tense sounds of the scuffle. Lanzi even chided Jinxiang, “You’re such a scaredy-cat. And you live right by the mountain, yet you’re afraid of a little snake.”

Jinxiang looked at the purplish-red patterned snake, which was now convulsing and coiled up, and said sheepishly, “Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve been up the mountain.”

The snake had been hit in the neck by Lanzi’s rock and then violently beaten with a stick by Liu Xiaomei. It was already battered to the point of being nearly dead.

Seeing this, Juhua couldn’t help but laugh. She realized she had worried for nothing.

Liu Xiaomei and Meizi gathered around the snake, cheerfully discussing how to take it home and braise it. They had been influenced by Juhua—now, the first thing they thought of when they saw something was how to cook it. Juhua always said that wild things were meant to be eaten, as long as you didn’t take too much.

Hearing them, Jinxiang and Lanzi both turned their gazes to Juhua. Juhua laughed and said, “What are you looking at me for? It’s really edible. A snake this thick must weigh a couple of pounds. It would be a waste to leave it. Pick it up. Mei, hit it a few more times. Make sure it’s really dead. It’d be terrible if it was still alive in the basket and bit someone.” (To be continued. If you like this work, please consider supporting it with your recommendation votes and monthly passes on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep