Chapter 6: 606 A Bountiful Harvest

Thus, under Li Menglan's direction, Li Dazhu, Li Zhiming, and Li Zhihao—the father and sons—began to work together with an organized division of labor. Li Dazhu used a machete he had brought to chop off a stick to be responsible for tapping the chestnut balls; meanwhile, the two brothers, Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao, sat on the ground using their woodcutting and hunting tools to crack the shells.

Standing to the side, Li Menglan showed her two older brothers how to break through the prickly surface of the chestnut balls. Only then did Li Dazhu and his sons realize that these hedgehog fruits had to have their outer shells removed to avoid getting pricked; immediately, the Li family men began to cooperate through their assigned tasks.

As for Li Menglan? The girl crouched to one side, picking up the chestnuts one by one as her brothers, Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao, cracked them open, and placing them into the bag she had brought.

After all, many hands make light work. With the combined efforts of Li Dazhu, Li Zhiming, Li Zhihao, and Li Menglan, they finally finished cleaning out this entire chestnut tree just as the sun was about to set. Hah... good heavens, there was actually a huge, full bag; a rough estimate suggested it weighed at least thirty to forty catties.

Li Menglan said, still feeling unsatisfied, "Dad, are there any more chestnut trees like this nearby?"

"These hedgehog trees are relatively rare in our Yunliang Kingdom, but there really are several on this Crooked-Neck Mountain; however..." Li Dazhu looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting late today. We should head down the mountain early to avoid making your mother worry at home." After all, the position where the Li family men were currently located was deep in the mountains; if they didn't descend now, the mountain paths would be even harder to navigate once it turned dark.

"But..." Li Menglan's small face was full of conflict. This girl was feeling distressed! These chestnuts were all money; with these chestnuts, perhaps her whole family could have a wonderful winter. At the thought of their dilapidated house, Li Menglan's feet became even harder to move.

"Lan-er, be good," Li Dazhu said good-naturedly. "Tomorrow, Daddy, your eldest brother, and your second brother will enter the mountains again, alright? It's truly too late today, so let's go home first, okay?" It had to be said that in the Li family, Li Menglan was truly a treasure; if she were in anyone else's family, they wouldn't speak to her with such patience.

"Fine then! But Daddy, you aren't allowed to lie to me!" Li Menglan said gloomily.

"When has Daddy ever lied to our Lan-er? Come... let's go home!" Li Dazhu hoisted Li Menglan onto his back and strode toward the foot of the mountain. The two brothers, Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao, followed closely behind their father, one carrying the prey and the other carrying the chestnuts.

The late autumn mountain forest was quiet and deep, with lush green pine trees. A light breeze brushed past, causing the reddened pine needles to rustle and fall, mixing with dead branches and weeds to form what looked like a thick red carpet on the ground. Walking upon it made no sound at all. As the sky grew increasingly dark, Li Dazhu and his sons couldn't help but quicken their pace, hoping to descend the mountain before nightfall.

As they walked further down the mountain, the path was no longer as rugged and bumpy as before, instead gradually becoming wider. After rounding a bend, a large expanse of bright red color burst into Li Menglan's vision. Even though the sky had dimmed, Li Menglan could see it clearly. It was chili peppers... this entire patch was nothing but chili peppers.

Li Menglan knew that no one in the Yunliang Kingdom ate spicy food. At the beginning, she hadn't been very used to it; after all, chili peppers were an indispensable part of daily life in the modern era. Previously, Li Menglan had thought that perhaps the Yunliang Kingdom simply had no chili peppers, which was why no one ate spicy food, but this... Li Menglan was very certain she wasn't seeing things... this large patch truly was chili peppers.

"Dad, hurry up and put me down," Li Menglan said loudly, reaching out to pat Li Dazhu's shoulder. "Hurry."

"What is it, Lan-er?" Li Dazhu set Li Menglan down from his back, wondering what his daughter wanted to do this time.

Li Menglan didn't have time to explain the reason; she just kept shouting loudly, "Dad, Big Brother, Second Brother, hurry over here! Hurry and help me pick all these chili peppers!" Li Menglan was smiling so joyfully! Hehe... how wonderful, with these chili peppers, this winter won't be so cold.

"But..." Li Zhihao said hesitantly, "Little Sister, are you sure? These wild fruits are spicy and astringent, making them almost impossible to swallow. Do we really have to pick them all?" Li Zhihao had once eaten these chilies as wild fruit while on the mountain. Tsk tsk... the result? Well, that went without saying.

"Mhm." Li Menglan was already busy; hearing her second brother's words, she didn't explain but merely nodded vigorously. Li Menglan already had a plan in her heart; continuing like this was not a solution. She had to find a way to solve this once and for all, so she wouldn't have to spend forever explaining every single thing. Ancient people feared ghosts and gods; she would try to find a way through the concept of spirits and gods!

"Second boy, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and help. If we finish picking early, we can go home early," Li Dazhu said angrily, glaring at the dazed Li Zhihao.

"Oh... coming, Dad," Li Zhihao quickly responded and joined the great picking endeavor.

Although these chilies weren't as difficult to handle as the chestnuts, the quantity was simply too large; the entire mountain cove was covered in them. By the time they had picked all the chilies clean, it was already completely dark. Fortunately, it was almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, so the moon in the sky was very bright. Li Dazhu and his party finally stumbled their way back to that dilapidated house in the dark.

Zhang Yuniang had been waiting anxiously at the front gate for a long time. As soon as she saw Li Dazhu and his sons, she rushed to meet them: "Husband, why did you all come back so late? Father and I were worried to death."

"Sigh... it's all because of your daughter's antics. Let's go home and talk," Li Dazhu didn't want to discuss matters at the doorstep and signaled to his wife that they should talk properly once they were home.

"Grandpa, Grandma, I'm back!" As soon as Li Menglan entered the house, she struggled down from her father's back to the ground, smiling joyfully at Lin Sanniang and Li Fujin!

"Good... it's good that you're back," Lin Sanniang said with a chuckle, the wrinkles on her face spreading like blooming flowers.

"Yo... my sweet granddaughter is smiling so happily. Did you find a treasure in the mountains?" Seeing Li Menglan's cheerful appearance, Li Fujin couldn't help but tease her.

"Grandpa, how did you know I found a treasure?" Li Menglan deliberately widened her eyes in feigned shock as she looked at Li Fujin.

"Uh..." This time, it was Li Fujin's turn to be startled by Li Menglan's words. "Dazhu, come over here for a moment!" Li Fujin called out loudly to Li Dazhu, intending to ask clearly what Li Menglan meant.

"Dad, what do you need me for?" Li Dazhu had been telling Zhang Yuniang about what happened on the mountain, but upon hearing his father's call, he hurried over "scurry-scurry."

"Your sweet granddaughter said you all found a treasure in the mountains today. Tell me, what's going on?" Li Fujin pointed at Li Menglan, who was standing to the side, signaling Li Dazhu to explain everything that had happened on the mountain today clearly.

"Dad, how could we have found any treasure? Actually, it's like this..." Li Dazhu glanced at Li Menglan standing nearby and couldn't help but give a bitter smile. He then recounted everything that had happened on the mountain from beginning to end, adding at the end: "Dad, you have to admit that your son's luck was indeed quite good today; the wild chickens and rabbits alone were as much as several days' worth of usual harvests."

"Is that so?" Li Fujin had lived for decades, and those decades of meals hadn't been eaten for nothing. After listening to Li Dazhu's account, the look in Li Fujin's eyes as he looked at Li Menglan clearly carried a layer of scrutiny.