C9 First Entry

"Don't worry, big sister will know how to protect herself." "Big sister won't walk too far, just walk around nearby."

Shen Qing consoled the stone and walked into the thatched cottage. When she came out later, she held a large piece of cloth in her hand.

He folded it slightly and tied it horizontally around his waist.

He picked up the machete from the woodpile again.

"Big sister, don't go. There really are wild beasts in the mountains." After Shi Yan finished speaking, he thought for a while and said:

"If you really want to go, then I'll go with you."

Shen Qing found Stone was still a stubborn kid, so she kept her word.

Shitou took the machete from Shen Qing's hand and walked in front of her. After walking a few steps, he turned around and saw that his sister was still standing there in a daze. He reminded her:

"Elder sister, let's go."

Shen Qing raised her head to look at the sky. There were fewer dark clouds than in the morning. She estimated that the sun would be out soon. Today would be a sunny day.

He followed the stone towards the back of the house.

Although his thatched cottage was at the foot of the mountain, it would still take him a kilometer or two to reach the entrance of the mountain.

It was colder here than in the village. There weren't many trees here. When he raised his head, he saw a winding path leading upwards. It was most likely the path created by someone hunting in the mountains before he came here.

Looking up the path, there were more trees and shrubs and vines.

Following the foot of the mountain, he looked in the direction of the village and discovered that the mountain was slowly descending towards the east.

Shitou looked at his sister who was looking in the direction of the village and said,

"This mountain is called Qinghuai Mountain. So there are hunters who enter the mountain to hunt." However, our village is close to the Qingxi River, and the land is fertile. The villagers do not want to take any risks and enter the mountain. But they still go to the foot of the mountain to gather firewood. "

Shitou knew that his sister's mental state had not recovered. Before Shen Qing asked anything, Shitou had already explained everything to his sister.

"Yes."

"Yes," Shen Qing replied, indicating that she knew. She then walked along the blurry path towards the mountain.

At some point, the sun had begun to warm up the land.

Almost all the leaves on the trees in the forest had fallen off. Due to the rain from a few days ago, they had become sticky. When his feet stepped on the leaves, they were soft. It reminded Shen Qing of the thick carpet in her bedroom from her previous life.

Shen Qing observed the forest and the fallen leaves on the ground.

This is a broad-leaved forest, its location should be temperate or subtropical. The weather at the end of October may be cold at night, but it is still cool and comfortable during the day.

He picked up two long sticks and handed one to Stone. Then, he took the machete from Stone's hand.

The two of them walked deeper and deeper into the mountain, and the fallen leaves became thicker and thicker as they walked. Shen Qing picked at the fallen leaves with her stick, hoping to find something.

Passing by a bush, Shen Qing smelled a strong scent of cumin, reminding her of the days when she ate kebabs madly in the country.

Taking a closer look, it was a small plant with dark yellow fruit grains on top.

Fennel! A lot of delicious barbecue is inseparable from this.

Shen Qing only had a machete in her hand, so she had to make do with it before she started harvesting from the stem.

"Elder sister, why did you cut this? This is not a wild vegetable, it can't be eaten. "

Stone reminded as he watched his sister cut these plants.

"This is good stuff, you'll know how to use it when you go back." "First help big sister spread out the cloth, then use the cloth to wrap it up and go back."

As he spoke, he removed the cloth from his waist and handed it to Stone.

Stone knew that his sister had a problem with her head, so she shouldn't have cut these strange and tasteless things. However, he didn't want to make his sister unhappy, so he did as he was told.

Shen Qing cut off a large piece of flesh. Feeling that her arm was a bit sore, she stopped working.

After wrapping these plants in cloth, he continued to walk forward.

Climbing a hill, turning a corner, a brown bright spot came into Shen Qing's line of sight. She saw that it was a chestnut still wrapped in its shell.

Chestnut, good stuff, the king of dried fruits, rich in starch, protein, and B vitamins, and what forget, but good for the body anyway, can be used as a staple food.

Ye Zichen swept his gaze in front of him, and saw that every single one of the spikes on the shell were opening their mouths.

Shen Qing crouched down and picked one up. She peeled open the shell and took out two big round, flat, slippery chestnuts.

Seeing Shen Qing squatting on the ground, fiddling with something, he quickly stepped forward to squat down and took a look.

"Elder sister, what is this? What's the use of it? "

"This is called Chestnut, it's edible, and it's very tasty."

Shen Qing raised the two chestnuts in her hand and replied. Two chestnuts almost filled one of her little palms.

"Shed?" Never heard of it. How could his sister know? Mother has never done this for us before. "

Shen Qing took one of the stones from her hand and carefully observed it.

Shen Qing knew that she had leaked the information, so she quickly added:

"I had also unintentionally read about it in my father's book, so I made a note of it."

"Didn't Big Sister forget the past? Why do you still remember this? "

Rock seemed to be talking to himself, but he also seemed to be talking to Shen Qing.

Shen Qing knew that it would be difficult to explain further if they continued the discussion. She hurriedly said:

"I don't know either. Let's not talk about this, let's just pick this up first. Remember, cut open the barbed shell on the outside, we only want the inside. Be careful not to pry it into your hand. "

As he said this, he picked up a shell bucket beside him and showed it to Stone.

Rock picked one up and did the same thing as his sister.

The shell was a bit hard, so it wasn't easy to get the chestnuts out.

It was hard not to touch the sharp spike on the shell.

Shen Qing opened the bag containing the fennel and moved it to the side, leaving a space for the peeled chestnuts.

The sun was stronger than it had been in the morning, and it was warm through the branches.

Squatting in the shadow of the tree, he felt a little cold.

It was probably already noon. The siblings had not eaten since morning, and now that it was lunch time, rumbling noises could be heard from their stomachs from time to time.

Shen Qing saw that there were quite a few chestnuts on the cloth. Her fingers were black, and the pain made her tingle.

The stone was silent, still peeling chestnuts.

"Shitou, let's not pick it up. Let's go back and eat. This is what we'll have for lunch today. We'll fish for you tonight to make it up to you. "

Shen Qing stood up and stomped her numb legs. She walked up to Rock and took his hand.

The stone's fingers were also black, and some of them had been punctured.

Shen Qing's heart ached as she blew on her finger and asked, "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt. I'd like to peel more, but I can keep it for a few more days. "

The stone withdrew its hand and rubbed it against its body. It looked at the chestnuts on the cloth again, hoping for more.

"Let's go back first and come back in the afternoon. We might even be able to hunt some small animals so we don't need to eat fish."

Shen Qing put the cloth away, tied a few knots at the opposite corner, and prepared to leave the mountain.