Accidentally-Born-C22

Chapter 22

The family finished their meal and quickly packed up to go up the mountain. However, when they saw Zhenzhen’s face full of anticipation, both Grandma Li and Wang Sufen were a bit dumbfounded. If they didn’t bring Zhenzhen, the work would be delayed with one less person, but if they took her, Grandma Li was afraid that this little troublemaker would cause some issues.

“How about you leave Zhenzhen at home? We can just work a couple more days,” Grandma Li hesitated.

“Mom, you stay home. The mountain road is difficult, and you’ll get foot pain again. Let me and Dongzi’s father go up,” Wang Sufen quickly took the basket from her hands.

Zhenzhen looked at Grandma Li, then at Wang Sufen, and became anxious. She tapped the bed and, hearing the noise, both Grandma Li and Wang Sufen turned to look at her. Zhenzhen quickly pointed at herself and said loudly, “Go!”

Hearing Zhenzhen wanted to go, Grandma Li softened. She sat by the bed and hugged Zhenzhen. “Baby, you want to go up the mountain?”

Zhenzhen no longer pretended to be clueless. Her little head nodded up and down like a chick pecking at rice. “Go go go!”

Wang Sufen hurriedly picked up a fruit to coax her, “Baby, be good. The adults are going up the mountain to work, not to play with you.”

Zhenzhen had been stuck indoors all day, only able to lie on the windowsill or stay by the bed if no one was holding her. She was getting bored and wanted to run wild on the mountain. How could she not go?

Zhenzhen looked at Wang Sufen, pouted, and her eyes began to turn red. Seeing Zhenzhen about to cry, Grandma Li immediately panicked, shouted, “Go!”

Zhenzhen immediately broke into a smile, looked at Grandma Li, and sweetly said, “Grandma is good!”

Grandma Li’s heart melted when she heard this. All the worries in her mind disappeared, and all she cared about now was that her granddaughter wanted to go play on the mountain. She happily went to grab Zhenzhen’s small jacket. While Mingnan and Mingbei were in the yard organizing farming tools, Wang Sufen took the opportunity to hug Zhenzhen and seriously instructed her, “Baby, listen to me. There will be many people on the mountain. You can’t do things like making branches hand you fruit again. If others see, it’ll be trouble.”

Grandma Li, who was coming over with Zhenzhen’s water bottle and clothes, was startled when she heard this, “When did this happen?”

Wang Sufen took Zhenzhen’s clothes from her and put them on while explaining, “It was last time when we were harvesting. She was on my back, and when I turned around, a blueberry branch extended about ten meters behind me. She picked one and ate one, and after she finished, the branch could shrink back.”

Grandma Li was stunned for a moment. “This is quite a skill. I wonder which immortal has this ability?”

“Ancient times…” Wang Sufen recalled the dream she had when she was pregnant with Zhenzhen.

“Stop with the ancient times. I can’t figure that out.” Grandma Li looked at Zhenzhen, who was ready to go, and helped Wang Sufen place a cloth bag with Zhenzhen’s belongings on her back. Just before leaving, she thought for a moment and grabbed a basin with half a bucket of water.

When Mingbei finished preparing his things, he came out to call them. Seeing Grandma Li carrying a bundle and a water jug, he hurriedly took them from her. “Grandma, why are you bringing a basin?”

“For your sister to pick fruit!” Grandma Li waved her hand. “Hurry up, let’s go up the mountain!”

This time, Grandma Li made thorough preparations for bringing Zhenzhen up the mountain. She had Mingnan and Mingbei pick a large bowl of fruit on the way, at least ten different kinds. When they arrived, they laid out a worn cloth sheet on the ground. From the basket, she took out a slightly deformed lunchbox, opened it, and inside were pine nuts and three pieces of biscuits from the supply store. Wang Sufen washed the fruit with the half-bucket of water they brought and placed it in a basin beside Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen looked at it, and it felt just like a spring outing when she was in school.

Grandma Li looked around and was relieved. The fruit in the basin was enough for Zhenzhen to eat. She squatted down beside her and, while feeding her pine nuts, whispered, “Baby, we only eat the fruit from this basin, no picking from other places, okay?” Zhenzhen quickly nodded, afraid that if she pretended to be clueless again, Grandma Li would pick another basin.

Meanwhile, the three men at home had already started working. Though Mingbei usually liked to talk, he was quite skilled at hunting, fishing, and harvesting crops. As long as it involved food, he was always eager to help.

Li Muwu led his two sons to dig potatoes. The soil was loosened, and by pulling the potato vines, large bunches came out. Mingnan, seeing the continuous potatoes, couldn’t help but shout, “Grandma! Come see, our potatoes are everywhere!”

“Ridiculous, when have potatoes ever been a disaster? If they were, we’d go hungry,” Grandma Li replied, walking over to take a look. She immediately smiled. “This big bunch, the ground must be full of them.”

Mingbei happily threw the potatoes into the willow basket, waiting to transport them down the mountain later. It was harvest season in autumn, and though Beicha didn’t have farmers, most households grew some food, including in the yards and the fields they cleared. The fields weren’t close to the homes, so families with carts would transport their own harvests, and no one would lend them out.

Li Muwu brought the flatbed cart to the bottom of the mountain and carried several willow baskets back up. Soon, several baskets were filled.

Li Muwu and Mingnan each carried two baskets of potatoes down, and Mingbei also carried half a sack. When they reached the bottom, Mingbei looked at the cart, and Li Muwu and Mingnan made another trip. The cart was soon full, and Li Muwu hurriedly pushed it home.

Zhenzhen sat on the ground, happily eating wild blueberries. Grandma Li, while breaking corn, occasionally glanced at her. Zhenzhen, being small with a small stomach, soon became full. She picked up the handkerchief placed beside her and wiped her mouth, then watched the family continue their work. Grandma Li broke corn one by one, while Wang Sufen squatted in the cabbage field, pulling out cabbages, which seemed quite laborious.

The consciousness extended outward, and Zhenzhen saw that Mingbei and Mingnan were still at the foot of the mountain. There was no one else nearby, so she gestured toward the cabbage patch. Wang Sufen was pulling at a cabbage with all her strength when suddenly, her grip loosened, and she sat down with a plop on the ground. Rubbing her waist, Wang Sufen placed the cabbage on the ground, stood up, and was about to pull another one when she noticed that all the cabbages had somehow jumped out of the soil on their own, neatly arranged on the ground.

Wang Sufen hurriedly turned around to look at Zhenzhen, only to see her grinning and showing four small teeth. Wang Sufen could only walk over and remind her, “You can’t do this when your brothers are around, understand?”

Zhenzhen nodded and popped a lantern fruit into Wang Sufen’s mouth. As Wang Sufen ate, she couldn’t help but laugh and tap her on the forehead. “So you know how to bribe your mom with good food, you little schemer.”

No need to pull cabbages anymore, Wang Sufen saved herself a lot of trouble. She used a machete to cut off the roots of the cabbages one by one. By the time Mingnan and Mingbei arrived, she had already cleaned up more than half of the cabbages. The two brothers were stunned. “Mom, you’re amazing at this!”

Wang Sufen gave them a proud glance. “Learn from this, stop being so slow and indecisive, got it?”

The brothers had no place to check the time and just assumed they were slow, which delayed the work. When they were carrying the things down the mountain again, they walked quickly. But their energy was limited, and after two or three trips, the two foolish boys were exhausted and sweating profusely.

With Zhenzhen secretly helping, the crops at the Li family’s farm were harvested unusually quickly. In just four or five days, the cabbages, potatoes, radishes, and soybeans were all gathered, and only the sorghum needed to be harvested.

Mingbei rubbed his sore shoulders and looked at the sorghum field on the gentle slope with some suspicion. “Why does it feel like our field is bigger this year? Grandma, did you clear new land in the spring?”

Li Laotai looked around and felt that the area did seem much larger. However, she guessed that it might have been Zhenzhen who increased the yield, so she casually explained to her grandsons, “I planted a bit more. We’ll steam some sorghum rice for you this winter.”

Since everyone was busy working, no one had the time to inspect the extra land. However, when the sorghum was harvested and the crops behind it were revealed, the whole family was stunned.

Mingnan and Mingbei looked at the golden fields in front of them, their eyes filled with question marks. “Grandma, why is this sorghum turning into yellow ears?”

Zhenzhen smiled when she saw the wheat field that was revealed. Although the family usually made her eat finely ground cornmeal, it was still sweet and delicious for Zhenzhen when she had it occasionally. But if she ate too much, it became hard to swallow. Also, although the family often hunted wild animals, making dumplings was very difficult. Occasionally, Li Laotai couldn’t resist the constant complaints from Li Mingbei and would mix the cornmeal with sorghum flour to make dough and stuff it with wild boar meat and cabbage, but the dough was too coarse and tasteless, which ruined the filling.

At that time, Zhenzhen had thought about planting wheat, but in this difficult time when food was scarce, sorghum, being the highest-yielding and most famine-resistant grain, was the favorite of the people in Beicha. As for the more delicate and lower-yielding crops like rice and wheat, no one bothered to grow them. Zhenzhen, unwilling to accept this, secretly used her consciousness every night to explore various places. One day, she didn’t know how far she had traveled, but finally, she saw wheat and rice growing in a farm.

She picked one grain of each and instantly returned to the mountain. For Zhenzhen, the quantity didn’t matter as long as she had seeds. So, under her consciousness, the plants growing behind the sorghum quickly moved elsewhere. The black soil automatically turned and leveled out. A single grain of wheat and a grain of rice were planted, and in an instant, a whole field grew, nearly ripening at the same time as the sorghum.

Li Laotai, standing behind her two grandsons, stared at the golden wheat, momentarily stunned. But she was old and had seen many things, so she quickly realized what had happened. She coughed softly, trying to suppress her strange reaction, and casually said, “This is the wheat I told you about before. When I was little, I planted this kind of grain with my father in Shandong Province. The flour made from it is white flour!”

“White flour!” Mingnan and Mingbei exclaimed in surprise, and then they both burst into laughter, jumping and hugging each other. “We have white flour now! Our family has white flour to eat!”

“Shush!” Li Laotai scolded. “This white flour is a rare item. You can’t even buy it with tickets now. I barely managed to exchange food coupons for the seeds, so I only planted this little. Keep it quiet, don’t let others know.”

“Got it, got it!” Mingnan was so happy that he couldn’t close his mouth. “Only a fool would tell others about something so good. If someone comes to borrow it from us, what would we do? We can’t let others know about this.”

Mingbei came over and hugged Li Laotai’s arm, shaking it. “Grandma, did you plant any rice or something? I want to eat rice.”

Li Laotai shuddered at the thought. She too wondered if they had any rice. But could rice be grown on this mountain? Li Laotai stood in front of the wheat field, paused for a moment, and then instructed Mingnan, “Go get my cane.”

Mingnan rolled his eyes but picked up the cane that had been thrown about ten meters away. As he handed it to Li Laotai, he grumbled, “Grandma, you walk with such a breeze, even climbing the mountain without getting winded, but you still carry this cane around? I think it’s only useful for hitting me and my brother.”

Li Laotai gave him a glare and raised the cane to smack him on the backside. “Stop complaining and hurry up with the sorghum. We need to harvest the wheat soon. There are a lot of people going up the mountain lately, and we can’t let them see it.”

Mingbei hurriedly said, “Grandma, forget the sorghum, let’s bring the wheat back first. I’m really looking forward to eating steamed buns, or some dumplings made with white flour.”

“Okay, okay, hurry up and work,” Li Laotai waved the cane and chased the two grandsons to harvest the wheat, while she shakily walked toward the back of the wheat field, supporting herself with the cane.

Zhenzhen had planted these two types of grain mainly to occasionally improve the family’s food and satisfy their cravings. She hadn’t planted much. Soon, Li Laotai passed the wheat field and saw a field of rice. Looking at the firm soil beneath the rice, Li Laotai couldn’t help but cover her face with her calloused hands. “My silly granddaughter, this isn’t rice without water underneath!”

Mingnan and Mingbei, who were working ahead, were full of energy, excited about having white flour. Their sickles swung through the air, and the wheat stalks fell one after another. Li Muwu returned home to see the wheat stalks scattered across the ground, a bit stunned. After a brief silence, he turned and went back down the mountain. When he came back, he pushed up a cart with a torn oil cloth he had been using for many years.

After putting the wheat into baskets and covering them with the oil cloth, Li Muwu tied them tightly with ropes. He checked the baskets thoroughly to ensure they wouldn’t fall off before pushing the cart off.

Two days later, after the wheat was all harvested, the family finally saw the rice field behind it. Wang Sufen and Li Muwu remained silent. Mingbei, however, was overjoyed. “Grandma, how are you so amazing? Grandma, you’re so capable! Did you plant rice because you knew I really wanted to eat rice?”

Mingnan gave him a side glance. “What do you not want to eat? I bet you were drooling in your sleep, dreaming of eating pig’s trotters. I was too scared to stretch my legs all night, afraid you’d nibble on my feet.”

Mingbei, annoyed, kicked him straight. “Was it you who kicked me awake? I was finally dreaming of a bowl of freshly cooked pig’s trotters. You know how fragrant it was? The meat was so tender it almost fell off the bone, and just as I was about to grab some, I was kicked awake. The next day I asked you, and you denied it!”

“It wasn’t me, it was definitely second brother. When he gets back, you can ask him,” Mingnan ran quickly. Mingbei was about to chase him when Li Laotai shouted at him. “Enough, stop making noise. Hurry up and harvest the rice. Tonight, I’ll stew the wild boar leg I pickled for you.”

Mingbei instantly brightened. “That will definitely be more delicious than the pig’s trotters.”

Mingnan rubbed his stomach and swallowed. “Pity the rice can’t be eaten directly, otherwise, steaming a pot of rice with stewed pig’s leg would be so delicious!” He sighed and asked Li Laotai, “Grandma, why is rice called ‘water rice’? There’s no water here.”

Wang Sufen shivered beside them, nearly cutting her leg, while Li Laotai coughed and explained, “Normally, rice is grown in water fields, but our variety is different. It’s called mountain rice, grown specifically in the mountains. Well, your Eldest Uncle sent it to us.”

“Ah, the place where my Eldest Uncle stays is really nice. I feel like the crops there are more complete than ours,” Ming Bei couldn’t help but envy.

Ming Nan couldn’t help but roll his eyes: “Are you stupid? What we have here, they don’t have down south. The hazel mushrooms and pine nuts, don’t we still have to send them to Eldest Uncle every year?”

“You’re right.” Ming Bei scratched his head happily, “Well, it’s still better here. Our sister loves to eat pine nuts and hazelnuts. After we finish harvesting, we’ll bring more back. When I peel the pine nuts for her, she always smiles at me. She’s just so sweet when she eats them.”

Ming Nan glanced at Ming Bei: “Isn’t that just like you?”

Ming Bei nodded repeatedly: “Exactly, otherwise how could we be brother and sister?”

Zhen Zhen, sitting nearby, couldn’t help but worry about Ming Bei’s intelligence: This silly child, does he think ‘eating with a heart’ is a compliment? Doesn’t he realize his brother is teasing him? How can he not understand such a simple joke?

The Li family, from old to young, had been busy for half a month, finally harvesting all the crops from the fields. This was the first time Grandma Li knew what it meant to have a full granary. The previous batch of cabbage and potatoes in the cellar were still full, so this time, they had to store the new crops in the back cellar. Corn, sorghum, wheat, and rice all needed to be dried. Grandma Li gathered all the vegetables in the yard and promised to steam big buns for Ming Nan and Ming Bei, coaxing them to flatten the land and dry everything out, filling the whole yard.

At this time, every household was busy. Those who had land to clear were harvesting, and even those who didn’t had planted some crops in their yards. Additionally, the various mushrooms and wild fruits in the mountains were ripe, so every family was busy bringing them home. By the time night fell, everyone was so tired they fell into bed and slept immediately. It had been a long time since anyone had visited, not even Third Uncle and Third Aunt.

Grandma Li wisely kept some wheat seeds and rice for next year’s proper planting. Outsiders were easy to deceive, and the two silly boys at home were easy to handle, but she feared Ming Dong, who was studying agriculture, would ask too many questions.

Grandma Li had it all planned. If Ming Dong asked, she would show him the seeds and tell him they had just kept them for next year. After all, the adults were busy working in the fields all year, while the kids went to school. Guihua was cleaning the house, and they didn’t really know what was planted in the fields.

Once the crops were harvested, except for Grandma Li staying home to look after Zhen Zhen, the others went up the mountain again, carrying bag after bag of pine cones and hazelnuts. There were dozens of types of mushrooms like monkey head mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, pine mushrooms, and more, all over the place. They picked them and dried them at home. In the winter, they would cook a pot of mountain delicacies with pork, which tasted incredibly fresh. Zhen Zhen’s favorite wild fruits couldn’t be left out either: blueberries, girl berries¹, lantern fruits, and wild hawthorn were brought home in baskets.

Grandma Li sat on the kang (a traditional heated bed), threading needle and thread to sew a string of girl berries over a meter long. She hung it by the window and made ten or so strings for Zhen Zhen. Whenever she wanted to eat, she could climb over and pull down a few to munch on, which was simply delicious.

The house was filled with the joy of the harvest, but Ming Xi was having a much harder time in Ice City. Ming Dong, Ming Xi, and Guihua had eaten at Fourth Uncle Li Mulin’s house. After lunch, when they were about to leave, Ming Dong kept feeling that Ming Xi, who was following him, was somewhat in the way. He pushed up his glasses and cheerfully said, “Ming Xi, don’t you want to go to a university in Ice City? Since you’re here, why not take a look around and see which school you like?”

Ming Xi nodded foolishly: “That’s what I was thinking, but I still need to buy things first. Grandma said I have to help you guys buy everything first. That’s the main thing, so I think the university thing can wait.”

Such a lack of awareness! Ming Dong silently glanced at Ming Xi, then with a glint in his eyes, he began giving him instructions: “By the way, I forgot to ask Fourth Uncle when he’s coming back. You should ask him again. When you get home, Grandma will definitely ask you about it.”

“You’re right.” Ming Xi, hearing this, immediately turned around and rushed back. Ming Dong, seeing him go into the alley, grabbed Guihua’s hand and ran toward the street.

Although Guihua had grown up with Ming Dong, they had never held hands like this. Before she could react, she felt her arm being held by a warm big hand. Her face immediately turned red, and her heart was racing like it had just kicked a rabbit. While running, she couldn’t help but glance at Ming Dong. At that moment, Ming Dong also lowered his head, and their eyes met, both faces slightly flushed.

They ran out of the alley, and just in time, an untracked trolley came. Ming Dong pulled Guihua onto the trolley, and they sat down in the back, taking a long time to catch their breath. Ming Dong thought about his actions and felt somewhat silly and amusing. He turned to look at Guihua, who was smiling at him, her big eyes shining brightly. Ming Dong only glanced at her, and he felt like he was getting lost in it.

“Aren’t you tired?” Ming Dong’s hand still held Guihua’s wrist without letting go. Guihua’s gaze slid down from Ming Dong’s hand to his face, and she couldn’t help but smile happily.

“Why are you laughing?” Ming Dong looked at Guihua, feeling his face grow warm.

Guihua smiled slightly: “I never thought we would be running hand-in-hand on the street.” She suddenly thought of how Ming Xi would react when he couldn’t find them and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “What do you think Ming Xi will do when he can’t find us?”

“Probably go to Fourth Uncle to complain,” Ming Dong thought for a moment and added, “And he’ll definitely tell Grandma when we get home.”

At that moment, Ming Xi, who had been searching everywhere in the alley and on the street, was about to cry from anger. He ran back to Li Mulin’s house. Li Mulin, seeing him return, couldn’t help but ask, “Did you forget to say something again?”

“Fourth Uncle, look at my brother! He abandoned me and took Guihua away!”

———

—”姑娘儿” (girl’s berries) refers to a type of wild fruit, often translated as “gooseberry” in English. The term is a direct translation from Chinese, where “姑娘” means “girl” and “儿” indicates a diminutive form, referring to small berries typically found in the wild.