Chapter 14 Companionship

The two walked for about half an hour and came to a relatively shady place.

Sometimes the sun doesn't even reach this place, partly because it's shady, but also because it's surrounded by many vines. If you don't look carefully, you really won't find this place.

No wonder Grandma Huang brought me to this place. Just by looking at this shady spot, I knew there must be plenty of wild vegetables and pig feed.

Wild vegetables in other places might be getting old, but there's no need to worry about that in this place. Because they don't get sun and age slowly, plus there's plenty of water, the wild vegetables are always very tender.

"Yunxi, let me teach you to identify wild vegetables. After you've learned how, you can pick them if you come across them in other places."

"Okay, thank you, Grandma Huang."

Grandma Huang looked at Yunxi, who was so well-behaved and adorable, and liked her more and more. She wished she were her own granddaughter, so she wouldn't have to worry about her suffering.

Next, Grandma Huang introduced all the wild vegetables available in the area to her: "This is purslane, this is mustard greens, wild garlic, bracken..."

Yunxi roughly identified the wild vegetables that Grandma Huang introduced, and compared them with the wild vegetables in her memory. She felt that she would definitely not make a mistake next time she went to pick them.

After listing all the wild vegetables available, Grandma Huang asked Yunxi, who was standing nearby, "Yunxi, have you remembered them all?"

Yunxi nodded quickly, "Grandma Huang, don't worry, I've remembered everything. If there's anything I don't understand, I'll ask you again."

“Okay, there are some wild vegetables here too. Let’s just cut the basket we had this morning here. We can also take some back with us. They’re tender now, they’ll be too old in a couple of days.”

"Okay, thank you Grandma Huang for teaching me so much. I've memorized it all. I won't take up any more of your time this afternoon. I'll come back to you if there's anything I don't recognize."

Yunxi felt that Grandma Huang said she would take care of her for two days, but she couldn't really take up two days of her time. Besides, her memory was excellent now, so she could remember everything and find the rest on the mountain herself.

Grandma Huang felt that Yunxi must have known this before, otherwise she wouldn't have remembered it so quickly, so she didn't press her and nodded to indicate that she understood.

The two then began cutting pig feed separately, without disturbing each other.

Yunxi felt that this place truly lived up to its reputation as Grandma Huang's secret base. Not only was the pig feed here exceptionally tender, but the wild vegetables were too, and she could even spot some fresh mushrooms.

This place feels so shady; even if it doesn't rain, there should be no shortage of mushrooms.

Just one glance at the mountain of mushrooms in the space, and so many more hanging under the eaves of the house, made him hesitate for a moment.

I'm worried that if I pick all the mushrooms, there won't be any left for others to want.

In the end, I just thought that I should take care of myself and that other people didn't really matter to me. Besides, in some places, if I didn't pick the mushrooms, they would just rot in the soil.

Thinking about it this way, I must have done a good deed and not wasted anything.

It's really tough not being able to use vines to cut pig feed for myself; I have to do it all myself.

After all, my hands were too tender. I kept holding the sickle to cut grass, and after a short while my hands became very sore and even red.

Finally, Yunxi figured that since she would be living here anyway, it would be easier to work once she had calluses, since everyone would have to work in the fields during the autumn harvest.

This is a period of adjustment for me.

In about half an hour, the basket was filled with pig feed. I glanced at Grandma Huang's basket next to me. She was also old, so she was not as efficient at working. Now it was only half full.

We decided to help Grandma Huang fill her basket so the two of us could go back together.

Grandma Huang saw Yunxi helping and quickly stopped her, "You silly girl, you don't need to help. Once you're done, go back quickly and come back later. I'm not in a hurry."

"It's alright, Grandma Huang, the two of you can keep each other company."

Grandma Huang might have poor eyesight, and she cuts pig feed very slowly, so I figured since I had some time, I might as well help her cut it.

The two of them were indeed a bit faster together, and soon Grandma Huang's basket was full. They each picked a bundle of wild vegetables.

Yunxi watched Grandma Huang pick the fruit and then followed suit, so she wouldn't seem too out of place.

When we got back to the pig farm, it was much later than when we came down the mountain the day before. We quickly had Grandma Cheng check the work points and record them.

After the inspection, seeing that there were still two hours before lunch, Yunxi decided to go up the mountain again.

I asked Grandma Huang and found out she wasn't going. She was going to accompany Grandma Cheng to check the pig feed and didn't have time to go.

However, she will go up the mountain again in the afternoon. If Yunxi wants to go with her, she can wait for her to come here when she goes to work in the afternoon so that the two of them can go together.

Yunxi thought it would be easier to go alone, and since it was only four centimeters a day, she could bring back a basket of pig feed later and not have to go out in the afternoon.

Therefore, I did not agree.

Going up the mountain alone is much easier than going with someone else; we found a particularly remote spot.

In a secluded place with plenty of pig feed, he quickly directed the vines to cut the pig feed.

After filling the basket, I stored some more in the storage space so I could cheat next time when I didn't feel like cutting.

There are still plenty of wild vegetables on the mountain at this time of year. Anything within a five-meter radius can be stored in the space. So, if you see any fresh mushrooms or wild vegetables, just store them in the space.

It's much easier than picking them one by one.

I saw many wild chrysanthemums on the mountain, many of which were almost withered. I thought that those wild chrysanthemums could be used to make tea, which could help prevent heatstroke.

Yunxi also picked a lot of them. She stored them in her space, planning to take them all out in the afternoon to clean them and then use them to make tea when she wanted to drink it.

Yunxi felt that she was particularly lucky when she was on the mountain. She seemed to have a strange intuition that allowed her to roughly sense where something was.

So in just one hour, the space gained two rabbits, a pheasant, and about ten wild eggs.

Seeing the other prey in the space, I thought I'd take care of them all this afternoon when I had nothing else to do.

The mushroom trees that were originally there have multiplied again. With the sun getting stronger, there probably won't be as many mushrooms to pick tomorrow.

So while the forest is still damp, try to pick as much as possible while it's still possible.