Chapter 103

The next day, at dawn, Wu Mei‘s and the other two families gathered at Xu Ran’s house with their children and tools for digging bamboo shoots on their backs.

However, all the children were still obviously very sleepy.

It was really not good for the children to wake up so early, and the weather in the morning was still cold. It would be even worse if they caught a cold when they fell asleep in the mountain.

Thus Xu Ran decided to let all the children stay at his home. Three Ge’ers shared a bed, while the rest slept together with Tangtang, Guoguo and Mr. Hu.

And Mr. Hu had woken up early and said that he would cook breakfast for the children so that they would be able to eat it later.

It was really convenient for them to do so. Such breakfast was also simple. They cooked some porridge, and then they could have a meal with some dried bean curd and pickled radish at home. Xu Ran agreed and told Mr. Hu not to be too worried about it. Then they went up the mountain carrying things on the backs.

They had chosen the place where they would go today. Liu Tong led the way, Xu Ran was walking the last, while others were in the middle. They arrived about an hour later after they set off.

It was a dense bamboo forest and the ground was full of bamboo shoots. Looking at them gave people the urge to dig them out.

The four Ge’ers among them were busy setting up stoves, frying pots and packing up the other things, while the other four men went to dig bamboo shoots.

Xu Ran didn’t have any practical experience in such work, so he followed them and tried a few times before he slowly became proficient in digging.

When the sun rose, the Ge’ers had finished their work, while Xu Ran and the others had also dug a lot of bamboo shoots.

After packing up, they could go home to eat, and bring their children as well as the old people with them by the way.

To cook bamboo shoots, water was needed and the person who knew here best was Liu Tong. Xu Ran walked up to Liu Tong and asked, “Tongtong, do you know where there is water nearby?”

Usually there were springs in the mountains. Liu Tong thought for a while and said, “I’ve seen a small spring in the front of this bamboo forest. There’s a lot of water in it. Let’s go over there to fetch water later.”

Xu Ran nodded. He felt relieved to know that there was water. At least, they didn’t have to go down to the foot of the mountain to get water. He said, “All right, let’s go back then. Since there are usually no people here, it’s okay as long as we go faster.”

Thus the group of people started to walk back.

At Xu Ran’s house

Mr. Hu had already cooked porridge and fried several dishes. At the moment,  the children were sitting in rows eating. Each of them had egg soup in their bowls.

Xu Ran went in and felt the aroma of food, “It smells good! Mr. Hu, I didn’t expect you to be so good at making egg soup!”

Mr. Hu smiled shyly, “In the past, my late spouse loved to eat this during his postpartum confinement. It has been many years since I last made this dish. I am not so skillful as before now. I see so many eggs at home that you didn’t sell for money, so I made soup with some of them for the children.”

As for the food, no matter how much it was eaten, Xu Ran would not mind it. He didn’t expect to earn much from selling a few eggs, but still Xu Ran joked, “Mr. Hu, they all have egg soup. Why don’t we have any?”

Before Xu Ran could finish speaking, Wu Mei replied, “Xu Ran, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You even want to grab food from a group of children!” With that, Wu Mei also laughed. Though he knew Xu Ran was joking, he could not help answering him back.

The group of children were very happy to see the adults coming back. They all got off the table and hugged them by the legs.

Tangtang and Guoguo heard Xu Ran say that he also wanted to try egg soup. They immediately handed their own food to Xu Ran. Guoguo took the lead and offered, “Hey, Dad, I’ll give mine to you.”

Tangtang didn’t want to struggle with him, so he went up to Liu Tong, “Daddy, you eat mine.”

The children from other families also learned from Tangtang and Guoguo and did the same like them, which made all the adults present quite touched.

After having breakfast, they packed up, went back to feed their livestock in their house, shut the doors well, and then again went up the mountain together.

As Xu Ran and the others had dug out a lot of bamboo shoots in the morning, all the children now had something to do-stripping the bamboo shoots.

Mr. Hu collected some firewood to make a fire while Liu Tong and Wu Mei went to fetch water. Not too much water was needed to boil the bamboo shoots, so it was enough for both of them to make two trips. The other adults continued to dig bamboo shoots. After all, all the work was a matter of time.

After all the bamboo shoots were stripped, they were put into a big pot. After they were done, they were scooped out and then dipped in the water for a while. When cooling, they were taken onto the chopping board and cut into fine slices or shreds, neither too thin nor too thick.

Xu Ran was digging bamboo shoots while instructing the Ge’ers how to strip them.

The digging work went on very quickly. As here were many children present, the stripping work was also making good progress. Only the cutting didn’t work so well, though the Ge’ers there were already working hard and fast.

Seeing that they couldn’t finish the cutting in time, Xu Ran told Mr. Hu to stop boiling more bamboo shoots. He planned to take them back to make pickled bamboo shoots, which could not only be a dish for the family but also be sold to the town for money.

At noon, they all went back for lunch except Mr. Hu. He was old and would feel tired from walking up and down the mountain, so they brought him food to the mountain.

After such a busy day, they got a good harvest. The ready-made bamboo shoots were still not dry after being aired outside for only one day, but it was troublesome to collect them back. They could only find something to cover them up, so they rushed home to find something for the purpose.

When the sun set, they were finally able to go home. After working with a hoe for a whole day, Xu Ran’s hands were blistered, his back was sore and his legs were weak. He really hated his incompetence.

They carried home all the bamboo shoots that were not boiled and soaked them in water.

After returning home, Liu Tong hurriedly went out to cut pigweed. Now that there was Big Black, the grass for them was in great need.

Xu Ran also went to help. The other families had gone back and ate supper at their own home.

Xu Ran planned to go to the town the next day to deliver some chili paste as well as some bamboo shoots to Mr. Chen. By the way, he would discuss with him about the business of pickled bamboo shoots. Besides, he would also go to Zhuo Yun’s. He believed Qin Shuwen would like the soup cooked with bones and bamboo shoots.

The next day, Xu Ran got up very early. Those few children still came to their house to sleep. Liu Tong had gone to the mountain with the others. Xu Ran drove the carriage to the town with Foreman Li, who would go to buy vegetables and meat for his team.

The new house was under construction for more than a month, and it could already be seen in the shape. Of course, there were still days before everything was done for the building. However, as the construction team was working there, it was convenient for them to go out now. At least, they always had someone there to keep watch everything at home.

On the carriage, Foreman Li started to tell Xu Ran about Zhang Yue. They had been on the mountain all day yesterday, so they naturally did not know what was going on with the matter.

Foreman Li had been in the village for more than a month, and he had been chatting with many villagers when he was free. As Xu Cheng and Xu Ran were brothers, Foreman Li paid more attention to them.

After Xu Houcai and Elder Daddy Xu returned, they first went to the town to see about  Zhang Yue’s injury at the hospital. They asked the doctor about the situation. They had supposed that Xu Ran might have lied to them about the case, but as a result, what the doctor said was exactly the same as what Xu Ran had described. They had to believe it.

Seeing that Zhang Yue was dying on the bed, Elder Daddy Xu couldn’t help but curse angrily. After a discussion, they immediately went to the village head to request that they wanted to sell their land.

The Xu Family did not have much land, and it was not high-class one. The price was naturally cheap. However, they were urgent for money, so they couldn’t find the suitable buyer in time. They could only sell their land to the government.

To sell the land to the government, they could get less money, but they really had no other valuable things at home. If they didn’t sell the land for money, they could only wait for Zhang Yue’s death.

If Zhang Yue really died, if might mean that Xu Cheng had to go to jail, and he might even be sentenced to death. The Xu Family, who were so ignorant about many things, were really scared this time.

The village head told them two in detail about the situation. They were really afraid that their son would go to jail. They promised that they would immediately agreed Xu Cheng couple’s divorce after Zhang Yue came back to his sense.

The moment they returned from the village head’s house, Zhang Yue’s family came over to fight with them. What a scene!

Zhang Yue’s dad and daddy would never like to see Zhang Yue die this way. However, it was the fact that the Xu Family was really poor, so they could only think of ways to collect as much money themselves. Still, they kept on threatening Elder Daddy Xu and Xu Houcai.

Xu Ran smilingly heard all the story. No matter how the Xu Family fought with him, it had nothing to do with him. Xu Houcai and Elder Daddy Xu had never treated the fool as their son, and naturally Xu Ran would never be so kind to help them. The only thing he would do was not to twist the knife.

As they chatted, they soon arrived at the town. Big Black was really much faster than the ox from Wu Mei’s family.

Xu Ran let Foreman Li to buy food, and he went for his own business. After that, they both would gather at the place where Big Black was parked.

Xu Ran first went to deliver chili paste to Mr. Chen. He also sent him for free some of the bamboo shoots that they had dug yesterday. However, he mentioned about the pickled bamboo shoots. Mr. Chen had always appreciated all the new things from Xu Ran, of course.

After talking with Mr. Chen for a while, Xu Ran went to Zhuo Yun’s Mansion.

Now, there were many bamboo shoots to buy in town, and Zhuo Yun’s family had bought some of them. What Xu Ran brought were naturally the same as the ones they had got from outside. However, as they were gifts from Xu Ran and especially after hearing what Xu Ran said about the ways of eating bamboo shoots, both Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen were very cheerful and looked forward to eating them.

Thinking that the potatoes at home should also be dug out, Xu Ran invited Zhuo Yun to their house in a few days. If it was convenient, he could also bring Qin Shuwen with him, which would be good for the unborn baby to be around outside in the village.

Of course, Zhuo Yun agreed without saying another word. Qin Shuwen had wanted to go out for a long time. He had been kept at home all the time and felt very bored.