Zhang Guoqing laughed heartily and patted his son’s butt, "Little rascal, hinting things to dad, huh? I’m telling a white lie. If your mom insists on coming along, I can’t take care of you two by myself. Let’s tell her after we get back from the mountains. If she punishes then, you have to back up."
Ping’an patted his shoulder, "Dad, my mom already figured out you’d take to the deep mountains. Relax!"
After saying that, he paused for a mont, glanced around, and whispered in his ear, "You can’t fool my mom; she’s too smart. Better confess and get leniency. Plus, we need her on our side for our tricks."
Zhang Guoqing was speechless, watching his son wink at him. What a Little Genius!
"Mom gave the dicinal powder. Take to try it out first, okay? Didn’t you say there are wolves? I really want to see how dad kills wolves. Dad, you’re amazing."
Zhang Guoqing glanced at him mildly amused, "Not today, you’ll have plenty of chances in the future. By the way, your big brother and the others are going to earn a lot of money this ti."
Ping’an’s eyes lit up, "Dad, let’s not waste ti, co on, faster, I need to check if my mom is in danger."
The father and son exchanged wits back and forth until Zhang Guoqing caught Ping’an’s weak spot, and he forgot his initial plan to test the powder and hunt.
In the woods, Zhou Jiao was bending down, digging up dicinal herbs with a small iron shovel, and laughed at the children’s occasional shouts. Before setting off, she had said she would teach them to identify herbs, but now they were all off picking wild mountain goods and fruits.
However, she didn’t push, not even offering a single reminder. Seven catties of dried hazelnut mushrooms barely weighed over a pound when dried; could they be as valuable as the gastrodia she was digging?
Zhou Jiao originally thought Xi Zi and Zhang Ziwen, the two brothers, would have a different perspective than other kids. She had deliberately said this was gastrodia, just to test the children’s reactions.
Those boys, virtually sixteen or seventeen in lunar years, were focusing on imdiate gains and lacked a broader vision. They couldn’t grasp the deeper aning behind her words; their brains weren’t enough. More seriously, their knowledge base was too narrow. They had read themselves silly!
Zhang Guoqing carried his son over and put him down to walk himself.
Ping’an hopped over to Zhou Jiao, squatted down, and giggled at the muddy gastrodia, "Mom, you’re amazing!"
Zhang Guoqing looked down, and glanced around, smiled helplessly. He squatted down and took the tools from Zhou Jiao’s hand, "After we finish digging here, where to next?"
"Still following the plan to introduce herbs to the kids. There seem to be plenty here; we won’t go elsewhere today. Son, follow now."
Zhang Guoqing quickly finished digging that small patch, turned around, and saw several more small clusters scattered not far away. He glared at Zhang Ziwen not too far away like he was disappointed in him.
Zhang Ziwen was busy picking hazelnuts and filling the sack, occasionally glancing over at his three sisters picking mushrooms, worried they might accidentally get bitten by snakes or insects.
He coincidentally turned his head and saw his uncle nearby, and waved happily. He was just wondering where his uncle had gone!
Zhang Guoqing watched the young lad grinning foolishly, couldn’t bear to look. Fortunately, he was handso, otherwise, he’d be no different from the silly boy in the neighboring village.
He waved Zhang Ziwen over.
Zhang Ziwen imdiately put down the sack and ran over quickly, squatted in front of him, "What’s up, uncle?"
"You know this is gastrodia, right? From the dicine grandmother uses! You silly boy."
Zhang Ziwen froze for a mont and asked quietly, "The sa gastrodia?"
"What else could it be?"
"No wonder my aunt said this gastrodia is good." Zhang Ziwen recalled for a mont, then smacked his forehead hard.
Zhang Guoqing rolled his eyes at him and handed him the small iron shovel, "Keep your voice down, silly boy. Did you think your aunt is as clueless as those young wives?"
Zhang Ziwen chuckled, "Got too excited just now and didn’t pay attention."
Zhang Guoqing pointed in front of him with amusent, "Hurry up, we need to head back by one or two o’clock."
Over there, Zhou Jiao was holding Ping’an’s little hand, pointing at so wild grass for him to guess what it was. Nodding when he got it right, she guided him to dig up the dicine, explaining the precautions as she did so.
If he was wrong, she pointed out the identifying features in detail and let him do it himself. The mother and son whispered as they busily worked, quickly filling the bamboo basket with herbs.
"Mom, are we really going to donate these to the clinic?"
Zhou Jiao laughed, "What do you think mom would do?"
"Keep the rare and valuable ones."
Zhou Jiao patted him, "So things shouldn’t be said lightly; it’s enough to know in your heart. Watch your step; what are you standing on?"
Ping’an glanced, "You taught this just now." As he spoke, he put so effort into his hand, uprooting the wild grass alongside, "Mom, Grandpa likes hazelnuts."
Zhou Jiao heard the aning in his words, looked around and said, "Okay. That’s about all the kinds of herbs here, the rest we’ll learn later. Rember to watch out for snakes and bugs when collecting mountain goods."
Zhang Guoqing looked up at the sky, "I’ll take you two over there first. If you’re hungry, have so dry food, don’t push too hard."
"It’s a sha about the large patch of wild grapes over there."
"If you want, I can go now."
Zhou Jiao quickly held him back, "Let’s talk about it later!"
Zhang Guoqing had no objection. It would be strange if they couldn’t find wild grapes in the mountains. Carrying the sack, he followed behind them, wondering whether he should get rid of that pack of wolves.
Without the wolf pack, there were pros and cons, but he really worried about the surrounding teams ssing things up, making the mountain unrecognizable again. The North Mountain behind their ho had no trees left. Building houses, marrying off daughters or sons, and even funerals all required wood, who knows if this place won’t be ruined.
As noon approached, Zhang Qingshan surveyed the area, seeing that they had almost cleaned everything up, he patted his stomach and approached Zhang Qingfeng nearby.
"Should we head back? There’s too much to carry."
Zhang Qingfeng replied without turning his head, "Let’s wait a bit longer. If we go back now, the team will be getting off work soon, everyone will be around. In an hour or so, when we go down, they’ll just be going back to work."
"Let the kids have so dry food then."
"Alright, you figure it out."
Zhang Qingshan saw that he didn’t even look up and helplessly shook his head. He went off to tell the kids to eat if they were hungry, but they all shook their heads.
Looking at the wild fruit pits not far from the kids, he laughed silently. He wasn’t as smart as these kids, too preoccupied with work to rember there was sothing they could eat while working.
By early afternoon, looking at the twenty or so sacks under the oak trees, everyone was satisfied. Knowing they couldn’t delay any longer, they began carrying sacks down the mountain with makeshift wooden poles.
At the back, Zhang Guoqing carried his son, listening to their excited chatter, glanced back with a faint smile. He guessed those old hunters might be so mad they’d want to kill. Everything can’t be pushed to the limit; he really wasn’t planning to make another trip tomorrow. Hopefully, there will be so mutual understanding.
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