Gu Jiaojiao and Aunt Zhao started out on the mountainside, picking wild vegetables. After a while, Gu Jiaojiao decided she wanted to head a little deeper into the woods.
Aunt Zhao was a little worried. "Don’t go too far," she cautioned. "If it starts to rain, you could get trapped. And don’t go too deep into the woods—there are big beasts in there."
Fearing Gu Jiaojiao didn’t understand, Aunt Zhao was quick to explain the dangers.
Gu Jiaojiao nodded. "I understand, Auntie. I’ll just go a little higher up and see if there are any bamboo shoots."
Seeing her say this, Aunt Zhao let her be.
Gu Jiaojiao took her tools and ventured a little deeper. Perhaps because this was the outermost part of the mountain range and frequently visited, a path had been trodden into the ground. Instead of following it, Gu Jiaojiao veered off to the side.
After walking for a while, she discovered a patch of bamboo shoots. Gu Jiaojiao happily crouched down, dug them up, trimd them down to the edible parts, and put them in her burlap sack.
She stopped after digging up about twenty pounds’ worth.
Any more and she wouldn’t be able to carry it. Besides, she wanted to find other things too.
She wandered a bit further and found a patch of mushrooms.
Perhaps because the Qiushou had just ended, no one had co up the mountain, so things were especially plentiful.
In the end, Gu Jiaojiao had filled a large sack.
Aunt Zhao, who had also co looking for mushrooms, walked over and was stunned when she saw Gu Jiaojiao’s huge sack.
"Jiaojiao, you’ve gathered so much! You’ll never be able to carry it all back."
The mushrooms were freshly picked and large, and with the heavy bamboo shoots underneath, the sack had to weigh over a hundred pounds.
There was no way soone with Gu Jiaojiao’s slight fra could carry that.
Wu Cuizhi walked over from behind. The thought of how Gu Jiaojiao had swindled her out of a yuan still irked her. Seeing that Gu Jiaojiao had picked a huge bag of mushrooms, she imdiately opened her mouth to take a jab at her.
"So people call themselves ’Educated Youth’ from the city, but they’re so petty, making a big deal over a single yuan. I can let that slide, but these mushrooms belong to everyone. To hoard them all like this is just too much."
Anyone could tell Wu Cuizhi’s words were aid at Gu Jiaojiao.
But Gu Jiaojiao didn’t get angry. She shot right back, "You’re right, Auntie. Forget one yuan, I’d treasure even a single penny! If your family has any extra, feel free to bring it over."
"And as for these mushrooms, they belong to everyone, like you said. Anyone can pick as much as they want. I can carry this much down, so do you have a problem with that, Auntie?"
Wu Cuizhi snorted. "I’d like to see you try. There’s no way you’re carrying that down."
A smile instantly lit up Gu Jiaojiao’s face. "Want to make a bet, Auntie?"
’A bet?’
’Bet my ass! I just lost a yuan to her, and I’m still stinging from it! I’m not betting.’
"Hmph. I’m not betting with you."
With that, she walked off to the side and started picking her own mushrooms.
Gu Jiaojiao shot Wu Cuizhi a look of pity, then asked Aunt Zhao to watch her mushrooms while she grabbed a sickle and went to cut so branches.
’I might be useless when it cos to manual labor, but I’m solid on theory!’
She selected a bamboo stalk that wasn’t too thick, chose her spot, and swung the sickle right at it.
Thanks to her culinary skills, her aim was perfect. Her strength, however... was another matter. The blade only scraped the outer layer.
Gu Jiaojiao was speechless.
’Heh. This body is seriously weak.’
’It’s just like they say: a great plan, a useless person to execute it!’
But Gu Jiaojiao didn’t give up. It would just take a few more swings, that’s all. And in the end, she managed to cut the bamboo stalk down.
She cut down several more stalks before she was satisfied.
"Why don’t I help you carry it?"
"Between the two of us, we should be able to get this stuff down the mountain."
If it were anyone else, carrying a sack this big wouldn’t be impossible. It would just take so effort and a few breaks along the way.
But this was Gu Jiaojiao. It was a different story entirely.
During the harvest, Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t even lift a fifty-five-pound sack of corn. This huge bag of bamboo shoots and mushrooms had to be at least eighty or ninety pounds. How could she possibly move it?
Gu Jiaojiao smiled and reassured her, "Don’t worry, Aunt Zhao. I have a plan."
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