"Alright then," Tian Jing agreed, "I'll use this to secretly help your mother recover. If her health improves enough, it will cover my accommodation fees."
"Also, I'll be going up the mountain to find food in the future. If you can communicate with me properly like you did today, I won't sneak into the mountains behind your back."
Seeing the immense relief on Li Zhengguo's face the moment he saw her, Tian Jing knew he had been worried about her safety.
"Are you sure it's safe for you to go into the mountains?"
Li Zhengguo examined the wound on the wild boar, noting it was a fatal blow directly above its weakest point, the eye. He realized his question was redundant.
"Of course, I'm very fast at climbing trees. Moving through the canopy is much quicker than on the ground."
Tian Jing concealed her movements from that morning.
Li Zhengguo looked up at the surrounding trees. "Did you really come through the trees?"
"Yes, otherwise you would have found me long ago, right?"
Tian Jing lowered her head, re-wrapped the ginseng in leaves, and tucked it into a gap between the pumpkins in her basket. She then filled the space with kudzu vines, leaving several large pumpkins.
"Right! Next time, tell me in advance, and I'll go with you."
"No!" If he went with her, why would she go up the mountain? To specifically find food for them? "I want to go up the mountain by myself."
She refused so firmly that Li Zhengguo couldn't insist. He decided to take it slow.
"Okay, you set a time. If you go beyond that, I'll come looking for you on the mountain."
"That's fine."
Li Zhengguo picked up the basket. He asked Tian Jing to drag the pumpkin vines, along with the chopping knife and kitchen knife.
"Let's go. We should keep these pumpkins too, or hand in three or four and keep the rest."
Tian Jing looked at the seven or eight vines still on the plant and felt she had been too greedy.
"Then tell the team leader to distribute these pumpkins to difficult households, like widows and orphans. People who have hands and feet don't have the face to eat what we worked hard to bring down the mountain."
"Alright, I'll do as you say."
As they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw many children digging for wild vegetables. Su Dan Novel Network.
The children were surprised to see Tian Jing. She had dug up a lot of wild vegetables yesterday, and they had heard Old Li the cripple's exclamation.
Unfortunately, they had searched the bushes for a long time but found no wild vegetables.
Did she go up the mountain to dig them? No, Old Li also called out to her when he came down with firewood. Old Li…
Huh? What was Old Li dragging?
A wild boar?
Forgetting the wild vegetables, they quickly ran to Old Li, no, Li Zhengguo, no, Uncle Zhengguo.
"Uncle Zhengguo, did you kill a wild boar?"
"Uncle Zhengguo, you're amazing."
"Uncle Zhengguo, they say you were a soldier, right?"
Li Zhengguo nodded to them one by one.
"Wow, I want to be a soldier too. Not only can I eat my fill, but I can also hunt."
"Who doesn't? My father said you need connections and to be strong."
"Oh, stop talking nonsense. Let's hurry and inform everyone, then notify the captain, and call Butcher Wang."
"Right, right, you guys go ahead. We'll stay here and help Uncle Zhengguo drag the wild boar."
The seven or eight children split into two groups. The younger ones ran to inform others, while the older ones offered to help drag the boar.
Li Zhengguo let them try.
Perhaps spurred on by the prospect of meat, the four children, around eight or nine years old, actually managed to move it.
"Then you drag it. I'll take these kudzu roots back first, then come back for you."
Li Zhengguo intended to discreetly take the basket home.
The four children had eyes only for the wild boar. "Okay, you go. We'll drag it slowly."
Tian Jing hurried to catch up with Li Zhengguo. What had been a feigned limp for Li Zhengguo now turned into a rapid, limping sprint.
The young children were too busy pulling the boar to notice the difference in Li Zhengguo's legs.
After her elder brother left, Li Min, distracted, served her mother, tidied the kitchen, and paced back and forth at home.
Li's mother, annoyed by her pacing, told her to prepare the cooling bed so she could go out and sun herself.
"No, it's still a bit cool outside," Li Min refused.
"Then have you given me a quiet environment?" Li's mother retorted.
Li Min remembered Tian Jing's advice about rest and quiet, so she walked out of the east room. "I'll go pick some spinach."
Looking at the weeds in the self-owned plot, which were more abundant than the spinach, Li Min sighed. She should pull out the weeds first.
She then recalled Tian Jing saying that the soil and small stones could be separated, and if decent vegetables could be grown afterwards, it would be worth the effort.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time to experiment. Tian Jing would probably do it, right?
Lost in thought, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps and turned to see her elder brother and Tian Jing returning.
Her elder brother was carrying a basket full to the brim, and Tian Jing had a large bunch of green pumpkin vines in her hand, with several yellow gourds on them.
Food! Pumpkins were food. She jumped up with joy. "Brother, Sister-in-law."
Li Zhengguo waved at her and rushed into the west room. He set the basket down by the kang, grabbed the kudzu vines from on top, pulled a quilt from the kang, covered the basket with it, and then hastily left the room.
He threw the kudzu vines in front of Tian Jing. "Tiantian, tell Minmin I'll be there first."
"Okay."
Tian Jing placed the pumpkin vines and kudzu vines together. The chopping knife and kitchen knife were also placed beside the vines.
"Li Min, watch this place for a moment. I'm going inside to tidy up."
She was worried about the ginseng. If anyone happened to look in the basket, they'd see a few pumpkins at most, but the ginseng was not something that should be seen by the villagers.
"Mmm," Li Min agreed. Her brother had come back in such a hurry. Whatever was in that basket, it would be good for her sister-in-law to sort it out.
Tian Jing entered the room and scanned it. By the side of the kang, she found the basket covered by the quilt. It was a clever way to hide it.
She found the ginseng, opened the kang cabinet, pulled out one of Li Zhengguo's military uniforms, wrapped it with leaves, and tucked it at the bottom of the clothes.
Then she took out her own worn clothes, and carefully wrapped the seeds of ginseng, pumpkin, and kudzu from the pockets separately, placing them in the innermost corner of the cabinet.
She folded the quilt and placed it back on the kang.
Next, she moved the large pumpkins from the basket and arranged them in a row behind the door. Carrying the empty basket out, she loosely placed the kudzu roots on top.
Li Min then curiously asked, "What's in the basket?"
"Pumpkins," Tian Jing said, pointing to the pumpkin vines on the ground. "The children digging for wild vegetables saw them here, so it's difficult to hide. We'll have to see what your brother does with them."
"Then what did my brother go to do?" Li Min asked another curious question.
"Wild boar," Tian Jing replied, beginning to pinch the tender leaves off the pumpkin vines.
"Ah?"
Li Min thought the pumpkins were a pleasant surprise, but she hadn't expected an even bigger one. "Did my brother hunt it?"
"Do you think I hunted it?"
Tian Jing felt that given Li Min's impetuous nature, she would need to have a serious talk with her when she had the time. Otherwise, if something went wrong at the Li family's, it would not only cause trouble for Li Zhengguo but also for her.
"No, no, I just asked casually," Li Min immediately shook her head. "Were you in danger when you went up the mountain?"
"No," Tian Jing hadn't expected Li Min to show her some concern, even if it was last on her list of priorities.
"I found these pumpkins. I'll need to go up the mountain to find more food when I have time."