Yuya was back in the pool again, trousers rolled up, catching fish.
In a few days, the water would be bone-chillingly cold—if she went in then, she’d end up sick.
She couldn’t afford that.
So she’d make the most of these last warm days and catch as many as she could.
“Yuya! We’re here!”
“Coming, coming! Hang on—I just caught a fish.”
Yuya held up a modest-sized fish and carefully waded ashore. “My grandpa said since he had nothing better to do, he went to scout around nearby for good stuff.”
She shook the water off her feet and pulled a basket out from the grass. “The beehive hunters are back—this is all honey. It’s for trading salt with each household. Is it enough?”
Lin Xiaohe lifted the leaves covering the basket and took a look. There were indeed a lot of bamboo tubes, sealed with leaves tied with several loops of hemp cord—looked sturdy.
“Hehe, I rushed it over to you so I didn’t seal them with mud—it wouldn’t have dried in time anyway.
I was so careful the whole way, terrified it’d spill. See? The bamboo rims are clean and dry—flawless.”
“My dad said we’ve nearly picked the mountains clean of beehives this time. If we want more honey, we’ll have to wait until spring when the flowers bloom again.
We also had to leave some honey behind for the bees to survive the winter—otherwise, there’d be none next year.”
Even as mountain folk and hunters, they couldn’t roam too far. Their accessible range was limited, and so was the honey they could gather.
“We’ve still got half the honeycomb left to process—won’t be ready until tomorrow, it’s too late today. We were hoping to trade that for more salt too.”
“Sure—absolutely!” Lin Xiaohe was grinning from ear to ear. Hehe, hehehe!
So much honey!! She couldn’t imagine how much money they’d make!
“Oh, by the way—does anyone in your village raise chickens? I mean domestic chickens, not wild ones.”
“Yes! Everyone raises a few chickens. They can live on wild greens and grass, and they lay eggs to nourish the kids.”
Yuya nodded vigorously. Her family had a lot of people and raised many chickens—the kids got to eat eggs every couple days, and they were delicious!
The road down the mountain was too far, and eggs were fragile, so unless things got desperate and they had to save eggs to trade, they usually fed them to the kids.
Most of the game they caught was dried and saved up to trade for salt and grain. Eggs were often the only source of nourishment the kids got regularly.
“That’s great! I’d like some eggs and chickens! One hen for three jin of salt or two jin of lard—or 30 eggs for one jin of salt. You could also trade for grain if you prefer.”
Yuya scratched her head awkwardly—she couldn’t do the math on that.
Old Man Shen did some quick mental calculations and decided it was worthwhile. Thirty eggs taken down the mountain would at best get you 30 copper coins—not even enough for one jin of official salt, which cost 80 copper coins. And they couldn’t buy official salt anyway.
Black-market salt cost 200 to 300 copper coins per jin—sometimes more, hitting 400 to 500 during crackdowns on illegal salt trading.
But people couldn’t live without salt—no matter the price, they had to buy it.
And lard was amazing stuff—full of rich fat that filled the belly, way more nourishing than chicken meat!
This stuff could last a year—just a bit in every meal and it’d stretch for months.
“Alright, alright, little girl—my family will take the deal! We’ve got about 30 eggs at home—we’ll trade them for a jin of salt.
I’ll bring over two chickens—one for salt, one for lard.”
In a while, when his daughter-in-law gave birth, he’d use a chicken to trade for something nourishing to help her recover.
Now that they had the means, they couldn’t let the pregnant woman go without.
“Great. Grandpa Shen, could you also ask around the village and see who else wants to trade? I need quite a lot!”
The customer who’d asked today alone could buy two or three hundred eggs and a dozen chickens.
With that many people interested, they’d sell easily. Stocking up wouldn’t hurt!
“That’s easy—everyone in the village will be happy to. I’ll go home and sort out what we want to trade, then let a few other households know. Too many and you won’t be able to carry it all.”
Old Man Shen kept a straight face since he was the elder, but the joy showed in his eyes and brows.
Yuya, though, couldn’t hold back—she was grinning so wide her gums showed.
Her face full of eager flattery, she asked, “Xiaohe Jie, could I trade for something tasty?”
They’d gotten enough salt for now—could she trade for something good tomorrow?
Hehe…
“Sure—I’ll see what I can find for you tomorrow.” Lin Xiaohe genuinely liked Yuya, so of course she’d grant a reasonable request.
“One thing at a time—you’ve been working hard lately. Consider this a thank you.
We’ll head off now and be back tomorrow morning.”
They carried the goods a good distance away, checked that no one was around, and hurried home. They needed to deal with all that honey right away.
“Xiaogu, let’s make a trip over to the other side first and drop off the honey for Aunt Fang. The seals aren’t tight—we should carry it separately so nothing spills. That’d be a waste.”
“Okay!”
They’d gotten eight bamboo tubes of honey today—about a jin each.
There was nothing at home suitable for repacking, so they’d just leave it as is.
“I wonder how much Aunt Fang wants? Let’s take half.”
Lin Xiaohe did the math—better to bring more than less.
Take a couple extra just in case. She could always bring them back.
“Okay!”
“Oh—we haven’t sorted the stuff in the cellar yet. Let me see what’s in there—maybe there’s something we can bring to Aunt Fang.”
Lin Xiaohe suddenly remembered the big sack in the cellar they’d never gone through—all from Yuya’s village.
She dragged the heavy burlap sack out of the cellar, panting from the effort.
On top were two smaller bags—one with dried shiitake mushrooms, the other with assorted dried wild mushrooms.
There were also some dried wild fruits, but mostly bamboo shoots—they made up over half the sack.
The bamboo shoots came in several varieties: thin, finger-thick strips; sliced rounds; finely shredded strands; and halves split lengthwise—each probably used for different dishes.
She thought for a moment and grabbed some bamboo shoots.
“Xiaogu, put these in water to soak—we’ll have bamboo shoots for dinner. Soak both kinds—one for stewing, one for stir-frying.”
She’d grabbed the sliced and shredded ones—they’d rehydrate faster.
“It’s already past noon—if you soak them now, they won’t cook through by dinner. Use hot water instead.” Liu Yuexiu overheard and chimed in.
“Okay—I’ll heat some water.”
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