After waiting for a quarter of an hour without seeing anyone, the two didn’t just sit around—they started picking wild greens.
These greens tasted pretty good. They’d try selling them first, and whatever didn’t sell could be eaten at home or dried into preserved vegetables.
The basket they’d brought and both burlap sacks were now completely full, but still no one had arrived.
Xiaogu scratched at the mosquito bites on her arm. “Sis, how far away does Yuya Jie’s family live anyway?
Why isn’t she here yet? You don’t think her parents didn’t want to trade, do you?”
“I doubt it. Even if her folks weren’t willing, she’d probably still come back to let us know. They must live pretty far off.”
The two waited around for what felt like ages.
Finally, they saw Yuya bouncing along ahead, followed by a tall, sturdy middle-aged man.
“Xiaohe Miao! Xiaogu Zi! I’m here, I’m here! My dad went up the mountain again today and got more honey—we had to wait a bit for them to jar up the fresh batch before I could bring it.”
Yuya jogged over, explaining as she came.
“Look—this jar has honey, about half a jin.
This is half a dried rabbit, this is half a dried chicken, this bag has mushrooms, and this one has wood ear fungus.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes went wide. “That much?”
“Hehe, these things aren’t worth much up in the mountains. But your rice is so good—even whiter and cleaner than the polished rice we buy. It’s definitely worth this much.”
Both sides felt like they’d gotten the better end of the deal, and they were both thrilled.
Lin Xiaohe planned to give all these traded goods to Aunt Chen Fang as a gift.
Aunt Chen had helped them out quite a bit and even given them an iron wok for free. Since she happened to like mountain goods, this was perfect.
Her parents had always told her that relationships required give-and-take to last. You couldn’t always rely on others to help you—over time, people would stop wanting to associate with you.
Yuya’s dad saw his daughter safely there, took the rice home, and didn’t say a word the whole time.
But Yuya didn’t follow him back. She’d come to catch fish today—she’d already given away the two she caught, so she needed to catch two more.
“Your grain came at just the right time. My mom’s pregnant with my little sibling, and she really needs some fine grains to build up her strength.”
Yuya’s eyes curved into happy crescents. “I hope my little brother or sister turns out as cute as Xiaogu Zi.”
“Hehe~” That made Xiaogu blush so hard her face turned as red as a monkey’s bottom.
The other two burst out laughing.
Yuya splashed around in the pool for a while and managed to catch two big black fish.
Each one was as long as an arm.
“Looks like my luck’s really good today—I got grain from you two and caught these huge black fish.”
Her eyes were crinkled with joy. “Here, take one.”
“No, no, you already gave us two earlier.”
Lin Xiaohe pulled some grass, twisted it into a cord, and hung the two fish from her basket.
The fish weren’t big—each about the size of a palm—but they’d be enough for a soup.
“Oh, those little things aren’t worth eating! Take this one—it’s got way more meat!”
Yuya never took no for an answer. She grabbed some grass, threaded it through the fish’s mouth, and hung it on the basket.
“Alright, alright, you should head home now too. If you don’t leave soon, it’ll be dark. I’d better get going as well.”
Hehe—leaving a good, generous impression meant next time they wanted to trade grain, they’d definitely come to her!
She was so smart it almost scared herself!!
Walking along, Yuya was practically giggling to herself.
Once they were far enough away, the two sisters hurried home—it really was getting late.
They still wanted to go sell another batch of greens that evening.
Not sure how well they’d sell, they quickly sorted through the wild greens they’d picked today and filled one basket.
Xiaogu carried an armful of fresh grass—that was for tying the greens into bundles. They didn’t have time to do it at home, so they’d just tie them up at the stall.
By now, they knew this route well. They crossed the streets with ease and made their way to the grain and oil shop.
“Aunt Chen, we brought you something!” They hadn’t found the wild garlic shoots Aunt Chen wanted—today had been spent trading with Yuya’s family, and they hadn’t dared go far from the pool in case Yuya couldn’t find them.
They’d look again tomorrow.
“Your Aunt Chen went to pick up her kid from school—she’s not here.”
Yuan Zhiqiang came out of the shop with a smile. “You two sell greens in the morning and evening too? Pretty hardworking.”
“Hehe, Uncle, your family’s helped us out a lot these past couple days. This is my thank-you gift—you’re not allowed to refuse.”
Lin Xiaohe handed over a bag. “We’ll be going now—still need to go sell our greens.”
She shoved the bag into Uncle Yuan’s hands, grabbed her sister, and hurried off to find a spot.
“Hey—!” Yuan Zhiqiang reached out, but they were already far away. He shook his head with a helpless smile.
Ah well—since the kids were offering, he might as well accept it.
But when he opened the bag, he was taken aback.
What was all this?!
That bamboo tube—was that the sweet fragrance of honey?
And that dried lotus leaf—was it wrapped around dried rabbit and chicken?
Plus two bags of dried mushrooms and wood ear fungus.
Good heavens! These kids were way too generous. These were valuable goods—if that really was wild, all-natural mountain honey, just that jar alone could sell for over a hundred yuan!
And the mushrooms and fungus weren’t cheap either!
But wait—were those wild chicken and wild rabbit?
He seemed to recall that these animals were now protected species—not allowed to be caught.
Next time the kids passed by his shop, he’d have to warn them: it was fine to catch these for their own table, but they shouldn’t bring them here to sell. Getting caught would be a real problem.
There were noticeably fewer people setting up stalls here in the afternoon.
That morning, they’d had to settle for a leftover corner spot no one wanted. But in the evening, they could pick almost anywhere they liked—there were plenty of spots open.
Still, they chose the same spot as this morning.
Lin Xiaohe spread out the big bag she’d picked up on the ground, dumped the greens onto it, and the two of them got to work picking through them—discarding old, tough leaves and tying the rest into bundles.
Before long, their stall had several neat rows of bundled wild greens—but hardly anyone stopped to ask about the price, let alone buy anything.
Finally, one person asked, but walked away after haggling.
“Sis, what’s going on? They sold so well this morning—why’s it so hard now?”
Xiaogu sighed, not really expecting an answer, and kept working.
Her hands busy, her mouth didn’t stop either. “Wild greens for sale! Fresh wild greens!”
“Little girls, you’re selling at the wrong time of day. Mornings are best—that’s when old ladies like me do our shopping.
In the evenings, it’s all people who had to work in the morning and couldn’t shop then. Not many of them like wild greens, and they don’t buy from outdoor stalls either—they go inside to the proper market vendors.”
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