Chapter 4

Lin Yun nodded to show she understood.

Then Lin Yonggang continued, “Dad went to the kiln factory.”

“Kiln factory?”

“The one in the neighboring village. Seems like a lot of people have been going there, but I don’t know what he’s doing there—he didn’t tell me.”

“So why did you come looking for me?”

“Well, it rained a few days ago, right? Let’s go pick some wood ear mushrooms. You’ve been saying you can’t stand eating sweet potatoes anymore. If we manage to gather enough, maybe we can have a decent meal for the Dragon Boat Festival. Honestly, I’m tired of eating too, but there’s really nothing else at home.”

Hearing that, Lin Yun suddenly realized that the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching. Though she used to be sick of rice dumplings, now, with their current situation, eating dumplings at all seemed impossible. Still, it was a holiday—trying to find a way to eat a bit better sounded reasonable.

“Alright, are we heading out now?”

“Yeah, just wait a second.” With that, he ran out. A moment later, Lin Yun heard him calling her from outside.

The two of them headed up the mountain together. The terrain after the rain was indeed tough to walk on, but since many people had been going up the mountain lately, the path was still visible—not something they had to carve out themselves.

Though they said they were going to pick mushrooms, once up there, Lin Yonggang spent most of his time using a small hoe to dig around.

There were only three hoes at home—two big ones and one small one. The one he brought today was the small one.

Seeing him sigh after every few digs, Lin Yun got curious. “What are you even digging for? Dig, sigh, dig, sigh.”

“Sis, I told you not to just bury your head in books, but you never listened. Look at you now—no common sense at all. If Mom finds out, she’s definitely going to say studying made you dumb. It’s a good thing I—”

Seeing the smug look on his face made Lin Yun really want to punch him, but she held it in.

“Why are you talking so much? Can’t you just say it straight?”

“I’m digging for centipedes. There are already a lot of them out and about. Haven’t you noticed how they keep appearing in the corners at home?”

Lin Yun actually hadn’t noticed. She still wasn’t used to many parts of this place and especially avoided corners—strange things tended to crawl out from them. The first time she saw something, she screamed and scared the whole family.

Though she’d gradually gotten used to it, she still avoided dark corners whenever possible.

“Sis, didn’t you say you wanted to make money? I think centipede hunting might work. Do you know how much they go for? Buyers come around, and the biggest ones can sell for thirty cents apiece.”

That actually surprised Lin Yun. At the time, the average wage was only 20–30 yuan a month—for city workers. Farmers might only earn a few hundred yuan in an entire year. That price really wasn’t bad.

“If only centipede season lasted longer, I’d be out digging every day.”

Lin Yun knew a bit about centipedes—she’d watched lots of animal documentaries before.

“Besides digging like you’re doing now, are there any other ways to catch centipedes?”

Right after she asked, Lin Yonggang swiftly pressed the end of his hoe down on something that was crawling fast. The next second, Lin Yun saw him bend over and pick up a centipede.

“This one’s pretty big—should be worth thirty cents.” As he spoke, he held it up. He grabbed it by the head, and the centipede’s body quickly slithered from his palm up to the back of his hand.

Honestly, that scene gave Lin Yun the chills.

Lin Yonggang held the centipede steady, broke something off its body, then pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket and dropped it inside.

He even made a point of showing Lin Yun how it squirmed inside the bag with a soft rustling sound.

That was fine for her though—it wasn’t nearly as shocking as seeing it crawl across his hand just now.

So she didn’t overreact. Instead, she started seriously considering whether making money with centipedes might actually be a viable path.

Peak centipede season also happened to fall during summer break, which wouldn’t interfere with her studies.

And it didn’t seem like it’d run into the problems she’d considered before—like there being no market or getting in trouble for catching them. It actually seemed relatively safe.

Having settled on this new idea, Lin Yun started recalling the documentaries she’d watched. She remembered centipedes liked dark and damp places. Looking at the stones and piles of grass that Lin Yonggang had been digging through, it seemed she’d remembered correctly.

What other habits did they have? Nocturnal? She wasn’t entirely sure—that just kind of naturally followed from “dark and damp.”

“Does everyone only dig for centipedes during the day?” Not knowing much about this, Lin Yun asked Lin Yonggang right away.

“Yeah, of course. When else?”

“No one comes out at night?”

“After a full day of work, who still has energy at night? Plus, it’s pitch black out.”

“Do you want to come out with me tonight to catch centipedes? There might be more out at night, and it’d be easier than digging like this.”

Lin Yonggang looked skeptical. “Why are you suddenly so into this? Weren’t you scared before? You never even went near them.”

“I’m still scared. But I want to keep studying, and I don’t have any other choice.”

Hearing that, Lin Yonggang didn’t argue. He actually wanted to say they’d be better off rummaging through those overgrown grass piles. But knowing his sister’s personality, if she’d made up her mind, it wasn’t a big deal to go with her. He didn’t have anything to do tonight anyway.

The rest of the time passed with the two of them gathering mushrooms and digging for centipedes. Even though it had just rained, there weren’t many wood ear mushrooms or fungi on the mountain. Maybe it wasn’t quite peak season yet, or maybe too many people had already come by—most of them seemed to be kids around their age.

They stayed until midday. As the weather got hotter, the two headed home.

When they got back, only their oldest sister, Lin Yumei, was home. She looked like she was just about to head out. Seeing them come in, she looked genuinely happy.

“I was just about to go look for you. You got back right on time—saved me a trip. Go clean up, I’ll go get Mom.”

“Is Dad not coming home for lunch today?”

“Dad said he won’t be back until tonight. Told us not to wait.” With that, she headed out.

Maybe it was because she’d been out since early morning without eating anything, or maybe it was because she’d found a potential way to earn money—but today, when Lin Yun saw the same old sweet potato porridge on the stove, she felt like she could accept it a bit more easily.