Chapter 33

“I want to buy some more sea urchins from you. Do you have any at home?”  

Fù Yuánlíng asked while subconsciously glancing into the yard, only to see a pile of sea urchin shells in the corner.  

!!!  

Is this family really that fond of eating?  

“We didn’t go out to collect sea urchins today. If you want some, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Also, the sea urchins move in groups, so I can’t guarantee that there will be any.”  

Jiāng Wǎn got a stool and invited him to sit down.  

“Sir, why don’t you come back tomorrow?”  

Fù Yuánlíng looked troubled. If he didn’t buy the sea urchins today, the little master at home would start causing a fuss again. And once that happened, he would be the one to suffer.  

“How about the other families in the village? Don’t they have any?”  

“No, sea urchins are considered poisonous by the villagers. They usually don’t bother with them. Our family is probably the first in the village to eat them.”  

At this point, Fù Yuánlíng understood that he wasn’t going to get any sea urchins today. He no longer felt like sitting and stood up, preparing to leave.  

“Little girl, remember, you must help me get some sea urchins tomorrow. Otherwise, if the little master at home refuses to eat, I’ll be the one in trouble. I’ll want the same amount as last time. I’ll come back tomorrow.”  

Jiāng Wǎn roughly understood the situation and agreed immediately.  

“By the way, sir, since you made the trip for nothing today, take these back to amuse the child.”  

Fù Yuánlíng perked up at the mention of entertaining a child. He leaned forward to take a look, only to be slightly disappointed.  

“It’s just a fish, and its color is so ugly. I have plenty of beautiful fish in my yard.”  

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the little girl poke the small fish with a stick, and its belly visibly inflated, turning into a round ball, which was quite cute.  

“Hey! Why is its belly so swollen? It can puff up like a ball!”  

Fù Yuánlíng had grown up in the northwest and had never seen such a sea fish. If it weren’t for the etiquette, he would have taken the stick from the little girl to poke the fish himself.  

“This is a pufferfish. It’s poisonous. But as long as you don’t eat it, it’s fine. Take it home to entertain the child, and when the child gets tired of it, you can release it back into the sea.”  

“Okay, okay, I’ll take it.”  

Fù Yuánlíng’s mood brightened again. He was fond of the pufferfish, and his nephew would surely like it too.  

“Just make sure not to eat it, it’s poisonous.”  

“I know, I know!”  

Fù Yuánlíng poured the pufferfish into the bucket he had specially brought and happily left.  

After he left, Yīn Níng came out of the house.  

“Cousin, aren’t you afraid of him?”  

“Hm? He’s just like everyone else, with two eyes and a mouth. What’s there to be afraid of?”  

Jiāng Wǎn had never been concerned about men and women keeping their distance, nor was she afraid of the three young masters. When she sold the sea urchins that day, she could tell that they weren’t bad people. One was kind-hearted, another loved to eat, and the third was a bit stingy.  

None of these were flaws. As long as a person’s character wasn’t bad, there was nothing to fear.  

“Cousin, the more people we meet in the future, the more we’ll have to get used to it. You can’t keep holding on to the old rules.”  

Things like not stepping out of the door, not seeing men, not smiling too widely—those were all nonsense.  

Jiāng Wǎn regularly “brainwashed” her cousin, and after a long talk, she felt a bit hungry. She habitually drank two bowls of water and then went up the mountain.  

At the end of June, the mountain not only had wild vegetables and herbs but also many wild fruits. However, the village children liked them too, so whether or not she could collect anything depended on luck.  

Jiāng Wǎn carried a basket and walked up the mountain. Aside from a few old, tough wild vegetables, she didn’t find much else. It wasn’t until she veered off the small path that she started to have better luck.  

She found the ploughhead grass her mother had mentioned and also saw a big bunch of mugwort leaves.  

Mugwort was very useful, and it was always better to have more than less. She grabbed a handful and stuffed it into her basket. Just as she was about to continue searching, she suddenly heard the sound of a dry twig breaking.  

!!!  

She was standing on exposed mud ground, with hardly any dry twigs or leaves around.  

Was someone nearby?!  

Jiāng Wǎn grew cautious but didn’t show it on her face, continuing to look for useful wild vegetables and herbs. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt like someone was secretly watching her.  

This place wasn’t safe, and she was still young.  

Jiāng Wǎn grew anxious, and the two bowls of water she had drunk earlier started urging her to go back home.  

It was broad daylight, and there were probably other people on the mountain. A pervert wouldn’t dare act, right?  

Jiāng Wǎn walked awkwardly, her heart still on edge, but slowly made her way up the mountain path. This path was the main route for the villagers to go up and down the mountain, and when she reached it, she felt a bit safer.  

Never mind, it wasn’t a good day to be out, so she decided to hurry home.  

She didn’t dare look behind her, grabbing her half-full basket of herbs and walking quickly down the mountain. She hadn’t gone far when she froze in place.  

Not far ahead, on the narrow path, a young man carrying firewood was meeting Yínzhū. Yínzhū sidestepped to go up the mountain, but her clothes got caught on the bundle of firewood behind the young man. As soon as he moved, her clothes were pulled up, and the little girl let out a startled cry.  

They both looked at each other—one with red ears, the other with a flushed face.  

Wow, this was straight out of an idol drama.  

If Jiāng Wǎn hadn’t drunk so much water, she would have been reluctant to break the atmosphere.  

“Yínzhū!”  

“Xiǎo Wǎn!”  

Yínzhū quickly regained her composure, hurriedly pulled her clothes free, and didn’t even look at the young man again.  

“Xiǎo Wǎn, your basket isn’t full yet. How about we go and get some more?”

“How about we go up the mountain and take a look? The last time I came, I found a patch of wild fruits that were almost ripe but hadn’t been picked yet. We can go and harvest them.”  

Upon hearing this, Jiāng Wǎn really wanted to agree, but she couldn’t hold it in much longer. Besides, it seemed like there was still a voyeur lurking nearby, and she didn’t want to go back up the mountain right now.  

Yínzhū shouldn’t go up there either.  

A young girl all alone could be in great danger if she encountered that voyeur.  

“Yínzhū, I think I sprained my foot. Could you help me back to the house?”  

“Sprained your foot? Is it serious? Should I carry you?”  

The sweet and kind Yínzhū immediately bent down as if to help. Jiāng Wǎn quickly stepped forward and held her arm, not wanting to trouble her with carrying her.  

“It’s not too bad, just that the path down the mountain is a bit steep, and it’s inconvenient with just one foot. If you could support me for a bit, I’ll be fine.”  

“Alright, then I’ll help you home.”  

Yínzhū didn’t suspect anything and simply followed Jiāng Wǎn down the mountain.  

Once the two of them were out of sight, a young woman who had been hiding in a tree near where they stood earlier jumped down.  

This young woman’s skin was darker than the girls from the fishing village, and her hair was messy. Her clothes had distinct ethnic features and looked quite heroic from a distance.  

She held no ill intentions toward the two girls, and after recalling what was in the basket they had carried, she began searching the forest herself. After collecting a large bundle, she happily made her way back up the mountain.