Chapter 20

At this moment.

A beam of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree branches, landing directly on Jiang Tiantian.

Cha Jiuzhang lifted his head, his gaze flickering slightly as he looked at Jiang Tiantian, who seemed to be glowing.

She probably didn’t know that, to the locals, the snow-capped mountains were sacred and revered as protectors.

At this moment, Jiang Tiantian’s fair skin appeared radiant, the sunlight casting a golden halo around the fine hairs on her face. She looked both enchanting and pure, like a little forest spirit born from the mountain’s flora.

Cha Jiuzhang quietly pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beating unusually fast.

So, this… is what it feels like to be moved?

It wasn’t duty. It wasn’t obligation.

It was pure and simple—just because of the woman before him, his heart stirred!

Jiang Tiantian was unaware that, at this moment, a seed had already sprouted in Cha Jiuzhang’s heart.

One day, that seed would grow into a vine, entwining around her tightly.

Before long.

A voice rang out from the front.

“I could hear you shouting from a mile away, girl.”

“Did you find matsutake mushrooms and get too excited?”

Aunt Wu came over and took a glance into their baskets. Instantly, she let out a gasp.

“Heavens! Jiuzhang’s wife, where did you find so many matsutakes?”

“How is there this much?”

Then, she turned to Cha Jiuzhang with a suspicious look. “Jiuzhang, you didn’t help her cheat, did you?”

“No, wait—even if you did, you still couldn’t have found this many.”

She set down her own basket, which had only a shallow layer of mushrooms at the bottom—barely ten in total.

From a distance, the remaining three people also followed the commotion.

San Ya peered into Jiang Tiantian’s basket in amazement.

“Sis Tiantian, how are you this good?”

“Aiya, I’m definitely going to lose to you.”

“No way! Your luck is too insane. I’m sticking with you next time!”

She took off her own basket, which had more than Aunt Wu’s but was still nothing compared to Jiang Tiantian’s haul.

Jiang Tiantian thought, since her basket was almost full anyway, why not let everyone join her?

Today, she was going to show them what she was made of—filling everyone’s baskets to the brim!

With a bold wave of her little hand, she declared, “This whole mountain is mine today. Stick with me, and you can just pick up matsutakes off the ground.”

Second Aunt sat down on the spot, taking out some food to replenish her energy.

“Alright then, with your luck today, we’ll follow you and see if we can get a little fortune of our own.”

After quickly finishing lunch, the group really did start following behind Jiang Tiantian.

They all wanted to figure out—how on earth was she finding so many matsutakes?

But before they could analyze anything, they were completely stunned by her next move.

Jiang Tiantian wandered around randomly, then suddenly stopped, pointed at the ground, and said, “There’s one here. Dig it up!”

A few minutes later, she stopped again and pointed.

“Here’s another one. Dig it up!”

“Here. Dig it up!”

“… “

Walking and stopping—every time she stopped, there was a matsutake at her feet.

And the speed kept increasing.

Eventually, the women were so overwhelmed they didn’t even bother asking anymore.

There was no explaining it.

“Instinct” was the only answer.

So, they just followed Jiang Tiantian, squatting down and picking mushrooms like robots.

Cha Jiuzhang trailed behind the women, growing more and more puzzled.

Something was off.

Could it be that she was suddenly possessed by a forest spirit and could now sense the locations of matsutakes?

Otherwise, how could this be explained?

Cha Jiuzhang looked up at the sun. Years of being educated as a proud socialist told him that supernatural beings weren’t allowed to exist after the founding of the nation.

So, logically, there were no spirits in this forest.

In the end, in just over an hour, even Cha Jiuzhang’s basket was filled with matsutakes.

He estimated that they had probably picked the entire forest clean today.

Aunt Wu and the others regretted not bringing more baskets.

They followed Jiang Tiantian down the mountain in a daze.

Meanwhile, the little girl seemed to have endless energy—every time she saw a mushroom she didn’t recognize, she had to ask:

“What’s this?”

“Is it edible?”

“How do you cook it?”

And as she asked, she couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.

San Ya was practically laughing herself to tears.

Little did they know, Jiang Tiantian was secretly recording everything while chatting with Xiao Qi, asking her to catalog all the edible mushrooms in the mountain.

Next time, she planned to come back alone and gather the ones she hadn’t eaten yet.

In her mind, she pictured a grand mushroom feast—fried, grilled, stewed, stir-fried… every kind of dish imaginable.

—-

In the center, she would place a bubbling hotpot, filled with all sorts of fresh wild mushrooms.

Slurp…

Just thinking about it made her mouth water.

And it wasn’t just mushrooms.

Along the way, Jiang Tiantian also discovered many wild fruits.

Naturally, she repeated her three essential questions:

“What’s this?”

“Is it edible?”

“How do you eat it?”

San Ya patiently explained every single one to her.

As long as it wasn’t poisonous and was even remotely edible—no matter how high the tree was—Jiang Tiantian would climb right up, pick a few, and taste-test them one by one, giving a review after each bite.

Cha Jiuzhang tried stopping her twice but failed both times. In the end, he could only look at her helplessly.

He had never met such an energetic and adventurous girl before.

Because of all her detours, the trip down the mountain ended up taking even longer than the trip up.

They were probably the last group to descend.

—

Not far from the base of the mountain, there was a row of simple houses.

Unusually, a small light truck was parked in front.

Inside the driver’s seat sat a young, handsome man.

Cha Yonghao was leaning back with his feet up, waiting for the workers inside to finish sorting and packing the last batch of freshly picked matsutakes.

Feeling drowsy, he glanced into the rearview mirror and spotted Cha Jiuzhang’s group. His face lit up, and he immediately jumped out of the truck, grinning.

“Jiuzhang, freshly married and already running up the mountain for matsutakes?”

“How’s the harvest today?”

Then, he noticed a girl he didn’t recognize in the group, and his smile widened. “Oh? Could this be our new sister-in-law?”

It was peak matsutake harvesting season, and Cha Yonghao had been running deliveries non-stop for days.

This was his first time seeing the legendary new sister-in-law.

She looked even younger than expected—wearing a deep-blue tracksuit, she actually looked like a high schooler.

Jiang Tiantian waved cheerfully and flashed a bright smile. “Hi! Nice to meet you.”

Cha Yonghao was momentarily dazzled by her smile. He shot a jealous look at Cha Jiuzhang—Damn, bro, you really scored big. Your wife is both sweet and stunning.

Bending slightly, he greeted her politely.

“Sis, nice to meet you! I’m Xiao Liu—I grew up with Jiuzhang.”

“He’s like my real brother, so from now on, you’re my real sister-in-law.”

“If you ever need anything, just let me know!”

Cha Jiuzhang stepped forward and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

“Enough with the smooth talk. Go help unload.”

Cha Yonghao peeked into the baskets and burst out laughing.

“Wow, unbelievable!”

“Did you guys’ stumble upon a matsutake nest or something? How the hell did you dig up this many?”