Chapter 14: Wild Pheasant

“Fubao, slow down, child.”

Zhang Yanzi saw her daughter running ahead and immediately grew worried, hurrying to catch up.

The sound of the three walking scared away the mice drinking water nearby.

“Mom, look! So many wild vegetables!” Only when Jiang Fubao stopped in surprise and called out did the mother and grandmother pause.

They pushed aside the weeds and walked closer.

There was a small pit there.

Shallow.

Like a washbasin buried in the ground.

Wild vegetables grew all around the pit.

“Oh! This is huanghuahao (yellow-flowered mugwort)!! Chop it up, mix with coarse flour, add some lard and form into cakes—so fragrant! Too bad it’s rare, hard to come by. Who would’ve thought there’s so much here? Quick, Yanzi, come pick these vegetables!”

Zhang Jinlan no longer cared about wild beasts; at the sight of the vegetables, everything else vanished from her mind.

Her eyes lit up as she squatted, hands working together, tugging vigorously.

Her hands moved so fast they left afterimages.

The grandmother and daughter-in-law were extremely quick.

Before long, wild vegetables filled a third of the basket.

Jiang Fubao noticed that the plant her grandmother called huanghuahao was different from what she imagined.

It wasn’t the mugwort from which artemisinin is extracted.

It was ordinary mugwort.

Indeed, in this alternate world, even the names of wild vegetables were different.

Seeing them so focused, Jiang Fubao wandered leisurely on her own.

Earlier, she had examined the pit and found a black hole, pipe-sized, seeping water out.

The water rose until it exactly filled the pit, then stopped, never overflowing—like an automatic refill system.

Truly amazing.

The ground beneath this area must be full of water, so the trees grew lush, and weeds and wild vegetables thrived.

Luckily, this was inside the inner area.

Otherwise, villagers would have discovered it long ago.

There wouldn’t be any wild vegetables left—just bare earth, devoured like a locust swarm.

Jiang Fubao complained silently.

The barren ground along the way spoke for itself.

“Oww—my claws, it hurts so much.”

Suddenly, Jiang Fubao heard movement ahead.

From the heart’s voice, it seemed a bird was injured.

It was male.

Probably a big bird; whether roasted or made into soup, it would taste good.

But she was too weak to catch it.

Jiang Fubao returned to the pit and told Zhang Jinlan, “Grandma, I heard movement over there. Seems like a bird. Let’s see if there are eggs.” She hid the bird’s injury, since she couldn’t explain it.

“A bird? Yanzi, you pick vegetables here. Fubao and I will check it out.”

The lure of bird eggs was much greater than wild vegetables.

Zhang Jinlan grabbed her granddaughter’s hand, full of expectation, and went along.

Through the grass, they found a wild pheasant under a tree.

Its claws were bleeding, and it flapped around in place.

The pheasant couldn’t fly high but ran extremely fast—hard to catch.

Zhang Jinlan grinned so widely her upper lip nearly touched her lower lip.

“Fubao, stay here. Grandma will catch the pheasant.” Her voice was low, and Jiang Fubao nodded, not wanting to cause trouble at this critical moment.

She had expected a big bird.

It was just a wild pheasant.

Its call was strange.

But the pheasant’s feathers were gorgeous—colorful and dazzling.

Its tail had patterned feathers, long and trailing like a phoenix’s.

Around its neck, it seemed to wear a pearl necklace.

While Jiang Fubao quietly admired it, Zhang Jinlan sprinted toward the tree.

The pheasant sensed danger, flapped its wings, and flew about two meters high, but soon its body fell.

A chicken is still a chicken.

Unlike other birds, it can never truly fly.

As it tried to fly again, Zhang Jinlan grabbed its wing.

“Ooooh, let me go, you stinky human!”

“Ooooh—”

The heart’s voice mixed with the pheasant’s call entered Jiang Fubao’s ears.

“Grandma is amazing! Caught a wild pheasant! I want chicken soup! I want to eat chicken!”

Jiang Fubao was overjoyed.

“All right, since Fubao wants it, we won’t sell this pheasant. It’s for Fubao!” Zhang Jinlan had originally planned to sell it in town, but hearing her granddaughter’s wish, she didn’t hesitate for a second.

Half an hour later, the three descended the mountain.

The pheasant was hidden in the basket, covered with wild vegetables.

To avoid being seen by villagers, some small dry twigs were added on top.

“Oh, Jinlan, coming down the mountain? What’s in the basket? Wild vegetables? Tell me the spot—I’m so poor, searched all morning, only dug up three! Not enough to fill a tooth gap. My grandsons are starving!”

At the mountain path, they ran into the village widow Ma Qingmei.

Her late husband was also surnamed Jiang.

The two families were of the same clan.

Villagers avoided mentioning her husband’s surname to spare her grief, calling her by full name instead.

She had four sons and several grandchildren—twenty people in total, more than the Jiang family.

Ma Qingmei’s eyes rolled when she saw Zhang Jinlan and the others.

She put on a pitiful act.

“It’s nothing, just some twigs… all so hard. My Dahe went to town with his younger brothers; we’re so poor, can’t even afford rice porridge. I searched all morning, no sign of wild vegetables… so I just came back. No one at home to cut firewood, figured I’d gather some twigs for the fire. If not, just boil water with a little salt to fill our stomachs. Jinlan, you’re lucky to find wild vegetables—not like me, so unlucky.”

Zhang Jinlan wasn’t stupid.

She interrupted Ma Qingmei.

Pretended to be even more pitiful, as if saying, “At least you found three vegetables, I can only drink water to fill my stomach.”

Ma Qingmei’s face turned red and green.

“All right, I’m going home to boil water. Didn’t have breakfast, hungry enough to see stars. Bye, Qingmei.”

Zhang Jinlan didn’t bother with her further.

After a greeting, she left with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

“Ugh! What’s this? Take me for a fool? I heard movement in the basket—maybe caught a bird! So stingy, didn’t tell me, let them eat it. Hope it’s a poisonous bird, kill your whole family!”

Ma Qingmei spat, muttered curses under her breath, and strutted away.

“This widow gets worse by the day. All that scheming on her face, thinking everyone else is stupid, only she’s smart. Living so long, and for what?”

Only after they were far did Zhang Jinlan glare back at Ma Qingmei.

“Mom, you’re finally back! Did you get wild vegetables?”

As soon as they entered the house, Sun Pingmei asked eagerly.

“Yes, and you?”

Zhang Jinlan put down the basket and returned the question.

“No, not a single one. Just weeds.”