Chapter 17 – Truly Lucky

Liu Wenxiu was cleaning the fish. She let Tingfeng and his sister take the biggest one home, while she kept the two slightly smaller ones.

She weighed them with the scale and found they were still seven or eight pounds each.

One would be eaten fresh, and the other would be rubbed with salt and hung under the eaves to dry into salted fish.

The small dried fish weren’t wasted either. After cleaning out the guts, she coated them in a thin batter and fried them golden and crispy.

The snails would be saved for the afternoon—the midday meal was to be a full fish feast.

Liu Wenxiu simmered a pot of creamy white crucian carp soup, again serving it with noodles.

Tongxiang Brigade was in the north, where people ate mostly noodles. Fortunately, Ye Tao had been a northerner in her past life, so it was easy for her to adjust to the diet.

After their nap, Huo Tingting came to invite her to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms.

Ye Tao happily agreed—she loved foraging the most.

Huo Tingwu had things to do in the afternoon and couldn’t accompany them, so he asked Huo Tingjie to go along.

Two young girls going out alone was worrisome, so Tingjie thumped his chest and promised to take full responsibility.

After days of heat, the rain had cooled the weather.

The mountain path had dried under the morning sun and was no longer muddy, but just in case, Liu Wenxiu still made them wear rain boots.

“Tingting, give me your hand.” A stream blocked their path, and Tingting hesitated. Ye Tao grabbed her arm and pulled her across.

“Thank you, Second Sister-in-law.” Tingting usually didn’t go up the mountain, and when she did, it was only on flat ground. Suddenly coming across a stream of unknown depth startled her.

“No need to thank me.” Ye Tao let her walk in the middle, with Tingjie leading the way and herself bringing up the rear.

Ye Tao spotted some lichen and thought she’d pick it up on the way back down.

The forest was shaded and much cooler than the foot of the mountain, but that also meant there were more wild animals.

Soon, Tingjie discovered a patch of mushrooms. The three of them spread out to gather, though never too far apart for safety.

Ye Tao gazed deeper into the woods and murmured, “If only there were some pheasants.” She had heard pheasant meat was tender and thought she could try roasting one in clay.

But after waiting a while without a sign of one, she gave up the idea and focused on picking mushrooms.

She was good at it. Back when she filmed videos, she had gone to Yunnan during mushroom season to learn. She might not know every variety, but she could identify the common ones, and her rule was simple: if she didn’t recognize it, it was poisonous.

Thud.

Ye Tao looked up, mouth open in shock. Right in front of her was a pheasant. When had her words become so effective?

“Tingjie, Tingting, come quick! I caught a pheasant!”

The bird was already dead. She held it high for the other two to see.

Tingting ran over, eyes sparkling. “It really is a pheasant! Second Sister-in-law, you’re amazing!” she praised sincerely.

Ye Tao laughed. “Not really, just lucky. But one pheasant isn’t enough for us. If only a few more would show up.”

The words had barely left her lips when three more pheasants dropped out of a tree, hitting the ground headfirst and dying instantly.

Tingjie froze, then whooped with delight. “Second Sister-in-law, you’re incredible! Teach me sometime—I want a mouth as magical as yours!”

Ye Tao: …What the heck kind of ‘crow’s mouth’ is this!

“Probably just a coincidence,” she muttered.

Tingjie quickly wrung their necks and tossed them into the basket, covering them with mushrooms.

With a basket full of mushrooms and the unexpected bonus of pheasants, they decided not to linger and headed down the mountain.

On the way, Ye Tao remembered to pick the lichen. But just as she took a step forward, something underfoot tripped her.

“Ah!” Ye Tao squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively covered her face.

But the expected pain never came. She opened her eyes to find herself nose-to-nose with a frog.

Frog: Ribbit? It hopped away in a few quick leaps.

Clutching her chest, Ye Tao sighed with relief—at least her face wasn’t ruined.

“Second Sister-in-law, I can’t hold it anymore!” She turned and saw Tingjie and Tingting struggling to keep her basket from toppling over.

With their help, she got back on her feet. “Thanks to you two, I didn’t take a real tumble.” Otherwise, she’d have eaten dirt.

Once steady, she looked at the culprit.

“Second Sister-in-law, this rock is kind of pretty,” Tingjie said, staring at it.

Ye Tao’s heart skipped. Could it really be? Had she tripped over jade?

She snapped off a branch and began digging around the stone.

The siblings were puzzled but, seeing her hard at work, joined in with their own sticks. Soon, they unearthed the entire stone.

Ye Tao cleaned the mud off and held it to the light. Sure enough—it was jadeite.

“Second Sister-in-law, this stone is beautiful,” Tingting said, genuinely mesmerized by the way sunlight shone through.

“Mm-hm.” Tingjie nodded in agreement. “It’s just that there’s too much black stuff on the outside.”

He wasn’t wrong. The pure jade portion was about the size of a palm, while the outer black rock was twice that.

“Let’s take it home,” Ye Tao said.

She didn’t tell them it might be jadeite. After all, she only knew from videos online and couldn’t be sure. Better to let Tingwu ask around—he had connections, maybe even experts.

The siblings assumed she simply liked collecting pretty rocks and helped her carry it back.

Once home, the first thing Tingjie did was mysteriously shut the door.

Liu Wenxiu frowned. “Why are you closing the door, Third?”

“Shh. Mom, come look—we brought back something good.”

Puzzled, she peeked inside the basket and saw only a pile of lichen. “Are you teasing me? Lichen is everywhere. That counts as treasure?”

“Mom, look deeper.”

Tingjie didn’t explain further, while Ye Tao and Tingting grinned without giving it away.

Liu Wenxiu kept rummaging, but all she saw were mushrooms. Exasperated, she upended the basket.

Thud! The four pheasants sprawled on the floor.

“So many pheasants!”

Her jaw dropped. She rubbed her eyes, half-convinced she was imagining things.

“How did you catch them?” she asked, happily taking out the scale. Each bird weighed about five or six pounds.

Tingjie puffed up with pride. “Well? Aren’t we amazing?”

“Yes, yes. The most amazing in the whole brigade,” Liu Wenxiu replied distractedly, already thinking about how to cook them.

But Tingjie couldn’t resist bragging further. “Actually, it was Second Sister-in-law. You don’t know, Mom—her words are magical! She said she wanted pheasants, and the next second, several dropped from the trees!”

“Peach, you’re incredible. But let’s just keep this within the family. Don’t go telling others. Better not spread word about these pheasants.”

She chalked it up to coincidence, not wanting to dwell on superstition. But in times like these, anything odd could attract unwanted attention. Low profile was best.

“Don’t worry, Mom, we know,” Tingjie assured her.

There were four birds in total—two for each household. Liu Wenxiu had Tingjie fetch hot water so they could clean them all at once, saving Tingting the trouble of dealing with them at home.