Chapter 10

“Where?”

The women all turned their heads. This time of year, even sour wild fruits from the mountain were rare treats for the children.

“Over there, I’ll go take a look.”

Since Gu Yueqian wasn’t carrying firewood, she could move freely. She bent down and slipped into the low brush on the left. The sight startled the others into exclamations.

“Hey, you can’t crawl in there!” That kind of underbrush was usually crawling with snakes and bugs—getting bitten could be fatal. Who knew that though Lu Cheng’s wife looked so delicate, she could act so daringly.

“Sister-in-law, come out quickly, there are snakes in there!” Lu Yao was so frightened that she hurriedly dropped her firewood and chased after her.

The low shrubs blocked sight lines—sometimes even big pits were hidden beneath them. She feared her sister-in-law might step into one and fall, which would be disastrous.

But when Lu Yao caught up, Gu Yueqian had already turned a corner and reached a narrow spot against the mountain. Below was a thorn-covered ledge—falling down wouldn’t just mean broken bones but also being pierced to death by the brambles. Yet when she looked up, she saw several wild blueberry trees growing on the mountain’s back slope.

Clusters of berries hung thick, gleaming a deep blue at first glance.

As Lu Yao arrived, Gu Yueqian plucked the biggest one and popped it into her mouth.

Lu Yao froze. “It’s so sweet.”

Gu Yueqian stepped aside. “Look.”

And then Lu Yao saw the whole patch of wild blueberries. “Sister-in-law, step back a bit, careful not to fall.” She tugged Gu Yueqian inward nervously.

Gu Yueqian said, “Go call Xiuyun and the others over. There’s so much here, everyone can have their fill.”

Lu Yao finally reacted. “Oh, okay!”

She ran back to call the others.

When the women heard there was a patch of wild blueberries over there, their eyes lit up with excitement. The mischievous kids, hearing there was something to eat, darted over even faster. In the blink of an eye, they were already squeezing through, only to have Gu Yueqian warn them: “Careful, it’s too narrow there.”

“I’m not scared, I’ll pick them!” one boy shouted, about to scramble over. But his grandmother smacked him on the head. “Brat, you think you’re tough? One wrong step and you’ll tumble down!”

“But I’m not afraid! I want blueberries!”

“That’s Lu Cheng’s wife’s find.”

Gu Yueqian said, “The mountain belongs to everyone. I just got lucky. Everyone can pick some—we can all take some home to enjoy.”

Her words were generous, though normally, if someone found something good in the mountains, they’d keep it to themselves instead of letting others share. But Lu Cheng’s wife was from the city—she didn’t understand how scarce things were in the countryside. Even wild blueberries were a rare treasure.

So everyone sighed—Lu Cheng’s wife was an honest sort. Honest folks were hard to find in the village these days.

“Then we won’t be polite. Erdan, you’re small, you go pick. Pick and we’ll all share. Careful, don’t fall.”

The boy called Erdan immediately stripped off his shirt to use as a pouch. For safety, though, Gu Yueqian tied a cloth strip around his waist, looped it around the blueberry tree roots, and had several people hold the other end.

Erdan, nimble as a monkey, clambered over. With the rope tied to him, he felt fearless and used both hands to pick, which made his grandmother scold him furiously. He only stuck out his tongue and made faces. Only when threatened with a beating at home did he restrain himself a little.

Since there were so many berries, soon Lu Yao wanted to pick as well—partly because she didn’t want her sister-in-law to suffer a loss.

After all, it was her sister-in-law who’d discovered them. They could’ve come back quietly that night to pick alone, but since she’d called everyone to share, then share they would. Still, Lu Yao was determined to gather more for her sister-in-law.

Erdan’s grandmother even gave her straw hat to Lu Yao to fill. Before long, the patch was stripped clean. Each person had gathered a bundle.

Lu Yao carried the most—her shirt stuffed full and her hat brimming—but no one minded, since it had been her sister-in-law who found the berries in the first place. They’d all walked that path every day, never knowing such a treasure was hidden inside.

Now that they knew, they could come back year after year.

At the foot of the mountain, Xiuyun’s grandmother saw Gu Yueqian carrying only a hatful of berries and said, “Lu Cheng’s wife, I’ll bring your firewood over later.”

Gu Yueqian smiled sheepishly. “Thank you, Grandma.” The firewood was hers, true, but others had carried it down the mountain, so she felt embarrassed to insist.

“Today we all got to eat wild blueberries thanks to you.”

Everyone was in high spirits, their impression of Gu Yueqian vastly improved.

They’d heard Lin Yufen say that Lu Cheng’s wife, being a city woman, looked down on the poor countryside. Though she’d gotten the marriage certificate, she had refused to come even after Lu Cheng invited her several times.

And indeed, when she’d arrived with Lu Cheng, she’d looked delicate, and people said she wasn’t cut out for work—that Lu Cheng would have his hands full in the future.

But now it seemed they’d all judged by appearances. She was a good woman after all—she even doted on Lu Yao.

So with laughter and chatter, everyone went home with their firewood.

Once back in the courtyard, Lu Yao tossed down her bundle and dashed off. “Sister-in-law, I’ll fetch water to wash them!”

Soon she came back with a big basin of water. Gu Yueqian dumped all the berries in to rinse them, picked out a few of the biggest, and popped them into Lu Yao’s mouth.

Lu Yao was just about to say how sweet they were when the next one puckered her mouth with sourness. “Oh, this one’s so sour!”

Gu Yueqian laughed. “Tomorrow I’ll make you blueberry jam—so sweet it’ll make you sick of it.”

“What’s blueberry jam?” Lu Yao blinked.

“It’s when you melt rock sugar, then simmer the blueberries in it. The jam comes out sweet and fragrant—absolutely delicious.”

At the mention of rock sugar, Lu Yao’s mouth was already watering. Just imagining the taste of sweet blueberries mixed with sugar was enough to make her long for it.

Wouldn’t that be too extravagant, though?

But then she remembered her sister-in-law had once used five eggs and lard just to treat guests. Compared to that, rock-sugar blueberries didn’t seem excessive at all.

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded with eager anticipation.

Gu Yueqian sorted out the small, misshapen berries, set them aside in a jar, and planned to transfer them secretly into the spiritual basin in her space that evening. After a night of gathering spiritual energy, the blueberries would look the same but taste like top-grade fruit.

That ability was what had once let her make a tidy sum back in the city.

The bigger berries she left for Lu Yao to snack on.

But Lu Yao was reluctant to eat too many—after a few she stopped, set them back on the table, and went to tidy the firewood for cooking.

With nothing else to do, Gu Yueqian went inside to check what food supplies were left in the house.

She decided she’d use spiritual spring water for all their cooking from now on—it nourished the body and prolonged life. That way, she could slowly build Lu Yao, that scrawny girl, back to health.

But after looking around, she found only coarse grains—cornmeal, cracked corn, buckwheat flour, a bit of sorghum rice, and leftover elm-bark flour from spring. Still, those could make cornbread patties with a few vegetables from the family’s little garden out back.

With pickles and a can of tomato fish, they could have a satisfying meal.

While she was tidying, Old Lady Da Bao and Lu Da Bao came back, also with bundles of firewood.

On the way, they’d heard that someone had found a big patch of wild blueberries on the mountain, and everyone had taken home a bundle. Lu Erdan had even gone around bragging, deliberately showing off to Lu Da Bao, who had thrown a tantrum of envy outside.

It had taken all of Old Lady Da Bao’s coaxing to calm him down.

But once home, he immediately smelled blueberries in the air, and with sharp eyes spotted juice stains on the ground. He cried out, “Grandma, they picked wild blueberries!”

His face scrunched uglier than a steamed bun, clinging to his grandma’s arm and wriggling like a maggot.

But this time, after being kicked away twice before, he didn’t dare touch Lu Yao’s things again—otherwise, he would’ve snatched them already.

Old Lady Da Bao’s brows pinched tight with malice. How dare that niece-in-law keep such things to herself! Her face turned mean.

“The brigade’s collective property, and they dare keep it for themselves? Even if they picked it, it belongs to everyone to share. Da Bao, don’t be afraid—go take some. You’re entitled to it.

If anyone dares say otherwise, Grandma’s got your back!”