Chapter 14: Encountering a Wild Boar in the Mountains

“That’s my daughter, Su Meijuan’s daughter! That’s my girl!” Su Meijuan exclaimed. Then she continued, “Anyway, I don’t have much to do this afternoon. How about I go up the mountain with you?”

Knowing her mother felt much more at ease after hearing her explanation—but clearly not completely, which is why she wanted to go along—Tang Wanning nodded. “Sure, I was planning to pick some wild grapes for the train ride.”

“Perfect timing, too. The peaches, pears, and jujubes on the mountain are nearly ripe. We can gather some of those as well.”

At the mention of peaches, Tang Wanning’s eyes lit up. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Su Meijuan smiled and tapped her daughter on the head. “You little glutton.”

Along the way, the mother and daughter chatted and laughed, soon reaching the foot of the mountain. By now, there were already quite a few children and women gathered up there.

Yang Cuihua, who had brought her child up the mountain hoping for a lucky find, was surprised to see Su Meijuan and her daughter. Normally at this time, Su Meijuan would be busy in her own fields, then helping out at the Xu household—always running around. How was it that today she had time to come to the mountain?

With a tone of surprise, she asked, “Meijuan, Wanning, how come you have time to be here today?”

Seeing her friend Yang Cuihua, Su Meijuan smiled. “Wanning wanted some wild grapes, and I didn’t feel comfortable letting her go alone, so I came along.”

Hearing this, Yang Cuihua grinned widely. “Perfect! My Tiedan also wants wild grapes. Let’s go together.”

“Sure.”

Thus, the two-person group became a four-person team. Tiedan ran up and down excitedly, bringing laughter to everyone.

After about seven or eight minutes, Tiedan spotted clusters of purple wild grapes hanging from a tall tree. Excitedly, he shouted, “Mom, look! Are those wild grapes?”

The three looked up gently and saw a bunch of grapes hanging on a red pine branch. But the tree was so tall that ordinary people couldn’t climb it.

“Tiedan, this tree is too high. Mom can’t climb it,” Yang Cuihua said regretfully. “Let’s look somewhere else.”

Though disappointed, Tiedan knew the tree was indeed too tall. If it were shorter, he could have climbed up himself, but at this height, his mom wouldn’t allow it.

“I understand, Mom.”

While the other three focused on searching for wild grapes, Tang Wanning concentrated on collecting plants and herbs. In just a short while, she had earned 106 points.

Wait, 106 points? How could that be? Normally, wild herbs, vegetables, or mushrooms gave at most one or two points. She had only collected five or six kinds. Why did she suddenly get so many points?

Curious, Tang Wanning opened the trading panel and saw:

Lotus Leaf Maidenhair Fern — Trade Value: 100 points

Lotus Leaf Maidenhair Fern? What was that, and why was it so valuable?

Tang Wanning mentally clicked on the plant name, and the screen displayed a detailed description and image:

Lotus Leaf Maidenhair Fern: A terrestrial small-to-medium fern, usually 5–20 cm tall. The rhizome is short and erect. Leaves grow in clusters, with single leaves. Petioles are 3–14 cm long. Leaf blades are oval or reniform.

Following the description and image, Tang Wanning quickly found another Lotus Leaf Maidenhair Fern among the weeds. Without hesitation, she carefully dug it out and placed it in her storage compartment.

Tang Wanning had noticed earlier that the herbs she stored yesterday hadn’t died; they remained in the exact condition as when freshly dug. It seemed time didn’t pass in the storage space. With this discovery, she felt confident putting the fern inside.

Looking at the 100-point Lotus Leaf Maidenhair Fern alongside a bunch of worthless herbs, Tang Wanning felt a bit reluctant. After all, it had earned her 100 points; she decided to give it a better environment.

She opened the trading panel, hesitated for a moment, then clicked on the option to exchange for black soil suitable for planting herbs and crops:

[Use 50 points to exchange for 0.1 acres of black soil? Confirm/Decline]

“Confirm exchange.”

[Congratulations! You received 0.1 acres of black soil. Remaining points: 178.]

After the exchange, Tang Wanning planted all the herbs from her storage compartment onto the black soil.

Just as she was about to stand, she heard Su Meijuan’s voice: “Wanning, what are you crouching there for? Come on, keep up!”

“Coming.”

Seeing the black soil still had plenty of space, Tang Wanning wondered if she should plant some grains or vegetables. This black soil was expensive; surely whatever grew here wouldn’t be ordinary. She thought she could try planting some rice when she returned home.

With that, Tang Wanning caught up with the others. After about five more minutes, Tiedan found another cluster of wild grapes, this time climbing on a jujube tree. The tree had both red-and-green jujubes and bunches of purple grapes, looking delicious.

Since this area was deep in the mountains, few people came here, which worked to their advantage.

Yang Cuihua urgently said, “Meijuan, Wanning, the day is still young. Let’s pick as much as we can. This area is close to the deep mountains. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets.”

Hearing her, mother and daughter replied in unison, “Okay!”

Initially, they hadn’t planned to go this deep. But once Tiedan spotted the grapes from afar, the seemingly short distance turned out to be longer than expected. Unknowingly, they had walked this far.

Now that they were here, they couldn’t leave without picking some grapes. Even Tiedan aside, neither Su Meijuan nor Yang Cuihua would have been satisfied otherwise.

Tang Wanning was thrilled. Normally, she wouldn’t dare venture this far herself, so it was the perfect opportunity to earn some points!

She focused on picking for about five minutes, then began to wander off mentally. Su Meijuan and Yang Cuihua were completely absorbed in the grapes and jujubes, so no one noticed her.

As she picked jujubes and collected plants at the same time, she earned 13 points.

Just as she was secretly enjoying herself, a wild boar’s roar sounded nearby.

Su Meijuan and Yang Cuihua were instantly terrified, their faces pale, and their legs trembling uncontrollably.

Tang Wanning reacted the fastest. The moment she heard the roar, she shouted to Yang Cuihua, “Aunt Yang, take Tiedan and run!”