Chapter 25

Tang Yunling was the kind of strong woman who could catch snakes with her bare hands. She threw that lump of pig manure quickly and accurately, and it landed with a *thwack* right on Lu Jiaojiao’s face, with some of it splattering onto Yin Zhihe’s clothes.

“Ah! Ah! Tang Yunling, I’ll kill you!”

Lu Jiaojiao went wild and rushed down the bridge to push Tang Yunling.

Tang Yunling dodged to the side, causing Lu Jiaojiao to lose her balance and fall into the stream.

Standing on the stone slab, Tang Yunling placed her hands on her hips and laughed so hard she almost couldn’t stand up: “Oh, oh, missed your face! I should’ve aimed for your mouth!”

“Why are you taking a bath? Haven’t you tasted pig manure yet?”

“Come, come, don’t run away, I’ve got another lump of pig manure here, I’ll feed it to you.”

Saying this, Tang Yunling scooped up another piece of pig manure and jumped into the stream to chase Lu Jiaojiao.

At this point, Lu Jiaojiao couldn’t even think about hitting Tang Yunling; she was too busy trying to avoid her. She floundered in the water, tripping several times, crying and flailing as she scrambled up to the shore, stumbling and crying as she ran off.

Yin Zhihe just stood on the bridge watching, not helping Lu Jiaojiao.

Under Lu Baiwei’s helpless gaze, Tang Yunling laughed several times with her hands on her hips, then glared at Yin Zhihe.

“Aren’t you leaving yet? You want to eat some pig manure too?”

“Stop, stop.”

Yin Zhihe seemed to have been intimidated by Tang Yunling’s fierceness. He took a few steps back, wearing a wary expression, but his eyes still lingered in Lu Baiwei’s direction.

“WeiWei , you’ve married that He Zhiqing, right?”

Yin Zhihe hesitated before continuing: “Is he… is he good to you?”

“How could he not be good? My brother-in-law buys my sister a three-in-one radio, gives her all the money, and his family is from the capital. Every month they send money and supplies. My sister didn’t marry a poor guy like you. She’s doing really well.”

“Seems like my sister is really close to you, huh?”

Tang Yunling made a move as if ready to throw more pig manure at him, glaring at him fiercely: “You, a worthless bastard who tried to use Lu Jiaojiao to climb into the haystack, still have the nerve to show up in front of WeiWei ?”

“Get lost, or I’ll shove a handful of pig manure in your mouth.”

At this point, Yin Zhihe no longer tried to act like he was fond of Lu Baiwei.

Under Tang Yunling’s threat, he hurriedly ran off.

Looking at Tang Yunling, who was now covered in pig manure, Lu Baiwei couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head.

“You’ve hurt the enemy by a thousand, but you’ve also harmed yourself by eight hundred.”

—

“You’ve hurt the enemy by a thousand, but you’ve also harmed yourself by eight hundred.”

Tang Yunling didn’t mind at all: “I’m happy to lose, even if I lose eight hundred to hurt the enemy by a thousand, I still made a profit of two hundred.”

The pig manure residue stuck to her, and even after rubbing it with some creek water, it still smelled awful. Her clothes were unwearable.

She sniffed herself and said to Lu Baiwei, “WeiWei , it smells terrible, I can’t get rid of the smell. After I wash, I’ll change into my own clothes.”

Tang Yunling didn’t take Lu Baiwei’s clean clothes to change into because Lu Baiwei had made a huge pot of Maoxuewang (a spicy hotpot with pig blood, tripe, and other offal), so she planned to take some back to her family and also bring a bowl to her eldest uncle’s house, while inviting a few cousins over for dinner.

Tang Yunling took the Maoxuewang back home and changed clothes.

By the time she came back, Lu Baiwei had prepared a table of dishes.

There was a bowl of stir-fried pork kidneys, a large plate of green pepper and pig liver, a pot of Maoxue wang, and a big pot of soup with pig lungs and peanuts simmering together.

Lu Baiwei sent some Maoxuewang to her two uncles’ houses, and Tang Yunling brought a basket of vegetables along with her.

She didn’t have time to stir-fry the green beans and eggplant, so Lu Baiwei made a large bowl of cold cucumber salad.

Four meat dishes and a bowl of cold cucumber salad—it was a heavenly feast.

Food lover Zhou Yanfeng sighed, “Since my brother Tian and sister-in-law got married, I’ve been eating so well. Since coming to Xiangyang village, I haven’t had much meat, but after they got married, the meat never runs out.”

“Yeah, my sister’s cooking is so good, there are no words to describe it.”

Tang Yuanliang happily took a bite of Maoxuewang and said, “Today, I had a meal at a state-run restaurant in the county with He Ting, but it doesn’t compare to the flavor of my sister’s cooking.”

“Yeah, yeah, WeiWei ’s cooking skills are so good, she could work as a head chef at a state-run restaurant.”

Tang Yunling happily ate, making “mm” and “ah” sounds.

Zhou Yanfeng was once again amazed.

He couldn’t imagine that there were girls like Tang Yunling, who didn’t care at all about her image.

After enjoying a satisfying meal, Tang Yuanliang brought up the topic of going up the mountain again.

“I saw some fish in the lake on the mountain yesterday. Since we have some free time in the next few days, I want to take some tools and go up the mountain again. Also, the Polygonum multiflorum WeiWei and Lingling found hasn’t been dug up yet, we don’t want someone else to take it first.”

The cousins who had eaten meat all agreed enthusiastically.

Lu Baiwei, who had been thinking about the Polygonum multiflorum, naturally wanted to go up the mountain with He Ting.

Tang Yunling had no objections to following the group.

Only Zhou Yanfeng, after going up and down the mountain once, had blisters on his feet. He wasn’t really in need of money, and the seven yuan fifty he earned didn’t impress him much.

—

Only Zhou Yanfeng, after going up and down the mountain once, had blisters on his feet. He wasn’t in need of money and didn’t care much for the seven yuan fifty he earned.

However, seeing that Lu Baiwei’s cooking had awakened his soul’s taste buds, he was willing to go up the mountain, even if his feet were sore.

“Alright, alright, take me with you.”

When Lu Baiwei went up the mountain to dig for Fritillaria (Fritillaria), she estimated that after drying, she would have about ten pounds of it.

She cleaned the Fritillaria and spread it out to dry in a bamboo winnowing basket in the backyard. After having breakfast with He Ting, they met up with several cousins and headed up the mountain together.

Thanks to their previous experience, this time it only took half a day to reach the valley where they were digging for Fritillaria.

Of course, this was also because He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng had already gotten used to traveling on mountain paths.

The first time was slow, but the second time was easier.

With their first experience and the path cleared from chopping firewood, the mountain road wasn’t as difficult anymore.

By the time they reached their destination, it was already the afternoon after having a quick snack.

Tang Yuanliang brought along a machete and chopped a row of bamboo in the valley, pulling some vines and starting to weave a bamboo raft with the others.

Lu Baiwei and Tang Yunling didn’t want to dig Polygonum multiflorum under the hot sun. Instead, they gathered with their cousins to watch them weave the raft. He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng were eager to try their hands at it as well.

For He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng, the life of a young educated worker in the countryside was undoubtedly tiring and dull. But when they joined Lu Baiwei and her cousins, they finally experienced the fun of rural life.

Tang Yuanliang thought that the valley where Lu Baiwei dug for medicinal herbs was a land of fortune.

This time, he had brought all the necessary equipment.

He had several fishing nets, a special trap for rabbits, a flashlight for catching wild chickens, and long bamboo poles with nets for catching them.

Catching wild chickens had to wait until nightfall. Once they found the chickens’ nesting spot, they would shine a strong flashlight on them, and the chickens, confused and unable to see clearly, would be caught in the net with a long pole.

Catching rabbits required finding their trails early in the morning, and then setting traps.

But even someone as experienced as Tang Yuanliang couldn’t be sure how many days they would stay on the mountain. After all, it was difficult to preserve wild game in such weather.

So instead of waiting until the next morning to set the rabbit traps, he directed the brothers to finish the bamboo raft, and then, using his experience, took He Ting and Zhou Yanfeng to set the traps.

Once the bamboo raft was ready, he used a bamboo pole to push it into the lake and began fishing.

Lu Baiwei and Tang Yunling watched them for a while, and when the sun was lower, they climbed up the slope to find the vines where they had dug for Polygonum multiflorum last time. The two of them crawled under the vines to find the roots of the Polygonum multiflorum and began digging with their hoes once they found them.