Chapter 33: The Chrysanthemum Fades, The Ground Covered in Wounds

After finishing a satisfying lunch, Ming Dai took out the pine nuts that Aunt Huang had given her.

Considering that Zhou Sinian didn’t usually eat food from others, she decided to make some pine nut candy for him.

It was mainly because she had a sudden craving for the pine nuts herself.

She called Zhou Sinian over to bring a bowl, and they sat in the yard, basking in the sun while peeling the pine nuts.

Looking at the large and plump pine nuts, Ming Dai couldn’t help but sigh.

“If there were more, I could make a lot more, have some for the New Year. Unfortunately, this is just enough for one round.”

Zhou Sinian, listening to her, suddenly said, “There are some in the mountains.”

“What?”

Ming Dai didn’t quite catch what he said. Zhou Sinian repeated himself.

“You mean you’ve seen them in the mountains? When?”

Zhou Sinian frowned and thought for a moment. “Last time.”

Heh!

She knew it! This guy always had a way of surprising her and leaving her speechless.

“I remember pine nuts ripen from mid-September to mid-October. It’s already November, how could there be any left?”

Zhou Sinian kept peeling the pine nuts. His hands were large but very nimble. While Ming Dai could peel one, he could peel three.

“There are.”

Hearing his firm response, Ming Dai suddenly realized.

“You can talk now?!”

Zhou Sinian glanced up at her briefly before lowering his head again to continue peeling the pine nuts.

He was clearly disdainful—no doubt about it.

“Cough, cough. I mean, are you willing to speak now?”

Zhou Sinian didn’t respond to the question. Instead, he continued discussing the pine nuts in the mountains. “There are plenty, but they’re not like this. Some have fallen out, I’ve stepped on them before.”

Ming Dai realized he was talking about pine cones.

“Alright! No more peeling. Let’s go up the mountain and find some pine nuts. Is the place far?”

Zhou Sinian thought for a moment. “Not far.”

He then glanced down at Ming Dai’s short legs, thinking for a moment. “Actually, it might be a bit far.”

Heh! Long legs are really something, aren’t they?

An hour later, Ming Dai was struggling to climb the mountain path, panting heavily as she watched the man ahead of her move swiftly. Inside, she was at her breaking point.

Long legs—so impressive, indeed!

With each step, Zhou Sinian covered the distance of three of Ming Dai’s. She couldn’t even keep up with him, even if she tried to jog!

Luckily, Zhou Sinian, noticing that Ming Dai’s figure had disappeared from view, turned around to find her. Otherwise, she might have ended up lost.

Now, they had moved away from the mountain where they usually chopped wood and were on a different mountain that didn’t have a clear path.

It was definitely a place the villagers rarely visited, but Zhou Sinian seemed to know it well, walking as if it was his own home.

Ming Dai finally understood how Zhou Sinian’s previous clothes had ended up in such a tattered state—entirely from being scratched by branches.

Fortunately, Ming Dai had brought a machete with her from her space before heading out. Otherwise, Zhou Sinian’s old man’s cotton-padded jacket would have been torn by the branches again.

The reason Ming Dai dared to follow him was simple—she had a golden finger. No matter the danger, she wouldn’t be in harm’s way. She could always hide in her space, and no one could find her.

She didn’t know how long they had been walking, but Ming Dai felt like she was about to run out of energy and die from exhaustion.

Zhou Sinian had no choice but to carry her.

Although being tucked under someone’s arm with her legs dangling in the air wasn’t exactly graceful, at least she wasn’t tired!

At that moment, dignity didn’t mean a thing to her.

Just when Zhou Sinian started picking up the pace, Ming Dai noticed something furry on the ground that looked strangely familiar.

Upon closer inspection—oh my!

It was a chestnut! A furry chestnut!

Ming Dai was beyond excited. Seeing the ground covered in chestnuts, her little hands started to tap Zhou Sinian, urging him to let go and put her down.

Zhou Sinian immediately complied.

Now, here’s the question: What does it feel like to fall butt-first onto a ground full of chestnut shells?

The answer: There’s only one song that can describe it.

“The chrysanthemums fade, the ground is full of wounds, my smile has turned yellow, woo woo woo woo!”

When Zhou Sinian saw Ming Dai crying, he quickly pulled her up from the ground. Noticing her bottom covered in chestnut shells, he immediately understood the situation. Without hesitation, he took out his machete and used the back of the blade to gently knock off the sharp shells.

Ming Dai watched his actions with a mix of frustration and helplessness, large tears rolling uncontrollably down her cheeks.

This guy knew the chestnut shells were sharp and painful—yet he still used the back of the machete?! It hurt!

Pushing aside her frustration, Ming Dai carefully surveyed her surroundings—there were chestnut shells everywhere!

Looking up, she saw a forest full of chestnut trees!

This was it! They had struck gold!

Ming Dai darted around the forest, suddenly feeling like a different person from the one who had just been crying in pain a moment ago.

Zhou Sinian furrowed his brow and followed her. “We’re not there yet.”

He was right. If they didn’t hurry, it would get dark soon, and it would be hard to descend the mountain.

Ming Dai lifted her chin, her face beaming with excitement. “Who needs pine nuts? Doesn’t sugar-roasted chestnut sound better?”

Zhou Sinian didn’t understand what sugar-roasted chestnuts were, but in his world, anything with sugar in it must be delicious.

So, he wasn’t in a hurry anymore and just watched Ming Dai walk leisurely through the forest.

Ming Dai took a closer look. The chestnut trees here were too dense, and their branches and leaves were chaotic, so they were probably wild trees.

That meant she didn’t feel guilty about picking them.

“Bring out the sack. These chestnuts are dried out. We’ll use sticks to knock them out. We’ll only take the chestnuts, not the shells.”

This place was too far from the village. If Zhou Sinian weren’t here, Ming Dai could have just stored all the chestnuts in her space in an instant. But she didn’t want to take the risk—what if he remembered something when he recovered? It was better to be cautious.

She had Zhou Sinian cut two wooden sticks and demonstrated how to knock the chestnuts free. He quickly picked up the technique.

With that, Zhou Sinian knocked the chestnuts loose while Ming Dai gathered them from behind.

As she picked them up, she discreetly used her space’s scanning ability to collect all the good chestnuts without Zhou Sinian noticing, leaving only the bad ones behind.

Seeing the small mountain of chestnuts piling up in her space, she couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.

At this time of year, the chestnuts on the mountain naturally burst open when they ripen and fall to the ground, meaning there were far more scattered chestnuts than those still inside their shells.

Her sharp intake of breath caught Zhou Sinian’s attention. He turned to check on her, but seeing nothing unusual, he continued working.

Meanwhile, Ming Dai was secretly thrilled, like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar. As she picked up the chestnuts Zhou Sinian had cracked open, she also gathered the shells into a pile.

She had no intention of wasting them—chestnut shells burned much better than corncob husks.

Besides, she had other uses for the corncob husks, so she wasn’t planning to throw them into the stove or the heated kang bed just yet.

With thirty or so chestnut trees in the grove, the two of them finished the job in just two hours.

It wasn’t just because Zhou Sinian was efficient at working—most of the chestnuts had already ripened and burst open, leaving very few still inside their shells.

But now, all four burlap sacks they had brought were completely filled.

And yet, there were still three large piles of chestnuts on the ground—enough to fill at least three more sacks.

On top of that, there were over thirty piles of chestnut shells scattered around. Ming Dai spread them out to dry under the last bit of winter sunlight, planning to collect them later when they had the time.

Sitting on a fallen log, she took out their tin mugs and drank some water, looking at their massive harvest. Ming Dai started worrying about how they would transport everything back.

“Zhou Sinian, let’s take these sacks of chestnuts down first, empty them, and then come back for the rest.”

Even though it would be tiring, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if she left behind so many chestnuts.

Zhou Sinian nodded without complaint, handed her back the tin mug, and walked over to the sacks. He effortlessly picked up two at once—one in each hand.

Huh?

Watching the sacks dangle in his hands as if they weighed nothing, Ming Dai was stunned.

Each sack could hold up to 200 jin (about 100 kg)!

Refusing to believe it, she stubbornly tried lifting the other two sacks herself.

The sack didn’t budge.

Letting go, she wrapped both arms around one of the sacks and tried again. Still, it didn’t move an inch.

She had miscalculated—she should have only filled them halfway. With their current weight, there was no way she could lift them.

“You wait here, I’ll head down first,” Zhou Sinian said.

With that, he hoisted two sacks effortlessly and strode off, disappearing into the dense forest in no time.

Ming Dai chuckled as she watched him go. “Having long legs really is something, huh?”

As soon as Zhou Sinian left, she used her spatial ability to pick out all the bad chestnuts.

She scattered the spoiled ones around, hoping they would take root and grow into more chestnut trees.

The ones with wormholes, she placed under the trees as food for the mountain animals to survive the winter.

After finishing up, she sat on the fallen log, waiting for Zhou Sinian to return.