Chapter 071: The Taste of Wild Fruit in the Mountains

“What’s this?”

“Is it like, ‘every bush is an enemy’?”

Li Xinyue pointed ahead, speechless: “No. Look, there’s something delicious there!”

She looked up and saw a peach tree.

There were dozens of peaches on the tree, all ripe.

Seeing this, Chen Mingchuan immediately put down his basket and jumped onto the tree in a few strides… His agility was impressive!

Li Xinyue praised him in her heart as she looked up at the nimble figure on the tree.

Soon, a dozen purple-red peaches of different sizes were handed to her: “They’re really good. Wash them before you eat them, the red ones are very sweet.”

Li Xinyue had never eaten this kind of peach before.

But before she could react, Chen Mingchuan had already run to a nearby mountain stream to wash the peaches.

“Crack”

“So crunchy, so delicious!”

Was it really that good?

Seeing her intoxicated expression, Chen Mingchuan felt an inexplicable tenderness in his heart.

Were they really that good, just a few wild peaches?

She must have been starving all these years…

A sense of guilt welled up in Chen Mingchuan’s heart: “There are some rocks over there, do you want to sit down for a bit before we go?”

Li Xinyue was enjoying her peaches, but she didn’t forget her purpose.

“No, we can eat as we walk. You have two too.”

Seeing how much she liked them, Chen Mingchuan refused: “You eat them, I don’t like snacks.”

Are there really people who don’t like snacks?

Li Xinyue didn’t believe it at all, and shoved one into his mouth.

“Try one, I’ll eat three, and we’ll take the rest back for Yi’er, Dongzi, and Yingzi.”

Looking at the wild peach in his mouth, Chen Mingchuan was a little amused.

But the thing was already in his mouth, it would be wasteful not to eat it, and saving was a virtue.

“Click” a crisp sound, Li Xinyue looked proud: “How is it? I told you it was good, I didn’t lie to you, did I?”

It was good. Sweet and sour, crisp and refreshing.

But he was a grown man, this kind of taste should be something women liked.

“Too sour.”

Huh?

Li Xinyue’s face twitched: “Where’s the sourness? It’s very sweet! You wouldn’t be getting old and can’t handle a little sourness, would you?”

He’s old?

Chen Mingchuan looked like a crow “…”

I’m only twenty-eight months old, I’m old?

This woman, she really knows how to put someone down!

“You don’t seem much younger than me either.”

“Five years younger.”

Chen Mingchuan “…”

Five years, not a small difference… Can we just say I’m old?

The two continued walking forward, through a forest.

Finally, they reached a mountain pass, and Li Xinyue discovered a large patch of herbs, and they were exactly the herbs she needed!

“Wow, so many! Great, we’re really lucky today!”

Chen Mingchuan smiled: “This kind of herb is everywhere, no one digs for herbs anymore.”

Okay.

Li Xinyue knew that the herbs she needed were also common, and in this era, no one really dug for herbs anymore.

“Let’s get to work! We need all of these, dig them up with the roots.”

“Okay!”

The elder’s house didn’t have any special herb digging hoes, and Li Xinyue didn’t need those big root herbs, so each of them had a small curved hoe.

This kind of small hoe was used for planting vegetables in rural areas, and it was very convenient to use.

It was August, and the daytime was still very hot.

They dug from the bottom of the mountain to the middle of the valley, and it was already two hours later, their baskets were almost full.

Chen Mingchuan wiped his sweat with a towel.

Seeing that Li Xinyue didn’t have one, he immediately went to the ditch and washed his towel.

“Wipe yourself. If you’re thirsty, there’s mountain spring water over there.”

Li Xinyue wasn’t a delicate person, she took the towel and wiped herself a few times, then went to the ditch.

The mountain stream wasn’t deep, but it was very clear.

You could see the small stones at the bottom of the stream clearly.

The water came from the mountain and was very clean. Li Xinyue washed her hands and cupped two mouthfuls of water to drink.

“Hmm, sweet and cold, refreshing!”

Seeing this unpretentious, not spoiled, not aloof Li Xinyue, Chen Mingchuan was lost in thought.

She had come to the mountain wearing old clothes and a pair of liberation shoes.

Her long hair was tied up in a small bun on top of her head, not in two big braids like she usually did.

But now, in her old clothes, she gave Chen Mingchuan a very stylish feeling, especially her white neck after tying up her hair, giving him endless fantasies…

Feeling that something was wrong, Chen Mingchuan immediately looked away.

“That’s enough, do you want to dig more?”

It wasn’t easy to come here once.

Li Xinyue stood up: “Dig a little more, there are two herbs I haven’t found, let’s keep looking.”

“Okay!”

After resting for a while, the two continued their search.

An hour later, their backpacks were full.

Especially Chen Mingchuan’s big backpack, it was piled up like a small mountain.

Li Xinyue’s face turned a little red: “Why don’t we throw some away? It’s too heavy to carry.”

Chen Mingchuan glanced at her: “It’s okay, give me some of yours, these are herbs, they’re not that heavy.”

Not heavy?

Li Xinyue knew that fresh herbs contained a lot of water, and this big backpack full of herbs was not light.

“Are you sure you can carry it?”

Chen Mingchuan didn’t say much, he squatted down and stood up, seemingly effortlessly: “Let’s go!”

Okay!

Li Xinyue admitted that she had underestimated this man. That full backpack weighed at least a hundred pounds.

Her backpack was small, and when it was full, it only weighed thirty or forty pounds, and it was still quite tiring to carry.

The two continued to walk back, one in front and one behind, but this time Li Xinyue was in front and Chen Mingchuan was behind.

Soon, they reached the edge of the forest…

“Help! Help!”

Before they even entered the forest, they suddenly heard someone calling for help, and the voice sounded familiar.

“Stay here, I’ll go in and see!”

Chen Mingchuan immediately put down the backpack on his back and rushed into the forest!

Li Xinyue naturally wouldn’t stand there, she also immediately put down her backpack, picked up a wooden stick and followed…

“Let her go!”

Before Li Xinyue reached them, Chen Mingchuan’s voice came from the forest. She quickened her pace.

In the forest, four men faced Chen Mingchuan, two in front and two behind.

Two others were twisting and struggling with Zhang Caiyun.

What was going on?

Zhang Caiyun seemed to be scared, crying and shouting: “Mingchuan, save me! Save me!”

“They’re bad guys, they want to kidnap me!”

Why was Zhang Caiyun here?

Chen Mingchuan was very suspicious.

However, without evidence, he couldn’t just stand by.

What if they were really bad guys?

Suddenly, he roared: “Let her go, or I won’t be polite!”

In August 1976, the counter-revolutionaries had not yet fallen, and the whole country was in chaos.

These people seemed to be relying on their numbers and didn’t take Chen Mingchuan seriously.

A fat man with big ears took a wooden stick and walked over: “You little punk, you’re brave, huh? You dare to challenge me?”

“Alright, today I’ll see how much you’re worth!”

“Huangmao, go! Take care of this nosy guy.”

The four men attacked immediately, each holding a wooden stick and surrounding Chen Mingchuan.

“Chen Mingchuan, catch!”

Li Xinyue threw her wooden stick…