Chapter 5: Farming Stories Are Ruining Me

After her disappointment, she quickly gathered her spirits again. “I still know a tofu recipe.”

Wang Guifang: “Your Uncle Wang’s family already makes tofu.”

Song Miaomiao: “I can purify salt—”

Before she could finish, Wang Guifang clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Privately selling salt is illegal.”

Song Miaomiao: Oh, right!

Her shoulders drooped in defeat. “I guess I’ll just go pick mushrooms honestly.”

Wang Guifang: “Do you even know what edible mushrooms look like?”

Song Miaomiao: “Probably??”

Wang Guifang: “…Fine, you can go tomorrow. But you’re not allowed to eat any! Bring them back first and show me.”

Song Miaomiao: “Okay. Oh, someone brought over a whole litter of rabbits today. Said it was on your request.”

She ran into the room and brought out the white, fluffy bunnies.

But when she saw they had pooped a bunch of little black pellets, her delighted expression turned to mild disgust.

Wang Guifang, however, looked at them happily. “Must’ve been from Hunter Lu. I mentioned it the other day—I didn’t think he’d bring them so quickly.”

Hunter Lu?

Song Miaomiao thought of the tall man she had seen pulling the cart when she first arrived.

Could that have been the person I yelled at earlier today?

Recalling the man’s strong, muscular arms, she shrank her neck in fear.

I hope I never run into him again. If he hits me, I won’t survive even a single punch…

But fate never listens to your wishes.

The more Song Miaomiao didn’t want to see someone, the more she’d inevitably run into them.

At the foot of a lush, green mountain, she carried a small bamboo basket on her back. A headscarf covered her hair, her long braid draped over her shoulder. Though she wore no makeup, her face was fresh and lovely, like a lotus emerging from clear water—natural and unadorned.

Across from her stood a man holding a bow and arrow. He was tall, his skin tanned like wheat, arms lean and strong. His deep eyes gave him a rugged charm. Putting aside her subjective fear, Song Miaomiao had to admit—he was actually quite handsome.

She clutched her basket straps tighter, swallowed nervously, and said in a small voice:

“Hello, I’m Song Miaomiao. I’m going up the mountain to pick mushrooms.”

This path was the only way up the mountain. Why is he standing here? Is he blocking me on purpose?

The man replied with a simple, “I’m Lu Zheng. I’m going hunting.”

Song Miaomiao nodded, not daring to continue the conversation. After a short, awkward silence, Lu Zheng stepped aside.

“You go first.”

Alarm bells immediately rang in her head.

From the moment he opened his mouth, she had recognized him as the one who brought the rabbits yesterday.

She glanced warily at the deserted forest, her mind flashing through all sorts of horror scenarios. Her feet felt nailed to the ground.

Lu Zheng seemed to understand her hesitation. Seeing that she hadn’t moved, he turned and walked ahead on his own.

At that moment, she heard villagers chatting and doing laundry by the riverside in the distance.

Fueled by her determination to earn money picking mushrooms, she finally gathered her courage and followed him into the forest.

Lu Zheng noticed the girl trailing behind. His usually impassive face softened at the corners of his mouth, and his calm eyes rippled faintly.

As they walked, he subtly used his bow to clear away sharp weeds and brambles from the path ahead.

Song Miaomiao had no idea. She absentmindedly picked up a stick and smacked it around in the underbrush—something Wang Guifang had taught her to drive away snakes.

They walked for half an hour.

Song Miaomiao found absolutely nothing, and she was exhausted.

Lu Zheng: “…”

He suddenly stopped, causing Miaomiao’s heart to jolt.

She was just about to bolt when she saw him hook a tree trunk with his arm, pull aside a patch of grass, and a moment later, he stood up holding two mushrooms as big as his palms.

Song Miaomiao: So… so jealous.

She recognized them right away—her mother had used the same mushrooms in soup last night. They were delicious.

Lu Zheng, as if unaware of the little tail following him, kept walking after picking the mushrooms.

When he was far enough ahead, Song Miaomiao snuck over and copied his motion, carefully poking around in the grass.

Suddenly, a small white mushroom peeked out from the soil.

“There really is one!!”

Overjoyed, she reached out to pluck it—

But accidentally snapped it in half, leaving the rest stuck in the ground.

“…”

She looked back at the messy little pit she had just created.

While picking, she also learned to use the stick to dig the soil around the mushrooms.

After quite a long time, she finally managed to get the mushroom out from the broken soil.

She returned to the main path, looking at her dirt-covered hands and the mushrooms broken in two, feeling a full sense of accomplishment.

After this lesson, Song Miaomiao knew that the main path had few mushrooms left. She needed to climb trees and go deeper into the mountain, preferably where there were few footprints—only then would the mushrooms remain unpicked.

Apparently, it had rained heavily late last night. The mushrooms in the mountain grew in clusters, allowing even someone inexperienced like Song Miaomiao to gather a big handful.

Her small basket was already half full.

And the more she picked, the more skillful she became.

Not only did she find more mushrooms, but the ones she picked were increasingly intact.

Suddenly, Song Miaomiao felt some pain on the inside of her wrist. Curious, she turned her wrist over—and in that instant, a loud scream startled a flock of birds into flight.

The deer that Lu Zheng had been aiming at also got scared and ran away.

Lu Zheng’s expression tightened. He quickly put away his bow and arrow and hurried back.

Halfway there, he saw her basket abandoned on the ground—and then saw Song Miaomiao frantically waving her hands, her eyes brimming with tears, terrified almost to the point of fainting.

He walked over and held her steady, preventing her from slipping down.

“What happened?”

Song Miaomiao’s voice was choked with tears: “Bug… bug… on my wrist… bug.”

Lu Zheng quickly grabbed her shaking hand and saw a mountain leech latched onto her pale white wrist, which was already turning red.

Song Miaomiao felt goosebumps rising all over her body.

Lu Zheng calmly took out a lighter from his pocket, lit it, and held the flame near the leech.

The leech instantly curled up and shortly after fell off onto the ground.

Lu Zheng crushed the swollen leech on the ground with his foot, blood spurting everywhere.

Song Miaomiao stared at the spreading red blood and finally couldn’t hold it anymore—she fainted right then and there.

Those farming manuals lied to me.

They only mentioned snakes, bears, and lone wolves in the mountains. They never said there were these disgusting slimy bugs.