After several days of rain, the weather finally cleared up. People from Xiahe Village walked by in twos and threes, either going to the fields to see the crops or going up the mountain to pick some wild vegetables and mushrooms.

　　Near the village is River, backed by several large mountains, not too far from Shuiqing Town, and most of the people in the village live a decent life. It's just that the weather has been bad recently. of last year, Yuntai Town, which belongs to Songjiang Prefecture, and Shuiqing Town, was flooded, and many villages were flooded.

　　Farmers depend on the weather for their livelihood. Even if the rain hasn't stopped a few days ago, they still have to go to the fields to take care of them. In their spare time, they pick wild vegetables, mushrooms and go to the river to catch fish. After all, they still have something to eat.

　　Before it stopped raining and it was still dark, smoke was already rising from Qiao's house in the village.

　　Qiao Suiman added water to the pot and boiled it, put in four previously prepared rough-faced steamed buns and steamed them, then went to the woodshed to get a basket and a wooden hammer and put them under the eaves.

　　The steamed buns heated up quickly, and soon they began to steam. Seeing that they were almost done, Qiao Suiman picked up the steamed buns, endured the burning sensation between his fingers, and put them into a bowl of sea food aside. While it was hot, Qiao Suiman finished one in a few mouthfuls, leaving the remaining three for her brother Qiao Ruifeng and sister-in-law Qin Yu.

　　The big dog lying under the eaves barked at him a few times. Qiao Suiman took one look and knew that the dog was hungry.

　　He took some wheat bran and put it into the dog's bowl, added water and mixed it. As soon as he poured the wheat bran in, the dog was lying on the edge of the bowl, and started to eat it after mixing it.

　　After sitting for a while, thinking that the rain was about to stop, Qiao Suiman put on his raincoat, went to the yard, put the basket on his back, and shouted to the big dog in a low voice: "Heijin, let's go up the mountain."

　　Kurogane finished the last bit of soaked wheat bran at the bottom of the bowl and ran to Qiao Suiman to follow.

　　Three years ago, Qiao Suiman picked it up on the mountain. At that time, it was thin and small, lying on the ground and howling. The female dog that gave birth to it disappeared somewhere.

　　The weather was cold and it would be impossible to survive if it kept freezing any longer, so Qiao Suiman took it home and made a nest with wheat straw. He fed some wheat bran, rice bran, and earthworms on weekdays, and they actually grew up.

　　One person and one dog walked into the mountains. There hadn't been much farming recently, and it was raining again. There was no need to keep an eye on the fields. They went out early, and they didn't meet anyone on the road. The Qiao family was close to the mountain, and they soon reached the foot of the mountain.

　　The mountainous area near the village had fewer trees than the deeper areas, and villagers often picked wild vegetables on the spot. There were not many fungi left, so Qiao Suiman took the dog and went deeper into the forest.

　　——

　　After the rain, wild vegetables and fungi grew abundantly in the deep woods. Before noon, Qiao Suiman had already picked up a bamboo basket and stuffed it tightly.

　　Qiao Suiman took off his coir raincoat and covered the fungi and wild vegetables in the frame. When he was about to go down the mountain, he looked up and saw a very long chicken fir three feet away in front of him, with an open umbrella. , split in four or five places, and the stipe also grows thick.

　　Qiao Sui's eyes were full of joy. Adding some shepherd's purse and spring bamboo shoots to stir-fry such a big flower can make a big plate.

　　There were also chicken firs collected in the forest on the other side in the basket on my back, but most of them grew in groups and were all small.

　　Qiao Suiman thought that Qin Yu's legs and feet would feel uncomfortable due to the rain in the past few days, and there was nothing at home to patch him up, so he stepped forward to pick them.

　　Just after taking two steps, Heijin suddenly roared lowly. Qiao Suiman immediately stopped and moved closer to Heijin.

　　Qiao Suiman looked around cautiously. Black Gold's call was either a wild animal or someone nearby. He glanced around and suddenly saw a person walking out from behind a few trees on the right.

　　——It's a man I don't recognize.

　　Seeing him approaching, Kurogane raised his tail and stared, growling and biting Qiao Suiman's trouser leg to prevent him from moving.

　　Qiao Suiman was wondering when he heard the visitor say: "I'm from Xiahe Village and live in the west end. Don't go any further. I just passed by and saw some red ghost pens there. I guess there are snakes there." "

　　When the red ghost pen is young, it looks like a snake egg. Some people in the village call it the snake egg fungus. It smells like chicken manure and grows much in places where snakes are found.

　　Listening to what he said, Qiao Suiman knew why Heijin didn't let him go forward. It was probably because there was really a snake ahead. He had always been afraid of snakes, and his hands and feet became weak when he saw them. He didn't even want the chicken fir anymore. It would be enough to fry a few more mushrooms together. It would be dangerous if he encountered a venomous snake, and it would be fatal if he didn't keep them all.

Qiao Suiman didn't often talk to men other than his father and brother, but he was kindly reminded that there was no one else around, so he always wanted to thank him, so he looked up at the man.

　　Only then did he realize that the man in front of him was taller and handsomer than other men in the village, but his expression was serious and he looked fierce.

　　Birds fluttered past, mixed with a few bird calls, and the man in front of him looked confused.

　　Heijin relaxed and called out in a low voice. Qiao Suiman suddenly realized that he had been staring at the person for a long time and said quickly: "Okay, thank you for letting me know. I will go down the mountain now." After saying that, he felt that he was not sincere enough, so he added He said: "You should also be careful."

　　The man nodded, but Qiao Suiman did not communicate with him much. After all, he was a stranger, so he should be on guard no matter what.

　　Then he turned around and walked down the mountain. Black Gold followed him, swishing his tail and lowering his head to smell the grass from time to time.

　　After walking down the mountain for a while, Qiao Suiman remembered that the man just said he lived at the west end of the village. The west end of the village was far away from the Xiaoqing River and close to another mountain. The land was deserted. No one in the village lived there, except those who fled from Yuntai Town last year.

　　Although Yuntai Town and Shuiqing Town are both in the same prefectural city, Shuiqing Town is to the south of the prefectural city, and Yuntai Town is in the north, closer to the original Beifucheng. The customs and habits are more in line with the original Beifucheng, and now it seems that even the people are the same.

　　No wonder he is so tall, Qiao Suiman thought. His brother is already considered tall in the village. He has never raised his neck so high when talking to his brother. He doesn't know what he does in the mountains. Most people pick wild vegetables by the female brother. , I didn't bring any tools and it didn't look like I was here to hunt.

　　Thinking like this, Qiao Suiman was a little curious. He turned around and saw that the man had gone somewhere long ago.

　　——

　　I didn't feel it when I was on the mountain, but when I reached the foot of the mountain, I realized that the sun was very strong today, making my whole body warm, as if it was trying to dry out all the moisture accumulated from the rain in the previous few days. Qiao Suiman was walking down the mountain on the way back to the village, looking around to see where Chen Xuesheng was, when he heard someone calling him from behind.

　　"Xiao Man, wait for me." The person who came was a man wearing blue linen clothes. Although they were all linen, the workmanship was much finer than Qiao Suiman's.

　　"Xuesheng, I was looking for you just now." Qiao Suiman stopped and turned around with a smile. Chen Xuesheng was carrying an open basket filled with wild vegetables, including shepherd's purse, purslane, and many gray vegetables, but not all.

　　Chen Xuesheng's house is next door to Qiao's house. The two have played together since they were young. Chen Xuesheng's parents take good care of their family. They have a good relationship and often go picking up mountain goods together. However, it was not even bright when Qiao Suiman went out today. , I still wanted to go deep into the mountains, so I didn't call Chen Xuesheng.

　　However, Qiao Suiman rarely goes out recently. In total, the two of them have not seen each other for almost ten days.

　　When she met a familiar person, Qiao Suiman was in a good mood. She walked briskly to Chen Xuesheng and said with a smile, "I don't think you dug much. You must have gotten up late today."

　　Chen Xuesheng knew that Qiao Sui was teasing him, so his mother just asked him to pick some and make some food at home. There were only four people in their family, so they couldn't eat much no matter how much they ate, so they simply slept until they were full before going out.

　　Seeing that the bamboo basket on Qiao Suiman's back was full, Chen Xuesheng stretched out his hand to hold the bottom of the bamboo basket, weighed it, and said, "It's so heavy, why did you go into the deep forest again?"

　　"Well, there weren't so many things at the bottom of the mountain, so I went up inside and picked up a lot of fungi." After Qiao Suiman finished speaking, he pulled the strap of the basket on his shoulders. There were many and heavy things, and there were three big ones inside. There were spring bamboo shoots, and the bamboo basket sank from time to time, and the rope tightened and my shoulders hurt. But thinking that this big basket of food left at home could be sold for a lot of money, Qiao Suiman still hoped that it would be heavier.

　　If you want to take these wild vegetable mushrooms to the town to sell, you have to trouble Chen Ping. Qiao Suiman sighed, pursed his lips, and said: "But I have to trouble Uncle Ping to take them to the town to sell them. I broke off a lot of thorns." I'll bring the steamed buns to Aunt Shuifen later."

　　Qiao Suiman used to dig wild vegetables and go to the town with Qin Yu to sell them, but once when he was returning to the village and passing by Shanghe Village a few miles away, his father Qiao Chengfu saw him. He was drunk outside and refused to pay. About to hit someone, Qiao Suiman received a few blows, his eyes turned red but he refused to give him money. Qin Yu couldn't stand it and gave his share to Qiao Chengfu.

　　Even so, Qiao Chengfu still pointed at them and scolded them for a long time, scolding them for being unfilial and disrespectful to their elders and being born to lose money, as if he was scolding their enemies. The people passing by couldn't stand it and told them to go home quickly, because they felt sorry for having such a bastard father.

　　After returning home, Qiao Ruifeng knew about it and was silent for a long time. In the evening, he knocked on the Chen family's door with a basket of peaches. The peaches were from the fruit trees at home. He didn't spend any money. There was really nothing else to give. Fortunately, the Chen family didn't mind.

　　After a short conversation, Chen Ping agreed that if there were any wild mushrooms, he would sell them when he went to town.

　　Originally, Qiao Ruifeng wanted to give him some copper coins as a reward, and he couldn't let people work for nothing, but Chen Ping was unwilling to do so. Finally, he said that he would not help if he was asked to collect money, so Qiao Ruifeng gave up.

　　Qiao Suiman knew that it was because Chen Xuesheng's younger brother Chen Xiasheng choked and almost drowned while playing in the river. His brother passed by and rescued him. He and Chen Xuesheng always played well, and the Chen family often helped them.

　　Chen Xuesheng saw Qiao Suiman lowering his head, walked sideways to Qiao Suiman, knocked on his forehead a few times, and said, "It's no trouble, why didn't you bring food to my house? My mother's favorite food is thorn buns, which are hard to find and pick, but she still thinks she's making a profit."

　　Chen Ping didn't want to take their money, but he couldn't let people help him in vain. Qiao Suiman always found more wild vegetables with better taste and sent them to him. Chen Xuesheng mostly dug wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain and could only find some of the best. Common purslane or shepherd's purse. Hard-to-find items like thorn long bao can even sell for eight or nine cents per catty in the early spring, so sending it to the Chen family is considered a thoughtful gesture.

　　Qiao Suiman didn't think too much about those bad things. He just suddenly thought of his father. Qiao Chengfu hadn't been home for more than half a month. He probably would come back to ask for money again soon, but fortunately, his brother hadn't been there these days. Going to work in the town won't cause much trouble.

　　Qiao Suiman and Chen Xuesheng chatted about daily life, and they were about to reach the fork in the road home. The sun was so strong at noon that people would squint their eyes due to the sun. Qiao Suiman wiped the sweat from his face, thinking of going home and drinking. A bowl of water quenches your thirst.

　　But he saw two people walking out of the path next to him, one was Li Da who lived further south of his house, and the other, who was a head taller than Li Da, was the man he had met on the mountain before.

　　When Li Da saw the two of them, he first smiled and called Xuesheng. When his eyes moved to Qiao Suiman, he seemed a little impatient and disgusted. He called him and hurriedly led the people next to him away.

　　When they walked away, Chen Xuesheng sighed angrily and said, "I really can't bear to look at him like that. I think I'm rich and valuable, but I'm afraid you might fall in love with him."

　　As soon as Chen Xuesheng finished speaking, Heijin, who had been following the two of them, barked twice at the right time, as if in agreement.