On the fourth day, after leaving the Jing family, Jing Chen and Xue Yu went to the mountains. Xue Wen took care of the twin at home.

Jing Chen wanted to find food and herbs that can be sold. He also wanted to know what products he could get in the area, so he decided to go out and search. It was the beginning of autumn, so they found lots of chestnuts. In addition to chestnuts, there were pomelos and pears. Xue Yu put their haul in the basket on his back until it was full. Jing Chen also found ginger, wild garlic, lemongrass, scallions and fresh coriander. He took them by the roots since he wanted to plant them in the backyard. Further in their journey, they found wood ears and snow fungus. Unfortunately, it was raining before they could pick it up, and due to the rain, they couldn’t go deeper into the mountain. 

While it rained, they took shelter under the biggest tree in the surrounding area. When they looked up, there was a honeycomb on one of the tree’s branches. It was huge, around half of a man’s upper body. It was scary sitting under that tree since the bees were all hanging on the comb. Thank heaven, it was high above their heads. Jing Chen didn’t want to imagine what would happen if their heads accidentally touched it. It was no secret that bees were vengeful. 

Even so, Jing Chen didn’t plan to let it go; he wanted to get the honeycomb. Sugar was very expensive in ancient times, so honey was very valuable as well. Theoretically, he knew how to drive the bees away, but he didn’t know if it would succeed. If the method failed, he feared his body would be full of stings. He could die.

“Xiao Yu, can I borrow the cleaver?”

In this era, cleaver was the word given to kitchen knives. It was made of stone, animal bones, or metal, depending on what you could afford.

“What will Chen-ge do?” Xue Yu took the cleaver out from the basket and handed it to Jing Chen.

“I want to mark the tree. Next time we go, we will take the honeycomb.”

Xue Yu looked uncomfortable, “It is so dangerous Chen-ge, do you have any skill to do it?”

If Jing Chen got bee stings, Xue Yu wasn't sure they could afford the medicine.

“Hmm, I've never done this before, but I think we should try it. The honeycomb is very big; we can sell it or use it for ourselves.”

“But, is it worth the risk? We, we can’t afford it if you get hurt.” 

Jing Chen finished the mark on the tree and handed the cleaver back, “What are you saying? Of course, it’s worth it. Just think about Wenwen and the twins’ happy faces when we bring it back.”

“I’ll be very careful, don’t you worry.” Jing Chen added when he saw Xue Yue still frowning. He desperately wanted this honey, so he wouldn’t let it go. What child didn’t like sweets? Some ideas appeared in his head. He planned to make some snacks using this honey later. Maybe he could also sell it and make money? 

“Okay, but I’ll help.” Xue Yu reluctantly agreed.

When they came back from the mountain, they took another route by the river. Jing Chen wanted to see the rice field since he wondered if there was an irrigation system. Surprisingly, the irrigation system was good. The water from the river flowed smoothly to the paddy field. In addition, some fish swam in the ditch; they were as big as his thumb. 

It was almost time to harvest the rice as well. The rice’s stalks drooped with how heavy they were, and some of them started to turn yellow. Birds loved to eat rice’s grains, so the villagers guarded the paddy fields tightly by throwing small stones to the birds. Sometimes they dispelled them using long sticks. It was tiring, but the villagers only had joy in their face.

They greeted the villagers along the way and made small talk. However, when they passed Jing family’s paddy field, Jing Chen turned his head and walked away. He could feel Jing Hao’s glare on his back. Jing Hao must be tired these days, but Jing Chen didn’t feel any sympathy towards him. Instead, he was happy. Let the lazy son learn how hard it was for Jing Chen these past few years!

“Chen-ge, please wait for a while. I want to catch some fish.”

Xue Yu stopped when he saw the rock piles in the middle of the river and big fish swimming around it several times. They didn’t catch any rabbits or junglefowl in the mountains, so he wanted to catch fish for the family even though the family didn’t like fish. There were only carps and catfish in the river. Fish was not desirable because the smell would linger, and the taste was also not very good. It needed lots of spices which they couldn’t afford.

“Okay, give me your basket. Careful, the rocks are sharp; don’t hurt yourself.”

Xue Yu nodded and started to roll his pants. Jing Chen frowned when he saw Xue Yu walk into the river with bare hands. “Xiao Yu, how do you plan to catch the fish?”

“Just like this? My hands are big enough to catch them.”

Jing Chen felt it was silly and hard to believe. But Xue Yu looked so serious he didn’t want to crush his hope.

“Are you sure it’ll work?”

“Yes.” 

Seeing Xue Yu so determined, Jing Chen could only shake his head. However, he let Xue Yu do his things. Jing Chen walked a bit further to the lush taro plants that grew near the river. He was very interested since there were lots of taro plants growing here. If he could use them well, maybe this would turn out to be another source of money. 

Jing Chen put down his basket and took the cleaver. He carefully dug the taro roots while avoiding contact with his skin. Raw taro roots were toxic and could cause irritation to the skin: itching and burning. Due to this, It’s extremely unsafe to eat. Jing Chen used its wide leaves to wrap the roots before putting it in the basket. He avoided the stem and sap since  it was toxic too.

Taro also had a texture similar to potatoes and had a sweet, slight nutty and earthy flavour. Because of this, it was very versatile. Taro could be used in desserts or in savoury dishes. In modern times, taro was quite popular. People dried taro and made it into gluten-free flour, which was good to make cake, doughnut, bread, and noodles.

After digging enough taro roots, Jing Chen took the young leaves as well. The taro's young leaves could be eaten and tasted quite similar to spinach. If Xue Yu succeeded in catching fish, he would use these leaves to make steamed fish. They had some spices from the mountain, and they could ask Auntie Zhang to lend the rest.

"Chen-ge, you... this is not edible. It is poisonous," said Xue Yu when he saw what Jing Chen brought. Xue Yu always got itchy all over when he touched this plant and didn't understand why Jing Chen would pick it up. The villagers avoided this plant like a plague. They couldn't cut it recklessly because if the sap fell on their skin, it would be worse than just touching it.

"It is poisonous, but it is edible if you cook it properly." Jing Chen said as he peeked into Xue Yu’s basket. He was stunned; Xue Yu was really capable. There were three carps as big as his palms inside! 

"I never know Chen-ge can cook."

"Well, when I was in the military we often cooked by ourselves. We ate whatever we could find. I learned some skills along the way. After all, it was dull eating food without taste," said Jing Chen. It was not a lie, technically. The original owner did all of this, it was vividly clear in Jing Chen’s memories.

"Just trust this husband, this husband won’t put his family in danger." He added when Xue Yu wanted to open his mouth again.

Xue Yu stammered, he could only nod obediently. The word 'husband' still felt strange in his heart, leaving him with the impulse to leave Jing Chen behind and hide somewhere.

Thanks for reading everyone! Shout out to my beta, @Fancy Dreamer who was very helpful and willing to beta this chapter. Here are some notes and pics!

Notes:

- Taro is not a purple sweet potato. It's 7 points similar to yam.

- Cleaver: Ancient China's kitchen knife. It almost similar to modern Chinese kitchen knife.

- Pomelo: The largest citrus fruit, ranging from the size of a cantaloupe to that of a large watermelon [source: health.harvard.edu]. Pomelo tastes similar to grapefruit, but it's sweeter. There is red pomelo & yellow pomelo.

- Just a bit of information on wild honeycomb: It was very scary looking (google it, won't add pic here). It traumatized me as a child. There was an old longan tree around 40 yo or more in the backyard of my childhood house. It had a big honeycomb in one of the branches. Once, I was stung by the bee on my left forehead, above my eyebrow. It was swollen from my forehead to my scalp, to my cheek. I couldn't open my left eye, it was all swollen! I couldn't go to school for a week! So horrible T.T

Pics:

[1] Taro, Pomelo, Chinese Cleaver : from left to right.

[2] Bamboo Carrying Basket that Jing Chen & Xue Yu used.

[3] Paddy Field, Yellow Rice Stalks, Carps, Birds in paddy field.