After clearing land for five straight days, Xiao Changyi and An Jing had only managed to clear half an acre, and by that time, An Jing had also recovered from her foot injury.
As soon as her foot injury healed, An Jing’s first course of action was not to continue clearing the land but to forage for wild vegetables in the mountains with Xiao Changyi.
Though they ventured into the mountains, they didn’t go very deep because deep in the mountains lurked dangers like bears, hornets, wild boars, wolves, etc. An Jing was living a good life now and naturally did not want to risk venturing deep into the mountains with Xiao Changyi.
Almost everyone from the village went into the hills to dig up wild vegetables, so there weren’t many left to harvest. Xiao Changyi and An Jing searched for a long time before they found a small amount.
However, when An Jing saw a bamboo grove in the mountains, she was immediately overjoyed and excitedly pulled Xiao Changyi to the edge of the bamboo forest.
It was March now, and the bamboo shoots were just poking out of the ground. An Jing bent down and started to dig out a bamboo shoot near her feet.
Xiao Changyi knelt beside her, helped her dig, and asked, "What are you digging this for?"
"You can eat bamboo shoots?"
"Yeah, you can eat them. In my previous world, we called them bamboo shoots," An Jing patiently explained. "If you peel off the outer leaves, inside you’ll find the crisp bamboo shoots that can be stir-fried fresh or dried and eaten later."
No one here ate bamboo shoots, which meant she could take advantage all to herself. She planned to dig them all up, whether to eat fresh or dry—she simply did not want to leave any for the people of Jiuping Village.
Once the people of Jiuping Village discovered that bamboo shoots were edible, they would certainly come to dig them up as well.
Xiao Changyi stopped asking questions and just dug one bamboo shoot after another, determined to dig them all up.
An Jing giggled nonstop. The one who understood her best was still her man~
An Jing and Xiao Changyi each came to the mountain with a bamboo basket on their back, and soon, the bamboo shoot filled both baskets. Seeing that there were still many bamboo shoots left undug, An Jing said, "You go back with these first."
"You come back with me," he said, worried it was not safe for her to be alone in the mountains.
An Jing, seeing his concern, laughed and said, "Even if I encounter danger, with my skills, I can hold on until you come to rescue me." Then, in a tone one would use with a child, she continued, "Be good, hurry back and come back again. I don’t want to leave these treasures for others; I want to dig them all up today."
The wild vegetables are really too unpalatable, and bamboo shoots taste much better—of course, they’re treasures!
Only then did Xiao Changyi obediently take the two baskets of bamboo shoots back home.
When Xiao Changyi returned, he carried two larger baskets on a carrying pole, which were much bigger than the bamboo baskets. Upon seeing this, An Jing burst out laughing.
Xiao Changyi, unfazed by her laughter, calmly started picking up the bamboo shoots she had dug and placed them in the baskets. After picking them all up, he helped dig more.
Only after filling up both baskets did Xiao Changyi carry them back to the thatched cottage again.
There weren’t many bamboo shoots left, and by the time An Jing had finished digging, Xiao Changyi had not yet returned.
Feeling somewhat bored, An Jing wandered around the area.
Then, under a large tree, she discovered a lot of black fungus. Just as she bent down to pick it, she heard Xiao Changyi urgently calling her, "Jing Er, don’t touch that!"
"Hmm?" An Jing instinctively stopped and turned around, and before she could see Xiao Changyi clearly, he had already pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly away from the black fungus.
"That’s poisonous," Xiao Changyi said with lingering fear.
An Jing was stunned for a moment before she remembered through Lin Anjing’s memory that someone died from eating black fungus which led to its being feared as a poison ever since. Nobody dared to touch it after that, and it was even given an appealing name – Black Blossom.