Chiang Songhai’s words met with no dissent from Chiang Xiao.
In the past, Chiang Songhai had made his living by foraging for herbs in the mountains, so they certainly couldn’t allow him to just stop. He wasn’t very old now, and stopping completely to do nothing would actually be worse. People need something to hold onto.
Furthermore, being able to work and earn money was a very fulfilling thing.
Chiang Xiao also decided that she would just follow him up the mountain on weekends.
"Okay, Grandpa, you rest for another couple of days. I think Great-Uncle and Uncle don’t need to go up the mountain every day either, it’s too exhausting. Go up once, rest for two days, that would be best," she said.
"We’ll listen to Little," Ge Dejun and Xu Linjiang had no objections. Not to mention the need for rest, the wild vegetables on the mountain also needed time to grow.
Moreover, if they went up the mountain every day, Ma Jincai might not be able to fully take in all these goods.
In Chiang Xiao’s view, this year’s spring breeze had just begun to blow, and there were not yet many private restaurants, but tomorrow would be much better. Restaurants would emerge one after the other, and then they wouldn’t have to worry about the sale of their mountain goods.
So much stuff was piled high, filling the entire ox cart, leaving only a seat empty for Chiang Xiao; the rest had to walk.
"Come on, Little, let Great-Uncle lift you onto the cart!" Ge Dejun put his hands under Chiang Xiao’s armpits and lifted her onto the cart like a child.
Chiang Xiao was terribly embarrassed.
She was already thirty, and yet she was being lifted high up in the air again!
Sitting next to a sack of Tianlvxiang, her pretty face turned red for a long time.
Chiang Songhai laughed, "Little is already a big girl now, De Jun, you still treat her like a child."
He definitely wouldn’t admit that he felt a little poignant watching that scene. He, as her kin-grandpa, had never been so affectionate with Little!
Why did Ge Dejun’s interactions with Little seem more like that of close grandparents and grandchildren?
"Haha, I see her as a little monkey, where does the big girl come in? Brother-in-law, let me tell you, Little has a real talent for climbing trees..."
Thus, along the way, Ge Dejun non-stop narrated to Chiang Songhai the funny stories about Chiang Xiao on the mountain, including her tree climbing, how a mountain rat scared her into plopping down on the ground, but later, during mealtime, how eagerly she fought for the rat meat, and how she accidentally crushed the fattest partridge while catching them...
Xu Linjiang occasionally chimed in with a sentence or two. The journey was filled with constant laughter while Chiang Xiao sat in the cart, dangling her little feet, feeling utterly helpless.
All right, all right, if it’s embarrassing stories we’re sharing, who doesn’t have a few of those, right?
By the time they reached town, it was completely dark.
They went straight to the back door of Peace Restaurant and knocked. A restaurant employee opened the door, and his eyes lit up as soon as he saw Chiang Xiao, "It’s you guys! I’ll go call Director Ma right away, just wait a moment, okay?"
Ma Jincai quickly appeared and was very happy to see Chiang Xiao.
"Chiang Xiao, I’ve been waiting for you for two days, thought I was going to wait in vain again today. Wow, it looks like you had a great haul this time!" Ma Jincai exclaimed with delight as soon as he saw the cartful of mountain goods, grinning from ear to ear.
"Director Ma, we got lucky today. Although we didn’t catch any wild boars, we’ve got hares, a few pheasants, and partridges. I don’t know if you’re interested?" she asked.
"Interested, interested, of course, I’m interested! These are all delicacies!" Ma Jincai grew even more excited. The chefs at their restaurant were quite skilled but previously lacked good ingredients. Now that they had these mountain goods, the chefs were delighted.
"Well, it’s getting late, Director Ma. Have a look at the goods, and let’s get the other wild vegetables on the scale," suggested Chiang Xiao.
"Right, you two, get on with it," urged Director Ma.