Yang Erdan had enticed a couple of idle riffraff from the neighboring village to stake out near An Hao’s home, familiarizing themselves with the terrain. They had been unable to find an opportunity for several days.
After waiting for a week, they finally saw their chance.
During the weekend, An Hao rested at home.
After finishing her homework early and taking advantage of the warm weather and recent spring rain, An Hao, carrying a basket on her back, went to the hills to dig for wild vegetables.
In springtime, all sorts of wild vegetables poke out of the soil, and the tastiest among them is shepherd’s purse.
She remembered that as a child, during a few years of famine, when the grains in the field yielded nothing, her mother would take her and An Ping to the hills to dig for shepherd’s purse.
They would dig up several sacks full. These shepherd’s purse leaves, once picked and blanched in water, would be laid out to dry under the sun on clear days, turning into dried shepherd’s purse.
This dried shepherd’s purse could be preserved for a long time. When there were no vegetables at home, they could take it out, soak it, and stir-fry it, and it tasted pretty good too.
Now it was spring, and there was fresh shepherd’s purse available, which could be used to make delicious steamed buns or minced to fill dumplings.
These days, with the improvement of living standards, there were still people who foraged for wild vegetables, but far fewer than before.
After all, having endured enough hardships in the past, no one wanted to go back to eating such things anymore.
Although An Hao had some money, she couldn’t spend it carelessly; she needed to save it for critical times, making now the perfect time to dig for wild vegetables in the hills.
The wild vegetables in the fields had been removed during plowing, but those in the mountains were still plentiful. Plus, with the abundant rainfall this year, the vegetables grew succulent, promising to make delicious food.
With her basket on her back, she was absorbed in digging halfway up the hillside, utterly unaware of the sneaky delinquents who had followed her from the village.
"See that girl?" Yang Erdan, hidden behind a large pagoda tree, pointed at An Hao and said, "That’s her. Later, I want you to give her a good beating!"
The troublemaker from the neighboring village, Daguang, with a dry straw stalk dangling from his mouth, glanced sidelong at An Hao, "You say how, and we’ll do it. The guys will listen to you."
"Give her a good thrashing! Mess up her face! Damn it, just looking at that face makes me see red!" Yang Erdan spat viciously, still feeling a lingering pain from the last slap he got from that girl, An Hao.
"Okay, we’ll do as Erdan says," Xiaobing responded eagerly.
When An Hao had filled her basket and was walking down the hill to go back home, she passed near the large pagoda tree where the three thugs lazily jumped out, blocking her path.
"Yo, An Hao, been up the mountain digging for wild vegetables?" Yang Erdan crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head as he looked at An Hao, wearing a hideous smile.
Daguang and Xiaobing flanked An Hao from behind, the three of them enclosing her in the center.
Seeing their aggressive posture, An Hao gripped the iron shovel in her hands tightly, feeling a bit of panic, but she controlled her facial expression well, not revealing a thing, "What’s it to you if I dig wild vegetables? They’re not from your fields!"
"Well dug! We’ve been commissioned to deal with you these past few days, been tailing you for quite some time without a chance, and here you are, digging for vegetables. Don’t you think it’s fate?" Yang Erdan retorted.
"Who wants to mess with me?" An Hao stared into Yang Erdan’s eyes as she asked, her heart already harboring a vague premonition.
It must be Li Wangfu who has set them up to this!
"Hey, hey, hey, you’re missing the point here! You should be worrying about how you’re going to get back home!" Daguang spat out the wood stick from his mouth and shouted, "Let’s get her, guys!"
As the words fell, he was the first to charge at her.