If you can't do it openly and honestly, then do it secretly.
After Zhao Dashan led Cheng Loanloan into the house.
The weeds here grew tall, but after a long period of sun exposure, the tenacious weeds had almost dried up and died.
The mugwort plants were no exception; their leaves were withered, and their roots had turned a yellowish-brown.
Cheng Loanloan bent down and sniffed. The strong fragrance was indeed what modern people called mugwort, the kind of plant she was looking for.
She opened her mouth and said, "Cut all these mugwort plants and bring them into the courtyard."
Zhao Dashan scratched the back of his head. "Mother, mugwort doesn't burn well, and it produces a lot of smoke when it does. I'll go cut some other dry grass instead."
"Who said I wanted to cut it to burn?" Cheng Loanloan smiled and said, "I like a lot of smoke. If there isn't a lot of smoke, I don't need it. Hurry and cut it and bring it into the courtyard; I have a use for it."
Zhao Dashan quickly cut with a knife. A large amount of mugwort was cut, but it didn't amount to much, piling up in the courtyard.
Cheng Loanloan took out a basket, put the mugwort in, and it filled the basket perfectly.
Zhao Ergou curiously asked, "What does Mother want to do?"
"After dinner, come up the mountain with me." Cheng Loanloan placed the basket at the door. "You'll know when we go."
Lunch was white rice, a plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots, and a plate of wild mushrooms. It was simple and light, and the six people ate their fill.
After eating, the five family members went up the mountain.
Yesterday, everyone in the village was on the mountain, so there weren't many people going up today.
Going deeper into the mountain, they saw no one. When they approached the dried-up lake, Zhao Sidan keenly heard people talking. "Mother, it seems there are people where we got the bamboo shoots!"
Cheng Loanloan's eyes narrowed.
The people of Dahe Village had been busy for a day and a night yesterday, so it was impossible for them to be on the mountain at this time. That could only mean people from Guihua Village.
What were the people of Guihua Village doing here?
She gestured for the children to stay put, pushed aside the dense thorny bushes, and stepped through lightly.
Dozens of strong men stood by the excavated lotus pond, all with ashen faces.
"Damn it, those bastards from Dahe Village aren't leaving anyone a way to live!"
"This mountaintop, located between Dahe Village and Guihua Village, should have its resources divided equally between the two villages."
"Li Zheng of Dahe Village is too clever; he won't share half with us. If we can't do it openly and honestly, then we'll do it secretly."
"Anyway, there have been a lot of grain thieves recently. We can disguise ourselves as thieves and steal all the grain from Dahe Village!"
"..."
Cheng Loanloan's eyes suddenly turned cold.
She quietly retreated, her voice cold. "Let's go back for today."
Given what the people of Guihua Village intended to do, it was not suitable to look for a water source at this time.
The five family members descended the mountain with serious expressions. When they reached the middle of the hillside, Zhao Sidan exclaimed in surprise, "Mother, look, there's a bird's nest over there."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Sanniu threw away what was in his hand, spat on his hands, and walked towards the tree. In a short while, he had dug a total of seven eggs from the bird's nest.
Zhao Sidan licked his lips. "We have bird eggs to eat today."
Cheng Loanloan took the bird eggs and put them in the basket. In fact, there were many chicken eggs in the mall; one *wen* could buy two, but there was no reasonable excuse to take them out.
Perhaps she could pretend to find a wild hen, and then rely on this wild hen to lay eggs?
She silently looked at both sides of the road. It was very deep in there, very suitable for action. One chicken was harder to catch; it would be better to release two.
As soon as she said it, she did it. Cheng Luoluo spent one hundred wen coins to buy two chickens from the market and released them directly into the bushes.
"Cluck, cluck!"
The sound of crowing came from the dense forest.