OBS Chapter 394 - 208: Like (2)
Chapter 394 - 208: Like (2)
Qingmu nodded. "That’s the idea. But we won’t be able to dig up that many trees in a short time. We’ll have to wait until this fall to harvest the chestnuts, then plant them to grow saplings, just like we do with acorns."
Seeing their ideas become more and more expansive, Juhua couldn’t help but smile.
As they talked, they began to spot more and more mushrooms. Some were gathered in dense clusters, while others were scattered through the grass or on the leaf litter under the trees. The large ones stood tall like little umbrellas, and the small ones had just poked through the earth, their caps not yet unfurled. Juhua especially loved the ones clustered together, looking like a family, arranged from largest to smallest and all huddled in a bunch.
Her heart filled with joy, and she immediately got busy, her hands picking nonstop. She left the newest sprouts and the overly large ones, letting them remain to release their spores.
Since she was with Qingmu and Zhang Huai, both of whom she knew well, she didn’t stand on ceremony and darted all over the place, her hands moving swiftly.
Seeing her busily gathering mushrooms as if she were in a race, Zhang Huai couldn’t help but laugh. He glanced at her and said, "Since you love picking them so much, you can have them all. I’ll just come to your house for a taste."
Juhua slowed her movements and smiled at him sheepishly. "It’s not that I’m trying to grab all the mushrooms, I just love picking them. They look so delightful, you can’t help but want to pick them. I think it’s just so much fun."
For some reason, Juhua found herself explaining her feelings to him. For her, it was more about enjoying the process, just like when she harvested wild bamboo shoots or picked water bamboo shoot greens.
Without looking up, Huai Zi stayed by her side, bending over to pick the mushrooms she had missed. "I know," he said. "You like feeding the chickens and ducks and love watching them grow. I know you like growing vegetables—you can stare at them for ages when they’re all lush and green. You like raising fish, you like planting fruit trees, you like harvesting wild bamboo shoots... Don’t you wish you could take all that Zhuzi home and plant it?"
Hearing his words, Juhua felt as if she had found a kindred spirit and couldn’t help but laugh with delight. "Isn’t it the truth! I wish I could bring everything home to plant. It’s just too much of a hassle to harvest shoots in the mountains, so I planted some Zhuzi in our courtyard. Let me tell you, I just love seeing the yard full of chickens and ducks, and my favorite thing is gathering their eggs. I love planting fruit trees, too. Imagine how happy it would be to see the whole yard laden with fruit! I love raising fish, too. The fish in the pond are such a happy sight, I can hardly bear to net them. And there must be lots of Ni Qiu and Huang Shan down there, too. I love a garden that’s a sea of green, and I don’t mind the trouble of pickling all the extra vegetables one bit..."
She chattered on and on to Huai Zi about all the things that interested her, just as Liu Xiaomei had once talked about the peppers, sunflowers, and fruit trees her family grew. That was why she and Liu Xiaomei were such kindred spirits, their bond even closer than the one she shared with Meizi, although Meizi was now showing signs of coming around to their way of thinking.
Huai Zi listened with rapt attention. Seeing her get so carried away, like a young wife happily planning her domestic life, made his heart soften, and he watched her with a constant, gentle smile. Qingmu, however, couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
He cut his sister off. "Juhua, I know you like all this—I like it too. But listening to you, it sounds like you do all this for fun, for your own enjoyment, not for the food or the money."
Juhua was in the middle of her excited explanation. Hearing Qingmu’s words, she laughed. "Of course that’s not it. I started growing and raising these things for food and to sell for money. But... taking care of them... how do I put it? I just enjoy doing it, the same way Dad enjoys farming. Isn’t it strange? Farming is so exhausting, but I can tell Dad genuinely loves it. If he goes a single day without checking on the fields, he gets antsy."
’In truth,’ she thought, ’Dad is like this because he loves the land. And for me, it comes from a love of the pastoral life.’
Zhang Huai’s eyes were shining as he gazed at Juhua with a smile. "Tending to them makes you happy. Even though it’s tiring, you don’t find it a chore, do you? If you suddenly struck it rich and could move into the city, you probably couldn’t bear to leave. You’d just want to stay here, growing vegetables and raising chickens and fish."
He felt himself drawing closer and closer to Juhua, feeling her joy and contentment, and understanding her dreams and aspirations.
Hearing Zhang Huai’s words, Juhua’s eyes widened in delighted surprise, and she nodded again and again. "Yes! That’s exactly it! Of course, I’m not saying I’d turn down a life of luxury, but if our home was filled with flocks of chickens and ducks, an orchard of fruit trees, a yard full of flowers, and our fishpond and fields were all bountiful... isn’t that the best kind of luxury there is?"
Huai Zi and Qingmu both chuckled, finding themselves yearning for the scene she had just described.
Zhang Huai nodded at Qingmu with a smile. "That’s right. You actually feel the same way as Juhua, you’re just so focused on making money right now that you haven’t paid it much mind. The other day in Qinghui County, that Old Mr. Fang asked me why I don’t set up a workshop in Qinghui to make and sell sausages. Even though I’m dirt poor, I wasn’t the least bit excited when he said that. ’Why would I set up a workshop in Qinghui?’ I thought. We can raise plenty of pigs and grow plenty of things ourselves right here in Qingnan Village. I’ve always felt that selling things you’ve made yourself is different from just doing business. Otherwise, as long as you’re making a profit, it wouldn’t matter whose products you were selling."
Juhua and Qingmu both laughed.
Qingmu helped Juhua pour the mushrooms from her basket into his own. "Even so," he said to Huai Zi, "you’re going to have your hands full from now on. We’re producing more and more things. Changyu handles sales outside the village, but you’ll still have to take care of things here."
Zhang Huai smiled. "Selling things you’ve made yourself always brings a special kind of joy. If you don’t believe me, ask Juhua. If she took a basket of eggs out to trade for some Copper Coins, wouldn’t she be happy?"
Juhua smiled and nodded. ’Of course I’d be happy,’ she thought. ’After all, we can gather dozens of eggs every day now. When I first transmigrated here, we barely had any chickens. If I could have collected twenty or thirty eggs a day back then, I probably never would have even thought about starting the offal business.’