Chapter 33: The Chrysanthemums Wither, Scars Strewn Across the Ground

After a thoroughly satisfying lunch, Mingdai took out the pine nuts Aunt Huang had given her. Considering Zhou Sinian’s admirable habit of not eating food from others lightly, she planned to make some pine nut candy for him.

The main reason, truth be told, was that seeing the pine nuts had whetted her own appetite.

She called Zhou Sinian over with a bowl, and the two of them sat in the courtyard, basking in the sun while shelling the pine nuts. Looking at the plump, large kernels, Mingdai couldn’t help but sigh.

“If there were more, I could make a bigger batch and save some for New Year’s. What a pity—there’s only enough for one go.”

Zhou Sinian, listening, suddenly said, “There are some in the mountains.”

“What?” Mingdai hadn’t caught it. Zhou Sinian repeated himself.

“You mean you’ve seen them in the mountains? When?”

He frowned, thinking for a moment. “Last time.”

Ha! She had suspected as much—this man always managed to leave her speechless in unexpected ways.

“I remember pine nuts ripen from mid-September to mid-October. It’s already November—are there really any left?”

Zhou Sinian continued shelling pine nuts, his large hands surprisingly nimble. While Mingdai managed to pry out one, he could get three.

“Yes.”

His firm reply made Mingdai suddenly realize something. “You’re speaking now?!”

Zhou Sinian glanced at her briefly, then lowered his head to continue shelling.

That look—definitely exasperation.

“Ahem, I mean, you’re willing to talk now?”

Zhou Sinian ignored her question and continued on the topic of the pine nuts in the mountains. “There are plenty, though they don’t look like these. Some have already fallen—I’ve stepped on them.”

He was talking about pine cones, Mingdai realized.

“All right! Let’s stop shelling and go look for pine nuts on the mountain. Is it far?”

He thought for a moment. “Not far.” Then his eyes drifted to Mingdai’s short legs and, after some thought, he added, “Well, maybe a little far.”

Ha! So being long-legged is something to brag about!

An hour later, Mingdai was struggling up the mountain path, breathless, watching the man ahead stride as if flying, and feeling utterly defeated.

Truly, long legs were something to boast about! With every step, Zhou Sinian covered as much ground as she did in three, and even trotting, she couldn’t keep up! Fortunately, he knew to double back when she fell out of sight, or she’d have gotten herself lost.

By now, they’d left the firewood hills and were on another peak, one with no clear path. Villagers rarely came here, but Zhou Sinian seemed perfectly familiar, as if he were walking home.

At last, Mingdai understood how Zhou Sinian’s clothes always ended up so ragged—branches had shredded them. Good thing she’d brought along a machete from her space before heading out, or his padded jacket would have been torn again.

Her willingness to follow him was simple—she had her golden finger. No matter what dangers arose, she could hide herself in her space, where no one could find her.

After who knew how long, Mingdai felt like her energy was about to run out altogether. Zhou Sinian, seeing her exhaustion, had no choice but to hoist her up and carry her. Though it was hardly dignified to be tucked under someone’s arm with her legs dangling, at least it wasn’t tiring!

At that moment, dignity was the last thing on her mind.

As Zhou Sinian picked up speed, Mingdai suddenly spotted something furry on the ground—a familiar sight. Looking closer—oh my! Were those chestnuts? Wild chestnut burrs!

Excited, she patted Zhou Sinian’s arm to let her down. Without hesitation, Zhou Sinian obliged.

Question: What does it feel like to land squarely on a pile of prickly chestnut burrs?

Answer: Only one song could describe it: “Chrysanthemum petals fall, wounds cover the earth, my smile has faded to yellow…” Sob!

Seeing Mingdai in tears, Zhou Sinian hurriedly yanked her up. When he saw her backside covered in burrs, he took out his machete and used the blunt side to knock them off.

Mingdai glared at his actions, big tears rolling uncontrollably down her cheeks. He must have known how much those burrs hurt—why else would he use the back of his blade?

But with no time for anger, Mingdai looked around—the ground was covered in chestnut burrs! And above, a whole grove of chestnut trees!

She was in luck—jackpot!

Darting about the grove, she seemed to have forgotten her recent “chrysanthemum petals fall, wounds cover the earth” episode entirely.

Zhou Sinian frowned and caught up, reminding her, “We’re not there yet.”

If they didn’t hurry, it would be dark before they got down the mountain.

Mingdai lifted her chin. “Why look for pine nuts? Why not roast chestnuts with sugar? Isn’t that delicious enough?”

Zhou Sinian had no idea what “sugar-roasted chestnuts” were, but in his world, anything with “sugar” in the name must be tasty.

He stopped rushing and watched Mingdai pace around the grove.

She inspected the area closely. The chestnut trees were dense and overgrown—it must be wild woodland. So she felt no guilt about “shearing sheep” here.

“Take out the burlap sacks. These chestnut burrs are already dry. Knock out the nuts with a stick—we’ll only take the chestnuts, not the shells.”

This place was too far. If not for Zhou Sinian, she could have swept all the burrs into her space at once, but she didn’t want to risk him noticing someday when he was healthy again.

She had Zhou Sinian cut two wooden sticks and showed him how to use them. He learned quickly, so Zhou Sinian knocked the burrs open while Mingdai picked up the chestnuts behind him.

As she picked, Mingdai used her space’s detection ability to collect all the good nuts, leaving the bad ones behind.

Looking at the growing mountain of chestnuts in her space, she couldn’t help but gasp. At this time of year, all the chestnuts on the mountain had fallen naturally from ripeness. There were far more scattered on the ground than still inside the burrs.

Her gasp caught Zhou Sinian’s attention. He turned to check on her, but seeing nothing amiss, went back to work.

Mingdai, meanwhile, was like a mouse in a rice jar, quietly delighted as she gathered chestnuts and piled up the empty burrs. She had no intention of wasting these—they’d burn better than corncobs, and she had other plans for the cobs anyway, not wanting to feed them to the stove or kang just yet.

The whole grove—over thirty chestnut trees—took them two hours to finish. Zhou Sinian’s strength was one reason, but also, most of the chestnuts had already burst out of their burrs, so there weren’t many left to extract.

But even so, they filled all four of the sacks they’d brought—completely full! There were still three big piles left, enough for three more sacks, and over thirty heaps of burrs. Mingdai spread them out to dry in the winter sun, planning to collect them later when they had time.

Sitting on a fallen log, she took out their mugs and drank water, gazing at the day’s bounty and fretting about how to carry it all home.

“Zhou Sinian, let’s carry these chestnuts down first, dump them out, and come back for the rest.”

Tiring, perhaps, but there was no way she could leave so many chestnuts behind and sleep at night.

Zhou Sinian nodded obediently, handed back her mug, and went to the sacks—picking up one in each hand as though they weighed nothing.

Huh?

Mingdai eyed the sacks in disbelief—they could each hold over two hundred pounds!

Unconvinced, she tried to lift the other two.

Not even a budge.

She tried both arms around one sack. Still nothing.

She’d been too reckless—she should have filled them only halfway. At this weight, there was no way she could move them.

“You wait here. I’ll take these down.”

With that, Zhou Sinian strode off with two sacks, disappearing into the forest in no time.

Mingdai watched him go, smiling to herself, “Long legs truly are something to boast about!”

Once he was gone, Mingdai used her space’s detection ability to gather up all the bad chestnuts. She scattered them around, hoping they’d take root and grow more trees. The wormy ones she left under the trees for the mountain animals to eat over winter.

When she finished, she sat on the log and waited for Zhou Sinian to return.