Chapter 49: The Overly Enthusiastic He Family

For safety’s sake, and to be more cautious, Fang Mingxi took He Yu up the mountain this time without activating her golden cheat. Instead, she chose to experience the real forest firsthand.

After going into the mountains nearly every day for the past few months, she likely had a bit of luck on her side. Even without the game, they still managed to find plenty of wood ear mushrooms in real life.

As for other mushrooms, this wasn’t the rainy season, so Maple Leaf Mountain didn’t have many mushrooms growing at the moment.

And even if some did appear, most were poisonous and couldn’t be eaten.

Fang Mingxi crouched down, using a wooden stick to poke at several brightly colored mushrooms.

“Older sister, this kind of mushroom can’t be eaten. It’s poisonous.”

Tang Yao squatted beside her, rummaging through He Yu’s basket and pulling out several green mushrooms.

“Grandpa Yu told us about this kind. They can’t be eaten. If we do, we’ll get a stomachache.”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Tlyakdt vbyv, Tl Zw iwknjzu vbalo vbl talld xwpbassx pbl bye fwpv qswde qya kdvs vbl ekpvydnl.

“R eked’v jdso! R pyo Qaydexy rknj vbkp jkde clqsal. R vbswtbv vblu olal lekczl.”

Fbl bye plld talld xwpbassxp clqsal, aswde yde rzwxr, hlau pkxkzya vs vbl sdl kd bla byde. Ebld Qaydexy caswtbv vblx bsxl cynj vbld, pbl alxlxclale lyvkdt vblx byrrkzu.

Mydt Zys pvlrrle sd vbl xwpbassxp sd vbl taswde, nawpbkdt vblx.

“R jdso vbl vurl usw xlyd. Mbspl yal ikdtvsw xwpbassxp, cwv vblu sdzu yrrlya yaswde Kwdl sa Kwzu. Mbl sdlp ol’al qkdekdt dso yal yzz rskpsdswp.”

Tl Zw dseele, byzq wdelapvydekdt, yde yqvla clkdt pbsod yzz vbl rskpsdswp hyaklvklp, pbl zkqvle bla cypjlv byrrkzu yde qszzsole clbkde vblx.

“Zsw vos jdso ps xwnb. Nwnjkzu R nyxl okvb usw vseyu. Rq R nyxl yzsdl, R alyzzu oswzed’v alnstdkgl ydu rskpsdswp xwpbassxp.”

Tla nbllaqwz qzyvvlau xyel Wydt Ykdtmk pbyjl bla blye okvb y pxkzl. Mbkp tkaz alyzzu eked’v pllx vs byhl xydu bkeeld vbswtbvp, iwkvl lypu vs tlv yzsdt okvb.

The three continued wandering around the mountain.

Besides small garlic shoots and wood ear mushrooms, they also found a small pile of wild strawberries. After sharing them on the mountaintop, they headed down.

They took the usual path up the mountain but circled around halfway and came down a different trail.

Once they descended and crossed the fields, He Yu’s house came into view.

He Yu eagerly invited them inside.

“Xixi, Yaoyao, come to my house! My little aunt brought me picture books from the county town. Let’s read them together, okay?”

Hearing that form of address, Fang Mingxi and Tang Yao’s brows twitched at the same time.

Just a few hours earlier, they had still been “younger sister.” Now they were “Xixi” and “Yaoyao”?

He Yu was even more familiar than those naturally chatty types.

Tang Yao wanted to refuse. It was broad daylight, and openly visiting the Brigade Leader’s home felt inappropriate.

Fang Mingxi also felt uneasy. She hadn’t had much chance to gather information earlier with Yaoyao beside her. Though she did want to understand things more clearly, entering the Brigade Leader’s home with so many people around wasn’t a good idea.

But He Yu didn’t give them a chance to decline. Hanging her basket on her arm, she pushed the two of them toward the doorway.

“Come on, come on! Great-Grandma and Grandma are very nice.”

Despite her gentle demeanor, He Yu’s strength was surprisingly solid. With just a tug and a push, she guided both Fang Mingxi and Tang Yao straight to the entrance.

As soon as the door opened, Zhao Hongying happened to walk out of the kitchen. When she looked up and saw He Yu, and beside her, Fang Mingxi, the winnowing basket in her hands dropped instantly.

“Xiao Yu, you’re back! This is Xixi?”

“Xixi? Which Xixi?” Zhang Guihua came out of the inner room at the sound. When she saw Fang Mingxi and Tang Yao standing in the courtyard, her expression brightened.

“Xiao Yu, so you really did go find Xixi and Yaoyao early this morning?”

Fang Mingxi: …

This family was far too enthusiastic.

Noticing the surprised looks on the girls’ faces, Zhang Guihua and Yu Fengying seemed to realize they were acting too excited. They quickly hid their expressions and began giving He Yu tasks.

“Xiao Yu, bring out your candies and peanuts. Treat your friends first. Grandma will get you all some water.”

After speaking, Zhao Hongying hurried back into the kitchen to boil water, with Zhang Guihua following behind.

He Yu told Fang Mingxi and Tang Yao to wait in the yard, then set down her basket and ran inside. Moments later, she returned, carrying three small round stools.

“Xixi, Yaoyao, sit! I’ll get the picture books. My little aunt also brought peach pastries. They’re in my room. Wait for me!”

She ran back into the house, looking over her shoulder every few steps as if afraid the two girls might escape.

Tang Yao quietly grabbed Fang Mingxi’s hand.

“This is so weird… I feel like we’ve walked into some kidnapper’s house.”

“Xixi, I’m a little scared. What if someone sees us?”

Fang Mingxi reassured her.

“They won’t. There’s no one around. And we’re just kids, no one would think anything of it.”

She sat down, looking around. This was her second time visiting the Brigade Leader’s home, once outside, now inside.

Only now did she realize how much better their living conditions were.

A blue-brick, tile-roofed house with four rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a fenced courtyard. The building looked fairly new, likely constructed within the past few years.

At a time when most families with three generations squeezed into two rooms, a four-generation household living in such a spacious courtyard indeed showed their status.

Before she could finish looking around, He Yu returned, arms full.

She placed a picture book on the empty stool, tore open the kraft paper around the pastries, and handed each of them a peach pastry.

“Here! Xixi, Yaoyao, eat! If it’s not enough, I have more.” She grinned brightly and picked up two more pastries.

“That’s enough, thank you, older sister.”

“Thanks, Xiao Yu. You eat too. Don’t worry about us.”

The two accepted their pastries and quickly declined the extras He Yu tried to offer.

“Okay then!” He Yu didn’t insist. She put one pastry back and popped the other into her mouth.

She placed her stool between them, opened the picture book, and spread it across her knees.

Pointing at a page, she explained the story while eating her pastry.

Fang Mingxi and Tang Yao craned their necks to look. The picture book was in black and white, but each drawing was lively and interesting. After just a few glances, they were genuinely absorbed.

Zhao Hongying and Zhang Guihua soon returned carrying bowls. Seeing the three little girls sitting quietly in the courtyard, each holding a peach pastry while flipping through the book, they couldn’t help smiling.

The yard was peaceful, the only sound the gentle flutter of pages. With the warm midday sun overhead, everything felt calm and serene.

Sharing a pleased glance, Zhao Hongying and Zhang Guihua placed a large bench in front of the engrossed trio.

Zhao Hongying said,

“Xixi, Yaoyao, have some brown-sugar eggs to tide you over. You’ll stay for lunch at Grandma’s house later.”