Zou Xinghe

Liu Xiaolan opened her eyes and by looking at the light streaking through her roof she could tell it was already sunny outside.

'Even if I pick another full basket of mushrooms, it doesn't seem to help me to much... '

'Should I make another basket? But I don't have too much straw left here…'

'Whatever, let's hope for the best…'

Without further ado, Liu Xiaolan, with the experience from yesterday quickly made another small straw basket and went towards the mountains. Now knowing what to look for and in which area, it didn't take her long until both her baskets were full.

"Good thing mushrooms aren't heavy… If I had to carry baskets full of chestnuts while walking around the mountains this body would probably break…" She said to herself.

Liu Xiaolan picked up both of her baskets and once again went towards the river to wash them from dirt before eating some.

While her body is pretty weak and was basically malnutritioned, the good part of it was that it wasn't used to eating large portions of food. After overeating yesterday, the amount of mushrooms she ate today was only half of a basket.

Well, the fact that their raw taste wasn't too good either surely also helped.

'What should I do with the rest of the mushrooms… It's really hot during the day, and it doesn't go down too much during the night. If I just leave them be they will be rotten pretty soon…'

Liu Xiaolan thought a little more and finally decided that she would try to sell them. Although most people in the village were afraid of eating them, perhaps she could find someone willing to buy them inside the city.

Now the biggest issue was how to get to the city and later on how to get back from it. While it's not really far away from the village, without modern transport it still takes a few hours of walking distance.

Thinking about what to do, Liu Xiaolan soon remembered some good news. Every day, around noon, Zou Xinghe would go to the city with his family's ox cart. Her only hope now was that he would allow her to catch a ride with him.

"It's almost time now… I need to hurry up", she said picking up her speed and slowly running towards the other end of the Liuojia village.

By the time she got there, Zou Xinghe was already packed and ready to go. Seeing her running towards himself, he watched her with a curious look.

"Do you need anything from me, girl?" Zou Xinghe asked seeing her gasping for breath.

Liu Xiaolan slowly stabilised her breath and asked, "Could I go with you to the city?"

"Oh?... You want to go to the city?" He asked, a little surprised. Looking at her hands carrying a basket full of mushrooms, he understood.

He continued to ask before she could even answer the previous question, "Girl, where did you get them?"

Liu Xiaolan looked at him with a little hesitance, thinking that he probably misunderstood her because of the rumors going around the village. "I didn't steal them from anyone, I picked them up myself."

Zou Xinghe looked at her, a little surprised. "When did I say that you stole them from anyone, girl Liu? I know you've been living off the things you've managed to pick ever since they kicked you out, but picking them on the mountains is dangerous, you shouldn't do it too often."

While Zou Xinghe did hear some rumors and other villagers talking about girl Liu, he didn't believe in most of them.

Zou family has been a family of hunters for generations now. Thanks to that he also knows the various forms of danger that could even cause someone's death on the mountains. Most of the time the Zou's are hunting for pray on the mountains, so their relationship with other people living inside the village isn't too deep.

Not to mention the fact that his father send him to school for some time and he learned some knowledge. Without seeing and hearing things for himself, he wouldn't believe his own cousin, let alone the words of some shady old Taoist or gossiping aunts around the village.

Liu Xiaolan blushed slightly and said, "I'm sorry… I was too hungry so I didn't really have a choice."

Zou Xinghe looked at her and sighed. "Alright, get on. Let's not lose any more time…"

"Thank you, uncle Zou!" Liu Xiaolan said with a smile, while Zou Xinghe just looked at her with a slightly curved up lips.

Even through using the ox cart for transport was more convenient than walking, it would still take over an hour to get to the city.

Zou Xinghe looked at her mushrooms and said, "Girl Liu, be careful with these things. Although I've heard people say that you can eat some of them, there are lots of stories going around that someone died after eating them"

"Don't worry, uncle Zou. Before picking them I waited in the bushes and looked at which of them were eaten by some animals. They've been eating on them for years, they shouldn't get it wrong…" Liu Xiaolan could only offer a little lie as her explanation. She didn't know how else to explain that she knew which ones are good to be eaten.

"Alright, as long as you are careful, girl Liu. But you better still don't eat too much of them, who knows if you won't get poisoned by eating too much of them or just picking one wrong…" Zou Xinghe advised her.

"Okay, I know Uncle Zou." Liu Xiaolan answered.

For the rest of the duration of their journey towards the city, neither of them spoke anymore. They've spend their time in quietness until almost an hour later they finally saw the city walls on the horizon.

"We're here, little girl. Go and do your things, we will meet back at the gate 3 hours later to go back. If you're not here by that time, I'll just go back alone."