The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 183: Brother Zhou

The first time Sang Luo was this close to Shen Lie, her joy led to staying up until late at night. The next morning, Sang Luo woke up, and Shen Lie was still asleep.

Sang Luo was used to sleeping on her right side since her previous life, and even though she had tried to sleep on her left side the previous night, she didn’t realize she had turned back to her right side until she woke up, facing Shen Lie’s sleeping face.

She was still a bit groggy upon waking. The cave was dimly lit by the faint morning light streaming through the cracks in the wooden door, and all she saw was Shen Lie’s well-defined sleeping face.

His features were chiseled, with a handsome nose and lips, and his entire face was strikingly attractive.

He looked handsome when he smiled, and even his sleeping face was good-looking.

Sang Luo found herself gazing a bit longer than intended, unable to stop herself, until her eyes met Shen Lie’s open ones.

Their gazes locked. Sang Luo blinked, feeling as if she had been caught peeking, though she quickly masked her embarrassment with a smile, saying, “Good morning.”

Shen Lie was a bit dazed.

Accustomed to the constant vigilance needed in the wild—whether against enemies or beasts—he was always alert. Even when asleep, he was sensitive to being watched. Waking up to Sang Luo’s smiling “good morning” momentarily disoriented him, causing his heart to skip a beat. He instinctively responded, “Good morning.”

Sang Luo couldn’t help but laugh. The cave was small, and they were very close. She got up, having slept fully dressed, and left Shen Lie’s heart racing as she got out of bed.

Seeing that Sang Luo was up, Shen Lie quickly got up as well. He opened the observation door to check outside and then used the light coming through to fold the blankets and store the animal skins. He moved the low platform back under the bed and turned to open the heavy wooden door.

Sang Luo prepared breakfast, while Shen Lie took care of farm tasks. While watering the soybeans and vegetables he had planted, he noticed that some seeds had been dug up by mountain chickens. He planned to replant them in a few days. With other tasks not feasible at the moment, he cut some bamboo and wood branches to build a fence. By the time they had breakfast and reached Zhou Laizi’s home, it was already late morning.

The drying racks at the Zhou family’s place had long been set up, and everything from each family was being dried as planned. The hawthorns brought back the previous evening, which had not yet been processed, were handled by the Zhou family’s mother and daughter. There was no need for further thanks, and with the Zhou family’s father and son included, they all headed to a mountain they had not visited before.

Perhaps thanks to the spread of birds and the fact that this remote area hadn’t seen many visitors in decades, there was an abundance of mountain grapes and hawthorns. They nearly always found some on the peaks they climbed. However, what really surprised Sang Luo today was discovering several banana trees. From a distance, the banana bunches were quite conspicuous.

Although she had rarely eaten bananas, she had encountered wild bananas in the mountains in her previous life. Since coming here, she hadn’t had any.

Seeing Sang Luo’s eyes light up as she gazed at the banana trees, Shen Lie couldn’t help but smile. “Wait here. I’ll go pick some for you.”

He handed his weapon to Sang Luo and took the long-handled machete from her. Chen Dashan and the others also saw the banana trees and each chose a target.

The bananas were high up, but Shen Lie, being tall, quickly brought back a bunch of bananas with his machete.

The bananas were well-grown, with each bunch containing about five clusters, each cluster having over a dozen bananas—there were at least sixty or seventy bananas in total.

Shen Lie selected a ripe, golden-yellow banana, peeled it, and handed it to Sang Luo, saying, “Try it.”

His eyes were bright, and his smile was charming. His anticipation and delight were evident as he waited for her to take it.

Sang Luo was amazed at how Shen Lie could combine handsomeness, cuteness, youthful spirit, and heroism so perfectly. Despite it being autumn, Shen Lie’s smile somehow made it feel like spring.

She took the banana, lowered her eyes, and took a bite.

“How is it?” he asked, tilting his head. “Sweet?”

Sang Luo nodded. “Yes, it’s sweet. You should try it too.”

Hearing that it was sweet, Shen Lie smiled and packed the whole bunch into a burlap sack. “There are more unripe ones. They can be stored for you and An Ning to eat later.”

Sang Luo smiled and saw that Shi Erlang’s wife had also come over. She didn’t say much more.

Shen Lie carried the sack with the bananas in his left hand and continued to explore the path.

Perhaps animals really do have territorial boundaries. Apart from the wolf pack and roe deer encountered on the first day, they only found wild boar tracks on the fourth day and hunted two boars. After that, they didn’t encounter any more large wild animals, only some wild chickens and rabbits.

With the autumn sun strong, the first batches of mountain goods were already dried and taken back to the cave. The later batches were nearly ready, and they could catch some sun in the valley before finishing the drying. They had identified some that were still not ripe enough for harvest.

On the fifth day, the group privately discussed with Shen Lie and Chen Dashan whether they should return to the valley. Several caves were too small to store all the dried goods and smoked meat, which had accumulated into large sacks.

More importantly, they had cleared the mountains around Zhou Laizi’s home and harvested everything they could. It was time to change locations, so they planned to rest for a day or two and perhaps swap out some people.

To be honest, Shen Lie was reluctant to leave, but he knew that life outside the mountains was more difficult, and constantly being on the move was tiring. The first two days were fine, but by the third day, even he could see Sang Luo’s fatigue. He mostly let her rest at the Zhou family’s home in the afternoons while she accompanied him in the mornings.

However, resting at the Zhou family’s home wasn’t as comfortable as resting at their own place. Thinking about this, he nodded. “Alright, let’s bring back everything we can today.”

He informed Zhou Laizi that they might rest for a couple of days before heading deeper into the mountains and promised to come back to fetch him then.

The drying racks at the Zhou family’s place had long been set up, and everything from each family was being dried as planned. The hawthorns brought back the previous evening, which had not yet been processed, were handled by the Zhou family’s mother and daughter. There was no need for further thanks, and with the Zhou family’s father and son included, they all headed to a mountain they had not visited before.

Perhaps thanks to the spread of birds and the fact that this remote area hadn’t seen many visitors in decades, there was an abundance of mountain grapes and hawthorns. They nearly always found some on the peaks they climbed. However, what really surprised Sang Luo today was discovering several banana trees. From a distance, the banana bunches were quite conspicuous.

Although she had rarely eaten bananas, she had encountered wild bananas in the mountains in her previous life. Since coming here, she hadn’t had any.

Seeing Sang Luo’s eyes light up as she gazed at the banana trees, Shen Lie couldn’t help but smile. “Wait here. I’ll go pick some for you.”

He handed his weapon to Sang Luo and took the long-handled machete from her. Chen Dashan and the others also saw the banana trees and each chose a target.

The bananas were high up, but Shen Lie, being tall, quickly brought back a bunch of bananas with his machete.

The bananas were well-grown, with each bunch containing about five clusters, each cluster having over a dozen bananas—there were at least sixty or seventy bananas in total.

Shen Lie selected a ripe, golden-yellow banana, peeled it, and handed it to Sang Luo, saying, “Try it.”

His eyes were bright, and his smile was charming. His anticipation and delight were evident as he waited for her to take it.

Sang Luo was amazed at how Shen Lie could combine handsomeness, cuteness, youthful spirit, and heroism so perfectly. Despite it being autumn, Shen Lie’s smile somehow made it feel like spring.

She took the banana, lowered her eyes, and took a bite.

“How is it?” he asked, tilting his head. “Sweet?”

Sang Luo nodded. “Yes, it’s sweet. You should try it too.”

Hearing that it was sweet, Shen Lie smiled and packed the whole bunch into a burlap sack. “There are more unripe ones. They can be stored for you and An Ning to eat later.”

Sang Luo smiled and saw that Shi Erlang’s wife had also come over. She didn’t say much more.

Shen Lie carried the sack with the bananas in his left hand and continued to explore the path.

Perhaps animals really do have territorial boundaries. Apart from the wolf pack and roe deer encountered on the first day, they only found wild boar tracks on the fourth day and hunted two boars. After that, they didn’t encounter any more large wild animals, only some wild chickens and rabbits.

With the autumn sun strong, the first batches of mountain goods were already dried and taken back to the cave. The later batches were nearly ready, and they could catch some sun in the valley before finishing the drying. They had identified some that were still not ripe enough for harvest.

On the fifth day, the group privately discussed with Shen Lie and Chen Dashan whether they should return to the valley. Several caves were too small to store all the dried goods and smoked meat, which had accumulated into large sacks.

More importantly, they had cleared the mountains around Zhou Laizi’s home and harvested everything they could. It was time to change locations, so they planned to rest for a day or two and perhaps swap out some people.

To be honest, Shen Lie was reluctant to leave, but he knew that life outside the mountains was more difficult, and constantly being on the move was tiring. The first two days were fine, but by the third day, even he could see Sang Luo’s fatigue. He mostly let her rest at the Zhou family’s home in the afternoons while she accompanied him in the mornings.

However, resting at the Zhou family’s home wasn’t as comfortable as resting at their own place. Thinking about this, he nodded. “Alright, let’s bring back everything we can today.”

He informed Zhou Laizi that they might rest for a couple of days before heading deeper into the mountains and promised to come back to fetch him then.

Qin Fangniang’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“I hadn’t thought of that!”

In the earlier years, when she thought her son was gone, she was too busy escaping to the mountains to think about anything else. Now that he was back, she was preoccupied with the difficulties they faced, and when Shen Lie and Dashan mentioned bringing the Zhou family into the mountains, she hadn’t remembered that the Zhou family had an eldest daughter.

“I don’t really know the specifics. She’s quite a bit younger than Dashan. I’ll ask my mother; she should know.” She quickly wiped her hands on her apron and hurried into the cave, with Chen Youtian following close behind.

“You mean Ah Ge?” Mrs. Chen pondered for a moment and said, “She should be two or three years older than our Dashan, so around fifteen or sixteen.”

“Fifteen or sixteen, huh?” Qin Fangniang thought for a moment and realized her son was quite a bit older, by five or six years.

Mrs. Chen, seeing her son and daughter-in-law eagerly inquiring about Zhou’s Ah Ge’s age, could guess what was going on. She smiled and asked Chen Youtian, “Did you see Ah Ge on this trip?”

Chen Youtian smiled and replied, “Yes, we saw her. We’ve been drying our mountain goods at the Zhou’s place every day, and I think the girl is quite nice.”

Mrs. Chen also started to think about it. “Five or six years difference isn’t too much. Zhou Lai’s marriage was delayed; he’s six years older than his wife.”

Brother Zhou, the young woman, was quite good-looking, taking after her mother. Since her mother was in poor health, Brother Zhou had been managing the household affairs for years. If not for their financial situation, she could have been married off at fifteen. But last year was poor, and with few young men available in the neighboring villages, the situation this year had not improved, so the marriage had not yet materialized.

Mrs. Chen, contemplating this, smiled. “It seems fine to me. If there’s no suitable match, that’s one thing. But if there is, why delay it? If things get chaotic for too long, finding a good match will be even harder by the time she’s twenty-five or twenty-six.”

Having experienced turmoil herself, Mrs. Chen knew very well how few young women survived to marry at the right age.

Qin Fangniang, however, had some reservations. “Mother, we can’t just expose ourselves in the valley. Marrying off a daughter-in-law isn’t something we can keep hidden from her. Will the other families have anything to say about it?”

Mrs. Chen glanced at her. “What could they say? The valley is something Dashan and Ah Lie found. Our Dashan is twenty-one now; do we need to ask others for their opinions on getting a daughter-in-law?”

This was similar to when Shen Lie brought back the little Jin brothers. If the family was willing to support the in-laws if the outside world became unsafe, no one would be able to object to taking them in.

Mrs. Chen wasn’t worried about this. When it came to such matters, one had to be firm. If she were too accommodating, people who were unaware might take advantage.

She had another concern, though. “Don’t worry too much about this. If you find someone suitable, that’s one thing. But it’s really up to Dashan to decide if he likes her. You’ve been drying the mountain goods at the Zhou family’s place these days, right? Bring Zhou Laizi along for hunting in the future. The two kids will have plenty of opportunities to meet. If Dashan likes her, we’ll consider it then. If not, it’s just not meant to be. If he does like her, I don’t see why anyone in the valley would object. The only one who might is Aunt Lu, and she can be handled.”

Mrs. Chen wasn’t worried about this at all.

Hearing her mother-in-law’s words, Qin Fangniang felt her burden lift. She suddenly remembered and turned to Chen Youtian, asking, “By the way, does the girl cook well?”

Mrs. Chen suddenly remembered that her eldest grandson hadn’t really thought much about settling down. The only times he had mentioned marriage were in passing, and those were mostly out of envy for the good food Shen Lie had.

Chen Youtian was momentarily stunned. He knew about this, as his wife had mentioned it. He hesitated, recalling the meat soup they had eaten at the Zhou’s place over the past few days. “Well, it’s… just about that?”

Inside the cave, the family of four looked at each other, unsure. Outside, Chen Dashan was holding an empty bucket and wiping his hands with a slightly damp cloth, trying to recall what Zhou’s eldest daughter looked like.

Brother Zhou.

There was quite an age difference. When he left home, she was still a little girl, younger than their current Dashan. He hadn’t paid much attention to her then. Now, after rescuing her and visiting the Zhou family often, he remembered her as a fairly clean and delicate young woman.

But her cooking wasn’t that impressive.

The Zhou family hadn’t had much meat in recent years, and it seemed they didn’t use many seasonings. Salt was brought in a small bamboo tube, just a sprinkle in the cooking. It seemed they didn’t use much salt.

Was it because they were reluctant to use it?

He was lost in thought, contemplating this, when he heard Qin Fangniang calling for someone to start cooking. Chen Dashan quickly headed towards the clean room, only to turn around halfway back, looking as if he had just come out of a bath.

When Shen Lie came out of his bath, he saw Chen Dashan standing at the cave entrance, walking back and forth aimlessly. He wondered what was going on.