After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

As Lin Qianqian walked further in, she felt more and more that this deep mountain was a completely different world from the outside.

The air was damp, carrying the smell of decaying vegetation. The trees were growing ever denser, blocking out only dappled shadows. The ground was soft and yielding, covered with years of decaying leaves.

There wasn't even a footprint; it seems no one has come here.

As she walked, she suddenly stopped—wild vegetables! On a gentle slope ahead, wild mountain vegetables grew densely, lush and green, huddled together, standing out starkly in the dark woods.

Lin Qianqian quickly went up, plucked a stalk, and snapped it off with a flick of her finger; it was so tender it was practically dripping with moisture.

"Not old, still quite tender." She muttered to herself as her hands were already busy. "Is there such a big difference between this deep mountain and the outside world? All the wild vegetables outside have been left to roam freely, and most of them are too old to chew. I spent half a day picking them on the slope outside, and I could barely get a handful."

As she spoke, her hands never stopped, snapping the tender buds with a crisp "snap" sound that was pleasing to the ear.

You can exchange this for a few copper coins in town—even though wild vegetables aren't worth much money, they're still something to eat.

If you can't sell them, find a bright place to dry them in the sun. When you really can't afford to cook, soak them in water and they'll last you a meal.

During the lean season, being able to drink a bowl of wild vegetable porridge is considered a blessing.

This patch of wild vegetables could yield at least dozens of kilograms, yet no one has touched it.

Lin Qianqian wasn't surprised. Just now, when Ah Long mentioned the deep mountains, his expression changed, saying that something was wrong and no one dared to come in.

But she dared. It wasn't that she was particularly brave, but she had no choice—if she didn't come in, would she just starve to death?

Lin Qianqian stopped after pinching off a large bundle.

She can come again tomorrow. If she pinches too much, she won't be able to carry it back. Besides, she wants to explore further and see if there are any other sources of income.

Wild vegetables shouldn't be picked clean in one patch; leave the roots, and they'll sprout again in a few days.

If they harvest too much and can't sell it, wouldn't that just benefit the Lin family?

Remembering the way she came, Lin Qianqian gritted her teeth and walked forward a little further.

The woods grew darker, but then her eyes lit up at the edge of a patch of low bushes—wild berries! Clumps of low bushes were covered with bright red berries, similar to raspberries in later generations, only smaller.

She picked one and popped it into her mouth; the sweet and sour juice exploded on her tongue, carrying the unique fragrance of wild fruit. Lin Qianqian didn't care about anything else, she picked a handful and stuffed them into her mouth, wanting to fill her stomach first.

With food in his belly, a person has courage. After eating, he found a large leaf and carefully picked a whole bagful—to take back to Ah Long; that kid would definitely be happy.

As she was picking berries, a fluttering sound suddenly came from above. A bird flapped its wings and landed in its nest, then flew away a moment later. Lin Qianqian looked up, wondering what kind of bird it was, when a bird egg fell from the sky and landed squarely on the wild berries she was holding, splashing juice all over her face.

"Dead bird!" She was startled, raised her hand to wipe it, thinking it was bird droppings, and angrily cursed, "Pooping and relieving yourself anywhere, how inconsiderate!"

But my hands felt sticky, and when I brought them closer to smell it, I realized it was wild berry juice. Looking down, I saw a white thing rolling out of the crushed wild berries.

Bird eggs.

Lin Qianqian paused for a moment, then grinned. This was good stuff! She put down the wild berries and vegetables, and craned her neck to examine the tree—the trunk wasn't too thick, it was a bit crooked, and the branches grew horizontally, looking like something one could climb. The bird's nest was firmly perched in a branch about three zhang high.

She rolled up her sleeves, spat into her palm, grabbed the tree trunk, and started climbing. After only a couple of climbs, her foot slipped, and she tumbled down with a "whoosh," landing hard on her bottom and wincing in pain. Again! This time she was smarter. She carefully considered her footing, looking for a knot to kick against or a branch to grab onto, before starting to climb again.

This time, she climbed up.