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

"Sister," Lin Yulong suddenly turned his head, his eyes shining, "we have a home now."

Lin Qianqian paused for a moment, then followed her brother's gaze to the drafty room with only a tattered straw curtain.

"Yes." She nodded heavily, her voice a little hoarse. "We have a home now."

She went over, unfolded the thin, tattered quilt, and carefully spread it on the straw mat: "Go to sleep. We have to go up the mountain tomorrow. There are still quite a few wild vegetables left. Pick them tomorrow and sell them for some money."

Lin Qianqian lay on the straw mat, staring at the dark roof, the thatch rustling in the night wind.

As long as she worked hard, she could always get by. She thought to herself, and slowly closed her eyes.

I woke up just as dawn was breaking when there was a loud banging on the door.

"Sister Qianqian! Sister Qianqian!"

It's Tiger.

Lin Qianqian yawned as she opened the door: "Tiger, so early..."

"It's getting late!" Ding Xiaohu burst in, waving two wild vegetable pancakes in his hand. "Look, I brought you some pancakes! Eat these so we can head up the mountain!"

Lin Qianqian looked at the two flatbreads—the dough was mixed with bran, so rough it hurt her throat. But she knew it was already pretty good. Back in the Lin family, she and A Long wouldn't even get to share a flatbread like this.

After some polite refusals, Lin Qianqian thanked Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding on behalf of her younger brother, then turned and stuffed the pancake into Lin Yulong's hand.

"I'm not hungry, you eat."

"Sis, if you don't eat something, how will you have the strength to climb the mountain?" Lin Yulong asked, looking up at his face.

"I'm really not hungry." Lin Qianqian turned her face away from him. "Eat it all, don't leave any."

Lin Yulong suddenly became very obedient, and quickly finished off the two pancakes.

The siblings washed their faces with cold water and began searching for their gear to take them into the mountains.

The family was so poor they didn't even have a basket. In the corner lay a rusted machete, its blade chipped in several places, like it had been chewed by a dog, but at least it was still usable.

After rummaging around for a while, they pulled out a tattered burlap sack from a corner. They shook it, and dust flew up; it was barely big enough to hold anything.

"Wait for me!" Ding Xiaohu glanced at him and then ran off again.

A short while later, he came running back, panting, carrying a brand new basket in his arms.

"My mother said this is a new one that my father wrote; it's just sitting there anyway, so you can use it!"

Lin Qianqian took the basket; the bamboo strips were still greenish and woven tightly.

Her nose suddenly felt a little sore.

Other families would weave baskets and sell them for money, but Aunt Ding gave them to her.

She couldn't accept it for nothing. Once she got the money, she had to make up for the cost of the basket with Aunt Ding.

She thought to herself.

Remembering yesterday's route, we crossed a mountain and soon reached the edge of the deep mountains.

Ding Xiaohu asked, "Sister Qianqian, are there really no man-eating monsters?"

Lin Qianqian laughed and said, "Yes, it's as tall as a mountain, and its mouth could swallow our whole village."

"Sister Qianqian, you're kidding me! That's way too exaggerated," Ding Xiaohu said with a laugh.

The group went inside chatting and laughing. Lin Qianqian looked at yesterday's footprints and followed them.

"Wild vegetables? There are so many wild vegetables here!" Ding Xiaohu exclaimed in surprise.

"Let's get to work, then bundle them up." Lin Qianqian said, taking out some strips of cloth from her basket, which were torn from tattered clothes.

The two of them happily pinched and pinched, and soon they had pinched a large handful. They tied it into a bundle with strips of cloth and continued pinching. They pinched a huge pile of this large patch.

Lin Qianqian carefully put them into the tattered bag, and the rest into the basket on her back.

It's already completely full. I don't plan to go any further in today; it's already overflowing.