There is a mountain in her arms

After a quick lunch, Jiang Yichen followed his grandfather up the mountain carrying a small basket at his grandmother's repeated instructions.

Jiang Yichen was a little disappointed. The mountains in this era were different from what she had imagined.

Everything is bare. Winter has come. The leaves have withered, turned yellow and fallen off. There is no green at all.

The place was completely empty, with no small animals even coming out to look for food. She wanted to take the rabbit out! How could she take it out?

There is not much firewood at the foot of the mountain, perhaps it has already been chopped down by someone.

Grandpa Jiang walked in and looked back at his granddaughter.

"Grandpa, there's not much firewood here. Just focus on finding firewood! And don't worry about me. I can keep up."

It was a waste of time to keep looking back every few steps. If she hadn't been afraid that he would worry, she would have rushed ahead long ago.

"Okay then! Don't be too far away from me. Call me if you need anything."

Grandpa Jiang saw that her lower body was indeed very stable, and she didn't even breathe heavily after walking with him for such a long time and climbing up to the top, so he couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Got it! I'll be a few steps away from you, just keep an eye on the front."

Grandpa Jiang knew what was going on and took her directly to where he usually collected firewood.

As we walked further in, we could actually see a little green, and there seemed to be more firewood here.

"Right here. Cheng Cheng, you can play around here. I'm going to go chop wood first. If you have any problems, just yell."

"Grandpa, I know. Don't treat me like an ordinary child."

Jiang Yichen rolled her eyes. She was almost getting a rash on her ears from this sweet torture today.

"Oh! You girl!"

Grandpa Jiang saw it and tapped her forehead, but he didn't use any strength.

Seeing that her grandfather was finally not paying attention to her, she slowly began to explore, and even deliberately made some noise from time to time to reassure him.

Even compared to later times when many species have become extinct, the mountains of this era, even if they are rich in resources, are still the same in this winter. She is really obsessed with appearances, it is just a preconceived idea.

Before he knew it, Jiang Yichen's figure disappeared from his grandfather's sight, but he didn't pay attention to the occasional noises.

She just walked a few more steps in the direction with more green, and then she saw the footprints of a hare. She was delighted and started to follow them.

He took the opportunity to find a few stones and as soon as the little thing popped up, he shot at its legs.

One of the hare's legs was injured, so it ran slower. She caught it in no time and tied it up with some dry grass twisted into vines.

Just as I was about to go back, I heard a faint hoarse voice in my ear.

Jiang Yichen thought about it and followed the sound.

"anyone there?"

The sound seemed to come from underground.

"anyone there?"

Perhaps it was because they heard Jiang Yichen's deliberately heavier footsteps, the people underground suddenly became more excited and their voices became louder.

"Where are you?"

"I'm here. There's a very deep hole underground. Be careful."

As he said this, he grabbed a handful of small stones and threw them towards the cave entrance as a warning.

Jiang Yichen looked at the commotion there, picked up a stick, and pushed the road under his feet inch by inch before moving over.

I lay down at the entrance of the cave and looked down. It was pitch black.

"Is this the place? How did you get down there?!"

"Yes, yes, little sister. I accidentally stepped on empty space and fell down. It's very deep down here. Can you ask someone to pull me up?"

The people below originally felt that they had been saved from a desperate situation, but when they saw Jiang Yichen's childish face, they couldn't help but hesitate, and still gritted their teeth and made their request.

He had been down here for a long time, and his voice was almost hoarse and he could not make any sound. And because of hunger and thirst, his lips were dry and white.

"wait!"

Jiang Yicheng picked up the rabbit on one side, put the one in the space together in the basket, and ran quickly towards Grandpa. The hole was too deep, and she didn't have the strength to pull him up.

Chi Yuan in the cave felt like every minute was a year. If no one came, what would happen to his grandfather in the future? People who did not believe in gods and Buddhas could not help but pray secretly.

"Grandpa, this is it."

A heavenly sound reached his eardrums, as if instilling hope in him.

"help me!"

A hemp rope was thrown down, and Chi Yuan felt a little distressed when he saw the walnuts scattered on the ground at his feet.

However, life was more important than walnuts. He was afraid of accidents, so he picked up the empty backpack, grabbed the rope, pulled it, and was pulled up.

"Thank you, Grandpa Jiang, thank you, little sister!"

As soon as he showed up, Chi Yuan recognized Jiang Desheng, and blushed a little when he saw Jiang Yichen who was obviously younger than him.

"Ah! It's Chi, why are you here alone?"

"I came here to find some food for the winter. Grandpa is sick, so I came out alone."

"Oh! It's all because of this world. Are you hurt? Do you want me to take you back first?" Grandpa Jiang sighed, feeling a little helpless.

"No, I'm fine. Grandpa Jiang, I will repay you for saving my life in the future." Chi Yuan was a little embarrassed, and his cracked lips looked even paler. He had nothing now and could only make a blank check.

"Little brother, drink some water!"

Jiang Yichen felt a little pity and handed him the kettle that her grandmother had prepared for her.

Chi Yuan's throat was indeed so dry that it was smoking. He kept shouting every once in a while and had been shouting for most of the day.

He didn't bother to be polite at this moment, he took it and gulped down most of it in one gulp.

He felt a little more alert, and his stomach growled at an inopportune moment. He really wanted to find a hole to crawl into, and his bloodless face turned red in an instant.

"Here's some candy!"

Jiang Yichen held back his laughter and gave him two White Rabbit milk candies. Grandpa Jiang also looked away.

"No, no, this is too precious, eat it yourself!"

"It's okay, I still have some! If you don't replenish your energy, you might not be able to get down the mountain. Then wouldn't it be a waste for us to save you?"

Chi Yuan hesitated, looking at Grandpa Jiang for fear that she would be scolded. He used to eat this kind of precious food, but he hadn't eaten it in the past few years.

"Chizi, take it!"

As Grandpa Jiang spoke, Chi Yuan was willing to take only one. After peeling off the sugar coating and putting it in his mouth, a sweet taste spread. It was the taste in his memory, but it seemed sweeter than in his memory.

"Grandpa Jiang, come with me."

Chi Yuan remembered the empty backpack on his back and led the two to a row of thick walnut trees. It was because of picking these walnuts that he accidentally fell into the pit on his way back.

“So many walnut trees!”

"Grandpa, look, wild persimmons!"

Walnuts, ginger and oranges are not rare. But she heard that wild persimmons in winter are very sweet!

There are five walnut trees and two persimmon trees. Jiang Yicheng wanted to go for a walk, but Chi Yuan stopped him.

"There are only a few of them. If we go any further, we'll be deep in the mountains. It's not safe."

"Yes, Cheng Cheng, please don't do anything reckless, or you'll kill me."

“Bah, bah, bah, don’t talk nonsense, Grandpa, I’m not going now.”

Jiang Yicheng was cautious, saying it was now, not later. Chi Yuan was a little surprised, and just when he was about to say something, he was glared at by her and changed the subject.

"Grandpa Jiang, there are so many walnuts and persimmons. I will only pick enough for Grandpa and I to spend the winter this year. The rest are all yours."

"How can that be possible? This one should weigh about 300 kilograms after peeling and drying, and the persimmons are not damaged at all."

"Grandpa Jiang, that's all I want. You know, we only have so little space there, and we can't store so many things. I have to find a way to hide all this, so I might as well let you have it. If we don't pick it here, it will fall and rot, which is a waste."

Jiang Yichen was moved when he heard this, but he resisted the urge to ask.

"How about this? I'll pick one walnut tree and one persimmon tree. The rest are yours. Listen to me, you can leave your things at my house and come and get them anytime."

Grandpa Jiang was thinking secretly, and Chi Yuan wanted to interrupt him halfway through his thoughts.

"Grandpa Jiang, for people like us, I am already very grateful that you saved my life, how can I harm you by having more contact with you?"

"What's the harm? You've never done anything bad. I'm an educated man and I understand the truth behind this. I can also find a way to help you two use these things to exchange for some winter supplies, right?"

Thinking of his sick grandfather, Grandpa Jiang’s last words touched Chi Yuan’s heart.

"Then I only want the walnuts from two trees, and the rest are yours. This has helped me a lot. My grandfather always said that people should not be too greedy and forget their roots."

The two of them argued for a while, and finally did as Chi Yuan said.

Grandpa Jiang continued to chop wood. Chi Yuan climbed up like a monkey and picked a few persimmons for Jiang Yicheng, and kept a few for himself and put them in the backpack.

Seeing Jiang Yichen eating so happily, I couldn't help but eat two. My stomach, which had been hungry for a whole day, suddenly felt full.

He immediately helped them collect firewood, and soon there were two large bundles.

"You can take this hare back to give your grandfather some nourishment. Isn't he sick?"

Jiang Yichen also returned the favor by bringing a wild rabbit.

"No! I've already taken advantage of you today."

Chi Yuan is only ten years old, and has seen too many human emotions in the past two or three years. I have no way to repay the life-saving grace today, and I have also benefited from them a lot, how can they still ask for more!

"Then consider it as my advance investment. You can repay me when you are able to do so in the future?"

Jiang Yichen had a vague guess in his mind and started joking.

"Take it! I just arrived here not long ago, and you are the first friend I met."

"Friend? You don't know who I am. I'm not worthy."

"People are not divided into high and low, so why are you not worthy? Suffering is temporary, and dawn will always come, as long as you can persevere."

"dawn?"

Chi Yuan seemed a little confused, Jiang Yichen looked to the east and nodded firmly.

"Thank you, my name is Chi Yuan!"

"Jiang Yicheng!"

With Chi Yuan's help, Grandpa Jiang quickly collected the firewood.

Chi Yuan placed the rabbit under the backpack, sprinkled a layer of dead leaves on it, and placed a small bundle of firewood across it so that no one would talk about it.

Jiang Yichen went down the mountain carrying an empty basket because her grandfather had hidden her rabbit in the firewood.

When the three of them were almost at the foot of the mountain, Chi Yuan said goodbye to them and left through another path.

Jiang Yicheng wanted to ask a few questions when he saw a few people carrying firewood appearing in front of him.

"Uncle Desheng, are you going up the mountain to chop wood today as well?"

"Yes, we need to prepare more this year. Haven't you stored enough firewood yet?"

"Haha! That's about it for today. Is this your granddaughter? She's so pretty!"

"Haha! Really!"

"Uncle Desheng..."

Jiang Yichen followed his grandfather obediently all the way, watching him chat with the villagers on his way home.

As soon as they got home, An An was awake. Grandma held him in one hand and pulled Jiang Yicheng up and down with the other hand, looking him up and down, and finally she felt relieved.

"Haha! Grandma, I'm skilled in martial arts, what are you worried about? I even shot two wild rabbits, but I gave one away."

"Oh my goodness, you are so awesome! Even your grandfather is not as good as you. Giving it away? What happened?"

Seeing that Grandpa Jiang was always smiling, Grandma Jiang knew something good was going to happen, so she hurried to ask.

Jiang Yichen took off his coarse cloth coat, took An An from his grandmother's hands and played with him.

"That's a good thing! However, you should stay away from people when you interact with them. After all, people's words are scary. We two old people are not afraid of it. It's for the sake of the children."

"Well, I know what's going on. Tomorrow I will go with Chi to pick the persimmons first. Walnuts can be picked up if they fall on the ground, but it would be a pity if the persimmons fell on the ground."

"I think it's okay. I'll go with you tomorrow, and Chengcheng will stay at home to look after An'an. Chengcheng, is it okay for you to stay at home alone to take care of An'an? Or should I ask my sister-in-law to come and accompany them?"

"Grandma, I can do it. An An can't run away now, I can take care of him."

"You are such a good granddaughter. I will come back to cook for you at noon tomorrow. You should close the door when you are home alone. Don't open it for anyone who comes."

"Please prepare some dry food tomorrow morning. I won't be back at noon. We can transport it down together in the evening."

"That!"

The two of them made the final decision. Jiang Yicheng wanted to say that she would take care of it herself at noon, but it was unconvincing. She secretly thought about finding an opportunity to make it known that she could cook, otherwise her grandparents would have too much trouble.

"Grandma, how about braised rabbit for dinner?"

Jiang Yicheng asked immediately after they finished discussing it. I haven't had any oil or water for the past half month, and I'm almost constipated.

Although I had space, I didn't dare to expose it, and I only dared to secretly eat some fruit to satisfy my hunger. But I always felt uneasy eating alone, and now I finally had the chance.

"Okay, then let's stew half of it today and the other half tomorrow. It can be stored for a long time in such a cold weather."

"yeah!"

We had a delicious meal of braised rabbit meat and stewed radish in the evening. People here prefer spicy food.

I don't know if it's because grandma's cooking is so good or because I haven't eaten meat for a long time, but today Jiang Yicheng ate one more bowl of rice than usual. With his round belly, he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes to rest.

"Are you that greedy? When this busy period is over, I'll ask your grandma to make you some bacon and sausages. That's delicious!"

"bacon?"

Jiang Yicheng sat up instantly. The smoked meat in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan is very famous. Unfortunately, she had never eaten it in her previous life.

"Saliva is falling!"

Jiang Yicheng subconsciously wiped it, but there was nothing! His face instantly turned red, "Grandpa!"

"Hahahaha!"

Grandma Jiang couldn't help but smile secretly, looking at An An who was so happy in her arms, she felt relieved. It would be nice if it could always be like this in the future, at least there was something to look forward to!