Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Wang Qing'er looked up and saw Mu Nan driving several white goats down the mountain like white clouds.

Old Man Mu and Mu Xiao each carried a load of sugarcane, following closely behind, each also holding a sheep in their hands.

"Big brother, second brother, father!" Mu Lin called out loudly as he walked up the mountain.

Mu Xiaoxi said happily, "It's Brother Lin."

Old Man Mu scolded, "This child, isn't he afraid even though it's dark?"

The group quickly gathered together. "Wow! My goodness! How did you manage to get so many goats?"

“Mother, we came across a flock of sheep drinking water by the river today, and the three of us pounced on them like tigers and brought back a few.”

"One, two, three... My goodness! There are eight sheep in total. How did you catch so many sheep, big brother?" Mu Lin asked with great curiosity.

"Let's go back first, we're starving," Old Man Mu urged.

"Okay, let's go back first."

Wang Qing'er walked quickly to Mu Nan's side, looking him up and down as if examining a rare treasure. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Brother Mu Nan, you caught so many sheep, are you alright?" Wang Qing'er asked with concern.

Mu Nan: "No, nothing's wrong."

As they spoke, they arrived at the front of the courtyard.

Inside the house, an oil lamp was lit, and Zhou Shi, with her two little girls, waited anxiously at the gate like ants on a hot pan.

When they saw them returning with so many sheep, the three of them were stunned and stood at the door, completely forgetting to let them into the yard, as if they had been frozen in place.

Seeing that the three Zhou women were standing motionless at the gate, Old Man Mu reminded them, "Mother, let us in first."

"Oh, oh, oh! Let's come into the courtyard first." Zhou Shi seemed to wake from a dream and hurriedly welcomed them into the courtyard.

Fortunately, there were several cowsheds and horsesheds in the family before. Later, the cows were sold, and the sheds were empty and cleaned up.

Mu Nan and Mu Xiao drove the sheep directly into the cowshed, brought some straw and spread it on the ground like a soft carpet, so that the goats could lie on it and sleep peacefully at night.

Fortunately, the cowshed was spacious enough that even with eight sheep inside, it didn't feel crowded at all.

After settling Yang'er in, Mu Nan and Mu Xiao returned to the main room, where the dishes had been reheated and arranged on the table like exquisite works of art.

Wang Qing'er served each of them a bowl of pork tripe soup and said softly, "Try it. This soup is made by stewing pork tripe and bamboo shoots together. See if it suits your taste."

"Mmm, so fresh, not a trace of fishy smell!" Old Man Mu took a sip and praised it highly, as if this soup was the most delicious thing in the world.

"Sister-in-law, it's so delicious. Anyone who didn't know better would think it was made with some rare delicacies!" Mu Xiao praised without reservation.

Wang Cuiying said with a smile, "Seafood is much fishier and smellier than offal."

Seeing everyone praising him, but Mu Nan eating quietly like a silent statue without saying a word, Wang Qing'er blinked her big, jewel-like eyes at him, hoping, "Quickly say some nice things to praise me!"

Mu Nan swallowed the rice in her mouth and said calmly, "Mmm, delicious."

"That's it? What a blockhead! Would it kill you to say a few nicer words?" Wang Qing'er could only deflate like a punctured balloon and obediently eat her food.

"Is this stir-fried sweet potato leaves? It tastes just as good as green vegetables. Hey, what kind of dish is this?" After taking a bite of the sweet potato tips, Old Man Mu seemed to have discovered a new continent when he saw the stir-fried toon sprouts with eggs, picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

Wang Cuiying said proudly, "This is toon sprout stir-fried with eggs. Qing'er said this toon sprout stir-fried with eggs is delicious, so we picked it and brought it back."

"Toona sinensis sprouts? You can eat these?" Upon hearing this, Mu Xiao quickly picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. "Mmm! So fragrant! Delicious! I never thought you could eat these. There's a whole patch of them in the wasteland behind here!"

Wang Cuiying said, "They were broken off right there. There were so many in the yard. Didn't you see them when you came back?"

Mu Xiao said while eating, "I really didn't notice. I was so hungry that I was about to faint. I didn't even notice what was in the yard."

Wang Cuiying said, "Your sister-in-law, Muqin, and I spent the whole afternoon picking them in the wasteland."

Mu Xiao said, "If we break off so many pieces at once, won't they spoil before we can finish them?"

Mu Qin interjected, "My sister-in-law said we can dry them and save them for winter."

Mu Xiao then praised Wang Qing'er, "Sister-in-law, you know so much. Our family goes to the mountains every day, but we didn't know there were so many delicious things to eat there. Isn't that a bit silly?"

Mu Lin retorted, "Second Brother, whoever says we're stupid is not stupid at all!"

Mu Qin agreed, "Exactly."

Helpless, Mu Xiao realized he had angered everyone and could only say, "Fine! I'm stupid, you're all super smart! Is that alright?"

"Qing'er said that the large cabbages in the back garden will not be sold anymore, but will be used to make pickled cabbage. How about we pick the sweet potato tips and toon sprouts to sell from now on? Anyway, the sweet potato tips will grow back after we pick them. We can try the toon sprouts. If it doesn't work out, we can eat them ourselves." Zhou said slowly while drinking her soup.

“Alright, this is the time when we’re short of fresh vegetables. These sweet potato tips and toon sprouts are quite good. Manager Li will definitely buy them after he’s tried them,” said Old Man Mu.

Once the vegetable sale was settled, Wang Cuiying wanted to ask about the sheep, so she asked, "By the way, what happened to those sheep? I saw four dead ones in the two baskets."

"There are dead ones too? I didn't see any?" Wang Qing'er asked in confusion.

“Your father and Mu Xiao each carried two.”

"Dad and Mu Xiao are carrying sugarcane and sheep on their backs?" Wang Qing'er couldn't help but think to herself how strong they were! No wonder she hadn't noticed; she had been following Mu Nan around ever since they came back.

Mu Nan said, "We cut a lot of sugarcane today but didn't manage to carry it all back. We'll go carry it back tomorrow, and I reckon the three of us can bring it all back by tomorrow."

"Alright, tell me what's going on with those sheep?" Zhou thought to herself, "We were talking about sheep, how did we end up talking about sugarcane again? Everyone's only interested in the sheep now."

"Grandma, there's a small river on the other side of the sugarcane. I went to pee and saw a flock of sheep drinking water in the river."

It turned out that Mu Xiao discovered the flock of sheep while urinating and secretly told his father and older brother. The three of them thought that no matter what, they could catch at least one sheep!

So the father and his two sons took the ropes used to tie up the sugarcane, made snares, and quietly approached the flock of sheep. Luckily, all three of them managed to snare one sheep, and the rest of the sheep were frightened and scattered and ran away.