Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

Someone in the village had raised a rooster, and Zhao Lian woke up early in the morning when she heard it crowing.

She turned to look out the window; it was still dark. Zhao Lian got up to use the restroom. Since transmigrating here, she rarely got up in the middle of the night.

Unlike in my previous life, I didn't sleep well and would wake up three or four times a night.

Thinking about how great it is to be young, this body can sleep quite a lot. Basically, it's not long after dark, I'll practice my kung fu for a while and then go to bed. When I wake up, it's already broad daylight.

I am full of energy and vitality every day.

However, Zhao Lian couldn't fall back asleep after getting up. Since she couldn't sleep, she decided to get up and practice her martial arts.

Now, Zhao Lian's skills are much better than when she first transmigrated; she can use any move. Moreover, she has become more and more proficient with practice, and can now execute moves quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly.

Moreover, as her training progressed, she felt her strength increase significantly, and she was even able to break a stick five or six centimeters thick with her bare hands, which greatly surprised her.

At this moment, Zhao Lian remembered that comic book again, in which the figures were drawn in all sorts of moves.

Zhao Lian had a sudden inspiration and took out the comic book to study it carefully.

There were some pictures next to the comic book, and some text, all in traditional Chinese characters. After careful study, she vaguely recognized some of the characters.

This is not an ordinary comic book; it seems to be a kung fu manual. The first half is about internal energy cultivation, and the second half is a breakdown of various moves, which is kung fu.

This discovery greatly surprised Zhao Lian. She never imagined that such a secret would be buried under an old house in a place like Datian Village, and that she would find a handwritten copy of a kung fu manual.

It seems the owner of this house was no ordinary person, but unfortunately his descendants were incompetent, and the family declined just like that.

Zhao Lian started practicing the internal energy cultivation techniques from the handwritten book, and it took her a long time to learn just the technique of focusing her energy in her dantian.

As someone who practices martial arts, she grasped the concepts quickly, and Zhao Lian gradually began to understand some of the key points. However, it was almost dawn by then.

Zhao Lian quickly hid the handwritten copy under the bed. She had to go up the mountain before dawn. The villagers had been going up the mountain these past few days, and after the rain, the mushrooms would definitely sprout one after another.

Zhao Lian lit a fire to steam the buns, then washed up and ate breakfast. She prepared all the tools: a basket, a machete, and a kettle of water.

During the two rainy days, she sewed two cloth bags, intending to put any snakes she caught inside.

The design is modeled after Yang the Hunter's cloth bag, only larger.

Before leaving, Zhao Lian took the food rations for Zhao Feng and the others and placed them under the phoenix tree when no one was around.

It's just getting light. It rained a few days ago, and there's been fog every morning for the past few days. Today the fog is even thicker, and the visibility is probably only about 50 meters.

Dewdrops clung to the grass, and before long, Zhaolian's trousers and shoes were soaked with dew.

It's already July, but the morning fog prevents it from being too hot and humid. The sky is starting to brighten, and the sun is coming out.

The dew was so heavy that Zhaolian tried to walk to a place where the grass was shorter and went under the trees.

The area under this tree is full of withered branches and fallen leaves, which provide excellent nutrition and make it a great place for fungi to grow. Every now and then, you can find a few fungi sprouting up early in the morning.

They say the early bird catches the worm. Under a tree, Zhaolian found quite a few termite mushrooms, which had just sprouted and were plump with cap-like shapes. Zhaolian picked them and tossed them into her basket.

Then, to her surprise, she discovered bamboo fungus, which was more than ten centimeters long.

With her plump, white body, black umbrella top, and a white wedding shawl draped around her, she looked just like a bride in a wedding dress—absolutely gorgeous.

Unexpectedly, these bamboo talismans were quite large, each about three or four centimeters in diameter. Zhao Lian carefully pulled them apart; one had to be gentle when pulling these things.

If it's accidentally torn, it won't look good and won't fetch a good price.

It's unbelievable that this place was completely bare a while ago, but after a rain, so many wild mushrooms have sprouted up one after another, making Zhao Lian marvel at the wonders of nature.

As the sun rose higher, the fog began to thin, and Zhaolian started to see several people coming up from the foot of the mountain.

As they drew closer, Zhao Lian realized that the one in front was Aunt Liang, and the one in the middle was Niu Shi, the eldest daughter-in-law of her neighbor, Granny Liu.

The three people behind are Madam Mei, her son He Jinliang, and her daughter He Donghua.

As they drew closer, Zhao Lian overheard their conversation: "This is a great time to pick mushrooms. The market is tomorrow, so let's pick another batch today and sell them for a good price."

"Hey, Aunt Liang, didn't you pick a lot a few days ago? Have you dried them yet? Dried ones are worth a lot of money!" Niu said with a tone full of envy.

"I dried it all day today, I reckon it weighs about two pounds!" Aunt Liang boasted.

"Chunlan brought two kids up today, we're no match for her," Aunt Liang joked.

"Look at what you're saying, this mountain is so big, how can we possibly pick all the mushrooms?" Mei said this, but she was also happy. Bringing two more people would surely allow them to pick more mushrooms.

"Hey, Mother, we need to hurry up before anyone else comes up!" a hoarse voice rang out. It was He Donghua, the eldest daughter of Madam Mei.

He Donghua is 12 years old, quite tall, and considered relatively fair-skinned in the countryside.

She looks like her mother and is quite pretty, but like her mother, she is cunning and has a bad temper. She also has a flaw: her voice is not pleasant.

Girls' voices are usually quite clear and crisp, but hers was a bit hoarse, like a duck's quack.

He Donghua usually looks down on people and has almost no contact with Zhao Lian and the others. She usually ignores Zhao Lian and the others when she sees them and won't even respond if you call her "cousin".

He Jinliang is 10 years old this year. He is also quite domineering. In the village, he always bullies children of the same age and younger than him. Most children are willing to play with him.

However, they were birds of a feather, and usually He Dong and He Yue'e could hang out with him.

"Hey, Chunlan, Donghua from your family is right. We need to hurry up and pick more mushrooms before the others come up," Aunt Liang said, quickening her pace.

A few days ago, she came up early and picked some mushrooms. She thought she would also get up early today, but she happened to run into Niu and Mei, a mother and her two daughters, at the foot of the mountain.

Knowing they had arrived, Zhao Lian quickened her pace, her hands moving swiftly as she picked the mushrooms. However, picking bamboo fungus had to be slow, otherwise it would affect its appearance.

However, it was expensive, so she picked out the easy-to-pluck ones first, and then slowly started to pull up the bamboo fungus.

Because Zhao Lian was squatting and small in stature, it was difficult for people at the foot of the mountain to spot her.

As the fog slowly dissipated, they drew closer and closer, and at that moment, the sharp-eyed He Donghua spotted Zhao Lian.

I thought no one would come up, but it turns out someone else came up before them.