Crossing Over to Yamada Love

"Miss, come and see quickly."

Mo Lan was picking walnuts when she heard Granny Bai calling her. She hurriedly ran over and saw Granny Bai standing in front of a ditch, looking down into it.

Mo Lan peeked out and understood. There was some water in the ditch, and next to the water was a fairly large pine branch. Several pagodas were hanging from the branch. It seemed that Granny Bai had noticed the pagodas by chance and called her over.

Mo Lan handed the bag in her hand to Granny Bai, rolled up her sleeves, and said, "Granny Bai, wait here, I'll go down and pick it up."

Granny Bai grabbed Mo Lan and said urgently, "Miss, no! If anyone should go down, it should be this old servant. How can we let you go down and risk your life?"

Mo Lan chuckled, patted her hand, and said, "Don't worry, I'm used to going down to places like this. I'm experienced. Just wait for me."

After saying that, she went down into the ditch. Actually, Mo Lan was right. People who go down into a ditch for the first time are unsure of themselves and don't know how to put their feet down, so they are prone to slipping. However, Mo Lan often runs in the mountains. There are many such ditches in the mountains, and there are often things in the ditch. It is not Mo Lan's personality to not pick up things when you see them. So Mo Lan often goes down such ditches, and she knows how to put her feet down.

When Mo Lan reached the bottom of the ditch, she picked up a branch and counted it. Wow, there were eight twigs in total! Although they weren't very big, there were a lot of them. Usually, branches like this would only have four or five twigs, but this one had eight. She had really found a good one this time.

“Grandma Bai, you have such sharp eyes! There are eight pagodas on this!” Mo Lan waved a branch at Grandma Bai.

"Miss, please come up quickly," Granny Bai called out anxiously.

Mo Lan took the branch and climbed upwards, finding easy places to put her foot down, step by step. Halfway up, the soil under one of Mo Lan's feet became loose, and she felt her foot slip and about to fall. Mo Lan was not in a hurry. She quickly stuck the pine branch in her hand into the soil, used it to lift her foot, and continued to climb.

Mo Lan made it up safely, but Granny Bai pulled her over and looked her up and down, saying, "Miss, even if there's something in the ditch behind, we shouldn't go. It's too dangerous. You don't know how worried I was. I want to slap myself for letting you go down there. If anything had happened to you, I would have regretted it to death."

Mo Lan laughed and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Even if I go down into the ditch, it won't hurt. The ditch isn't deep. At most, I'll get covered in dirt, and if there's water, my clothes will just get wet and dirty. I can just wash them when I get back."

"Wouldn't that turn you into a mud monkey?" Granny Bai was amused by Mo Lan. She was now quite familiar with Mo Lan and made a joke as well.

"Hehe, that's right. Even if you turn into a mud monkey, which person who goes up the mountain every day hasn't fallen? No one can stay clean." Mo Lan and Granny Bai talked and laughed as they searched for walnuts and tarts.

Mo Lan looked at the bag, which was full of walnuts and taro; she couldn't carry it anymore. She looked up, but couldn't see the sky from the mountains, so she didn't know what time it was, though she guessed it was past lunchtime. "Let's go back," she thought, "if we go back any later, we'll get scolded." She called to Granny Bai, and the two of them tied up the bag and headed down the mountain.

Granny Bai carried the bag of things without much effort. Seeing this, Mo Lan sighed inwardly, thinking that she was indeed skilled in martial arts and had great strength, much stronger than herself. She herself felt heavy even carrying only half a bag.

As soon as the two reached the foot of the mountain, Mo Lan put down the bag, intending to rest for a while and switch hands before going down to find the cart. But before Mo Lan could even catch her breath, she saw two people coming from the west towards them.

Both were men, in their early twenties to early thirties, dressed in coarse cloth clothes, with dark skin, clearly from farming families.

Mo Lan glanced at him but didn't pay much attention. She didn't recognize him; he might be a relative from the village or from a neighboring village, or he might also be someone who had come up the mountain to collect things.

Mo Lan called out to Granny Bai, and the two of them picked up their things again and headed down the mountain.

"Hey, you two, stop."

Granny Bai and Mo Lan were in a hurry to get down the mountain and home, which is why they were walking quickly. They just didn't expect that the two men would call out to them after they had only taken a few steps.

Mo Lan frowned. The other party's tone was impolite, and she didn't want to pay attention to them. She continued walking forward with Granny Bai without stopping.

"I'm calling you! Are you deaf? Stop it now! You want a beating?!"

When the two men saw that the other party ignored them, they shouted again, but this time their words were much harsher.

Mo Lan and Granny Bai both stopped in their tracks. At first, they ignored them because the other party was two men and they were not very polite, so they did not want to cause trouble. But after what the other party said, they became angry.

The two put down the bags and coldly stared at the two who had followed them. Mo Lan asked, "Who do you think you are? Why should we listen to you? And who are you to talk to?"

The two men saw the two stop, but before they could speak, the other man spoke first. One of them, with small eyes, opened his mouth and said, "Hey, you're pretty stubborn, you little wench. So what if I'm your father? You little brat, don't you know this mountain belongs to our Eighth Uncle? Who gave you permission to come up here to pick up things? You've got some nerve! Everything on this mountain belongs to our uncle, and nobody can take it. You two hurry up and give me your stuff."

As soon as the small-eyed man finished speaking, the other man nodded in agreement and then came up to snatch their bags.

Mo Lan refused to comply. They had painstakingly collected the items, and of course they wouldn't let them take them away. However, she was puzzled. When did this mountain become the property of their so-called Eighth Master? She had only been gone for about two months; how could the mountain have become the owner? Wasn't it bought and given to her by Xue Lingfeng? What was going on?

Although Granny Bai didn't quite understand either, she didn't care about anything else, as long as her young lady wasn't bullied. She knew kung fu, and although she wasn't very skilled, she could handle ordinary people without much trouble. How could she let their dirty hands touch her young lady? A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she grabbed the arm of the person who came up to her with force and twisted it hard. The other person cried out in pain.

Seeing that his companion had been wronged, another person rushed forward to help. With a forceful push, Granny Bai pushed the man she was holding away, then kicked the man who had come to help to the ground.

Both of them fell to the ground, groaning in pain, their faces pale. This old woman was very strong and seemed a bit difficult to deal with, but they dared not disobey the orders given by Eighth Master. Otherwise, they would be in big trouble.

The two men, cursing and swearing, charged forward again. Mo Lan realized this wasn't working. There was no one down the mountain, and dawdling with them would only waste time. She took out a dagger with a notch from her clothes and handed it to Granny Bai. Granny Bai took it without a word, drew the dagger, and charged at the two men.

Seeing the situation was turning against them, the two hurriedly retreated, cursing, "You crazy old woman, you brat, don't be so arrogant! Going against Eighth Master will only bring you trouble. You're from Liu Village, right? We'll tell your clan leader right now and let him deal with you. Let's see if you're still so arrogant then! I have things to do now, I'm not going to play with you, you mindless crazy old woman."

After cursing, the two men ran away. They were responsible for patrolling the mountain and were the lowest-ranking people. Daggers have no eyes; if one were to stab them, it would be no joke. They couldn't let that happen. They would go back to find Master Ba and ask him to take care of things.

Seeing that the two people who had blocked their way had run away, Granny Bai put away the dagger and returned it to Mo Lan. Afterwards, the two went to find a small cart, put their things on the cart, and headed back, but their mood hadn't improved since they arrived.

"Miss, this mountain has been bought? Does that mean we can't go up the mountain to pick things anymore?" Granny Bai asked Mo Lan with a puzzled look as she pushed the cart.

Mo Lan nodded and said, "The mountain has indeed been bought." She saw the old woman's eyes darken and continued, "However, the person who bought the mountain is the young master of the Xue family, but my name is on the contract."

Granny Bai was stunned after hearing this and almost let go of the cart. Mo Lan quickly steadied it, preventing it from tipping over. Granny Bai then quickly straightened the cart and asked in confusion, "According to what you're saying, Miss, Young Master Xue bought the mountain as a dowry for you. Young Master Xue is truly good to you. But since the mountain is under your name, what was going on with those two just now?"

Mo Lan shrugged at Granny Bai, indicating that she didn't understand either. She was genuinely puzzled; she hadn't heard of such a thing before she left, so it must have happened after she left.

She thought for a moment before saying, "If I'm not mistaken, there are greedy people who want to take everything from the mountains for themselves. Didn't they mention our village chief just now? They wouldn't have brought it up for no reason; there must be something going on. We'll find out when we get back."

Granny Bai nodded, agreeing with what her young lady said. The two stopped speculating and quickened their pace toward the Mo family.

Upon arriving at the Mo family's residence, they pushed the cart into the backyard. Qiu was peeking out from the kitchen doorway. Seeing the two return, she hurriedly went forward to take the cart, looked at it, and said with a smile, "I must say, you've collected quite a lot. My daughter is so capable. Go wash your hands and eat; the food is warming up on the stove."

Mo Lan smiled at her, indicating that she liked Qiu's praise, before going inside to change her clothes, wash up, and then go to eat.

Qiu and Aunt Bao poured the walnuts and pine cones from the bag into the yard to dry in the sun. They were drying out before they started peeling them.

Mo Lan and Granny Bai were really hungry, so they ate heartily without immediately asking about being stopped on the road. They decided to finish eating first.

Mo Lan shoveled the small tofu into her mouth. Seeing that Granny Bai didn't seem to know how to eat it, she quickly added some sauce to the tofu and mixed it in, then told Granny Bai to eat it with a spoon.

Grandma Bai followed Mo Lan's example and started eating it in big bites. To her surprise, it tasted really good. The bean flavor was distinct, a bit salty but quite fragrant, and it was very tasty to chew. Small bites weren't enough; you had to chew it in big bites to enjoy it. And the more you ate, the more you wanted to eat. She immediately fell in love with the taste of the tofu.