Maggie here! Sorry! Was busier than I thought I would be T.T
Edited by Marci

The road back is not too far away, and also having to carry the two bags of mushrooms, that is strenuous work ah.

So Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze still looked for a few yams to dig out.

These were real wild yams, a bit flat and twisted in some places probably because it grew around a piece of rock, making it deformed.
Each were about 2 or 3 fingers wide. The big ones were half an arm long, while the short ones were palm sized neither neat nor too regularly shaped.
However, it doesn’t matter e if they taste really delicious after being roasted.

From the cracks of the yams, a warm aroma spread. Inside them looked as white as snow. When eaten, they were powdery and waxy (kinda like mashed potato), whetting one’s appetite.

This is authentic natural wild food, not to mention Lian Fang Zhou, it also garnered Lian Ze’s never-ending praise as he ate.

Then, the two dug out three or four more yams, cleaned them with water and got some leaves to wrap them to bring back as an ingredient for cooking.

Full and satisfied, they noticed it was almost time to leave. So the two of them decided not to go anywhere and rest to maintain their physical strength. They chose a place without sunshine to sit down and rest.

The autumn afternoon’s rays warmly shone on their bodies. From time to time, an autumn breeze blew by, making the leaves rustle. The two people grew a little tired, and unconsciously drifted to sleep, until they were woken up by Sun Zhang Xing.

They rubbed their eyes as they burst into laughter and greeted Sun Zhang Xing with a few words. They saw Sun Zhang Xing shouldered strings of colorful feathers from a pheasant. There were also two fat hares. The two could not help feel envious. They grinned as they said, “Uncle Sun harvested a lot today ah!”

Who knew that Sun Zhang Xing would give a wry smile, and lightly sighed replying, “Just some small things, not worth much!”

“Those still aren’t worth much! How could that be!” Lian Ze exclaimed with surprise.

Sun Zhang Xing just laughed responding, “Do not worry about it! We’re not near the city from here or else the city’s restaurants will want a lot of them. So, you can only sell these to landlord Zhou, Assistant Minister Zhu, Master Zhao, and other major families. All of them know that no one else will buy these besides them. And when I keep for ourselves, I can’t scratch it (meaning-don’t have the heart to eat them), so the price isn’t high! Unless I hunt mountain otters, gray martens, squirrels, deer and the like, the fur can be worth some money. A large goat or a wild boar, will also be worth even more money! Of course, we often don’t have that kind of luck.”

Sun Zhang Xing looked slightly vexed as he explained, so Lian Fang Zhou knew that he told the truth. He was neither being perfunctory with the two siblings, nor pretending to complain.

Originally, Lian Fang Zhou had also became somewhat confused; having such a large forest is equal to an endless treasure trove. Why is Sun Zhang Xing, who has wandered here to hunt for so many years, still so poor?

Today, she finally understood.

He doesn’t recognise the value of the mountain’s resources. He only knew how to hunt,so it was as if half of the treasure became wasted.

And when hunting just having the tool is not enough, you still need luck and time.

If you do not hit valuable prey, then naturally your harvest will not be worth as much. But most of the large beasts lived deep in the forest, so no matter how good Sun Zhang Xing’s skills were with a bow and arrow, he still did not dare to go further inside alone.

And this forest is so vast and full of countless dangers – especially in the evening, so he could only come in the morning and return home in the afternoon. With just that amount of time, how much opportunity would he have to hunt for valuable things? Many hunters enter the mountains, staying for good few days or even ten days.

No wonder that even when the day has yet to brighten, he has to hurriedly depart to the forest. But this way of fighting for time, in fact only earns an effectiveness that is almost equal to zero.

After thinking for a short period of time, Lian Fang Zhou completely understood the situation.

She could not help but look at Sun Zhang Xing with sympathy.
Sun Zhang Xing just inadvertently glanced over, just happening to meet Lian Fang Zhou’s eyes. He could not help, but freeze for a second, before immediately shifting his eyes away. His heart felt slightly a bit unhappy; what did he do to make a little girl feel sympathetic?He didn’t mingle around that badly, right?