Chapter 3: Selling Wild Vegetables
There had been plenty of wild vegetables recently. Ying Kongtu took advantage of the time he spent gathering them in the mountains to inspect all four mountains once over. After confirming the areas that needed work, he hired people to build retaining slope walls.
The condition of the four mountains was still passable. There were only two sections that required retaining walls.
If he were still the mountain god at his peak, he could have planted trees directly to secure the soil while also improving the condition of the mountain forest.
Now, however, his divine power had declined severely. If he relied only on planting trees to hold the soil, the trees would not be able to secure it firmly enough, and the risk of landslides would remain quite high. Building retaining slope walls directly would be much better.
Later, once his divine power recovered and the trees he planted improved the situation here, he could consider removing the retaining walls.
The small engineering team Ying Kongtu hired had been introduced by Xing Chang.
The team charged reasonable rates and worked very carefully. Ying Kongtu basically did not need to supervise them much, which saved him a great deal of energy.
Since Ying Kongtu had awakened, Xing Chang had helped him with many things.
Ying Kongtu rather liked this young man.
That day, after coming down from the mountain, Ying Kongtu took a detour to Xing Chang’s home.
Ying Kongtu rarely visited Xing Chang’s house. When Xing Chang opened the courtyard gate and saw that it was him, he was startled. “Kongtu? Why are you here?”
“The wild vegetables on the mountain are fresh and tender right now, so I brought you some.”
Ying Kongtu took the wild vegetables out of his back basket. Inside were bundles of neatly tied wild vegetables, looking especially pleasing.
Xing Chang craned his neck to look and could not help saying, “You’re being far too polite. Assisting you is part of my job. The state pays my salary. You don’t need to thank me.”
“Didn’t you say we were friends? There are many wild vegetables in the mountains. I eat them myself too, so I picked some along the way for you to try.”
“That’s still too much. Ah, Chinese toon, fiddleheads, aralia shoots—aralia shoots are coming out already?”
“They’ve only just sprouted. There aren’t too many yet.”
Xing Chang picked up a bundle of aralia shoots and held it under his nose to smell. A craving expression appeared on his face.
Xing Chang’s family had lived here for generations, and every year, they had the habit of eating wild vegetables.
Fragrant fried dishes, omelets, cold salads, stir-fries with cured pork… every dish was one of Xing Chang’s favorites.
Thinking of this, Xing Chang could not help asking, “These aralia shoots are so tender, and they’re fragrant too. They’re from high up in the mountains, right?”
“Yes. Aralia shoots from high mountains have a stronger aroma.”
“Are there many wild vegetables in the mountains?”
“Not bad. It just rained, so quite a few wild vegetables have sprouted.” Ying Kongtu sensed that there was something behind his words and asked, “What, do you want to go up the mountain to pick some? I’ll take you.”
Xing Chang waved his hands repeatedly. “Forget picking wild vegetables. I used to go up the mountain with my mom to pick wild vegetables, and I always fell. I wanted to ask whether you’d like to pick some wild vegetables to sell.”
Ying Kongtu raised his eyes to look at him.
Xing Chang smiled. “Didn’t you just hire an engineering team? I’m guessing you don’t have much money left. Selling some wild vegetables and earning a little extra income seems pretty good.”
Ying Kongtu said, “Selling wild vegetables?”
Xing Chang nodded. “People around here really like eating wild vegetables. Fresh wild vegetables have always been easy to sell. If you set up a stall, they’ll sell out. If you find it troublesome, you can send them to wild vegetable vendors, and they’d be willing to buy them too.”
Ying Kongtu said, “Actually, I sold some a couple of days ago.”
This time, it was Xing Chang’s turn to be surprised. “You sold wild vegetables?”
Ying Kongtu nodded. “A few days ago, I picked some fiddleheads and came down the mountain. On the way, people bought some of them. I just hadn’t thought about selling them on a larger scale.”
“How did they sell?” Xing Chang held the aralia shoots. “Wild vegetables this plump and tender should be snatched up the moment you put them out, right?”
“They sold very well. They were gone in no time.”
“Then why don’t you try selling a little more? It would give you another source of income.”
Holding the wild vegetables, Xing Chang added, “If you’re too embarrassed to set up a stall, I can find a wild vegetable vendor to come collect them later.”
Ying Kongtu shook his head. “I’ll first see how many wild vegetables there are on the mountain.”
Ying Kongtu had never considered selling wild vegetables before. Now that Xing Chang had mentioned it, he thought about it and really did feel somewhat tempted.
He was far too familiar with the nearby mountain forests. He knew exactly what grew where.
In this season, if he wanted to pick wild vegetables to sell, he really could gather quite a lot.
After selling them, he could use the money to buy a batch of seeds, saplings, and the like to tend the mountain forest.
Early that morning, Ying Kongtu went up the mountain to pick wild vegetables, intending to test the waters.
It was his first time selling wild vegetables properly, so he did not pick too many—just one large basketful.
Not wanting to trouble Xing Chang, after coming down the mountain, he went straight to the town market and found a patch of ground outside the vegetable market, intending to set up a stall.
Changchuan County was not small, and villagers from the areas below would also come into town to buy things.
On the street where vegetables were sold, even though it was already past ten in the morning, the stalls were still densely packed.
Ying Kongtu walked from one end of the street to the other and still could not find a suitable empty spot.
In the end, an elderly woman selling vegetable seedlings called him over and squeezed out a patch of space for him.
This was Ying Kongtu’s first time properly selling wild vegetables. He spread a piece of waterproof cloth on the ground, intending to arrange the wild vegetables on it before selling them.
The waterproof cloth had just been spread out, and before Ying Kongtu had time to finish arranging the wild vegetables, an auntie crouched down to look at the fiddleheads. “Young man, it’s you! How much are the fiddleheads today?”
“Thirty per jin.” Ying Kongtu continued arranging the wild vegetables while giving the prices. “The aralia shoots here are also thirty per jin, and the Chinese toon is sixty per jin.”
Immediately, another auntie gathered over. “Your fiddleheads have dropped in price?”
She sounded like a returning customer. Ying Kongtu raised his head and explained, “The previous ones were the first and tenderest batch of ostrich ferns, so the price was a little higher.”
As soon as Ying Kongtu said this, the people nearby gathered around to testify for him.
“That’s true. I’ve never eaten such delicious fiddleheads in my life.”
“There are some on the back mountain in my hometown too, but they’re not as tasty as the ones you picked.”
“Hey, young man, give me a bag. I’ll buy some more.”
“What kind of fern is this? Why is it so much more expensive than the ones in the supermarket?”
“Cucumber-scented fern. A very delicious kind of fiddlehead, fragrant and tender, without much bitterness.”
“Come on, forget the supermarket. Just up ahead, at the entrance of the street, there are people selling fiddleheads too, one yuan per bundle. Cheap is cheap, but what’s the use if they don’t taste good?”
The warm-hearted aunties answered one another, not even giving Ying Kongtu a chance to speak.
As they answered, they pinched off the tender shoots of the wild vegetables to taste them. Ying Kongtu did not mind.
“Give me one jin of aralia shoots. These aralia shoots are fragrant. Give me one jin of Chinese toon too.”
“Chinese toon is light on the scale. One jin makes a huge bag. Sister Qin, you’re buying that much?”
“His Chinese toon is wild. It’s fragrant. I’ll take it home later, blanch it with a little oil, then freeze it and eat it slowly.”
“If you put it that way, I’ll take one jin too.”
In a small county town, many people knew one another. You called to me, I called to you, and everyone helped pick and weigh the vegetables. Before long, they had bought out Ying Kongtu’s wild vegetables.
Ying Kongtu himself barely had a chance to help.
Just like last time, whenever someone bought wild vegetables, he gave them a little extra.
Ying Kongtu had only started setting up the stall around ten, and by a little past eleven, all the vegetables on the stall were sold out.
Today’s wild vegetables sold well. Counting cash and mobile payments, he received a total of one thousand and seventy yuan.
The money seemed easy to earn, but in reality, it was only because he was a mountain god that he could find so many wild vegetables on the mountain in just one morning.
For anyone else, not only would they be unable to find that many wild vegetables, but just carrying several dozen jin of goods up and down, climbing more than five hundred meters in elevation, would probably exhaust them so much they could not even stand, let alone come out to sell vegetables.
Even Ying Kongtu, as a mountain god, was tired after working all morning.
He gathered the waterproof cloth from the ground, folded it neatly, and placed it into his back basket. Then he took out three bundles of wild vegetables he had saved in the basket and gave them to the elderly woman who had made space for his stall.
The elderly woman could not refuse him and had no choice but to accept, repeatedly thanking him. “These wild vegetables are so expensive, and you’re still giving them to me.”
“They were picked from the mountain. They didn’t cost anything. Try them.”
“Ah, then thank you. I really haven’t eaten aralia shoots in several years. My legs aren’t convenient anymore. They hurt whenever I climb mountains. Even if I know where there are aralia shoots, I can’t pick them.”
After muttering this, the elderly woman said again, “Young man, do you want vegetable seedlings? I’m about to close up and go home too. I’ll give these seedlings to you, so I don’t have to carry them back.”
Simple, honest people were like this. They were unwilling to accept kindness from others for nothing.
Seeing that she seemed a little uneasy, Ying Kongtu finally accepted her vegetable seedlings and thanked her.
Only then did the elderly woman let out a breath of relief and say with a smile, “They’re all local seedlings. I saved the seeds myself. The vegetables they grow are very tasty.”
After thanking her, Ying Kongtu carried the vegetable seedlings on his back and headed home.
His home was located halfway up the mountain and could be counted among the highest households in the entire small town.
He followed the road home. When he was climbing the slope, he suddenly sensed the existence of a believer in his heart.
That was a unique perception belonging to a mountain god.
After sleeping for so many years, this was the first time he had felt such a sensation since waking up.
He stopped and looked to the side.
After looking for quite a while, he finally noticed a flash of orange on the mountain by the road.
It looked like the orange tabby that had registered its household with him.
“Little cat?” Ying Kongtu bent down and looked up the mountain.
There was no movement among the trees, nor any meowing.
Ying Kongtu could sense that the orange tabby was indeed there. It was simply ignoring people.
He set his back basket by the roadside and slipped into the dense forest to look.
Sure enough, very soon, he found the orange tabby wearing a collar.
When it saw Ying Kongtu, the orange tabby wanted to run.
Ying Kongtu was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He grabbed its collar and held it down.
“Meow!” The orange tabby could not struggle free and crouched on the ground. Its pair of orange-yellow eyes looked at Ying Kongtu, its ears pressed backward, making it seem a little frightened.
Ying Kongtu gently stroked its back. “Don’t be afraid.”
As the orange tabby was stroked, it slowly relaxed.
This long-haired orange tabby’s fur was unexpectedly smooth, and its body was very clean. It looked as if its owner took very good care of it.
It had run out on its own.
Ying Kongtu looked at the collar.
On the collar was the orange tabby’s name, as well as the contact information of its owner, Wen Zhongshan.
“Your name is Dart?” Ying Kongtu stroked the cat again. His hand moved back as he tried to touch the orange tabby’s balls.
The orange tabby widened its eyes, used its hind paw to push Ying Kongtu’s hand away, and opened its mouth to hiss.
“All right, I won’t touch.” A smile appeared in Ying Kongtu’s eyes. Even without touching, he had seen that the balls had shriveled. “You’re not in heat, so why are you always running outside?”
The orange tabby said, “Meow!”
Ying Kongtu smoothed the fur of this majestic big orange-and-white cat. After it became familiar with Ying Kongtu’s scent, it gradually quieted down and even took the initiative to rub against Ying Kongtu’s palm.
Ying Kongtu scratched the orange tabby’s chin, looked at it, and asked with a smile, “You also need to come out and make friends and see the world, don’t you?”
The orange tabby said, “Meow.”
Ying Kongtu took a photo of the orange tabby and sent it to Wen Zhongshan using the contact information on the collar, telling him that the cat was with him. Then he picked up the orange tabby and scratched its chin. “Come home with me first?”
The orange tabby nestled obediently in the crook of his arm without making a sound.
The smile on Ying Kongtu’s face deepened. “Let’s go.”
