Mountain God’s Forest Farm – CH61

Chapter 61: Family Day

Finding a cat to watch a stall was unreliable after all.

Ying Kongtu stopped letting Dart watch the stall, lest it sleep too soundly there and catch a cold.

However, in the face of Jingwei’s enthusiasm for finding wild vegetables, Ying Kongtu did not want to discourage it either.

Ying Kongtu moved over a small stool and had Jingwei sit in front of him, then discussed it seriously. “Jingwei, the wild vegetables on the mountain have only just come out. It’s not good to pick them every day. Why don’t we make a deal and harvest them once every few days?”

Jingwei looked at Ying Kongtu with its round eyes and gently opened its wolf mouth. “Awooo.”

Ying Kongtu reached out and rubbed the thick fluff on its head. “Then we’ll sell them once a week. We’ll set up the stall every Friday afternoon. In the morning, we’ll go up the mountain together to pick wild vegetables. How about that?”

Jingwei tilted its head and thought. After thinking for a while, it finally understood. Its eyes lit up, and it stretched out its right front paw to paw at Ying Kongtu. “Awo, awooo!”

Seeing how adorable it was, Ying Kongtu stroked the fur around its neck again. “Then it’s settled.”

The next day happened to be Friday.

Ying Kongtu called Wen Zhongshan along and gathered the furry ones at home to go up the mountain.

The furry ones at home loved joining in the fun, especially this kind of family group activity.

The moment they heard that they could go up the mountain, every one of them became so excited their paws could hardly be held down. Even Tiaozhu paced back and forth at home.

Ying Kongtu had originally only carried one back basket. Seeing this scene, he added another basket and stuffed it into the big basket.

Wen Zhongshan moved closer to Ying Kongtu and whispered, “Isn’t that a little exaggerated? Do we need to bring that many containers?”

“Then you’re underestimating their gathering ability.”

Ying Kongtu also lowered his voice. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He simply found another basket and stuffed it into Wen Zhongshan’s back basket too. “You should carry an extra one as well.”

Wen Zhongshan laughed. “I’ll carry it.”

“Meow-aooo—” Tiaozhu had grown impatient waiting outside. It stood in the courtyard and looked toward them in the living room, opening its mouth to urge them on.

“Coming!” Ying Kongtu stuffed two bottles of water into the back basket and hurriedly answered.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao could go up the mountain through the shrine.

Dart and Jingwei could only be brought up by Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan on foot.

Ying Kongtu watched Tiaozhu vanish into the shrine, then drove out the little farm tricycle. He opened the tailgate of the rear bed and patted it, signaling Dart and Jingwei to get on.

The Ural owl, still recuperating at their home, watched as all its companions disappeared. It tilted its head and looked at them, and no one knew what it was thinking with those clear, round eyes.

Seeing it like that, Ying Kongtu simply scooped it up and placed it in the back basket. “You can come with us too.”

The Ural owl’s illness had mostly recovered. If it flew away during this outing, that would count as a natural release.

If it did not fly away, there was nothing wrong with bringing it out either.

Soon, Dart and Jingwei were both sitting obediently in the back of the farm tricycle.

Jingwei had grown a little more, becoming a spirited wolf. It no longer had that awkward-stage look of fur neither long nor short, nor that slightly uncoordinated body.

Ying Kongtu placed the back basket into the rear bed. When he closed the tailgate, he pushed its rump and reminded it to pull its tail in. “Be careful. Don’t let your tail get caught.”

Jingwei moved its tail and indeed tucked it in a little, turning its head to look Ying Kongtu levelly in the face. “Awooo.”

“So good.” Ying Kongtu patted its furry backside again.

Wen Zhongshan also came over and patted its furry backside, thoroughly satisfying his urge before sitting in the passenger seat.

“All right, let’s go—” Ying Kongtu twisted the throttle. “The first wild vegetable gathering family day begins!”

“Meow-aooo!”

“Awooo!”

“Wuwah!”

The last sound came from the Ural owl. Hearing its slightly milky cry, Ying Kongtu laughed again.

They still started gathering from Wuchuan Mountain.

When they reached Wuchuan Mountain, Tiaozhu and Xian Niao were already waiting there.

Ying Kongtu made a “sit” gesture, signaling the furry ones to sit down. He and Wen Zhongshan stood at the side and gave instructions.

“For this wild vegetable gathering, we’ll only pick the best parts. When picking, pay attention and leave some behind for the wild vegetables. Don’t pick them all clean. Otherwise, they won’t be able to grow back.”

“Meow-aooo!”

“Awooo!”

“Meow!”

“Wuwah!”

The furry ones sitting in a semicircle made sounds one after another. Each one responded, but whether they understood what Ying Kongtu meant, only they themselves knew.

Ying Kongtu waved his hand. “Begin.”

Ying Kongtu specially assigned baskets to Xian Niao and Jingwei so they could carry them in their mouths. That way, if they picked wild vegetables along the way, they would have somewhere to put them.

They were already very skilled at carrying things now and would absolutely not lose the baskets.

In the end, Tiaozhu and Jingwei formed one group, while Xian Niao took Dart and the Ural owl. The furry ones each chose a direction and went off to gather wild vegetables.

Ying Kongtu watched them leave, then tugged Wen Zhongshan along. “Let’s go look for wild vegetables too.”

Wen Zhongshan looked at the direction he was heading. “Are we picking on this mountain?”

Ying Kongtu smiled. “The wild vegetables on this mountain may not be of the best quality. We’ll have to go a little higher up to pick them. Let’s go check on the bees first.”

Wild vegetables from higher mountains were still a little tastier.

There were wild vegetables on Wuchuan Mountain too, but by Ying Kongtu’s standards, those wild vegetables were not very qualified.

Compared to wild vegetables, Ying Kongtu was more concerned about the bees they had gone to so much trouble to hunt down. Almost every time he went up the mountain, he would make an extra detour to check on them, only feeling reassured after confirming that the bees were fine.

When they went to check today, the bees had adapted very well too. Even with the late spring chill, they still flew in and out full of energy.

Ying Kongtu looked carefully and could see pollen clinging to their bodies.

Pollen was also an important food for them. They were carrying pollen back to the hive to share with their companions.

Ying Kongtu observed them for a while, then touched the rainproof cloth on top of the hive. “Looks like there’s no problem, and no predators either. Let’s go.”

Wen Zhongshan asked, “Are we heading toward Ai Mountain now?”

“Yes. We need to pick up the pace, or Tiaozhu and the others will leave us behind.”

Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan were much stronger than Tiaozhu and the others, and their endurance was better too.

As they climbed, they did not find many good aralia buds or Chinese toon shoots, but they did see some nice shepherd’s purse, dandelions, water celery, and Cardamine tangutorum.

“Do you remember when you went up the mountain last year to gather these wild vegetables?” Ying Kongtu picked a small handful of water celery and smiled at Wen Zhongshan.

“Of course I remember.” Wen Zhongshan could now identify wild vegetables very skillfully and no longer picked poisonous hemlock by mistake. “I didn’t expect them to grow so early.”

“They only grow early in certain sunny, relatively warm places.” Ying Kongtu corrected him, then held the water celery he had picked under his nose and smelled it. “So fragrant.”

Wen Zhongshan smelled it too. “Shall we take it back and stir-fry it with cured pork?”

“Let’s stir-fry it with beef. This kind of water celery is also delicious with beef. Grab some pickled chili and stir-fry it with tender shredded beef. Then when you pick it up with chopsticks, you catch the celery, beef, and pickled chili all at once. It’s very fragrant.”

Wen Zhongshan’s Adam’s apple moved. “Should we call ahead and ask them to reserve some beef?”

Ying Kongtu smiled. “You call. Ask them to save us a good piece of chuck flap.”

They picked wild vegetables while walking. Soon, Ying Kongtu noticed that deer-ear chives had grown a little too.

These deer-ear chives were still very small and tender, and there were only a few of them.

Picking them on a large scale to sell was definitely not possible, but gathering a little for themselves and making a small portion of deer-ear chive pickles was just right for this level of tenderness.

The mountain forest was like a huge treasure trove.

Ying Kongtu led Wen Zhongshan toward places where treasures might be hidden. Whenever they went somewhere, they gained more or less something.

They also found wild shiitake mushrooms and wood ears on the mountain.

Perhaps because the mountain’s ecosystem had improved, Ying Kongtu had not completely cleared away some of the fallen trees from last year, but had left them for birds, beasts, insects, and various microorganisms.

This year, the mountain forest, which had entered a positive cycle, gave Ying Kongtu an initial display of his management results. That was why they had so many harvests when they went up the mountain.

“Awooo—” A wolf howl came from far away.

Ying Kongtu listened for a moment and said, “That’s Xian Niao’s voice. It’s calling us down.”

Wen Zhongshan looked at the sun overhead. The sun was already almost at the center of the sky.

He took out his phone to check the time. Sure enough, it was already past eleven forty in the morning.

Ying Kongtu leaned over and glanced at the time too, then smiled and commented, “Parent Xian Niao.”

“It’s worked hard worrying about us,” Wen Zhongshan said.

Ying Kongtu replied, “Exactly. Come on, let’s go down and cook.”

They had gathered wild vegetables all morning, and everyone was hungry. Ying Kongtu had specially bought several kinds of meat.

The furry ones at home were all carnivores. They might not be able to eat every kind of wild vegetable, but they accepted all meat without question.

At noon, the two of them worked together and made a whole table of dishes.

The furry ones’ food bowls also had all kinds of meat slices, meat strips, and meatballs. Everyone ate to great satisfaction.

After lunch, the whole family went to take an afternoon nap. They slept until past three in the afternoon. When it was almost time to set up the stall, Xian Niao went around waking everyone one by one.

Today, Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan would also go out to set up the stall.

With them watching, nothing would go wrong, so all the furry ones at home could go out to sell vegetables.

Ying Kongtu specially dressed the furry ones in little outfits and put little hats on them.

Tiaozhu did not quite like this feeling of restraint. It used its hind leg to paw at the clothes on its body, trying to scrape them off.

Ying Kongtu crouched down and rubbed its head. “Wear it, okay? Wearing clothes and a hat can effectively hide your identities. It would be bad if you scared ordinary people.”

Tiaozhu thought about it and only then stopped fussing over the clothes on its body.

Wen Zhongshan passed by, leaned slightly toward Ying Kongtu’s ear, and lowered his voice. “Why do I feel like you’re dressing them up out of a little bad taste?”

“Shh.” Ying Kongtu covered Wen Zhongshan’s mouth, his eyes curving. “You have to wear it too. Our whole family is wearing matching family outfits.”

Wen Zhongshan: “…”

And so the whole family dressed neatly and drove the little farm tricycle to set up a stall outside the vegetable market. Even the Ural owl was not left out. It wore a little suit and stood on Ying Kongtu’s shoulder.

Ying Kongtu was an old hand at setting up stalls.

When the regular customers who came out to buy vegetables in the afternoon saw him, they immediately gathered around. “Your family has started selling this year’s wild vegetables? Was that cat who set up a stall last time also yours?”

“Yes. The weather has been warm these few days, and there are more wild vegetables on the mountain. We can’t finish them ourselves, so we brought them down to sell.” Ying Kongtu arranged the stall and smiled at the old customers. “Feel free to take a look. Thank you for supporting us.”

The old customers helped set up the stall while looking at the row of furry ones squatting there.

Some were also surprised and asked why Xian Niao and the others were so big and so well-grown.

Ying Kongtu answered uniformly that they had other bloodlines in them.

As for what animal genes they were mixed with, no one really understood, so they only nodded in comprehension.

The sight of this whole row of furry ones selling vegetables was truly spectacular. Anyone passing by had to look twice.

The wild vegetables from Ying Kongtu’s family were also good—fresh, tender, and plump. They were the only ones in the market.

Many people who looked at the furry ones would casually buy some wild vegetables to take home.

After all, it was only five or ten yuan a bundle. Buying a little to stir-fry with eggs or meat would not be a loss. They could treat it as tasting the fresh seasonal flavor.

They had brought out quite a lot of wild vegetables today. Ying Kongtu had thought it would take until past six in the evening to sell everything, but unexpectedly, they sold out in just over half an hour.

“All right, closing the stall.” Ying Kongtu happily packed things up and directed the furry ones to jump into the rear bed of the little farm tricycle. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Once the little farm tricycle drove out of the vegetable market street and onto the main road outside, Ying Kongtu suddenly became interested and asked, “Do you want to go to the newly opened milk tea shop to buy some snacks? They have animal cream, meow-meow milk tea, and woof-woof milk tea.”

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao were the first to react. Both cried out in agreement.

Ying Kongtu took some cleaner money from the money box and had them gently hold it in their mouths. He smiled. “Go on.”

Author’s Note:

After the neutering campaign had been underway for a while, Wen Zhongshan had done too many operations and became a castration maniac. Stray cats could smell his baleful aura from far away and flee.

For a while after that, Dart could only bring Ying Kongtu along to harvest cat balls.

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