The Sweet Litte Fulang (SLF)

Chapter 38 - The Shen Family in the Mountains

In the deep, remote chestnut forest, many chestnuts had fallen to the ground. Gray-brown squirrels scurried down from the trees to gather them, stuffing the chestnuts into their mouths and carrying them back to their nests to store for winter. Not only squirrels, but also voles, were busy hiding chestnuts and hazelnuts in their burrows.

There were still plenty of chestnuts in this dense forest. People needed to gather the chestnuts on the ground quickly; otherwise, they would either break from falling or be taken by the animals.

It was Lu Gu's first time in this part of the chestnut forest, and he was surprised to see a thick layer of spiky chestnut burrs covering the ground. There were indeed far more chestnuts here than in the forest on the nearer mountain. After setting down his bamboo basket, he began picking up chestnuts. It didn't take long before his basket started to fill. As he picked, more ripe chestnuts clattered to the ground, shaken loose from the trees above.

With people and dogs around, the squirrels and voles had hidden away, only occasionally peeking out from the trees or burrows, watching cautiously. They were so quick and wary that if you weren't paying attention, you might not notice them.

Shen Xuanqing spotted a big-tailed squirrel in one of the trees but didn't bother it, choosing instead to continue gathering chestnuts. Meanwhile, the two small hunting dogs were sniffing around in the forest, occasionally digging at holes in the ground. A squeak sounded as a vole tried to escape, but it couldn't evade the hounds. Even the hazelnuts and chestnuts it had stored in the burrow were dug up.

Hearing the commotion, Shen Xuanqing saw that one of the dogs had caught a fat field mouse in its mouth—not the thin, nuisance mice that infest houses, but a healthier, wild one. He let the dogs keep it to roast later. As for the nuts in the mouse's burrow, they left them there; there were more than enough chestnuts scattered on the ground.

People usually left the nuts in the burrows alone unless food was scarce. If chestnuts were hard to find in the front mountain, village children would sometimes bring dogs to dig them out, though they'd have to shell and wash the nuts before eating them. It wasn't considered too dirty once cleaned.

For children, digging out burrows was fun and exciting. But for adults, they knew that squirrels and voles also needed food to survive the winter. If they dug up all the burrows, the animals would starve. Now that it wasn't a famine year and food wasn't scarce, there was no need to take everything.

The group of five carried five bamboo baskets and two large sacks. After spending a long time gathering in the forest, they managed to fill them all. This vast chestnut forest still had plenty of chestnuts left on the ground, and since they were the only ones gathering here, today's haul would be more than enough for the year. There was no need to worry about whether the squirrels would have enough to eat.

All the bamboo baskets, except for the smaller one that Shen Yan carried, were large. When full, they were quite heavy, and they took turns carrying the sacks. Wei Lanxiang and the others were used to gathering in the mountains, so this wasn't too unusual for them. But for Lu Gu, it was different.

Back when he was with the Lu family, he would occasionally go gather chestnuts with Lu Daxiang and the others, but he rarely got to eat many himself. Whenever he found a few chestnuts on the hillside while out working, it was a small pleasure. The villagers had already gathered most of the chestnuts in the nearby mountains, and he could only pick up a few. Still, chestnuts could be eaten raw, just by peeling them, so he always looked forward to autumn when chestnuts and wild fruits were in season. It gave him something to fill his stomach, a small comfort.

So even though his bamboo basket was heavy now, he felt happy. The more chestnuts he found, the more he could enjoy later.

The chestnut forest was far from their mountain house. They had set out in the morning, and it was already mid-afternoon by the time they returned. Wandering too far in the mountains was risky; it would be dangerous if they got lost or couldn't make it back before nightfall, so they focused only on gathering chestnuts today.