Chapter 006: Great Harvest by the Riverside

Around eight in the morning, the little black calf had already eaten its fill, but Liu Xing saw no sign of Gua Zi’s slender figure by the riverside. He thought she had forgotten their promise to pick wild strawberries there, and was about to lead the calf back to the cowshed when, from the field ridge across the river, he heard her sweet, sticky voice calling, “Brother, brother... I’m over here!”

“You little rascal, where have you been? Why are you so late?” Liu Xing turned to see Gua Zi hurrying toward him, a woven sack slung over her back, and couldn’t help but scold her.

“Don’t mention it! Old Man Wang almost confiscated my woven bag,” Gua Zi said, her large eyes flashing with indignation as she ran to him. “He said I stole pigweed from his place—what nonsense.”

“So how did you get away in the end?” Liu Xing took the woven sack from her with concern and set it by the black calf.

In Saltstone Village, almost every household kept pigs. That’s why pigweed along the field ridges couldn’t be picked at random. If you were caught, having your things confiscated was the least of your worries—sometimes you’d get a real tongue-lashing. Liu Xing knew this well from experience.

“I threw a stone at Old Man Wang,” Gua Zi said with a sly little grin, tilting her head. Fearing Liu Xing would scold her, she quickly added, “But I missed. He just got scared, so I took the chance to run.”

“Don’t do that again next time,” Liu Xing said, patting her on the head.

“Mm-hmm,” Gua Zi nodded obediently.

“Let’s not talk about it. Time to pick wild strawberries by the river.” Liu Xing took the black calf’s lead and, after telling Gua Zi to stay put on the riverbank, rolled up his trouser legs and mounted the calf.

The water splashed around him! It was still early, so the water soaking his legs was icy cold, biting to the bone. But Liu Xing didn’t mind. Tightening the cow rope, he guided the black calf toward the wild strawberries on the bank.

Wild strawberries, being a vine plant, have a long ripening season—several months. In the countryside, you could find them from late March to early July. But not all ripe wild strawberries were safe to eat; those that had been crawled over by snakes or caterpillars were best left alone. This was no joke—eat the wrong one and you could get diarrhea at best, poisoning at worst.

Every year, many in the countryside fell ill from eating toxic wild strawberries. But Liu Xing, having lived a life before, wouldn’t make such mistakes. He avoided any berries with off colors or blemishes, picking only those that were plump and brilliantly red.

In just over ten minutes, both pockets of his jacket were stuffed full. He didn’t bother gathering more, but tightened the cow rope and rode the calf ashore.

Gua Zi hurried to meet him, hands outstretched in delight. Liu Xing smiled and emptied all the wild strawberries into her hands. “It’s almost nine. Let’s go home and feed the pigs!”

“Mm-hmm!” Gua Zi nodded, her mouth full of wild strawberries, words muffled.

Liu Xing loaded the sack of pigweed onto the black calf’s back. After a glance at their surroundings, he led Gua Zi home.

On the way, he paid extra attention to the plants growing along both banks of the river. Seeing large patches of flowering wild onions and tender wild celery, a plan for making money began to take shape in his mind.

But soon his spirits sank.

In the 1980s, wild onions and wild celery were everywhere. Trying to sell them at the marketplace was pointless—he’d be laughed out of town. The truth was, these wild greens would only fetch a price decades later. But now, in 1982, the idea wasn’t even worth entertaining.

“Huh?” Liu Xing, leading the black calf, suddenly stopped, his attention caught by a swathe of vibrant green by the riverbank.

That green wasn’t grass, but lotus leaves. They covered the entire bank and spread even further—by the look of it, at least a dozen acres’ worth. Beneath those leaves, there must be a bounty of lotus roots.

Growing as they did along the riverbank, no one bothered to dig them up. The mud was deep and sticky, and lotus roots were hard to harvest. Besides, they wouldn’t fetch much at market, and few people wanted to buy them anyway.

But Liu Xing thought differently. If nobody wanted them at the local market, why not haul them into the city? The trip wasn’t much farther than the walk to the marketplace. The only question was whether the city’s vegetable market had opened yet. If not, he’d have to go door to door selling them. Still, that was better than the marketplace, where the buyers were all peasants and hardly any workers.

At this thought, Liu Xing gave a wry smile. He’d hoped his experience from a previous life would let him quickly turn his family’s fortunes around, but now he saw how much the times constrained him. To succeed, he’d have to understand the current situation in depth.

In other words, no matter what, he’d have to go to the city tomorrow—even if he couldn’t sell anything, he’d at least survey the market. Once he understood what was in demand, making money would be far easier.

Having made up his mind, Liu Xing pushed aside his worries and quickened his steps home. After locking up the cow and feeding the pigs, he wasted no time in grabbing a bamboo basket and a wooden pail and heading straight for the riverbank.

Gua Zi was supposed to stay home and keep her father company, but when she saw Liu Xing on the move, she slipped out to follow him, unable to contain her curiosity. Liu Xing noticed but didn’t stop her—he tacitly allowed her to join.

Setting down the basket and pail, he rolled up his trousers and waded into the lotus leaves. He’d expected the mud underfoot to be deep, but to his relief, it barely reached his calves. Satisfied, he bent down to dig for lotus roots—only to freeze in surprise.

Clinging thickly to the lotus stems were countless river snails—big ones, nearly mistaken for pond snails. River snails were the best ingredient for a certain stir-fried snail dish that, decades later, would command a good price. But in the 1980s, they were practically worthless—no one had started selling them in 1982.

Still, Liu Xing didn’t care. Even if they weren’t worth money, they’d make a nice change from constant sweet potatoes. He got to work, rolling up his sleeves and gathering snails by the handful. In just over ten minutes, the pail was full.

With no other option, Liu Xing lugged the heavy pail ashore, dumped the snails into the big basket, and then went back for more.

In a small pool, he was delighted to find a cluster of river crabs—some almost as big as his palm. To keep them from escaping, Liu Xing quickly built a mud wall around the pool.

One... two... three... four...

In no time at all, there were more than twenty crabs in the pail.

Seeing this on the bank, Gua Zi cheered excitedly, “Brother, brother... Are we having a feast at noon?”

“Yes.” Liu Xing looked up and smiled at her.

Lunch at home would almost certainly be sweet potatoes again. As for vegetables, apart from cabbage, everything else was just seedlings. And even if they weren’t, without cooking oil, they’d be tasteless, so a decent meal was out of the question.

Now, with river crabs, they could at least boil up a hearty dish. It might not be as delicious as pork, but it was good enough for a proper meal.

The only pity was that spring wasn’t the best season for river crabs; in autumn, boiled with a cup of wine, the taste would be unrivaled.

“Brother, I want to catch ‘fat cuties’ too!” Gua Zi called from the bank, itching to try her hand at catching crabs after watching Liu Xing’s success. Without waiting for his permission, she rolled up her trousers and tiptoed into the lotus leaves.

“Fat cuties” was the local word for crabs in Saltstone Village, and Liu Xing, a native, understood perfectly.

But he was annoyed by her recklessness, and was just about to call her back to shore when suddenly he heard Gua Zi scream.