Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside
Chapter 53 - 053: Be Wary

Chapter 53: Chapter 053: Be Wary

"It’s bitter herbs." Gu Jinli and his group were all very happy, Luo Huiniang even more so, cherishing the bundle of bitter herbs.

Bitter herbs are one of the most common wild vegetables, growing all year round, but now it’s mid-October and a year of famine, yet they still found some wild vegetables, indicating that the famine situation is improving.

They continued to wander in the mountains and saw a few sparsely scattered wild vegetables, but these had been killed by frost, leaving only rotten leaves and stems, no longer edible.

Tian Xiaohua felt very sorry, looking at the spoiled vegetables and said, "If we had come half a month earlier, we could have dug up a lot of vegetables, and then we wouldn’t have to spend silver money to buy grains."

Her family was very poor, her parents didn’t have much silver, and spending even a copper coin made the whole family distressed.

Luo Huiniang was naturally optimistic. Hearing Tian Xiaohua’s words, she said, "We are lucky today. Let’s keep looking, we should still be able to find something else to eat."

Tian Xiaohua nodded vigorously, her head kept low, searching for wild vegetables, her serious and earnest little appearance almost staring a hole in the ground.

Gu Jin’an, on the other hand, was looking around, guarding against famine victims who entered the mountain for food, and checking if there was any wild fruit on the dry trees.

Gu Jinli was in luck, finding more than a dozen plants whose leaves had rotted away but the roots were intact. Rehmannia is not a medicine for treating colds, but it can be sold for money.

They will always have a day to settle down with the An Family, and settling down requires silver. By saving these herbs now, she was essentially saving money, which will be useful in the future.

Seeing Gu Jinli digging up some strange things again, Luo Huiniang didn’t say anything anymore, she had gotten used to it.

The group of four stayed in the mountains for most of an hour, and seeing that it was getting darker, they stopped looking for food and began to jog out of the mountains towards the resting place at the foot of the mountain.

On the way, they encountered many famine victims returning from foraging, everyone’s hands were carrying something edible, indicating the mountain was rich in resources.

As they were almost back at the rest area at the foot of the mountain, Luo Huiniang ran too fast and almost bumped into a woman. Luckily, her footwork was good, and she stopped in time, avoiding a collision.

But the woman suddenly fell to the ground, clutching her left foot and screaming, "Ah, my foot! Why don’t you watch where you’re walking, you’ve hurt my foot, you must compensate..." The woman, upon seeing Gu Jinli, suddenly lost her voice as if someone had choked her.

She quickly got up from the ground and complained dissatisfactorily to Luo Huiniang: "Be more careful in the future, it’s okay if you bump into me, but if you bump into an evil person, you won’t be able to get away with it."

After saying that, she turned her head and left.

Gu Jinli watched the woman’s retreating figure, it was that disfigured woman, she had also come here.

Gu Jin’an also recognized the woman, clutching the firewood knife in his hand, said: "It’s her, that disfigured woman from the temple, who came begging for medicine with a man and a child."

Luo Huiniang was confused by the woman’s series of actions. Hearing Gu Jin’an’s words, she snapped out of it and hurriedly looked towards the woman who had walked far away, her eyesight was good, and after a while, she pointed ahead and exclaimed, "And there’s that child!"

Maybe her voice was too loud, the child immediately looked over in her direction, his eyes were very bleak, fiercely glaring at Luo Huiniang.

Luo Huiniang was scared, but after a brief shock, she became angry. A few days ago in the temple, she had sympathized with this woman, thinking her family was very pitiful, but now it seemed, this family was just bad seeds, not a good person among them.

Gu Jinli frowned, the child was only five or six years old, very quiet in the temple, appearing frail and ill, but now he could look at people with such a fierce gaze, obviously, he was not a good person.

The woman knew they were watching her, didn’t turn around, and pulled the child and walked away.

Gu Jinli and a few others didn’t chase after them, it would be foolish to chase. The woman and child appearing here means her man and a few of Wu Da’s cohorts must also be nearby, chasing them would only lead to trouble.

"Let’s go." Gu Jinli led the way with the medicinal herbs they had found, heading towards their respective families’ resting place.

Not long after the four of them returned, Father Luo, Gu Dashan, and Gu Dafu came back with food as well.

Everyone had good luck today, Father Luo and his group found over thirty wild sweet potatoes.

The Qin family trio found a nest of hibernating snakes, totaling eight, some large and some small, the biggest about the width of two fingers, the smallest as thick as a little finger. Fearing to frighten the women and children of the families, they had already beheaded and skinned the snakes, leaving only strips of white snake flesh streaked with blood.

The families were all very pleased to see these items.

Ms. Chu, receiving half a bag of sweet potatoes from Father Luo, smiled joyfully, "There are quite a lot of sweet potatoes."

She then asked Third Grandma, "Third Aunt, shall we have roasted sweet potatoes tonight?"

Third Grandma nodded, "Good, let’s roast these sweet potatoes and have a hearty meal."

Mrs. Chen had already snatched the snake meat from Qin San Lang’s hands, and hearing Third Grandma’s suggestion, she quickly stuffed the snake meat into Gu Dewang’s hands, ran to Ms. Chu’s side, and grabbed the sack of sweet potatoes, laughing, "Sister-in-law Luo, you start the fire, I’ll shake the dirt off these sweet potatoes."

Not waiting for Ms. Chu to respond, she had already dragged the sack away, calling her two sons to join. As she turned her back, she sneaked out four sweet potatoes from the sack and gave them to her two sons.

Third Grandma’s expression soured; Mrs. Chen was always greedy, but seeing the gaunt Gu Dewang and Gu Defa, she ultimately held back from scolding Mrs. Chen.

She pulled Ms. Chu along, took some wild vegetables handed by Luo Huiniang, and said, "Let’s make some wild vegetable soup."

That evening, each of the thirty or so people from the families received a roasted sweet potato and a small bowl of wild vegetable and snake meat soup. This was their most abundant meal since fleeing, other than the meal they had at the Qi Mansion camp.

After the meal, Gu Jinli informed everyone about the disfigured woman they encountered on the road: "That woman is not simple, she’s with Wu Da and his cohorts, and Wu Da’s cohorts must be around this foothill, we must be careful."

Everyone was startled by her words, and the women were particularly terrified, turning pale.

Mrs. Chen anxiously looked around, and after not seeing that woman, she patted her chest and said to Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, you should not have offended them, now they will definitely look for a chance to retaliate against us."

Gu Jinli chuckled, shaking her dagger in hand, "Aunt Gui, they’ve seen my ruthlessness, they won’t dare to trouble me. But I can’t say the same for you, they see you without a knife and frail, they probably will target you."

So you better be nice to me, otherwise, if you get attacked, I won’t come to your rescue.

Seeing the knife in Gu Jinli’s hand and recalling how she had severed Wu Da’s tendons, Mrs. Chen recoiled in fear and fell silent.

Gu Dagui, infuriated by Mrs. Chen’s actions, lamented how she always has to suffer before she learns her lesson.

"Everyone, rest assured, that group won’t dare to mess with us easily." Elder Qin said, "However, those people are not to be underestimated, it’s still better to be cautious."

Elder Qin looked at Qin San Lang and instructed him, "San Lang, go and scout around nearby to see where they are settling down."

Qin San Lang nodded and plunged into the night.

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