CHAPTER 131: 131 BENEFITS

"You know what I mean, and remind the kids as well. Even if you eat by yourself, don’t eat too much. Everyone else is getting thin, we shouldn’t be too obvious."

"I know, I understand. Just now Chunhua mentioned Yuanyuan, that girl, I wonder how she is doing now? Da Qiang and she aren’t from the same city, we have no news about her."

"Don’t worry, that girl has someone looking after her. She absolutely won’t be in trouble."

Xu Chunjiao sighed, "I hope so, I just wish that girl can be alright."

The Tian family was worried together. They still had several hundred pounds of corn at home, but with so many people, it wouldn’t last long at all. Relying on the canteen was simply impossible.

"By the way, Dad, Yuanyuan once told me she planted many winter melon seedlings on the mountain. Although she didn’t plant this year, they should sprout on their own, right? Why don’t we go up the mountain and take a look?"

"Go up the mountain?" Zhao Tian frowned, his uncle went up the mountain and didn’t come back.

"Did that girl really say that?"

"Yeah, she told me when she gave me the winter melons. Big brother, should we go tomorrow?"

"Alright, we’ll go together. It’s safer that way."

Zhao Tian sighed and agreed, a whole family going together would be safer.

"Husband, you shouldn’t go. You still have to work tomorrow." Han Lixia said.

"Dad, Mom, neither of you should go. The five of us can go. I’ll take good care of them." The eldest, Zhao Qingxiang, said.

"That’s right, you both shouldn’t go. Otherwise, there’s no way to explain it if asked." Zhao Yanping also said.

The couple was worried about the five kids going up the mountain, but they made a valid point.

"Dad, if there are winter melons on the mountain, you can’t tell Uncle’s family." Zhao Yanli quickly chimed in. She really didn’t want her parents to come along.

Zhao Tian looked at the five kids staring at him and nodded reluctantly.

The kids all breathed a sigh of relief, fearing their father would give the family’s food to Uncle’s family.

Early the next morning before dawn, the five kids took the vegetable buns steamed by Han Lixia and headed up the mountain. Each carried a basket, and one carried two bags. With no harvest, the load wasn’t heavy, but if they found something good, it would be a hassle not to be able to bring it back.

They made sure to avoid passing by Su Yuanyuan’s house.

Once on the mountain road, they finally relaxed. "Big brother, I think we should take the route that starts from Su Yuanyuan’s house and goes up the mountain. Since she planted winter melons on the mountain, she definitely took that path."

"Yeah, I think Xiao Li is right, let’s take that path."

Actually, Su Yuanyuan really threw a lot of winter melon seeds. Last year, the mountain had quite a few winter melons; some were spoiled by mountain animals, but a lot of winter melon seeds spread to various places.

The five siblings walked for over an hour before Zhao Qingxiang found the winter melons. It was a patch of winter melon seedlings, but due to the drought, they weren’t very lush. There were more than ten winter melons, but they were quite small.

This was already a pleasant surprise for the five siblings. Zhao Qingxiang held them back, then used a stick to beat around a bit, not encountering any animals. They quickly went over and picked eighteen in total, sharing the load among them. The eldest, second, and third carried one extra each.

This lifted their spirits, and they didn’t feel tired anymore. They continued moving upward.

Not far along, they found another patch with more winter melons here.

"Big brother, let’s pick these and take them back to store directly in the cellar."

They had also dug a cellar at home, not big, just in the room of the two boys. This was unintentionally mentioned by Su Yuanyuan to Zhao Yanli.

"Dad won’t come to check, so we’ll leave a few outside and not tell him about these in case he thinks we have a lot to eat and softens up to give some to Uncle’s family." Zhao Yanli was the most cautious and really disliked Uncle’s family.

The other four nodded. Now each of them had their baskets full, and the bags were full too. The two boys each carried a basket with three bags on top, and the rest of the bags were also full.

"Should we head back now? What if someone sees us?"

Zhao Yanli thought for a moment, "Let’s take them to the place where we usually collect wild vegetables. I’ll go back and have a look."

Zhao Qingxiang shook his head, "There are too many people there; let’s go to where we first picked the winter melons, no danger there. Xiao Jing and Xiao Li stay here, the three of us will continue up the mountain to look, and we’ll carry them home at night."

The younger siblings obeyed, so the five of them moved downwards. They put down the winter melons and covered them with winter melon seedlings, instructing the two little ones to stay put.

"Big brother, one of us should stay, and the other one takes two winter melons back home, covering them with firewood, to quicken the pace." Zhao Yanli’s mind worked fast and quickly came up with a plan.

Zhao Qingxiang shook his head, "No. Leaving one person isn’t safe, you both stay right here."

So the two little girls stayed behind picking pine cones, unable to stay idle.

Zhao Qingxiang and the other two continued up the mountain. This time they walked a long way until they reached halfway up, where it was the place Su Yuanyuan first hunted the wild boar. She sprinkled many winter melon seeds there.

The three spotted a vast field of winter melons, with joyful smiles on their faces.

Not holding back, the two boys each had a basket with two bags again. Zhao Yanping carried one basket and one bag down the mountain.

They made five trips before everything was carried down.

Now it was already past three in the afternoon. But they didn’t know the specific time.

They sat down to rest, "You two continue to stay here, and the three of us will carry the baskets down. We’ll come back up in a while."

"Big brother, it’s probably almost time to finish work, right? There are too many people around now. If someone catches us, it’ll be a problem. We might have to hand it over to the public," Zhao Yanli was the most reluctant about this, as these winter melons were now theirs, how could they let others share?

"Big brother, if we could wait until it’s dark, or maybe wait until it’s time for dinner in the canteen, then going down would be much safer."

"Let’s not, let’s wait until it gets dark."

They weren’t willing to let go, after all, they had carried them all down.

The three rested for a bit but couldn’t sit still and got up to pick pine cones and collect branches.

"Xiao Li, head down the mountain. Almost might be time to finish work. Let Mom and Dad know, so they won’t worry."

Zhao Yanli nodded and headed down with a basket of pine cones, being cautious along the way to avoid meeting anyone. If others saw the pine cones and went up the mountain, they might find the winter melons and suspect their family.

Luckily, she didn’t run into anyone on the way down.

When she got home, her parents hadn’t finished work yet, so she spread the pine cones out in the yard.