The aroma of the roasted meat slowly wafted out. They had brought plenty of seasonings, and Xu Mumu watched quietly, wanting to eat.

The meat was all cooked, enough to eat for more than a day. The rain outside was getting heavier, and Xu Mumu, while gnawing on a wing, looked outside. The cave was positioned relatively high, and water couldn’t seep in here. She had also placed a few rocks by the entrance, so water didn’t flow in.

"How long is this rain going to last?" Xu Mumu said worriedly, as rainy days weren’t suitable for walking in the forest.

"The dark clouds outside have scattered quite a bit. This storm is probably only going to last for half a day," Yin Yang said after glancing at the sky outside. He could easily gauge the weather.

"As long as it doesn’t rain continuously, that’s fine," Xu Mumu was immediately relieved. She trusted Yin Yang’s words very much.

Sure enough, before long, the rain lightened considerably. Even though the rain hadn’t stopped, the sun had already emerged, shining through the forest.

Xu Mumu used the collected water to wipe her face. The weather was getting hotter.

After the sun came out, the rain didn’t last much longer and then stopped.

Back home, ever since Xu Mumu and the others had left, Madam Chen started to worry and felt restless at home.

"Grandma, you’ve pulled out the vegetable seedlings." Xu Minglei, who was helping pull weeds in the personal plot, looked at his grandma daydreaming again and said helplessly.

Madam Chen snapped out of it and looked at the small green vegetable torn from its roots in her hand, then placed it aside. When fried with vegetables in the evening, these small greens would surely taste tender.

"What are you fussing about? If it’s torn, it’s torn," Madam Chen glared at Xu Minglei. The rain had already stopped, but she was still worried about her grandchildren. Why go playing anywhere else but the deep mountains?

"Grandma, don’t worry. My sister is so capable, nothing will happen," Xu Minglei said while reassembling the bean trellises. He had great faith in his sister’s abilities.

"You silly boy, how can I not worry? It’s the deep mountains, anything could be there. There’re only the two of them. Even if your sister is strong, what if they encounter wolves?" Madam Chen almost wanted to twist the boy’s ears and scold him. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"If they encounter any danger, they know to hide," Xu Minglei thought about the scenario his grandma described and shrank his neck.

"Grandma, you need to trust my sister. She and her husband aren’t fools; they’ll hide if they sense danger."

"I’m too lazy to argue with you. Clean up this area yourself," Madam Chen glared again at Xu Minglei and handed over the chores in the personal plot to him.

Xu Jiaojiao, who was reading in her room, didn’t really understand the dangers of the deep mountains. Even hearing others talk about it didn’t help since she hadn’t experienced it herself and couldn’t empathize with Madam Chen’s anxiety.

She was more curious about what was in the deep mountains, wondering if it’s fun. She wanted to go with her big sister, but the family wouldn’t allow it.

The rain stopped, and there was a lot of water outside. Xu Mumu wasn’t in a hurry to leave, instead finding some mushrooms nearby. In this deep mountain, where no one ventured, there were plenty of mushrooms. Xu Mumu cleaned them and set them out to dry, planning to eat them slowly when they returned home.

Xu Mumu handled a bunch of milk mushrooms. Generally speaking, the more colorful and attractive wild mushrooms are poisonous. But milk mushrooms are an exception. They are brightly colored and appealing but non-toxic.

Milk mushrooms contain polysaccharides, which can enhance immunity, and prevent and relieve palpitations and arrhythmias.

Milk mushrooms are delicious when stir-fried simply. Just sauté them with garlic, and the aroma is mouthwatering.

Xu Mumu planned to eat these tonight, having gathered quite a few mushrooms and also found a nest of wild chicken eggs.

She took the wild chicken eggs back and boiled them all. Once boiled, they could keep for a long time, whereas raw ones could spoil easily.

Yin Yang was adding wood to the fire under the clay pot while watching Xu Mumu with a hint of helplessness. His wife was incredibly enthusiastic about living a wild life in the mountains.

"If Minglei and the others saw all these mushrooms you gathered, they’d be really envious," Yin Yang said with a chuckle as he watched Xu Mumu drying the mushrooms.

"Of course! These mushrooms are really good. Let’s leave them here to dry first. When we come back in a few days, we can take them with us," Xu Mumu said, calculating in her mind. There were plenty of mushrooms around, there had just been a storm, the road was hard to walk on, and surely they couldn’t leave today. She planned to eat something and then go out to find some more mushrooms.

Some of these mushrooms were quite rare and tasted pretty good. Whether sold or eaten, they were excellent.

However, Xu Mumu preferred to save these to eat slowly since they couldn’t be bought outside.

"Okay, later I’ll pick more herbs that repel insects, and place them around to keep the snakes, rats, and insects away," Yin Yang nodded. Xu Mumu loved eating these mushrooms, and every time she traveled from her hometown to the Imperial City, she would bring some mushrooms along.

"Not bad, very thoughtful!" Xu Mumu patted Yin Yang’s shoulder.

"I’ll go with you later," Yin Yang discreetly shifted his shoulder a bit. His wife’s strength was considerable, and he couldn’t quite handle it.

Once everything was tidied up, the two set off again. They had investigated this area several times and found no large animals.

With Yin Yang there this time, Xu Mumu picked many wild berries she spotted. As for the mushrooms, they swept the entire area.

"Mumu, wait a minute, let’s go there," Yin Yang pointed to a spot.

"What’s that?" Xu Mumu looked over to where Yin Yang was pointing and saw a tangle of vines with small green leaves.

"That’s fallopia multiflora, let’s check it out," Yin Yang said a bit excitedly. The fallopia multiflora growing in this deep mountain might have been there for many years.

Yin Yang used a stick to dig down along the roots, and Xu Mumu helped. With her strength, she quickly unearthed the fallopia multiflora.

The fallopia multiflora turned out to be a pair, both quite substantial, and surprisingly heavy in the hand. What astonished Xu Mumu even more was that these things had grown to resemble human figures. Were they becoming spirits?

Both were a bit longer than her arms, and Xu Mumu estimated that each weighed six to seven pounds.

Yin Yang was also very surprised. This fallopia multiflora had aged far longer than he thought, perhaps four to five hundred years.

Fallopia multiflora has the effects of replenishing essence and blood, detoxifying, stopping malaria, and lubricating the intestines to relieve constipation (when used raw). It treats essence and blood deficiency, dizziness, early greying of hair, knee and lower back pain, chronic malaria, abscesses, scrofula, and dry constipation.

This was definitely a treasure. Selling it could fetch a good price, but of course, such a treasure was best kept for family use. Selling it would be too unprofitable.