I Promise Not to Go Up the Mountains

As it had been some time since Zhuang Zhuang hung out with Xiaoguo, he excitedly held on to her as he skipped and ran around.

It was Shen

Shi

when the two of them came out of the house. In modern day terms, it was slightly past three o’clock, and people were mostly in the fields at this time. The village distributed seeds according to the number of people in each family. Each person was allocated a bag of seeds. With the exception of Xiaoguo’s household, most families in the village had at least four members living under the same roof. It was a time when there wasn’t much to do and people turned in once the sky turned dark. This resulted in a baby boom. The poorer the family, the more babies they had.

The village was quiet at this time of the day. Xiaoguo walked with Zhuang Zhuang along the sides of the fields and looked at the people who were still working. All households were mostly made up of women, young children and the elderly. Having no men to help in the fields, coupled with bad weather, the harvest had gotten worse with each passing year. If not for these contributing factors, the fertile land of Peach Blossom Village wouldn’t have turned into a complete wasteland.

As Xiaoguo admired the natural environment around her, she noticed a mountain peak not far from where she was standing. Wasn’t it a common plot in transmigratory novels where the female protagonist would discover some cool stuff on the mountains, and then sell those for money? Xiaoguo wondered if she should go up there to take a look.

Just as she was pondering, someone called her name from behind. “Daughter-in-law Jiang, Daughter-in-law Jiang.”

Curious about who it was, Xiaoguo turned around. “Mrs. Yang,” she greeted Mrs. Yang as she saw her.

“Have you planted the seeds?” It turned out that Mrs. Yang had brought her two children out to do the planting. She was just finishing up her work in the fields when she saw Xiaoguo. She stopped to ask if she needed help.

Xiaoguo expressed her gratitude at Mrs. Yang’s offer and said with a smile, “The portion we received was less than yours. We finished sowing the seeds within half a day. We were just dropping by to take a look. Do you need any help?”

Mrs. Yang said candidly, “With so many of us, It hasn’t even been a day.”

Xiaoguo was almost done strolling around the fields, chatting all this while with Mrs. Yang. Moments earlier, when Zhuang Zhuang saw Xiaohu and Xiaohua tagging along with their mother, he ran over quickly to join them. The three children ran in front of the adults and played among themselves.

Xiaoguo and Mrs. Yang followed behind them. “Thank you for the money, Mrs. Yang,” Xiaoguo said. “It’s all thanks to you that we’re still alive.”

“Hey, what are you talking about!” Mrs. Yang pretended to be upset when she heard that. “I see you as family. Please don’t regard me as an outsider.”

Xiaoguo was feeling all warm and fuzzy upon hearing Mrs. Yang’s words. Xiaoguo looked at her and hurriedly nodded. “Yes, yes, yes. I won’t say that again.”

The two women looked at each other and smiled. Mrs. Yang had a pair of big round eyes, framed by thick eyebrows. She was constantly wearing a warm smile on her lips. Her tanned complexion and plump figure made her look kind and gentle.

Xiaoguo recalled that Mrs. Yang had mentioned going to the county, so she asked, “Mrs. Yang, how do we travel to the county? I want to get some vegetables from there.”

“There is a horse carriage traveling to the county every month on double dates day. It coincides with the double date festival occurring in the county. Just wait at the village entrance. The carriage arrives at dawn and it costs one copper coin per trip” Mrs. Yang said to Xiaoguo.

Xiaoguo nodded in acknowledgment and went on to ask about the situation on the mountain. “By the way, Mrs. Yang, is there anything edible on the mountain near our village?”

Mrs. Yang thought for a moment and said, “There was before. When the men were still around, they would go hunting in the mountains. However, now that there are no men in the village, the women didn’t dare to venture up. They would at most hang around the base of the mountain. You know, there are wolves living up there.”

As she mentioned the wolves, she shuddered with fear and turned to Xiaoguo, “Don’t go up the mountains! It’s dangerous there. You might run into wild beasts like wolves and tigers.”

Mrs. Yang was so afraid that Xiaoguo would go up there. She made Xiaoguo promise several times before she was assured. Just before she went home, she asked Xiaoguo to ensure that she would not try to venture into the mountains. Xiaoguo watched in amusement as she gave Mrs. Yang her promise.

Shen Shi refers to the period of the day from three o’clock to 5 o’clock in the afternoon