Going up the Mountain to Gather Chestnuts

Unable to let Gu Si know the secret of her space, Du Yueyao had no choice but to say she had woven it herself.

Gu Si held the straw hat in his hand. This was the first time he had seen such an exquisite straw hat; he knew it must have taken a lot of effort to weave.

"Thank you."

Du Yueyao suddenly remembered what he had said yesterday. Mimicking his tone, she said, "We are husband and wife, there's no need to say thank you."

As soon as the words left her mouth, her face flushed red with embarrassment.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

After Gu Si went to the fields, Du Yueyao was in a very good mood. She planned to take the two children out to play.

Yesterday, when she went up the mountain, she noticed that autumn on the mountain was beautiful, and there were many wild chestnuts and walnuts ripe and unharvested. Even if they couldn't pick the ones high up, gathering the fallen ones on the ground would still be good.

Du Yueyao found the two mischievous little ones.

"Mom is going up the mountain to gather wild fruits. Who wants to come with me?"

Xiao Han immediately raised his hand, his large eyes, which looked exactly like Du Yueyao's, lighting up.

Du Yueyao pinched his nose. "If we gather enough chestnuts, I'll make sugar-roasted chestnuts for you when we get back."

Xiao Han cheered with a "Yes!"

"I just don't know if Xiao Ming wants to go. If the three of us go, we can gather much more."

Du Yueyao looked at Gu Yingming with a half-smile.

Although the boy turned his head away and crossed his arms, acting proud, his heart had already leaned toward her.

*She just got injured yesterday, doesn't she know how dangerous the mountain is!*

Hearing her question, Gu Yingming's voice sounded stiff. "I'm going to protect my brother!"

*And you too...*

Du Yueyao put a large wicker basket on her back, stuffing a large water bottle inside.

The two little ones also wore small wicker baskets that Gu Si had personally made for them.

The three of them slowly walked toward the back of the mountain.

By this time, the rush hour for field work had passed, and there weren't many people left in the village. Du Yueyao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Yesterday's commotion had been too big. If she ran into people who didn't know the full story, they would surely gossip, and she wasn't good at dealing with rumors.

The two children were skipping and chattering, extremely excited.

The village children were strictly forbidden by their parents from going up the mountain on their own.

But to children, the more something was forbidden, the more attractive it became. The mountain behind the eastern village was a secret treasure mountain in their eyes.

Every time Gu Si went up the mountain to gather firewood, the two children would secretly follow him and bring back all sorts of strange things.

Du Yueyao thought to herself that after a few days of observation, she realized the two children were becoming more lively and open.

This was supposed to be their natural childish disposition, but the original owner had found children troublesome and had always used violence to suppress them.

However, the mountain forests still held many dangers.

Before officially entering the forest, Du Yueyao seriously established rules with the two children. She squatted down, looking straight into their eyes. "There are many dangerous things on the mountain. You two must stay close to me, understood?"

Gu Si clearly said such things often, so the two children immediately nodded seriously. Even the usually playful Gu Yingming became solemn.

Actually, Du Yueyao didn't plan to take them far, as there were already many chestnut trees right at the foot of the mountain.

Before walking very far, they came across a massive ancient tree, probably a hundred years old. The ground beneath was covered with fist-sized chestnuts, bristling with sharp thorns.

This was exactly the tree Du Yueyao was looking for. She picked one up to examine it closely. The nuts weren't very large; they were of the sweet chestnut variety, which had high sugar content, soft flesh, and tasted delicious.

Knowing that chestnut burrs had many sharp thorns, she had prepared a long-handled coal tong to bring along.

Seeing the ground covered with chestnuts, the two children excitedly ran back and forth, wanting to help her gather them, but they didn't know how to touch the thorny burrs.

Watching the two kids scratching their heads in frustration, Du Yueyao burst into laughter.

"Alright, these aren't easy to pick up. Let me do it. You two go gather some dry firewood."

Seeing the two children look a bit disappointed, Du Yueyao promised to make sugar-roasted chestnuts in the afternoon. Hearing this, the two little ones immediately cheered up and happily went off to gather firewood.

Today was not too sunny. She filled her basket with chestnuts without breaking a sweat.

After gathering firewood for a while, the two children ran over to the other side to catch crickets.

A gentle autumn breeze swept past, blowing away all her fatigue.