By the time Xu Zhixin returned, he had peeled the snake and then Mrs. Xue chopped up the meat and marinated it with salt. Once the snake meat was flavorful, she fried it in a pan with some oil. Watching from the side, Jinghan couldn't help shaking her head, feeling it was a waste to eat it this way. The best way to eat snake meat was to stew it with a hen to make soup—that would truly be delicious. Eating it fried like this really didn't do it justice.
When it came time for dinner, everyone scrambled to eat the snake meat. Thankfully, the snake was large enough; otherwise, there wouldn't have been enough for the whole family. With thirteen mouths to feed, each person getting two or three pieces meant there was none left. Mrs. Xue and Zhixin saved their portions for the children, while Mrs. Wei didn't hold back and ate hers right away. As she gnawed on it, she commented, "This is delicious, our family hasn't had meat in a long time. It wouldn't be bad to get more of this to eat regularly."
The old man glared at her, "If that reptile hadn't been chasing Jinghan's Wenhan today, they wouldn't have been able to catch it. Do you think this is something you can hunt at will? Thinking about getting it often? What are you on about?"
Mrs. Wei didn't take the old man's words to heart and kept eating. Seeing one last piece left in the dish, she quickly picked it up with her chopsticks and finished it off in a few bites. Mrs. Chen shook her head at Mrs. Wei's behavior; she had always loved to eat, but now she seemed to have lost all restraint. Considering Mrs. Wei had recently lost her husband, Mrs. Chen decided not to make an issue of it. "By the way, the lady ferns and bracken will be available on the mountain in a few days. We need to gather more of them. Every year those traders come to buy the dried vegetables and they can sell for twenty to thirty wen a pound. We should all go up the mountain, you hear?" the old lady said.
Jinghan remembered that even in this era, there were people who bought dried vegetables—it was good news. By foraging for more wild vegetables, they could earn some money. "Granny, don't worry, we'll all go up the mountain when it's time."
Mrs. Chen nodded and said nothing more.
A few days later, Wenhan told Jinghan that the tender thorny shoots had already appeared. Since Wenhan and Zixuan had the day off, they took Jinghan into the forest. Jingya didn't join them; she rarely went to the mountains as a child, but Jinghan was different. She always followed her brothers whenever they went up the mountain.
The group crossed over a hilltop and found many tender thorny shoots in a valley. They hurriedly began to pick, the shoots being about two inches long and perfect for eating. Jinghan carefully broke them off, aware that the plant was covered with thorns, and a wrong move could prick her hands. "Brother, you've found a really nice spot here. These tender thorny shoots are quite big and plentiful," Jinghan said as she picked.
"Zixuan and I discovered this place during a trip to the forest one time. Before, we would just take some home to eat, but this year since you mentioned selling them, we do indeed need to pick more," Wenhan said, not stopping his work as he continued to quickly snap off shoots.
Lin Zixuan organized the shoots while looking at Jinghan. Perhaps it was because she had recovered her strength, but she seemed to have lost the quiet demeanor she had when she first arrived. She was as lively as ever and lacked that reserved appearance.
Jinghan had always felt someone watching her and occasionally looked up to meet Zixuan's gaze. Thinking about it, she couldn't help but laugh. When she first arrived in this world, she didn't know the personality of the original owner of the body, so she tried to act ladylike, only to find it was a mistake. The original Jinghan was practically a tomboy, and, in her previous life, she was not one bit inferior, not afraid to take on anything. As such, she didn't need to pretend anymore; it was better to be herself, as being too demure was not only uncomfortable for her but also seemed fake to others.
The three of them worked in silence, and before long, Jinghan's apron was full of tender thorny shoots. She had asked Jingya to help her make the apron, modeled after one from her previous life, with a large pocket added to the front, so she could temporarily store the wild vegetables. "Big brother, the pocket is full," she said.
Wenhan came over and transferred all the shoots from Jinghan's apron into the basket, "I have to say, the thing Jingya sewed for you is really handy, much better than carrying a basket or something." With this, she didn't have to hold a basket and could use both hands to work.
Jinghan smiled and said nothing, emptied all the shoots from her apron into the basket, and then went back to picking. There were plenty of tender thorny shoots and by noon the basket was full. "Big brother, let's just take these. We don't have room for more. In the afternoon, let's try selling these in town," she said.