Chapter 6

Besides farming, the Zhou family's household members also wove cloth to sell.

Xie Ning tucked his hands beneath the table. He did not know how to weave. Back home, he had spent most of his time in the kitchen and the fields. His mother had died early, and no one at home had taught him weaving or embroidery.

Zhou Jinian set down his bowl and chopsticks. "Dad, I'm going to gather some medicinal herbs on the mountain out back. I need to visit the bookshop in town in a couple of days, so I can sell the herbs for some money while I'm there. Ninglang, come up the mountain with me."

The people of Great Well Village could be said to have grown up in the mountains.

"That's a good idea. I'll pack you a few buns." Lin Jin cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and went out to the kitchen. They would not be able to come down the mountain for lunch while gathering herbs, and he could not let the children go hungry.

Zhou Sanfeng also planned to get back to weaving winnowing baskets. He reminded his son, "Make sure you look after him. Don't let go of him."

Having escaped that ordeal, Xie Ning pressed his lips together to hide a smile and obediently followed Zhou Jinian back to their room.

Watching Zhou Jinian slide the door bolt into place, Xie Ning stared at him curiously, only to see Zhou Jinian turn his back and begin undoing his clothes.

His skin was a little darker than Xie Ning's eldest brother's. Presumably, he often worked in the fields too. Xie Ning just did not know what he had grown up eating to become so tall.

"Aren't you getting changed?" Unable to ignore the unwavering stare behind him, Zhou Jinian turned his head to ask, his back still toward Xie Ning.

"Hm?"

"We're going up the mountain," Zhou Jinian reminded him.

Xie Ning understood. He had worn new clothes to serve tea, a light, loose hemp robe at that. To go up the mountain, he needed to change into something close-fitting that would make climbing easier.

The clothes Xie Ning had brought were still in his wooden chest. He opened it and rummaged for something to wear. By the time he stood up with the clothes in his arms, Zhou Jinian was already wearing a short dark blue cotton tunic and black trousers cinched tightly at the ankles.

There was no trace of a scholar about him now. He looked like someone who practiced martial arts, quite imposing.

Holding his clothes, Xie Ning turned his head to look around the room. A kang bed stood at the very back, a wooden beam hung across the center of the room, and there was a folding screen. In the outer part of the room, a desk stood by the window, along with the large bathtub.

After another glance at Zhou Jinian, Xie Ning drew a breath, turned his back, and undid his clothes with a show of nonchalance. Luckily, he had only just taken off his outer robe when he heard Zhou Jinian's footsteps leaving the room.

Once changed, Xie Ning stood empty-handed in the little courtyard. After Zhou Jinian shouldered his bamboo basket, he went over and followed close behind him.

Zhou Jinian glanced at him, picked up a bamboo hat his father had woven, and set it on Xie Ning's head.

Xie Ning ducked his neck slightly. He had forgotten about his face. Better to wear a hat so he would not frighten passersby.

"Aren't you sensitive to heat? Keep it on. It'll shade you from the sun."

Xie Ning obediently straightened the hat. He had just tied its strings when Lin Jin came over carrying buns and flatbreads. Lin Jin wrapped them in clean cotton cloth, knotted it, and placed the bundle in the basket before seeing them out.

Xie Ning lowered his head to watch the path beneath his feet, his gaze fixed on the heels of the man ahead. Zhou Jinian still felt somewhat unfamiliar to him, and he was just as Xie Ning's eldest brother had said: a man of few words with a cold expression.

They remained silent all the way into the mountains.

The trees were tall and thick with branches. Once they entered the woods, the temperature dropped, making Xie Ning much more comfortable. Only the buzzing insects were endlessly annoying.

Great Well Mountain produced glabrous greenbrier. Almost all the villagers recognized this medicinal herb, so naturally, it was not worth much. But Zhou Jinian had not come to earn money in the first place. He had only wanted to bring Ninglang out.

Their luck was good. They had only reached halfway up the mountain when they spotted glabrous greenbrier vines with simple leaves twining around the surrounding low shrubs.

Zhou Jinian set down his bamboo basket and began digging up the herbs.

Xie Ning had not been up the mountain in a long time. Before he fell into the water, he had often come up to gather medicinal herbs too.

Xie Ning bent over, braced his hands on his knees, and said to Zhou Jinian, "I'll take a look up ahead and see if I can find some August fruit."

Zhou Jinian looked up at Xie Ning. He really was a greedy little thing.

"Don't go far." The words had barely left his mouth before Xie Ning was already heading off with light steps.

August fruit was also called August burst because it ripened in the eighth month. Once the fruit split open, it was fully ripe and ready to eat.

It looked very much like an ox kidney, green when unripe and yellow-skinned like a sweet potato when fully ripe.

Zhou Jinian finished digging up the glabrous greenbrier and put it in his bamboo basket, then heard Xie Ning call, "Jinian, come quickly!"

"Come and look!"

From the way he kept calling and urging him over, he sounded as though he had discovered treasure. Zhou Jinian picked up his bamboo basket and quickened his steps to find him.

As he walked, Zhou Jinian brushed aside the branches and leaves blocking his way. Soon, he spotted Xie Ning in his coarse blue clothes.

Xie Ning had taken off his bamboo hat and was using it to hold several August fruits. His long black hair fell down his back, tied at the nape with a red cloth ribbon. He turned his head to look at Zhou Jinian, his eyes shining.

"Look, five-flavor berries."

Following the direction of Xie Ning's finger, he saw clusters of red five-flavor berries where the mountains met. Five-flavor berries favored acidic, humus-rich soil and grew twined around nearby shrubs and trees. Because they had poor drought tolerance, they were difficult to find in the wild.

Five-flavor berries were so named because they possessed five flavors: sweet, sour, pungent, bitter, and salty. They astringed the lungs and relieved coughs, making them a good folk remedy for consumption, a "disease of the wealthy." They also secured essence and stopped diarrhea, so everyone in the countryside recognized them.

With such a large patch, this herb-gathering trip really had brought them a fortune.

"You really are..." Zhou Jinian left the rest unsaid: a koi reborn.

Xie Ning had not heard him clearly. Immersed in the joy of discovering treasure, he asked with a smile, "What?"

"Born lucky." Zhou Jinian took the straw hat from Ninglang's hands and put the August fruits into the bamboo basket on his back. "Come on. Let's gather herbs."

Empty-handed, Xie Ning happily followed him down into the gully to pick five-flavor berries.

Chapter 6

Xie Ning helped gather berries for a while, but the exertion soon made his body heat up. He felt the poison taking hold again...

Glancing at Zhou Jinian's busy back, Xie Ning pressed his lips together, too embarrassed to slack off. He thought that if they finished gathering sooner, he could go home and soak in the bathtub.

As Zhou Jinian picked cluster after cluster of five-flavor berries, he heard rapid breathing behind him and knew Xie Ning was becoming dehydrated again.

He turned and caught Xie Ning just in time as he nearly fainted from the heat, then held him and found the roots of an old tree to sit on.

"Have some water." Zhou Jinian pulled the stopper from the waterskin and brought it to Xie Ning's lips.