Chapter 61: Twenty Pebbles and Salted Fish
The water was clear, but Anji was not foolish enough to jump into it and collect the pebbles from the riverbed. With how quickly the water swept away fallen leaves and big branches, they would also easily sweep her away. Moreover, Anji was no swimmer. She had no rope to secure herself to a strong tree either. Collecting those pebbles was out of the question.
Trudging downstream, she eventually found a small channel where the water had split from the main creek. It was gentler and calmer, appearing friendlier to Anji. Excitedly, she hopped to the side where she could reach her hand into the water and touch the pebbles beneath them. There were all sorts of pebbles, but Yan Ping did not specify what sort of pebbles she wanted. Hence, Anji decided to collect a variety of pebbles ranging from different shapes and sizes to colours.
After gathering all twenty pebbles, Anji realised that she was starting to become hungry. The food she gathered wasn’t cooked, so she could only eat some berries she gathered after washing them in the water. It was a miserable snack, but Anji felt slightly better after eating the berries. She washed her hands and face in the water and decided to follow it back.
After what felt like a long walk, Anji finally saw the small pond that her teacher talked about. Knowing that the hut was nearby, she finally smiled with relief. The sun was very high up in the sky, and Anji was starting to feel tired. She had no idea how long she spent walking and finding food. However, she felt sad that her only lunch contained mostly sweet potato leaves and wild mushrooms.
By the time Anji found her way back, it was already noon. Besides the twenty pebbles her teacher requested, everything else she collected felt miserable. For the first time in her life, Anji felt like salted fish. Despite becoming lost, she managed to find her way back before the two-hour time limit was up. For that, she consoled herself and considered it a victory for her first errand.
Even though she did not leave her room, Yan Ping was aware of her student’s return. Anji did quite well on her first errand. She should reward her hardworking disciple for the effort. Children cannot grow up healthily with only vegetables. Even monks had to eat bread or rice in their vegetarian diet in order not to starve.
Getting up from the bed, Yan Ping grabbed her staff and went out to see Anji. The little girl was gone for about one and a half hours. With her father tailing her, Yan Ping did not have to leave the hut. The fact that Mingfeng did not appear before his daughter meant that Anji successfully overcame all obstacles during her errand for pebbles.
"You’re back," Yan Ping schooled her expression as she approached the girl. "If you were back any later, I would have gone out to find you. Did you find any difficulties while foraging for food?"
Hearing that her shifu was indeed keeping track of the time, Anji’s heart finally settled. If she truly became lost in this mountain, her shifu would definitely not let it be. The hardships she experienced earlier in the wilderness quickly became a thing of the past.
"I was lost for a while," Anji admitted. "But I found the creek and followed it to the pond. From there, it was easier to find my way back. Unfortunately, I did not bring with me any tools for harvesting sweet potatoes or plums. There are only some wild mushrooms and sweet potato leaves in this bamboo basket."