Chapter 56: Up the Mountain to Pick Mushrooms
"Of course not."
Ling Anxun smiled.
"I’ll do whatever you ask."
He saw that Shanshan couldn’t explain why, so he didn’t press her further.
After all, some things couldn’t be explained with common sense.
Instead of dwelling on it, it was better to let things take their course.
So, he simply agreed.
The two of them settled down in the house next to Zhang Yunhua’s.
When Ding Qin heard the reason, she didn’t pry and just came over quietly to help them get organized.
With fewer people around, it was quiet. For the first time, Shanshan felt like this was truly her home.
But for several nights in a row, she had nightmares.
She dreamed she was trapped in darkness, surrounded by cold walls, unable to get out no matter how much she yelled.
The feeling was terrifying.
She would wake up drenched in a cold sweat, her heart pounding as if it would burst from her chest.
Finally, she hugged her little pillow and pushed open Ling Anxun’s door.
"Papa... I’m scared. Can I sleep with you?"
Her voice was small, with a slight tremor.
Ling Anxun was propped up in bed, a book still in his hands.
He turned his head and saw Shanshan with red-rimmed eyes, looking at him pitifully.
Having been deprived of affection in his childhood, he had an instinctive aversion to close physical contact.
So, he subconsciously wanted to shake his head.
But when he met those teary eyes, his heart suddenly softened.
"...Alright, come here."
In the end, he sighed, shifted to the side, and made room for her on the edge of the bed.
"Yay! Thank you, Papa!"
Shanshan immediately pounced, scrambling onto the bed with her hands and feet.
Seeing this, Ling Anxun couldn’t help but laugh, reaching out to lift her up.
"Don’t worry, Papa. I’m a very good sleeper. I don’t move at all, I don’t kick the blankets, and I don’t snore!"
She looked up and promised with a very serious expression.
The moment she finished speaking, she let out a small yawn.
Ling Anxun leaned against the headboard, his eyes half-closed, but his ears remained alert.
Every so often, he would reach out to touch her forehead.
In the middle of the night, Shanshan started kicking wildly.
The first time, he just gently nudged her little feet back.
The second time, he frowned.
The third time, one of her feet kicked him squarely in the chest.
He opened his eyes and looked at Shanshan’s small, sweetly sleeping face.
With no other choice, he took a blanket and wrapped her up like a little burrito.
After wrapping her, he stared for a few seconds, afraid she might suffocate.
But the little girl just hummed, snuggled closer to him, and fell soundly back to sleep.
From then on, the two of them settled down by the mountain.
They planted vegetables outside the house and raised chickens behind it. In the mornings, there were birdsongs, and at night, the chirping of insects.
Every day, Ling Anxun would wheel himself around the yard.
Sometimes he read, and sometimes he just spaced out.
Meanwhile, Shanshan would run around his feet, humming an out-of-tune song.
Using "gathering herbs" as an excuse, she would slip into the woods every few days.
As the weather warmed, the flowers and grasses in the mountains awoke, and the insects and birds became active.
For Shanshan, it was like stepping into a fairy tale world.
She would walk barefoot on the damp moss.
When the wind blew, the treetops would sway.
Sunlight scattered down, landing on her like a veil of light.
Her true form was a Little Golden Dragon, so whenever she entered the mountains, little rabbits, squirrels, and hedgehogs would all gather around her.
But she was afraid of worrying her papa, so she was always extra careful when she went out. She would leave with clean clothes and come back just as clean.
Even when playing by the stream, she would use small stones as stepping stones to keep her boots from getting soaked.
After this happened a few times, Ling Anxun gradually began to relax.
A night of spring rain fell, silently nurturing all things.
The next morning, a white mist swirled through the mountains, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of soil.
Beside deadwood, under tree roots, and in the cracks of rocks, mushrooms poked their heads out one by one.
Early in the morning, Zhang Yunhua picked up a basket to go pick mushrooms in the mountains.
Hearing this from the next yard, Shanshan immediately jumped out and shouted.
"Aunty, wait for me! I want to go too!"
Zhang Yunhua turned to look.
Seeing her running while trying to pull on her shoes, nearly tripping over the threshold, she couldn’t help but laugh.
"Come on, come on, don’t fall!"
She stepped aside to make room, instinctively placing a hand on her lower back.
’The child is clever; bringing her along to the mountains means they can look out for each other.’
Shanshan ran back into the house, found her own basket, and pulled on her rain boots.
She then tied her hair into braids in front of the mirror, deliberately adding a red bow, before skipping out the door.
Ling Anxun sat in his wheelchair, a smile on his face as he watched her bustle about.
As his legs had slowly begun to heal, the weight on his heart had finally lightened.
More importantly, he no longer felt like a useless person.
On the small path, figures moved through the mist in twos and threes.
Some carried baskets, others shouldered hoes, and the sound of laughter and chatter echoed through the woods.
Cao Jiajia was also mixed in with the group.
In the past, she always went up the mountain with a group of friends, chattering and laughing loudly.
But in the last two years, she had been spoiled rotten by Liu Yingzi.
Everyone was afraid that if she got a scrape or a bump, they would be the ones to get scolded when they got home.
So, one by one, they all started avoiding her.
She stomped her foot in anger, her lower lip jutting out as tears welled up in her eyes.
Gritting her teeth, she decided to secretly follow behind them, determined to prove she could come too.
She walked along, kicking the small pebbles at her feet.
She muttered bad things about her friends under her breath.
As she was cursing them, her eyes suddenly went wide.
All over the mountainside, red, yellow, and white mushrooms popped out of the ground like little umbrellas.
"Oh my god! How could that bunch of idiots not see such pretty mushrooms?!"
She clapped her hands in delight, her eyes sparkling.
Without hesitation, she bent down and started picking them.
"They’re all mine! All mine!"
When she finally straightened up, she rubbed her sore back.
Lifting her head, her gaze met Shanshan’s questioning eyes.
"You little brat, what are you doing here?"
"What’s with the way you talk? Have you no respect? Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?"
The moment Zhang Yunhua heard the words "little brat," she exploded.
Cao Jiajia flinched in fright and quickly changed her tune.
"N-no, that’s not it... Shanshan, what... what are you doing here too?"
"I can’t be here? But you can?"
Shanshan rolled her eyes.
’Why does this kid always ask such brainless questions?’
She glanced at the mushrooms in Cao Jiajia’s basket and couldn’t help but frown.
’Tsk, the whole forest is full of edible gray mushrooms and matsutake, but she just had to pick a bunch of poisonous ones.’
’She really has "great" taste in picking things.’
Zhang Yunhua couldn’t be bothered to get involved in the children’s squabble.
Seeing that Cao Jiajia didn’t dare to speak nonsense anymore, she muttered a few words and turned to pick mushrooms elsewhere.
Shanshan looked at Cao Jiajia’s silly face, her frown deepening.
In the end, her heart softened for a moment, and she spoke up to warn her.
"I’m telling you this for your own good. Everything in your basket is poisonous. You can’t touch them, and you definitely can’t eat them."
"The ones *you’re* picking are poisonous!"
Cao Jiajia immediately retorted, her face flushing red.
"You must be jealous because you couldn’t find any and saw how many I picked, right? These mushrooms are so pretty, how could they be poisonous?"
She clutched her basket and took a step back, a triumphant glint in her eyes.
Seeing her act like this, Shanshan found it both laughable and exasperating.
She shook her head, not bothering to waste any more words.
"Fine. You eat your poisonous mushrooms. It’s none of my business."
With that, she turned to leave.
"Hmph, you’re just jealous of me!"
Cao Jiajia shouted at her retreating back.