The kang (heated brick bed) for left-behind women

Widow Su stole a glance at Lin Dachun and asked in a somewhat servile tone, "Brother Dachun, I knew you were a good person, that you wouldn't bully others, unlike other men."

"Huh?" Lin Dachun looked at the widow Su in front of him.

That servile expression, just like a Japanese woman's.

"I have things to do at home. I'll come visit you another day when I have more free time and can think about these things more easily," Lin Dachun said.

"I'd better head back now; Ruoxue is still waiting for me at home."

These words disappointed Widow Su.

Lin Dachun went home.

"Ruoxue," Lin Dachun squatted by the doorway, took out his pipe but didn't light it, "I'm thinking that relying on the two of us to dig up medicinal herbs all over the mountains isn't a long-term solution."

Li Ruoxue stopped what she was doing and looked at him: "Please speak."

"This stuff is all about luck. The wild ones are getting fewer and fewer, and it's a long way to get to the county, plus we have to be wary of people like Wang the speculator," Lin Dachun sighed. "It's too slow and unreliable to make money. We need to find a more stable way to make a living."

Li Ruoxue nodded; she had thought about this issue long ago.

She took out the old notebook, flipped to the back pages, which contained some scattered thoughts she had jotted down when she was pondering things.

"You're right. I've thought about it too. But as you know, the soil here is poor and fertile. Growing crops is barely enough for our own food. We don't have the capital to start large-scale farming, and we don't have enough feed either. What we have most of is those unwanted plants in the ditches and gullies—sea buckthorn."

"Sea buckthorn?" Lin Dachun paused for a moment, then looked up at the thorny shrubs on the distant hillside, covered with sparse orange-yellow berries.

He was very familiar with this stuff. Even livestock didn't really like to eat it. The fruit was sour and astringent, and nobody touched it except during famine years. Children would occasionally pick it and eat it as wild fruit, but the sourness made them grimace.

"That stuff... it's everywhere on the mountain, what use could it be?"

"I've done some research," Li Ruoxue said with more certainty. "The books say that sea buckthorn berries are highly nutritious, especially rich in vitamins. Our Soviet big brother used them to make fruit juice and canned goods. Its seeds can also be pressed for oil, which is even more precious and I heard is good for the skin."

Lin Dachun felt like he was listening to gibberish as Li Ruoxue used words like "vitamin," "extract," and "precious."

Could there be such a big deal about those sour wild fruits that no one cares about in the mountains?

"Grow sea buckthorn?" he repeated subconsciously, completely unsure. "This stuff is wild; can we really take care of it? Who would we sell it to? Who would want to pay for this tooth-sour stuff?"

"Its wildness means it's easy to grow and doesn't pick and choose its land!" Li Ruoxue's eyes lit up. This was a direction she had been considering for a long time. "We don't need good land; we'll just make use of the barren slopes behind the mountain. As for sales..."

She paused, this was the part she was least confident about. "I've heard that the county's food factory seems to have tried making sea buckthorn juice, but it didn't work out in the end, probably because the raw materials weren't good or the technology wasn't up to par."

"We can start by planting a small amount. If we can grow good quality ones, then we can try to talk to them. Even if they don't want them, we can try making some sea buckthorn jam or soaking it in alcohol ourselves. It's better than letting it rot on the mountain."

Seeing Lin Dachun's furrowed brows, she knew the matter did sound a bit far-fetched, and added, "Anyway, those barren slopes are just lying idle. Even if it doesn't work out, we won't lose much money, just by spending some seeds and labor. But if it does succeed, it'll be a one-of-a-kind opportunity!"

Lin Dachun silently puffed on his long-extinguished pipe.

He looked into Li Ruoxue's hopeful and adventurous eyes, and then thought of the hardships he had endured for most of his life.

If the old path is blocked, we must find a new one.

This sea buckthorn sounds mysterious, but Ruoxue is right, barren slopes are worthless, so let's give it a try.

After a long while, he banged his pipe heavily on the ground and stood up:

"Alright! We'll do as you say. In the spring, let's get some seeds and try planting them on the slope behind the cave dwelling!"

Li Ruoxue immediately smiled and nodded vigorously.

Seeds of hope seem to have fallen on the barren soil of the sea buckthorn plant at this moment.