After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

In just eight or nine days, with the help of the villagers and neighbors, the mud-brick walls of the five main rooms were erected solidly. The heavy brick and tile roof was also completed. Although the doors and windows had not yet been installed, the basic shape of a home was already standing prominently on the east side of the Chen family's old house, appearing particularly solid and bright under the clear blue sky of autumn.

The rest are the more detailed tasks: making doors and windows, building furniture, whitewashing the interior walls, and leveling the yard. These can be done slowly, without rushing.

Chen Dashan shifted his work focus to the courtyard of the old house. A makeshift shed had been erected there, where logs that had already been air-dried were piled up. He changed into an even older set of clothes, covered in sawdust, and sat on a low wooden stool, with simple but gleaming tools in front of him—a plane, chisel, saw, ink line, and several carving knives of different sizes. Beside his legs was a ceramic jar filled with water, containing several pieces of polishing pebbles.

After finishing their chores in the kitchen, the Su sisters couldn't resist standing at the entrance to the main room, watching from afar. They saw Chen Dashan pick up a roughly planed piece of wood, glance at it briefly, and then place it steadily on the wooden frame. He held it steady with his left hand and held the plane with his right. He bent down, the muscles in his shoulders and arms bulging slightly with the movement. The plane smoothly pushed against the surface of the wood, and with a soft "swish," a thin, evenly curled sliver of wood hair appeared, carrying the unique fragrance of pine, and drifted to his feet. His movements weren't fast, but they were extremely stable and precise, carrying a calm sense of power. His slightly limping leg, caused by an injury, didn't seem to affect the coordination and stability of his upper body when exerting force.

"Wow..." Su Xiaoqing couldn't help but exclaim softly. It was the first time she had ever seen someone do woodworking so closely. The flying wood shavings, the gradually smoothing and straightening of the wood surface, and Chen Dashan's profile as he was completely focused, as if he were talking to the wood in his hands, all made her feel novel and admiring.

Chen Xiaohe, having appeared out of nowhere, noticed his sister-in-law and Xiaoqing watching intently. He lowered his voice with considerable pride and said, "My older brother is incredibly skilled! Before he got injured, he studied in town for a while, and then he perfected it on his own. Everyone in the village who needs new furniture or farm tools repaired loves to ask him. His mortise and tenon joints are sturdy and beautiful! Once he's finished with his important tasks, I'll have him make a beautiful dressing table for each of you! The kind with a mirror!"

Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing quickly waved their hands, their faces showing some fear.

"No need, no need!" Su Xiaoyin said urgently, "Let Dashan focus on the doors and windows first, those are the most important. The dressing table... we don't need it, really."

"Yes, having a place to live is good enough; there's no rush for those things," Su Xiaoqing echoed. They didn't dare to dream of a dressing table; being able to move into a new, draft-free house as soon as possible was already a great satisfaction.

Chen Dashan, standing under the open shed, seemed to have overheard the conversation. He paused in the plane he was working with. He straightened up, wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead with a coarse cloth, glanced over, and remained silent for a moment before speaking, "The doors, windows, and a few essential pieces of furniture need to be made first. The dressing table... we'll talk about that when things calm down in winter." His tone remained flat, but the implication was clear: he agreed, albeit on a later date.

Su Xiaoyin was taken aback. She watched as Chen Dashan lowered his head again, intently examining the straightness of the wood. A warm feeling washed over her, mixed with a slight unease. He… had actually memorized it?

At this moment, Chen's father carried the plastering board and bucket, while Chen Xiaohe also picked up a bucket full of whitewash, ready to go to the new house to work. The walls needed to be plastered with whitewash to make the house bright and airy. The broken bricks, tiles, and discarded adobe bricks in the yard also needed to be cleared, and the ground needed to be leveled—there was quite a bit of work to do.

Watching her father-in-law and brother-in-law go to the new house, and Chen's mother tidying up the stove, Su Xiaoyin and her sister suddenly felt a little lost. They had helped with cooking and delivering meals during the house construction, but now they couldn't get involved in these delicate tasks, and it seemed like they had suddenly become idle.

Looking at the silhouette of the back mountain bathed in the warm glow of the autumn sun, Su Xiaoyin recalled the plans she and her sister had made a few days ago. Mustering her courage, she walked to her mother, who was mending an old garment, and softly asked, "Mother, if you don't have anything urgent to do today, could you take us for a walk in the back mountain?"

Chen's mother stopped sewing and looked up.

Su Xiaoyin was a little nervous, but she continued, "Back home, every autumn, we would go with Mom to the mountains to pick mushrooms, wood ear fungus, or look for edible wild vegetables. We would dry them and store them to have as a side dish in winter, which was quite nice. We wanted to see if there were any on the mountains around here."

Upon hearing this, Chen's mother smiled knowingly and put down her needlework. "I thought it was something important. Of course, it's great! Before we built the house, I was thinking of picking some autumn mushrooms, but I got so busy that I forgot. If you two hadn't mentioned it, my forgetful brain wouldn't have remembered! Wait here, Mom will get you the baskets!"

As she spoke, she stood up briskly and went to the storage room to find three baskets of different sizes, as well as several short-handled sickles.

"Dashan!" Chen's mother called out towards the open shed, "I'm taking Xiaoyin and Xiaoqing to the back mountain for a stroll and to gather some mountain produce! We'll cook lunch when we get back!"

Chen Dashan looked up at his mother and the two Su sisters, whose faces were filled with anticipation. He nodded and simply said, "The mountain road is slippery, be careful."

"Okay!" Chen's mother replied, handing a small basket to Su Xiaoyin and another to Su Xiaoqing. She carried the largest one on her back and held a sickle in her hand. "Let's go! We'll go to the pine forest behind the mountain. The pine mushrooms and hazel mushrooms are at their fattest this time of year! If we're lucky, we might even find some monkey head mushrooms!"

The two sisters followed their mother up the mountain via a winding path behind the house. The mountain wasn't steep, but it was densely forested. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, which were beginning to turn yellow or red, casting dappled shadows on the grassy areas. The air was fresher than down below, carrying a mixture of earthy, decaying leaves, and vegetation scents, and occasionally, the clear chirping of birds could be heard.

Chen's mother was clearly very familiar with this mountain, pointing as they walked: "Look, under these low shrubs, in damp places, these brown mushrooms love to grow. They have thick caps and are called hazel mushrooms. They're the best for stewing chicken or meat... And look, next to that old pine tree root, there are clumps of yellow ones, those are pine mushrooms. They're especially delicious when dried..."

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing listened attentively and carefully examined the mushrooms. The types of mushrooms in these mountains were somewhat different from those in the south, but the general principles were the same. They quickly found their targets, carefully cut them off from the base with sickles, shook off the dirt and pine needles, and gently placed them into their baskets.

"Mom, there are wood ear mushrooms here!" Su Xiaoqing exclaimed in surprise when she found a cluster of thick, black, ear-shaped wood ear mushrooms on a piece of half-rotten linden wood.

"Great! This is good! It can be stored for a long time after drying." Chen's mother nodded with a smile.

Besides mushrooms and wood ear fungus, they also found some wild mountain leeks and bracken (although some were old, the tender tips were still edible), and even a few jujube trees with bright red berries hanging on them. Chen's mother said that these were good for making tea or drying as snacks.

The forest was quiet, save for the sounds of footsteps, occasional conversations, and the joy of a bountiful harvest. Watching her younger sister excitedly searching for mountain produce and her grandmother skillfully navigating the woods, Su Xiaoyin felt a growing sense of unease from the unfamiliar surroundings, which seemed to melt away amidst this gift of nature.

"You two have good eyesight and are quite efficient," Chen's mother praised with satisfaction as she looked at the increasing harvest in her two daughters-in-law's baskets. "From now on, our family's winter vegetable baskets will depend on this back mountain! After a while, when the frost comes, some of the mushrooms will taste even better."

"Yes, Mom! We'll come whenever we have time!" Su Xiaoqing said happily.

The three had a good harvest, and when they figured it was about time, they carried their heavy baskets down the mountain.

When they returned to the Chen family courtyard, the sun was already high in the sky. Chen's father and Chen Xiaohe had just come back from the new house and were brushing the dust off their clothes. Seeing the mountain produce in their baskets, Chen Xiaohe's eyes lit up: "Wow! You've gathered so much! We're in for a treat tonight!"

Chen Dashan also came out of the open shed, holding a piece of freshly planed window frame material. He looked at the fresh mushrooms, glossy black fungus, and various wild vegetables in his mother's and his two daughters-in-law's baskets. His gaze lingered for a moment on Su Xiaoyin's slightly flushed face, which was covered in fine sweat but had a bright expression, before he silently looked away and said only to his mother, "Mother, you're back."

"You're back! A good harvest! Xiaoyin, Xiaoqing, spread these mushrooms and wood ear fungus out on the mat to dry, pick them clean, and let them air dry in the afternoon sun. Once the wild vegetables are ready, we'll stir-fry some fresh mushrooms and make a cold fern salad tonight!" Mother Chen arranged the tasks with great enthusiasm, the fatigue from building the house seemingly dispelled by the bounty from the forest.

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing quickly agreed, carefully emptying the mountain produce from their baskets and meticulously sorting and classifying it on the old mat that Chen's mother had brought. The fresh scent of sawdust wafted from the open shed, mingling with the aroma of sunshine and earth in the courtyard, along with the tangible gifts of the mountains and forests before them—everything was filled with the texture of life and hope.

The new house stands tall, the carpentry is exquisite, and the baskets are full of mountain produce. At midday this autumn, the Chen family's life is steadily moving forward amidst the rising smoke from the chimneys and the mingled aromas of wood and mushrooms.