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

It was just past noon, and the courtyard was quiet. The four children had been soothed to sleep, and the sound of even breathing came from the east wing. Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing had just sat down, preparing to catch their breath, when they heard Chen Xiaohe's voice calling from outside the courtyard gate:

"Sister-in-law! Xiaoqing! Come quickly and help!"

The two sisters quickly got up and walked into the yard. They saw Chen Xiaohe driving an oxcart into the yard, with three large baskets piled on it, full of lush green wild vegetables. The fresh aroma could be smelled from afar.

Su Xiaoyin poured a bowl of warm water and handed it to him: "Xiaohe, have some water first. Why did you come back alone? Where are Dashan and Dad?"

Chen Xiaohe took the bowl, gulped it down, and wiped his mouth: "Dad and my older brother are still on the mountain! The wild vegetables are so tender right now, they're everywhere, and they don't want to come down. I'll bring these three full baskets back first, and then I'll replace them with empty ones before I go back."

Su Xiaoqing had already nimbly slipped into the kitchen, wrapped the leftover flatbread and pickled vegetable strips from lunch in oil paper, and handed them to him: "These are the leftovers from lunch. The dry food you brought this morning probably won't be enough, so take them all."

"Ah, Xiaoqing is so thoughtful." Chen Xiaohe took the dry rations, then picked up three empty large baskets from the warehouse. After thinking for a moment, he took a large shovel. "Oh, right, we found a Chinese toon sapling on the mountain. It's quite small. Dad said to dig it up and plant it on our barren mountain. I'll take two more burlap sacks."

Su Xiaoyin nodded: "Then be careful, and come back as soon as possible."

"Don't worry!" Chen Xiaohe stacked the three large baskets and drove the oxcart away again.

The courtyard fell silent again. The two sisters looked at the large basket full of wild vegetables—the other two baskets belonged to their father and Chen Dashan, and were also full—exchanged a glance, and simultaneously rolled up their sleeves.

"Sister, let's get ready." Su Xiaoqing had already started dragging the largest basket to the well. "First, pick out what Manager Wang wants, and then pickle or dry the rest."

Su Xiaoyin nodded and took an empty large wicker basket: "Okay. We need to dry more this year. Last year, Mom and the others set up a stall in the county town and sold those dried mushrooms and dried wild vegetables for more than two taels of silver. If we dry more this year, we might be able to sell even more."

These words warmed the hearts of the two sisters. Two taels of silver was no small sum for a farming family. If they dried even more this year, it would be…

"Sister, let's hurry!" Su Xiaoqing was full of energy and had already started sorting.

---

When Chen Xiaohe found his father and Chen Dashan on the mountain, the two were squatting next to a thicket of water celery, picking the tender tips without looking up.

"Dad, Big Brother, eat first!" Chen Xiaohe handed over the dry rations. "Xiaoqing asked me to bring these; they're leftover flatbread and pickled vegetables from lunch."

Chen's father straightened up, took the pancake, took a bite, and said indistinctly, "You've come at the right time. If you had come any later, we would have picked all the water celery."

Chen Dashan also took the dry rations, eating while looking around: "There are obviously more people on the mountain today. There weren't many people this morning, but now you can see people everywhere."

Mr. Chen nodded, swallowing the flatbread in his mouth: "There will probably be even more tomorrow. We'll grab the wild vegetables from our own mountain area for one more day tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow we won't compete with them; we'll go to our own barren mountain."

Chen Xiaohe asked, "Dad, are we not going to plant anything on that barren mountain for now?"

"Plant, of course we'll plant." Father Chen took a sip of water. "We've planted soybeans again at the foot of the mountain, and we need to clear the mountain as well. We'll plant all the new melon seedlings we bought this year there. The watermelons we planted on the mountain last year tasted good. Let's see how the new seeds do this year. As for planting the melon seedlings, we'll have to wait a few more days. The temperature on the mountain is still a bit low at night, so they won't survive easily."

Chen Dashan added from the side, "Let's grab the wild vegetables first these few days, they'll get too old and won't fetch a good price. No rush for the melon seedlings, we can plant them after this wave of wild vegetables is over. Oh, and Dad, go to the county town and buy some more melon seedlings, just in case the seedlings from the neighboring county aren't as sweet as the ones from our town, so we'll have a backup plan."

Chen Xiaohe finished the pancake in a few bites, patted the crumbs off his hands, and said, "Brother is right. Shall we dig up the toon seedlings first, and then see if there are any more nearby? It would be great if we could find a few more to plant on our barren mountain. We didn't find any toon seedlings when we went to the neighboring county to buy them. If we could have a few ourselves, we could eat toon every year."

Chen's father stood up, brushing the grass clippings off his clothes: "Come on, let's dig up those few first. After that, we'll wander around. I know this mountain well; there might be more."

The three men shouldered baskets, grabbed shovels, and headed towards where they had found the Chinese toon seedlings. A mountain breeze carried the fresh scent of grass and trees, and the distant chirping of birds made the forest even more tranquil.

---

At home, Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing were busy as bees.

A large basket of wild vegetables was emptied into a wicker basket, and the two sisters squatted by the well, carefully sorting them one by one. Toona sinensis had to be set aside separately—it was precious and could fetch a good price in the county town. Water celery and shepherd's purse were specifically requested by Manager Wang, and they also had to be picked out. Wild garlic bulbs were small but flavorful; they could keep them for their own consumption or dry them. There were also some other wild vegetables they didn't know the names of, but as long as they were tender, they were kept.

"Sister, look at this water celery, how tender it is!" Su Xiaoqing held up a bunch of emerald green water celery, water droplets dripping down the stems. "Manager Wang will definitely be happy to see this."

Su Xiaoyin nodded with a smile: "That's right. We'll send another batch tomorrow, and that'll be another source of income."

The selected wild vegetables were sorted and placed aside, ready to be blanched and dried. The rest needed to be processed quickly—some were pickled, some were dried, and nothing was wasted.

As the sun gradually set in the west, rows of wild vegetables were already laid out on the drying racks in the yard. The tender green, dark green, and purplish-red vegetables glistened with an oily sheen in the sunlight.

Su Xiaoyin straightened up, stretched her slightly sore back, and looked at the "harvest" filling the yard, a feeling of indescribable satisfaction welling up inside her. At this time of year, they were still worried about making a living; this year, they were living so comfortably.

The sound of a child crying came from inside the house—Afu had woken up.

"I'll go take a look." Su Xiaoqing wiped her hands and quickly went into the house.

Su Xiaoyin continued tidying up the remaining wild vegetables, a faint smile on her lips. Life was like this, busy day after day, yet peaceful and stable. And these wild vegetables gathered from the mountains were not just money, but also a testament to the family's gradual improvement.

The afterglow of the setting sun bathed the courtyard, and wisps of smoke rose from the kitchen chimney. In the distance, on the mountain, Father Chen, with his two sons, carried the toon tree saplings they had dug up, walking home in the twilight.

This spring, the harvest has only just begun.