Chapter 37: Empty Basket, Empty Heart

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Empty Basket, Empty Heart

The heavy rain poured for three full days. During this time, it only stopped briefly a few times, never for more than an hour. The rest of the time, the only difference was the intensity of the rain.

The morning broadcast still started at exactly eight o’clock. Today’s weather forecast called for cloudy skies turning into light rain. Huai Yu looked up at the sky, hesitating over whether she should make a trip into the mountains.

The muddy water in the nearby pond was turbid, and she guessed it would take quite a few days to clear up. The pond, spanning roughly half an acre, used to be only half full, but now the water level was completely flush with its banks.

It was just that the water’s pollution index was so high. For a long time to come, obtaining usable water was probably going to be a struggle. She puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

Still, no matter what, it was a precious spring rain. Now that the sky had finally cleared, she could see a layer of tender new leaves sprouting on the distant mountains. The surrounding grassy fields seemed draped in a fuzzy layer of fresh green, the color exceptionally vibrant.

Huai Yu crouched down and brushed her hand against a patch of grass. It felt delicate and tender. She wondered if the Mao Ya’er that would sprout in a while would be edible...

She gathered a few pieces of dry firewood from the shed and carried them back inside. Even in broad daylight, she couldn’t let the fire go out.

Because of the continuous rain, even though she had chosen high ground to build her house and laid a foundation of blue bricks beneath it, the downpour had nearly flooded the interior.

If she didn’t keep a fire going to dry things out, she’d probably end up living in a puddle. But with the fire lit, the room was filled with warm, damp vapor. If the rain didn’t stop soon, Huai Yu suspected she might break out in a rash. She sighed, thinking, "How wonderful it would be to have a proper house."

However, building a house required money. Right now, she only had the 200 points Lin Xuefeng had given her, plus a little bit from before. Her top priority was to save more money so she could feel secure and not be caught off guard if something happened.

So, after adding more wood to the fire, she checked on her bean sprouts—which were growing slowly due to the low temperature—then put on her raincoat and rain boots, hoisted her bamboo basket onto her back, and pushed her bicycle out the door.

Although everyone said that wild vegetables and mushrooms couldn’t be eaten after a heavy rain, Sanqing Mountain was huge. She had to try her luck!

The old-fashioned bicycle was a bit difficult to ride on the muddy ground, but it was still more convenient than walking. It took Huai Yu less than ten minutes to reach Sector 8 of the Rose Corridor.

Parking her bike beside the roses, she reached out her hand, only to pull it back hesitantly.

"Um... the rain has stopped. Are you in a good mood? If you are, could you let me pass? Just secretly."

The Rose Corridor didn’t respond, merely shaking its branches and leaves for a moment. PLOP, PLOP, PLOP, PLOP! Water droplets and soggy petals showered onto the ground.

Huai Yu simply gathered a handful of the thorny branches. "Please! I’m going to starve to death!"

A moment later, the branches in front of her shifted with a RUSTLE. Amidst the PITTER-PATTER of water droplets hitting the earth, they finally opened up a path.

Huai Yu laughed in delight. "You’re such a good flower!"

Basket on her back, she deftly navigated through. As soon as she exited the corridor, she was stunned by the sight before her—

Sanqing Mountain had come alive!

No, it wasn’t exactly that it had come alive. It was just... when she had come here before, although there had been scattered hints of spring, it had mostly been dead branches and yellow leaves. The trees had looked barren and desolate.

But now, after several consecutive downpours, starting from the winding slope right beneath her feet, large clusters of mushrooms and blades of grass had pushed through the layers of dead leaves. Some particularly ambitious plants had even blossomed into small, scattered flowers of purple, blue, pink, and yellow...

Raindrops clung to the blue and purple petals, making the flowers look almost translucent. It was so beautiful!

Clinging to the rocks, she climbed up the small path. She passed a couple of scattered clumps of mushrooms, but because the temperature was too low, they hadn’t grown to a substantial size yet, so Huai Yu had to give up on them for now.

Scattered wild vegetables were also slowly poking their heads out. Rainwater gathered from the mountain and trickled down into streams, and the wild grass on both sides grew exceptionally lush. Huai Yu hadn’t taken many steps before she spotted a cluster of wild leeks.

The broad, tender green leaves seemed to have undergone a furious growth spurt over the past few days. The moment she reached out to pull one, she could feel that the entire wild leek felt very "dirty."

Pausing for a second, she still pulled up two, shook the dirt off their roots, and tossed them into her basket.

Walking further ahead, she could see even denser patches of Osha. However, they hadn’t grown quite as fast and were still very tender and young.

Huai Yu reached out and yanked up a couple of handfuls. The smell was pungent, but... they still felt very "dirty."

She stood in the middle of this treasure trove of a mountain and sighed in dismay. Being surrounded by a mountain of treasures but unable to use any of them—what a frustrating feeling!

After mulling it over, she refused to give up and went to check on the bracken ferns and shepherd’s purse that had been growing so vibrantly before the rain. The area was bursting with life. The bracken ferns that she had previously picked bare had sprouted up again like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. The shepherd’s purse at the bottom of the slope was a lush, shiny green, looking incredibly delightful!

But Huai Yu felt so regretful that she nearly burst into tears.

Because everything in front of her was completely inedible! They were heavily polluted—even worse than the greenbelts she had seen in the city district! They were even worse than the weeds growing right in front of her door!

Her boots didn’t pick up much mud as she stepped on the soft branches and leaves, but her heart felt as if it were caked in thick sludge, heavy and burdened.

At this moment, her small frame was swallowed by an oversized raincoat and equally large rain boots. She carried an empty, massive basket on her back, inside of which lay only a handful of tender Osha leaves and two wild leeks... They didn’t even cover the bottom of the basket.

Halfway down the mountain, Huai Yu remembered something and turned back. The pollution index of these wild vegetables was so high that, at this critical juncture, she didn’t dare casually purify them to sell. But... even if she couldn’t sell them, couldn’t she eat them herself? Even without any seasonings, surely they tasted better than nutrient fluid?

Gritting her teeth, she set down her basket and bent over to pick the wild vegetables once more. She could gather a bit more bracken fern and figure out if she could pickle them once she got back. As for the shepherd’s purse, she would pass—it was hard to preserve, and she didn’t have any eggs to pair it with right now. If she only seasoned it with salt, it would taste just like eating grass... Better to just forget it.

Because salt was so expensive, Huai Yu debated with herself and ultimately didn’t dare to pick too much bracken fern either. Altogether, her harvest only filled a third of her basket.

Still unwilling to accept defeat, she took a detour on her way down the mountain to yank up another handful of wild leeks and Osha.

This trip into the mountains had been incredibly depressing. As Huai Yu rode her bicycle, she realized that even though she had mentally prepared herself, facing reality was still far too difficult. If things continued like this, would bean sprouts be her only source of income for a long time to come?

Growing bean sprouts wasn’t particularly hard. When she checked them this morning, the beans had already sprouted tender shoots over two centimeters long. The problem was that she didn’t know if beans were easy to buy nowadays, or how much they would cost...

Then there were her yam bulbils and peanuts. With both the water and the soil polluted, when would she ever be able to plant them?

HUFF, PUFF. She pedaled the old-fashioned bicycle, her basket empty, her heart equally hollow.

By the time she returned to the treehouse, the sky had grown gloomy again. Subconsciously, Huai Yu looked at the Rose Corridor, which resembled an oil painting in the dim light, and couldn’t help but murmur to herself:

"You’re so fierce... Even Lin Xuefeng didn’t dare beat someone up in front of you. So how did he manage to go to the Wilderness?"