It was autumn and the forest was filled with the chirping of insects. Occasionally, they would look up and see birds jumping and frolicking among the branches. The afternoon sun shone down on the forest and it was peaceful.
After lunch, the young couple did not rest. Gu Dong walked around the courtyard for a long time, but he could not find the old basket he used a long time ago. In the end, he gave the Ai Cao a small cloth bag and led her into the mountain.
The Ai Cao looked at the small bag in her hand and slightly pouted. She was a little disgusted by the person who made it. Putting aside the fact that the cloth was pieced together from seven to eight different types of cloth of different ages, just looking at the stitches, Mugwort felt that it was not as good as the stitches she made when she was six years old when she first started practicing needlework.
However, when she looked carefully, the stitches were exactly the same as the ones she was wearing. Suddenly, the Ai Cao had a guess in her heart. She felt that Gu Dong's clothes and the small cloth bag were most likely made by Gu Dong himself.
As a man, it must have been very difficult for him to make these by himself, right?
The Ai Cao looked at the man in front of her who was striding forward with the basket on his back. Thinking about his background, she suddenly felt a little sympathy for him. In any case, she spent her first sixteen years in the Duke's Public House in luxury. Gu Dong, on the other hand, probably came to the village when he was six or seven years old and had been living like this ever since.
When she thought of this, she was disgusted by the shoddy workmanship earlier. Now, she looked at the ragged cloth bag in her hand and actually felt that it was a little cute.
"What are you thinking about? Hurry up!" The Ai Cao was in a good mood and smiled. Gu Dong happened to see her smile when he turned around.
This silly girl doesn't know how to watch the road. What's the point of staring at the ragged cloth bag in her hand? There are a lot of gravel under her feet. If she tripped and fell, she would cry out in pain.
"It's none of your business!" The Ai Cao pouted. Her good mood was instantly destroyed by Gu Dong's disdainful look. Hmph, a ragged cloth bag will always be a ragged cloth bag. It's so ugly.
"Alright, hurry up. Finish walking in front." Gu Dong walked quickly. He was afraid that if he didn't pay attention and walked too far into the mountains, the Ai Cao would lose him again.
Ai Cao quickly trotted over to Gu Dong's side. She looked up at him and asked, "Why didn't we go up the mountain from the main road?"
Most of the grass under his feet had not been trampled to death. With one look, he could tell that very few people used this path. In addition, not only was the road narrow, but the weeds would also trip people. From time to time, they would step on pebbles under the grass and kick the pebbles, making it difficult to walk.
The main road was different. The villagers often walked up the mountain. After a long time, there were many paths. Ai Cao remembered that there were a lot of wild vegetables on both sides of the main road.
"You can find food on this path!" Gu Dong yelled at the Ai Cao impatiently.
Really, where did this person's temper come from? Ai Cao looked at Gu Dong's unhappy face and didn't know how she had offended him. She quickly ran to catch up with him. However, in her heart, she labeled Gu Dong as someone with an unpredictable personality.
In fact, Gu Dong was angry. It wasn't because he was unhappy with Ai Cao. It was because he was embarrassed by her question.
He also knew that it was easy to walk on the main road. However, because of his family background, when he went out or went up the mountain to look for food, as long as people saw him, they would point at each other from afar and avoid him. There were even children who threw pebbles and mud at him.
Although the situation was slightly better in recent years and the villagers were not so crazy, he didn't like to go into the crowd.
He also didn't like to walk on the main road with the most people. Every time he went up the mountain, if he wasn't with Fu Jiu or Yang Xiaoshu, he would go out alone and head west. He would step over the pile of rocks and follow the path.
The further he went, the more luxuriant the vegetation became. Gradually, the surrounding weeds could cover the Ai Cao's head. Gu Dong looked around and found a stick for the Ai Cao.
"Here, walk on the grass in front. Follow the footprints and you'll reach it after turning a corner."
"What about you?" Ai Cao turned around and unconsciously reached out her small hand to grab Gu Dong's arm. She blinked her big eyes and asked him with a satisfied expression.
They were now deep in the mountains. Surrounded by dense forests, it was cold and she was a little scared.
She really had the guts of a rabbit. Gu Dong looked at her small movements and chuckled. He explained to her, "There's a big hill in front. There are few trees. After turning the corner, you'll have a wide field of vision. The sun is good there. You go look for wild vegetables. I'll walk around and see if there are any rabbits or birds. "
"Oh." Although Mugwort agreed, it could be seen from her wrinkled face that she wasn't very willing in her heart.
She had never been alone in the wilderness before. What would she do if she met a wolf?
"Forget it. Let's go. Let's go. I'll go take a look at the hill first." Gu Dong grabbed Ai Cao's small arm and pulled her forward. He complained that she was too troublesome and timid.
Ai Cao didn't care about what he muttered. She was happy that he got what he wanted.
After walking through the dense forest and turning a corner, the field of vision in front was indeed wider and there were more wild vegetables. Gu Dong put down his basket and let Ai Cao pick the wild vegetables. He walked around to see if there were any traces of wild animals.
There were not many people in this area. The wild vegetables were in large patches, especially the gray vegetables. Ai Cao squatted on the ground and picked the tender ones. Seeing that Gu Dong was not far from her, she lowered her head and couldn't hide the smile on her small face.
Gray vegetables, cow's ear, purslane, wild celery, etc. After a while, Ai Cao got a lot of them. She looked at them and estimated that they were almost there. She pulled the basket over and thought about how to put them in it.
"Here!" Gu Dong said in a rough voice. He stretched his arm in front of her face to give her something, but his movement scared Ai Cao.
Ai Cao worked seriously and was completely unprepared. Her expression changed when Gu Dong moved.
Anyone who was scared from behind would be angry. Ai Cao was so scared that cold sweat broke out on her face. She looked up and saw that it was Gu Dong. She pushed him hard and tears came out.
"Hey, hey, don't cry. I didn't mean to scare you. I want to give you something." Gu Dong opened his hand and there was a small purplish-red fruit in it. "Lantern fruit."
Ai Cao rubbed her eyes and looked at Gu Dong. She then looked at the small fruit in his hand and shouted at him with a sobbing tone, "It's not good-looking!"
It was about the size of a fingertip. It should have just been picked. It was sparkling and round, and the purplish-red color was full. Although she felt that it was not bad, she was still angry from being scared. So she deliberately shouted at Gu Dong that the fruit he picked was ugly.
Gu Dong's move just now really gave her a fright. When she was in the Ai family, Ai Dabao and Ai Yaozong would occasionally scare her when she was working. There was also Ai Ershun. He would always appear behind her silently like Gu Dong did just now, especially when there was no one else in the house.
This kind of thing happened too many times. The timid Mugwort was about to become paranoid because of that family. So when she saw that it was Gu Dong who scared her just now, she was angry.
"Haha, I didn't ask you to look. It's for you to eat." After saying that, Gu Dong pulled Ai Cao's arm and stuffed it into her hand.
This is the fruit of a wild grass, right? Can it be eaten? Ai Cao was seriously doubtful.
"Forget it if you don't want to eat it." Gu Dong saw that Ai Cao did not move. He reached out and pinched two fruits from her palm. He raised his head and threw them into his mouth.
It was sour and sweet. He felt that it was quite delicious.
When he was young, he did not have much to eat. When it was time for the Lantern Fruit to ripen, he would always search for it in the mountains. Every time he found a small handful, he would be happy for half a day. Now that he had grown up, he still habitually pinched a few fruits and stuffed them into his mouth and chewed every time he saw them in the mountains.
However, from the looks of it, Ai Cao did not seem to like them.
"If you don't want to eat them, give them back to me." Gu Dong pretended to take the remaining fruits from Ai Cao's hand. Ai Cao twisted her body and hid her hand.
"They're mine. I'm not giving them to you." When Ai Cao heard that it was edible, she knew that she had misunderstood. Her face turned red, but she still refused to give in and looked at the man in front of her with her head raised.
Gu Dong was a paper tiger. Ai Cao was not afraid of him now!
Gu Dong could not see through her. His little temper came and went, but it was not annoying. In the quiet deep forest, he felt that it was quite good to have someone to talk to. He felt quite comfortable.
Seeing Ai Cao lower her head and eat the fruits, Gu Dong smiled and turned around. He walked over to a big tree that he had already set his sights on.
Hmph, since you're giving me food, I won't argue with you.
Ai Cao held a red fruit in her small hand and put one into her mouth. She bit it lightly and the juice splattered everywhere. It was sour and sweet. It tasted good. The fruit in her hand was finished in a short while. She turned around to look for Gu Dong in a good mood. When she looked up, she saw him hanging from the waist of the tree and climbing up.
"What are you doing?" Ai Cao's big bright eyes were full of confusion. She asked him what he was doing.
"I'm fishing for bird eggs!" Gu Dong replied as he hugged the tree trunk and kicked his legs to climb up. He did not know if it was because Ai Cao was watching him, but his speed increased a lot. He climbed up the tree in a few steps.
"Tonight, we'll eat bird eggs and wild vegetables!" Gu Dong happily pointed to the bird's nest not far from him and showed it to Ai Cao.
"Okay!" Ai Cao stood up and looked at him and the bird's nest with a happy face.
After coming here for so long, she had been eating chaff and wild vegetables all day. She had almost forgotten the taste of eggs.
If it was before, she would have thought that birds were so cute. How could she eat their eggs? But now, especially after experiencing the taste of starvation, she had not eaten a full meal for the past few days. Not to mention bird eggs, even if she stewed a bird, she felt that she could eat it happily.
Alas, had she almost forgotten the virtues of a young miss from an aristocratic family? "Hey, Gu Dong, go catch a bird." Fine, she was thinking about her virtues and eating birds at the same time.
"Uh …" Gu Dong's face turned red. He did not want to say that it was not easy to catch birds in the sky. He could only say: "I just saw a few bird's nests. Let's eat bird eggs first today."
Birds usually built their nests on tall trees at the top. The higher Gu Dong went, the thinner the branches became. He stepped on them and the Ai Cao below was very nervous.
She was worried that he would slip and fall, or that the branch would be too thin to support him and break and fall.
"Be careful!" Ai Cao looked up and shouted at him nervously.
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