Chapter 39: Chapter 39: A Bountiful Harvest

He placed an order almost without thinking.

After working overtime until the early hours, Wang Tao was exhausted and sleepy. When he got home and saw the box of oxheart persimmons that had already been delivered to his door, he grabbed it and brought it inside without paying much attention.

He rummaged through his house but couldn’t find anything to eat, so he casually opened the box of persimmons, took one out, and took a bite.

The taste surprised him—it was both similar to and different from the persimmons he’d had before. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what was different, but it was undeniably delicious.

He thought to himself, “This seller really knows their stuff. It’s not as miraculous as they claimed, but the flavor is worth the price. Guess I won’t file a complaint after all.”

Starving, he devoured three persimmons in a row, and suddenly realized he was feeling more and more energized with each bite.

A wave of unprecedented lightness washed over his body—he felt like he could pull another all-nighter.

Weird. These persimmons must be enchanted or something.

He ate another one, and felt completely refreshed, better than he’d ever felt before.

This was nothing like forcing himself to stay awake with coffee—right now, he genuinely felt invigorated from head to toe.

The next moment, he hurriedly opened the Taobao page, found the link for the persimmons, and frantically placed another order—thirty pounds this time, just to be safe.

Then he went on a spree, recommending these oxheart persimmons to all his friends on social media.

Delicious and energizing—only those who try them will understand.

And this wasn’t just happening to him.

Many people had bought the persimmons out of curiosity or even to “expose a scam,” but ended up admitting they were amazing!

Soon, everyone was raving about them.

It’s one thing if only one person says something is good, but if a whole group of people say so, it must really be good.

Overnight, these oxheart persimmons went viral and sold out everywhere!

Everyone wanted to try these legendary persimmons.

—

Gu Qinghuan had no idea her farm products were about to take the internet by storm. At that moment, she was trekking nervously through the mountains, clutching a wooden stick, her eyes and ears alert for any sign of danger.

She deliberately went to places where few people ever set foot, since that’s where the best finds were likely to be.

If people had already been somewhere, there was no point looking—calling it “picking the bones clean” wouldn’t be an exaggeration. If it was edible, even the roots would be gone.

She only dared to venture into these perilous mountains because of her skills and the protection of her spatial ability.

Unlike Lin Xiaomeng, she didn’t have any special luck. She’d already run into plenty of dangers along the way.

She saw an adult leopard eating a lone rabbit.

She also ran into a group of wild boars foraging for food.

Luckily, her spatial ability helped her narrowly avoid them.

But she’d also made quite a haul along the way.

She found a whole grove of Korean pine trees and moved them all into her space. The pinecones were full of plump pine nuts—she could harvest them slowly when she got home.

After taking the pine trees, Gu Qinghuan scattered the fallen seeds back onto the ground and watered them with spiritual spring water. She believed that by next year, a new pine forest would sprout.

Besides the pine trees, she also found two wild lingzhi mushrooms as big as dinner plates, four lion’s mane mushrooms, a patch of schisandra vines, and four wild blueberry bushes.

She recognized the blueberry bushes from the remains of fruit on the ground. Blueberry season was over, so there was nothing left on the branches, but she moved the bushes into her space to nurture them—by next year, she’d be eating blueberries.

She didn’t take everything, though. She watered the remaining blueberry seedlings in the ground with spiritual spring water.

There were also fruit trees that hadn’t finished bearing: five pear trees, three hawthorn trees, two jujube trees, and two large wild grapevines.

They were all heavy with fruit, so she took them all.

Now she’d have frozen pears and candied hawthorns for winter. The grapes could be made into wine or eaten fresh, and jujubes were great for nourishing the blood.

As always, she left seeds behind so new fruit trees would grow next year. That’s the way to sustainable development.

After transplanting all the plants into her space, Gu Qinghuan gave them all a generous watering with spiritual spring water. In a few days, once the water had worked its magic and improved their flavor, she could harvest them.

She’d had a great haul of plants, but the meat she’d been craving was another story.

There were plenty of wild chickens and rabbits in the mountains—if you weren’t careful, you’d see them darting right past you.

But the problem was, she could barely walk, let alone catch wild game. She could only watch from afar, drooling.

Although spiritual spring water attracted animals, she didn’t dare use it.

She was deep in the mountains—if she attracted too many large animals and something went wrong, she might not make it out in one piece.

Better safe than sorry. She’d figure something out later. Anyway, she still had plenty of meat at home, and the freezer in her villa was well-stocked. If all else failed, she could always buy more from the vending machine.

No point risking her life just for a taste of wild game.

Getting something for free is great, but you have to live to enjoy it.

It was about time to head back—she’d wandered farther than she realized, and it would take another hour to get home. By the time she arrived, it would probably be dark.

Thinking of this, Gu Qinghuan quickened her pace.

Bang!

She was walking too fast and tripped over a rotten tree stump, bumping her head against something.

Luckily, it wasn’t a rock, or she’d have a huge bump on her forehead.

She reached up to touch her forehead and pulled off something sticky.

It turned out to be a wood ear mushroom.

Looking closely, she saw several decaying basswood logs on the ground, all covered in clusters of black wood ear mushrooms.

These were genuine wild black wood ears—real treasures.

Black wood ear mushrooms are known as the “aspirin of food,” but without the side effects. They help prevent and treat cholesterol issues, blood clots, coronary heart disease, and more.

They’re also natural cleansers for the body, with strong absorptive properties. Eating them regularly helps clean out your digestive tract.

Gu Qinghuan felt like she’d struck gold and quickly moved all the basswood logs into her space.

Maybe she’d been so focused on looking for fruit trees—and so tense—that she hadn’t noticed this patch of dead basswood logs, all covered in black wood ear mushrooms.

As she walked, she kept an eye out and collected even more.

By the time she neared home, it was completely dark.

There was a patch of schisandra berries in her space, so Gu Qinghuan harvested them all and put them up for sale in the vending machine—a total of 1,320 jin (about 1,320 pounds).

She kept just one sack of schisandra berries, slung it over her shoulder, and headed home.

She also took off her jacket and filled it with persimmons and chestnuts from her space, and wrapped some black wood ear mushrooms in leaves.

Loaded down with her bounty, Gu Qinghuan had just reached her doorstep and was about to knock when the door suddenly opened from inside.

The two kids rushed out. Beibei shouted happily, “Mom, you’re finally home!”

Zhong Zijun followed with a smile, “Why are you back so late? These two have been standing at the door since before dark, peeking out the crack, waiting for you.”

“I went a bit far today, but look what I found! I’ll sort them out after dinner,” Gu Qinghuan said, pointing to her clothes.

“Oh, you even found persimmons and jujubes! You must be tired. Let’s eat first—I made multigrain steamed buns and cold shredded potatoes,” Zhong Zijun said, hurrying inside to set the table.

She was gradually getting used to working with one hand. Cooking was much easier than working in the cowshed.

Gu Qinghuan put the sack of schisandra berries in the yard, washed her hands, and led the two kids inside.

“Mom, Grandma taught us arithmetic and how to write our names today. I learned everything!” Dabao reported proudly.

Beibei, not as advanced as her brother, was afraid of being outdone and quickly added, “Grandma said I did great too! I even helped her make steamed buns!”

Gu Qinghuan ruffled their hair. “You’re both amazing! Come on, let’s eat.”"

"Chapter 40: Private Plot, Falling Over