Chapter 12: Picking Wild Vegetables and Mushrooms

  Mo Yi'er was amused by the little girl's appearance and couldn't help but laugh, while her heart also felt warm. This child, who had no relation to her, actually cared so much about herself and thought of her well-being, which was truly unexpected.

  However, she still insisted on the idea of finding wild vegetables: "Little Qiangqiang, all the grass that can be called wild vegetables are very nutritious and good for the body. Your mouth and throat won't hurt all the time."

  "Really?" His beady eyes lit up, he was still a kid, and eating barbecue every day would really not be too comfortable for his throat and stomach. If it weren't for the fact that cavemen had always had this habit, I'm afraid the kids would have gotten sick long ago?

  "Of course it's true, why would I lie to you?"

  "Right, you won't deceive me!" Xiao Cui's pure and genuine smile broadened, her heart deeply believing in Mo Yi'er's words, the previous doubt was just a subconscious question.

  In the early days, the jungle was rich in resources, and although for safety reasons they only stayed outside the jungle, they could still see a lot of wild vegetables and mushrooms.

  Mo Yu'er was thrilled to discover the mushrooms and couldn't help but want to scream with excitement, finally having two more types of food to eat.

  "'Gulu gulu' Just thinking about food, Mo Yier's stomach growled loudly. Mo Yier blinked her eyes, thinking that since there were wild vegetables and mushrooms, there should also be fruit. She asked: "Xiao Lai, are there any trees with edible fruits here?"

  "Some are sweet and delicious." Xia La La also smacked her lips, little kids always like to eat sweet things.

  "Great, let's go pick some!" Mo Yier glanced at the mushrooms by her feet, secretly memorizing their location, and went to fill her stomach before coming back to pick them.

  Xiao Lala shook her head: "No way, it's too dangerous in the jungle!"

  Upon hearing this, Mo Yi's disappointment was extreme. "Isn't there any around here?" She couldn't believe it, such a large forest, and only the deep parts had fruit-bearing trees.

  "Huh? The fruit over there in the jungle was discovered when I went hunting with the leader last time, I don't really remember other places." Xia Lala scratched his head, usually he would also pick some fruits to eat, but these days the leader wasn't around and there were fewer people going hunting, so he didn't have time to go pick fruits.

  "Oh! I wish I could go hunting too." Mo Yier thought of the first time he saw Bao Ge, freely swinging in the forest, able to chase after the swiftly running wild boar, it felt really great!

  "That's impossible, Mo Yier, you're a girl, with very little strength, the beasts are fierce, it's safer for you to stay in the cave."

  These words made Mo Yier feel slightly dissatisfied in her heart, and at the same time, she felt that she was indeed a bit too weak. To survive here, she must make herself stronger. Otherwise, she might be trapped near this cave for the rest of her life. She absolutely didn't want such a life!

  "Alright then, let's pick some wild vegetables and mushrooms!" Dismissing the idea of going to find wild fruits first, Mo Yier felt a little disappointed.

  "What's a mushroom?" Xia La La is a curious baby, and she asks about everything she doesn't understand.

  Mo Yu'er walked directly to the big tree and picked a white, round mushroom from the grass in the shade. She remembered that this kind of mushroom should be called double-spored mushroom, only much bigger than what she used to buy in supermarkets in her previous life.

  Thinking of those people's heads, and that super-large wild boar the other day, Mo Yier was rather calm about this much larger mushroom. "That...this is a mushroom!"

  Xiao Lala stared at the mushrooms, her eyes full of disapproval: "How can this thing be eaten? Mo Yier, have you gone hungry and dizzy?"

  "This is really edible, don't you believe me? I'll make it for you to eat tonight!" Mo Yier wasn't angry at Xia's slight skepticism of her. This kind of traditional concept had been passed down and remained in the minds of primitive people, who didn't dare to casually eat things they hadn't eaten before.

  In the following days, Mo Yi carefully identified and picked non-toxic mushrooms and wild vegetables. As for wild vegetables, Xiao Li actually knew more edible species than Mo Yi. He said that in the past when their tribe was poor and had no meat to eat, they would eat these things like cattle and sheep, and were even looked down upon by other tribes because of this. When they could finally afford to eat meat, they stopped eating wild vegetables altogether.

  Because the wild products were really too rich, in a short while they picked many, and their hands were full of wild vegetables.

  Mo Yu'er was in a bit of a predicament, having picked so many things and now wondering how to transport them back. If only she had a basket, but unfortunately, she had only seen baskets woven from bamboo or willow strips and had never tried weaving one herself. It seemed that when she had the time, she should try studying it.

  "Mo Yu'er, what's wrong?" Xiao Ji Ji found her dazed and directly asked without stopping the action of picking wild vegetables.

  "Oh, I was thinking about how we're going to take all these wild vegetables and mushrooms back, there's too many." Mo Yier pointed at the two piles beside them.

  "This is easy, just wait." Xia Lai Lai put down the wild vegetables in her hand and quickly ran into the thicket.

  "Eh, where are you going!" Left Mo Yu'er alone at the edge of the forest, she was also a little scared.

  "I'll be right back." The sound of his voice had barely faded away when he was already out of sight. Before Mo Yi'er could think much about it, his figure reappeared before Mo Yi'er's eyes, sliding down from a thick and large tree. In his hand was a huge leaf that looked like a lotus leaf, with a diameter of at least two meters. It was truly worthy of being in a primitive forest, where even the leaves were so big.

  Mo Yu'er took the leaf and looked at it, discovering that there were many divine-colored veins on its surface. It was precisely because of these veins that this leaf was very sturdy and could be used to carry wild vegetables and mushrooms back. "This leaf is really good, what kind of tree is it from?"

  The little ones didn't answer the name of the tree, they just called all the trees in the forest "trees" without specific names, so Mo Yier called this big-leafed tree a lotus tree.

  After about three hours, the sun was in the middle of the sky, and the two people had already picked a full load of lotus leaves.

  Xiao Lala looked up at the sun in the sky and then looked at the harvest on the big tree leaves, asking: "Mo Yi'er, shall we go back?"

  Mo Yi thought for a moment: "Alright, let's send the wild vegetables and mushrooms back, we'll go find the stone pot again."

  Then the two of them carried the large tree leaves back and forth, and the rich harvest made Mo Yi Er's mood very good. These wild vegetables and mushrooms added up to at least over ten catties! If they weren't afraid that the lotus tree leaves wouldn't be able to hold the weight well, they could have picked even more.

  When they returned to the outside of the cave, the women were resting under a big tree. The weather at noon was too hot and continuing to work would make them sick. Sang Zhen saw Mo Yi'er and Xiao Cha return, smiled and walked up: "What did you bring back? Ah... isn't this wild grass?"