Chapter Twelve: Worries

  She returned home, and her mother sternly and seriously warned her, telling her about the time she almost drowned while fishing in the river last time, and ordered her not to do anything dangerous alone from now on. From then on, her father would take care of the fishing.

  "You've lost your memory now, and you can't remember many things, so be more careful."

  After hearing it, I don't know what to say. With a rough voice, I shouted: "Mom... you're also too exaggerated."

  This girl is still her own flesh and blood after all, no matter what, and this body of hers is indeed the daughter she gave birth to, it's an undeniable fact.

  Then she has nothing to worry about, just call her, it won't cost a piece of meat.

  Zhi Xiao continued: "I didn't just catch fish today, I also picked wild vegetables to sell. Look at the money on me, it's all earned by myself today, isn't that impressive?"

  Knowing that some of the show-offs had dozens of copper plates tied to their waists with hemp ropes, they showed them to Lan Niang.

  Let her rest, she wants to be strictly supervised, she doesn't like being treated like a child, although her current body is that of a child, not allowing this and not allowing that, where's the freedom in that?

  It's better to make it clear to this newly acquainted woman as soon as possible and dispel this unrealistic idea.

  But Lian Niang was secretly shocked when she heard her say that, and thought to herself: I originally thought this stinky girl came into the city alone just to have some fun, who knew she actually went to do business, this is simply lawless.

  "Ah! You stinky kid, you're getting more and more opinionated!" A loud shout rang out, and Lian Niang stood up straight, pointing at the little girl.

  They had been thinking of taking a break from her wandering thoughts, but she was fine, and in just these two days, she could take advantage of their carelessness and go to the city to do business.

  Before they left, they told her to just stay on the mountain and take care of herself, with food and supplies ready for her, even filling up the water vat for the past two days. But this disobedient one not only got herself lost in thought, but also kept coming up with things she shouldn't be doing.

  Really, Lan Niang was so angry that her head swelled up, and she stared straight at her daughter with a scowl.

  This girl thinks it's easy to go to the city, what have they been hiding in this poor and remote place for all these years? Qiao Zheng had already found out about it outside. That guy's official position is getting bigger and bigger, and it's said that he's even favored by the emperor, with eyes and ears all over the place, just because they weren't careful enough, this girl came up with something big again, which gave her a huge shock.

  Lan Niang is now somewhat regretful, she should have left Liu Jian to stay at home and take care of her. She should have gone to pay respects to her sister first, but... Alas, what's the use now? This silly girl has made herself lose her memory, how can she still remember the things she repeatedly reminded herself about?

  Lan Niang's head is very big, and some things can't be said to this little girl. With her temperament, it seems even more impossible now.

  She has nothing but her own troubles now.

  There is no other way.

  "Do you know, have you met anyone unusual? Has anyone strange come to talk to you?" Lan Niang stared at her face intently, asking cautiously, wanting to see some clues on her face about what had happened in the past two days when she wasn't by her side.

  Knowing that she has such an expression of not understanding, "Who can I meet? I have no money and wear tattered clothes. Who will pay attention to me? Seeing me hiding is not enough." She remembered that there were many people like this.

  Jian Lanhua still looked a bit disbelieving, furrowing her brow, her face full of worry. Zhi Xiao couldn't help but laugh, "No, really, mom what's wrong?" Zhi Xiao asked in confusion, finding it strange that she was acting this way.

  Lan Niang couldn't read anything from Zhi Xiao's face either. Perhaps after all these years, he had relaxed a bit. After all, he didn't even know if his sister was having a boy or girl. Thinking of this, Lan Niang's heart finally relaxed a little.

  "It's nothing, just be careful when you meet bad people, it's fine if nothing happens."

  Lan Niang only then shifted her gaze to her hand, and was shocked again. In just two days, her daughter had earned a lot of money, and it wasn't a small amount either, judging from the thick wad of cash in her hand.

  "There's also money from selling wild vegetables."

  Lan Niang knew what the wild vegetables were, and her daughter had excitedly pointed them out to her just now on the side of the road. But she still didn't quite believe they were worth anything - weren't they just a bunch of weeds? "Can this stuff really be sold for money?"

  "It's naturally more expensive than fish, and I only found out when I overheard someone talking about it in the city." She explained how she knew that wild vegetables could be sold for money, otherwise she would have been scared, after all, she was no longer the original owner.

  "You're still quite clever for a girl."

  Lan Niang thought to herself, this child used to see others eating and being greedy in the village, now that he knows money can be exchanged for things, after entering the city he's come to know the wonders of money, probably from now on he'll want to run into the city even more.

  As soon as she saw her two eyes shining with excitement, counting the money on the dinner table again and again, Lan Niang's heart was filled with anxiety, her eyebrows furrowed, but she still endured it and didn't say anything.

  After dinner, Zhi Xiao accompanied her mother in the house, while her father was ordered to go and cut vines to weave fish baskets, now Zhi Xiao is much more at ease.

  Lan Niang sat beside her, helping her mend the hole in her shoe. She picked up and put down the needle several times, hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Zhi Xiao, are you going into town again tomorrow?"

  "Of course, this was all agreed upon with the shopkeeper." Zhi Xiao nodded without hesitation.

  Lan Niang's eyebrows furrowed even tighter, "I know tomorrow your father is going into town to sell those wild vegetables, don't go with him. You and I will stay in the mountains and take another look around to see if there are any other wild vegetables."

  Zhī xiǎo tū rán bù mǎn, dèng dà shuāng yǎn, dīng zhe zhè gāng rèn xià de niáng, yǒu xiē bù fú qì: "wèi shén me, zhè shēng yì shì wǒ zhǎo lái de."

  Translation:

  Zhixiao suddenly became dissatisfied, widened his eyes and stared at this newly recognized mother, somewhat discontented: "Why, this business was brought by me."

  Lan Niang took one look at her angry little face, and then listened to what she had to say. She suddenly understood that this girl had misunderstood something. Her own anxious and worried mood immediately eased up a lot.

  "This money, your father and mother won't take it. After exchanging the money, bring it back and hand it over to you for safekeeping, but you are not allowed to enter the city again. Tomorrow, stay with your mother on the mountain."

  Lan Niang's words left no room for maneuver, and seeing that Zhi Xiao still didn't respond, she coaxed again: "Why don't I give you some fabric to make a new outfit? It's almost New Year's, let's get into the festive spirit."

  Knowing that there was some uncertainty, "Really put all the money I earned under my control?" After getting Lan's serious nod of guarantee, Knowing felt a little happy in her heart, "Buy some more big meat buns and the shaobing I ate today, use the money from selling wild vegetables, I don't know if it's enough?"

  At night, Zhi Xiao and her mother squeezed onto one bed, while her father was unwilling to go back and slept outside, setting up a small bed for the night.

  The next day, Zhi Xiao got up from the warm bed and saw that Lan Niang had already cooked a porridge with mixed grains and brought it to the table. There were also several buns roasted on the stove. Seeing Zhi Xiao wake up, she stood there in a daze, looking like she just woke up. Lan Niang couldn't help but laugh and hurriedly called out to her to wash her face with hot water, then helped her comb her hair, and finally picked up the steaming bowl and started drinking noisily.

  She woke up early to go by the river, thinking that it's not bad after all, having a pair of cheap parents who care about her is better than being alone in her past life. The people here call her "calamity star", but these two parents are still okay.

  After breakfast, Zhi Xiao waited for Lan Niang to finish cleaning up before being taken care of by her mother to go find her father together.

  Liu Jian was busy making fish baskets by the river, with three brand new ones placed at his feet, adding to the nearly ten he had made before. The fish in this river were probably all going to be caught by his family at this rate.

  "This method is great, the rattan is also solid, and fish love to eat it. How come I didn't think of this before?" Praising Knows-a-lot for a while.

  She knew that she was also using local materials, and it just so happened. Looking closely at the net from last night, three fish of different sizes were caught, all squeezed into a wooden bucket, weighing over ten kilograms.

  "The fish in winter are really big." Lan Niang looked at the fish in the bucket and couldn't help but laugh. She thought her daughter was a bit mischievous, but also quite clever.

  "Later on, when we go to the market to sell them, they will definitely be sold out." Liu Jian was in a good mood, having been busy since early morning.

  "Dad, why don't we go sell it at that restaurant? It'll save us a lot of effort."

  "Fool, they're buying at wholesale price and we sell at retail price. It's a bit of trouble, but this way, we can make quite a bit more money. And let your dad buy you some sugar to eat, sweeten up your mouth, so you won't go snatch food from others again and bring shame to your parents."

  Lan Niang remembered that in the past, she had seen Er Bao's father bring back sugar from the city and eat it happily with others at the village entrance. However, Zhi Xiao saw her and tricked her into going to the woods, where he beat her up and took away the sugar from her hand. Shaking his head helplessly, he thought that they owed her one.