Chapter 23: Time to Pick Wild Vegetables!
After finishing a big bowl of salt-sugar water, Huai Yu let out a long breath, feeling her strength return.
She picked up the multifunctional shovel and walked back to the door, planning and gesturing.
Of course, she couldn’t build a toilet right next to the house, so Huai Yu decided to use the space in between as an open-air storage area—
By adding a roof, she could store the dangerous dry hay from the treehouse outside. Plus, the roof could act as a corridor, and she could build the toilet shed on the other side.
This way, she wouldn’t have to get wet walking over on rainy days.
After choosing the spot, she began clearing the tree trunks.
She sawed off all the little branches and piled them to the side — they could be used for firewood later.
Next, she looked for the “Y”-shaped fork points on the tree trunks, trying to keep them at a consistent height. Then she laid thinner branches horizontally across the forks, tying them tightly with vines and grass ropes over and over again.
Finally, two 90° rotated [匚]-shaped frames appeared.
Huai Yu measured the distance between the tree trunks and started digging holes — digging deep, then wedging the trunks into place to secure them.
Doing this alone was honestly tough, but since it was only a temporary structure, a little roughness was fine.
When she crossed two beams at the top into an [X] shape from a bird’s-eye view, the frame of the first shed was complete.
But she wasn’t done yet.
Using four of the eight tree trunks and thinner branches as horizontal beams, Huai Yu built a second identical frame about a meter away.
By 3 PM, the framework was finished.
Next came covering it with straw mats.
To save tree trunks, she only built the shed about 1.8 meters high. The two sheds plus the space between them stretched over five meters.
Honestly, it was pretty spacious.
Especially since Huai Yu built it herself, it felt even more spacious.
But at 1.8 meters tall, she couldn’t just climb up to put the mats on — she had to use a simple method:
— Stack bricks.
She grunted and hauled red bricks from all directions, piling them into makeshift platforms. Standing higher, she tied the straw mats piece by piece, even adding a second layer just in case her handiwork wasn’t waterproof.
After securing everything tightly to the shed, she finally felt relieved.
The toilet would take up about a quarter of the second frame.
She let the straw mats hang down on all four sides, securing three and leaving the fourth side as a door.
From the outside, there was a large blind spot.
After entering, she started digging at the blind spot — a deep, long rectangular pit about 60 cm long and 20 cm wide.
She didn’t waste the dug-up dirt either, piling it behind the squat pit and placing a thick branch nearby.
After using the toilet, she could simply scrape a layer of dirt over the waste with the branch.
She dug the pit so deep because she really didn’t want to have to clean it out later. She even wedged small sticks into the sides of the pit to prevent the soil from collapsing.
With that, the toilet was done!
Huai Yu admired it from every angle, inside and out, then started moving bundles of hay from the treehouse, stacking them by the toilet door.
This made it even more hidden.
Perfect!
She was practically a genius!
But the genius work wasn’t over yet.
Normally, you’d need to compact the framework into the ground or pour concrete, but she hadn’t bought anything like that. So she simply stacked the leftover bricks around the eight tree trunks — mostly for peace of mind.
She didn’t waste the rest either and laid a layer of bricks on the ground.
It wasn’t enough, so she grunted and hauled more until she even managed to pave the toilet floor, leaving only the back area for covering waste.
By then, it was already dark.
These tasks didn’t seem like much, but they were exhausting and time-consuming. Still, looking at everything she built, Huai Yu felt totally satisfied.
From today on, she finally had shelter, food, and a place to live!
She lay back on the bed with a flashlight still on, didn’t even bother changing her clothes, hugged her sleeping bag, and fell into a deep sleep.
Outside, the night breeze carried the scent of roses and heavy moisture. The aroma mixed with a strange, powerful energy that slowly flowed toward the treehouse.
In the flowerpot made from a perforated brick by the bed, the roses that brightened the cabin also began to sway gently.
But Huai Yu, lying there breathing quietly, remained completely unaware.
“Achoo!”
Huai Yu sneezed hard and slowly woke up. The treehouse was pitch-black, with only faint light leaking in from the edges of the door.
She sat up in a daze, then suddenly shivered from a chill. When she opened the door, a cold wind hit her in the face!
“Hiss!”
So cold!
She quickly ducked back inside, threw on her new down jacket, and took a deep breath before rolling up the door flap again.
And then she froze.
“It’s raining…”
While she slept soundly last night, it had drizzled outside for half the night. Now the air smelled faintly of earth, and the land was moist. The distant grass and woods were covered in a soft, fuzzy green!
Huai Yu turned back to look at the treehouse — it was still dry, no leaks.
She glanced over at the sheds and toilet — all intact!
Only the edges of the red bricks had darkened from absorbing rainwater.
The morning broadcast hadn’t started yet. Huai Yu checked the time: it was only 7 AM. In the distance, Mount Sanqing was shrouded in mist. Even the petals on the rose corridor were dripping wet, and the leaves were vividly green.
She stood there in a daze for a moment, then suddenly turned and rushed back inside—
“I can pick wild vegetables now!”
She grabbed her basket, didn’t even bother bringing the multifunctional shovel, and dashed straight up the mountain.
Though the rain had stopped, she didn’t know if it would rain again today, so she had to hurry!
She was already familiar with the path into the mountain, but Mount Sanqing was huge, and old trails had long been swallowed by plants. Following her previous markings, she quickly spotted the pearl flowers she had used as signs!
After the spring rain, she could feel the restless energy of all the plants around her, the force of growth about to burst forth.
The grass and trees would sprout quickly, and roots would spread further. The pearl flowers she’d marked just yesterday now had more dense leaves and budding flowers!
Without hesitation, she put down her basket and started picking the tender green leaves off the branches, pulling them down one by one, her movements full of joy!
The tree wasn’t that big, but after she was done, she had already filled half her basket!
She looked at the bare branches, gently touched them, feeling a faint energy flow, and whispered softly:
“Sorry about that.”
The next moment, she let go—
From this angle, she suddenly spotted a patch of tender wild mushrooms growing on the big tree trunk ahead!
Wild mushrooms!
Here we go!
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