After the autumn harvest came the season for gathering mountain goods.
Last year, not many people went up the mountain to forage, and this year there were even fewer.
Those who went up were mostly aunts, older women, and children—all people who had not entered the factories.
Xu Qinghuan was already showing a bit. With a basket on her back, she went up the mountain with Ren Jingmo to gather medicinal herbs. As they gathered, she taught him how to identify them, along with their properties and pharmacology.
After filling a basket, Xu Qinghuan sat down on a thunder-split tree trunk to drink some water. She handed her military canteen to Ren Jingmo. "Drink up."
Inside was Spirit Space Water. When Ren Jingmo tasted the sweetness, he asked, "Sister, did you put sugar in this?"
"Mhm, I added sugar. Is it good? Drink more so you grow up strong."
Over this past year, Ren Jingmo had grown taller and sturdier than before, and his face had become much clearer and fairer.
At the beginning of this year, Xu Qinghuan stepped down from her position as the production brigade's barefoot doctor, and Jiang Baohua applied to have Ren Shanglu take over the role.
Life in the Shangjiang Production Brigade was much better now. Starting last year, the production brigade had begun paying the barefoot doctor a ten-yuan monthly salary. Ren Shanglu received this money as well, along with ten work points a day, making life much easier for the grandfather and grandson than it used to be.
Chapter 404