Julie went to the back mountain. She didn't even look around the outer area and went straight into the deeper part. Now her strength and stamina had recovered to about half of what they were during the end of the world.
She couldn't wait to go out and move around.
The spiritual energy deeper in the forest was much stronger.
She thought, if she could live here, it would be great. If she was alone, living in a cave wouldn't be a problem.
But with three men following her around, it would be very inconvenient.
Along the way, Julie picked a lot of herbs she recognized, like schisandra, honeysuckle, astragalus, angelica, Chinese lantern plant, mint, fish mint, and gotu kola.
It seemed that not many people came here, so the resources were very rich.
She went deeper and found some mushrooms. Julie knew clearly which mushrooms were poisonous and which were safe.
Even though she was immune to all poisons, the three men weren't. So she avoided the hallucinogenic mushrooms and the poisonous ones. She only cut the safe ones like lion's mane, matsutake, and porcini, putting a small part into her basket and the rest into her storage space.
She walked even further and found two wild chestnut trees. Most of the chestnuts on the trees were already ripe.
Without hesitation, Julie climbed up and shook the tree hard at the top. When most of the chestnuts fell to the ground, she jumped down and climbed the second tree to do the same.
Why didn't she just cut down the trees and put them into her space?
Because if she cut the trees, they would die.
And then in the future, when she wanted chestnuts again, there would be none left.
She didn't mind a little trouble if it meant she could keep eating wild chestnuts for a long time.
After shaking down all the chestnuts, she had about 50 to 60 jin (25 to 30 kg) in total. She left a small part in her storage space and put the rest into a big burlap sack.
She planned to take it back and have the men cook it for her.
On the way, she ran into four wild chickens and three wild rabbits. She didn't let any of them go. She knocked out one chicken and one rabbit, leaving them alive, but killed the others by snapping their necks.
She put the live rabbit and chicken into the burlap sack, thought for a second, and also added one dead chicken because she wanted to drink chicken soup.
Seeing there was still time, and not fully satisfied with what she had collected today, she continued forward.
She found a field of sweet potatoes. She took out a shovel from her storage space and started digging. After half an hour of hard work, she dug the field so deep she finally gave up.
She dug out more than 100 jin (50 kg) of sweet potatoes and even found a wild ginseng root about ten years old. Its quality wasn't great, and it didn't have much spiritual energy.
Julie didn't even want to put it into her storage space. She just put it together with the 50 jin of sweet potatoes into the sack. The rest of the sweet potatoes she put into her space.
When she saw the sack was completely full, she finally felt satisfied and went home.
By the time Julie got back, it was already past noon.
Haven had been waiting at the door, looking around for her. When he saw her, there was a flash of worry and happiness in his eyes, but he quickly hid it. He walked over to her, wanting to help carry her sack.
Julie dodged away.
Haven's hand grabbed at the air, then he pulled it back and acted like nothing happened. "Wife, you're back? Are you hungry? I can cook for you."
Julie wasn't picky about food. As long as it was edible, it was fine. Since he offered, she said, "I hunted wild chickens and rabbits in the mountain. The live ones are for raising. There's a dead chicken — make soup with it, I want to drink soup. There are herbs, chestnuts, and a ten-year-old ginseng in there too. You guys figure it out. It's heavy; I'll carry it in myself." What happened to him just now?
After speaking, she carried the sack into the kitchen herself.
Bailee and Lorrie saw her return and quickly came over.
Lorrie curiously asked, "Wife, what's in your sack? Can you carry it? Want me to help? I'm very strong." Is there anything good to eat in there?
Julie glanced at his height and arms but didn't answer. She just avoided him and walked straight past.
It wasn't that she looked down on him. The original body was 1.71 meters tall. Bailee was 1.82 meters, Haven was 1.85 meters, but Lorrie was only 1.68 meters.
His arms and legs were thin. Instead of letting him struggle and pretend to be strong, it was faster for her to do it herself. She could also tell:
Among the three brothers, the youngest one was the most innocent. His emotions were written all over his face, easy to read and simple to deal with. She didn't dislike talking to people like that. In fact, teasing him once in a while was kind of fun — watching him get mad was amusing.
In the end times, she had never met someone so simple. Maybe because they were too naive and died too early.
Lorrie felt that her glance just now meant she was looking down on him.
He turned around to complain, "Big brother, did you see that? What did she mean by that look? She's looking down on me! Too much! She ignored me and didn't even answer! Hmph." Then he stomped his foot angrily.
Just because she couldn't get into my bed before, now she's ignoring me? Fine! See if I ever let her into my bed again. Who cares!
Bailee comforted him by patting his shoulder silently, then looked at Julie's back thoughtfully, his eyes deep, with a faint smile.
Julie put everything into the kitchen and went out to call someone to cook. She knew her own cooking wasn't great. Sometimes it was half-raw, sometimes overcooked. She didn't want to waste food.
Men and women dividing the work made life easier. She was very satisfied with this world, where she hunted for food and gathered resources, while men cooked, did chores, and gave birth.
She also didn't plan to spoil the men too much. They needed to know who they relied on.
In her mind, men could be spoiled, and if they caused trouble outside, she would clean it up for them.
But at home, they needed to be sweet and fight for her attention. She wasn't going to be anyone's pushover. If they didn't know how to behave, she wouldn't mind changing to a new one.
There's an old saying — rough words but a true meaning.
In short: act proper and modest outside, but playful and sweet inside.
When Julie went outside, the first one she saw was Lorrie. She asked, "Can you cook?" But then she remembered he was still young and probably couldn't cook well. She planned to look for the other two.
Lorrie originally didn't want to talk to her, but when he saw her asking and then immediately looking disgusted and walking away, he got even angrier.
What did she mean by that? Looked down on him again?
It's just cooking. He knew how to do it. His brothers had taught him since he was little. He just didn't have to cook much because his brothers pampered him, not because he couldn't.
"Cooking? Easy! Don't look down on me!" he said, then ran into the kitchen.
After a while, he came running out again. "The chicken and rabbit that are still alive — can we raise them?"