Here at Lin He's home, in the afternoon, Huang Shi sent Lin He to take Lin Chen and Da Bao out to gather firewood. They walked a long way but didn't find much; how much firewood could one find in this village? Unless one went deep into the mountains to chop wood, it would be difficult. Da Bao and Lin Chen, however, ran around happily, stopping to examine anything they found.

By the fields, Lin He saw some villagers digging up sweet potatoes. She had eaten steamed sweet potatoes for several days since arriving here; they weren't bad, but eating too much of them had made her a bit tired of them. She found herself missing the roasted sweet potatoes and sweet potato chips from her previous life.

Lin He asked Lin Chen, "Chen’er, did our family plant any sweet potatoes? Other families are starting to dig theirs up; shouldn't ours be ready too?"

Lin Chen replied, "We did plant some. Mother mentioned going to dig them up these past few days, but perhaps with what happened at Uncle’s place, Mother forgot. Besides, what’s so good about sweet potatoes? We always ate them throughout winter, and I got sick of them."

Lin He smiled. "Tomorrow, we’ll ask Mother to dig up the sweet potatoes too. I’ll roast some for you, Chen’er; roasted sweet potatoes are delicious."

In truth, roasted sweet potatoes weren't entirely unknown in this era, but in Lin Chen’s family, sweet potatoes were usually treated as staple food; no one thought of roasting them. Moreover, roasting took a long time, and Lin Chen had never tasted one. Xiao Bao overheard this and asked, "Big Sister, are roasted sweet potatoes tasty? When we dig them up tomorrow, will you roast some for me, okay?"

Lin He laughed and patted his head. "You little glutton, you perk up the moment food is mentioned. Tomorrow, we’ll ask Mother to dig them up, and we’ll have roasted sweet potatoes. The weather’s been nice these past few days too; how about we make some sweet potato chips as well?"

"What are sweet potato chips? Are they good?" Xiao Bao’s big eyes blinked rapidly.

Lin He ultimately led her younger siblings on a short walk toward the mountain edge. Looking into the great mountain, Lin He noticed that even though winter had set in, many trees still held green leaves. She felt the mountain held a fatal draw for her.

In her previous life, she had never seen mountains like this. The countryside she lived in did have some hills, but they were all barren and stripped bare by autumn, offering nothing of interest.

But Lin He felt these mountains now were different; they likely held many things she had never encountered—countless living creatures, plants, and fruits. As she pondered this, she drifted unconsciously toward the mountain interior. Lin Chen saw his sister moving inward and called out, "Big Sister, we can't go in!"

Lin He snapped back to attention. She gathered some firewood near the mountain edge with Lin Chen and Da Bao, planning to take it home. Lin He resolved that next year she absolutely had to venture into the mountain. First, she needed to figure out exactly how her Third Uncle managed to enter the mountain but never returned. No one had gone in to investigate, so what truly happened remained a mystery.

After playing for a while, the three tied the small bundle of gathered wood with dry grass. Lin He shouldered the wood, and Lin Chen held Xiao Bao’s hand as they headed home.

When they returned, Er Niu and Da Bao were already back. Er Niu was currently extolling how fine his family’s fields were, boasting that with those few mu of land next year, their family’s life would have prospects. Seeing Lin He and the others return, Da Bao helped her take the wood off her back and asked where they went to gather firewood. Lin Chen quickly blurted out, "We went to the mountain!"

Da Bao jumped, startled. "You went into the mountain? Are you that brave? Is the mountain a place you can just enter?"

Lin He looked at Da Bao’s nervous expression and smiled. "Big Brother, we didn't go into the mountain; we gathered wood at the edge. If we went in, we’d have gathered much more than this."

After a moment of thought, she pressed on, "What exactly happened to our Third Uncle? How did he enter the mountain and not return? What’s the story?"

Da Bao explained, "Third Uncle was a hunter. He used to go into the mountains often to hunt. He’d frequently bring back wild rabbits and pheasants. Once, he even brought back a large wild boar. Uncle was the most skilled hunter in the village. One time, Uncle came back saying he saw a bear in the mountain, but that time the bear escaped. The next day, he gathered all his gear, saying he was going to bring that bear back. If he succeeded, their family’s life would improve. Who knew that after leaving that time, he never returned?"

"Did anyone go in to look for him afterward? Did anyone find out if the bear ate him or if something else happened?"

Da Bao continued, "Third Uncle must have been eaten by the bear. Who would dare go in looking for him?"

This meant no one knew for certain if Third Uncle was eaten by the bear; no one had ever witnessed it firsthand. Lin He presumed the poverty of Lin Family Village was partly related to this. The villagers had no other source of income; they couldn't even manage the simplest activity of hunting common in ancient times, forced instead to till their fields and live that way.

Lin He had a general understanding now and didn't say much. After a while, she spoke to Huang Shi, "Mother, let’s go dig up sweet potatoes tomorrow. We can make roasted sweet potatoes and sweet potato chips; they taste wonderful."

Huang Shi agreed. "Good. I was already planning to dig them up these few days; if we wait longer, they might rot. Tomorrow your father will go to the fields, and you all can come with me to dig. I know roasted sweet potatoes, but I don't know what sweet potato chips are. He’er, where did you hear about them?"

Lin He stuck out her tongue, realizing she had let another slip. She quickly covered, "I read about them in a book; it said they were delicious, and they sounded good to me."

Da Bao found it slightly odd since he didn’t know about this item, but he didn’t press the matter. This little sister often had strange ideas. Still, he felt a bit of anticipation for those sweet potato chips.

The next day, Lin Er Niu went to the fields after breakfast. There wasn't much truly productive work to do in the fields now, but Lin Er Niu meticulously weeded the surrounding grass until the field was completely clear of any stray weeds. Old Man Qin was also helping, while Xiao Jun held the ox nearby, feeding it grass.

Huang Shi and the others went to the rented patch of land to dig sweet potatoes. Lin He hadn't realized their family had planted such a large mu of sweet potato field. Once dug up, there would be so many sweet potatoes they could eat them any way they liked—no need just for chips. Sweet potatoes were easy to cultivate and very filling, which is why almost every family planted a large amount in those days.

The four of them dug for the entire afternoon but only managed a small section. Sweet potatoes were somewhat hard to dig, but the yield was decent. After clearing that small area, Da Bao used a small basket to carry several loads back. Lin He estimated that taking so many home at once meant they wouldn't finish them for a long time, and they might rot. She asked Huang Shi, "Mother, where will we store all these sweet potatoes? Won't they rot if we can’t eat them all?"

Huang Shi smiled. "Silly child, of course, we won't eat them all. Sweet potatoes keep for a while and don't spoil quickly. But in past years, by this time, we couldn't afford grain, so we ate sweet potatoes at every meal, and they were never enough to rot."

But this year, the family had some grain, and since He'er didn't particularly like sweet potatoes, Lin He worried they wouldn't finish them and they might actually spoil. Lin He recalled reading about a place to store food in ancient times called a di-jia (cellar) and asked, "Don't we have a cellar?"

Huang Shi didn't know what a di-jia was. Lin He remembered seeing the structure of a cellar in books from her past life and finding the concept interesting; she had even specifically looked up how they were dug. It seemed this knowledge could finally be put to use.