The Three-Year-Old Cutie Goes Foraging, and the Whole Village Follows the Smell of Our Food

[Adorable three-year-old + mountain-hunting System + ancient farming + rustic cuisine + family life + developing the whole village + no romance]

Other people's children go into the mountains to dig for bamboo shoots. Sang Libao goes into the mountains and adopts the whole mountain as her family.

The chestnut tree is Uncle Prickly, the old pear tree is Grandma Sour Teeth, and that patch of shepherd's purse by the creek is Auntie Green Hair, who's just woken up.

Everyone in the village says the youngest granddaughter of the Sang family has gone hungry enough to lose her mind.

That is, until she hugs a hollow old tree and calls in her baby voice, "Grandma, don't cut it down! Uncle's got our food money hidden in his belly!"

Half a jar of wild honey trades for grain that saves their lives, and a pot of mushroom rice fills half the alley with its delicious aroma.

Just as the Sang family gets their meals secure, a red deed to sell the mountain lands on their table.

The buyer wants to fence off the land, the moneylender wants to take their cooking pot, and even the shabby little scale she found is being claimed as an heirloom.

Libao hugs her bowl. "Don't take it! I've only had three bites."

Everyone thinks she's about to cry.

Instead, the little one turns and places a handful of abacus beads in Grandma's hand.

"Grandma, you handle the fighting. I'll do the math."

Later, the Sang family's hearth fire spreads from their tumbledown house to the county town.

Some want to buy their secret recipes, others want to take their mountain path, and still others offer a fortune for a bowl of chestnut rice braised with meat, sold only after the first frost.

Libao stands on a little stool and carefully hangs up a wooden sign:

Food from the mountains is eaten in season.

Don't dig up anything that hasn't grown yet.

If you upset my grandma, you'll be doing the dishes.