SYNOPSYS:

Huo Ling’s great-grandfather was once a mountain bandit in the North, robbing the rich to help the poor and ruling over a region. By his father’s generation, they had completely reformed and became reclusive mountain travelers (ganshan ke) in the deep mountains.

After his parents passed away, the two brothers divided the family property. The elder brother became a farmer, but only Huo Ling refused to change his profession. He inherited the small courtyard in the forest left by the elders. His biggest worry was not being able to find a wife or fulang willing to move into the mountains with him.

Until a group of foreign refugees arrived at the lower mountain village, among them was a weak, sickly young ger who had lost all his relatives.

Huo Ling asked him, “Are you willing to marry?” The young ger said he was willing. Huo Ling asked again: “Going into the mountains to travel, there are wild beasts and snakes in the mountains. Are you afraid?” The young ger said he was not afraid.

So Huo Ling decided: “He’s the one.”

After drinking endless amounts of traditional medicine, the ger, Yan Qi, was cured. After the two were married and had their ceremony, Yan Qi followed Huo Ling to their home in the mountains.

A mountain traveler lives off the mountain. In Huo Ling’s words, the mountain has everything except land for growing grain. They gathered wild mushrooms, dug mountain ginseng, picked pine nuts, and harvested fruit. They caught big fish, caught crayfish, trapped frogs, and hunted roe deer. In all four seasons, there was always something to gain. Even if there was a famine down the mountain, they would not go hungry in the mountains.

Wild mushrooms stewed with pheasant, fresh fish braised in sauce, dried frog meat stir-fried with chili, crayfish boiled in clear water… They sold the mountain goods for grain. Steamed buns, pancakes, noodles—no repetition day after day.

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When the long, cold cat winter arrived, Huo Ling had a body full of energy with nowhere to expend it, so he simply changed the way he exerted his strength.

Another year passed, and the ice thawed and spring arrived. The stream broke the ice, and the dead trees sprouted. The men and women of the lower mountain village discovered that the sickly Yan-ger who had married into the mountain, was not only nursed by Huo Ling until his complexion was rosy and his features were handsome, but… how did his belly get big too?

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