"Come, try it!" As soon as it came out of the pot, Ningxia couldn't wait to scoop a spoonful of soup and handed it to Lin Yi, his eyes full of anticipation.

Lin Yi took a sip carefully, and the hot soup flowed into his mouth. Lin Yi's eyes lit up and his eyebrows raised, "Delicious! Very... very..."

"Very fresh?"

"Yes! It's very fresh!"

Ningxia smiled happily and took a sip. The salty and fragrant taste of meat and the flavor of tender bamboo shoots after the rain were tightly locked in the soup. The blending was so harmonious and so delicious that he jumped for feet.

"Come on, let's eat and go to bed." Ningxia scooped a bowl of soup with meat and bamboo shoots for herself and Lin Yi. The crispy and tender bamboo shoots were wrapped in the flavor of meat, and it was hot and delicious. After one bite, all the fatigue in the body disappeared.

That night, the three siblings all had a sweet dream of being well-fed and well-fed.

The next morning, the three of them, well-rested and full of energy, devoured the whole pot of preserved preserved vegetables and set out again. Maomao seemed to know they were about to go out for a good meal, wagging his ears in excitement.

The pouring rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the three people. The family dug bamboo shoots for three consecutive days. The empty space in the stairwell could no longer hold the bamboo shoots, so they moved some of them under the eaves.

"Sister Xia Xia, aren't we going today?" Lin Yi looked at the heavy rain which showed no signs of stopping, and was still thinking about the vast bamboo forest.

Ningxia shook her head. The outer areas had been mostly cleared. Further in, the bamboo was too dense, making movement difficult. Even after a day of exhaustion, she still couldn't dig much. It wouldn't matter if the weather was good, but now it was pouring rain, and the effort wasn't worth it. Besides, she had to deal with the pile at home.

"Xia Xia, what are we eating today?" Sangsang was thinking about other things. These days, Ningxia had been making bamboo shoots in various ways for the brother and sister to eat. Sangsang didn't get tired of them at all, but became addicted to them. The crispy and fresh taste completely conquered her, and she didn't even miss the jam anymore.

Ningxia teased her deliberately, "If you don't go out today, you can catch up on the studies you've missed these days. When you can memorize the initial consonant table, I'll make you something delicious."

The difference between people is reflected in the fact that, starting from the same starting line, Lin Yi has already learned more than 20 big characters from the dictionary, while Sangsang is still stuck at memorizing the initial consonant table.

The little girl pouted, took out her wrinkled homework book, and wrote reluctantly stroke by stroke.

Ningxia had cut the exercise book in half from A4 paper at home and stapled it together. Each brother and sister had a copy, each about the thickness of a palm. Lin Yi had almost finished his neatly written work, and it was still pristine. Meanwhile, Sangsang's work was barely halfway done, scribbled all over, and wrinkled like it had been found in the trash.

Ningxia was troubled, but didn't want to care. She was only responsible for teaching the worry-free Lin Yi, and let Lin Yi worry about Sangsang.

Seeing Ningxia take out the two large sealed jars at home, Lin Yi put down the book in his hand and stood up, "Sister Xia Xia, let me help you, what do you want to do?"

"Then you can help me peel the bamboo shoots first. The ones we picked on the first day are all in the corner to the right of the stairwell. Go pick some and peel them, and I'll pickle them."

"Are sour bamboo shoots delicious?" Before Lin Yi could answer, Sangsang tilted her head and asked.

Ningxia recalled the charming taste of the snail rice noodle and smiled mysteriously, "It's delicious."

Sangsang licked her lips contentedly and sat back, not knowing what kind of smell would surround her in the future.

Pickling sour bamboo shoots is simple, requiring no seasoning at all. All you need is boiled water and blanched bamboo shoots. I'd love to make some delicious pickled vegetables like pickled pepper bamboo shoots or spicy bamboo shoots, but unfortunately, I don't have any seasonings on hand.

It took Ningxia half a day to brew two large bottles. Looking at Sangsang's expectant eyes, Ningxia put the jars on the upper shelf of the cupboard with a wicked smile, waiting for a month or so for the sour and refreshing taste to come out. He hoped that Sangsang would still look at it with the same eyes.

"tasty!"

At noon, Ningxia stir-fried some diced bamboo shoots with lard and dried chili segments, scooped them up with a spoon and mixed them into the rice. The texture of the hearty multi-grain rice mixed with the refreshing and slightly spicy diced bamboo shoots made Sangsang dance with joy while eating.

Lin Yi wolfed down his food. He looked up at Ning Xia, who was clearly distracted, and asked, "What's wrong, Sister Xia Xia?"

Ningxia looked at a small object hanging by the window and fell into deep thought.

That was the Ganoderma lucidum that Sangsang had picked when he took the brother and sister up the mountain. The bright red color had faded, and after drying it, Sangsang strung it into a necklace and hung it by the window as a decoration.

"I'm wondering whether I should pack up and leave this afternoon or go out early tomorrow morning."

Lin Yi put down his chopsticks: "Where are you going? I'll go with you."

Ningxia turned her head and looked him in the eye. "Let's go to the pine forest across from the field. I'll go by myself. You and Sangsang can't go out anymore. Be careful not to get sick."

Seeing Ningxia's resolute expression, Lin Yi knew there was no room for negotiation. Besides, he was fine. Sangsang had been a little tired these past few days, and he had to stay home to look after her. Then he asked, "Sister Xia Xia, why did you go to the pine forest?"

Sangsang, having just finished her meal, put down her spoon, burped loudly, and joined in the fun, saying, "Stupid brother, of course we're going to pick some Ganoderma!" Ningxia had taken them past the pine forest a few times, but aside from the one Ganoderma she'd brought back, she hadn't brought anything back from the forest since. So, in Sangsang's mind, what else could they do in the pine forest? Picking Ganoderma, of course.

Ningxia smiled. The girl was right. She had gone to pick Ganoderma. She had only just remembered it when she saw the Ganoderma this morning. She had been completely absorbed in the bamboo forest these past few days. How could she not have thought of wild mushrooms?

In today's climate, the rainy season only lasts about twenty days a year. It's not easy to find wild mushrooms, but correspondingly, their growth rate is much faster than before.

This stuff wasn't cheap even before the disaster, let alone now. Even before the disaster, the government had widely publicized that wild mushrooms were poisonous and shouldn't be eaten, but that still didn't bring down the price of wild mushrooms. A few varieties could fetch as much as three hundred yuan per pound.

The mushroom powder we added to the porridge on the road to enhance the flavor was made from wild mushrooms. It added a lot of flavor to the scarce food. It was very expensive. Lin Yi loved that taste. Thinking of this, Ningxia raised her lips. There was nothing Lin Yi didn't like. He loved anything that was stuttering.

People's livelihood is not good now, and the state government no longer announces that the fruit is poisonous. She heard from the squad leader that every year when it rains, they have to organize people to go into the mountains to pick the fruit. Ningxia thought of the endless pine forest and the several mountains surrounding it, and wondered how many of these valuable things could be found.

There was no food supply after the Sun Moon, but if this mushroom harvest was successful, along with the 300 kilograms of bamboo shoots still unpeeled at home, we'd have enough food for the winter. Ningxia envisioned an incredibly bright future, her eyes filled with hope.