Now that Lian'er has come up with this reason, even if they originally had ulterior motives, it makes perfect sense.

She finally understood why he had wanted Lian'er here earlier: the Qiao family needed a good reason and a pretext.

This way, the Qiao family won't be pointed at and talked about in the future.

"Moreover, can you distinguish between these various kinds of mushrooms? If you make a mistake and mix in just a few poisonous ones, it could cause a death. How could our Qiao family dare to take that risk?"

"In the end, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. If you want to make money, you have to bear the danger. Do you think the Qiao family has it easy? These days we've been living in fear. Even if we know which mushrooms are really not poisonous, we still dare not let our guard down."

"There is no such thing as easy money in this world, and there is no such thing as money found on the street."

The villagers were dumbfounded and speechless. Yes, they dared not make the slightest mistake in this matter, otherwise their whole family would not survive. After all, many of the wealthy families in the town had official connections.

"Now that you've all come here to earn this money, fine. I can teach you which mushrooms are safe and how to handle them after you take them back. But if you choose the wrong mushrooms, you'll have to take full responsibility for that."

The villagers looked at each other in dismay. Of course they wanted to earn this money, but Qiao Lian'er's words gave them a fright.

Now it was their turn to hesitate, fantasizing about the piles of silver while unsure of what to do.

"You're talking nonsense," Shen said shrilly. "Qiao Lian'er is lying. You don't know, the things they sell are brownish-black like sawdust, not colorful like mushrooms."

Ms. Chen: "They must have seen us coming and quickly put some poisonous mushrooms in their baskets to trick us and make us back down."

The villagers stirred up another commotion, looking at the Qiao family with suspicion.

Yes, it was because the Song family saw those sawdust-like things in the Qiao family's kitchen that they had the crooked idea of ​​cutting off the wood chips to sell.

Grandma Qiao chuckled and said, "Fools, you don't know this, do you? If you slice these mushrooms and fry them in oil, they'll turn brownish-black."

"How about we come to my house now, and I'll personally demonstrate it for you?"

The villagers suddenly realized that many things, after being deep-fried and dehydrated, were completely different from what they used to be.

"Those wood chips were really made from mushrooms! Why didn't you say so sooner? You've caused our Song family so much suffering!" Old Mrs. Song thought of the thirty taels of silver and sat down on the ground, wailing.

Old Man Qiao scoffed, "With your dull brain, if I told you, you'd go up the mountain to find poisonous mushrooms, fry them, and sell them. You wouldn't be able to bring back three people, let alone your whole family."

Some villagers couldn't help but chuckle.

"Once they're fried, take them to sell. How much will wealthy families pay per pound?" someone asked.

“It’s currently five hundred coins per catty.” Qiao Lian’er’s mind raced, and she didn’t mention the matsutake mushrooms.

These are the most valuable mushrooms, so she has to keep some.

"Five hundred coins a catty, then one hundred catties would be fifty taels." The villagers' eyes lit up.

"It's five hundred coins a pound now, but everyone's looking for it. If more people look for it, the price will definitely drop."

“How much lower can it go? Even if it goes down, it’s still like picking up money on the mountain. It’s better than nothing. Lian’er, please teach us how to identify mushrooms.”

Hearing that it cost 500 coins per catty dispelled the villagers' doubts, they decided that no matter how easily they could be confused, they would carefully distinguish it and earn the money.

After all, it would be foolish not to make money when you can.