If Yunling knew what they were thinking, she would just say "oh". There are thousands of different kinds of women in this world. Who says that they can only live in one way?

Moreover, how a person chooses to live is their own business, and whether they live well or not in the end is their own responsibility, and it is not up to others to judge them.

Yunling ran to the foot of the mountain and was about to climb it when she saw her older cousin Zhang Xiao and Pei Lin, a person she knew but did not want to see.

While she was still wondering how the two of them had gotten together, Pei Lin pointed at her and complained, "Oh, you little liar, even God couldn't stand it and sent you to me. Old Master Zhong never mentioned buying medical books, and he doesn't know you at all!"

Yunling quickly extended Erkang's hand, organizing her thoughts, "Did you pay for the medical books?"

Right, he didn't pay for the medical books, and he didn't get hit by Elder Zhong's stick, so why is he angry?

Pei Lin immediately understood, but he still couldn't stand Yun Ling. He called her "Little Dumb Hair" because of the few strands of hair on her head.

"Has Lingniang had her meal?"

"You're one to talk! Of course I've eaten my fill, but where are you?"

Zhang Xiao laughed and said, "I accompanied Brother Lin into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. Ren'an Hall's reserves of medicinal herbs before the New Year were insufficient, and with many people catching colds, many have already been used up."

Yunling rubbed her nose and said, "Didn't my cousin say before that the herbs on the mountain were all picked by the doctor? He's not a doctor."

"The old doctor in the village is Lin Ge'er's grandfather."

Yunling fell silent; she had no interest in listening to Pei Lin boast.

"Lingniang, have you come looking for me?"

"Yes and no. I wanted to go up the mountain to play, but my cousin hasn't eaten yet, so he left me here by myself. I've memorized the way back."

“That won’t do, it’s too dangerous up in the mountains. I’ll go with you,” Zhang Xiao then looked at Pei Lin beside him. “Brother Lin, you go back first, I won’t see you off.”

"That won't do. What if this little idiot ruins all the herbs? I'll go with you."

You're the one with the little ahoge (idiot)!

Your whole family are adorable little devils!

Yunling mentally berated herself and started walking uphill. The further she went, the more her supernatural abilities drove her to go to a slightly higher place to the right.

Pei Lin followed closely behind Yun Ling, keeping a close eye on where she landed. Several times he was afraid that she would trample on the herbs.

"Lingniang, why do you like going up the mountain so much?"

Yunling had no time to pay attention to Zhang Xiao's words, because she had almost stepped on a small umbrella just now. If she wasn't mistaken, it was a termite mushroom!

She quickly squatted down and gently brushed aside the withered leaves, only to see a fully opened mushroom standing on the edge, surrounded by some scattered, half-open small mushrooms.

Yunling quickly followed this path up and down. This termite mushroom is also known as ant mushroom. It lives by relying on termites. Termites are afraid of water, so termite mushrooms grow in high and protruding places.

Unfortunately, Yunling didn't see many more termite mushrooms. It's understandable, seeing them in the dead of winter is quite a rare sight.

Yunling squatted down again and carefully dug up the few half-open termite mushrooms. She applied some wet mud to the base of the mushrooms, and with her special ability to nourish them, they could stay fresh.

"Do you even know what this is? You're just digging up and eating mushrooms randomly, and that could land you in a serious accident."

"Isn't this just stupid chicken behavior?"

"Oh, so you knew that too~"

Pei Lin felt increasingly uneasy about Yun Ling's words. Was she being sarcastic or subtly criticizing him? Damn it, why could he never win an argument with this silly girl?

"Lingniang, are you planning to take it back to raise again?"

"Cousin, guess!"

To cultivate this ant fungus, you probably need to raise a colony of termites first. Before the apocalypse, termite mushrooms could be artificially cultivated, but the mushrooms cultivated were black-skinned termite mushrooms, which are quite different from this one in terms of appearance, texture, and taste.

Yunling was somewhat troubled. Although she had special abilities, she couldn't cultivate the exact same type of matsutake mushroom unless she carried a termite nest with her all day long.

Even if it can't be completely replicated, the black-skinned chicken mushrooms that come out will probably not be too bad, and will be more than enough to sell in the county town.

After all, Manager Zhou has repeatedly hinted that people are getting tired of eating black mushrooms, so introducing black-skinned chicken mushrooms wouldn't be a bad thing.

As for the termite mushrooms, she could raise them on the mountain and harvest them regularly. As for the short shelf life, Yunling thought she could use them to make oil. Termite mushroom oil for noodles would be a high-end product. Of course, she didn't plan to sell them in the county town; if she wanted to sell them, she would sell them through trading companies to places like the capital.

Yunling's thoughts could travel far and wide just by thinking about it, and she couldn't wait to get started. However, the cold weather wasn't suitable, and besides, she had bees to raise and plenty of other things to do.

Pei Lin scoffed, full of disdain, "It's good that she doesn't poison herself to death. She said she'd raise her. When she's carried to Ren'an Hall, I won't even give her a second glance."

"That would be for the best, otherwise I could have been saved, but seeing your disgusting face would have sent me to meet the King of Hell prematurely."

The two were exchanging barbs, neither willing to back down, and were practically about to come to blows. Zhang Xiao was completely bewildered, wondering where their feud had started. He didn't want to step in and try to mediate, lest he offend both sides and end up pleasing neither.

When Yunling and Zhang Xiao returned, Yun Chu was like a lamb being roasted on a stove. Her eldest and second uncles, as well as her two cousins, praised her exaggeratedly after learning that she could read, making Yun Chu very uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Zhang had no choice but to urge Yun Shenghua to leave and go home immediately.

**

This year, Yunling and her friends still did not go into the city to enjoy the lanterns for the Lantern Festival.

Standing by the window of the most spacious private room on the fifth floor of Shengfu Restaurant was a man. He stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the pedestrians on the street, sometimes showing surprise, but quickly returning to a look of melancholy. In Uncle Cao's words:

"He had never seen the young master like this before."

"Why can't I see anyone?"

Who do you want to see?

Uncle Cao knew perfectly well what was going on, but he pretended not to. He knew perfectly well that the young master was thinking about the second mistress of the Yun family.

Lu Yinghuai was interrupted and coughed awkwardly twice, "No, I was just talking nonsense."

Uncle Cao gave a meaningful "Oh," and kindly reminded him, "After spring, there will probably be new dried black fungus delivered. To be honest, the black fungus from Yun Erniang's family is really good; everyone in the capital is eyeing it."

"The quality is not bad." Lu Yinghuai responded lightly, his thoughts drifting far away, wondering if he would finally be able to see the little guy then?