Chapter 10: Guess what kind of mushrooms we'll find today...

Everyone sighed upon hearing this, knowing that Lin Chuntao and the others were truly having a hard time. They hadn't planted any crops this year, and there wasn't a single grain left after the autumn harvest. They would need to buy seeds next spring, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to plant any more crops, and who knew when they would be able to build a house.

Thinking about this, they all started to worry about Lin Chuntao.

But after walking around for half a day, she was not only less shy than before, but even cheerful, and you could not feel any dejection on her.

They joined in the fun and went to see the land for building houses.

Lin Cunzheng showed them two places. One was in the middle of the village, with a narrower ground, but it was close to the neighbors and more lively. The other was on higher ground, and could be leveled if they wanted a wider ground. It was also close to the villagers. He felt that since Lin Chuntao and the others were girls, it would be safer to have more people around.

But Lin Chuntao didn't seem to like any of them. In the end, she chose a large open space at the entrance of the village. The ground was wide and flat, and there were several farmlands next to it.

Muramasa originally wanted to advise Lin Chuntao that if trouble arose, it would be like encountering bandits, and the village entrance was very dangerous. However, seeing how much she liked it, and considering that building a house wasn't something to be done right now, he decided not to say anything and just put it on hold for the time being. Besides, the war had just ended, and there shouldn't be any more trouble in the short term.

After the land was marked out and everything was done, Lin Chuntao and the others busied themselves with making bamboo for doors and windows and left first. Everyone stood and chatted for a while before going to work in the fields.

Pei Ying and Lin Chuntao led their three younger sisters into the bamboo forest on the hillside. Pei Ying cut down the bamboo, and they dragged it back to the yard.

The time spent marking the ground took a lot of time, and despite their best efforts, they only managed to finish one door and one window by evening.

Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying said, "Let's install these doors and windows on this room first, stay here tonight, and then build the other room tomorrow."

Pei Ying nodded slightly, got up and began to install it. Lin Chuntao went over to help, and he said, "Let me do it. Why don't you go to the village head's house and bring the things back?"

"Sure, cooking rice takes too long. Do you prefer potatoes or sweet potatoes? I'll see if I can get some back so we can roast potatoes or sweet potatoes for dinner tonight."

“I’m fine with anything,” Pei Ying said.

Lin Chuntao nodded and prepared to leave, but Pei Ying glanced at her indifferently and said, "The things are a bit heavy, why don't you take your sisters with you?"

"Hmm." She said, took some copper coins, and called her sisters to go directly to the village head's house.

Muramasa and the others had just returned from the fields and were washing their hands in the yard, while Mrs. Sun was busy in the kitchen.

Lin Chuntao first went to find Sun Shi, borrowed a basket from her, and then asked her to buy two baskets of sweet potatoes and potatoes.

She explained to Mrs. Sun, "We don't have all the necessary pots and pans, so cooking is very inconvenient. It's easier to eat sweet potatoes and potatoes."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Sun said, "I'll pick some for you. What's with all this talk about buying sweet potatoes and potatoes?"

Lin Chuntao didn't know the price of sweet potatoes and potatoes either. She pulled her hand and whispered, "No, Grandma, it's Pei Ying who wants to eat them. He gave me ten coins and said he'd buy ten coins worth of sweet potatoes and potatoes from you."

Sun understood immediately and simply said, "Okay, I'll pick it up for you."

Sun picked them directly into her basket, filling it with sweet potatoes and potatoes, and then half a sack. Lin Chuntao looked at her in surprise: "Grandma, didn't you pick too many?"

"Not much, and sweet potatoes and potatoes aren't expensive."

Lin Chuntao took out ten copper coins and stuffed them into the purse, saying, "Where is grain not expensive? It's just that Grandma is being kind to us and gave us more. Chuntao knows that."

Mrs. Sun took the money and said softly, "It's a little difficult now, but things will get better gradually in the future."

When Lin Chuntao returned with her sisters, the door and windows of that room had already been installed. Chunhe and Duo'er were particularly curious and kept pulling on the bamboo door, opening and closing it repeatedly with great interest.

"Brother-in-law, you're really amazing! How can you install a door made of bamboo like this?"

Lin Duo'er was curious and had a sweet tongue, so Pei Ying rarely explained, "I thought about how to attach the buckle before I made it, so I could install it as soon as it was finished."

Lin Chuntao didn't know much about woodworking.

"Did you work as a carpenter before?"

Pei Ying looked at her and shook her head: "I learned from a master for a few days, and I can only make simple things."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuntao looked at the bamboo door and laughed, "This is no simple matter, it's quite impressive."

Lin Chuntao stood at the door, the setting sun casting a long shadow over her. Pei Ying said, "I'm even better at slaughtering pigs. Once we've settled things at home, I'll go to the city and see if I can find a job slaughtering pigs."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuntao was somewhat shocked. "You used to be a butcher?"

“Mm,” Pei Ying replied.

Lin Chuntao's smile widened: "You really are amazing."

"I'll go with you when you're done with your work and want to find something to do."

Pei Ying agreed, and Lin Chuntao went to get some firewood and started roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes right there in the yard.

Without chairs, the group each grabbed a stone and sat down around the fire, facing the setting sun.

As the flames flickered, the air was filled with the sweet aroma of potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Lin Chuntao and her sisters chatted and laughed, while Pei Ying quietly watched the sunset.

Yizhou Commandery is quite good, much better than Guangling Commandery.

As dusk fell, Lin Chuntao and the others were still eating when two teenagers, around thirteen or fourteen years old, came into the yard carrying baskets of straw on their backs.

"Sister Chuntao, my grandparents asked us to bring some straw to you."

Lin Chuntao then realized that there was no bed in the room, and if she slept directly on the floor without any dry grass as a mat, it would get damp.

"I almost forgot about that. Pour it inside." Chun Tao said, getting up to lead them inside. "Pour it anywhere, I'll clean up in a bit. Thanks for your hard work. Have you eaten?"

The two young men were a little embarrassed and replied in a low voice, "We've already eaten."

But Lin Chuntao quickly dug two sweet potatoes out of the fire, giving one to each of them. When the two refused, Lin Chuntao simply tossed them into their baskets.

"Go back and thank your grandparents."

The boys ran along the ridges of the fields, and the echoes of their voices carried on the evening breeze.

Lin Chuntao had almost finished eating and went back to the house to spread out the straw. Pei Ying watched her spread out the straw and said, "I'll sleep next door tonight."

Lin Chuntao nodded, picked up the straw and went over to spread it out for him. Before, when the whole family was together, there was no problem with a curtain separating them. But now it was just the two of them. Chunxing was already fourteen years old, and it was not appropriate for them to live in the same room without a partition.

It was already dark when we came out after laying out the straw.

The moon slowly rose, and the younger sisters played in the yard for a while before washing up and going inside to sleep.

Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying sat by the fire in the courtyard for a while.

"I might have to go into the mountains to pick mushrooms tomorrow morning, do you want to come?"

Pei Ying was thinking about the pheasant, but the doors and windows of the house next door weren't fixed, and he didn't know how to pick mushrooms, so going with them would be a waste of time. Then he remembered that she had set off to pick mushrooms in the middle of the night last night, and it seemed unsafe for the girls to be out in the dark.

“I’ll go with you,” Pei Ying said.

Lin Chuntao understood the meaning behind her words and laughed, "If you don't want to go, you don't have to come with us. Our forest isn't very dense, and the mountains aren't very big. When we hunt, we can only catch a few pheasants and rabbits. There aren't any wild boars or wolves."

"So you all go mushroom picking in the middle of the night?"

Lin Chuntao replied, "Pretty much. When there are more mushrooms in the mountains in a few days, the mountains will be full of people before dawn."

“Alright, I won’t go with you.” Pei Ying said, then added, “I’ll finish the doors and windows at home first, and then get some bamboo to make a bamboo fence to enclose the yard.”

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Pei Ying nodded slightly, unsure how to answer her question.

Lin Chuntao looked at the quiet village. The sound of the flowing river was too far away to hear, but she could hear the sound of the evening breeze rustling the surrounding wild grass.

She tripped and fell and ended up here inexplicably, her reluctance and unwillingness swaying with the wild grass.

"Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it" is her survival rule. Thinking too much is useless; it's better to rest early and prepare to greet tomorrow's sun.

"Go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow."

After Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Pei Ying got up and put out the fire, and the two went back to their respective rooms.

*

The next day at dawn, Lin Chuntao was once again woken up by the system's repeated announcements.

She nudged Lin Chunxing beside her: "Chunxing, get up, let's go pick mushrooms."

The mushrooms sold for money yesterday. Upon hearing the word "mushrooms," Lin Duo'er sat up straight.

"Sister, is it dawn yet?"

Lin Chunxing stretched and sat up, answering her fourth sister's question in a daze: "By daylight, all the mushrooms on the mountain will have been picked and taken home by others."

Upon hearing this, Lin Duo'er quickly nudged Lin Chunhe beside her: "Third sister, wake up, we're going to pick mushrooms."

Lin Chunhe squinted as she sat up, yawning, "So sleepy."

Lin Chuntao said, "Get up quickly, pick some mushrooms and go to the city to sell them. Use the money to have breakfast in the city. Think about what to eat today?"

"I still want to eat the mutton rice noodles from yesterday. Sister, what do you want to eat?" Lin Duo'er asked Lin Chunhe, who was standing next to her.

Lin Chunhe yawned. "I'm not hungry yet. I'll think about it on the way."

"Second sister, what about you?"

Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "I'm not hungry yet, I'll think about it later."

The sisters quickly got up, folded the quilts and sheets, and set off with their baskets on their backs.

Pei Ying woke up with a start as soon as they left.

He went outside and saw that Lin Chuntao had already led her sisters far away. He looked up at the moon hanging high on the roof, yawned, and then began to make doors and windows for another room by the moonlight.

Perhaps because they were thinking about the mutton rice noodles they had yesterday, the sisters didn't mention being afraid of ghosts again on the way.

Lin Chuntao followed the system's arrow and kept walking until she passed the hill she had visited the day before. Lin Chunhe asked, "Sister, aren't we going to go back to where we went yesterday to collect them?"

“Let’s go to the hill ahead. We searched there yesterday, and it hasn’t rained yet, so we probably won’t find anything there.”

"All right."

"I wonder if we'll be able to find any more green-headed mushrooms today. I hope we can fill a whole basket," Lin Duo'er said.

Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "You're dreaming. There aren't that many green-headed mushrooms to pick."

Listening to her sisters' words, Lin Chuntao smiled. Today's system broadcasted information about pine needle mushrooms. Although pine needle mushrooms are not as expensive as green-headed mushrooms, they are not as fragile. The same size basket can hold more pine needle mushrooms, and there is no need to be careful. She thought it was pretty good.

Watching her younger sisters chatter away, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Why don't we guess what kind of mushrooms we'll find this morning?"