Chapter 11 Pine Needle Fungus

Children are the most enthusiastic about this kind of thing. Lin Duo'er jumped up and down, turning her head three times: "Me, me, me, I'll guess first, we'll be able to pick the most green-headed mushrooms today."

"Third sister, guess what you found?"

Lin Chunhe looked at Lin Duo'er, who was standing still, and urged her, "Hurry up and move, don't stand there. Lin Duo'er, you talk with your mouth, not your legs. Can't you move your legs when you talk? I guess I'll find lots of green mushrooms, just like you."

Lin Duo'er was urged on to run by Lin Chunhe. As she ran, she kept turning her head to look behind her, asking, "Second sister, what about you?"

“Since you all guessed it was green-headed mushroom, I’ll guess it’s milk-cap mushroom.” She then reminded Lin Duo’er, “Don’t look behind you, look at the road, be careful not to fall.”

"Hey lady, what about you? Guess what kind of mushroom you found?"

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I guess it's pine needle fungus."

"Why did you guess pine needle mushroom? It's not as valuable as green-headed mushroom."

Lin Chuntao said, "Termitomyces are more valuable. It's not something I can just guess and find. It depends on luck. There are a lot of pine mushrooms in this area, so my chances of guessing correctly are higher."

"Then I'll guess pine needle fungus along with my older sister."

Lin Duo'er quickly changed her tune, and Lin Chuntao chuckled. Lin Chunhe, who was in front, said, "You fickle person, I only told you because you mentioned green-headed mushrooms."

"I don't care, I want to guess the same thing as my older sister."

...

They chatted away on the way, losing track of time, and before they knew it, they had arrived at their destination. Lin Chuntao hurriedly called out to Lin Duo'er, who was at the front, "Duo'er, we're here. Let's go into the mountains from here."

Hearing the shouts, Lin Duo'er hurriedly ran back. Lin Chuntao cut some tree branches at the mountain pass and handed them to them, instructing them, "Stay close to your sister and don't wander off."

"Understood," Lin Duo'er replied. Lin Chuntao and Chunxing said, "Chunxing, you keep an eye on her from behind, I'll lead the way."

As Lin Chuntao spoke, she crouched down and crawled into the mountain. Not long after entering the mountain, she found the mushroom nest. Under a large clump of bushes, Lin Chuntao crawled in and used a branch to pry open the rotten leaves that had arched up. There she saw several pine needle mushrooms crowded together.

"Sis, do you have any mushrooms? What kind of mushrooms?"

Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "There are pine needle mushrooms. I'll pick them. Who can come in and take them out?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Duo'er crawled in like a kitten, saying, "I'll do it, I'll do it."

"Okay, I'll pick it for you, but don't squeeze the cap."

Lin Chuntao was picking mushrooms, and the second and third brothers were also crouching down to look for them. But it was nighttime and the light was poor. Moreover, the color of the pine mushrooms was similar to that of withered leaves, making them even harder to find. Lin Chuntao looked at the several arrows pointed to by the system and called out to Lin Chunxing: "Chunxing, use a twig to dig around the base of this one next to me."

Lin Chunxing followed her words and went inside. A moment later, Chunhe exclaimed in surprise, "Sister, it really is there!"

"What kind of bacteria is it?" Lin Chuntao asked.

Lin Chunhe laughed and said, "Sister, it's still pine mushrooms. We won't end up with a whole basket of pine mushrooms this morning, will we?"

"Hurry up and pick them up, they're ours once they're in the basket."

After she said that, Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er fell silent and buried themselves in their work.

Lin Chuntao pointed to the location, and the second and third sisters quickly followed. The four sisters unknowingly wandered through half of the forest and filled a basket with their own.

When Lin Chuntao looked up at the sky, the moon had already disappeared, and the sky was just beginning to lighten with the first light of dawn.

Just as she was about to call her sisters to get ready to go down the mountain, she heard someone moving around in the woods and quickly located the direction of the sound.

A man appeared carrying a basket on his back, which was also filled with mushrooms.

He hadn't seen Lin Chuntao and the others yet, and said to his companions, "This area looks like it's been picked over too. Who's the greedy one who came so early?"

"If you weren't hungry, you would have come before dawn. This mountain doesn't belong to you."

The speaker was a woman.

As soon as he finished speaking, the man suddenly looked up and met Lin Chuntao's gaze.

Lin Chuntao stood there motionless, startling the man, who then became somewhat annoyed: "Who are you?"

Lin Chuntao didn't stand there and asked in return, "Who are you?"

"Xu Tianzhu from Xujia Village, which family are you from?"

The man immediately gave his village and name. Lin Chuntao felt that Xujia Village sounded familiar, but she wouldn't be a fool and just give him her village and name. She was about to call her sisters and leave.

Unexpectedly, the man in the woods followed and asked again, "Whose is this? Why aren't you saying anything? You're not from Xu Family Village, are you?"

Lin Chuntao said, "What? Just because you're not from Xujia Village doesn't mean you can't come and pick them up?"

"Oh dear, this young lady has quite a temper! This is our Xujia Village's mountain! Of course, we don't allow people from other villages to come."

Before Lin Chuntao could argue with him, the woman caught up and yelled, "Xu Tianzhu, are you having an epileptic seizure? Other people are picking their own mushrooms, but you're allowed to pick them too?"

"Sisters, don't pay attention to him. The mountain belongs to everyone, and anyone can come and pick it up."

As the women were talking, Lin Chuntao replied, "Thank you, sister. We've finished picking them up and are leaving now."

Lin Chuntao led her sisters down the mountain, and vaguely heard the woman behind them say, "Hurry up, it's almost dawn. We've collected quite a lot today."

Once they were some distance away, Lin Chunhe whispered, "Sister, this person is so domineering. This mountain clearly doesn't belong to any village; anyone can come here."

Lin Chuntao smiled slightly, "He was just trying to scare us by talking to us kids. The two villages aren't far apart, and he even gave his name. Maybe everyone in our village knows him. It's okay, don't worry."

"We need to hurry, it's almost dawn."

The sisters quickened their pace upon hearing Lin Chuntao's words.

Two people came up behind them halfway through the journey. They walked much faster and soon overtook them.

But after walking ahead, the man kept looking back. Lin Chuntao then recognized him as the man who had quickly sold all the mushrooms ahead of her yesterday.

"Are you those little devils from the mountains just now?"

Lin Chuntao raised an eyebrow slightly: "You're Xu something from Xujia Village? I didn't hear you clearly at the time."

She had actually heard him clearly, but seeing that the other person was about the same age as Lin Changhe, she felt it was inappropriate to call him by his name directly, so she had to hide it. But then the person said it again: "Yes, I am Xu Tianzhu."

"Where did you guys find this basketful?"

Lin Chuntao replied, "I only picked them from that one patch. Does your mountain only grow pine mushrooms? I tried to pick some green-headed mushrooms and milk-cap mushrooms but couldn't find a single one. It was all pine mushrooms."

As soon as she finished speaking, the man said, "You're very lucky. You found a big mushroom nest and picked up a whole basketful. Are you carrying this to the market to sell?"

Lin Chuntao nodded, then asked, "Are you the same?"

The woman smiled and replied, "Yes, we also picked them up and went to the market to exchange them for a few copper coins."

As the woman spoke, she stared at them, then frowned. She turned to Xu Tianzhu beside her and asked, "Do any of these girls look familiar to you?"

The man rolled his eyes, too lazy to look, and asked Lin Chuntao and the others, "Which village are you from?"

Lin Chuntao, seeing that the couple didn't seem like bad people, replied, "From Shuangzi Village."

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman looked as if she had just realized something and asked Lin Chuntao, "Who is Xu Xiu to you?"

These words stunned Lin Chuntao and the others. Yes, Xujia Village, their maternal grandmother's house was at the very bottom of Xujia Village.

But my maternal grandmother passed away many years ago, and after my mother passed away, we had less contact with her family.

After a long pause, Lin Chuntao finally spoke and asked, "Does Auntie know my mother?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Tianzhu was stunned. He said rather stiffly, "I know her. Your mother and I are cousins. You have to call me Fourth Uncle, and she is Fourth Aunt."

"Well...we haven't been there for years, we don't even recognize anyone anymore, please forgive us, Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt."

After Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Zhou said, "I knew she looked familiar. Turns out she's Xiuniang's daughter." As she spoke, she moved closer to Lin Chuntao, looked her up and down, and asked, "You're the eldest, right? It's been years since I've seen you. You've grown into a young lady. Are you married yet?"

Lin Chuntao nodded: "It's settled. A few days ago, each village brought people from other places back home, right? We brought one, but we haven't held a banquet yet."

Xu Tianzhu and Zhou Shi looked slightly taken aback, but quickly said, "Be sure to let us know when you're hosting the banquet."

Lin Chuntao pursed her lips. "If we're going to do it, we'll definitely invite my uncle and aunt."

As they were talking, Xu Tianzhu suddenly interrupted and asked, "Why didn't you call your cousins ​​or someone to come with you when you went into the mountains to pick mushrooms in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of going in alone?"

Lin Chuntao said somewhat embarrassedly, "I can't call them. My grandparents and my father have already kicked the four of us sisters out of the house, saying they're cutting ties with us. We're living on our own now."

Xu Tianzhu and Zhou were both shocked, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.

Lin Chuntao continued, "If we hadn't been kicked out, we wouldn't have dared to go up the mountain in the middle of the night."

"We didn't give you anything..." Zhou couldn't continue, but Lin Chuntao nodded slightly: "Yes, we are currently living in the village head's old house, which he lent us for temporary accommodation."

Upon hearing this, both Xu Tianzhu and Zhou fell silent.

Zhou patted her shoulder gently, but said nothing.

They went to the market together, and Zhou took them to rent scales, find stalls, and start their business. The couple took extra care of them.

The pine mushrooms are easy to weigh and not afraid of being squeezed, so today's basket is several pounds heavier than yesterday's.

Pine mushrooms cost nine coins per pound. Today, this basket weighed twenty-one pounds, earning me one hundred and eighty-nine coins. After deducting two coins for the cost of the scale, I have one hundred and eighty-seven coins left.

Xu Tianzhu and his wife brought several varieties of mushrooms, but green-headed mushrooms were the most numerous and were more expensive, selling for over two hundred coins.

The couple were all smiles.

Lin Chuntao was also happy. If they could pick mushrooms every day during the mushroom season, they could gradually get all the things that were missing from their home.

Zhou pulled Lin Chuntao aside and asked, "Is there anything you need to buy for the house? I'll take you to buy it."

Lin Chuntao didn't mince words, saying bluntly, "If I want to buy a rice steamer, I also need to carry a water bucket and a carrying pole, as well as five bowls. We don't even have salt or oil at home."

Hearing this, Zhou took a deep breath and said, "Aunt will take you to buy oil and salt first, and then we'll go buy a steamer. We don't need to buy everything today; we can add more later."

Lin Chuntao nodded, picked up her younger sisters, and followed Zhou Shi away.