Chapter 5 In the Moonlit Forest, Green-headed Mushrooms

The moonlight hung high in the sky, and the lush trees looked dark in the moonlight, even though they were under the sun.

She was preoccupied with her own thoughts during the day and hadn't really observed the village closely.

Looking back now, I understand the origin of the name Shuangzizhai (Twin Village). The village is nestled in the mountains, with a small river winding its way down, dividing the village in two, just like twins. There are independent hills and rolling mountain ranges around it, the peaks of which are not very high, and in the distance, there are alpine meadows.

Lin Chuntao followed the arrows pointed to by the system, while Lin Chunxing and the others could not see the arrows and followed closely behind Lin Chuntao.

Lin Chunhe hugged her arm tightly, "Sister, isn't it too early to pick mushrooms? I heard that if it's too early, it's before dawn, and the ghosts haven't left yet."

Lin Duo'er, with her keen ears, immediately exclaimed, "Are there ghosts in the mountains?"

Lin Chunxing felt uneasy after hearing what Lin Duo'er said.

Lin Chuntao patted Lin Chunhe helplessly: "Nonsense, don't scare your sister."

There are no ghosts in this world, so there's nothing to be afraid of.

Pei Ying's voice rang out from behind, and the younger sisters turned around and looked over, feeling much more at ease.

Following the arrow, Lin Chuntao led them into the forest. The leaves were not dense, and the moonlight made it easy to see the way.

Lin Chuntao cut down several sticks and gave one to each of them, saying, "Use the sticks to scout out the way before you go."

The younger sisters took the sticks, and Lin Chuntao was the first to dive into the woods.

After walking for about 15 minutes after entering the mountains, we finally found the location indicated by the arrow.

Lin Chuntao used a stick to pry open the bulging clump of decaying leaves, while Pei Ying raised a stick to brush away the leaves on top, and moonlight streamed down!

Lin Duo'er saw the mushrooms below and exclaimed, "Sister! There are mushrooms! There are mushrooms!"

Lin Chunxing quickly covered Duo'er's mouth, "Keep your voice down."

Lin Duo'er nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice, and only then did Lin Chunxing let go of her hand.

"I'll pick it up, I'll pick it up."

Lin Chuntao, standing nearby, instructed, "Be gentle, don't break it." Then she looked at Lin Chunxing and said, "Take a look around us, this should be a mushroom nest."

Upon receiving the news, they all began searching. After a short while, Lin Chunhe exclaimed, "Sister! Sister! I have one here too!"

Lin Chuntao shushed her, and Chunhe began to squat down to pick mushrooms.

"Be careful not to step on it, it would be a shame to break it."

The sisters crouched low as they searched through the woods, with Pei Ying following beside them, keeping an eye on their surroundings and helping them clear the way by prying open the leaves on the trees.

Unaware of the passage of time in the forest, by the time they straightened up, their baskets were almost full, and only half of the moon remained in the sky.

Suddenly, a rooster crowed from not far away.

Lin Chunhe frowned and muttered, "Why is there still a rooster crowing in the mountains?"

Pei Ying quickly shushed her, and Lin Chuntao's eyes widened as she whispered, "Is it a pheasant?"

"Yes, you wait here for me, I'll go catch it."

Pei Ying went, and Lin Chuntao wanted to go with her, but she had to take her younger sisters with her. Too many people would make too much noise and might scare away the pheasants, so she had to wait where she was.

But Pei Ying hadn't returned for a long time, and Lin Duo'er was getting anxious. "Sister, why hasn't brother-in-law come back yet? Could he have gotten lost? Should we go look for him?"

Lin Chuntao shook her head. "We'll wait here. He'll find it."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the pheasant’s panicked screams echoed throughout the valley. A moment later, Pei Ying returned, carrying a beautifully colored pheasant in her hand.

"We caught one, but the other flew away. We'll come back to look for it in a few days."

Pei Ying looked pleased, and Lin Chuntao nodded slightly, looking up at the person in front of her. This was not as frightening as during the day.

The younger sisters were incredibly curious about the pheasant when Lin Chuntao interrupted them, saying, "It's almost dawn, and a lot of people will be coming to pick mushrooms soon, so we need to hurry."

With the system arrow pointing the way, it became much easier for Lin Chuntao to find mushrooms, and she unknowingly traversed two hilltops.

We're getting further and further away from the village, but closer and closer to the county town.

If you enter Yizhou County before 7 AM, you don't need to go through a checkpoint; you only need to queue at the city gate for questioning and inspection. If you enter after 7 AM, you need to go through a checkpoint.

Seeing that dawn was approaching, Lin Chuntao turned to Pei Ying and asked, "Do you want to eat this pheasant or sell it?"

Pei Ying replied, "Anything is fine with me." Then she asked, "What about your mushrooms?"

Lin Chuntao said, "I want to take it to the city and see if I can sell it for some money."

The younger sisters all listened to her. After making up their minds, the group went down the mountain and headed straight for the county town. When they arrived at the town gate, it was just dawn, and there were many people queuing up to enter the town.

When it was their turn, the guard questioned them about where they were from, what they were doing in the city, and checked the contents of their baskets before letting them in.

Lin Chuntao followed the woman picking vegetables and found the market.

It felt like entering a marketplace, with all sorts of shouts and calls filling the air. There were many vendors selling breakfast at the market, and all sorts of delicious aromas wafted through the air.

In an instant, they all felt hungry.

Lin Chuntao covered her basket with straw and carried it around, trying to see if anyone was selling mushrooms and what the prices were.

I walked all the way to the middle of the market before I saw a vendor shouting: "Green-headed mushrooms are twelve coins, milk-cap mushrooms are ten coins, and pine needle mushrooms are nine coins!"

Lin Chuntao looked at the items that had been displayed, with several varieties separated and piled up into small mounds, estimating that they weighed a total of twenty or thirty jin.

As soon as his shouts faded, several people rushed over, yelling, "Two catties of green-headed mushrooms! Give me two catties of green-headed mushrooms!"

"I want two pounds of milkweed mushrooms and one pound of pine mushrooms!"

...

Lin Chuntao quickly stepped aside and watched as the mushrooms the man had brought were quickly sold out; she was shocked by the speed at which they were sold.

The man tidied up, picked up his basket, and left, saying to those who hadn't bought anything, "I'll come back tomorrow if I find something."

After he left, there was an empty spot. People who wanted to buy mushrooms but hadn't gotten any hadn't left yet. Lin Chuntao hurriedly called out, "Aunties, don't go yet, I still have some mushrooms here."

Everyone turned around, and Lin Chuntao hurriedly lifted the straw on her back basket. When she saw that it was full of fresh green-headed mushrooms, her eyes lit up.

"Young lady, how much are your mushrooms?"

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's all the same. Green-headed mushrooms are twelve coins a pound, but wait a minute, aunties, I don't have a scale."

The woman in front of him said, "It costs two coins to rent one at the market entrance."

Pei Ying hurriedly replied, "I'll go, I'll be right back."

He left quickly and returned quickly, luckily with Pei Ying in tow. She didn't have a single penny, not even enough to rent a scale...

After the scale was brought back, the woman in front of him hurriedly said, "Girl, give me three catties."

Lin Chuntao responded by quickly picking mushrooms and weighing them for her.

The system arrow pointed to mushrooms that had been picked up, some with purple skin and some with green skin. The caps were all intact, and the large, half-open ones looked very appealing.

The mushrooms took up space, so they weren't carrying large baskets; a whole basket only weighed eighteen jin (approximately 12.5 catties).

Without a purse, Lin Chuntao felt the weight of the 216 copper coins in her hand.

I was planning to take a pound or two home to eat, but before I knew it, they were all sold out.

She explained to her sisters, "Let's pick them tomorrow and keep them to eat. I forgot to keep them while we were selling them..."

To everyone's surprise, the younger sisters shook their heads in unison: "We won't eat them. We'll pick them up and sell them."

At twelve coins a pound, with a little more money you could buy half a pound of fine noodles. For them, no matter how delicious the mushrooms were, they couldn't compare to a fragrant steamed bun.

The pheasant that Pei Ying caught had beautiful feathers and looked particularly spirited, attracting the attention of passersby.

"Young man, is this a wild dog? Want to sell it?"

Pei Ying replied, "It's a pheasant, just caught this morning. How much will you pay, Uncle?"

"Fifty coins."

The man gave a price, and Pei Ying shook her head without saying a word.

Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "Uncle, that's the price of a domestic chicken. This pheasant can fly, and it's very hard to catch."

Upon hearing this, the man waved his hand and said, "I'll give you an extra ten coins."

Lin Chuntao glanced at Pei Ying; it seemed he didn't want to sell for sixty coins.

Seeing that they still wouldn't budge, the man said, "Although they're hard to catch, domestic chickens and wild chickens taste pretty much the same. Sixty coins should be enough, young man."

Lin Chuntao smiled and looked at the man: "Uncle, judging from your air of nobility, you're not buying this to eat. For you, this is just a little trinket. Look how beautiful the plumage of this pheasant is. You probably can't find a more beautiful pheasant in the whole county. Ninety-nine coins, just for good luck."

The man was initially pleased with Lin Chuntao's compliments, but upon hearing the price, he clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"A fixed price of eighty-eight coins, which is even more auspicious."

Lin Chuntao looked at Pei Ying, who nodded and said, "Okay."

The man counted out the copper coins and handed them over; Pei Ying then gave him the pheasant.

The man grabbed the pheasant by the foot, looked it over from left to right, and, quite satisfied, tied it to his arm and squatted down to take it away.

They had a great day and were in high spirits.

Lin Chuntao took the scale back and gave it to Pei Ying. Pei Ying refused to accept it, saying only, "I'll give you all the money when I get home."

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's not convenient for me to put them away, so you can take them for yourself first."

Pei Ying agreed, and Lin Chuntao looked at her three younger sisters and asked, "What do you want to eat? Let's go eat."

"Meat patties, noodle soup, and snacks are all fine."

As they were talking, they looked up and saw a stall selling mutton rice noodles across the street. A large bowl cost twelve coins, and a small bowl cost ten coins, with unlimited refills of soup.

Lin Chuntao didn't know what Suofen was at first. She went over to take a look and was stunned. It was her favorite rice noodles!

After doing some quick calculations, I realized that there were five of them... Even a small bowl would cost fifty coins. Fifty coins, it seems more cost-effective for them to buy meat instead.

But none of the sisters had ever eaten mutton before, and they couldn't take their eyes off it.

She also wanted to eat mutton rice noodles, and seeing that the big bowl looked quite large, she went over and asked the shopkeeper.

"Shopkeeper, if we buy two large bowls, can we take empty bowls from here to share them?"

The shopkeeper smiled kindly at them and said, "Alright, ladies, please have a seat."

After the group sat down, the innkeeper started cooking rice noodles and brought out two large bowls full of noodles, but each bowl only contained two thin slices of meat.

The rice noodles were very fresh, with a rich aroma of rice. Combined with the delicious flavor of the mutton soup, Lin Chuntao's mouth started watering uncontrollably.

After the noodles were served, the innkeeper brought out three more bowls, each containing more than half a bowl of thick, white mutton soup.

Lin Chuntao thanked the innkeeper, who smiled and said, "Please enjoy your meal, young lady."

Two bowls of noodles aren't enough for five people, but the mutton soup is delicious. After drinking most of a bowl of mutton soup and eating some rice noodles, you feel full and warm.