"What?" Liu Ben was surprised.

"That's right. We want to know what it's like when we have hallucinations, so that we can work with more peace of mind." Liu Yi said seriously.

Liu Maomao stood behind him and raised his hand: "Although I don't know what hallucinations look like, uh, I don't really want to know..."

If I really am hallucinating, isn't that just eating poisonous mushrooms? That's too dangerous. I don't even know if it's truly harmless. They say people behave strangely when they have hallucinations, so how can it be harmless?

Liu Ben touched his chin. "That's not necessary, actually. When hallucinations occur, you'll clearly feel it. Everything you see becomes abnormal, and people's behavior becomes a little strange."

Liu Maomao didn't want to try it in the first place, so naturally he didn't say anything. But Liu Yi was clearly intrigued. "Brother Ben, you can describe it in such detail. It must be that kind of mushroom, right? Can I try it?"

"Yes, but this... well, I'll let you try a little, but only this once," Liu Ben said reluctantly. "Also, you might behave a little strangely after eating it, so I'm giving you a day off. If you do something wrong later, your family can keep you in check."

"Okay!" Liu Yi nodded decisively.

Liu Maomao: "Then I won't go. Liu Yi has asked for leave, so I have to take over his work."

"Well, I'll give you today's salary." Liu Yi said.

Liu Ben thought Liu Yi was really weird. He actually wanted to eat poisonous mushrooms. He hoped that his behavior would not be too outrageous.

When Liu Yi returned home and told his family about this, his parents were furious and scolded him.

Only then did Liu Ben realize that Liu Yi was actually a painter, but not very famous. His works received mediocre responses, and of course he didn't make much money. He lived a destitute life outside for several years. Recently, he had run out of inspiration and couldn't paint anything, so he was taken back home by his parents.

Liu Yi's father married into his wife's family and usually worked on the farm at home, while his mother opened a small grocery store in the village town and the business was pretty good. Both husband and wife were pragmatic people and could not quite understand their son's artistic ideas.

"We don't object to him doing these things, but people have to eat. Since he can't make a living outside, he might as well come back and farm when he has time. At least he can have enough to eat, and it won't interfere with his artistic pursuits. Besides, he can plant new rice seeds next year, so it means there's one more person at home," said Liu Ronghong.

You should know that life is not just about poetry and distant places, but also about the present.

"If you ask me, he wants to eat this for the sake of art," said Liu Yi's father.

"That's right." Liu Ronghong patted Liu Yi.

Liu Yi: "This also makes it easier for me to understand the work."

"Don't make excuses!"

Liu Ben grinned: "Actually, there's really no need to try this, because hallucinations are very obvious."

Liu Ronghong asked worriedly, "Isn't this dangerous?"

"Be mentally prepared and watch carefully," Liu Ben said. "Mushrooms don't cause direct harm to the body, but if you move around while hallucinating, you might hurt yourself because you can't see clearly what's really going on around you."

The three of them didn't agree with Liu Yi trying it, but Liu Yi insisted on trying it. Liu Ronghong had no choice but to say angrily that she would keep an eye on him, and if he moved, she would beat him until he couldn't move.

Liu Ben broke into a sweat. This must be her biological mother. Only a biological mother could be so cruel, and only a biological mother could tolerate her son's ridiculous ideas.

Since they all agreed, Liu Ben had nothing to hide, so he took out a bottle of "Daydream", but before that he still had to instruct Liu Yi.

"Just try it once, and don't tell anyone. It's not for sale. I heard some people just want something like this for the thrill of it."

"I know," Liu Yi nodded, his eyes sparkling. "I'll try it once, and I promise I won't tell anyone else."

Liu Ben nodded. He was not actually worried that Liu Yi would tell anyone about it. He would definitely not sell the poisonous mushroom powder anyway. Even if someone came to him, he would put it all in his space and say that he had destroyed it. What could anyone do to him?

Liu Ben opened the lid of "Daydream" and gave Liu Yi a small taste with a spoon.

Liu Yi: "Hey, this tastes completely different from Miaoxian Mushroom Powder... Ugh!"

Liu Yi's eyes immediately widened, and he looked around with wide eyes. Liu Ronghong and her husband stared at him nervously. It was obvious from Liu Yi's eyes that he was hallucinating.

Liu Yi opened the window first. Liu Ronghong was worried that he would jump out, so she hurried to stop him. However, Liu Yi just stared at the scenery outside with his mouth wide open, then hurried back to his room and groped on the ground.

Liu Ben was puzzled: "What is he doing?"

Liu Ronghong didn't know either, so she could only guess: "Could it be that he wants to play mahjong?"

Liu Ben suddenly realized: "He saw his friends who usually played cards with him outside the window?"

Liu Yi's father is more reliable: "...I think he wants to paint?"

That’s right! Liu Ronghong then remembered that her son had “sacrificed” himself to tasting poisonous mushrooms for the sake of art!

The two reliable and caring parents were busy helping their son prepare the paint for painting, set up the easel, and put up the drawing paper. Then they stuffed the cleaned pens into the hands of their son who was groping around, and pulled him to sit in front of the easel.

Liu Yi seemed stunned for a moment before he could clearly see the drawing paper in front of him. He turned his head to look out the window again.

The three of them hurriedly made way over there.

Liu Yi looked at it for a long time before he seemed to have an inspiration. He turned around and picked up a pen, mixing the colors vigorously, and soon splashed colors on the drawing paper.

Liu Ben also looked at it curiously for a long time. He just felt that the color was very strange, but he couldn't see anything at the moment.

Liu Ronghong and the others obviously couldn't see it, but they just stood behind Liu Yi and watched with great interest.

Liu Ben thought about it and left silently. Well, he would never understand the world of artists anyway.

Liu Yi should wake up after a while. His parents are here, so he doesn't need Liu Ben to watch over him.

Wang Fengjing and Wang Caiqing came back from their parents' home. They brought a lot of bags when they left, and they still brought a lot of bags when they came back, but the things were all new.

Both of them seemed very happy and kept talking while moving things out.

"My mother's family all knew our village was undergoing a major renovation, and they all asked me about it," Wang Fengjing said. "I told them my grandson paid for it, and they all praised me!"

Wang Fengjing brought back mostly sausages, and also a piece of cured fish. The Liu family didn't like cured fish, so they only made bacon, which now hung quietly on the balcony rack. Cured fish has a salty, fishy taste, but now that they have the magical seasoning Miaoxian Mushroom Powder, even cured fish should be delicious.

What Wang Caiqing brought back was different. It was New Year's goods bought by her eldest brother from outside, some specialties from other places, most of which were vacuum-packed cooked food, and the others were sweet pastries. Liu Ben and several other children took a little bit to eat. It was very sweet, but also delicious.

"Our family is doing well this year, so my dad is relieved," Wang Caiqing said. "My eldest brother is happy too. When I told him about our family, they even drank a little more and slept until noon."

"Haha, my brother-in-law still loves drinking," Liu Shuangying smiled. "Let's buy them some good wine during the New Year."

It's not like we haven't given nice gifts in previous years, but back then it was mainly for the sake of face, so buying expensive things was actually quite a stretch. This year, everyone in my family is making a lot of money at Xiaoben's factory, so we can spend more on things and give the children big red envelopes.

Liu Ben agreed with a smile, but he kept an eye on Third Aunt. Sure enough, Third Aunt didn't say anything, but her eyes clearly expressed her envy.

Liu Shuanghu also noticed it, and he smiled and said, "It's a bit busy at the end of the year. After the New Year, I plan to take He Mei out for a few days. Let's learn from the young people and go out for an outing and shopping."

He Mei patted him lightly and said embarrassedly, "You're already old, why are you still running around?"

"It's only when we get older that we should enjoy life more. Otherwise, when we're too old to move, we won't be able to go out and have fun."

Liu Ben hurriedly said, "Third Uncle is right. I want to take a few more days off during the New Year so that everyone can have a good rest. We can talk about it after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."

"How can a businessman take such a long break?"

“Working in the store isn’t tiring at all.”

"Yes, and it's not easy to shut down the factory."

“Everyone definitely wants to keep working.”

The Liu family disagreed. They felt that the work was busy but easy and not tiring at all.

"It's okay, we just need to notify you in advance. The express delivery will also stop in a few days."

Liu Yibiao also said: "Xiao Ben has a plan for success, so just listen to him. It doesn't matter if he makes less money for a few days."

The Liu family members looked at each other. They had just said that they didn't want to take such a long vacation, but it was obvious that everyone's eyes were full of anticipation for the vacation.

Oh, it's wonderful to have a holiday.

The Miaoxian Mushroom Powder Factory has been officially operating for a few days, and has a certain amount of inventory. Liu Ben is also preparing to start live streaming.

During this live broadcast, Liu Ben asked Liu Lei to help hold the phone to shoot, because he had to do some big movements and it might be inconvenient to hold the phone at that time.

"Brother, I've seen your livestream before. My roommates are all envious of your figure. And this headgear is really interesting."

Liu Lei and Liu Ben, wearing a headgear, walked down the hillside, with Avocado following behind them like a giant tail, and a few cats with smaller tails following behind. The two men, the cow, and the cats found a suitable location and started the live broadcast room.

{Ahhh, the host is live streaming! I'll be the first one in!}

{Damn! I didn’t get the sofa!}

{Wow, the surroundings are so beautiful! Did the host go on a trip this time?}

Liu Lei was reading the comments, so Liu Ben no longer had to come over from time to time to see what the audience was saying.

Liu Ben twitched his ears and smiled. "No, this is still in our village. Do you remember the mountain where I collected dead branches when I was roasting round potatoes?"

{Remember, remember, it's a very desolate mountain. Host, you don't want to tell us this is it, right?}

{How is this possible? This must be the back of that mountain. It's barren in front, but so beautiful in the back. It's amazing!}

{What kind of tree is this? It looks so beautiful.}

{Ginkgo? I remember only ginkgo was this color.}

{Ginkgo tree trunks don't look like this}

{Let me guess, this tree is actually just a computer background wall}

"Haha," Liu Ben shook his head. "This is the mountain where I roasted round potatoes last time. This isn't a background wall. It's not photoshopped. It just looks different now."

{How is that possible!}

{Outrageous, this just happened... oh, it's been a few months}

{This wouldn't happen in four months!}

{I flipped through it and it seemed like about three months had passed.}

Liu Ben sat carefree on a large rock, stroking the hairs of an avocado while chatting with the audience. "After I made some money, I bought the hills surrounding the village in installments. You may have seen some of what it looked like back then in my livestream. Then I brought in a lot of osmanthus pine trees and mobilized the whole village to plant them together, which is how we got to where we are today."

The audience immediately responded with shocking comments, unable to believe that the mountain, which was once almost entirely loess, had completely changed in just a few months.

Avocado rubbed Liu Ben's hand. Horns had begun to grow on its head. Although there were only a few invisible bumps, it often felt a little itchy. Liu Ben understood and gently scratched it for it.

The avocado blinked, looked up at the big, pointed horns on Liu Ben's head with a hopeful look, then looked at the top of the tree and licked its lips.

Liu Ben touched his horn, glanced at the treetops, and said with a smile, "These trees are of different ages and have different growing seasons. That's why the trees in front are still blooming, while the pine cones of the trees here are already ripe."

Liu Lei read the comments: "Some viewers asked if this pine cone is the kind sold in stores."

Liu Ben shook his head. "The varieties are the same, but the pine cones sold in the store are directly sourced from the research institute, not grown in our village. The research institute uses a lot of nutrients for the trees and carefully controls their growth environment, but we let them grow freely in our village, haha!"

Liu Lei: "Will there be any difference in taste?"

Liu Ben: "There should be, but I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know the specific differences yet, but we'll find out soon."

Liu Ben said this and called out to Dongzi and the others who had been arranged in advance. They brought a very tall ladder and placed it on one of the big trees. The trunk was very slippery, so there were hooks on both sides to prevent the ladder from sliding off the sides of the trunk. There was a heavy object blocking the bottom of the ladder. Dongzi and Zhuzi held the two sides of the ladder to make it safer.

Liu Ben looked at the camera and said, "I'm going to climb the tree to collect pine cones today!"

Liu Ben didn't prepare any safety measures. He took off his clothes and started climbing the ladder directly.

{Don't anchors use safety ropes when climbing trees this high?}

{It's hard to tie it up, right? And this kind of ladder is tall, but it's not safe at all.}

Liu Ben had already climbed about 5 meters and could still hear the barrage of comments relayed by Liu Lei. He replied loudly, "This anchor is very skilled, which is why he can climb such a high tree. If you don't have experience, don't try it casually, otherwise you can easily get hurt!"

In the shot held high by Liu Lei, Liu Ben climbed up the tall ladder quickly without stopping, and finally reached the lowest point of the tree canopy. The ladder was only that long, and Liu Ben had to rely on himself to go up further.

Liu Ben directly stepped onto the treetop and began to pick pine cones with his bare hands. After picking a few, Liu Ben looked down at the tree and shouted, "Stay away!"

Liu Lei stepped back, and even Avocado obediently retreated with his cat friends in his mouth, leaving a space under the tree. Liu Dong and Liu Zhu also retreated to a safe area after spreading plastic sheets on the ground.

Many trees have netting hanging in the middle, but not in this area, so the trunk is bare. Of course, even with the netting, pine cones can't be thrown at them, because if the pine cones hit the netting from such a high altitude, it will easily break. So Liu Shuanghu made the netting into a retractable inverted umbrella structure, which can be folded up when the tree is not in bloom, so that the pine cones will not hit the netting when picking.

Liu Ben only felt safe to throw the pine cone down after seeing that all the people and animals had left.

"Bang!" The sound of the pine cone hitting the ground is very loud, and it sounds very heavy. If it hits someone, it can be very dangerous.

Although Liu Lei was standing a bit far away, the camera still captured Liu Ben clearly. After picking pine cones from a branch, Liu Ben stood up and climbed up another branch. The branch was not very thick, and this move seemed very dangerous in the canopy at a height of 15 meters.

{Anchor, this is dangerous. Come down quickly!}

Liu Lei saw the comments and helped explain, "My brother is very capable, this is nothing."

As he looked towards the treetop, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Brother is in such good health. I suspect that even if he falls, he'll just make a hole in the ground and nothing will happen to him."

{==How is that possible...}

Liu Ben was very quick and strong. Although the pine cones were ripe, they were still very firmly attached to the tree. In addition, the pine cones were large and the branches that grew them were also thicker. Ordinary people would have to use a knife to collect such pine cones, but Liu Ben did not. He could just break them off with his bare hands.

Moreover, Liu Ben was very flexible. He could reach out and pick the pine cones even at the top where the branches were thin and difficult to step on. In just ten minutes, a large pile of pine cones appeared on the ground. Liu Ben on the tree looked around and made sure that he had not missed any ripe pine cones before he started to climb down the ladder.

Liu Ben climbed up very easily, but the people below who were watching for the first time were extremely nervous. Dongzi and Zhuzi even held the two sides of the ladder tightly involuntarily, fearing that Liu Ben would fall.

Liu Ben climbed two or three steps at a time. When he reached a height of four or five meters, he jumped down directly and landed easily amid the exclamations of everyone.

Liu Ben took off his coat before climbing the tree. In order to move more easily, he only wore a short T-shirt inside. When he jumped down, all the muscles in his body were tensed, and the muscles on his arms were bulging, making him look very strong.

{YOOOO the anchor is so handsome!}

{Anchor, I can do it!!!}

{Hey, the screen is dirty, let me lick it}

{Screenshots, screenshots, screenshots like crazy!}

{Mr. You is so lucky}

{Who is Mr. You?}

{Mr. You, you don't even know who you are? What's the name of this software you're using?}

{Oh!! Could it be?}

{He is the boss of Youyu Live, the anchor has a very good relationship with him.

{Alas……}

You Ying had of course been alerted to Liu Ben's livestream, and before watching, he'd even mentioned it in the You family group chat. So, the You family, who were usually quite free, also came to watch out of curiosity. Normally, the You family elders never watched livestreams, but they knew that You Ying's company had an app with a wide variety of livestreamers, some handsome, some beautiful, and some quirky...

But there are still many people who don’t earn as much as the anchors, but they give crazy tips to the anchors, which is very strange.

After watching Liu Ben's live broadcast this time, I felt that it was okay, just a very daily work life. It was just that Liu Ben's daily life was a bit dangerous. He actually had to climb such a high tree, which made them sweat through the screen.

When Liu Ben jumped from a height, revealing his muscular body in front of the camera, everyone in the You family was stunned. Previously, the photos You Guoguo posted were all of her wearing a coat, and she looked quite thin in them. How come she looks so different after taking off her clothes?

Wow, the guy You Ying found is too... strong, right?

Looking at this large physique, looking at the evenly proportioned muscles that even a bodybuilding model wouldn't have, the You family subconsciously compared themselves to You Ying...

Uh, You Ying is too weak.

Although You Ying didn't see the expressions of the You family, he had already guessed what they would say.

Well... just get used to it. You Ying won't train harder anyway, not in his entire life. It's impossible for him to surpass Liu Ben anyway.

Liu Ben patted the pine cone crumbs on his hands. Liu Zhu, Liu Dong and others had already started helping to collect the pine cones.

Liu Ben picked up a pine cone and held it in front of the camera for the audience to see: "I think many of you have bought pine nuts in my store. Pine nuts are very big, right? But you have definitely never seen a pine cone like this."

I've always wondered how big a pine cone would have to be to grow nuts this big. I didn't expect it to be this huge!

{This is almost as good as football}

Each pine cone is indeed very large and heavy in the hand. When it is ripe, the scales of the pine cone are propped up by the plump pine nuts and feel a bit prickly to the touch.

Liu Ben placed the pine cone between his hands and slowly turned it to show everyone: "The pine nuts are under these small round hard pieces. I'll pick one out and show you."

As he spoke, he easily broke open a hard piece and took out the pine nuts inside. Avocado seemed to smell the fragrance and ran over, coming close to Liu Ben and peeking around.

{Avocado is so tempting, hahaha}

{Could it be that I smell the scent of pine nuts?}

{The pine nuts still have their shells, so you probably won't be able to smell the fragrance.}

"Kitty Cat is coming over too! It must be scented!"

Liu Ben nodded. "Pine cones do have a fragrance, but it's not very strong. Animals with keen senses can smell it from a distance."

Liu Ben cracked a pine nut, spread it in his palm, and handed it to Avocado. The avocado extended its pink tongue, licked the pine nut into its mouth, and began to chew it. The avocado's mouth movements when eating the pine nut were very interesting. The avocado's mouth moved up and down and left and right to chew carefully, the hair around its mouth fluttering with the movement. It looked very cute, and its round eyes were full of love for the pine nut.

The cats obviously smelled the scent of avocado eating pine nuts, and they all ran over to scratch Liu Ben's trouser legs, but they were just scratching gently and did not damage Liu Ben's trousers.

Liu Ben ate a pine nut himself, smacked it for a while, and then commented, "It doesn't taste as good as the ones from the research institute. It lacks flavor, and... seems a bit oily."

Liu Ben thought for a moment and then said to the camera, "This pine nut might be very suitable for oil extraction. I'm studying this. You might be able to enjoy oil extracted from this pine nut as early as next spring."

{I like oily ones!}

{Is it so easy for the anchor to make a big decision?}

{Maybe it's just lip service, and the host doesn't intend to make pine nut oil}

{The anchors are all self-employed, they must be very rich and can do whatever they want.}

{The host must have decided to make pine nut oil before the bun was made.}

Liu Ben listened to Liu Lei's retelling and replied with a smile: "No, I haven't tasted the flavor of pine nuts before. Isn't it just now that I discovered that the oil content is relatively high?"

Liu Ben invited everyone to come over and try it. While explaining to the audience how to extract oil using the ancient method, he peeled pine nuts to feed avocados and a few cats.

Avocado obviously liked the taste of the pine nut, probably because it tasted so delicious. The cats also ate one each and wanted more.

"These pine nuts are too oily, so we can't give them too many." Liu Ben distributed the remaining pine nuts to Liu Zhu, Liu Dong, and Liu Lei. Then he clapped his hands and said to everyone, "Let's put the rest away for now."

You pull one end, I pull the other, and several people close the plastic sheeting, wrapping the pine cones inside, and pile them onto the cart that's being pushed in. But the sheeting is a little small, and the pine cones are so many and heavy that they can't lift them all at once, causing many of them to fall out. And because they're spherical, they roll a long way. Liu Zhu and the others scurried after them, bending down to pick them up.

At this moment, there was a slight rustling sound of grass and trees coming from a certain direction, as if it was just blown by the wind. Liu Zhu and the others didn't notice it, but Liu Ben immediately stood up and turned to look over.

Seeing Liu Ben's actions, Liu Lei also turned to look in that direction. It was a lush green forest with dense shrubs growing between the trees. It was not one of the mountains Liu Ben had covered, but somewhere deep in the mountains. However, it was a bit far away, and there were trees, grass and rocks blocking the view, so Liu Lei didn't see anything special.

"Brother? What's wrong?"

Liu Ben didn't answer, but waved his hand and said to them seriously, "You guys step back and get behind me."

Zhuzi and Dongzi didn't notice anything wrong around them and thought that Liu Ben's words were necessary for the live broadcast, so they followed Liu Ben's instructions and walked towards the village. Liu Lei noticed something from Liu Ben's expression and quickly stepped back.

Liu Ben took a few steps in that direction, and the sound became louder. It was accompanied by the swaying of leaves and grass, and the sound of dead branches being crushed. Liu Lei and the others finally heard it.

Everyone held their breath, and suddenly, two big black wild boars ran out of the bushes!

"Ah!" Even though Liu Lei was mentally prepared, he was still startled. He took a few steps back and stepped on a pine cone and almost fell down. He had to use the cart to support himself to stand up. He had never seen a wild boar in his life!

Avocado, a naive calf who had never encountered any danger, was so frightened by the wild boar that his hoof slipped and he fell to the ground. He rolled around before struggling to his feet, startling his cat friends, who all meowed and instinctively tried to climb trees. But there were only cinnamon pines on the mountain, and the trunks of the cinnamon pines were too slippery. The cat swished its claws in vain for a long time before climbing up the tree. He could only run home, crying.

Liu Zhu and Liu Dong were also startled, but they were more experienced. They hurriedly pulled Liu Lei and ran towards the village, turning back and shouting, "Aben, come here quickly!" and "Hurry back!"

Wild boars don't look very big, about the same size as ordinary pigs, but they have not been domesticated, are very wild, and are aggressive towards humans. If you are hit by one, you may lose several ribs, not to mention that wild boars have fangs.

That’s right, the two wild boars that ran out both had hard black bristles, and the leading one should be a male, which was particularly large, with two long and sharp fangs on its mouth, looking extremely dangerous!

However, Liu Ben did not move. He stood there straight, frowning at the two wild boars.

{Why the hell isn’t the host leaving yet!}

{You must be shocked}

{This is courting death!}

{Being hit by a wild boar could be fatal!}

These wild boars are probably after the pine nuts. If you give them the pine nuts, they'll go away.

{Wild boars are very aggressive. Even if they want to eat pine nuts, they must drive their opponents away first.}

{Wow wow wow anchor, run!}

The barrage of comments was scrolling like crazy, but Liu Ben couldn't see it at the moment, and Liu Lei didn't have time to read it.

Zhuzi and Dongzi were both extremely anxious. Liu Lei seemed to be stupid. Although his face looked blank, he was still holding up his cell phone and pointing it at Liu Ben in front of him, refusing to leave first.

Accompanied by a sharp pig cry, the fast-running wild boar had already arrived in front of Liu Ben and was about to hit Liu Ben!

The You family members who were watching the live broadcast, like all the other viewers, held their breath and were ready to stand up and call the police.

But Liu Ben was obviously not as anxious as those who were watching him. The moment the wild boar rushed in front of him, he raised his left hand without blinking, clenched his fist and swung it to the lower right!