Chapter 60: It’s okay to rehearse, I’ll teach you.

After all, Zhou Wenhui was only one year older than Yan Xue, and she was not yet twenty years old this year. When Yan Xue asked her about it, she looked a little embarrassed.

But she had already dealt with Yan Xue once before, and knew that Yan Xue was good-natured and easy to get along with, so she nodded openly and said, "There is good news."

"Don't be in a hurry, take your time." Yan Xue poured her a glass of water.

Zhou Wenhui took it and went over what she was going to say and do in her head before taking out the money. "Let's settle the previous bill first."

This girl was obviously very organized and managed her money neatly. The total amount was thirty-eight yuan, plus the thirty yuan from before, which was exactly enough for twenty kilograms of black fungus.

Whenever money was involved, Yan Xue would always count it in person, and would only put it away after both parties had confirmed that it was correct, to avoid the possibility of finding something wrong later and not being able to tell whose it belonged to.

She counted them in front of Zhou Wenhui and said, "It's indeed thirty-eight. Are you going to return the fungus?"

"No, I sold all those." Zhou Wenhui actually took out two more pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to Yan Xue.

Yan Xue took a look and saw that it was a pre-written bill. The first item on it was: "Food, 10, 3.55."

After a quick thought, she realized that the cafeteria wanted ten kilograms of food, which cost three dollars and fifty-five cents per kilogram.

The rest were recorded in the same way, but Yan Xue didn't know who Zhou Wenhui sold them to. She could only recognize the weight and unit price at the end, as well as the total price calculated clearly at the end.

This made her look at the girl in front of her again. She didn't expect that Zhou Wenhui was so organized and careful in doing things.

"I was afraid others would notice, so I didn't remember it in detail." Zhou Wenhui thought she had some questions and quickly explained.

"It's okay, I'm fine." Yan Xue's eyebrows curved, "I just didn't expect you to write it down and remember it so well."

This compliment made Zhou Wenhui feel a little embarrassed. "I just have the habit of keeping accounts. I just write down the amount after selling it."

Liu Weiguo can testify that, "The first thing she did after washing up at night was to keep accounts. If there was a discrepancy of a few cents, she would even miss a good night's sleep to find it."

Zhou Wenhui blushed so much that she couldn't help but glare at him, which made him shut up quickly and pretend to be dumb.

Qi Fang performed very well in this regard. He never said a word when he shouldn't, except when he turned off the lights at night...

Yan Xue returned the two pages of paper to Zhou Wenhui and said, "We agreed that the extra ones are yours. Keep them for yourself." Then she asked her, "You just asked me how many pounds of fungus are left?"

This was business. Zhou Wenhui took the item and placed it on her knees. "Didn't I only give the cafeteria ten kilograms at first? After they received the goods, they thought they were good and asked if I had any more. They wanted to buy more."

I'm afraid it's not just because the product is good, but also because the girl is so honest and gave a very low price.

Yan Xue had just checked and saw that the price in the cafeteria had been reduced to 3.55 yuan per catty. Even if they were sold in small quantities of two or three taels, she only collected 3.6 yuan, making no profit at all.

Even though the buyers paid her 3.55 yuan, the 3.80 yuan per pound they reported back to the bank was still a low price. Taking kickbacks was standard practice in this industry, even in this day and age, it just depended on one's daring and timidity, and whether one took more or less.

But since the things had already been handed over to Zhou Wenhui, Yan Xue didn't say much and only asked, "How much do they want?"

"Forty kilograms." Zhou Wenhui reported a number that even Yan Xue was a little surprised.

Adding the previous ten kilograms, this is fifty kilograms, which costs more than one hundred yuan.

It seems the Forestry Bureau is indeed rich, worthy of its nickname "Forest Big Head." The other party must have reported a lot to their superiors, which is why they were able to pull in so much at once.

Yan Xue calculated and said, "I don't have that many ready-made ones here. I'm afraid I'll have to wait a few days."

The town forestry bureau didn't say they needed it urgently, so Zhou Wenhui asked how many days it would take and then said goodbye. "When the time comes, I'll just send it down with my uncle's car."

Liu Weiguo walked with her and glanced at her several times along the way. He didn't ask until they got home, "You've been going to town so much these days, is it just to sell fungus?"

"Yan Xue and Qi Fang have helped us a lot, so I have to help them too." After this big business deal was concluded, Zhou Wenhui felt a lot more relaxed.

After she finished speaking, she remembered that she had never told Liu Weiguo about this matter. Her face flushed, "I didn't know if it could be done before, so I didn't mention it to you."

Since she said so, what else could Liu Weiguo say? He just still had a slight toothache.

When he first met Yan Xue, just when he had the slightest sign of success, he was killed by Qi Fang's words, "Yan Xue and I are getting married in a few days and we will be short of food." He was completely defeated by Qi Fang.

It has only been a month since they got married, and Zhou Wenhui has gone to pick up fungus with Yan Xue again. Is he going to compete with Yan Xue for his wife?

In the next few days, Yan Xue took the time to harvest and dry the fruits, and together with the leftovers, she finally collected the 40 kilograms required by the Town Forestry Bureau.

The items were quietly divided into two baskets and loaded onto the internal combustion engine that the logistics team used to deliver the goods. When Zhou Wenhui came back, she settled the bill with her. The total amount was 136, not a cent in arrears.

This way, Yan Xuedan's profit from the fungus this year has already reached over 200. After deducting the initial investment and Guo Changan's salary, there is still nearly 100 left.

Moreover, this was her first year, and she had planted late, so she missed the harvest by two or three months.

The wood ear mushrooms grown from artificial logs will not reach a good harvest until the second year. The wood will begin to rot in the third year, but the harvest will not be less than this year.

Yan Xue decisively paid Guo Changan this month's salary first, and arranged the affairs at home before getting in the car with Qi Fang to go to the town to participate in the poetry recitation rehearsal.

Lang Yue'e took them there. Because several forest farms were on another small train line and had not yet arrived, rehearsals would have to wait until the afternoon. She first took them to the Forestry Bureau Guesthouse to check in. "Keep the meal and accommodation receipts. I'll take them back to the farm and reimburse you."

Of course, we didn’t live together. Instead, we were separated from several other forest farms, with men living in one room with men and women living in one room with women.

For lunch, the group had lunch in the Forestry Bureau canteen, and it just so happened that the canteen had a dish of fried black fungus among the dishes that day.

Yan Xue and Qi Fang ate too much at home and didn't buy any more, but many employees of the Forestry Bureau bought some, and some even took some home.

When the other people who came down from the forest farm saw this, they couldn't help but ask, "Is the fried wood ear mushroom in your cafeteria delicious?"

"It's not that they're fried well, it's the wood ear mushrooms that are good," the man said. "This wood ear mushroom is tender, easy to chew and digest, and can be eaten by both the elderly and children. Unlike the ones I buy at home, they're too hard and tough, and even children can't digest them."

Wild wood ear mushrooms have high nutritional value and are crisp, but have a hard texture. Those grown in hanging bags are too soft and rotten. In comparison, those grown in logs have the best taste.

The forest farm is not short of this. Originally, the few of them had not planned to buy some wood ear mushrooms, but after hearing what the other party said, and seeing that there were indeed many people queuing up, they also lined up and got some.

After the fight, he sat behind Yan Xue and Qi Fang. The first thing he did was to taste the different fungus. "It's indeed more tender than the ones we pick ourselves. Where do they get this?"

Both of them heard it, but Yan Xue kept smiling and Qi Fang remained indifferent. Lang Yue'e sat at the same table with them and didn't realize that the fungus was sold by their family.

Lang Yue'e knew someone here, and was pulled over to talk after dinner. She made an appointment with the two of them to meet them at the guesthouse at one o'clock and take them to rehearsal.

Going back would mean sharing a room with strangers. Neither the couple had the habit of taking naps, so they simply decided not to go back and instead calculated the time by walking around nearby to digest their food.

The terrain of Chengshui is not flat. The Forestry Bureau, the canteen and the Forestry Bureau's guesthouse are all on a long slope. Standing on the slope and looking down, you can see the area where Shan Qiufang and Zhou Wenhui's parents live.

Right next to Changpo and built next to it is the town forestry bureau's middle school, which covers a large area with two large rows of bungalows, housing the junior high school and the high school together.

Yan Xue stood by the road and looked around. "I wonder where Chuncai and the others are staying, and whether it's far from school."

"When Jigang comes, we should be able to find a way to let him live with Weibin." Qi Fang immediately guessed that Yan Xue was worried about Yan Jigang.

This made Yan Xue turn around and look at him with a smile, "You haven't told me whether you also skipped a grade to go to school."

The main reason was that Yan Xue didn't ask again, but it didn't matter now. Yan Xue arched her eyebrows and asked, "Are you going to tell me now, or tell me tonight?"

How can I tell her at night? Can I still imitate Old Man Wang and find a way to get in?

Qi Fang lowered his eyes and looked at the cunning in those smiling eyes for a while, "I also skipped a grade to go to elementary school, when I was seven years old."

Yan Xue was not surprised. "Seven years old or seven years old?"

"nominal age."

That was really very young. In those days, most children went to school at the age of nine, and some were ten or eleven.

"Will the school let you go?" Yan Xue was a little curious.

Of course he wasn't allowed to do that, but at that time he had been studying at home for more than a year, and his grandfather felt it was a pity that he didn't go to school.

"The school said I was too young and worried I wouldn't be able to keep up. My grandfather said I had already completed the first-grade curriculum and if they didn't believe me, they could take the test."

"And then the school lets you go straight to the second grade because you know all the questions in the test?"

"Um."

This is really similar to Yan Jigang, although the two of them proposed taking the exam for different reasons.

But at the age of seven, he was already in the second grade of elementary school. Even in Yan Xue's previous life, that was considered early. Moreover, Qi Fang was not that old. "Did your grandfather teach you to read and write very early?"

"Not really." Qi Fang said, "One time he was playing chess with someone and he noticed that I knew all the characters on the chess pieces, so he started teaching me."

As expected, he had a good memory since childhood. Yan Xue was used to envying him, but she felt sorry for him again.

Qi Fang is not even twenty-one years old yet, and he still has a bit of youthfulness in him. Today he is wearing a Zhongshan suit. If he adds a student hat, he will look like an advanced intellectual youth.

But he neither shined in the research institute nor continued his studies on campus. Instead, he stayed in this mountain village, doing physical work that he could do even if he was illiterate.

Yan Xue's eyes softened unconsciously, "Just hold on a little longer, you'll get through this."

She rarely said such words about those ten years, for fear of being caught and criticized, and also afraid that others would think her words were purely useless comfort.

Qi Fang lowered his eyes and looked at her, but he only saw sincerity and determination in her eyes, as well as a light that was always bright and shining.

He unconsciously hummed, and after a moment of silence, he asked her in a low voice, "You seem to care a lot about studying."

In this era when no one took studying seriously, she actively sent her younger brother to school and taught him to read and write at home. She even thought it was a pity that he did not go to college when she mistook him for Qi Fang.

Of course, Yan Xue could answer him the same way she answered Liu Chuncai, saying that studying is definitely useful, and that she feels the country lacks talent, and that she might attach importance to studying again in the future.

But she was silent for a moment, her long eyelashes drooping, "I only finished junior high school."

Be it this life or the previous one.

In this life, her mother died early, and Yan Jigang was still young. After graduating from junior high school, she had to return home to take care of the family like other rural girls, and she did not continue her studies. In her previous life...

In her previous life, she had very good grades. Even if she had been helping her father at the market and taking care of the family, she could at least get into a university.

Unfortunately, her father fell ill when she was in her second year of high school. She could continue her studies with the school's hardship allowance, but no one could pay for her father's medical expenses.

Although the situation improved later and she took time out to study adult education, regrets are regrets after all and there is no way to make up for it.

So she hoped that Liu Chuncai and the others would cherish the opportunity to study, and that Yan Jigang would study hard and successfully catch up with the good time when the college entrance examination was resumed...

Yan Xue wasn't the type to dwell on such regrets. After a moment, she looked up again with a smile on her face. "Maybe because you haven't had it yourself, you're particularly envious of others who have it. But when you actually have it, it's not like that anymore. Look at Wei Bin, he doesn't want to go to school every day, and he tells Aunt Liu every day he has a headache, a footache, and a stomachache."

It was sunny and bright, as if there had never been any haze, but Qi Fang still caught the loss hidden in her eyes at that moment.

It is so light and faint that it will disappear into thin air when the sun shines on it, but it still pricks people's eyes and hearts.

This made him lower his voice, "It's okay, I'll teach you."

It was just that his gaze was too low and too focused, which made Yan Xue blink. "Is it the kind of teaching between a female general and a sword-carrying guard?"

What was originally a serious topic suddenly went in an inappropriate direction. I don’t know if she really had the wrong idea or just didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

And she only finished junior high school, so how did she know so much? She doesn't seem uneducated...

Qi Fang stared at Yan Xue with his peach blossom eyes for two seconds, "That's fine."

Yan Xue couldn't accept that. "I can't bear to look at the two dogs at home anymore. Please let the students and teachers go."

As they were talking, they had already reached the foot of the long slope. Yan Xue looked at her watch and asked, "Should we continue forward or go back?"

Qi Fang was about to speak when a series of bicycle bells suddenly rang from the slope behind him. "Make way! Make way!"

The two of them hurriedly retreated to the side of the road, looking back and seeing that Qi Fang had pulled Yan Xue behind him.

A bicycle rushed down the slope while ringing its bell. Judging from the speed, it did not brake at all. The people on the bicycle tried to remind them while turning a corner and narrowly passed by them.

But the other party had obviously lost control of the car. He didn't hit them, but instead scraped another bicycle parked on the side of the road ahead.

The two bicycles fell to the ground one after the other with a clang. The things on the other bicycle were scattered all over the ground, and the person on this bicycle was also badly injured, and even his glasses flew off.

The man on the bike was obviously very nearsighted. He didn't care that he was in a mess and his hands were scratched. The first thing he did was to touch his glasses.

This person at least reminded them and even turned a corner on purpose to avoid bumping into them. Yan Xue was about to go over, but Qi Fang was already one step ahead of her and helped the other person pick up the glasses.

The man thanked him and took it, then put on his glasses with one side broken. He then dusted himself off and turned to look at the other car he had knocked down.

Just as he was about to go over to help, a dark-skinned man in his forties or fifties rushed out from the yard next to him and asked, "How can you ride a bike like that? I have such a big bike parked here, can't you see it?"

The man with glasses quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry, my bike's brakes broke and I couldn't stop. Is your bike okay?"

As he continued to help, he was pushed away by the other person. "Your car looks new, and the brakes on a new car can break. Who are you trying to fool?"

The dark-faced man straightened the car and began to pick up the ginseng scattered on the ground. "You must give me an explanation for this. I just got this ginseng. It's all dirty and some are rotten."

He picked up one of the trees that had been scratched by a car and said, "Look at it yourself. There's such a big gap. How can I sell it?"

This attitude made the man with glasses frown, but he was indeed in the wrong, so he said, "Why don't you take a look at which ones are broken? I want them all."

This made the dark-faced man look up at him and said, "Okay." He lowered his head and began to pick out the trees. "This one, this one, and this one, they're all broken."

Even those with only a few whiskers were picked out. "These are all freshly harvested from the mountains. They sell for over 200 yuan each at the purchasing station. You've damaged four in total."

This was clearly an attempt to extort money. The man with glasses frowned, "Comrade, this isn't wild, is it?"

"Why aren't these wild ginsengs?" the dark-faced man yelled immediately. "You were blind enough to crash my car, and I haven't settled the score with you yet. These are all high-quality, fifth-grade ginseng leaves, and you're saying they're not wild? Don't you want to compensate me? Are you going to default on your debt?"

As he shouted, another person came out from the yard behind him, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The sullen-faced man immediately pointed at the man with glasses and said, "I was only a short while in there when he crashed into my car. He even damaged the ginseng I had in my bag, and he doesn't even want to pay for it."

The visitor took one look and hurried to smooth things over. "It's not completely broken, is it? Just let him pay a little. Who would carry so much money when going out?"

"If you don't have money, you still have a watch, right?" The dark-faced man pointed at the wrist of the man with glasses. "A Roman watch, that's barely enough to cover half of the damage."

No wonder she kept biting him, it turned out she saw the watch on his wrist...

The man with glasses no longer had any apology on his face. He was about to say something when his arm was pulled. "Brother, don't listen to him. That ginseng is cultivated ginseng."

A petite girl stood in front of him and said, "I've been working in the ginseng fields for many years, and today I've really learned something new. Someone actually dared to blackmail my brother with ginseng cultivation!"

The girl pointed at the ginseng in the man's hand and said, "I won't say that wild ginseng has long roots and cultivated ginseng has short roots. But do you dare to take out the root of that ginseng and let me count how many years it is?"

No one expected that Cheng Yaojin would appear halfway, call the other party "brother" as soon as he opened his mouth, and there was a young man of considerable stature beside him.

Now they were no longer at an advantage in numbers. The black-faced man looked at the young girl, then at the man with glasses, his eyes filled with suspicion.

Yan Xue ignored him and turned to look behind her. "We were waiting for you to eat, but you didn't come back. We waited for you and you didn't come back. All this time just for this."

The man with glasses reacted quickly and touched his nose immediately. "I can't leave now. My brakes broke when I was going downhill, and I hit someone's car."

"So you're going to let them blackmail you?" Yan Xue said angrily. "Next time this happens, I'll count the ginseng's sprouts. Cultivated ginseng has a short sprout, and it takes six years to grow into sixth-grade leaves, with at most six circles of horizontal stripes on them. And fifth-grade leaves? Wild fifth-grade leaves take eighty or ninety years to grow, and their sprouts are much longer than this."

It was obvious that the man was an expert. He not only knew the difference between wild ginseng and cultivated ginseng, but also knew the age of wild five-grade leaves. The two people opposite him fell silent.

Yan Xue turned around and glanced behind him. "Brother, just give them five dollars. It's up to you whether you want it or not. If you don't want it, forget it. I don't believe that if we leave like this, they will chase us home and extort money."

As he was about to pick up the bicycle over there, the man with glasses saw it and quickly took out five yuan to give it to the other party and picked it up himself. "Okay, don't be angry. They haven't extorted you yet, right?"

After they had walked away and the two men hadn't caught up with them, the man slowed down and thanked them, "Thank you for what I did."

"It's okay, it's just a piece of cake." Yan Xue also did this because the other party had reminded them in advance and tried to avoid them as much as possible.

She glanced at the man's bloodied palm and the bicycle that was clearly deformed from the fall. "Are you okay?"

"No, just go back and get some medicine." The other party thanked them again and again, and then they separated at the intersection ahead.

Before leaving, the man reminded Yan Xue and Qi Fang: "Take a detour, in case those two haven't left yet."

Yan Xue nodded. Qi Fang, who had been silent the whole time, also looked up at her and said, "Someone must have broken your brakes."

He had seen it when he was helping to pick up the glasses just now. There was a neat cut on the edge of the brake cable.

The other party was stunned, but not very surprised. He just nodded with a serious face, thanked the two again, and then pushed the cart away.

This time the two of them did not take the original route, but took a longer detour before returning, and when they arrived at the guesthouse they were only three minutes away.

Lang Yue'e had already arrived and was knocking on the door. Seeing the two of them, she put her hands down again and said, "You two are out. Why didn't anyone answer my knock?"

That shouldn't be the case. Yan Xue glanced at the door of her room and found it was indeed not locked. There must be someone inside.

But it was also possible that the female comrade who shared the room with her had gone out temporarily. Yan Xue said nothing, "We came back late."

"It's okay, I came here too early." Lang Yue'e looked at her watch, smiled, and took the two of them to the Forestry Bureau.

This time, the poetry recitation was arranged by a section chief named Miao from the Forestry Bureau. He used to be a cultural and artistic backbone and had helped the bureau arrange programs many times.

It was also Chief Miao's idea to have several forest farms put on a program together to showcase the happy life and spiritual outlook of the people in the forest area under the leadership of the Party and the country.

Before they reached Section Chief Miao's office, they heard voices coming from inside.

"Borrow the Grand Theater? Then you have to wait for Section Chief Miao to come. I'm not familiar with that place and can't borrow it."

"Then please talk to him for me. We don't need to borrow him for too long, just go in for a rehearsal. We're close, don't we?"

It was obvious that Section Chief Miao had not arrived yet. Yan Xue looked at Lang Yue'e to see if she should wait outside.

When he raised his eyes, he saw that Qi Fang's peach blossom eyes had darkened.