In the evening, a light drizzle began to fall.

One autumn rain brings one chill.

Nestled on the wooden plank bed, Shui Qing finally understood the benefits of having a thatched hut. In this desolate late autumn, having a place to shelter from the wind and rain gave her a great sense of security.

"I wonder if Hei Zi found a family to take him in in the village, or if he left the village?" Yan Qiu asked casually without looking up as she wove a cushion from dried corn leaves.

Xinghui was helping her sister fold corn husks into long strips of the same size for easy weaving. Upon hearing this, she replied, "He's probably left the village. He wouldn't be able to find anything satisfactory in any other household in our village."

The villagers couldn't even bear to eat rice, let alone meat. Eggs could be exchanged for salt and other goods, so they were even more reluctant to spend them.

Shui Qing never expected that the rich boy would actually stay at someone else's house.

According to her estimation, he would probably be back after lunch.

What was the reason that allowed him to stay at someone else's house?

However, she still admired him quite a bit, because if it were her, whether she was drinking black flour porridge or eating black flour buns, she would find it difficult to swallow.

I never imagined that arrogant, picky young master who always complained about this and that could actually do it.

Fan Jin braved the rain to enter the house. As soon as he entered the main room, he took off his pointed bamboo hat and patted the water droplets off his clothes.

The door was open, and Shuiqing called out to remind her, "Quickly come inside and change your clothes, don't catch a cold. Fan Jiang, there's ginger soup warming in the casserole in the kitchen, go and get a bowl."

Upon hearing this, Fan Jiang, who was in the house across the street, put his hands above his head and rushed to the kitchen; he then poured the ginger soup and quickly ran back.

Fan Jin changed into another set of coarse cotton robes, drank ginger soup, and then went to the room where Shui Qing was.

Shui Qing, who was nestled on the wooden plank bed, moved over to make room for him and asked, "So? Did you tell me everything?"

After asking, he remembered that there were two daughters in the house, so he said to them, "Yan Qiuxing is returning, and the sky is getting darker. Be careful not to hurt your eyes."

"Why don't you go play in your brother's room for a while? Your father and I need to discuss some things."

The children are still young. They can learn some skills by running a physical business later. They shouldn't know about shopping malls for now.

Yan Qiuxing understood that her parents had something important to say, so she sensibly put her things away and closed the door after leaving the room.

The thatched hut was low, so Fan Jin sat down at the foot of the bed and replied earnestly, "Except for the few families I mentioned last time who I will never cooperate with, everything else has been agreed upon."

In the past few days, the chicken rice cakes have become increasingly scarce. Although they have been working harder than before, it's simply a matter of time. Now, hearing that bamboo mushrooms and skirt mushrooms can also be exchanged for food, they are all overjoyed and agreed without even asking any questions.

“Chicken rice cakes are weighed, and one pound can be exchanged for two and a half pounds of rice. Hardworking families can earn a good daily income. However, bamboo mushrooms and skirt mushrooms are not weighed. If one pound can still be exchanged for two and a half pounds of rice, the daily income will not be too high.” Shui Qing thought of how Yan Qiuxing and the other four children could pick a total of about twenty pounds of mushrooms a day.

Moreover, mushrooms are a matter of luck. If you're lucky, you can collect a whole pot of mushrooms in a day; if you're unlucky, you'll only get a few.

Shanshui Village is full of hills, trees, shrubs, and lush grass, and there are plenty of mushrooms, but it's hard to pick them up one by one.

"Chicken head rice is 120 yuan per catty, bamboo mushrooms with open caps are 167 yuan per catty, bamboo mushrooms without open caps are 187 yuan per catty, skirt mushrooms are 180 yuan per catty, and rice is 2 yuan per catty."

"Since mushrooms are more expensive than water caltrops, why don't we exchange them for more rice?" Fan Jin said, calculating the costs.