The three of them chatted and laughed all the way, their hands never idle. Along the way, they picked half a basket of milk mushrooms, as well as green-headed mushrooms, Boletus edulis, Boletus luridus, chanterelles, bamboo fungus, and other fungi.

They only stopped when all three bamboo baskets were overflowing.

Li Xiangdong was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice granary, in a state of extreme excitement.

Luo Hongkai stopped the two of them, "Sit down for a while and have something to eat! It's probably past three o'clock now."

The food I ate this morning has all been digested, and my stomach is really empty.

Luo Yonggang took out a white cloth bag containing several cornbread buns and a white flour pancake with a cured chicken leg inside.

The three sat down around the table. Luo Yonggang first handed the white flour pancake and the cured chicken leg to Li Xiangdong, then gave a cornbread to his father, and finally picked up the cornbread for himself and took a big bite, eating it with great relish.

Li Xiangdong looked at the white flour pancake in his hand and felt a little sad. He had gone to the kitchen yesterday and found a bushel of white flour, which he guessed was specially prepared for him and Zhao Sufang.

Li Xiangdong tore the white flour pancake into three pieces. "Grandpa, Uncle, let's divide this pancake into three pieces. Pancake rolls with steamed buns are delicious!"

Luo Hongkai refused, saying, "You eat, you eat. Grandpa can't make you anything really delicious, so why would Grandpa take this one pancake from you?"

Li Xiangdong insisted on giving it to Luo Hongkai, but Luo Yonggang refused. Luo Yonggang had no choice but to take the white flour cake and give it to his father, saying, "Dad, Xiangdong is filial, so please take it. If you insist on not eating it, aren't you treating Xiangdong like an outsider?"

Li Xiangdong nodded in agreement.

Luo Hongkai choked up for a moment, took the pancake, took out a milkweed mushroom from the bamboo basket, and ate it with big bites of the white flour pancake.

Li Xiangdong wanted to share more cured chicken legs, but Luo Yonggang and Luo Hongkai both waved their hands, saying, "This is a specialty of western Sichuan, we can always get it, you eat it!"

Li Xiangdong really couldn't get used to eating raw milk fungus, so he stopped being polite and started eating it.

After dinner, the three chatted idly. Li Xiangdong asked, puzzled, "Grandpa, with so many mushrooms growing here, doesn't anyone take them out to sell?"

With so many good things, even if we just sell them, we won't go hungry.

Luo Hongkai said in a low voice, "Every household has them, but who are we selling them to?"

"Sell them outside the mountains! These mushrooms, once dried, sell for a high price in big cities. They're all wild delicacies from the mountains and are very popular."

Luo Yonggang said, "The mountains belong to the collective, and individuals are not allowed to buy or sell them. Besides, the commune buys them at a very low price, five cents a pound of dried mushrooms. Even if everyone climbs the mountain to pick mushrooms all day, they can't earn more than a few cents."

Li Xiangdong's eyes widened. "So low? The supply and marketing cooperative in Huichuan County sells shiitake mushrooms and wood ear fungus for seven or eight mao a jin! That's the same price as fatty pork!"

He seemed to see a huge sack of sacks of unity right in front of him!

Luo Yonggang first exclaimed in shock, then lowered his eyes in utter frustration, "We can't find anywhere that sells for such high prices! Besides, individuals doing business are just speculating!"

Li Xiangdong leaned over and patted Luo Yonggang on the shoulder, "I can help you sell them! You take care of production, I'll take care of sales, and we'll split the profits 50/50!"

Luo Yonggang looked at the beaming Li Xiangdong and asked, "Really?"

"It must be true! Come on, let's discuss this!"

...

The two became more and more excited as they talked. Luo Hongkai felt comforted as he watched them with their arms around each other's shoulders, looking very close.

I thought I would never have any descendants in Jiangsu, but I was over fifty when I got this little one. My son is still young, and I have no brothers or nephews to help me. My wife and I are getting old.

In recent years, he has been very worried that his son would be vulnerable and bullied after his death, which is part of the reason why he has been pushing Jiangsu to maintain contact with his two daughters.

Now it seems that the nephew and son have become close friends, and they can rely on each other in the future.

...

"Yo hey! A giant matsutake mushroom!"

Luo Hongkai exclaimed in surprise!

Luo Yonggang and Li Xiangdong heard it too. Before Luo Yonggang could react, Li Xiangdong jumped up first!

"Where is it? Where is it?"

He loves chicken oil the most!

It smells so good!

It smells so good it can make you dizzy!

Luo Hongkai pointed to a large yellow umbrella-shaped canopy in the roadside ditch, "Here it is!"

Li Xiangdong looked closely and saw that it was indeed a large termite mushroom, a yellow-skinned termite mushroom!

Li Xiangdong stopped Luo Hongkai, "Grandpa, I'll go, I'll go dig!"

He's eaten termite mushrooms, but he's never dug them up before!

Li Xiangdong put down the bamboo basket full of mushrooms, slid down the slope to the bottom of the ditch, gently removed the pine needles from the cap of the yellow-skinned chicken mushroom, and then dug up the soil at the base by hand.

Termitomyces has very long roots, and because it is very precious, people usually dig out the roots buried in the soil when they harvest Termitomyces.

The stem of this giant termite mushroom is as thick as Li Xiangdong's wrist!

The mushroom cap is bigger than his face!

After digging with his hands for a while, Li Xiangdong switched to using a wooden stick. The soil here was made of humus formed from fallen leaves and branches, which was very loose and easy to dig.

After digging for a while, the yellow-skinned matsutake mushroom tilted to the side. Li Xiangdong quickly caught it, picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and exclaimed, "This big matsutake mushroom must weigh three pounds!"

Luo Yonggang also walked over curiously to take a look, "I've never seen one this big before!"

Luo Hongkai said, "The yellow-skinned chicken mushroom has a relatively mild flavor and not a strong aroma. It is soft and slightly sweet, and not crisp."

"However, only the yellow-skinned chicken mushroom can grow this big!"

Li Xiangdong was particularly eager to try what the freshest, freshly picked termite mushrooms tasted like.

He tore off a piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it. Just as Luo Hongkai had said.

After putting down the large yellow-skinned chicken mushrooms, Li Xiangdong and Luo Yonggang searched around again and found more than a dozen yellow-skinned chicken mushrooms whose caps had not yet opened. These would taste even better!

Luo Hongkai watched with a smile as his uncle and nephew dug for termite mushrooms, passing on his experience to them.

"The white-capped and black-capped termite mushrooms are the most expensive and taste the best. There is also a torch-shaped termite mushroom, which is not as good, but it is still much tastier than other mixed mushrooms."

"Harvesting termite mushrooms is a delicate matter that requires time. The termite mushrooms are freshest and most tender when the cap at the top is not yet open. If the cap opens, the mushrooms will immediately fall apart and the meat will become tough."

"You can apply some wet mud to the roots of the termite mushrooms and keep them alive for half a day. Otherwise, with such hot and humid weather, the mushrooms will rot in no time."

Luo Yonggang sighed, "It's a pity we couldn't find the black-capped and white-capped termites."

My nephew was so happy picking mushrooms, shouting and yelling like that. He's quite different from his usual calm self. It's clear he's really happy!

He wanted nothing less than the best mushrooms for his nephew!

As it grew dark, the three of them, fearing that Liu Jiangsu and her daughter would worry, set off for home.

Sunlight filtered through the dense branches, creating dappled patterns of light. The sun's heat was insufficient, and the mountain breeze gradually cooled down.

As the group walked to the edge of a cornfield, Li Xiangdong suddenly smelled a strange fragrance!

Yellow-skinned chicken mushroom, the size is relatively large.

White-capped termite mushrooms taste great, costing six or seven hundred yuan per pound. Aside from the price, they're perfect.

Black-capped termite mushrooms cost over 900 yuan per jin (500g) and taste better than white-capped termite mushrooms.