After dinner, people who went to work arrived. The old man carried Xiao Jiuer to the rice field to check on the seedlings. Zhou Huaian and his son and Lao Xiazi brought out the dried mushrooms and poured them into bamboo baskets according to their grades.

Zhou Xiaoqian and a few others were clamoring to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. Zhang Xiuxiang and Li Qiuyue were thinking that they would need two to three hundred kilograms of mushrooms to make fried mushroom sauce, so they asked the kids to go back and put on rain boots, packed up their things and prepared to go pick mushrooms.

"Chunyan, let's go to the bamboo forest first. Are you and Huaian going up the mountain today?"

Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Jiuer wet the blanket. I'll go wash it and then go up the mountain to find you."

After hearing this, Zhou's mother said to Yang Chunyan, "Leave the blanket there and I'll go wash it. We are running low on sesame and spices at home. There will be a market in Baima Town today. Go buy everything while Huai'an is home."

Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "There is also beef. The restaurant that sells beef noodles on market days will slaughter the cow."

Zhang Xiuxiang: "Chunyan still has peanuts, but they were all used up last time when we fried mushroom sauce."

Mother Zhou: "I have already arranged with Xiao Ma and Lao Qian about the peanuts. They will deliver them this afternoon."

Yang Chunyan: "Okay, then I'll go and ask Huai'an to go with me."

"Aunt, cut some beef and make beef dumplings." Zhou Jiakang pulled her aside and said.

Zhang Xiuxiang raised her hand and slapped him, "Greedy cat, when you get the admission letter, if you don't do well in the final exam, you can also eat bamboo shoots fried with meat."

"Mom~" Zhou Jiakang rubbed his forehead in dissatisfaction, "Don't knock your head. If you knock it stupid, it will be your fault if you fail the exam."

Zhang Xiuxiang grabbed his ear and said, "If you can't swim, blame the river bend; if you can't plow the field, blame the yoke. If you don't do well in the exam, you don't do well in the exam. It's useless to find more excuses."

"Mom, these are my ears, not a TV channel!" Zhou Jiakang tiptoed and grabbed her hand, "Don't worry, my sister has asked for the answers after the exam, and I will definitely not eat fried pork with bamboo shoots!"

"Sister Qian also asked us, and we don't know how to eat fried pork with bamboo shoots." Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaoru said in unison.

Mother Zhou looked at Xiaoqian with satisfaction and said to Zhou Jialiang, "If you have any questions, ask your sister. Did you hear me?"

"Oh!" Zhou Jialiang lowered his head and responded.

When Zhou Jiakang saw Zhou Huaian coming out with a bamboo stick, he ran over and grabbed him, "Dad, if I get 100 points on the test, will there be a reward?"

Zhou Huaian glanced at him and asked, "You scored 100?"

Zhou Jiakang said confidently: "I'm not sure about getting 200 points, but I'm sure I can get 100 points."

Zhou Xiaoru and Zhou Xiaowen also nodded, "Dad, we all studied hard and the teacher praised us."

"Good boy!" Zhou Huaian looked at the three of them, "The reward policy remains unchanged. If you have the ability, you can get rewards every time."

"Oh oh oh! I get another reward!" Zhou Jiakang and others jumped up happily, as if they had already received a report card.

Zhou's mother smiled and patted his butt, "Stop talking so much, hurry up and leave, if you wait any longer the mushrooms will wither."

"Let's go, let's go!" Zhang Xiuxiang and Li Qiuyue left with a group of children.

Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian went back to change their clothes, took some vegetables for Zhou Yumei, and rode their bicycles to Baima Town.

As soon as I entered the town, I saw villagers selling mushrooms on the roadside. Most of them were selling chicken mushrooms and some miscellaneous mushrooms that their families did not collect. I asked about the price and found that this year's chicken mushrooms with opened mushrooms were only sold for 60 to 70 cents per pound, and those without opened mushrooms were less than one dollar.

Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "You spent 1.2 yuan to buy it a few days ago. If you had known, you would have bought it a few days later."

"It's said that there are a lot of chicken mushrooms this year. It seems to be true!" Yang Chunyan pointed at the small buds that had not yet opened. "The price is not expensive. How about we take some back and make chicken mushroom oil?"

Zhou Huaian shook his head, "You need to fry mushroom sauce and chicken fir oil, aren't you tired?"

Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "It's rare that it's so cheap in a year. If we fry it and store it in the wine cellar, we can eat it for a long time!"

"Then go ask!" Zhou Huaian asked two families. The ones that had just been opened were 60 cents each, and those that had not been opened were 80 cents each for all. One family had about four or five pounds, so the two of them bought all.

Several villagers from Guanyin Brigade recognized the two men and called out to Zhou Huaian with a smile, "Young Master Zhou, take this from us as well!"

Some said: "If we had known you were going to collect them, we would not have sent them to the street but directly to your home."

Seeing everyone coming over with chicken mushrooms in their hands, Zhou Huaian said hurriedly, "I just bought some chicken mushroom oil for frying. You don't need that much."

"I have collected them. You see, they are all small buds. I will give you one pound of star anise. Sell them so we can go home."

The two men saw that the total weight of the group was about 17 or 18 pounds, and the chicken mushroom oil used for frying chicken would be wasted a lot, as one pound of chicken mushroom oil required six or seven pounds of chicken mushrooms to fry, so one can was gone after each relative or friend gave it as a gift.

Yang Chunyan nodded to Zhou Huaian, and he accepted them all. He collected about forty or fifty kilograms of chicken mushrooms along the way. When he reached the corner, he saw Zhao Meina also selling chicken mushrooms.

In front of the mushroom stall, two scoundrels with afro hair, frog-eye glasses, and floral shirts were squatting there with grins on their faces, rummaging through the mushrooms. There was also a skinny guy standing in front of Zhao Meina, with his head almost touching her face.

Zhao Meina kept dodging backwards, but he kept moving forward, still saying something with a joking smile.

"Mina, why are you here selling mushrooms?" Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian hurriedly pushed their bicycles over.

"Aunt Yang, Uncle Zhou!" When Zhao Meina saw the two of them, she was no longer afraid and hurried over to hold Yang Chunyan's arm.

"I picked up a lot of chicken mushrooms yesterday. I thought I couldn't eat them all, so I sent them to the town to sell. Those two people squatted there for a long time, neither buying nor not buying. They turned my mushrooms over and tore them to pieces. And that person was also saying some indecent things."

"What do you do?" Zhou Huaian looked at the mess of chicken mushrooms in the basket and pointed at the three scoundrels, "Who buys mushrooms like you do?"

The skinny guy next to Zhao Meina squinted at Zhou Huaian and sneered, "Why are you in charge of me? I'm not allowed to choose when I buy things?"

An old lady nearby saw this and chimed in, "Young man, how could they be here to buy chicken mushrooms? They are clearly here to act like hooligans because they think your little sister is pretty."

"Old woman, stop talking nonsense!" The two hooligans thought that the supervision is strict now. If someone reports a hooligan, he will be sentenced to several years in prison. They shook their heads at the skinny bamboo pole and the three of them wanted to run away.

Zhou Huaian grabbed the thin bamboo pole and said, "You guys turned this chicken mushroom into this state. It's not easy to leave. Pay for it, or I'll send you to the police station."

The skinny guy struggled twice but failed to break free, so he kicked Zhou Huaian, "Fuck you, you country bumpkin, are you still trying to force a sale?"

Zhou Huaian raised his foot and kicked him on the calf. The skinny guy screamed in pain and squatted on the ground. "Chunyan, take Mina to the police station and tell them that someone is being a hooligan here."

Hit me! When your grandfather was in gangster society, your baby was still wearing diapers!

The other two who were about to rush over to help turned around and ran away. Zhou Huaian grabbed the thin bamboo pole and said, "The monk may escape, but the temple cannot. Let's go, take the mushroom and go to the police station to report the case."

Yang Chunyan stepped forward, picked up the basket, and said to the crowd of onlookers: "Look, everyone, what have they done to the mushrooms that my niece picked?"

Everyone saw that the caps of the various mushrooms were all broken, and the caps of the chicken mushrooms were also turned over and hung on the stems.

An old man selling things nearby said, "I saw it just now. They came here on purpose to cause trouble. The little girl stood at the back, but that second-rate guy was still trying to get close to her. If this little brother doesn't come, the little girl will cry."

"They look like bad people. They dare to act like hooligans on the street. Put them in jail for a few years and they will behave themselves."

Seeing this, Shouzhugan panicked and begged for mercy, "Brother, I really came here to buy mushrooms. I didn't mean to be a hooligan. Please don't send us to the police station."

When the guy with the afro saw Skinny Bamboo being caught by Zhou Huaian, he thought that even if they ran away, the police station would still be able to find out where they lived.

He turned back and took out a handful of change from his pocket and put it in the basket, "Brother, let us buy it. Forgive us this time, we will never dare to do it again."

"We really didn't do anything naughty. If you don't believe me, ask the little sister. We just turned over the chicken mushrooms a few times..."

Zhao Meina pointed at the thin bamboo pole and said with red eyes: "You three came and turned over my mushrooms. I told you to be gentle, because it would be hard to sell if you turned them too much. Then he said he wanted to find a partner with me.

I said I was only fourteen years old, still studying, and not looking for a partner, but he refused to leave and came to pull me, insisting that I agree, saying that if I didn't agree, I would not be able to sell chicken mushrooms today, and I would never be able to come to town to sell things in the future. "

"Shame on you. I'm still a schoolgirl, and you're looking for a date with a second-rate guy like you. You must be blind."

"That's right. If you don't have a mirror, just take a piss and look at yourself. What do you think you look like? This second-rate person should be arrested and sent to labor reform for a few years."

Zhou Huaian kicked Skinny Bamboo Pole, "You bastard, she's only fourteen, still a child, you don't have any sisters!"

The skinny guy didn't care about the pain and begged for mercy, "Brother, uncle, little sister, we were wrong. We were just joking with you. We won't dare to do it again."

At this time, Fang Dongming and two members of the joint defense team squeezed in and saw Zhou Huaian and the others. "What happened?"

"Three scoundrels, seeing that the girl is pretty, they forced her to find a partner with them." The onlookers said in a rush.

"We didn't, he wanted to find a partner with her." The two guys with afro tried to escape but were stopped by the onlookers. Two members of the joint defense team grabbed them and handcuffed them.

Fang Dongming also twisted the thin bamboo pole and put on the silver bracelet.

Zhou Huaian took the basket from Yang Chunyan and said, "Look, police comrades, my niece's mushrooms have been torn to pieces by them. How can we sell them?"

Fang Dongming glanced at Zhao Meina and said to her, "Little sister, how heavy are your mushrooms?"

Zhao Meina said, "There are 16 and a half pounds of chicken mushrooms, 4 pounds of which are from Aunt Su next door. Our family will share half of the mushrooms in the basket."

Fang Dongming kicked the thin bamboo pole and said, "It's twenty yuan in total. Take the money and take the mushrooms away."

The thin bamboo pole cried, "The money is in my pocket."

Fang Dongming let him go and said, "Take it out and give it back to the owner."

The skinny guy fished out a handful of crumpled money and took out two Big Unity banknotes and gave them to him.

Zhao Meina took the big unity and grabbed the change in the basket and handed it to Fang Dongming, "Uncle police, this money is also theirs."

Fang Dongming took it, returned it to Shou Zhugan, and left with the three people from the joint defense team. (End of this chapter)