"Sister-in-law Wu, Qianqian."

Xiaoya suddenly appeared from behind the old lady.

"Xiaoya~".

Qianqian quickly ran up to talk to Xiaoya.

"Oh, you must be Xiaoya's grandma."

Wei Yuyan made a guess.

"Yes, Xiaoya told me today that you were going to collect mushrooms, so I thought I'd come up the mountain to pick more."

Grandma Xiaoya wanted to ask if the price she mentioned was true, since such a price was unheard of in town, but she was too embarrassed to ask.

"Yes, I told her that it would cost you two catties and three coins."

However, ma'am, please don't tell anyone about this. I don't want to accept other people's mushrooms for the time being.

Currently, we only accept you and Brother Zhang, who is the second son of the Zhang family.

I don't plan to acquire the others yet, and even if I do in the future, the price won't be this high.

Wei Yuyan thought that she would only accept gifts from people she was close to.

If someone you don't get along with puts in a poisonous mushroom, you're doomed.

"Sister-in-law Wu, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Xiaoya jumped out to respond again.

"Yes, I know you only accepted our mushrooms because of Xiaoya."

I am very grateful. I will definitely wash it thoroughly and make sure there are no poisonous mushrooms.

Grandma Xiaoya quickly reassured her.

"Okay, let's hurry up and pick them. More people should come to pick them up later."

The last time someone got poisoned from eating mushrooms, no one went mushroom picking for a whole month.

Now that so much time has passed, people are slowly getting back to normal.

"Okay, okay."

Grandma Xiaoya is very efficient at her work; she picks mushrooms just as fast as Sister Xiuhua.

Around late afternoon, Xiao Lei and Brother Zhang returned after delivering the mushrooms once.

Today's harvest was good because it hadn't rained for so long, and it rained for so long last night.

Wei Yuyan and Xiao Leiqian picked two baskets and one large basket in one afternoon, while Brother Zhang and Sister-in-law Xiuhua picked almost three baskets.

"Brother Zhang, my roof is leaking. If you're free tomorrow, could you please help me repair it?"

On the way back, Wei Yuyan remembered that she hadn't told Brother Zhang about this yet.

"Oh, okay, your roof hasn't been repaired in a long time either."

With the torrential rain last night, it definitely won't hold out. I'll come over tomorrow morning. Do you have any thatch at your house?

"Only the wealthy build roofs; ordinary people have outhouses," Brother Zhang inquired.

"I don't think so. See if anyone in the village has any. Could you buy some for me?"

Wei Yuyan remembered that she had a little bit of this thing before, but she had burned it all as firewood.

"What do you need? My older brother has some at home. I'll go get it tomorrow."

Brother Zhang thought that his elder brother's family should still have quite a few left.

"Sister-in-law Xiuhua, come over for lunch tomorrow. You know my rules: if you work, you have to be provided with meals."

Wei Yuyan looked at Sister-in-law Xiuhua with a mischievous smile.

"I'll go help you with chores tomorrow too. I'll be your maid, doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning. At least I'll get food."

Xiuhua's sister-in-law felt that she had to help her younger brother and sister-in-law with chores tomorrow, otherwise she would feel ashamed to eat.

"Okay, you really think I'm a housewife."

Wei Yuyan and her sister-in-law Xiuhua bantered back and forth, and soon they arrived home.

"Xiao Lei, Qian Qian, have some water, then we'll start washing the mushrooms. Let's work harder today and wash them all clean."

It's still early; she should be able to finish washing in an hour. Wei Yuyan's motto is "do it today, do it today."

"Sister-in-law, Mantou hasn't come home yet."

Qianqian was washing mushrooms, but her attention was entirely on the puppies. The three puppies were running around them happily.

"Should it sleep with your little flower or with its brother's little black cat at night?"

Wei Yuyan figured that Sister-in-law Xiuhua probably wouldn't come to pick her up, since Mantou had brothers and sisters here and would love to sleep here anyway.

"Hmm~, I'll sleep with my brother's little black dog, because our little flower is a girl."

Qianqian's dog, Xiaohua, is female; the other two are male.

"Okay."

Wei Yuyan thought Qianqian's awareness was good.

As dusk fell, the mushrooms were almost washed. Wei Yuyan told them to wash the remaining mushrooms while she went to start a fire and stir-fry the lunch.

Sometimes people eat cold food in this kind of weather, but Wei Yuyan thinks hot food tastes better.

Put the eggs, eggplant, green beans, and leftover rice from lunch together.

Once it was heated up, everyone was served a large bowl. We had eaten lunch early this morning and had been going up the mountain for ages, so we were starving.

"Sister-in-law, it's all washed."

Xiao Lei poured out the dirty water and carried the wooden basin back to the kitchen.

"Time to eat."

Wei Yuyan lit the candles and placed them in the courtyard, then lit the lanterns in the courtyard, finally illuminating the area.

"Sister-in-law, I'm so hungry."

Qianqian took the bowl of rice and began to eat heartily.

"It was my sister-in-law who was confused. She should have let you take some cakes to the mountain to fill your stomachs."

Wei Yuyan thought to herself that she should remember this next time.

After dinner, everyone washed themselves thoroughly before going back to sleep.

Wei Yuyan woke up late again the next morning and found that Xiao Lei was already cooking porridge.

After washing up, Wei Yuyan took a bunch of pickled cowpeas out of the pickle jar.

Add a little lard and stir-fry with chili peppers, because the pickled cowpeas haven't fully developed their flavor yet.

It won't taste good if it's not stir-fried. I estimate it will take another seven or eight days to marinate properly.

"Xiao Lei, ladle out three bowls of porridge and let them cool down. They're too hot right now."

Wei Yuyan gathered a pile of clothes and started washing them. Anyway, the porridge was still hot, and by the time the clothes were washed, the porridge would be cool.

"Young mistress, I'm here to do some work for you."

Before Wei Yuyan could even swallow the last mouthful of porridge, Sister-in-law Xiuhua came over.

"Ahem~, Sister-in-law Xiuhua, have you eaten? Xiaolei made some porridge, would you like some?"

Wei Yuyan noticed that only Sister-in-law Xiuhua had come.

"I ate it. I came to check how the steamed buns are doing in your house."

As soon as Sister-in-law Xiuhua came in, Mantou rushed over.

"Steamed bun is heartless. It ate the most of last night's leftovers. See, it still cares about you."

Last night, the children didn't finish their food, so we gave it to the puppy, who ate it with great relish.

"Hehe, your Brother Zhang has gone to find thatch, it'll probably be a while."

Sister-in-law Xiuhua put down the steamed bun and began searching in the yard.

"What are you looking for?"

Wei Yuyan was about to wash the dishes.

"The ladder, I'm going to find it for your brother Zhang to get to the roof later."

Sister-in-law Xiuhua came to the kitchen to take a look.

"Oh, let me think, it might be in Xiao Lei's room."

Wei Yuyan thought back for a moment, and it seemed to be there.

"I'll go take a look."

Xiuhua's sister-in-law went straight into Xiaolei's room to get a ladder.

When Wei Yuyan came out after washing the dishes, her sister-in-law Xiuhua had already set up the ladder.

"Brother Zhang is fixing the roof. I'm fine, I'll go collect snails and stir-fry them for you guys for lunch."