The next morning, after a day of drying, the ground outside was no longer sticky, but it was still too sticky to prepare the land for planting vegetables. The soil was too sticky and would stick to the hoe.

"Let's go for a walk in the mountains today and see if any mushrooms have sprouted," Xu Han asked.

"Alright, you two go ahead, I'll stay home and look after the child," Grandpa Zhao said with a smile, holding Ze'er in his arms.

"Okay, then we won't be back for lunch. I'll bring your lunch out in a bit, put it in a pot and cover it. You can just heat it up when you want to eat," Xu Han agreed.

Seeing this, Lu Chuan took out two bamboo baskets and two small baskets, and the two of them took the dogs and went into the mountains, walking one in front of the other.

"It's been a long time since I've picked mushrooms. All the fresh mushrooms in the space have been eaten, and only some dried mushrooms are left."

"Let's see if any mushrooms have sprouted. There should be some around this time of year, but probably not many. There should be more in a while. We can pick more then, dry them, and give away any we can't eat."

“Yes, if no one gives us any, we can just buy some, hahaha,” Xu Han said with a laugh.

"Okay, whatever you say. Anyway, we're not short of money at home, so you can do whatever you want," Lu Chuan said indulgently.

They still have a lot of money from selling ginseng, enough for the two of them to live on for the rest of their lives under normal circumstances.

Three years of drought and one year of flood; in the past four years, except for the first year, almost no money has been spent in the other three years.

With the gold and silver jewelry given by the Taoist priest, even if I don't earn money in this lifetime, it will be enough for my children to get married and have children in the future.

Of course, it's impossible not to make money. After all, who would complain about having too much money?

Furthermore, we must also consider our future children; if they have any lofty ambitions, they will always need financial support.

As the saying goes, "Parents who love their children plan far ahead for them."

This advice was effective on those parents. Xu Han didn't plan to touch the money from selling ginseng; she wanted to save it all for her child.

When the world is more stable, I'll buy some more shops and start a small business to earn some extra money for household expenses.

On this point, Lu Chuan and Xu Han shared the same idea. Neither of them would choose to live off their savings. They would both try to earn some money to supplement their household income in the future.

They didn't mind that the money was small; even a few coins were still money, after all, every little bit counts.

Moreover, if you don't earn money, and all you do every day is eat until you're hungry, that kind of life is also very boring.

While enjoying life, one should also do other things to earn a little money, as long as there is income.

The two didn't see many mushrooms along the way.

The temperature in early March is not very high, and many mushrooms have not yet started to grow.

"Looks like I won't be able to fill a basket today. There aren't many mushrooms coming out at this time of year. There should be more by the end of April."

"Let's find some today, just enough for one meal, to try something new," Lu Chuan said optimistically.

“I don’t see any wild vegetables growing in the sunny spots over there. Since we’re already here, it wouldn’t hurt to pick some wild vegetables to take home and try them out.”

After Xu Han finished speaking, she walked up the hillside to the side, and Lu Chuan quickly followed her.

"The wild garlic here is growing well, it's plump and big, but there's not enough of it," Xu Han said.

"The natural disaster lasted too long, and many plants did not survive. It's good that these survived."

"Then let's dig up a little bit first, and leave the rest to multiply slowly. By next year, there should be more of them."

"Well, we'll just find enough to eat this year, no need to gather too much. These wild vegetables multiply quickly, and we won't be able to finish them next year."

Besides, the mountains are so vast; we can dig some out to eat, we'll never dig them all out. Just don't deplete them completely, leaving a little bit is fine.”

"Hahaha, you're right. How could such a big mountain be completely eaten by just a few of us?"

After saying that, Xu Han took out a small hoe, grabbed a small garlic clove with one hand, and then used her other hand to dig it up.

The wild garlic cloves were covered in a lot of mud after the rain, which clung tightly to them.

"It's all muddy. I'll wash it off by the river when I get back, so it'll be easier to clean up when I get home."

"Okay, let's go once we've dug enough food."

The two continued walking up the mountain, and apart from picking some wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, they did not see any other fungi.

They hadn't picked much, just enough for one meal. Seeing that the harvest wasn't great, Lu Chuan said, "Why don't we head back for today? At this rate, we won't be able to pick many mushrooms."

“Okay, but there’s a bamboo forest ahead. I want to go there and see if there are any bamboo shoots this year.”

"Sure, it's close by, just a short walk. Let's watch it and then go back."

When the two arrived, they found that most of the bamboo that had been dead had withered and died after last year's rains, and had not come back to life because of the rains.

However, some individual bamboo shoots have regrown, which may be bamboo shoots that sprouted from the bottom last year.

Bamboo roots grow very deep. Even if the bamboo above dies after a long drought, the rhizomes below will still live.

With sufficient rainfall, the bamboo shoots on the bamboo rhizome will sprout again and grow into mature bamboo.

Although the bamboo forest is very close to their home, the two of them did not come here last year.

Before the bamboo withered and died, Xu Han and Lu Chuan cut down a lot of bamboo and put it outside the yard. For the past year or two, the bamboo they used has been taken directly from outside the yard.

Xu Han walked closer and took a look, then excitedly shouted to Lu Chuan, "Lu Chuan, come and see! There really are bamboo shoots!"

"Haha, there really are some! These must have just sprouted and are still very small. We can dig some up and take them home to stir-fry with cured meat."

"It's probably because the bamboo above all died, so all the bamboo shoots below just sprouted up all at once. It's only been spring rain, and there are already so many bamboo shoots. It seems like there will be many more bamboo shoots this year than in previous years."

"These green bamboos must have grown last year. It's such a pity that all these big bamboos have withered and died and are unusable," Lu Chuan said with a regretful look at the bamboos lying crookedly in the bamboo forest.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Most of the trees in the mountains are dead, let alone the bamboo."

"It will take several years for the mountain ecosystem to recover."

Ancient natural ecosystems recovered much faster than modern ones. Since the mountains had not been mined by humans and the underground coal mines had not been destroyed, they naturally recovered quickly.

Never underestimate nature's self-healing ability. Whether in the technologically advanced modern world or in ancient times, humans have no way to fight against nature.