Chapter 49 (Bonus Chapter)...
Chapter Forty-Nine
"Auntie, can I go mushroom picking with Feng Guodong and the others?" It rained a few days ago, and today I saw a lot of people picking mushrooms.
However: "Who is Feng Guodong?"
"It's that Feng Dazhuang who made Auntie bleed so much." After saying that, Qi Mingzhe was afraid that Yao Anhui would not like him playing with the person who hurt her, so he quickly explained, "Auntie, Feng Guodong has changed for the better now, he won't hurt people anymore."
Qi Mingzhe is a soft-hearted person. Because Feng Guodong used to be too unruly, his peers didn't want to play with him. Qi Mingzhe only got to know Feng Guodong because Feng Lehe took him to do morning exercises together every day.
Children see things in black and white. Although Qi Mingzhe is smarter than others, he is still a child. They do morning exercises together every day. Qi Mingzhe thought that Lu Yuanqing had forgiven Feng Guodong, so he forgave him as well.
However, he was also worried that Yao Anhui might not like his contact with Feng Guodong, which made him uneasy.
Seeing Qi Mingzhe's unease, Yao Anhui comforted him, "Since he has changed, let's forgive him. But if you want to go mushroom picking, can you take me with you? I've never picked mushrooms before."
How could Yao Anhui possibly let Qi Mingzhe and the children go into the mountains? So many people are out picking mushrooms; even the nearby entrance has already been searched. There's no way they'd get a chance. And who would feel comfortable letting them go deep into the mountains?
Qi Mingzhe was overjoyed: "Auntie is coming with us too? That's wonderful!"
Qi Mingzhe ran to the storeroom, soon carrying a small basket on his back and a small hand basket about 20 centimeters long in his hand: "Auntie, let's hurry up and pick more mushrooms. If we dry them, we can eat them for a long time."
Qi Mingzhe, acting like a little adult, probably overheard Yao Anhui and Lu Yuanqing discussing the issue of vegetables in winter, and now he's actually worried about it.
"An Hui, where are you going?" I ran into Hua Fangling as soon as I stepped out the door.
"I'm going mushroom picking with Xiao Zhe in the mountains."
"Hey, wait a minute, I'll go too." Hua Fangling said, then tried to go home to get her basket.
"Wait a minute, I was just telling you who you are! What are you doing going into the mountains? Stay home and behave yourself!" Yao Anhui was terrified. A pregnant woman going hiking? And picking mushrooms?
"Oh dear, why are you like Old Shen? It's not some high mountain or wild ridge. Besides, so many pregnant women still have to work in the fields. I'm just going to pick some mushrooms, nothing will happen to me," Hua Fangling said nonchalantly.
“They are them, and you are you. They are used to working hard every day, so of course they won’t have any problems. You’ve never even been to the fields, so why are you comparing yourself to them?”
"You make it sound like I'm some kind of delicate person." Hua Fangling wasn't angry that Yao Anhui was controlling her, but she was a little unhappy.
"Just behave yourself. Next time your husband, Lao Shen, is free, he can go with you. You stay home obediently. If I bring back some mushrooms, I'll make you chicken stew with mushrooms for dinner." In any case, Yao Anhui would never agree to let a pregnant woman like her go up the mountain.
There was another main reason: Yao Anhui was a little scared. She wondered if it was because of Hua Fangling's protagonist aura that she was more likely to encounter trouble when she went out with Hua Fangling, such as spies, Guan Xier, or Feng Dazhuang.
She couldn't help but be afraid. Normally it would be fine, but Hua Fangling is pregnant now, and Yao Anhui wouldn't dare to take even the slightest risk.
However, the book doesn't seem to mention anything about Hua Fangling's experiences in the mountains, so I hope she'll be alright if she goes into the mountains with them.
However, the plot seems to have changed. This is no longer the simple world in your book, but a real world full of unknowns.
For example, Hua Fangling, the author, transmigrated into the book and replaced the female lead, while Yao Anhui's arrival changed the original owner's fate of death. In the book, Hua Fangling didn't get pregnant so quickly. In short, everything changed. Yao Anhui composed herself and realized that from now on, this was the real world.
*
Yao Anhui carried a bamboo basket and followed the mushroom-picking group. She had thought they were just children, but she never expected that everyone was a family. Yao Anhui and Qi Mingzhe were the only two people in the family.
It's astonishing how many children people have these days. Every family has at least two children, and some have as many as 5, 6, 7, or 8. The noise is deafening, and just seeing it gives Yao Anhui a headache.
However, Yao Anhui was still very interested in picking mushrooms. She had never picked mushrooms before, and correspondingly, she didn't know what they were.
She had gone quite a distance with the main group. Yao Anhui didn't like making friends. She usually either hung out with Hua Fangling and a few others or stayed at home. She wasn't very familiar with other people. In the end, she separated from the main group with her two neighbors on the left side of her house, Xiang Xiaowen and Zhuang Dajuan, as well as Feng Guodong and his mother Gao Wenying, and their bunch of children.
To be honest, they could be considered a small team, with four adults and eight children, which could be described as a huge group.
Fortunately, the children all left, leaving the four adults together to pick mushrooms. Yao Anhui was identifying the mushrooms.
Xiang Xiaowen and the others not only found mushrooms themselves, but also taught Yao Anhui and popularized some knowledge to her. They learned that they didn't just go into the mountains to pick mushrooms, but also to collect other mountain products.
September is the season when hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts ripen. However, in this era, we lived under a collective system. The country has only been established for about twenty years, and neither the country nor the army was wealthy. In particular, the past few years have been difficult, and we have not yet recovered.
The troops not only have their own fields, but during the busy farming season, after finishing their work at the military base, the officers and soldiers will also help nearby farms and communes with their work. In the autumn, they will also harvest mountain products, which they will all contribute to the military's income.
The military region is located near the mountains, where the forests are rich in resources. Therefore, every year during the harvest season, the officers and soldiers go out for field training exercises. While training, they also collect mountain products, which can be considered as generating income for the troops.
However, the soldiers did not collect the goods in the area near the outer mountain; they left them to the nearby villagers or military families. The hardworking people had a very good harvest in the past few days.
Yao Anhui and Hua Fangling are both from the south and don't like to go out. Lu Yuanqing and Shen Wenkang couldn't bear to see them work so hard, so they never mentioned collecting mountain products.
Moreover, they are used to being alone and easily overlook these things, just like drying vegetables.
There aren't many hazelnuts left nearby; they've all been harvested. If you don't hurry up and harvest the mountain produce, there won't be any left.
Xiang Xiaowen and Zhuang Dajuan were both very kind. They were worried that Yao Anhui wouldn't remember, so they specially gave her one of each kind of mushroom they had picked as a sample. They also repeatedly told her not to pick any mushrooms she didn't recognize or was unsure about.
Although Yao Anhui has a pretty good memory, otherwise she wouldn't be able to remember so many prescriptions, she still feels very grateful to Xiang Xiaowen and Zhuang Dajuan.
After recognizing some of the mushrooms, the crowd gradually dispersed; if everyone huddled together, no one would be able to find anything.
It can only be said that Yao Anhui was really lucky. She initially followed the direction of Qi Mingzhe and his group, and soon she encountered a stray fish: a small patch of hazelnuts that had fallen among the hazelnut trees. There were also many hazelnut mushrooms under the hazelnut trees. It is said that these hazelnut mushrooms are very nutritious, so Yao Anhui immediately picked them all like plucking feathers from a passing goose.
Then Yao Anhui discovered that her bamboo basket was already full.
Fortunately, Yao Anhui quickly came up with a solution. She picked some vines and wove them into several nets. Luckily, she found some taro leaves. The nets lined with taro leaves were not suitable for storing hazelnuts, but they were perfect for storing mushrooms.
After picking some mushrooms, Yao Anhui set her sights on taro leaves.
Pickled taro stems are also a dish from Jiangxi. They are especially good with braised pork and go particularly well with rice. Yao Anhui plans to get some to enrich the winter menu.
However, the sap from the taro leaves can cause severe itching when it gets on the skin. She had just plucked a few leaves and her hands were already incredibly itchy, so she had to ask Lu Yuanqing to do it for her later.
These taro stems can be used to make pickled taro stems, and the taro can be scooped out to add to a dish. Yao Anhui also discovered another type of taro stem suitable for stir-frying. However, upon closer inspection, she realized that this was a taro stem specifically for eating, without the taro. But that's okay, the taro stems are just as delicious.
Yao Anhui immediately decided to turn back and have Lu Yuanqing dig them up. She wanted both pickled taro stems and this kind of taro stem. Stir-frying them would make them taste especially refreshing and slightly sweet, even better than meat.
Dig them all up and take them back to enrich the vegetable garden.
It can only be said that Yao Anhui is truly amazing. She was just thinking about enriching the winter dishes when she found a patch of taro leaves. Then, she made another discovery: a patch of wild yams.
Afterwards, they found a lot of mushrooms, including the supposedly valuable elm yellow mushroom and matsutake mushroom, making Yao Anhui seem like she had come to the mountains to buy supplies.
Very good, her cheat ability is indeed very powerful.
Then, Yao Anhui, who had suddenly become incredibly happy, was like a mouse jumping into a rice jar, so happy that she lost all sense of direction and completely forgot the purpose of her trip into the mountains.
In the end, Lu Yuanqing came looking for someone after he got off work and found no one at home. At this time, Yao Anhui was picking green-headed mushrooms again. They were green and jade-like and very beautiful. Yao Anhui thought the green-headed mushrooms were beautiful, so she stopped picking other mushrooms and only picked this one.
"Huihui, Huihui." Lu Yuanqing ran all the way here, afraid that Yao Anhui might encounter trouble in the mountains. His wife's skin was delicate, and there were many shrubs and vines in the mountains. She could easily get scratched, and he couldn't bear to see her like that.
Yao Anhui had never seen Lu Yuanqing so excited before: "Brother Qing, Brother Qing, I'm here, come quick!"
"Why are you here alone instead of with everyone? There are many trees, insects, and snakes in the mountains. Don't go alone next time." Lu Yuanqing checked Yao Anhui with his eyes, still worried.
He was extremely worried when he noticed a large red and swollen area on her arm: "What happened to your arm? Why is it so red and swollen?"
"I accidentally got some sap on my taro stems while picking them. I'm telling you, I'm super lucky today! Look, I picked hazelnuts, hazel mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, elm mushrooms, and green-headed mushrooms. Most importantly, I picked these taro stems. Brother Qing, do you have time to help me cut these taro stems back?" Yao Anhui said coquettishly.
"These taro stems can't be eaten, can they?" Lu Yuanqing was dumbfounded. He never expected that Yao Anhui would be acting coquettishly with him for the sake of these inedible taro stems. If they were edible, this whole patch would have been harvested long ago.
"That's because you don't know how to eat it. I'll make it for you later. It's especially good with rice, and I guarantee it'll taste even better than meat."
What else could Lu Yuanqing do? His wife was being affectionate, so of course he had to pamper her.
He immediately assured Yao Anhui that he would complete the task.
That day, Lu Yuanqing carried all the mushrooms and other items that Yao Anhui had picked back home, planning to harvest the taro leaves the next day.
Unexpectedly, Yao Anhui and the others woke up at midnight that night amidst a series of shaking.
Yao Anhui suddenly remembered that she and Lu Yuanqing seemed to have a near-death experience to overcome.
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Author's Note: I searched for a long time but couldn't find the part about whether individuals can go into the mountains to collect wild produce, so I'll just treat it as fiction. (I'm running away with the pot on my back.)
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