She started processing bamboo shoots again. The four of them had spent almost four months picking bamboo shoots for her back then. How could they possibly use them up so easily?
After processing 200 jin of bamboo shoots, Wenxi and others packed them up when they were no longer too hot, and then went out for a midday rest, dozing off amidst the chirping of cicadas on the mountain.
When Wenxi woke up, her back felt hot and sticky, which was very uncomfortable. She quickly got up to fetch some cool well water to wipe the mattress, then fetched a bucket of sun-heated water to take to the bathroom. She took a comfortable bath and put on thin long-sleeved shirts and trousers.
The house was quiet; Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue had already left before she woke up.
Wen Xi went to the kitchen, put all the mushrooms piled on the ground into the system warehouse, and then took the pheasant that Shen Jiaojiao had processed to the system kitchen.
Chop the pheasant into small pieces, blanch it, wash it again, and then stew it in a pot.
With the pheasants taken care of, Wenxi then went to clean the mushrooms. The high-tech smart machine suddenly had an additional 'mushroom cleaning' function, so Wenxi put the mushrooms in according to their different varieties. After the machine stopped operating, the mushrooms that had just been put in were clean.
After cleaning all the mushrooms Wenxi picked today, she kept two-thirds in the system warehouse to eat fresh later, and left the remaining one-third to dry in the yard. In the high temperature of July, she estimated that they would be dry and ready to pack in two days.
With most of the household matters settled, Wenxi put on her straw hat, picked up her basket and carrying a bamboo basket, and went out. After walking a few steps, she turned back and headed towards Donghua's house.
Donghua's father sold the house to Gu Huai'an and the other two. Now Donghua lives in her grandparents' old house. Today is a day off for everyone, so Donghua naturally doesn't need to go to work.
Arriving at Donghua's grandparents' house, Wenxi found the door unlocked and knocked. Donghua quickly opened the door and, seeing Wenxi standing outside, her face lit up with a bright smile. "Sister Wen, what brings you here? Is there something you need?"
"It's like this, Donghua. I want to send some dried mushrooms back home to eat. I have many relatives, and I need a lot of dried mushrooms, but I can't pick that many by myself. Can you help me pick them? I'll give you one cent per pound as payment, is that okay?" Wenxi asked.
"Really?" Donghua's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she looked at Wenxi in disbelief.
At one cent per pound, she can pick hundreds of pounds a day, which is one dollar!
Wen Xi nodded, then took out the large-footed mushroom, also known as porcini, that she had prepared in advance from the basket and said, "I want this mushroom. You can pick it for me and bring it to the foot of the mountain behind my house after dark tonight."
Donghua nodded happily, "Sister Wen, I understand. I will help you pick out the best mushrooms."
Donghua agreed, and Wenxi went to find the children who had caught cicadas and frogs before, asking them to help her pick mushrooms. However, each child picked a different variety because she didn't want to spend time classifying them.
With everything settled, Wenxi went up the mountain to pick mushrooms. She didn't specifically look for Shen Jiaojiao and the others, as the nearby mountains weren't high and there was no danger.
Fearing being seen, Wenxi stopped cheating and instead sent the mushrooms home after her basket and other baskets were full, then stored them in the system warehouse.
Cleaning mushrooms takes too much time, so let Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue think that she stayed home to clean mushrooms in the afternoon and didn't go out!
When Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue returned, they were surprised to see the bamboo mat in the yard covered with clean mushrooms. "Xiaoxi, you washed all the mushrooms? Why didn't you wait for us to come back so we could wash them together?"
Wen Xi smiled faintly. If she showered with them, how could she cheat?
Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue poured the mushrooms into the kitchen and then went out to pick more mushrooms. They wanted to pick as many mushrooms as possible since they had a day off today, because they would be going back to work tomorrow and wouldn't be able to pick any more.
In the evening, Wenxi brought out the chicken stew with mushrooms from the system kitchen, and also brought out three bowls of watermelon. After Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue returned and washed their hands and faces, Wenxi quickly served them the watermelon that had been chilled with ice cubes at the bottom of the bowls, so that they could cool off.
They didn't know any of this; they only thought that Wenxi had chilled the watermelons in the well, and that the well water was so cool that the fruit tasted especially good after being soaked in it.
In the evening, after Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue went out, Wen Xi first collected the mushrooms they had picked, and then went down to the foot of the mountain behind the house. There she saw several children who had helped her pick mushrooms already waiting there, with a lot of mushrooms at each of their feet.
Wenxi didn't want to take out the scale, so she said to them, "I don't have a scale to weigh you right now, so I'll give you a few cents each first. I'll pay you the rest tomorrow night after I weigh you, is that okay?"
"Sister Xiaoxi, you can do it, we believe in Sister Xiaoxi."
"Sister Wen, I believe you."
Donghua and another girl said in unison.
Wenxi took out a piece of paper, registered their names and the types of mushrooms they were responsible for, then weighed the mushrooms in her hand, gave each person 50 cents, and would pay the rest the next night.
The children poured the mushrooms out onto the ground, then took their baskets, sacks, and burlap sacks and went back. Wenxi waited until they were gone for a few minutes before collecting the mushrooms from the ground into the system warehouse. After that, she weighed them one by one and recorded the quantity and amount after each of their names.
After that, Wenxi went to take care of her own affairs.
The next morning, Wenxi took out the breakfast she had prepared earlier from the system kitchen, put it in the pot, left a note for them, and went up the mountain. The watermelons were ripe, and she had to hurry to the waterfall to pick them.
When Wenxi left home, it was just getting light. By the time she arrived at the waterfall, it was already bright, and the whole world was filled with dazzling light.
However, as Wenxi walked through the woods, even the brightest sunlight couldn't affect her.
Arriving at the stream, Wenxi first washed her hands and face with the cool water, and then went to pick vegetables. She had previously planted climbing vegetables such as broad beans, loofah, and bitter melon here, and with her diligent care, these vegetables were growing well and ready to be harvested.
Wenxi kept the three largest ones as seeds, and then picked all the ones that could be harvested. The vegetables in the morning were lush and green, and especially tender.
She used scissors to pick the beans one by one and put them into the basket. Only when the basket was full did she collect them from the system warehouse. After that, she went to pick broad beans. Unexpectedly, the broad beans were a purple variety. They looked very fresh and plump. She kept the roundest and plumpest ones as seeds and picked the rest.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
