66 Mycelium
◎When will mushrooms grow?◎
In a blink of an eye, three or five days passed, and the children in the county school had learned more than a dozen sentences of "Three Character Classic". Erya was lively and lovely, and Aunt Wang loved to show off. She asked her good granddaughter to recite to everyone she met, which attracted many people to send their children to the county school.
Fortunately, now that Ming Wanjun was around, Ye Yunzhao had some free time and lowered the threshold for admission to the county school. Now, there were already more than a dozen young girls who had not yet reached the age of marriage. Of course, there were no boys.
However, since each family could not afford the tax at the moment, they promised to provide the tax immediately after the winter wheat harvest next year.
For Ming Wanjun, herding one sheep was the same as herding two sheep, so she agreed to their request.
These days, the adults in Xixiang are all building mushroom sheds and pulling weeds, while the children are studying hard to learn to read in the county school. Ye Yunzhao actually feels a bit of leisure.
She had quite a lot to do. First, she went door to door to check on the mushroom sheds. Second, she taught Aunt Wang how to spread the previously grown mycelium. Third, she bought five large wooden barrels from Sun Ning, specifically for growing mycelium.
Fortunately, the weather has been good these days, so Ye Yunzhao is teaching each household how to plant mycelium today.
She asked someone to pull a cart and transport five large barrels of mycelium to Xixiang. As soon as she arrived, a large crowd gathered around her.
"County Magistrate Ye, please come to my house and take a look!"
"County Magistrate Ye, are you thirsty? Come and try the mountain spring water I brought you."
…
Ye Yunzhao waved his hand and said to them, "I know everyone is anxious to grow mushrooms. Let's go to the village head's house."
Aunt Wang and Sister Xia Hua's mushroom sheds had been built earlier, so they were the first to plant the mycelium. At the time, the other families were still building their sheds, so Ye Yunzhao didn't need to explain the key to planting mycelium to them. He chose today, when most families' sheds were ready for use, to teach them how to plant mycelium.
The village head had some savings and a large collection of adobe bricks, so the mushroom shed he built was naturally larger, with two large trellises inside. Because the morels would be grown on the trellises, many people worried that their skills weren't good enough and the trellises would collapse, which would be a waste, so many people bought trellises from Sun Ning.
Lu Dayuan's eyebrows were filled with joy: "County Magistrate Ye, please come in."
Ye Yunzhao had told him yesterday that she would come to his house to demonstrate today. This was a fantastic opportunity. In the eyes of everyone in Xixiang, County Magistrate Ye knew best how to grow woven mushrooms. Her demonstration at home would not only save her the trouble, but also possibly increase the yield!
Ye Yunzhao didn't notice these little tricks. She smiled and said, "Let's go and plant mushrooms!"
Before she entered the mushroom shed, she went to the yard to look at the pile of planting soil.
Planting soil was the new knowledge she taught a few days ago. It is difficult to grow basil mushrooms with ordinary soil. The best soil is from the mountain. Each household does not use much soil, but digging it back is not enough. They need to be piled together, watered with enough water, and then sprinkled with a thin layer of quicklime on the surface. It must be left for at least five days before use.
Ye Yunzhao regretted it right after she came up with this idea, because most people in Xixiang were poor and no one would go to the shop to buy quicklime. But she didn't know if wood ash could be used as a substitute, so she was very upset.
But unexpectedly, Lu Dayuan said that there was a cave on the back mountain with a lot of limestone in it.
The journey was long, so Lu Dayuan brought more than fifty strong men and brought back a lot of limestone.
Ye Yunzhao led them to hammer and burn until they had enough quicklime for everyone in Xixiang. This was also the reason why she chose to demonstrate at Lu Dayuan's house today.
Ye Yunzhao asked Liu Mazi, who came with the cart, to carefully look at the mycelium on the cart. She first stirred the pile of soil at the foot of the yard with a wooden stick, and after seeing that the quicklime was completely mixed in, she bent down and shoveled it into the flat bamboo basket.
Lu Dayuan was quite perceptive and said quickly: "I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Seeing his quick movements, Ye Yunzhao didn't hesitate to greet him. He said to the people gathered around him, "Don't have too little soil. If the bottom is exposed, the weaving fungus won't grow. If there's too much soil, the top will pop out and the fungus won't grow. Look carefully. Each bamboo basket should have at least five fingers' width of soil."
As she spoke, she winked at Lu Dayuan, who quickly placed his hand on the planting soil so everyone could see clearly.
"If a woman were to plant it, it would have to be at least seven fingers wide."
Ye Yunzhao squatted down and said, "Next, make a few gentle strokes on the planting soil."
As she spoke, she scratched the side of the bamboo basket with her finger, about a finger's depth.
"You come." Ye Yunzhao said, "The shallow trenches are three fingers wide apart."
Lu Dayuan held his breath and carefully used his fingers to draw shallow grooves on the bamboo basket.
After he finished processing the bamboo basket, Ye Yunzhao asked everyone, "What do you think?"
One man praised quietly, "It looks good to me. Brother Dayuan is always meticulous."
Lu Dayuan scratched his head a little embarrassedly and looked at Ye Yunzhao with anticipation.
Then she continued, "What do others think?"
A moment later, a weak, unconvincing voice rang out from the crowd: "The fourth and fifth grooves seem too deep... If they're wrong, just treat it as nonsense..."
Ye Yunzhao gave the woman a thumbs-up and praised her, "Aunt, you have a sharp eye."
"Everyone, please take a closer look. Aren't the fourth and fifth tracks a bit too deep?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Dayuan hurriedly looked down and found that it was indeed true.
The man who just thought it was okay whispered: "It's just a little bit deeper...what can it affect..."
Ye Yunzhao suppressed his smile and said seriously, "Don't think that growing mushrooms is easy just because there are a lot of mushrooms growing on the mountain. When growing mushrooms in a mushroom shed, a small mistake can lead to a huge mistake. If you don't follow my instructions, then next year when the mushrooms are harvested, others will get more than ten baskets, and you will only get one. Don't blame me for not teaching you well."
Lu Dayuan hurriedly repaired the shallow ditch and said, "This is natural. County Magistrate Ye, don't worry."
The men who had been whispering to each other stopped talking.
Ye Yunzhao personally went to the cart and scooped up a large basin of humus soil full of mycelium.
When everyone saw the black pattern covered with white filaments, they were a little surprised: Can this be used to grow Braided Mushrooms?
Ye Yunzhao stirred the humus soil a few times, and after the white mycelium was completely integrated with the humus soil, she gently picked up a small handful and sprinkled it little by little into the shallow groove that had just been drawn.
"Don't sprinkle too much." Ye Yunzhao was afraid that some people would think that if he sprinkled too much, he would get more, so he said nonsense seriously, "If you sprinkle too much, the fungi that grow will be very small and you won't be able to sell them for a high price. Just spread a shallow layer on the bottom."
Lu Dayuan imitated her, rubbing the cloth gently and spreading the mushroom seeds one by one, but this time he was much more careful, fearing that there would be any more mistakes.
He looked up anxiously, until he saw Ye Yunzhao nodded approvingly, then he was completely relieved and laughed sincerely.
Then Lu Dayuan carefully carried the bamboo basket into the warm mushroom shed.
"Since we are teaching everyone, we will do it in the yard. When everyone wants to plant the mycelium, we will do it on the scaffolding to avoid accidentally damaging the bamboo baskets when moving them." Ye Yunzhao reminded.
"Those who understand can go home and put the planting soil on the trellises. If you don't understand clearly, you can stay and read it again."
Seeing a dozen people who wanted to leave staring eagerly at the large wooden barrel on the cart, Ye Yunzhao said, "Don't worry, I will deliver the mycelium to you after lunch."
Hearing this, the few people who had been hesitant just now left with a smile.
Ye Yunzhao patiently demonstrated it eight or nine times until Lu Dayuan's mushroom shed was almost full and all the people in the yard had left.
She was so tired that her back ached, and she stretched with some difficulty. Lu Dayuan was still checking in the mushroom shed. His mother, Aunt Xiangyun, quickly handed a bowl of warm sugar water to Ye Yunzhao.
"County Magistrate Ye, you must be tired. Take a rest."
Ye Yunzhao took the syrup with a smile: "Thank you, Aunt Xiangyun."
Aunt Xiangyun sat down beside her and was about to speak when she saw sweat on her forehead. She quickly took a palm-leaf fan from the house and gently waved it a few times.
The cool breeze blew towards her, and Ye Yunzhao felt relaxed and comfortable. She quickly grabbed the palm-leaf fan and said, "Auntie, let me do it."
Aunt Xiangyun responded and asked curiously, "County Magistrate Ye, when will this... weaving fungus grow?"
Ye Yunzhao couldn't figure this out either. She only knew that ordinary mushrooms would mature in just one month. When the mycelium was growing previously, although morels emerged early, they were too small and obviously not mature yet.
Because of this, she gave a vague answer: "The first crop will be around Chinese New Year, but the specific date depends on whether each family takes good care of the crops."
"Of course, of course, our family will take good care of it..." Aunt Xiangyun said, her eyes looking towards the mushroom shed in the yard.
*
Ye Yunzhao was busy for two whole days, and he could only squeeze out time to eat. Only then did he see that every family in Xixiang had planted the woven hat fungus.
I had planned to take a day off today and have a good rest, but I never expected that there would be some problems with Madam Cuihua's tofu business.
When she arrived at Cuihua's house, the person who came to pick up the crystal cake from Ruyi Tower had already left. After a long time, Ye Yunzhao was surprised to find that Cuihua's house had built a kitchen in the backyard, which was specially used for making tofu.
The new kitchen is not big, and there are not many groceries in the room. There is a large stone mill in the middle, a stove on the left, and a place for pressing tofu on the right.
"Master, please try it and see how it tastes." Madam Cuihua looked worried.
Making tofu is not a difficult task. The most difficult thing for other families is that they cannot afford the expensive stone mill. But Madam Cuihua is different. She has made a lot of money from the crystal cake business, so she has enough capital for the tofu business.
But now that she has invested money but has not seen any returns, it is no wonder that she is worried.
Ye Yunzhao picked up a piece of tofu and looked at it. The color was the expected light yellow, and it smelled faintly of beans. She broke off a piece and put it in her mouth, savoring it carefully with her eyes closed.
After a long while, Ye Yunzhao frowned slightly and asked, "How much did you sell these tofu for?"
【Author’s words】
The heroine's mushroom business is on the right track
My collection has been frozen recently, and it hasn't increased in the past few days. As a result, my dreams at night are that I have dozens of new collections as soon as I open my eyes... [scared] (daydreaming)
I wish all the county magistrates who are reading this book a happy life~ [scatter flowers]
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