Chapter 65 Matsutake
"Let me go! Dad! Save me! Mom! Save me!" Chen Kangnian was so scared that he burst into tears and struggled desperately.
Old Mrs. Chen cried and wanted to rush forward, but she was afraid to get close because of the terrifying aura of Chen Kangbo.
Chen Kangbo carried Chen Kangnian to the center of the main hall. He looked at Old Man Chen and said word by word, "Today, I'm going to make this clear. First, you must double the compensation for my family's losses."
"Two bags of rice, two taels of silver, and a whole pig's hind leg of bacon. Secondly, from today on, our East Courtyard and your West Courtyard will completely sever all ties. From now on, you're yourselves, and we're ourselves. We won't have to interact during festivals. We won't have anything to do with each other at weddings or funerals. If you die at home, and your body rots or rots, it's none of our business!"
He paused and increased the strength of his hands, and Chen Kangnian rolled his eyes.
"The third and most important thing is to tell him," Chen Kangbo pointed at Chen Kangnian in his hand, "to get out of Pingjiang Village! I don't want to see this face in this village again! Otherwise, I will beat him up every time I see him!"
"No!" Old Mrs. Chen was the first to scream, "Nian'er is our family's hope! If he dies, our Chen family will be finished!"
"It's over?" Chen Kangbo laughed heartily, his voice filled with sadness. "This family was finished long ago! It was over from the day you kicked us out! It was over from the day you allowed those two beasts to kidnap my daughter!"
He let go of his hand and threw Chen Kangnian to the ground like garbage.
Then, he looked at the deathly pale old man Chen and said his last words.
"Either, tell him to get out. Or, I'll break his legs right now and make him confined to this bed for the rest of his life. It's your choice."
There was deathly silence in the room.
Everyone looked at Old Man Chen, waiting for him to make the final decision.
Old Man Chen closed his eyes, turbid tears streaming from the corners of his dry eyes. In his life, the thing he valued most was his educated son, seeing him as his only hope for bringing honor to the family. But in the end, it was this very hope that pushed his family into an abyss of no return.
After a long time, he opened his eyes, his voice old and tired, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.
"Let him...go."
It was a farce that ended with the complete collapse of the West Courtyard.
Chen Kangbo didn't even look at it again. He turned around and walked out of this disgusting place.
Back in the east courtyard, Feng Lan had already finished cleaning the house with her daughters. She didn't ask about the result, but silently brought her husband a basin of warm water for washing his feet.
The couple sat under the lamp, neither of them spoke.
But they all knew that from tonight on, the wall separating the East and West Courtyards would finally be truly erected. And their family's new life had just begun.
When the first handful of clear, sweet well water was brought up, the daughters burst into thunderous cheers.
The youngest girl, Wu Ya, didn't know what hard-earned water meant. She only knew that the water tasted better than the water in the old well at the east end of the village. She cupped her little hands and took a sip, then gulped it down, and then burped with satisfaction, which made the whole family laugh.
Chen Kangbo, a man who rarely shed tears, had his eyes red when he saw the clear water gurgling from the well and the happy faces of his wife and daughters.
He wiped his face with his rough hands and felt that the water was sweeter than honey, sweet to the very core of his heart. With this well, his family had truly taken root in this land.
A few days later, Daya and Erya came back from the town with their sisters, their faces flushed with excitement.
"Mom! The shop is ready! Mother Zhang asked someone to help us paint the inside and outside, and also put in a few sturdy shelves. It's so bright!" Daya gestured, her eyes full of stars.
"Yes, mother, Mother Zhang also told us not to rush to purchase goods, but to think of a name for the shop and then choose a good day to open it." Erya added, speaking like a little adult and in an orderly manner.
Feng Lan smiled and patted their heads, but her mind was racing. The county magistrate had given her the shop, which was a huge favor, but running a shop wasn't like treating people to a meal; everything required money.
The supply of goods, needlework, various fabrics, and daily expenses all required silver. After selling embroidery and extorting money from the West Courtyard, plus the expenses of digging the well, I only had a dozen or so taels of silver left, not even enough to stock the shop.
Looking at her daughters' eyes full of longing, Feng Lan didn't express her worries. She just smiled and said, "Don't worry. I know what's going on with the shop."
At night, the children were all asleep.
Feng Lan spread the dozen or so taels of silver on the table under the oil lamp and counted them over and over again.
Chen Kangbo came back from outside, with the smell of earth on his body. He brought the well water into the ridges of the fields, and the 15 acres of crops that had been a little wilted became visibly lively.
"Why aren't you sleeping yet?"
He walked to Feng Lan and saw the silver on the table, and understood his wife's worries.
"Comber, there's not enough money."
Feng Lan didn't hide it from him, "I want to open a shop, so I can't just do it on a small scale. If I want to do it, I have to make it the best embroidery shop in town. But the capital..."
Chen Kangbo was silent.
He was a farmer and had plenty of strength to work in the fields, but it was extremely difficult for him to conjure up silver out of thin air.
Feng Lan looked at her husband's furrowed brow, then suddenly raised her head and looked at the dark mountains outside the window.
"Kumber, tomorrow morning, you take care of the house while I take the children into the mountains."
"Going into the mountains? It's so dangerous, you mothers..."
"Don't worry," Feng Lan's eyes seemed unusually bright under the flickering light, "I know where to find the money."
The next day, at daybreak, Feng Lan led her five daughters, carrying backpacks and small hoes, into the back of the mountain. The eldest and second daughters led the way, while the third and fourth daughters walked in the middle, protecting the youngest, the fifth daughter, and Feng Lan followed at the end, holding the line.
"Mom, what treasure are we looking for? It's so mysterious."
San Ya asked curiously.
Feng Lan smiled and said nothing.
What she was looking for was not gold or silver treasures, but a kind of mushroom that only grows in a specific season and environment - Matsutake.
In the previous life, there was a severe drought and no harvest.
In order to survive, the villagers stuffed everything into their mouths.
It was also in that year that someone accidentally discovered this unremarkable but fragrant mushroom deep in the back mountains.
Later, a passing merchant discovered it and bought it at a high price. The villagers then realized that this thing was a rare and valuable treasure in the rich and powerful families.
Relying on vague memories from her past life, Feng Lan led her daughters, trudging deep into the forest. After walking for nearly an hour, they rounded a steep rock face and suddenly saw a clearing ahead.
A dense pine forest stood quietly in the valley, covered with thick pine needles, and the air was filled with a unique, refreshing fragrance.
"This is it." Feng Lan was delighted.
She squatted down and pushed aside a layer of pine needles, revealing a bunch of plump, round mushrooms that poked their heads out in a cute manner.
The familiar rich fragrance hits you in the face.
"Wow! What kind of mushroom is this? It smells so good!" The daughters all gathered around and looked at it curiously.
"This is called Matsutake, and it's our family's silver ingot."
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