Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Pine Fungus
Children are the most enthusiastic about this kind of thing. Lin Duoer jumped up and down, "Hmm, hmm, hmm, let me guess how many tricholoma mushrooms we can pick today."
"Third sister, guess what you picked up?"
Lin Chunhe looked at Lin Duoer who was standing there and urged her, "Hurry up, hurry up, don't just stand there. Lin Duoer, you speak with your mouth, not your legs. So you can't move your legs when you talk? I'm just like you. I guess I picked up a lot of blue mushrooms."
Lin Duoer was urged by Lin Chunhe to trot. As she ran, she turned her head to look behind her, "Second sister, where are you?"
"You all guessed the blue-headed mushroom, so I'll guess it's the milk mushroom." She then reminded Lin Duoer, "Don't look behind you, look at the road. Be careful not to fall."
"Sister, what about you? Guess what kind of fungus you picked up?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I guess it's pine mushroom."
"Sister, why did you guess the pine mushroom? It's not as valuable as the blue-headed mushroom."
Lin Chuntao said: "The Alpinia arborvitae is more valuable. I can't just guess and pick it up. It depends on luck. There are a lot of Alpinia arborvitae in our area, so my chances of guessing it right are high."
"Then I'll follow my elder sister and guess the pine fungus."
Lin Duo'er quickly changed her words, and Lin Chuntao laughed. Lin Chunhe, who was standing in front of her, said, "You're a fence-sitter. I only told you that because you said 'green-headed mushroom'."
"I don't care. I want to guess the same as my eldest sister."
…
We chatted so much on the way that we didn't feel the time passing. Before we knew it, we had reached our destination. Lin Chuntao hurriedly called out to Lin Duoer, who was at the front: "Duoer, we're here. Let's go into the mountains from here."
Hearing the shouts, Lin Duoer hurried back. Lin Chuntao cut some branches at the mountain pass and handed them to them, admonishing them, "Stay close to your sister and don't run around."
"Got it." Lin Duo'er responded. Lin Chuntao and Chunxing said, "Chunxing, you keep an eye on her from the back. I'll lead the way."
As Lin Chuntao spoke, she crouched down and went into the mountain. Not long after entering the mountain, she found the mushroom nest. It was under a large clump of bushes. Lin Chuntao crawled in and used a branch to dig up the arched rotten leaves. She saw several pine hair mushrooms crowded together.
"Sister, do you have any mushrooms? What kind of mushrooms are they?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "There are some pine mushrooms. I'll pick them up. Who of you can come in and take them out?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Duoer crawled in like a cat, "I'll do it, I'll do it."
"Okay, I'll pick it up for you. Don't pinch the cap."
Lin Chuntao was picking mushrooms, while the second and third children were also crouching beside her, searching. However, it was nighttime, and the light was poor. Furthermore, the pine mushrooms were similar in color to the dead leaves, blending in and making them even harder to find. Lin Chuntao looked at the arrows pointed at by the system and called out to Lin Chunxing, "Chunxing, use a branch to dig up the roots of the tree next to me."
Lin Chunxing listened to her and went in, but after a moment Chunhe exclaimed: "Sister, it's true!"
"What kind of fungus is it?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Lin Chunhe smiled and said, "Sister, it's pine mushrooms again. We won't pick up a basket of pine mushrooms this morning, right?"
"Hurry up and pick it up. Only the ones you put in the basket are ours."
After she said this, Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer stopped talking and buried their heads in their work.
Lin Chuntao pointed out the location, and the second and third sisters moved very quickly. The four sisters had unknowingly circled half of the forest and picked up a full basket.
When Lin Chuntao looked up at the sky, the moon had disappeared and the sky was turning pale.
Just as she was about to call her sisters to go down the mountain, she heard the sound of someone moving through the woods and quickly found the direction of the sound.
A man appeared with a basket on his back, and the basket was also full of mushrooms.
He hadn't seen Lin Chuntao and the others yet, so he said to his companions, "It seems like someone has already picked up this piece of land. Who is this greedy person who came here so early?"
"If you weren't greedy, you wouldn't have come here before dawn. This mountain isn't yours."
The person who spoke was a woman.
As soon as he finished speaking, the man suddenly looked up and met Lin Chuntao's eyes.
Lin Chuntao stood there motionless. The man was startled and then became a little angry: "Who are you?"
Lin Chuntao didn't bother to ask, "Who are you?"
"I'm Xu Tianzhu from Xujia Village. Which family are you from?"
The man directly reported the village and name. Lin Chuntao felt that Xujia Village sounded familiar, but she did not just report the village and name like a fool. She was ready to call her sisters and leave.
Unexpectedly, the man in the forest chased after him and asked, "Whose family is this? Why aren't you talking? Could it be someone from Xujia Village?"
Lin Chuntao asked, "Why? If they're not from Xujia Village, they can't come and pick them up?"
"Oh, you little girl, you have quite a temper! This is our Xujia Village's mountain! Of course we don't allow people from other villages to come here."
Just as Lin Chuntao was about to argue with him, the woman followed and yelled, "Xu Tianzhu, are you crazy? People are picking up other people's mushrooms, and you're the only one allowed to do so?"
"Don't pay attention to him, sisters. The mountain belongs to everyone. Anyone can come and pick it."
As the women were talking, Lin Chuntao responded, "Thank you, sister. We've picked it up and are leaving now."
Lin Chuntao led her sisters down the mountain and vaguely heard the woman say behind them, "Hurry up, it's almost dawn, and what we've picked up today is quite a lot."
When they were far away, Lin Chunhe whispered, "Sister, this guy is so domineering. This mountain obviously doesn't belong to any village, anyone can come here."
Lin Chuntao smiled slightly. "He looked at us kids and said something to scare us. The two villages are not far from each other, and he even gave his name. Maybe everyone in our village knows him. It's okay, don't worry."
"We must hurry up, for daybreak is almost here."
The sisters quickened their pace after hearing Lin Chuntao's words.
Halfway through their journey, two people came up from behind. They walked much faster and soon surpassed them.
But after he walked to the front, the man kept looking back. Lin Chuntao recognized him at this time. He was the man who sold all the mushrooms quickly in front of her yesterday.
"Are you the little brats from the mountain just now?"
Lin Chuntao raised her eyebrows slightly: "You are Xu what from Xujia Village? I didn't hear it clearly at the time."
In fact, she heard it clearly, but seeing that the man was about the same age as Lin Changhe, it was inappropriate to call him by his name, so she had to hide it. Unexpectedly, the man said again: "Yes, I am Xu Tianzhu."
"Where did you guys pick this up? You picked up a basket like this."
Lin Chuntao replied, "I only picked up that patch. Do you only grow pine mushrooms on this mountain? I wanted to pick some blue-headed mushrooms and milk mushrooms, but I didn't find any. It was all pine mushrooms."
As she finished speaking, the man said, "You're very lucky. You found a big mushroom nest and picked up a basket. Are you carrying it to the market to sell?"
Lin Chuntao nodded, and then she asked, "You too?"
The woman smiled and replied, "Well, we also picked it up and went to the market to exchange it for a few copper coins."
The woman stared at them as she spoke, then frowned. She looked at Xu Tianzhu next to her and asked, "Take a look at them. Do they look familiar to you?"
The man rolled his eyes, not wanting to look, and only asked Lin Chuntao and the others, "Which village are you from?"
Lin Chuntao saw that the couple were not bad people, so she replied, "They are from Shuangzi Village."
As soon as she finished speaking, the woman suddenly understood something and asked Lin Chuntao, "Who is Xu Xiu to you?"
These words stunned Lin Chuntao and the others. Yes, Xujia Village. Their grandmother's home was at the bottom of Xujia Village.
But their grandmother had passed away many years earlier, and after their mother passed away, they had less contact with her.
After a while, Lin Chuntao finally asked, "Aunt, do you know my mother?"
After hearing this, Xu Tianzhu was also stunned. He said rather stiffly, "I know her. Your mother and I are cousins. You should call me Fourth Uncle and she is Fourth Aunt."
"This... We haven't been there for several years, and no one recognizes us anymore. Please forgive me, uncle and aunt."
After Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Zhou said, "I was wondering if she looked familiar. It turns out she's Xiuniang's daughter." She approached Lin Chuntao, looked her over, and asked, "You're the eldest, right? I haven't seen you in a few years. You've grown up now. Are you married?"
Lin Chuntao nodded: "It's settled. Didn't each village take outsiders back home a few days ago? I got one, but we haven't had a wedding yet."
Xu Tianzhu and Zhou hesitated for a moment, but quickly said, "Be sure to let us know when you're having the banquet."
Lin Chuntao pursed her lips and said, "If I do it, I will definitely invite my uncle and aunt."
As they were talking, Xu Tianzhu suddenly interrupted and asked, "Why didn't you call your cousin or someone to join you in picking mushrooms in the mountains at night? Aren't you guys scared?"
Lin Chuntao said somewhat embarrassedly, "I can't shout. My grandparents and my father have already kicked the four of us sisters out of the house and said they'll cut off all ties with us. We're living on our own now."
Xu Tianzhu and Zhou were both shocked, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.
Lin Chuntao continued, "If we hadn't been driven out, we wouldn't have dared to go up the mountain in the middle of the night."
"I didn't give you anything..." Zhou was a little lost for words, but Lin Chuntao nodded slightly: "Well, we are living in the old house of Muramasa's family now. He lent it to us temporarily."
After these words were spoken, Xu Tianzhu and Zhou fell silent.
Zhou patted her shoulder gently but said nothing.
They went to the market together, and Zhou took them to rent a scale, find a stall, and open the business. The couple took special care of them.
The pine mushrooms are weighed down and I am not afraid of being squeezed, so the basket I carry today is several pounds heavier than yesterday's.
Pine mushrooms are nine coins per pound. Today, this backpack contains twenty-one pounds, and I earned one hundred and eighty-nine coins. After deducting two coins for rent and weighing, I have one hundred and eighty-seven coins left.
Xu Tianzhu and his wife brought back several varieties, and the most common ones were the blue-headed mushrooms, which were more expensive, selling for more than two hundred coins.
Both the couple were smiling happily.
Lin Chuntao was also happy. If they could pick mushrooms every day during the mushroom season, they would be able to slowly buy what the family needed.
Zhou pulled Lin Chuntao aside and asked, "What do you need to buy for home? I'll take you there."
Lin Chuntao didn't hesitate and said bluntly, "I want to buy a steamer for steaming rice, and I need to carry a bucket and a shoulder pole, and five bowls. We don't have salt or oil at home."
Zhou took a deep breath and said, "Auntie will take you to buy oil and salt first, and then buy the steamer. You don't have to buy everything today, you can add more later."
Lin Chuntao nodded, picked up her sisters, and followed Zhou.
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