Chapter 114: Picking Mushrooms
As soon as the bell rang, the children in the classroom rushed out and sighed regretfully at the rain. Some of them quickly occupied the space under the eaves, drew lines and played sandbag jumping. Others moved out from the back of the classroom and drew lines on the podium. Anyway, any place could be used to play.
Wen Wan went to the office with a book in her arms. The quiet office only became lively at this time.
After greeting a few teachers, I noticed the pocket on the table at a glance.
She walked over and sat down, opened the drawer, and put the hot lunch box into it.
Wang Hongmei called out to her, "Teacher Wen, the final exam is in a week. Have you prepared the questions?"
Wen Wan held up the thick notebook: "It's all here. I've been reviewing it these days. I'll summarize it later. Whether it's good or not depends on how well they study and how seriously they review these days."
Chinese is all about memorizing the text. Once you have memorized the text and can write and read the new words, then there will be no problem at all.
It is nothing more than writing Chinese characters based on pinyin, forming words, filling in blanks in the original text, making sentences and then writing an essay.
Mathematics is even simpler, with basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, mixed operations, and some simple word problems.
Just repeat the same contents, become proficient in them, and as long as you are careful enough, there will be no problem at all.
After school, Lu Donglin came to her office as usual.
"Sister, the rain has stopped. You don't need to bring a hat when you go back."
Wen Wan entered the office and said, "You don't have to go back even if you stop. Your brother brought the food. I'll go get some water in the shed and heat it up so we can eat it."
Lu Donglin's eyes lit up: "Then there's no need to run back and forth! Sister, am I taking advantage of you?"
Wen Wan laughed, took out the lunch box from the drawer, closed the door, and walked towards the shed, saying as she walked, "Has your brother never brought you food before?"
Lu Donglin followed behind, scratching his head. "Yes, but that was a long time ago. I was in first grade and my sister was still in elementary school. In the summer, if it rained too hard, I'd deliver lunch. Then my sister passed the entrance exam to junior high school, and that treatment stopped." It should be said that he hadn't delivered lunch since he repeated a grade. Lu Dongping's original words were, "It's so embarrassing to have a brother who repeated a grade!" Delivering lunch? Don't even think about it!
Lu Donglin volunteered to help light the fire. Wen Wan first boiled a pot of water, filled the kettles in the office, and then scooped up a teacup. Lu Donglin broke off a few sticks of similar length for her to prop up the bottom of the pot: "This will prevent the boiling water from spilling into the lunch box."
It was the first time Wen Wan had seen this done this way, and she put the two aluminum lunch boxes in with confusion.
"Don't use too high a heat. Just steam it slowly over low heat, okay? If you boil it too hard, the water will boil over."
Lu Donglin nodded in agreement.
"Then you watch the fire. It's stopped snowing outside. I'll go get some water." There was an aluminum bucket in the office, which was much lighter than a wooden bucket. She could still fetch water with it.
Lu Donglin stood up and said, "I'll go, I'll get your feet covered in mud. I'll make a few more trips to fill the water tank. Anyway, I won't be back at noon, so I don't have anything to do for such a long time."
Wen Wan didn't bother to be polite with him: "Okay, go slower and carry less each time." It's okay, how could that be possible, something happened after dinner.
The exam is coming soon, so I have to review well. I am going from third grade to fourth grade, and I can't repeat a grade.
She looked at the fire carefully, listening to the water bubbling under the pot lid. After Lu Donglin ran back and forth three times, she dimmed the fire, lifted the pot lid, let out the heat from the pot, and took the rag on the stove to take out the lunch box.
In each lunch box were two small flatbreads, about the size of an adult's palm. On top were shredded lentils stir-fried with green chilies. Wen Wan also had a few young cucumbers in her pocket, which she washed.
"Donglin, have you washed your hands?"
"Washed!" Lu Donglin stretched out his hand to show her.
The two of them ate the pancakes and vegetables while chewing on cucumbers, slurping their lips because of the spiciness.
There was sugar on Wen Wan's table, and she mixed it with sugar and boiled water in a teacup. She drank a little, and the rest went into Lu Donglin's stomach.
Knowing that she was particular, he scooped some water to rinse the drink before bringing it to her.
"Are you full?"
"I'm full!" He ate two cakes, half of which was Wen Wan's, and drank half a jar of sugar water. He felt like burping.
Wen Wan smiled and said, "If you're full, go get your homework and do it here?"
Lu Donglin - he wanted to go play by the river below the school.
"No, we don't have homework!"
Wen Wan stood there swaying, kicked her legs and said, "Then bring your notebook and book over, I'll give you some review questions!"
Lu Donglin - I can't breathe. It's such a good time. Why do I have to be so hard on myself and do so many exercises?
With a look of reluctance on her face, Wen Wan pretended not to see it. After swaying for a while, she stood against the table, her body as straight as a green bamboo.
Lu Donglin reluctantly went to the classroom, dawdling over with his books and notebooks. It was review time, so how could there be no homework? There was more homework than in any previous new classes.
Wen Wan saw her coming and took a stool and placed it on the side of the table: "Just lie down here and write. Remember to ask me if you don't understand."
After saying that, he sat down, took a pen and flipped through the textbook, writing and drawing on his notebook to continue extracting knowledge points, so that he could help the students in the class review in class. He also had to highlight the appropriate questions and make some changes later. Those would be the final test questions.
In the afternoon, the sun puffed its way through the clouds, and the slightly cool weather suddenly became scorching. The damp heat enveloped everyone, making them feel uncomfortably uncomfortable. The students in the classroom were drowsy from their homework. When the bell rang, the staggering bodies instinctively sat up straight.
After the homework was assigned, Wen Wan glanced at the students on duty, gave them some instructions, and went to the office.
After the classroom was cleaned, she walked back with Lu Donglin, carrying her bag and pockets.
The sun is a good thing. If it shines for two hours, the road surface will not be so bad.
"Sister, we're going up the mountain this afternoon. Do you want to go?"
Wen Wan quickly shook her head: "It's still hot in the afternoon, why go up the mountain? It's said that the mountains are very unsafe this season, there are snakes and wasps."
"Let's go pick wild mushrooms. This season, with sunshine and rain, mushrooms grow very fast in the Qinggang forest. There are also ground fungus, which are all good things."
Wen Wan had eaten both of these things before. They were both dried goods that the Lu family had dried the previous year. Occasionally, the family would soak a handful of them and stir-fry them to go with rice.
"Well, if it's not far, I'll go with you to take a look?" She had eaten it, but she had never seen what it looked like when it was fresh!
Lu Donglin cheered and rushed out, meeting up with his classmates on the road.
When they got home, the door was still locked. Lu Mingjiang and Lu Minghai went to the fields to check the water and fill the ridges. Zhang Hongying went out to find grass for the pigs.
If you feed this kind of hungry creature at home, you can't let it go, rain or shine. A pig without food is like a human without oil; without oil in its stomach, it gets hungry very quickly. If you feed it three times a day, which is more than a human feeds themselves, it will start to cry out as if it's about to fly away.
The two men put down their schoolbags, picked up the baskets, locked the door and went up the mountain.
Back at the beam, Lu Donglin took Wen Wan for a walk in the woods near the main road. "See? These red mushrooms are edible. There are also these porcini mushrooms. The color is a bit ugly, but they are delicious."
Wen Wan looked at them carefully and took one to put in the basket so that she could compare them later if she was not sure.
Lu Donglin called her again: "Sister, look at this, look at this, this is called yellow shit fungus, this is the most delicious."
Wen Wan took a look, squatted down and dug one out: "Is this it?"
"Yeah, yes, yes." Lu Donglin nodded, and the next moment he called her, "Wait, wait, that won't work. That's yellow shit fungus, but it grows under the mulberry tree, so you can't eat it."
"Mulberry tree?" Wen Wan looked up at the bush in front of her: "Is this thing poisonous?"
"Yes, it's extremely poisonous. The roots and leaves are all poisonous. The mushrooms growing under this tree are also said to be poisonous, but don't joke about it."
Wen Wan has learned a lot.
Just after strolling for a while, Liu Daan and his friends came over, along with Lu Changfa's third daughter. A group of them shouted "Teacher Wen!" from a distance.
Wen Wan greeted them, and Lu Donglin couldn't stay any longer: "Sister, let's go!"
"Where else are you going?"
"Let's go into the woods. There are more mushrooms in the deep woods. What's going on outside?"
Wen Wan waved her hand: "You guys go on your own, be careful, and come out early. I'll just walk around here and then go back." There's plenty to see here, so why go so deep into the woods? She couldn't understand these kids.
After Lu Donglin and the others left, she was left alone. This place was not far from the yard below, so she was not afraid to go alone. She walked around and found some results. When the sun was almost setting, she did not stay any longer and slowly went down the mountain with her basket.
Lu Chun'e and Lu Dongping both came back. Lu Dongping was chopping grass for the pigs, while Lu Chun'e was carrying firewood into the kitchen to prepare cooking.
Wen Wan came to the yard with a basket. Before she even got close to him, Lu Dongping stopped what he was doing and smiled at her, "Are you picking mushrooms on the beams?"
"Hmm!" Wen Wan put the basket on the eaves. "I identified two species with Donglin, and then picked up a few. I'm not sure if they're edible."
Lu Donglin took a look and said, "They are all edible. As long as they are not picked from under the mulberry trees, it's fine."
"No, Donglin taught me specifically."
Lu Chun'e scooped out some grain from the main room and called out to Lu Dongping, "Brother, there's not much grain left at home."
Lu Dongping responded, "After dinner, when it's cool enough, go and grind it."
There is a stone mill outside the yard. It is not as big as the one on the threshing ground. It was bought by Lu Minghai in his early years. Both families use it. Although it is small, it is quite convenient as you don’t have to carry grain to the threshing ground.
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