Chapter 59: Night Visit: Are you still carrying a knife when you go out on patrol?
Yan Xue takes such great care in drying the fungus, not just for aesthetics.
She knew that if she had too many things, people would suspect that they were collected. If she wanted to sell them, she would naturally have to make more preparations.
The basket of wood ear mushrooms placed in front of the other party at this moment is in perfect shape, neat and beautiful, and even the curling arcs are extremely similar. No one would believe that it was not made by one person.
The other party was obviously choked, "What if...what if you dry the fresh ones yourself?"
Before Yan Xue could say anything, Shan Qiufang was already laughing. "She collects fresh fungus and dries it herself? She doesn't do anything else all day, just going around looking for people who've gone up the mountain to pick some fungus. I don't do that, but I know fresh fungus won't keep well. It'll dry up in a day or two. Don't tell me you didn't know that."
Dan Qiufang was unrivalled in her quick tongue. Before the other person could even begin to speak, she interrupted him, "Don't tell me she taught others to tan like this. If you can tan like this, would you tell others?"
After choking him twice, she put on a half-smile and said, "If you don't even know these things, I'd doubt whether you picked and dried those fungus yourself."
This means that the other party is the one who received the goods and sold them, and is the one who is speculating and profiteering.
The other party had no idea that Shan Qiufang and Yan Xue were related. He was bombarded with criticism and couldn't utter a word in rebuttal. "Why do you take my kindness for granted?"
"You're kind? You're kind enough for your parents to go up the mountain and pick up the trash, but why can't everyone else go up the mountain with their whole family?"
Shan Qiufang couldn't figure out why the other party followed her. It was because she saw Yan Xue also carrying a basket and flirting with Shan Qiufang, so she was afraid that Shan Qiufang had bought something from Yan Xue.
She immediately chased him out, "Please stop it, everyone knows your little tricks."
Shan Qiufang was not someone who could be easily bullied. The man could only leave in anger. Even after leaving, he was still angry and said, "Whoever accepted it knows it in their heart."
Shan Qiufang was so angry that she chased him out the door and asked, "Don't you want to sell your fungus anymore?"
Yan Xue stepped forward and helped Shan Qiufang up, "Don't be angry, be careful not to upset the child."
Shan Qiufang finally realized, "I almost forgot I have one in my pocket."
Then he complained about the person just now, "We're neighbors, and I was thinking I'd just buy something instead of going to the market. But she didn't give me a discount and even came all the way to my house. How can she sell things like that?"
This person's behavior really ruined my good impression. Business is a two-way choice, and it's not like you can only buy her.
But Yan Xue had seen all sorts of things in her past life, working at the market, even witnessing stall owners arguing with customers. But after switching to an online store, that kind of thing stopped happening. Instead, every once in a while, she'd run into some peculiar customer who'd eaten half of her honey and wanted to return it, claiming it didn't taste right, that it didn't feel like pure linden honey.
She smiled with her eyes curved, and rubbed Shan Qiufang's back again, "That would be better, so she doesn't have to steal my business."
Shan Qiufang listened for a moment and said, "Yes, why did she sell everything?" Then she walked out and said, "Wait here for a while."
The five-month-old belly did not hinder her movements at all. Yan Xue only had time to say, "Slow down." She had already walked a long way away.
Not long after, Shan Qiufang came back with two people following her. One was the one who had watched the fungus with Shan Qiufang before, and the other was a new face.
Shan Qiufang pointed directly at Yan Xue's backpack and said, "How is it? Isn't my niece's better than hers, big and small?"
Yan Xue really wanted to laugh. With her aunt Qiu Fang's temper, people were afraid that she wouldn't buy from them, so if they said a few words, she would just go and steal their business.
However, the two of them probably didn't fancy it, or thought the price was not right, otherwise they wouldn't have followed Shan Qiufang here. Seeing that Yan Xue's basket of fungus was indeed of good quality, someone asked, "How much are you selling it for?"
"Three yuan and seventy-three pounds a pound." Yan Xue said sincerely, "These are autumn ears. The quality is not as good as spring ears, so I sell them cheaply."
If it is cultivated in slings, it will be even cheaper. After all, sling cultivation takes less time and has higher yields, but its taste and flavor are much worse than wild fungus.
But Yan Xue used logs for cultivation. Except for the inoculation of the fungus, it grew completely naturally. The quality was not much worse than the wild ones, and it was even more tender than the wild ones.
In fact, the other party couldn't tell the difference between Spring Ear and Autumn Ear, but Yan Xue's words made her more popular than the previous person's nonsense.
The other party was obviously interested and even bargained, "Can you make it cheaper? Xiaodan and I are neighbors."
Yan Xue had a lot of wood ear mushrooms and didn't plan to sell them too expensively. Otherwise, she would have to make trips back and forth to sell them, not to mention the cost of transportation, and it would have been tiring enough.
But she still showed some hesitation on purpose, and the other party immediately said: "If you can give me a discount, I will buy more."
"If you buy more than half a pound, I'll charge you 3.6 yuan per pound." Yan Xue could only say, "I also came down from the ditch on a small train."
Shan Qiufang quickly supported her, "That's right, it's not easy for the child to come here, three dollars and sixty cents is not expensive."
Three dollars and sixty cents was indeed much cheaper than the previous one. The other party didn't say anything more and said, "Then give me half a pound."
"Okay, Auntie." Yan Xue immediately took out the scale, poured out the fungus from the basket, and weighed half a pound for her. "This is definitely enough. Auntie, you can borrow a scale from someone when you go back."
Then he asked, "Are you going to eat it yourself or give it to someone else?"
"What's wrong with eating it yourself? What's wrong with giving it to others?" another person next to him interjected.
"If I'm eating it myself, I'll wrap it in newspaper. I have paper bags for giving it to others." Yan Xue took out the paper bag that had been pasted in advance.
There are paper bags, who wants to use newspaper to wrap it? The other person immediately said that he wanted to give it to someone else. Another person next to him thought about it and said, "Give me a pound too, half a pound per bag."
In a short while, Yan Xue sold one and a half kilograms. When the sister-in-law next door heard it, she came over to take a look and bought half a kilogram.
Apparently, the living conditions of the residents in this area are pretty good, unlike that time when I was selling frozen mushrooms in the small market, where many people bought them in batches of two or three.
Shan Qiufang was not idle either. She went out to help her pull a few more. When Yan Xue left Shan Qiufang's house, half of the fungus in the basket was gone.
Shan Qiufang also said to Yan Xue: "If your number is too much, I'll ask around for you later. There are many families here with working parents, and no one is home during the day."
Yan Xue thanked her again before going to the small market. When she returned, there were only three or two pounds of fungus left in the basket on her back.
As soon as she got home, she saw the second old lady taking down some fungus from the roof. She was startled and hurried forward to hold the ladder. "Grandma, why did you go up there by yourself? Where's Qi Fang?"
Yan Xue didn’t know if all researchers were like this, but Qi Fang was indeed a homebody. He generally didn’t like to go out unless there was something to do, and he even less liked to join in the fun.
Seeing her nervousness, the second old lady comforted her, "I'll be careful, I won't fall." Then she said, "The field office asked Xiao Qi to go get some manuscript for a poetry recitation. I saw that the weather was not good and it looked like it was going to rain, so I came up to collect the things first."
"Then you'd better come down. My heart is about to jump out of my chest when you're upstairs." Yan Xue hurriedly took the things in her hand.
The old lady had no choice but to let Yan Xue help her down first, and then Yan Xue went up to collect the wood ears.
After everything was stored in the shed, the sky grew even darker, but Qi Fang still hadn't returned. Yan Xue couldn't help but ask the old lady, "How long has he been gone?"
"That's more than half an hour." The old lady leaned over to look at the small clock in the room.
Qi Fang and Yan Xue went to the town to buy this after she and Yan Jigang arrived at the forest farm, for fear that they would not be able to tell the time without a watch.
Seeing that it was about to rain, the old lady was a little worried, "Xiao Qi didn't bring an umbrella when he went out. Will he get soaked on the road?"
The rain did come a little quickly and suddenly. It was a sunny day when Yan Xue went out in the morning.
Fortunately, Qi Fang came back as soon as the raindrops started to fall. His handsome features were only slightly wet and slightly damp.
"Have you collected all the fungus?" He looked up at the roof as he entered the room and asked the two of them.
"It's collected. Xiaoxue collected it when she came back." said the second old lady.
Qi Fang handed the two pieces of paper to Yan Xue and said, "This is the manuscript for the poetry recitation. Let's take a look at it first. We'll go to the town for rehearsal in two days and then divide the words."
"We still have to go to town for rehearsal." Yan Xue took it and took a look at it. She found that it was not any poem she was familiar with. It was probably written by someone on the spot.
"Yes." Qi Fang said, "You have to go there three days in advance. Not only do you have to divide the words, but you also have to arrange the stations."
That's true. After all, the poetry recitation was performed by several forestry departments. If they were not rehearsed together in advance, the effect would definitely not be good.
The second old lady didn't understand poetry recitation. Seeing the two talking about business, she turned around and went to prepare dinner. She also looked at the sky and said, "I wonder if Jigang will come down from school after school."
"I don't think the rain will last long." Yan Xue also looked over, and after entering the house, she whispered to Qi Fang, "Is there anything else?"
If it was just to get a manuscript, it shouldn't take that long, and the man wouldn't have had a serious look on his face when he walked in.
Sure enough, the man turned around and leaned against the desk, looking out at the outer room. "Secretary Lang just came to me and said someone gossiped about him."
His voice was also very low, obviously because he was afraid that the second old lady outside would hear it and worry.
Yan Xue moved closer to him and asked, "What does Secretary Lang mean?"
They have a lot of enemies in this forest farm, and it is impossible to hide the fact that they have harvested so many wood ears at once. It is normal for some people to have some thoughts.
But it was just gossip, not reporting. Obviously, he hadn't figured out what to report, so it depends on the attitude of the forest farm.
This question was a bit close to her. Qi Fang glanced at her and put his arm around her waist. "Secretary Lang said that we should keep a low profile and not make a big fuss about selling it in the forest farm."
Who in the forest farm doesn’t have a side business? Who hasn’t gone to the town to sell wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms?
Although his family grew their own crops, they were also included in the purchase range of the purchasing station, so it was hard to say for sure. Secretary Lang's intention was clearly to tell them to make a fortune quietly and not attract too much attention.
Yan Xue chose to grow wood ear mushrooms because they are mountain products, and there are regular purchasing stations for mountain products in the local area, and the production of mountain products is also recognized as a legal side job for mountain residents.
But no matter what, Secretary Lang specifically reminded them that they still had to accept this favor.
"After this is over, I'll go give Sister Yue'e some fungus."
Yan Xue patted the man's hand that was around her and said, "That's enough. Grandma might see us soon."
Yan Xue's guess was correct. The rain didn't last too long. It stopped before Yan Jigang finished school, and only a layer of soil was wet on the ground.
But the fungus had already been put into the shed, and the few people did not move it out. They would wait and see the weather tomorrow morning before deciding whether to continue drying it.
Unexpectedly, not long after the lights were turned off at night, two dogs in the house opposite suddenly started barking, waking up both the old lady and Yan Jigang.
Yan Xue and Qi Fang didn't sleep, but were preparing to unlock a new chapter of "The Female General and the Sword-Bearing Guard" - "The pretty guard diligently practices new sword techniques and fights the female general again in the dark night."
At that time, the two of them had exchanged sharp words and had already fought a brief confrontation, which ended in a draw. They then began to test each other.
The pretty guard was skilled and daring, even testing the female general's strength with her bare hands. The female general did not surrender, and after a series of back and forth, both of them were exhausted, their breathing was slightly disordered, and their bodies were drenched in sweat.
Just as the pretty guard was about to show off his skills by drawing his blade, there was a knock on the door outside the battlefield. "Two dogs have been barking at the backyard. I think something is wrong."
The guard's long sword, which was about to be thrust out, stopped in mid-air. The female general, who was ready to receive the attack, also paused and hurried to look for the armor that had just been knocked away in the confrontation.
Fortunately, the guard had developed a good attitude when he first started practicing martial arts, so his voice was completely calm. "You and Jigang, don't move. I'll go over and take a look."
Even when he turned around to look at the female general, his face was dark, revealing his unwillingness and resentment for not being able to fight her.
Yan Xue had no other choice but to pick up the trousers the man had thrown aside and hand them to him. "Let's go over and take a look. We don't know if it's a person or something else."
The man hummed a low "hmm" and took the condom without saying a word, then when he pulled it up, it got stuck noticeably.
This made his face look even worse. He took a deep breath and pulled it up, then grabbed the shirt next to him. Without buttoning it completely, he put on his shoes and went out.
Sure enough, the two puppies in the house opposite were barking non-stop at the back window, but they were only two months old and their voices were limited, not to mention any deterrent effect.
But it was quiet at night, and the constant shouting still made some noise. Qi Fang looked out the window and saw a stick shaking somewhere.
Without hesitation, he picked up a dog from the ground and chased out. He opened the door and ran straight to the outside of the stick. As soon as he turned around, he saw a black shadow flash in front of him.
The shadow obviously didn't expect someone to catch up with him so soon, so he slowed down after hiding. Just as he was about to take a breath, the barking of a dog approached quickly from behind, frightening him so much that he started running again.
If I remember correctly, this family doesn't have a dog.
Even if they did, they had only moved here a few months earlier. Where would they get a dog that could run so fast?
Unable to figure it out, the black shadow couldn't help but look back.
A tall figure fell behind him. It was a figure, yes, but this person was so wicked that instead of shouting "Stop", he actually held a dog and kept barking.
He couldn't catch his breath for a moment, tripped, and fell to the ground, gasping in pain.
No matter whether it was a person or a dog that caught up, they both caught up. The dog's barking even caused the dogs of several nearby houses to start barking along with it.
Seeing someone was about to come out to check the situation because of the noise, the black shadow got so anxious that he didn't even care that one of his shoes had fallen off, and ran quickly through the place where the agricultural team piled up manure.
Qi Fang had no way to catch up. Although the fields were not often used for manure in this season and were basically empty, they were still very dirty and smelly.
In the end, he only brought back one Liberation shoe. He had already carried it into the main room, but after thinking about it, he threw it back into the yard with a sullen face.
Yan Xue had already dressed and was waiting for him to return with the old lady Yan Jigang. Seeing him, she asked, "Even your shoes are gone?"
"Yeah." Qi Fang put the dog on the ground, and the puppy immediately ran to Yan Jigang's legs.
"Did you see who it was?" Yan Xue wanted to go out and take a look at the shoe, but Qi Fang stopped her. "It must be Wang Lianfu's dad. He runs slowly, and his neck tilts a little to the left when he's in a hurry."
It turned out to be Old Man Wang. Yan Xue was speechless. "I ran into him this morning when I was taking the train, but he left before he even got on. I didn't talk to him."
"Let's take a look at the sticks in the backyard." Qi Fang went into the house and took out a flashlight.
After the two of them went to the yard, even the second old lady followed them out, and the whole family went straight to the place where Qi Fang had seen the shaking before.
It's far from the main house and in a corner. If there weren't two dogs at home, it might not have been discovered in time.
When we got there, we saw that the stick had been broken.
Locals make board sticks by digging holes in the ground at regular intervals and fixing yellow pine poles into them as pillars. Then, they nail a horizontal bar about 30 to 40 centimeters from the ground, one in the middle and one on top, and then arrange the boards and nail them all to these horizontal bars.
The board nailed here was obviously loose, with only the nail in the middle left. If two more pieces were removed and the board was pushed aside, there would be enough space for an adult to get in from the outside.
"Are you trying to come in and steal something while we're all asleep?" The second old lady had never seen anyone so bold as to sneak in while people were still home.
Yan Xue didn't know either, but she knew with her toes that it was definitely not a good thing, and it was very likely related to the wood ear mushrooms at home.
"Let's nail this up first." She supported the boards. Qi Fang went back without saying a word to get the tools and nailed the boards up.
After finishing the nails, he checked around to see if there was anything missing. "Grandma, you and Yan Xue go back to sleep first."
The second old lady was exhausted from all this trouble. But Yan Jigang had to go to school the next day, so she went back home because she was worried about her grandson.
Yan Xue didn't leave, but stood by and flashed a flashlight to Qi Fang. Qi Fang looked up at her while nailing something, but he didn't say anything, but his hands moved faster.
After they finished, they locked the door and washed their hands before saying to Yan Xue, "I'll get some anti-theft chains later."
Yan Xue knew that this thing was actually just a thicker iron wire with an iron nail on it every few sections. It could indeed prevent theft when hung on a stick or a fence.
Actually, it would be safer to replace the wooden sticks with a brick wall and cover it with broken glass. But firstly, their yard is huge, and if they built a wall all over it, who knows how many bricks would be needed. Secondly, few people in the forest farm use bricks when building houses, so using them to build a wall would be too conspicuous.
After entering the house and taking off her shoes to get on the kang, Yan Xue thought of Old Man Wang's shoe again.
Qi Fang is such a clean person, and he even picked up the shoes specially. He definitely didn't want to imitate the prince looking for Cinderella. I guess Old Man Wang is in trouble.
This speculation reached its peak after both of them lay down. Yan Xue couldn't help but push the man, "You're still carrying a knife on patrol?"
The man didn't say anything, but he must have felt very uncomfortable. He didn't know where he was hit by her push, and he obviously held his breath for a moment.
The next second, Yan Xue's foot was grabbed from under the quilt and lifted up, and the instep was bitten from the side. "Continue." Yan Xue's guess was correct. Although Old Man Wang was not caught on the spot, he was indeed in trouble. The next day, Qi Fang took the shoe to the field office.
I don't know what Qi Fang said to others. He just walked in with a cold face when the loudspeaker over there started to sound -
"Comrades, please pay attention! Comrades, please pay attention! Now, a reminder! Now, a reminder! A very bad thing happened last night. Someone broke into a comrade's home under cover of darkness, intending to commit a crime. Fortunately, the comrade had a dog at home, and the incident was discovered in time, preventing any accidents. The comrade even chased the comrade away, causing him to lose a shoe. The comrade has reported this to the field. I would also like to remind everyone who has women at home: if you can, then do so. If you are not at home, at least keep a dog at home. Do not give the criminals any opportunity to take advantage!"
This is very subtle. What is the wrong thing to do? There is also a special reminder for those who have lesbians at home, which makes it difficult for people not to do something wrong.
The whole place was buzzing with discussion, especially the few who had heard the noise, all of whom came out to say that it was indeed the case. However, at the time, they only heard dogs barking, but no human voices, so they all thought someone's dog had escaped, and wondered which family's master was away and had such bad luck.
Before the afternoon, Liu Weiguo came back from his parents' house and said that there seemed to be a fight at Old Man Wang's house.
Old Man Wang's wife, holding a broom for sweeping chicken manure, kept hitting him, "You shameless old bastard! You're capable of anything!"
Old man Wang fell yesterday and ran halfway barefoot, so he couldn't move around easily. He could only hide and look outside the yard in a low voice, "Keep your voice down! Don't let anyone hear you!"
"Are you afraid of being heard? Everyone in the forest farm knows you were trying to pick someone's window, and the dog chased you until your shoes flew off!"
"I've told you so many times I didn't! I just wanted to see how her family got so many fungus..."
"Why would anyone remind a young lady like that? I was just saying, 'Why did you lose a shoe so late at night and stink of shit?'"
His wife didn't believe it. "You old fool, you're already dying, but you still have such evil intentions. You have no shame, but we still have some!"
Anyway, for many days afterwards, Old Man Wang didn't dare go out, for fear that people would find out that the criminal who had one of his shoes stolen was him.
After all, if it is said to be stealing wood ear mushrooms, not many people may care, and not every family has so many wood ear mushrooms, but who doesn’t have a few young girls and wives in their family?
The forest farm has been on full alert these days against perverts. Even Liu Weiguo went back to his parents' house, got a hunting dog, and tied it up in his yard. He even came over to remind Qi Fang and Yan Xue, "How brave is this guy? He even dared to go to someone's house with a dog. It's a pity we didn't catch him in the act, or we'd have taught him a lesson!"
Well, he does look pretty good now, and there are probably flowers on his face...
Yan Xue looked at the man and found that Qi Fang looked uninterested, as if this matter had nothing to do with him at all.
"You guys better be careful anyway." Liu Weiguo came over to remind them, and then he was about to leave. "I have to go back and see if my wife is back. She's been using the logistics delivery truck to go to town these past few days."
Unexpectedly, as soon as he took a step, he bumped into Zhou Wenhui who had just entered the yard.
The couple were both stunned.
"You're back?"
"You're here too?"
Then Zhou Wenhui decisively put Liu Weiguo aside, walked around him and went into the inner room, "Yan Xue."
The young girl's eyes sparkled. She looked less shy and more energetic than the last time she came. "How many pounds of fungus do you have left?"
Yan Xue was amused by Liu Weiguo's confused expression and asked her, "Is there any good news?"
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