In the morning, Chen Kai didn't have much of an appetite and only drank a few mouthfuls of porridge.
Seeing this, Zhou asked worriedly, "My dear son, are you feeling unwell? You've only eaten so little; you'll be hungry soon. Do you want to eat more?"
Chen Kai shook his head and said, "Mom, I don't have much of an appetite right now, I don't want to eat anything."
Zhou said worriedly, "My dear son, how about I steam some egg custard for you?"
Chen Kai said, "No need, Mom. Just put the food in the kitchen. I'll eat it when I get hungry."
Zhou patted Chen Kai's head and said, "Alright then! Good son, when you're hungry, let Da Ya and the others heat it up for you before you eat."
After breakfast, Old Man Chen rearranged the work for his family members. The eldest son's wife was in charge of the clothes dyeing business, and the second son's wife was in charge of the cold drink business.
Zhou, along with Daya and Chen Shi, drove an oxcart to a nearby village to collect ground frost. They brought a lot of candy, intending to exchange it for the ground frost.
Chen Laoda and the others went to work in the fields, while Er Ya and the others stayed at home to boil saltpeter and make jelly, jam, and other food.
Chen Kai called a few children and asked them to cut some grass jelly. Anyway, grass jelly can be used after being dried, so it would be good to cut more and keep it at home.
Er Ya was making plum juice at home when she asked worriedly, "Uncle, we've harvested way too much fruit. I wonder how Auntie and the others are doing with the sales?"
Chen Kai said, "Er Ya, don't worry, it will definitely sell. After you've cooled the plum juice, put it in ice water made with saltpeter, and also put the fruit juice and jelly in ice water. Your sister-in-law will send someone back to pick them up later."
The frost collected in their village wasn't enough to boil down to much saltpeter, and the ice they made was still not enough. Hopefully, Mom and the others can get more in return!
Just then, a child suddenly ran over and shouted, "Chen Nong, let's go to the mountain to pick mushrooms! It rained so hard yesterday, we're sure to find plenty of edible mushrooms on the mountain."
Chen Nong turned around and asked, "Uncle, Xiao Tian, do you want to come along?"
Chen Kai nodded and said, "Go!" Xiao Tian also nodded.
Seeing them about to leave, Chen Laosi asked, "Chen Nong, where are you taking them to play?"
Chen Nong shouted, "Fourth Uncle, I'll take them to the mountain to pick mushrooms."
Chen Laosi said, "Alright, then you guys be careful. Chen Nong, keep an eye on Chen Kai and Xiao Tian."
When they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw many children picking fruit and digging for wild vegetables.
When the children saw them, they excitedly shouted, "Chen Nong, are you here to pick fruit too?"
Chen Nong said with a smile, "We're not here to pick fruit. We already have plenty of fruit at home. I'm going to take my uncle and Xiao Tian to the mountain to pick mushrooms."
Chen Kai watched the children squatting on the ground picking fruit—small, dark fruits that were easy to step on if you weren't careful—and asked in confusion, "These fruits are so hard to pick, why don't you go find some easier ones?"
A little girl said angrily, "There are too many adults on the mountain. We can't compete with them. These little fruits are the ones we finally found. They think these fruits are too hard to pick, so they gave them to us. After we finish picking these, we'll go find other fruits to pick."
Another little girl said, "My family went to pick fruit further away because there are too many people here. Yesterday, we exchanged the fruit we picked for five coins! Today, everyone in my family went out to pick fruit, hoping to earn more money."
After chatting for a while, they continued walking up the mountain.
When we arrived at the mountain, it was indeed very lively, with many villagers picking fruit there.
An old woman greeted him, saying, "Chen Nong, bring your uncle to play in the mountains!"
Chen Nong laughed and said, "Yes, it rained so heavily yesterday, so we wanted to come up the mountain to see if there were any mushrooms to pick."
A woman said, "I just picked a basketful of mushrooms, and they picked quite a lot too. Mushrooms grow really fast after the rain."
Chen Nong said disappointedly, "You've picked them all? How are we going to find any more mushrooms?"
One of the children said, "Look carefully again! You should be able to find some. We didn't come here specifically to pick mushrooms; we just happened to see some while picking fruit and picked them."
A woman smiled and said, "Chen Nong, you should look further in! We mainly came to pick fruit; mushrooms don't sell for much, so we didn't specifically look for them."
Chen Nong said, "That's good! Let's go find mushrooms."
They walked a little further, and Chen Nong found three sticks, then handed one to Chen Kai and one to Xiao Tian, saying, "Uncle, Xiao Tian, you two take these sticks first. These mushrooms are usually found in places with thick layers of fallen leaves, and sometimes they are even covered by dead leaves. You have to use a stick to turn them over to see them."
As Chen Nong talked to them, he used a stick to poke and turn over things in the grass.
Chen Kai and Xiao Tian were poking around with sticks. After a while, Xiao Tian felt something being poked. He turned it over and saw a cluster of mushrooms. He called out, "Brother, come and see if these mushrooms are edible."
Chen Nong walked over and said, "You can eat it!" Then Chen Nong squatted down, put the bamboo basket on the ground, and used his hands to remove the withered leaves from the mushrooms. He happily picked the cluster of mushrooms and put them into the bamboo basket.
Chen Kai turned his head and saw that it was a pine needle mushroom! It was also from a large area of pine trees. Pine needle mushrooms use pine needles as fertilizer, so there is a high chance of pine needle mushrooms growing where there are pine trees.
Generally, if there's a raised area under a pine tree, it's said to contain pine mushrooms. Fresh pine mushrooms are yellowish-brown, turning reddish-brown after blanching and stir-frying.
Pine mushrooms have a delicious flavor and are rich in crude protein, crude fiber, vitamins, amino acids and various nutrients. Regular consumption can also improve human immunity and inhibit cancer.
Chen Kai looked around with the stick, and after a while, he saw a bulging patch of fallen leaves. After turning it over, he found several beautiful mushrooms.
Chen Kai was admiring the mushroom when Chen Nong saw it and rushed over anxiously, shouting, "Uncle, you can't eat this mushroom!"
Chen Kai said helplessly, "I know this mushroom is inedible, I just thought it looked nice and wanted to look at it a little longer."
Chen Nong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good! I'm going to go take a look over there. You guys play here, but remember not to run around or pick or eat anything."
Chen Kai said, "Okay! We understand. We'll just stay here and play, we won't go anywhere else."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com