Xu Ningyan doesn't like pine mushrooms. These mushrooms look good, but the taste is just so-so.
Her target is termite mushrooms.
So they didn't go up the mountain, but just wandered around the foot of the mountain with Aunt Xie and Tiezhu for a while.
The group was quite lucky; they actually managed to find termite mushrooms in the cornfields, on the ridges, and in the bamboo groves at the foot of the mountain.
After searching for a while, the three of them had made some small gains and went home satisfied.
Termitomyces mushrooms are the most delicious ingredient for stewing chicken soup.
Xu Ningyan first went to Aunt Xie's house to exchange an old hen, and on the way he ran into Xu Zhenzhu and the Xu family.
Looking at the chicken Xu Ningyan was carrying and the chicken mushrooms in the basket, the Xu family couldn't help but swallow hard, remembering the delicious chicken soup with chicken mushrooms they used to drink at this time of year.
The Xu family also went up the mountain to pick mushrooms, but they weren't very lucky and only found some pine mushrooms. These mushrooms are actually quite delicious when stewed with cured meat.
It's far inferior to termite mushroom.
In previous years, Xu Ningyan would pick up the termite mushrooms and bring them home, but she would never get to drink a sip of soup.
Looking at her half-basket of termite mushrooms and that fat old hen, the Xu family felt extremely disgusted.
However, given the lessons learned from the past and Xu Zhenzhu's warning, no one dared to say anything to each other's faces, no matter how unhappy they were.
He only rolled his eyes a few times, walked past Xu Ningyan in a huff, and spat twice.
Xu Ningyan didn't even bother to acknowledge them.
He walked away without looking to the side.
Being ignored like this is even more unbearable than being mocked to one's face.
Xu Zhenzhu gritted her teeth and told herself to be patient for a few more days. She would deal with Xu Ningyan one day after she married Lu Kai.
Only in this way could he suppress his anger, but he had lost his good mood and went back to his room to lie down.
They wouldn't even come out for dinner.
Miao Cuihua didn't know that Xu Zhenzhu was upset because of Xu Ningyan; she thought it was because she wasn't happy about the lack of termite mushrooms. She comforted her gently for a while, "Zhenzhu, get up and eat first. Tomorrow, I'll go up the mountain myself and find some termite mushrooms for you to enjoy. My dear, you love them so much, I remember that! Even if I can't find any, I'll find someone to trade with and get you some!"
He then turned around and scolded Er Ya and the others for being incompetent. So many people went up the mountain and they didn't even find a trace of matsutake mushrooms. He said they had been fed for nothing.
After much coaxing and persuasion, Miao Cuihua finally managed to get Xu Zhenzhu up and eat. Miao Cuihua even put some of the cured pork from the stewed cured pork with pine mushrooms into Xu Zhenzhu's bowl: "Look at my Zhenzhu, you've worked so hard, you've lost weight! You need to eat more!"
The Xu family didn't dare to breathe loudly, as the whole family was now counting on Xu Zhenzhu.
In previous years, Er Ya and San Ya could at least scoop up a mouthful of mushrooms to taste, or drink half a bowl of soup.
This time, however, they didn't even get a sip of soup; Xu Yewei and his group snatched it all up.
The two exchanged a glance, silently ate a couple of mouthfuls of rice, and then thought of the old hen that Xu Ningyan was carrying. It was so big and fat, it must smell delicious.
Of course it smells good! It smells so good that people can hardly stand up straight.
Even the lackeys, somehow smelling the aroma, ran back and lay down in front of the stove, refusing to leave.
There were only two dishes for this dinner.
Chicken soup with termite mushrooms, stir-fried termite mushrooms—both have an irresistible aroma.
The lackey got the chicken head, the chicken neck, and the chicken butt, plus two spoonfuls of chicken soup mixed with rice. He ate so much that he almost buried his head in the bowl.
Xu Ningyan first served herself a bowl of soup. The soup was clear and bright, and after one sip, it was so delicious that it almost made her tongue fall off.
The two buried themselves in their food and finished off the chicken soup and stir-fried matsutake mushrooms.
The next day, Gu Zhiyuan silently followed Xu Ningyan into the mountains to pick mushrooms.
Termitomyces mushrooms were made into Termitomyces mushroom oil, which was then placed in clean canning jars and sealed tightly.
When you're ready to eat, open it up and mix it with rice or noodles—it's absolutely delicious.
We also picked some wild shiitake mushrooms and small flower mushrooms. If we couldn't finish them, we would slowly dry them over a low fire. When we wanted to eat them, we would just soak them in water to rehydrate them.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, Xu Zhenzhu went back to work at the commune.
Although the members of the Unity Brigade knew that some people had already started imitating the hair ties, they still had five hundred rubber bands and a bag of scraps of cloth left unused.
They were all made during the off-season for farming.
The brigade leader and the party secretary listened to Xu Ningyan's words and assigned the matter to Chen Fangfang.
Chen Fangfang is indeed very skillful; she not only made bows in various colors and styles, but also came up with several other designs.
There are plum blossom-shaped ones, five-pointed star-shaped ones, spherical ones, crescent-shaped ones, and so on.
The aunties in the Unity Brigade were disheartened and gave up, but she persuaded a few young girls and wives to join in.
Although she's young and her skills aren't as good as the older women's, the good thing is that making hair ties doesn't require very good needlework skills.
In just one week, five hundred new hair clips were made.
Xu Ningyan has been studying with Gu Zhiyuan for the past few days, and because she has made rapid progress, Gu Zhiyuan has allowed her to enter his room and choose a book to read.
When Xu Ningyan entered Gu Zhiyuan's room, she saw him opening a large camphor wood chest filled with books.
Seeing Xu Ningyan come in, he waved for her to come and choose.
Xu Ningyan squatted down and carefully flipped through the books. They were all books that were not prohibited, and there were even a few books on mechanical design.
A quick flip through the pages revealed that almost every book had annotations, clearly indicating they were Gu Zhiyuan's notes.
I never expected him to be interested in mechanical design.
Xu Ningyan kept a watchful eye on things, picked out a book at random, thanked Gu Zhiyuan, went back to her room, and fell asleep.
After Chen Fangfang and the others finished sewing all the hair ties, Xu Ningyan couldn't stay idle any longer and prepared to go to the county town.
In the past few days, Gu Zhiyuan has been mentioning the machinery factory intentionally or unintentionally, seemingly quite interested in it.
She didn't bother guessing the big boss's intentions and asked directly, "Big brother, you want to know about the machine factory, right? Do you need me to find out anything and tell you?"
Gu Zhiyuan didn't expect Xu Ningyan to be such an honest kid, actually asking the question like that.
He paused for a moment, squinted for a long time, and then nodded: "When you go to the county town, if it's convenient, go to the machinery factory more often and find out what's going on. Any information you can get!"
After saying that, a hint of guilt flashed in his eyes.
This matter involved Xu Ningyan, which was not his intention.
However, the matter was urgent, and Sun Zhou's side had made no progress! If things continued like this, with no progress made, all their previous efforts would probably be in vain.
Now, Xu Ningyan's side has become a new breakthrough point, and it might be able to break the deadlock. Even if he feels a little guilty, he has no choice but to give it a try.
However, he also did his best to keep Xu Ningyan out of trouble, so he only allowed her to inquire about any news after she entered the machinery factory. As for extracting information from the news and planting people in the factory, that was his business.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
