Chapter 9 Mushrooms
Xiaoshi Village is surrounded by mountains and a river passes by the village. It is very rich in natural resources.
Unfortunately, because the mountain roads are difficult to travel on, no one is willing to travel so far to Xiaoshi Village to do business, and those who come to buy grain will bargain for the price.
Because there are many mountains and little flat land, and there is not much good land for farming, most people in Xiaoshi Village are relatively poor.
People like Lu Yuan who were able to get into a state-owned factory based on their own abilities were already considered very capable.
For some reasons, Lu Xing's family can still support herself by farming. If there is not enough firewood at home, she can go to the back mountain to collect some.
The mountain is covered with trees and wood is everywhere. Children would come to the back of the mountain to pick branches when they have nothing to do, to reduce the burden on the family.
Firewood consumption is not high when the weather is hot, but it still needs to be stockpiled in advance. In winter, in addition to cooking, firewood is also needed for heating.
Lu Xing looked at the firewood in the woodshed at home and felt that he should go to the mountain to chop some wood.
There was a cut path on the mountain. Lu Xing climbed up the mountainside along the path and began to look for his target.
They don't cut down trees randomly, they give priority to dead trees.
Lu Xing was too strong to chop down a tree, nor could she bring it home. She searched for a long time before she found a small tree that had been half-broken by the wind.
Judging from the dry appearance of the tree trunk, it must have been dead for some time. Lu Xing used an axe to chop the tree into pieces bit by bit, then tied them into a bundle, carried them on his back and slowly walked down the mountain.
Because the forest was dense and the sun could not penetrate, the road under his feet was a bit slippery. Lu Xing carefully held onto the trees as he walked, fearing that he would fall.
When her eyes swept under the tree, she saw white mushrooms growing due to the previous heavy rain.
I think this white mushroom stew is very delicious.
Lu Xing picked a few flowers and put them into the small basket he brought.
The system's information collection capability was like a cheat at this time. Just a scan would reveal exactly how many mushrooms were under each tree.
They picked fruits as they walked, and soon the small basket was full.
Lu Yuan: "Aunt Lu Xing, are you here to collect firewood too?"
Because he was so engrossed in picking mushrooms, Lu Xing didn't notice there was someone behind him.
"Ah? Lu Yuan, why are you here? Aren't you resting at home?"
"I'm at home with nothing to do anyway, so I came over to the back to pick up some firewood and help out."
Because he had no working experience, Lu Yuan didn't know how to bundle firewood, so he could only hold the sticks he picked up in his hands, which made his way down the mountain very difficult.
"Xia Hua is so blessed to have such a filial son like you."
"Aunt, you're exaggerating. What I picked up isn't even half of what you picked up. I still have a lot to learn."
The two people were halfway through the pleasantries when the system suddenly spoke.
[Host, would you like some gossip? I know a piece of gossip about Lu Yuan.]
In order to complete the task, it has been working very hard to collect information about the surrounding area during this period.
Lu Xing: Is it about him being laid off? I knew about it in my previous life.
A system that completely forgets about host rebirth: QAQ.
Is the information I collected useless?
Lu Xing: How could it be? If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known that such a thing happened in Mrs. Lu’s house.
In my previous life, I was old and couldn’t go out, so I could only hear news from the village.
Thanks to the system, I realized that there are so many interesting things out there.
How could this information be useless?
[Wuwuwuwuwu, host, you are so kind. I will continue to collect information and try my best to let you know everything around you.]
This heartfelt speech was like pouring several bowls of chicken soup into the system, and it started collecting information with high morale.
After she finished talking to the system, she almost walked down the mountain.
Compared to what she was used to, Lu Yuan who was following behind her was almost out of breath.
After joining the factory, he has been sitting in the office and has hardly exercised.
He thought that going up the mountain was the hardest, but he didn't expect that going down the mountain was even harder than going up.
Seeing how miserable he looked, Lu Xing gave him a few mushrooms. "Xiaoyuan, take these home and ask your mother to make some soup to nourish you. This is something you can't buy with money outside."
"Auntie, is there any difference between this kind of mushroom and the ones sold outside?"
Lu Yuan has been promising since he was young. In order to let him study well, Hong Xiahua gritted her teeth and sent him to study in the city.
By the time school is on vacation, the mushroom season is over.
"Oh, that's right. You were in school when you were little, so you probably didn't have any of them. So take a few more back." She then grabbed a handful from the basket and said, "Go back and ask your mother to make some soup. This kind of mushroom soup is the best."
At noon, Lu Xing and Lu Yuan both drank extremely delicious mushroom soup.
Because the taste was so good, Lu Xing planned to go to the mountain to pick some more the next day.
Lu Yuan, who has a wife and children, was wondering if he could bring some for his wife.
"Mom, these mushrooms are so delicious. Are there any more on the mountain? I want to bring some for Liu Fen and the kids to try."
Hong Xiahua didn't know that Lu Yuan had been laid off, and she thought he had a conflict with his family. "This thing won't keep well when it's fresh. If you really want to keep it, Mom will make it into a sauce for you. It will last longer."
Speaking of making sauce, Hong Xiahua recalled an interesting incident. "At that time, someone in our village wanted to make this thing into sauce and sell it. But when the sauce was made, no one wanted to buy it, and eventually all the money was wasted."
"So, the risks of doing business are still too great. It's better to find a stable job in a factory. That's better than anything else."
Lu Yuan, who had been laid off, lowered his head and dared not say a word when he heard his mother say this.
"By the way, how many days does your factory have for holiday? When are you leaving?"
"Let me know when you're almost leaving, and I'll make some sauce for you to take away."
So the next day when Lu Xing went up the mountain to look for mushrooms, he found that Hong Xiahua had also come.
She didn't take it seriously and relied on the system's cheating skills to pick up another full basket.
On the third day, something seemed to be wrong, and all the sisters who were chatting ran up the mountain.
Lu Xing discovered that the ones who were searching most enthusiastically here were Lian Hua and Old Lady Lu.
"What's wrong with them?" she asked Liu Hehua who came to join in the fun.
"They heard that white mushrooms are good for the brain, and that Lu Yuan's brain is so much better after eating them. They wanted to pick some to take home for their stupid son."
"What?"
Three days ago, Lu Yuan had never seen this kind of mushroom. How could he eat it to nourish his brain?
This rumor is too outrageous.
Although the forest is large, white mushrooms are extremely delicate. If no one picks them two or three days after the rain, they will rot in the ground.
And it likes to hide under trees and in piles of dead leaves.
Although it is called white mushroom in the local dialect, the mushroom is actually reddish-brown in color. It is named so because the soup cooked from it is milky white.
Such colors are hidden in the pile of dead leaves and are difficult for people with poor eyesight to find.
So although many people came, only a few benefited from it.
Among them, Lu Xing, who picked a lot by cheating on the system, stood out.
"Lu Xing, I didn't expect you to be so sharp-eyed and find so many. Can you share the secrets with us?"
"That's right, tell me about it. I've been looking here all morning and haven't found a single one."
"Just... look for a bulge on the ground, and where the leaves are a different color, then there might be something." Lu Xing, who had little experience, could only make it up on the spot.
After finally getting away with it, she thought, after picking the fruits this time, she won't come back to pick them again, and will come back when there is no one around.
With so many people watching, she felt embarrassed to pick more for fear of being exposed.
Fortunately, many people discovered her later, which made her less conspicuous.
After returning home, Hong Xiahua felt very embarrassed to visit.
She had picked a lot the next day, and thinking that she could pick more later, she took some to make soup for her son.
I don’t know who spread the rumor that this thing can nourish the brain, which caused so many people to run up the mountain today.
There were so many people that she couldn't find many today.
Seeing that there were not enough mushrooms to make the sauce, and Hong Xiahua wanted to make more for her daughter-in-law, she shamelessly came to Lu Xing.
Lu Xing didn't think much about it. She couldn't eat much by herself anyway, and she had given away a lot of the ones she picked in the past two days.
He kept what he ate and let Hong Xiahua take the rest.
[Host, why are you so nice to Lu Yuan? ]
Lu Xing: In his previous life, after Lu Yuan was laid off, he returned home and set up a cooperative and a forest farm with the village chief, and he made a lot of money with us.
It's also a way to thank him for helping us make money together.
Calculating the time, it is almost time for Lu Yuan to open a forest farm.
Lu Xing has already calculated his savings. Based on the dividends from his previous life, if he invests most of it, he won't have to worry about money for retirement.
After waiting and waiting, the day finally arrived when the village chief organized a meeting for everyone.
Lu Yuan stood on it, looking high-spirited and full of energy, and solemnly announced that the village was going to set up an agricultural product processing cooperative.
Lu Xing: What? Where's the forest farm? How did it become an agricultural product?
【Author has something to say】
White mushroom is a fabrication. I don't know if there is such a mushroom in reality.
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