The sisters-in-law walked around in the woods with bamboo poles in their hands. From time to time, they would find a few bamboo fungi that had already bloomed, but they didn't find any cicada flowers.
Li Qiuyue pulled up a bamboo fungus and asked curiously, "Chunyan, why aren't there any golden cicada flowers?"
Yang Chunyan thought back and said, "I remember that we went to Fangtian Bamboo Forest to look for golden cicada flowers a little later last year. They might not come out until then."
Li Qiuyue nodded, "Then we'll come back in June or July."
"Hurry up and pick them up. By eleven o'clock, the first bamboo fungi will rot." Zhang Xiuxiang went forward and plucked a flower, took off its cap and muddy feet, and put it in the basket, smiling so hard that her teeth were showing. "An Yi, everyone can pick up more than ten kilograms today."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "I don't think it's satisfying to just pick this kind of mushroom. It's not like picking mushrooms in the woods. There are milk mushrooms, bigfoot mushrooms, chanterelles, morels... Every time you find a mushroom, you get a different surprise."
"Oh, Chunyan!" Zhang Xiuxiang screamed, "How come we forgot about the morels and the spring grass at the big-fruited banyan tree?"
Yang Chunyan slapped her head after hearing this and said, "Yes, they were picked up by someone last year. We picked up a dozen small ones when we got there. But the spring grass is still there. Let's go check it out in a couple of days."
There are also the old mulberry trees that she and Huai'an found last time. There were two small mulberry yellow flowers left on them. The location there is so secluded that no one should find it.
Li Qiuyue said excitedly: "We also need to find chicken mushroom eggs, which are also valuable."
The sisters-in-law became more and more excited as they talked. They felt that the mountains after the rainy season were a treasure waiting for them to explore, with surprises hidden everywhere.
The vegetable basket was soon filled up, and the bamboo fungus was gently poured into the backpack. Yang Chunyan and her sisters-in-law were relieved.
Walking further down, I found that there were a lot of bamboo fungi here. As long as you find one place, you can find more than a dozen flowers. Unfortunately, some of the ones that bloomed early have already rotted.
Li Qiuyue plucked a bamboo fungus and suddenly saw a pile of new soil behind the flat bamboo leaves, and next to it there were some young bamboo shoots that had been gnawed. She turned around and said to Yang Chunyan, "Does this look like a bamboo rat hole?"
"I don't know either. Let Wangcai look for it," Yang Chunyan went over. Wangcai also ran over, went to the entrance of the cave and sniffed around. He turned his head and barked a few times, then used his claws to dig the hole.
Li Qiuyue looked at the dog in surprise, "It's really a bamboo rat hole."
"I heard from Huai'an that the bamboo rat holes are very deep, and the dogs can't get them out. We have to use a hoe to dig, which is also time-consuming." Yang Chunyan looked around and said, "We don't know how to dig, so we have to go back and tell Huai'an to let them do the digging."
"Forget it, picking mushrooms is more important." Li Qiuyue continued to knock on the bamboo forest with a stick, the scattered flat bamboo leaves and rice cake leaves, looking for bamboo fungus.
Yang Chunyan patted Wangcai and continued to look with him. They found a place where more than a dozen flowers grew. Several sisters-in-law squatted there and picked them up.
“Woof woof woof…” Wangcai suddenly barked wildly and rushed towards the bamboo bushes in front.
The sisters-in-law who were squatting and picking mushrooms all stood up. Through the bamboo bushes, they could vaguely see two or three women carrying baskets on their backs. Li Qiuyue said, "It looks like Xu Feng and Su..."
Before he finished speaking, several women shouted in panic, "Yang Chunyan, (the youngest's family) take care of your dog."
"Wangcai!" Yang Chunyan hurried over and stopped the grinning Wangcai.
Zhao Huifang and the other two also followed and saw Xu Feng and the two women standing there with a basket filled with a lot of bamboo fungi.
Li Qiuyue looked at the three people with dissatisfaction, "Xu Feng, you clearly know that this forest is contracted by my family, why do you come to my forest to pick mushrooms without even saying hello?"
Xu Feng pretended not to know. "Didn't your family lease the woods over there? When did you lease such a large bamboo forest? Why haven't we heard of it?"
We have picked up so many bamboo fungi in just half an hour. The Zhou family must have known that there are many bamboo fungi in this forest, so they contracted this forest. My God, the purchase price for one pound of bamboo fungi is five yuan.
There are so many in the forest, and I don’t know how much they can be sold for after a season.
No wonder Zhou Laoyao’s family bought a bicycle, a tractor, and now even a TV.
After all this time, that second-rate guy Zhou Laoyao was able to earn so much money all of a sudden and buy so many good things, all by renting the forest!
It’s a pity that all the good forests are gone, otherwise Lao Han would go find a forest to rent and earn money by picking mountain products.
Yang Chunyan exposed her bluntly, “When my family contracted this piece of forest, the town and village cadres came to the site to inspect it before demarcating it.
The news spread all over the village at that time. Even the half-grown children knew to go to other places to pick mushrooms and sell them. Would you not know about it?"
Zhang Xiuxiang also said bluntly: "Xu Feng, stop pretending to be ignorant. The rule of the village is that whoever has leased the forest owns it.
We didn't go to the forest you rented to look for fruits to eat, and you shouldn't come to my forest to pick things. If everyone is like you, who would dare to rent a forest?"
The other two women thought that they would send the mushrooms they picked to Zhou Laoyao's family to sell, which would offend Yang Chunyan's sisters-in-law. It would not be worth it to make things difficult for them when they sell mushrooms, truffles and mugwort in the future.
The long-faced woman hurriedly pulled Xu Feng and said, "Xiao Feng, stop talking like that. Since they have reserved this place, we shouldn't come here to pick mushrooms."
The woman with many freckles on her face also smiled and said, "Yes, Xiaofeng, it's not right for us to come here to pick mushrooms in a forest that has been rented by someone else."
Then he said to Yang Chunyan's sister-in-law, "I'm sorry, youngest family, we won't come here anymore."
Before Yang Chunyan could finish her words, Xu Feng sneered, "Rui Lan, Ai Hua, you two are afraid of them, but I am not."
Then he sneered at Yang Chunyan's sister-in-law and said, "I know your family is rich and has a good relationship with the leaders in the village. The forest of the mountain temple has been bought by your family.
Since you are so rich, why don't you take over the entire Fu Niu Brigade? Everyone will work for your Zhou family for a long time and serve you like slaves! "
Yang Chunyan remembered her rumor and stepped forward, "Xu Feng, you should understand clearly that my family contracted the forest in response to national policy and paid the contract fee.
Tell me clearly today, when did you all work like slaves for my family for years? If you don't tell me clearly today, I will tear your mouth apart!"
She has only been released for a few years. If someone with ulterior motives catches on to what she said and deliberately distorts and discredits the Zhou family, she could get into trouble if she is not careful.
Zhang Xiuxiang also reacted, "Xu Feng, my family planted trees, fenced the forest, bought saplings, and everyone came to help. We paid them. Why do you say that everyone is working like slaves for us?"
Seeing this, Xu Feng shrank back, "I didn't say now, I said later!"
Su Ruilan and Lin Aihua felt a headache when they heard her talk, and regretted listening to her urging them to come here to pick bamboo fungus.
"In the future? Which eye did you see? Tell me clearly." Yang Chunyan grabbed her and said, "My family collects herbs and eels, and helps the boss in the provincial capital collect mushrooms and truffles.
I have never shortchanged you a penny, never deducted a pound from you, and never shortchanged you a day's wages. You must come to the brigade today and explain clearly why you have become my family's permanent employees? Why have you become my family's slaves? "
Li Qiuyue and Zhang Xiuxiang also stepped forward and grabbed her, "Let's go, we must go to the brigade today to explain everything."
The three sisters-in-law grabbed her and walked towards the woods opposite. Wangcai watched them hungrily from the side. Su Ruilan and Lin Aihua did not dare to step forward and could only persuade them from the side.
"Chunyan, Qiuyue, Xiuxiang, Xiaofeng's words are not nice. We are all from the same village, so you should not bother with her."
"Rui Lan, Ai Hua!" Zhao Huifang stopped them and said, "You came here to pick mushrooms. We didn't say anything to you. We just want to know why you came to my forest to pick mushrooms without even saying hello.
You should be a little nicer. What did Xu Feng say? My family is clean and honest, but she said that we let everyone work like slaves for us. This is like making my family a wealthy landlord! We can’t afford this reputation! "
Su Ruilan and the others didn't know what to say after hearing this. They thought Xu Feng was a fool. They turned around and saw Zhang Xiuxiang and Li Qiuyue, who had already carried Xu Feng to the grove opposite and were dragging her towards the back mountain.
The two of them were also panicked. They had come to someone else's forest to pick bamboo fungi in public, but were caught in the act. They wanted to blame the person behind their actions, but they couldn't explain themselves anywhere. If the incident really got reported to the police, they would also be embarrassed.
Thinking of this, the two of them hurriedly chased after him.
Zhao Huifang curled her lips, picked up the vegetable basket and followed.
When Yang Chunyan and the other two were dragging Xu Feng and were almost reaching the hillside, Su Ruilan and Lin Aihua caught up with them, and Zhao Huifang also arrived.
Su Ruilan held Xu Feng and smiled at Yang Chunyan, her sister-in-law, saying, "Xiao Feng, we send mushrooms to Zhou's house every year to sell. Didn't you say that they are a good family? They never shortchange us. When it's cold, they give us ginger soup to drink. When they sell mugwort, they even turn on the TV for us to watch.
Look, we came to someone else's contracted forest to pick mushrooms, which was wrong in the first place. Sister-in-law Chunyan didn't say anything. If you had just been nicer and apologized, it would have been fine. Why do you think we're being treated like slaves?"
As she spoke, she winked at Xu Feng, indicating that she should apologize and admit her mistake, so as to avoid being dragged to the team and criticized in public, which would bring shame to both of them.
What the two were most worried about was that they had offended the Zhou family. Not only would it be inconvenient to sell mountain products in the future, but they would also not be able to find a place to sell the mugwort during the Dragon Boat Festival every year.
At this time, several villagers carrying baskets on their backs came over from the hillside. Seeing the few people gathered there, they thought that the women had found something good, so they stood there looking at them curiously, apparently wanting to come over and see what was going on.
Seeing someone coming, Lin Aihua said impatiently: "Xu Feng, you really shouldn't say that about the Zhou family. Thanks to their family collecting mountain products in the village in the past two years, everyone's life has become better.
Zhou Laoyao hired people to plant saplings, and my family members also came to work. Everyone gets paid for a day's work. So, according to what you said, your family's Lao Han works in the quarry and is also a permanent employee of the government, right?" (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com