Chapter 109: Chewing the Bark
She could actually chew it, and ate it with an expressionless face. It seemed that making these wild vegetable dumplings in the cafeteria had been going on for a while.
Liu Yinyin felt a little sad: "Mom, why is this wild vegetable dumpling so hard?"
Jiang Cuihua said nothing.
Mrs. Liu interrupted and explained, "It's made hard naturally because of the bark added into it."
The hard wild vegetable balls were difficult for adults to chew, let alone the children at home.
The Liu family couldn't bear to let the children eat this, otherwise they would get stomach upset.
Liu Yinyin was shocked. She never expected the situation in the village to be so bad.
"Is there no food left in the village?" she asked.
Jiang Cuihua raised her lips with a bitter smile: "Yes, there is, but if we don't eat sparingly, how can we survive until next autumn harvest?"
Moreover, in a month or two, the weather will turn cold, and when winter comes, there will not even be wild vegetables on the mountains.
So, as soon as the rain stopped, the villagers rushed to the mountains to dig wild vegetables.
Liu Yinyin couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "How are the rabbits in the village doing?"
This morning, she didn't see Jiang Zhiqing at school, and she didn't know how his rabbits were doing.
I even borrowed fourteen breeding rabbits from Jiang Zhiqing.
Jiang Cuihua's expression eased a little and she said, "I heard he was OK. I didn't expect Jiang Zhiqing to be quite capable. He's not good at farm work, but he's a good at raising rabbits. I heard he already has fifty or sixty rabbits now."
Of course, the dozen or so breeding rabbits that Liu Yinyin lent to Jiang Zhiqing were also included.
But this is pretty good.
Liu Changquan now values him very much. It has been raining continuously and the water level has risen at the end of the village. The rabbits have been moved to the canteen to be raised.
Dozens of rabbits are now important assets of the village, so of course they have to be taken care of carefully.
Liu Yinyin nodded thoughtfully. There is no doubt that food is the most important thing at this time.
She thought that she should go back to ask Aunt Li if she could exchange the rabbit meat for some food.
In the afternoon, Gu Yanyan was taking a nap.
Liu Yinyin entrusted her son to the care of Liu Ersao and went to the mountains with Jiang Cuihua to pick wild mushrooms.
Before the two of them went up the mountain, they met a group of people coming down the mountain. They probably had just finished digging wild vegetables and had not yet had lunch.
The rain had just stopped, and the road on the mountain was actually quite difficult to walk on.
There are many wild vegetables on the mountain, and it is impossible for the villagers to dig them all in a short time.
Liu Yinyin was thinking about picking mushrooms, so she went into the woods.
In addition to wild mushrooms, there are also wild wood ear mushrooms on the mountain, which Liu Yinyin also likes to eat.
While picking mushrooms, Liu Yinyin said to Jiang Cuihua, "Mom, pick more mushrooms and dry them. I'll help you exchange them for anything you need later... I think you can also exchange them for food."
It is not as convenient for city dwellers to eat mushrooms as it is for country dwellers, and the supply and marketing cooperatives may not necessarily sell them. If you take wild mushrooms to the city, there will definitely be people willing to buy them.
As for food...even if no one is willing to exchange it for food, Liu Yinyin can smuggle some food out of the system by herself.
Anyway, according to the prices in later times, a pound of wild mushrooms is much more valuable than food, so Liu Yinyin will not suffer a loss no matter what she does.
Jiang Cuihua was overjoyed when she heard this!
She looked around and made sure no one was around. She muttered in a low voice, "I see. Home is fine, but your uncle's place... can you also exchange some food for him?"
The family had stockpiled some food, which would last for a long time.
But...Liu Yinyin has two uncles, and they are also in financial difficulty. If she doesn't exchange some food, Jiang Cuihua is afraid that they will come to borrow food in the future.
After all, they were her own brothers, and Jiang Cuihua couldn't just watch them go hungry.
Liu Yinyin paused for a moment, then replied, "If other relatives want to switch...that's fine too."
Just help in any way you can. As long as the quantity is not too large, Liu Yinyin can handle it.
Anyway, exchanging wild mushrooms for food can't really be considered speculation.
"That's good." Jiang Cuihua said happily.
There were a lot of wild mushrooms and fungus on the mountain. With the help of the system, Liu Yinyin kept half and sold the other half, and picked a lot of mushrooms.
The two walked quite far into the mountains, and the backpack that Jiang Cuihua brought was full. She glanced at Liu Yinyin's backpack and said, "Let's go back. I picked a lot of mushrooms. You can take some more to the county town to eat later."
I don’t know if it’s because life has gotten better, but why does she feel like the girls are working slower and slower?
She didn't even pick half as many mushrooms as she did. If she hadn't married well, Jiang Cuihua would definitely have complained about her.
In the countryside, if a woman doesn't do her work efficiently, she will be called a lazy woman.
"Mom!" Liu Yinyin had good eyesight and saw what looked like a chestnut tree in front of her. She asked in surprise, "What do you think that is?"
Jiang Cuihua looked in the direction of Liu Yinyin's finger and was also surprised: "Hey, there is such a big chestnut tree here!"
Although it is the season when wild fruits are ripe, there are many people in the village and few fruit trees on the mountain. The children in the village know exactly where the wild fruit trees are.
It was rare for children to have something sweet, so Jiang Cuihua didn't think about looking for wild fruits when she went up the mountain.
I didn't expect that there would be some fish that slipped through the net.
This chestnut tree is tall and big, and there are a lot of chestnuts on the tree.
Chestnuts are good food. Eating them can make you feel full.
Moreover, chestnuts can be stored for several months after being dried and stored in a cellar.
So what are you waiting for?
Liu Yinyin didn't say anything and just wanted to find a stick to hit the chestnuts.
There are quite a few chestnuts on this tree, at least 70 or 80 kilograms, if not hundreds.
Jiang Cuihua thought for a moment and said to her daughter, "I'll crack chestnuts here. You go home and get a basket."
Otherwise there will be nothing to put the chestnuts in.
There has to be someone watching here, otherwise we might be discovered.
Liu Yinyin: “…”
Well, with Jiang Cuihua here, it’s not easy for her to dump things into the system.
Having been out for so long, Liu Yinyin is a little worried about Gu Yanyan, so it would be a good idea to go home and check on him first.
Liu Yinyin went down the mountain first, carrying the backpack. When she arrived at Liu's house, Gu Yanyan had woken up as expected.
The boy woke up and didn't see Liu Yinyin, so he cried.
Mrs. Liu coaxed him for a long time, and now she was holding Gu Yanyan and looking at the chickens in the yard.
"Mom hasn't come back yet?" Mrs. Liu was surprised to see Liu Yinyin coming back alone with two backpacks.
"Second sister-in-law, I'm sorry to bother you." Liu Yinyin put down the backpack, took Gu Yanyan from Liu's second sister-in-law, and explained, "Mom is still on the mountain. We found a chestnut tree with a lot of chestnuts. Mom asked me to come back to get some things to pack."
"Are there chestnut trees?" Mrs. Lily also likes to eat chestnuts, which are much better than the wild fruits in the mountains.
"Yeah." Liu Yinyin went to make milk powder for Gu Yanyan to drink. The little guy wouldn't cry when he was full.
After feeding him, Liu Yinyin handed Gu Yanyan to Liu Ersao and walked up the mountain carrying the backpack.