Chapter 71 Brother, the county town is so beautiful
The decision on collecting mushrooms in Dongfulou was made by Chef Yu in the kitchen. Because of their friendship over the recipe, Chef Yu was particularly easy to talk to. Of the two baskets of mushrooms that Sang Luo brought, except for a few wood ear mushrooms that had to be dried before being eaten, which Sang Luo picked out and did not intend to sell, Chef Yu collected the rest.
There were two large backpacks, holding dozens of kilograms. However, because there were several varieties, the weight of each variety was not much. The most was about ten kilograms, and the least was four or five kilograms. For ordinary people, this was a lot, but it was not enough to put in a restaurant.
There are not enough things, and it’s not even troublesome to put up the dishes.
This is really a friendship. Chef Yu is obviously taking care of Sang Luo's business.
Straw mushrooms and the like are cheap, a few cents per pound, but the prices of other types of mushrooms are quite good. The most expensive is the black agaric, which Chef Yu quoted at twelve cents per pound.
Sang Luo's eyes lit up when she heard the price. She particularly liked black fir mushrooms and picked them up often when she went into the woods, so she made quite a lot of money today. She and Shen Ning each had a backpack, and after classifying and weighing several types of mushrooms, the total amount was 283 cents.
Sang Luo smiled and said that several fellow villagers outside the city gate had also picked some mushrooms and had four baskets full. When asked if they wanted to collect them, Chef Yu readily agreed.
"Yes, of course. I think the food we have now is too little. If two or three tables place an order, we will have to clear the menu."
I called the boy who was washing dishes to go with Sang Luo and help carry the backpack.
…
As Chen Po and her companions could not enter the county town due to their lack of a pass, they all stretched their necks and waited at the city gate. When they saw Sang Luo coming from afar, they were so excited that they waved to her from a distance.
The guards at the city gate were willing to make concessions when passing something between people in and out of the city. Sang Luo took the backpacks from Old Lady Chen and Shi Erlang's wife, and the young man who followed took the backpacks from Old Lady Lu and Lu Danu, and they went to Dongfulou together.
After a thorough cleaning and weighing, it was found that Old Mrs. Chen and Shi Erlang's wife received 190 and 149 coins respectively, while Old Mrs. Lu and her granddaughter had two backpacks in total and received 296 coins.
When Sang Luo went to the front hall counter to pay the bill, she mixed the money of the three people together. She did not take her own share and only asked the accountant to issue a receipt for 283 wen. This money was considered as repayment to Dongfulou.
Manager Xu was not there, so Sang Luo did not stay long. She thanked the accountant and Chef Yu, then carried six empty backpacks and left Dongfulou.
After leaving the city gate, the money was divided among the three families. Old Mrs. Lu smiled so hard that her teeth were showing because she earned the most.
Old Mrs. Chen was also happy and said with a smile: "This can buy more than two dou of millet. This time it is all thanks to A Lie's wife."
Old Mrs. Lu and Shi Erlang's wife also smiled with their eyes bent and kept thanking Sang Luo.
Shi Erlang's wife almost had the words "admiration and envy" written all over her face.
"Alie's wife, you are really capable. You have been here for a short time, but you even recognize the owner of the restaurant in the county. I grew up in this area, and I have only been to the county town a few times. I don't even remember the roads."
Shi Erlang's wife's emotion was sincere. Although Sang Luo called her "Auntie" all the time, she was actually only 24 years old, not much older than Sang Luo.
She had always thought that Sang Luo was very capable, even more capable than her sister-in-law, and had wanted to get close to her, but had never had the opportunity. Today was a rare day for them to pick mushrooms together and walk ten miles to deliver them to the county. Sang Luo also helped her sell the mushrooms to a restaurant in the county, earning her a full 149 coins. Although she earned the least among those who went with her, it was still 149 coins. Shi Erlang's wife had never earned so much money on her own.
She now felt that she was getting closer to Sang Luo, so she moved closer to her and said, "Alie's Wife, we all call you Alie's Wife. I know your last name is Sang, what's your maiden name?"
Sang Luo saw her coming closer and said with a smile: "My name is Sang Luo, and my family calls me A Luo."
Shi Erlang's wife's eyes curved up: "Then I'll call you A'Luo too, so we can be closer. Auntie is not actually much older than you, just a little older in generation."
Sang Luo took a closer look at Shi Erlang's wife and saw that she was probably about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, younger than she was in her previous life.
She smiled brightly: "Okay, Auntie, you can just call me A-Luo."
On the way back, Shi Erlang's wife started chattering all the way, and started telling her the latest gossip in Sanli Village.
When it comes to gossip, the wife of Shi Erlang from Sanli Village is second to none.
It's not that she is particularly well-informed, but that she speaks with great enthusiasm and in a particularly vivid way.
At this moment, she, Sang Luo, and Old Lady Chen were learning about Zhou Cunzheng's notification of food price increases last night. She said, "I'm out here digesting my food after dinner. Ah Luo, your uncle, Shen San, just came home from the fields when he ran into Zhou Cunzheng on the way. Zhou Cunzheng told him about the food price increase and the disaster outside, and reminded him to consider stockpiling some food. Guess what your uncle did?"
She paused at this point.
Sang Luo smiled and thought for a moment: "It's probably not a good thing to say."
Shen San is actually a bit ungrateful in nature and is not very popular in the village.
Shi Erlang's wife clapped her hands happily and said, "Of course I will teach you!"
He cleared his throat twice, and stopped walking. He straightened his waist, raised his chin, glanced with his eyes half drooping, and laughed: "Zhou Cunzheng, what you said is right. We are farmers. We can only sell grain when the price goes up. How can we buy grain when the price goes up? We can get by by tightening our belts. There will be new grain next autumn, right? It's a waste of money."
He has completely imitated the ambiguous tone in Shen San's speech, which was unclear whether it was mocking or sarcastic.
Mrs. Chen burst out laughing: "You imitated it very well."
Shi Erlang's wife laughed, "That's not likely. I was right next to him. Zhou Cun was staring at him for a while, then waved his hand. I just let him know and left."
This is not surprising. It is a kind act to inform you about such things. Who would listen to your strange words?
Sang Luo was a junior and didn't want to get involved with the Third House, so she just smiled and asked, "Zhou Cunzheng notified everyone yesterday. Are there many people buying food?"
Speaking of this, Mrs. Chen shook her head and said, "No, apart from our five families, no other family in the village wants to stock up on food."
Most of them share the same idea as Shen San, but it is probably only Shen San who would choke back those who kindly remind him.
Sang Luo sighed: "I would rather our work is in vain."
It's a waste of money.
Even the lively and cheerful wife of Shi Erlang looked a little depressed: "That's right. I hope that if we pay next year's taxes this year, they won't ask us to collect taxes again next year. It's really uncomfortable to be hungry every day. The best meal I had this year was the banquet at your house, A'Luo."
Seeing the atmosphere like this, Sang Luo smiled and changed the subject, saying, "Since it rained last night, there will be mushrooms in the mountains these days. Let's go back this afternoon to pick some more. Let's ask a few aunts to bring them to the county tomorrow. Aunt Youtian wants to send tofu to Dongfulou. Let's ask Dongfulou if they will accept it. If not, let's sell it at the market."
Mrs. Lu: "That's a good idea. We can earn as much money as we can. If we can't sell it, we can dry it. It can also be used as a vegetable in winter. This is a gift from God. We can't waste it."
Granny Chen also smiled and suggested, "Why don't we go through the mountains on the way back? We can go along the mountains beside the road. This way, it's close to the road, there's no danger inside, and it's not close to the village. I guess no one will pick up mushrooms. Why don't we pick them up along the way?"
This proposal was so good that even Shen Ning jumped up and down and cheered in agreement. So after passing Sanli Village, the group of six people, including old, middle-aged, young and children, plunged into the mountains again.
Xian Qin Fangniang and others set out from the county in more than half an hour, but ended up returning to the village more than an hour late.
Of course, the harvest was not small, and the six people’s backpacks were full.
The villagers were confused and didn't know that they had already gone to the county to sell mushrooms. They just thought that they had gone deep into the mountains to pick mushrooms and had spent the entire morning until late afternoon before coming out. They couldn't help but make fun of them for working so hard to save some vegetables.
Mrs. Chen and the others also had a tacit understanding and would never mention the fact that the mushrooms could be sold for a lot of money if sent to the county.
Will it make a lot of people rush to go there if it is mentioned?
The price of the mushrooms will soon be brought down.
What's more, this only happens one or two days after the rain. Even if you don't go to the county to sell, everyone will rush to the mountains after the rain, and there won't be much to pick up. You have to travel far to get such a small harvest like today. Just make the money quietly and be happy.
…
When Sang Luo arrived home, there was a lot of noise outside their yard. Chen Ershan, Huzi, Erniu and Chen An were using hoes and shovels to dig the roadbed from the yard gate to the mountain spring pond. The first thing they had to shovel was the grass roots and turf.
Seeing Sang Luo and Shen Ning coming back, Shen An put down his hoe and ran over. He tilted his head and looked into the basket on Shen Ning's back. He saw a basket full of mushrooms.
Shen An was dumbfounded: "Didn't you sell it after you went to the county?"
Chen Ning was so happy that his eyes were curved: "It's sold, it's sold. I picked it up in the mountains on the way back."
She leaned close to Chen An's ear and whispered to her second brother with a smile, "It was sold for 283 wen, to Dongfulou. The eldest sister-in-law didn't ask for money, but asked for a note to pay us back for the six taels of grain we bought. We will ask Aunt Youtian to send these to Dongfulou tomorrow."
"Sold so many?" Shen An's eyes lit up.
Shen Ningke nodded proudly: “Half of them were picked up by me.”
Chen An smiled and praised his sister sincerely: "A Ning is really amazing, will you pick mushrooms tomorrow? If you do, I'll let you wear your pants tomorrow."
Chen Ning nodded vigorously: "If you want to pick it up, you need to pick it up. There are some in the next two days."
Then he said to Chen An with sparkling eyes: "Second brother, the county town is very beautiful. The roads are paved with bluestone slabs. They are very clean. Except for the small section at the city gate, there is no mud mark on the inside even on rainy days. The people in the county are well dressed. Their clothes are beautiful. The clothes they wear are colorful. There are all kinds of colors, which are different from what we wear."
"The houses in the county are also very impressive, made of blue bricks and large tiles. I even saw a two-story building."
"Two floors?" Chen An's eyes widened slightly: "Can a house be built with two floors?"
"Yes, Grandma Chen said that the tall houses have two floors. People can live on the lower floor and the upper floor as well."
Chen An, who had only been to Sanli Village, turned around and looked at his own brand new thatched house. He had no idea what a two-story house would look like.
He listened to his sister telling him how much mushrooms sold for and the county town, his eyes full of longing: "Next time I can go to the county town with my sister-in-law. I don't have to go into the city, I can just stand at the city gate and look inside."
He could see what a two-story house looked like.
Sang Luo found it funny and said, "There will be a chance later. You don't have to stand at the city gate and look inside. Go inside the city and look. Aning, you have Grandma Chen, Grandma Lu and other adults staying at the city gate with you today, so I dared to bring you along. If I left you alone at the city gate, I was afraid that you would have been taken away by the beggars when I came out."
After hearing about the flower-patting, Shen An finally calmed down, and was particularly envious of his sister's luck today.
The brother and sister walked home together, chattering. It was not until they reached the gate that Chen An remembered to ask about the business: "Sister-in-law and Aning haven't had lunch yet, right? I cooked some, you guys go eat quickly."
Sang Luo: "Xiao An can also cook?"
If she is not at home, it is usually Aning who does it.
Chen An thought of the bean curd dregs he cooked at noon. Compared with the ones cooked by his sister-in-law or Aning, the taste… He felt a little embarrassed and scratched the back of his head: “Well, it doesn’t taste very good after it’s cooked.”
I clearly followed the methods that my sister-in-law and Aning usually use, but for some reason, the results were so different.
Thinking of this, he could no longer stay in the yard, and even forgot to help unload the backpacks as usual: "Sister-in-law, I will continue to dig the roadbed."
After saying this, he turned around and quickly walked out of the yard.
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