As Qin Huai looked up, he happened to see this scene and paused in his steps.
When he looked at it more closely, Qiao Qiqi had already looked away and stood up. "I'm taking Xin Xin back to my parents' house to ask my mother if she can take me up the mountain to pick mushrooms tomorrow."
Qin Huai frowned and glanced at Xin Xin. Although he had heard that no suspicious people had appeared in the village recently, he couldn't help but worry because of the dangerous incident that had happened before.
But knowing that Qiao Qiqi must have been bored at home these past few days, she said, "Then tell your mother that when we go up the mountain tomorrow, I will take you to the foot of Nanshan Mountain to pick the herbs, and not too far from the crowds."
Qiao Qiqi knew what he was worried about. Since it concerned safety, she naturally wouldn't be careless, so she nodded.
The next morning, Lin Chunying arrived early with her basket.
Qiao Qiqi also changed Chenchen and Xinxin's clothes.
Originally, she hadn't planned to bring the two children up the mountain, but they insisted on going, especially Xin Xin. When Qiao Qiqi said she wouldn't take her, she burst into tears.
Having no other choice, Qiao Qiqi had to take them up the mountain to pick mushrooms.
After leaving the house, Lin Chunying muttered, "There's been less rain this year, so the mushrooms aren't as thick as they used to be. I don't know if I'll be able to pick any."
Lin Chunying hadn't gone mushroom picking in the mountains for several years because of her back pain. She wouldn't have gone this time if Qiao Qiqi hadn't asked her to.
Qiao Qiqi has a good attitude: "If I can pick some, I will; if I can't, I'll just consider it as enjoying the scenery."
Moreover, she had other plans for going to the mountain this time; she wanted to see what wildflowers were growing there.
Lin Chunying had no idea what she was thinking. Anyway, she hadn't been up the mountain for several years, so she just treated it as an activity.
With this in mind, the group went up the mountain for more than an hour, but as expected, they didn't find any mushrooms.
Qiao Qiqi's eyes were sore from looking at them, and she only managed to pick three mushrooms, including two mushroom caps.
Lin Chunying fared slightly better; she was still quite skilled and managed to collect over ten pieces.
Chenchen picked four pieces, while Lin Chunying threw away more than a dozen poisonous mushrooms.
Xin Xin didn't pick any, and seemed a little listless.
"It's okay, let's go take another look ahead." Qiao Qiqi patted her head reassuringly.
Although Xin Xin didn't feel much comfort, she still managed a forced smile after sensing Qiao Qiqi's kindness.
Qiao Qiqi was both amused and exasperated.
Seeing that Lin Chunying was also tired, he invited the others to rest in a flat area in front of them.
She took out the pears she had brought from the basket and gave one to each of them. "Let's eat them and then go for a walk ahead. If there's nothing else, let's go back."
She had to go to the Su family's house to cook before lunch, so she couldn't stay on the mountain for too long.
Lin Chunying knew about this, but looking at the grove of trees in front of her, she said without much hope, "When I came here a few years ago, there were no mushrooms in that area. I guess there won't be any this year either. Maybe we should just go back."
Since Lin Chunying said no, Qiao Qiqi naturally didn't think there would be one this year.
She glanced at the mountaintop, thinking there would be more mushrooms there, but remembering Qin Huai's words about the dangers of the mountains, she ultimately gave up.
Just as she was about to turn her gaze away, she suddenly noticed a white object on one of the tree trunks.
Qiao Qiqi looked at it carefully; it was round and seemed to be protruding.
A name naturally popped into my mind!
But since it was the first time Qiao Qiqi had seen it, she wasn't sure, so she ran to Lin Chunying's side, pointed to that spot, and asked, "Mom, what's that?"
Lin Chunying looked in the direction he was pointing, and after a long time, she finally saw what Qiao Qiqi was pointing to.
"That should be monkey head mushroom, right?" Lin Chunying hadn't seen this for several years. She immediately stopped eating the pear, stood up, and quickly walked over there.
Qiao Qiqi also pulled Xin Xin up and quickly followed.
When she got closer, Lin Chunying finally confirmed, "Wow, it really is a monkey head mushroom, and it's quite big! It's just that it's a bit high up, and I don't have the right tools to get it down!"
Qiao Qiqi was also a little worried. The height was about three meters, and it would definitely be impossible without tools.
Her eyes darted around, looking for a thinner branch, but she couldn't find one. Chenchen suddenly spoke up, "I can climb trees, I can climb up."
"Can you do it? Why don't you give it a try?"
As soon as Qiao Qiqi finished speaking, Chenchen finished the pear in two bites, threw away the core, wiped her hands on her clothes, and then hugged the tree trunk and scrambled up.
The boy moved nimbly and quickly climbed to a height of two meters.
Lin Chunying was delighted to see that it worked, "I didn't expect this child to have this skill. Not bad, now we can pick the monkey head mushrooms, but there aren't many."
"Ah ah..."
Xin Xin suddenly grabbed Qiao Qiqi's sleeve and pointed to a tree not far away.
Qiao Qiqi looked in the direction she was pointing and smiled, "That's quite a lot now. Xin Xin found it again, and there are two monkey head mushrooms on that tree, one big and one small."
Lin Chunying looked in the direction the two were looking and immediately saw it too.
Chenchen quickly picked the monkey head mushroom, which was as big as Qiao Qiqi's fist, and looked very cute with its white and plump appearance.
Lin Chunying looked at it with delight and said with a smile, "I haven't seen this in many years, it's really beautiful."
Chenchen immediately set off for the second tree, where the largest monkey head mushroom was as big as Qiao Qiqi's fist. After picking these three, the three of them stopped picking mushrooms altogether and began looking up at every tree for monkey head mushrooms.
Sure enough, they actually found three more.
However, there weren't many of these, and after finding these six, the group never found any more.
Seeing that it was almost time, Qiao Qiqi led the group down the mountain.
When they got home, Qiao Qiqi wanted Lin Chunying to take the monkey head mushroom back with her, but Lin Chunying refused and ran away in a flash.
Qiao Qiqi was in a hurry to go to the Su family to cook, so she didn't have time to argue with her and could only go to the Su family first.
When she returned after cooking, Xin Xin and Chen Chen had already washed all the mushrooms and monkey head mushrooms.
Qiao Qiqi decided to stir-fry these two ingredients together with chili peppers. Since Xin Xin couldn't eat spicy food, she used non-spicy chili peppers instead, and the taste was quite good.
We had just finished eating when guests suddenly arrived at our house.
Fang Ke walked in carrying a cloth bag, and when she saw the two children in the room, she was immediately stunned, "These two children..."
Qiao Qiqi was surprised by Fang Ke's sudden appearance, but she remained calm and said frankly, "They are my younger brother and sister."
"I didn't know you had so many children!"
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