Chapter 10 : Going up the mountain to pick mushrooms

After dinner, Father Xiao and his three sons carried their tools and went to the fields. It was the wheat planting season, and every household in the village was busy working in the fields.

The women were in charge of the household. Mother Xiao was responsible for the vegetable garden and feeding the chickens and ducks. Zhou handled the three meals a day. Liu, who was pregnant, helped out by doing laundry and other tasks for her husband.

Xiao Lanlan is a sensible person. She does whatever she can. She also helps look after her eldest brother’s children and goes up the mountain to gather mountain products when she has nothing to do.

Look, the sun is out today. It rained overnight a few days ago, and the wild mushrooms on the mountains are growing. The girls in the village all carry their small baskets and go into the mountains in groups to pick mushrooms.

If you pick a lot, you can sell them fresh at restaurants in town or dry them and stockpile a few bags to sell at dry goods stores in town.

Dried mushrooms are more valuable than fresh ones because they can be preserved for a long time, so most people choose to dry them and sell them.

After finishing her breakfast, Xiao Lanlan went out to find her basket and prepared to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. She was worried that Jiang Sui might not be used to the new environment, so she thoughtfully invited her to come along, so she could have something to do and feel more comfortable.

“Fourth sister-in-law, come with me to the mountains to pick mushrooms!”

Faced with Xiao Lanlan’s invitation, Jiang Sui agreed without hesitation. She thought that since she didn’t know what to do, she would join in.

She was very happy to get along with Xiao Lanlan because she could feel that Xiao Lanlan was genuinely kind to her.

So, Xiao Lanlan went to find another basket for Jiang Sui, and the two sister-in-laws got along very naturally.

But what she didn’t expect was that Xiao Hechuan insisted on going along. After getting a wife, he no longer visited Dazhuang or played with his little nephew Goudan. He just liked to follow his wife, fearing that she might be wronged if she was alone.

Xiao Lanlan was worried that he would run around after going up the mountain, so she asked him to stay at home, but he refused and insisted on going with them. In the end, they had no choice but to take him along.

Thus, there was this scene: Xiao Lanlan and Jiang Sui each carried a basket, Xiao Hechuan carried a large backpack, and the three of them went up the mountain side by side.

On the way, they encountered two groups of girls who were also heading to the mountains to pick mushrooms. They were all around 15 or 16 years old. Generally, these activities in the village were organized by these little girls.

They walked together in groups of two or three, greeting each other. But when they saw Xiao Lanlan, they only smiled at her silently without saying anything. After she passed, they gathered together and gossiped about her.

There had been rumors about her having bad luck and no one wanting her, and people were still repeating these rumors after a year.

Xiao Lanlan had long been accustomed to it. At first, she would feel ashamed but fortunately, her family had never put any pressure on her. They always advised and comforted her patiently. She gradually became numb, but she still felt sad every time she encountered it.

Jiang Sui watched Xiao Lanlan’s forced smile. As a girl herself, she could empathize with her. However, she had the soul of a modern person and didn’t believe in the superstition that women were destined to bring bad luck to their husbands.

The mountains in Xianhe Village are very high and connected to each other. Several nearby villages rely on the mountains for their livelihood. Every year at this time, it is the season for eating mushrooms, and all kinds of mushrooms emerge one after another.

However, among these species, a small number are poisonous and can kill people if eaten, so picking mushrooms is a technical job because you need to identify the types of mushrooms.

Fortunately, Jiang Sui had participated in several such field classes before, which were similar to identifying wild mushrooms, so it was not difficult for her.

It took half an hour just to climb the mountain and walk. Xiao Lanlan took them to climb higher and found a chestnut forest. They were the first to occupy the place, as a lot of mushrooms were produced here every year.

Almost all children who grew up in Xianhe Village know the types of mushrooms. They know which ones are edible and which ones are not.

Xiao Hechuan also knew that on the way up the mountain, they picked a lot of mushrooms along the roadside, at least half a basket. This was also a good sign, indicating that there were more mushrooms this year than in previous years.

After Xiao Lanlan arrived at the place, she repeatedly warned Xiao Hechuan to follow closely and not to run around. She also scared him by saying that if he ran around and encountered a wild boar, it would be terrible because wild boars would eat people.

Xiao Hechuan had the mental capacity of a child of only a few years old, so he naturally believed it without a doubt and followed the two of them obediently.

The three of them began to work hard. Jiang Sui felt that picking mushrooms was a particularly interesting thing and she never got tired of it.

The chestnut that Xiao Lanlan brought them to was also amazing. The mushrooms grew like crazy, and a basket was filled when they just started picking them.

Most of them are Coprinus comatus, morels, and red mushrooms, each one is big and beautiful.

“Oh, this is a good year. There aren’t so many mushrooms in previous years. It’s a good idea to bring Fourth Brother with us today. The basket he carries will be very useful.”

Xiao Lanlan looked at Xiao Hechuan and said with a smile. Otherwise, judging by the situation, two baskets would not be enough today.

“Yes, this is the first time I see so many mushrooms.” Jiang Sui looked like she had never seen such a thing before.

She is a modern person, and modern people become interested in these things after living in the city for a long time.

Moreover, when the original body was in the Jiang family, there was so much housework to do every day that she had no time to go up the mountain. It was Jiang Qiaoqiao who went to the mountain to pick mushrooms.

So much so that when she was only fifteen years old, her hands became very rough and covered with calluses from working.

“Picking mushrooms is so fun. I’ll come again tomorrow!” Just as the sister-in-law were sighing, Xiao Hechuan stood up from the ground, holding a few big mushrooms in his hands.

No one told him that picking mushrooms was so much fun.

Xiao Lanlan and Jiang Sui both laughed instantly.

Soon, all the baskets and backpacks they brought were full. The three of them had only walked half of the forest. It was almost noon at this time. Xiao Lanlan planned to make another trip in the afternoon. After working hard for a while, she would dry these mountain products, which would also be an income to reduce the burden on the family because the Xiao family did spend a lot of money on holding a wedding.

It was still the same old routine. When going down the mountain, the sister-in-laws carried baskets, and Xiao Hechuan carried a backpack. Although he was silly, he was still strong enough for his size, so this was nothing to him.

When they got home, Zhou was already making lunch, but Liu was nowhere to be seen.

When Mother Xiao came back from weeding in the vegetable garden, she saw the three of them talking and laughing and that they had a great harvest, and she felt very satisfied.

Especially when she saw that her silly son liked the wife he married so much, she felt that everything she did was worth it.