Chapter 16: The Protagonist Who Can’t Produce Great White Rabbit Candies

After dinner, Xia Changhai and Xia Ninghao made wooden boxes in the yard. Xia Ning’an and Li Fang went to the village chief’s house to get an introduction letter for their trip to the provincial capital tomorrow.

Li Fang took two bars of soap that Xia Ning’an had made and took a flashlight with her as they went out.

When they arrived at the village chief’s house, Xia Ning’an knocked on the door a few times. The village chief’s grandson, Qiangzi, opened the door. “An’an Gu, is your grandpa home?”

“An’an Gu, my grandpa is on the kang smoking a pipe.”

“Can you take us to him? I need to talk to him.” She was about to take out a piece of candy for the little guy. There was plenty of candy in the space: nougat, coconut candy, toffee, peppermint candy, and chocolate. But there was no Great White Rabbit candy from this era. How could a time-traveler’s space not have Great White Rabbit candy?

“Xiaomiao, buy me 100 pounds of Great White Rabbit candy.”

“Okay, deducting 30 gold coins, remaining gold coins: 134685.”

Xia Ning’an took out five Great White Rabbit candies. “Take this and share it with your younger siblings.”

“Thank you, An’an Gu.” He said this and took the candy and ran into the house to give it to his grandmother.

The village chief’s wife heard the sound and was putting on her shoes to get up. “Changhai’s family, come in quickly. What brings you here today?”

“Sister-in-law, I’m here with An’an to get an introduction letter. You see, the child is going to the provincial capital tomorrow to buy medicine for Lu Da.”

“Oh, you’re going so far to buy medicine?”

“Yes, An’an heard that there’s eye medicine in the provincial capital. She’s going to ask around.”

“Old man, quickly give the girl an introduction letter.”

The village chief heard Li Fang’s words and took out paper and a seal from the kang cabinet.

“If it can be cured, maybe he can go back to the army.”

“Uncle, I’ll go and ask around first.”

“Sister-in-law, this is the soap my An’an made. I’ve been using it, and it’s pretty good. I brought you two bars to try.”

“An’an, you’re so capable. You even know how to make soap.”

“Zhang Shen, I just saw someone making it by chance. The saponification hasn’t reached its optimal state yet. You can put it in a cool place and let it sit for a while before using it.”

“Okay, I usually wouldn’t dare to buy this to use. I’m taking advantage of your daughter now.”

“Don’t be so polite, Shen. If you run out, just ask me for more.”

………

After chatting with Li Fang and the village chief’s wife for a while, Xia Ning’an took the introduction letter and went home.

When she got home, Xia Ninghao was still making wooden boxes. There were already seven wooden boxes in the yard.

“Second Brother, go to the backyard and dig some soil to put in the wooden boxes. We’ll start growing mushrooms soon.”

“Okay.” He said this and went to the backyard with a basket.

After putting half of the soil in the bottom of the wooden boxes, Xia Ning’an mixed the remaining half of the soil with sawdust and spread it on the top layer of the wooden boxes. Then, she sprinkled the mycelium in the wooden boxes and covered it with about 5 cm of soil.

“Little Sister, are we growing hedgehog mushrooms?”

“No, I found a kind of mushroom that’s rarely seen in the forest today. It’s called oyster mushroom. This kind of mushroom needs to be eaten fresh. Think about it, don’t we all have dried hedgehog mushrooms in our village?”

“Of course, who doesn’t have some hedgehog mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms?”

“Yes, everyone has them. It’s not rare. The price definitely won’t be high. Besides, the texture of dried mushrooms after soaking isn’t much different from fresh ones. Who would pay a high price to buy them? The purchase price at the purchasing station in summer is only 5-8 cents. Even if we can grow them in winter, how much can we sell them for?”

“One dime, maybe 15 cents at most.”

“I can sell this mushroom on the black market for at least 4-5 dimes?” Xia Ning’an said with a smug expression.

“It’s that expensive? How many mushrooms can you grow from these mycelium?”

“If you grow them well, you can get about 200 pounds. You can harvest them in 20-30 days.”

“Whoa!”

“In less than a month, these two boxes can earn over 80 yuan. If we harvest three times, we’ll earn 240 yuan?”

“Yes, that’s just a small amount. The other one is the key to becoming rich.”

As they were talking, Xia Ning’an asked Bond to stir-fry a plate of chicken breast with oyster mushrooms in the space. They had forgotten to let them taste it.

“I stir-fried a small plate just now. I forgot to bring it out when we were eating. I’ll go heat it up.”

She said this and went into the kitchen to pretend to heat the food.

She went into the kitchen and put the food in four bowls, took out chopsticks, and gave each person a portion.

“Zecheng Ge, you should try the oyster mushrooms too.”

“Okay, I can already smell the aroma.”

“Little Sister, this is really delicious stir-fried with meat. It tastes like meat.”

“Do you think anyone would want to buy these oyster mushrooms on the black market at the end of the month?”

“Of course, someone would want them. I’m not going to sleep tonight. I’ll make a few more boxes.”

“Don’t rush. Let’s plant the other four boxes first.”

“What kind of variety is this? Why do we need four boxes?” Xia Ning’an held some mycelium in her hand and looked at it carefully. She couldn’t tell what it was.

“I guess it’s lingzhi.” Lu Zecheng’s voice rang out.

“Whoa!” This time, it was three different voices.

“Zecheng Ge, how did you guess?”

“I smelled it when I was handling the mycelium this evening. I guessed it from your tone just now.”

“Zecheng Ge is amazing. It is lingzhi. This is what will make our family rich.”

“Lingzhi is a very precious thing.” Li Fang’s voice trembled.

“Yes, I’ve heard that the purchase price for fresh lingzhi at the pharmacy is between 5-10 yuan per piece. These mycelium can grow 160-200 pounds of lingzhi. There are 3-5 pieces per pound. Conservatively estimated, we can sell this batch of lingzhi for over 3,000 yuan. And after harvesting, we can get at least 2-3 more harvests. Once these four boxes are planted, we’ll be a ten-thousand-yuan household in four months.”

Except for Lu Zecheng, whose expression didn’t change, the other three were stunned. Xia Changhai was the first to react.

“An’an, put these four boxes in my room. I’ll watch over them.”

“Yes, yes, put them in our room. Your dad and I will take good care of them.”

“Dad, Mom, you don’t need to be so nervous. Just make sure to water them once a day and keep the indoor temperature between 15-20 degrees Celsius. Cover them with some wheat straw or straw mats to maintain the moisture of the soil.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of them.”

“Water them once in the morning and cover them. You don’t need to worry about them for the rest of the day. Don’t keep opening them to look.”

“Got it.”

Xia Ning’an was sure that if she didn’t tell them this, her parents would keep opening them to look. She wasn’t worried that the lingzhi wouldn’t grow. After all, the water in the tank at home was diluted Farm Spring Water. She believed that the lingzhi grown with this water would also sell for a good price.

“Uncle Xia, I think it’s better to put these wooden boxes in Second Brother’s room. Your room is not convenient if someone comes to visit after the harvest.”

“That’s right. Let’s put them in Xiaohou’s room.”

With that, they started mixing the mycelium and planting the lingzhi. They were obviously much more careful this time.

Xia Ning’an laughed and let them be.

“Second Brother, you stay home tomorrow and continue making boxes. I need to use the boxes to plant some leeks and greens.”

“Okay, Little Sister, go to sleep. You have to go out tomorrow.”

“Okay, Dad, Mom, Second Brother, Zecheng Ge, I’m going to my room.”