Chapter 21

San Ya hooked her arm around Jiang Tiantian’s and gave a proud smile.

“Hehe, jealous, aren’t you?”

“I’m telling you, Sister Tiantian is an expert at finding matsutake mushrooms. We just follow her and keep picking and picking.”

Cha Yonghao kept his smile unchanged, pretending to be surprised as he teased her, “Is Sister-in-law really that amazing?”

“Of course! Sixth Brother, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

San Ya pointed with her small hand, “Look, our baskets are full! It’s all thanks to Sister Tiantian.”

“If we had more baskets, we could keep collecting.”

Fifth Aunt-in-law pulled the overly proud San Ya back.

“Don’t listen to her nonsense. We just got lucky today and found a forest where matsutake mushrooms were growing abundantly.”

Cha Yonghao simply smiled and didn’t take San Ya’s words to heart. Finding matsutake mushrooms was always a matter of luck.

The row of houses here was a dedicated matsutake purchasing station built by the village at the foot of the mountain.

Villagers from nearby areas, within a ten-mile radius, could gather and sell their harvested matsutake here.

Cha Yonghao helped carry their baskets inside and then sorted, weighed, and recorded the mushrooms.

“You’re the last group to come down the mountain today, but you have the biggest harvest.”

Many villagers had set out as early as three or four in the morning and returned much earlier than them.

Jiang Tiantian noticed seven or eight elderly people inside the house skillfully sorting the freshly harvested matsutake mushrooms. They picked out the ones with the best appearance, classified them by size and quality, and packed them into boxes accordingly.

Each person had their own role, and the scene was well-organized.

Curious, she asked, “Where do you sell all these matsutake mushrooms?”

At this time, preservation technology wasn’t advanced, so the sales range for fresh matsutake should be quite limited.

Unless they sliced and dried the mushrooms, selling them as dried goods would remove concerns about time and distance.

At this, Cha Yonghao became excited.

“Sister-in-law, you probably don’t know about this.”

“Not to brag, but our matsutake mushrooms are now among the top in the country. They can be exported to earn foreign exchange.”

“Once we finish sorting and loading your batch onto the truck, I’ll leave immediately. By tomorrow morning, it’ll arrive at Rongcheng Airport, and from there, it’ll be air-shipped to Japan.”

“If everything goes smoothly, people over there will be eating the freshest matsutake the day after tomorrow.”

He pointed at a pile of lower-quality mushrooms, “Even these ordinary ones can be quickly sold in Rongcheng.”

Jiang Tiantian hadn’t expected that, even in this era, they had already established such an efficient matsutake transportation network.

Having worked in logistics before, especially in cross-border fresh produce transportation, she knew how much coordination was required at various levels.

Impressed, she gave Cha Yonghao a thumbs-up.

“You guys are amazing.”

Cha Jiuzhang, however, didn’t like the way Jiang Tiantian was looking at another man with admiration.

It made him feel uncomfortable.

So, he kicked Cha Yonghao, saying, “Look at you, getting all smug. Do you even know what time it is? Hurry up.”

Cha Yonghao swiftly dodged, laughing mischievously, “Hey! I dodged, you missed!”

Then, noticing Jiang Tiantian’s fox-like eyes watching him with amusement, he suddenly felt a little embarrassed and rubbed his ear.

“Come on, Brother, Sister-in-law is here. Can you not be so rough?”

He had a mature and responsible image to maintain!

Cha Jiuzhang ignored him and shot him a meaningful look, letting him figure it out himself.

He then turned to Jiang Tiantian and was surprised to see her putting down her basket as well.

“This is the first time you’ve personally dug up matsutake mushrooms. Are you really willing to sell them?”

Jiang Tiantian paused, looking at him in shock.

Oh, right…

This was the first time in her life she had harvested something herself. It was the fruit of her hard work and effort.

Such a meaningful ingredient—how could she just let others eat it?

Without hesitation, she quickly picked up her basket again and firmly declared, “No, I’m not selling it. I’m taking it back for Grandpa and my parents to eat.”

They had all been so kind to her these past few days, and she wanted to return the favor.

Nothing could be more sincere than food she had personally gathered.

Fifth Aunt-in-law and the others chuckled upon hearing this.

Thanks to Jiang Tiantian, they had made a significant amount of money today, so everyone was in a great mood.

Nearby, two elderly women sorting the matsutake continued working with their hands but exchanged amused whispers.

“That basket must weigh at least ten pounds—that’s quite a bit of money. Jiuzhang told her to keep it all for herself. Who knew he doted on his wife so much?”

“Ah, young love… Not like my old man, who can’t even bother to say a single nice word all day.”

“…”

Except for Jiang Tiantian, everyone else sorted out the broken mushrooms and sold the rest.

Cha Jiuzhang then turned around and stuffed the money from selling his own basket into her hands.

“Here, you take it.”

Sister-in-law Guifang saw this and burst into laughter.

“Jiuzhang, you’ve got it figured out. Just married, and you’re already handing over your earnings to the household.”

Fifth Aunt-in-law also nudged Jiang Tiantian playfully.

“Take it. Men shouldn’t have too much money on them.”

Jiang Tiantian looked at the wad of cash suddenly placed in her hands and felt a subtle shift in her emotions.

This was the first time a man had ever given her money.

It… actually felt kind of nice.

So, she smoothly stuffed the money into her pocket and stood up a little straighter.

From now on, she was someone with a home, a family… and someone who received money from her husband.

Seeing this, Cha Jiuzhang smiled slightly, ruffled her hair, and said softly, “Go back home with Fifth Aunt-in-law and the others. Give the matsutake to Mom so she can prepare them. Otherwise, we’ll miss dinner.”

“I’ll help Sixth Brother load the remaining mushrooms onto the truck before heading back.”

Fifth Aunt-in-law knew it was getting late and didn’t want to delay any further.

She took Jiang Tiantian’s hand and reassured Cha Jiuzhang, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”

On the way back to the village…

Jiang Tiantian listened to their stories and learned more about the history of Cha Family Village.

The Cha family’s ancestors were originally royalty from a small Central Plains kingdom.

After their country was destroyed, the surviving members fled to this remote area, with fewer than twenty people remaining.

To avoid further trouble, they all changed their surname to Cha and chose to live in seclusion.

Over the years, their descendants gradually developed the settlement into Cha Family Village.

Fifth Aunt-in-law sighed, “To think, the only true direct descendants of the Cha family left in the village today are Third Uncle (Cha Jizu) and his family.”

Most of the other direct descendants had scattered across the world, especially during times of war and turmoil.

Second Aunt continued,

“The road leading from our village to town was actually built after Third Uncle and his family returned to settle here. They managed to track down some of the Cha family members living overseas, raised money, and got the villagers to help with construction. It took two or three years to complete.”

“Before this road, traveling to the nearest town took a whole day on horseback through the mountains. Now, it’s just a two-hour car ride. Getting to the county only takes about four hours—it’s much more convenient.”

“Since coming back, Third Uncle has been serving as the village doctor at the health clinic. His medical skills and reputation are excellent. People from nearby villages come to him for treatment, and he only charges a small fee—sometimes he just accepts local herbs or farm produce in exchange for medicine.”

“Now, his son Chengye is the village chief, and his daughter Mingyan is the principal of our village elementary school.”

“So their family is highly respected in the village.”