Chapter 71: Second Brother, The County Town Is Beautiful

The matter of collecting mushrooms at the Dongfu Building was something Chef Yu in the kitchen could handle on his own. With their friendship established from sharing cooking recipes, Chef Yu was particularly accommodating. Apart from a few shiitake mushrooms that needed to be dried before consumption, which Sang Luo picked out to sell separately, Chef Yu took charge of the rest of the mushrooms.

With two large baskets totaling several tens of kilograms, although there were several varieties, each type wasn’t in abundance. There were around ten kilograms for the most, and four to five kilograms for the least. For an ordinary household, this amount was considerable, but it wouldn’t suffice for a restaurant like Dongfu Building.

With such a small quantity, even creating a menu was hardly a hassle.

This was indeed a matter of friendship. Chef Yu was clearly looking out for Sang Luo’s business.

Cheap mushrooms like grass mushrooms were just a few cents per kilogram, but there were other types with decent prices. The most expensive was the black truffle, priced at twelve cents per kilogram by Chef Yu.

Sang Luo’s eyes lit up when she heard the price. She particularly liked black truffles and had often picked them while venturing into the woods. So, today she earned quite a sum. With Sang Luo and Shen Ning each carrying a basket, after sorting and weighing the mushrooms, they earned a total of two hundred and eighty-three cents.

Sang Luo smiled and said there were a few fellow villagers outside the city gate who also picked some mushrooms, totaling four more baskets. When she asked if they would be accepted, Chef Yu readily agreed.

“Of course we’ll take them. I was just thinking the current amount is too little. If two or three tables order these mushrooms, we’ll have to remove them from the menu.”

Then she called over the boy who washed dishes to accompany her and help carry the baskets.

…

Because they didn’t have a pass, Mrs. Chen’s group couldn’t enter the county town, so they all stretched their necks waiting at the city gate. When they saw Sang Luo coming from afar, they were excited and waved to her.

Whether inside or outside the city, the guards were willing to make exceptions for deliveries. Sang Luo took the baskets from Mrs. Chen and Shi Erlang’s wife, while the boy who came along with her took the baskets from Mrs. Lu and Lu’s daughter-in-law, and they all headed to Dongfu Building together.

After sorting and weighing, Mrs. Chen and Shi Erlang’s wife each received one hundred and ninety cents and one hundred and forty-nine cents, while Mrs. Lu and her granddaughter-in-law had a total of two baskets, earning two hundred and ninety-six cents.

When Sang Luo went to the front desk to settle the bill, she divided the money among the three parties. She didn’t take any for herself, only asking the accountant to issue a receipt for two hundred and eighty-three cents, considering that money was for Dongfu Building.

Shopkeeper Xu wasn’t around, and Sang Luo didn’t linger. She thanked the accounting office and Chef Yu, then left Dongfu Building with six empty baskets.

Outside the city gate, she divided the money among the three families. Mrs. Lu laughed until her teeth couldn’t be seen because she had earned the most.

Mrs. Chen was also happy and said, “This amount could buy more than two dou of grain. This time, it’s all thanks to Alie’s wife’s blessings.”

Mrs. Lu andMrs. Shi also smiled gratefully and thanked Sang Luo.

Mrs. Shi  couldn’t help but admire Sang Luo openly.

“Alie’s wife, you’re really capable. You’ve only been here for a short time, but even the restaurant owner in the county town knows you. I’ve lived in this area since I was a child, and even though I’ve been to the county town a few times, I’m not familiar with the roads.”

Mrs. Shi heartfelt admiration was evident. Although Sang Luo addressed her as “auntie,” she was actually only around twenty-four years old, not much older than Sang Luo.

She had always felt that Sang Luo was very capable, even more so than her own older sister-in-law. She had wanted to get closer to Sang Luo, but there hadn’t been many opportunities. Today was rare, as they picked mushrooms together and walked ten miles to the county town. Sang Luo even helped her sell the mushrooms to the restaurant in the county town, earning her a total of one hundred and forty-nine cents. Although she earned the least among the group, it was still one hundred and forty-nine cents, which Mrs. Shi had never earned on her own before.

Now, she felt closer to Sang Luo. Drawing near, she said, “Alie’s wife, we all call you Alie’s wife. I know your surname is Sang. What’s your given name?”

Seeing her approach, Sang Luo smiled and said, “My name is Sang Luo, but my family calls me Aluo.”

Mrs. Shi eyes curved with warmth. “Then I’ll call you Aluo too. It feels closer. Auntie is actually not much older than you, just from a higher generation.”

Sang Luo looked at Mrs. Shi and estimated that she was around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, younger than Sang Luo’s previous life.

She smiled brightly. “Sure, you can call me Aluo.”

On the way, Mrs. Shi chattered away, calling her Aluo all the time and gossiping about the latest news from Baga Village.

When it came to gossiping, Mrs. Shi ranked second in Baga Village, with no one daring to claim the first spot.

It wasn’t that she had particularly good information; it was just that she spoke with such animation and vividness.

At this moment, she recounted the incident from last night when Zhou Village’s head notified each household about the increase in grain prices. She said, “I finished dinner outside last night. Aluo, your third uncle, Shen San, had just returned from the fields when he met Zhou Village’s head on the way. Zhou Village’s head mentioned the increase in grain prices and the disaster outside. He reminded Shen San to consider stocking up on grain. Guess what Shen San said?”

She paused here for effect.

Sang Luo smiled and thought for a moment. “It probably wasn’t a pleasant response.”

Shen San was actually a bit ungrateful. His popularity in the village wasn’t great.

Mrs. Shi clapped her hands. “Exactly! Let me teach you!”

She cleared her throat, stopped walking, straightened her waist, lifted her chin, and half-lowered her eyes, as if glancing sideways, and then chuckled, “Zhou Village’s head, what you said is true. We farmers only sell grain when the prices are high. When the grain prices rise, who would buy grain at high prices? Tightening the belt is just temporary. Next year, there will be new grains. Why waste this money?”

She mimicked Shen San’s ambiguous tone perfectly.

Mrs. Chen chuckled. “You’ve got it down quite well.”

Mrs. Shi laughed. “Of course! I was right there. Zhou Village’s head stared at him for a moment, waved his hand, and I just gave a heads-up and left.”

This wasn’t surprising. It’s just common courtesy to notify someone of such matters. Who would listen to someone’s odd words?

Sang Luo was younger and didn’t want to get involved with the third family, so she just smiled and changed the subject. “Did many people buy grain after Zhou Village’s head’s notification last night?”

Mrs. Chen shook her head. “No, except for our five families, no other families in the village wanted to stock up on grain.”

Most people had the same idea as Shen San, but only he would choke back good intentions.

Sang Luo sighed. “I’d rather our efforts be in vain.”

It was a waste of money.

Mrs. Shi, who was usually lively and cheerful, looked a bit downcast. “Exactly! I hope after paying taxes this year, they won’t come looking for us next year. It’s really uncomfortable to go hungry like this every day. The best meal I’ve had this year was at your place, Aluo.”

Seeing the mood, Sang Luo smiled and changed the topic. “Since it rained last night, there should be mushrooms in the mountains these days. Let’s pick some more this afternoon when we return? Shall we invite a few aunts to come to the county town tomorrow? Aunt Arita wants to deliver tofu to Dongfu Building. Let’s ask if Dongfu Building will accept it. If not, we can sell it at the market.”

Mrs. Lu said, “That’s a good idea. We can make some money, and if we can’t sell it, we can dry it. It’s still a vegetable in the winter. It’s a blessing from heaven; we shouldn’t waste it.”

Mrs. Chen also smiled and suggested, “Let’s take the mountain path on the way back? We’ll walk along the mountains beside the road. It’s close to the road, not very dangerous inside, and probably no one has picked mushrooms there. We can pick them all the way.”

This proposal is great! Even Shen Ning jumped and cheered along, so as soon as they passed Sānlǐ Village, the group of six, old, middle-aged, and young, plunged back into the mountains.

It took more than half an hour for Xianqin Fangniang and the others to return from the county, but they ended up being late by more than an hour to get back to the village.

Of course, they didn’t return empty-handed; all six of them had baskets full.

The villagers were puzzled, unaware that they had already made a trip to the county to sell, assuming they were just picking mushrooms deep in the mountains. They joked that they had worked so hard from morning until mid-afternoon just to gather some vegetables.

Mrs. Chen and the others tacitly avoided mentioning that mushrooms could fetch a good price in the county.

Did someone propose to let a bunch of people all rush to pick them?

The price of those mushrooms will quickly drop.

Moreover, this is just a matter of one or two days after the rain. Even if they don’t sell them in the county, everyone will still rush to the mountains after the rain, and there won’t be much to pick. Like today, it would take a long way to come across such a harvest. Just quietly make some money for oneself and enjoy it secretly.

…

When Sang Luo arrived home, it was very lively outside her house. Chen Ershan, Huzi, Erniu, plus one Shen An, four people were busy with hoes and shovels, digging the roadbed from the courtyard gate to the mountain spring pool. The first thing to shovel was the grass and roots.

Seeing Sang Luo and Shen Ning coming back, Shen An dropped his hoe and ran over, tilting his head to look into the basket behind Shen Ning. At a glance, he saw a basket full of mushrooms.

Shen An was dumbfounded, “Did you not sell them in the county?”

Shen Ning happily nodded, “Sold them, sold them. These are the ones we picked on the way back into the mountains.”

Leaning close to Shen An’s ear, she whispered to her elder brother, “We sold them for two hundred and eighty-three cents to Dongfu Building. Sister-in-law didn’t ask for money, just asked for a note, which counts as settling the account for the six taels of grain we bought. We’ll have Aunt Arita deliver these we picked today to Dongfu Building tomorrow.”

“We sold so many?” Shen An’s eyes lit up.

Shen Ning nodded proudly, “Half of them were picked by me.”

Shen An smiled sincerely and praised his sister, “An Ning is really amazing. Are you going to pick mushrooms tomorrow? If you are, I’ll let you wear the pants tomorrow.”

Shen Ning vigorously nodded, “We’re going to pick, we’re going to pick, just these two days.”

With shining eyes, she said to Shen An, “Brother, the county town is so beautiful. The roads are paved with bluestones, so clean, so clean. Except for a small section at the city gate, further inside, there’s not a trace of mud even on rainy days. The people in the county wear well, their clothes are pretty, they wear colorful clothes, different from ours.”

“The houses in the county are also magnificent, with blue brick and large tile houses. I even saw some two-story buildings.”

“Two stories?” Shen An’s eyes widened, “Houses can be built with two stories?”

“Yes, Mrs. Chen said that those especially tall houses have two floors, the lower floor can accommodate people, and the upper floor can also accommodate people.”

Shen An, who had only been to Sānlǐ Village, looked back at his newly built grass hut at home and couldn’t imagine what a two-story house looked like.

Listening to his sister telling him how much money they made from selling mushrooms and about the county town, his eyes were full of longing. “If only I could go to the county town with Sister-in-law next time, I don’t have to enter the city, just standing at the city gate and looking in would be good.”

Then he could see what the two-story buildings looked like.

Sang Luo found it amusing and said, “There will be a chance in the future. When the time comes, you don’t have to stand at the city gate and look in, you can enter the city and look around. An Ning had Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Lu from the Lu family accompanying her at the city gate today, so I dared to bring her along. If I left you alone at the city gate, I’m afraid that you would have been taken away by flower vendors when I came out.”

Hearing about flower vendors, Shen An finally became obedient, and he was particularly envious of his sister’s luck today.

The siblings chattered as they walked home together. It wasn’t until they reached the gate of the courtyard that Shen An remembered to ask about something important, “Sister-in-law and An Ning haven’t had lunch yet, have they? I cooked some, you should go and eat.”

Sang Luo asked in surprise, “Little An can cook too?”

Usually, if she wasn’t at home, it was usually An Ning who cooked.

Shen An remembered the soybean residue he cooked for lunch, and compared to what Sister-in-law or An Ning cooked, the taste… He felt a bit embarrassed, scratching the back of his head, “Well, it’s cooked, but the taste isn’t that great.”

Clearly, he followed Sister-in-law and An Ning’s usual methods, but for some reason, what he made was so far from satisfactory.

Thinking about this, he couldn’t stay in the courtyard any longer, and he didn’t even have time to help unload the baskets as usual. “Sister-in-law, I’ll continue digging the roadbed.”

After saying this, he turned around and quickly slipped out of the courtyard.