“Oh, these wild shiitake mushrooms look great!” Wild shiitake mushrooms looked quite different from cultivated ones—even Yuan Zhiqiang, who’d never farmed, could tell them apart after eating them a few times.
“I’ll take some. These taste good no matter how you cook them. I just bought half a chicken today—perfect for soup, and I can stir-fry some with pork belly.
Don’t even get me started on how much rice you could eat with that. Too bad you didn’t bring any wild greens today—otherwise, a cold purslane salad would’ve rounded it out. Two dishes and a soup, veggies and meat—nutritious and delicious.”
As he spoke, Yuan Zhiqiang was practically drooling.
He grabbed a bag and picked through, taking two jin.
“Uncle, can you finish all that? These don’t keep long—they were picked yesterday and have already sat through today. Another day and they’ll go bad.”
“No worries. I’ll eat half and give the rest away. Even if I can’t finish them, I can put them in the fridge—they’ll last a couple days.” Yuan Zhiqiang waved his hand. “Last time I bought some at the market, they were 28 yuan a jin.
Yours are better quality—I’ll give you 35 a jin.”
With that, he pulled a 50, a 20, and a 5 from the cash register drawer.
Then he called over to the neighbor, “Sister-in-law! Fresh wild shiitake mushrooms—want some?”
“Yes!” Cheng Chunyun dashed over in a whirlwind. “How many do you have left? I’ll take them all.”
“Why are you buying so much? These are fresh, not dried—you can’t keep them for long.”
“Oh, you know how much your nephew loves mushrooms. I’ll stir-fry a couple fresh dishes tonight and turn the rest into mushroom sauce.”
“You’re really willing to splurge—wild shiitakes aren’t cheap. And you’re making them into sauce?” Yuan Zhiqiang clicked his tongue.
“It’s not that expensive—about the price of a jin of beef. If it gets the kids to eat more, it’s worth it.
And honestly, you can’t blame the kids for being picky. Even I walk through the supermarket and think, ‘This doesn’t look good, that doesn’t look good.’ I don’t know what’s happened to produce these days.”
“Tell me about it. Now you can’t even eat vegetables without heavy seasoning.
When I was a kid, just some greens stir-fried with lard would have you drooling.
Nowadays, greens have no flavor at all.”
The two of them launched into a complaint session about how tasteless modern vegetables had become.
Cheng Chunyun grabbed a big bag and bought up the rest—three and a half jin.
She paid 120 yuan.
Together with the 75 from earlier, that came to nearly 200.
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes shone bright as the sun—this was even more profitable than selling wild greens!!
Outside the supermarket
“Sis, what are we buying?” Xiaogu rubbed her hands excitedly—today’s earnings were the biggest haul ever!
“First, brown sugar—we’ll buy plenty. I’ve got another idea too. Let’s see if it works.”
Since mushrooms sold for more and sold better, could they sell some every day?
It wasn’t realistic for her and her sister to pick mushrooms themselves—they weren’t familiar with the mountain, finding mushrooms was no easy task, and there were wild animals up there too.
Between wanting to sell in the mornings, digging for greens, and picking mushrooms, it was impossible. She needed help.
Could she offer something in exchange and have Yuya’s family do the gathering?
She’d noticed that things cheap over here were valuable over there!
Large blocks of brown sugar were 8.90 yuan per jin.
She’d heard these were better, so she bought those—five jin total.
That came to 44.50 yuan.
That was about the price of one and a half jin of wild shiitake mushrooms. Lin Xiaohe figured she could probably trade it for ten or even twenty jin of wild mushrooms.
That would earn them a huge profit!
This way, she could just pick up the goods in the morning—no need to get up even earlier to dig for wild greens.
After hearing her sister’s plan, Xiaogu’s eyes went wide with shock, and she jumped up and down with joy. “Sis! You’re so smart!”
“Alright, enough flattery—let’s hurry over.”
When they reached the pool, Yuya and her father were already waiting.
“Xiaohe Jie, yesterday we traded for some more honey—we’ve got plenty now!”
Yesterday, they’d traded a little salt and some white rice for two bamboo tubes of honey.
“That’s great! By the way, this time I not only want to trade, but I also need a favor.”
Lin Xiaohe was thrilled—Aunt Chen Fang wanted honey today, and this was perfect timing!
“What kind of favor? Just say the word—I won’t hesitate if I can help.”
Yuya patted her chest in guarantee.
“I want your family to help me pick mushrooms and wild greens every day. I need them at dawn, so you’d have to have them ready before sunrise.
Can you do that? If so, just leave the goods here each day.
You can have white rice, white flour, lard, pork, or sugar and salt—whatever you want.”
Before Yuya could even respond, Shen Shan cut in, “Just leave the stuff here by dawn?”
“Yes. A little later is okay, but not too late—the latest would be around the time we usually meet Yuya. Any later and it won’t work.”
Lin Xiaohe nodded. Any later and they’d miss the prime shopping hour.
“Alright, deal. Starting tomorrow?”
Shen Shan calculated in his head. It wasn’t a hard request.
They could get up at 4 a.m. and get started—there were plenty of hands at home. A couple of people could dig for greens while the rest picked mushrooms.
They’d be done by 6 a.m. at the latest.
“Sure. But for the wild greens, I only want the smaller ones—not the extra-large ones.”
That puzzled Shen Shan—the big ones actually tasted better.
But since she had that requirement, he didn’t question it.
“Oh, Xiaohe Jie—these are from the village folks as thanks.”
Yuya remembered something and pulled a large burlap sack out of her father’s basket. “Everyone pitched in—there’s a bit of everything inside.
Open it when you get home. It was hard enough stuffing it all in—if you open it now, you’ll never get it back in.”
It was packed so tight that it would probably burst open the moment she untied it.
“Why are you giving me things? That’s too kind!”
They weren’t even related—why were they giving her gifts?
“Xiaohe Jie, don’t refuse! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even know wild yams were edible. This winter we’ve got one more food to fill our bellies.
Everyone wanted to thank you. If you don’t take it, we’ll all feel uneasy.”
“Alright, I’ll take it.”
Lin Xiaohe nodded. “Is there anything the villagers urgently need? If I can get it, I’ll bring it over to trade.”
“Salt. We’re desperate for salt. We’re unregistered—can’t buy from proper shops, only black-market salt.
It’s expensive and hard to come by. Salt is what we need most right now.”
Shen Shan, who usually said little, quickly chimed in.
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