The horizon glowed with the dawn, and the sunlight shone brightly.
Porridge gurgled and boiled, overflowing from the broken part of the tattered pot. The fragrant aroma of millet spread.
Zhao Sidan drooled, trying to swallow, only for it to uncontrollably dribble out again.
Cheng Loanloan wanted to find something to wipe the child's drool, but she found there wasn't a single towel in the house that could be used for wiping mouths. Use her own clothes? Too dirty. Use her hand? She wasn't willing to make such a sacrifice. Fine, just pretend not to see it.
A short while later, six bowls of millet porridge were served. More than half remained in the tattered pot, so they could have more after finishing.
The whole family gulped down their porridge and sat contentedly on their stools, sighing.
If this was a dream, they hoped it would continue. They would willingly stay in the dream and never wake up.
"Now that you're full, get ready to work," Cheng Loanloan spoke up. "Dashan, go to the fields and check the situation. Ergou, go carry water; bring back two extra buckets today, it's hot, so you should all take a bath. Sanniu, go chop firewood."
Zhao Sidan burped, "Mother, what should I do?"
"Sidan and Huiniang, come with me up the mountain," Cheng Loanloan said, standing up. "Just eating the main meal won't do; we need to find some side dishes to eat with it."
Wu Huiniang was a little surprised.
Ever since she was in confinement, her mother-in-law had never worked. Going up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables was her and Sidan's task.
She slightly parted her lips, but still swallowed the words she wanted to say.
What if her mother-in-law wanted to go supervise her work? If she didn't let her mother-in-law follow, it would look like she wanted to be lazy.
The family of six went out together, then went their separate ways.
By this time, the sun was slowly rising, and more and more people were working throughout the village.
Cheng Loanloan saw many people standing on the field embankments, looking at their fields and sighing. Some even knelt by the fields, praying for rain.
She had studied geography, and just by looking at the sky, she knew there would absolutely be no rain for a while. The crops in the fields were probably going to...
All the way up the mountain, all the wild vegetables along the path in the woods had been dug up. Many women with children could only go deeper inside.
[Ding! Unpolluted natural bitter lettuce detected!]
The most common wild vegetable on this path was bitter lettuce, with tenacious vitality, found everywhere in the woods.
[Ding! Wild natural puffball mushrooms detected!]
[Ding! Wild natural black bolete mushrooms detected!]
Cheng Loanloan glanced at the virtual interface and instantly locked onto the location of the wild mushrooms.
When she pushed aside the weeds, she saw several clumps of white puffball mushrooms hidden under a large pile of leaves, and three or four black bolete mushrooms.
She picked the mushrooms and put them into her basket. The system store chimed with a notification:
[Ding! Wild natural puffball mushrooms, one *jin* for 30 *wen*. Sell or not?]
[Sell!]
[Ding! Wild natural black bolete mushrooms, four *liang*, worth 18 *wen*. Sell or not?]
[Sell!]
Cheng Loanloan felt her purse grow heavy.
These wild mushrooms were worth much more than wild vegetables. Just a little bit sold for 48 *wen*. She might be able to afford a large quilt now.
"Mother, what did you find?"
Zhao Sidan peered over but saw nothing.
Cheng Loanloan said naturally, "There are a lot of leaves here, it's shady and damp, so mushrooms usually grow. You two look around."
This large forest patch was abundant with mushrooms, but most of them were poisonous. A few decades ago, a family in the village ate a type of red-capped, white-stemmed mushroom and tragically died from poisoning. From that day forward, villagers would instinctively recoil three steps upon seeing any mushroom. Only the most common varieties were ever picked; they wouldn't even dare touch anything that looked slightly unfamiliar.
Cheng Loanloan, however, had the mall's reminders, so she wasn't afraid of picking poisonous mushrooms.