A family of six sat down at the wooden table. On the table was a large bowl of braised pork, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and six bowls of white rice.
Only the sounds of eating could be heard at the table. In just a short while, the braised pork was completely devoured, and even the gravy was poured into San Niu's rice bowl and eaten clean.
"It's so delicious!"
"I've never eaten meat this good before."
"So this is braised pork."
The four boys leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their bellies with satisfied expressions.
Wu Hui Niang knew how to make braised pork: first, dry-fry the pork with pork fat, then add a large spoonful of brown sugar until its aroma wafted up, and finally, a generous amount of soy sauce. The result was a large plate of meat coated in a sweet sauce. It was already a luxury to have meat to eat, but to have it seasoned with so much sugar – it would be unreasonable if it wasn't delicious.
The wild vegetables were also stir-fried with pork fat. The bowl of fresh green vegetables sat on the table, and only today did she realize that wild vegetables could taste so good.
After eating, Wu Hui Niang stood up to clean, while Cheng Luanluan led her four children up the mountain.
This morning she had spent all her money in town. Now, she needed to quickly find more wild vegetables and mushrooms to sell for money. Only with some money in hand could she feel at ease.
The afternoon sun was scorching, and the rice plants had withered, many of them dead.
Along the path up the mountain, trees created cool, shady spots, and the heat no longer felt stifling. At this hour, many women from the village were leading their children up the mountain to gather wild vegetables for dinner.
The wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain had already been picked clean. Most people went to the middle of the hillside to gather wild vegetables and purslane, while some wanted to go deeper into the mountains, hoping to find some wood ear mushrooms or wild fruits to vary their meals.
Of course, Cheng Luanluan wanted to go deeper into the mountains.
Her goal was to pick mushrooms, preferably brightly colored ones, which the villagers dared not pick.
[Ding! Wild matsutake mushrooms detected!]
Cheng Luanluan's eyes immediately lit up.
Matsutake were excellent items; in modern society, they could sell for several hundred *wen* per *jin*.
She suppressed her excitement and calmly said, "Da Shan, go look for wild vegetable plants. Er Gou, go see if you can find more mushrooms. San Niu, go chop some firewood. Si Dan, go look around for any wild plants or anything good."
"Yes, Mother!"
The four boys immediately split up to work.
Cheng Luanluan turned around, pushed through thorny bushes, and went to the base of an old pine tree. Beneath the tree's canopy were countless bushes. She pushed aside layers of broad leaves and saw three or four white matsutake mushrooms growing in the soft soil.
She carefully dug out the matsutake mushrooms. There were five in total, not even one *jin*.
[Ding! Six *liang* of wild matsutake mushrooms, valued at 390 *wen* coins. Sell?]
[Sell!]
Cheng Luanluan felt her money pouch instantly grow heavy.
She was a little speechless, not expecting matsutake to be worth over 600 *wen* per *jin*. It would be great if she could find more.
She walked along the bushes and continued to find quite a few white pine mushrooms and chicken mushrooms, about five or six *jin* in total, which sold for 124 *wen* coins.
She now had 514 *wen* coins in hand, roughly half a *liang* of silver.
As she was about to continue her search, she suddenly heard the loud sounds of an argument coming from not far away. She pushed aside the bushes to look and saw two women fighting there.
One was Auntie Wang from next door, and the other was Auntie Fugui. The two were fighting over a nest of bird eggs.
Auntie Wang grabbed Auntie Fugui's hair: "Our Ni Qiu family found these bird eggs first, why should we give them to you?"
Auntie Fugui seized Auntie Wang's hand: "My boy climbed up and got these, so of course they belong to our family! Let go of my hand!"
As the two adults fought, the two children glared at each other, eyes wide.
There were six small bird eggs on the ground. Cheng Loanloan couldn't help but lick her lips.
It wasn't that she was greedy, but ever since she arrived in this godforsaken place, she had to think about what to eat every single day. The bird eggs must taste delicious... She'd have to tell Si Dan to find some of these in the forest later.
She had no interest in other people's fights. Just as she was about to retreat, something suddenly fell from above and hit her head.