Traveling through the mountains and farming

At noon, after Lin Wan returned home, it started to rain heavily.

At this point, she was extremely grateful that their house had been built.

Because of the rain, there is no need to go into the mountains to pick fruits in the afternoon.

The two siblings were processing the ice powder fruits they picked in the morning in the house. Now the ice powder fruits near the village have been almost picked.

Because the two siblings didn't let her, who had just returned home, to help, and told her to sit down and have a good rest.

So she was sitting under the eaves, watching the raindrops falling.

Slowly her thoughts drifted to the backyard.

She began to think in her mind that they were not short of food, but of various vegetables, so she started to set her sights on the empty vegetable patch in the backyard.

They still have a lot of empty space in their backyard, so what should they plant?

It has to be something that is economically valuable and delicious, right?

At this time, Li Ke put down the work at hand, ran over and said to Lin Wan:

"Sister-in-law, it's raining. Shall we go up the mountain to pick mushrooms tomorrow?"

She has wanted to eat mushrooms for a long time, and it hasn’t rained recently. It finally rained today, so there should be mushrooms on the mountain tomorrow.

"Yes, there are mushrooms on the mountain after the rain. Let's go to the west of the valley in the back mountain to pick mushrooms. By the way, let's see if there are any sea buckthorns and sour jujubes over there. We haven't been there yet."

When Li Chongle heard his younger sister's suggestion, he put down the ficus carica fruit in his hand, ran over and said with a smile.

Lin Wan then remembered that there were mushrooms in the mountains in this season, and she could make a mushroom hotpot!

She missed the mushroom hotpot she had eaten on a business trip to Yunnan Province. When she ate the mushroom hotpot for the first time, she saw that there were no chopsticks on the table, so she asked the waiter for some.

Then a local colleague educated me and said that it was because someone ate the mushrooms before they were fully cooked, and ended up seeing the "little men dancing".

Since that incident, all mushroom hotpot restaurants have a rule that chopsticks will not be provided until the mushrooms in the pot are cooked.

Alas~ I don’t know if I can go back and eat the authentic mushroom hotpot again.

At that time, it must be accompanied by various fried insects, including grasshoppers, cicada pupae, bamboo worms...

She sighed slightly, with a hint of melancholy in her eyes, but soon returned to normal and agreed with a smile:

"Okay, let's go pick mushrooms tomorrow and come back to eat mushroom hotpot. No, it's pheasant mushroom hotpot."

She forgot for a moment that there were no tools for making hot pot here, so she could only stew it in one pot when the time came.

After hearing this, Li Ke and Li Chongle cheered happily.

Li Ke clapped his hands and said, "Great, I can finally eat mushrooms. I can't wait."

Then he turned around and ran away happily, continuing to process the ficus carica fruit.

Li Chongle also smiled and said: "The pheasant mushroom pot made by my sister-in-law must be very delicious."

Although he didn't know what the hot pot that his sister-in-law mentioned just now was, all the food his sister-in-law cooked was delicious.

Lin Wan looked at their happy faces and her mood also became cheerful.

She also forgot what to plant in the backyard and began to look forward to going up the mountain to pick mushrooms and fruits tomorrow.

~

The weather is clear and cool in autumn, and each rain brings a cooler feeling.

This morning is cooler than usual.

The three of them spent another busy morning.

After finishing their breakfast, they prepared to go up the mountain, and headed towards the west of the valley behind the mountain, carrying their backpacks.

Along the way, their eyes kept scanning the surrounding ground and grass, paying special attention to whether there were any traces of mushrooms.

Li Ke walked in front. She carefully observed every place where mushrooms might be hidden. From time to time, she squatted down and gently pushed aside the weeds with her fingers to see if there were any surprises hidden underneath.

Li Chongle was talking to Lin Wan as he walked, but his eyes were not idle.

He was still thinking about the various fruits he had picked before, and was paying special attention to whether there were any familiar figures along the way.

They walked slowly along the winding path, and the mountains and forests were filled with a fresh scent.

Li Ke walked in front, and every time he found a mushroom, he would shout excitedly: "There's one here!"

Then she would carefully pick them and put them into the backpack. If she came across one she didn't recognize, she would call Lin Wan over to help identify it.

Lin Wan followed behind, looking at the little girl happily picking mushrooms in front.

She was taller and a little fatter than the first time I saw her, and her personality became more cheerful and lively.

And she is getting more and more beautiful as she grows older. She must have inherited her looks from her mother.

When Li Chongle sees familiar fruits, he will remember their locations and prepare to pick them when he returns.

As they got closer to their destination, the west side of the valley, they gained more and more.

The mushrooms in the backpack gradually piled up into a small peak, mainly fir mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.

Lin Wan only recognizes the varieties she has picked at her grandmother's house in modern times. Fortunately, the climate here is similar to that of her grandmother's house, so many plant species are the same.

She had just discovered a nest of oyster mushrooms and was squatting there picking them carefully.

Suddenly, Li Ke found a large patch of mushrooms next to a bush. She screamed in surprise:

"Wow, look here! Sister-in-law, come and help me take a look at this mushroom. I have never seen it before. I don't know if I can pick it?"

Lin Wan put down the backpack, stood up and walked over, squatted down to take a closer look, and a look of surprise appeared on her face:

"Oh, this is hazel mushroom, it's edible."

She immediately looked around and found that they had entered the west side of the valley.

This is a relatively humid valley with thick fallen leaves and humus covering the ground. The surrounding trees are tall and dense, providing a suitable growth environment for hazel mushrooms.

She suddenly remembered that hazel mushrooms are a type of honey fungus.

I started to think, since there are honey fungi here, could we have tried to grow Gastrodia elata in ancient times?

The biggest reason why Gastrodia elata could not be grown in ancient times was that there was no Armillaria mellea, which was necessary for symbiosis with Gastrodia elata.

But she is not good at cultivating honey fungus. If she rashly picks these honey fungi and cultivates them herself, she is afraid that they will all die.

"Sister-in-law, can we pick these hazel mushrooms?" Li Ke asked with blinking eyes.

Li Kede asked, interrupting Lin Wan's thoughts. She replied casually, "Yes, I can."

"That's great. There's such a large area. If we pick them today, we can come here again in a few days to pick more." Li Ke said excitedly.

Li Ke’s words reminded Lin Wan.

Yes, isn’t this a natural honey fungus field?

She can grow Gastrodia elata nearby.

In this way, on the one hand, the problem of the source of Armillaria can be solved, and on the other hand, this place seems to be still in the valley, villagers rarely come here, and people here cannot recognize Gastrodia elata.

The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was feasible. She looked up and saw Li Ke picking hazel mushrooms. She quickly called out:

"Xiao Ke, don't pick this mushroom. I have a great use for it."

When Li Ke heard her sister-in-law's call, she quickly stopped and thought to herself: My sister-in-law said it will be of great use, does it mean that there will be new food.

The decisions made by my sister-in-law are definitely correct, and I will definitely go no wrong as long as I follow her.

Li Ke stopped and looked at Lin Wan expectantly, waiting for her further instructions, wondering if there was any special way of picking the fruits?

Lin Wan looked at Li Ke's cute and adorable eyes and said with a smile:

"Xiao Ke, let's not pick these hazel mushrooms yet. Once I figure out how to use them to grow Gastrodia elata, we'll take care of them."

It turned out that they were not meant to be picked for eating. Li Ke was a little disappointed, but then he heard them say “planting Gastrodia elata”.

She suddenly realized what was happening and asked hurriedly, "Is it the super valuable Gastrodia elata?"

After getting the sister-in-law's approval, she said she would go look for hazel mushrooms nearby, so that they could plant more Gastrodia elata!

Lin Wan encouraged her with a smile, then went back to pick the oyster mushrooms that she had not picked before.

Finally, they looked around for other mushrooms to pick, while Li Chongle was picking sour dates he had found not far away.

After a while, the three of them had a great harvest and decided to return home.

When passing by the place where they stored grain, Li Chongle suggested taking a look, worried that the food would be affected by yesterday's rain.

Only after making sure that everything was alright did he go home with peace of mind.

Of course, he picked all the fruits he noticed on the way here and took them home.