Traveling through the mountains and farming

After returning home, the two siblings immediately took action.

They first sorted the picked mushrooms carefully and picked out some fresh and plump ones for consumption today.

The rest were neatly placed on a winnowing basket, ready to be taken to the yard to dry.

After finishing processing the mushrooms, they immediately started washing the picked sour jujubes, and then began to make sour jujube cakes according to the steps.

At the same time, Lin Wan walked into the room and found Gastrodia elata seeds from the cabinet.

Then, take a wooden basin from the kitchen, scoop some fine soil from the backyard and put it in it, then sprinkle the Gastrodia seeds evenly on it, and then scoop a thin layer of soil to cover the seeds.

Then, she scooped a bucket of water and shook it to sprinkle the water evenly on the seeds. After making sure that all the soil was moist, she soaked the prepared linen and covered the seeds with it.

Finally, she carried the basin into the room and placed it in a ventilated and cool place to avoid direct sunlight and ensure the appropriate temperature.

In this way, the seedling cultivation work of Gastrodia elata seeds has been initially completed. After that, you only need to ensure that the soil is moist every day. It will germinate after half a month at the fastest and more than twenty days at the slowest.

Then, Lin Wan got up and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

After the rice was steamed, she began to prepare "Pheasant Mushroom Hotpot", an alternative to the first mushroom hotpot in ancient times.

She took out a piece of pheasant meat that was left over from yesterday, cut it into pieces and put it into the pot to stew.

Then wash the various mushrooms that the two brothers and sisters have sorted, put them into the pot and cook them together with the chicken.

After a while, the pot emanated bursts of tempting aroma, and the unique fragrance filled the entire kitchen.

At this time, the two siblings were carefully processing sour dates in the yard. Li Ke suddenly twitched his small nose and said with a smile:

"Brother, come and smell it. This is my sister-in-law cooking mushrooms. Why are they more fragrant than the mushrooms she made before? They smell so good."

Li Chongle also hurriedly stopped what he was doing, sniffed it carefully, and then responded with a smile:

"It should be the pheasant mushroom stew that my sister-in-law mentioned. It smells better than before."

The two looked at each other, and no longer cared to continue dealing with the pile of sour dates, and hurriedly ran towards the kitchen together.

They ran into the kitchen, staring at the delicious food boiling in the pot. Li Ke couldn't help swallowing his saliva and said greedily:

"Sister-in-law, this is the pheasant mushroom stew. It smells really good."

Lin Wan looked at their cute appearance and said with a smile:

"Yeah, you can eat it right away."

"Is it cooked?" Li Ke asked.

"It's almost done, but next time you cook mushrooms, you must cook them for a little longer. If they're not done, they can easily cause poisoning."

She didn't know which mushrooms would be poisonous if not cooked thoroughly, so she could only tell them to cook all the mushrooms for a little longer.

After a while, under the expectant gaze of the two siblings, the pheasant mushroom casserole was finally ready.

Lin Wan served it and brought it to the table.

The two of them sat around impatiently. Li Ke picked up the spoon and wanted to scoop a mouthful to taste it. Li Chongle reminded him:

"Little sister, go slowly, be careful of the heat."

Lin Wan smiled and served each of them a bowl, saying, "Eat slowly, don't be anxious, there's still a lot left."

The two siblings had no time to talk and just focused on enjoying the delicious pheasant mushroom stew.

Lin Wan was eating pheasant and mushroom stew, thinking that the wild pheasant stewed with freshly picked mushrooms from the mountains was even more fresh and sweet than the mushroom hotpot she had eaten before. It seems that she should pick more and dry them and store them in the future.

After the meal, they took a short rest and then worked together to make the remaining sour jujube cakes.

~

When they were drying the last basket of sour jujube cakes in the backyard, they suddenly heard shouting from the front yard.

"Wan'er, are you home?"

"Come on~"

After hearing this, Lin Wan responded and walked quickly towards the front yard.

When I arrived at the front yard, I saw Wang Yu Niang and Li Chonghai standing at the door.

They came later than usual today, and when they got closer, they saw that something was not right with their faces.

As she opened the door, she asked, "Why did you come back so late today? Did something happen?"

Li Chonghai silently pushed the cart into the yard and began to unload the wooden barrels.

Wang Yu Niang seemed a little dazed. After hearing Lin Wan's question, she came to her senses, tightly held Lin Wan's hand, and sighed deeply:

"Wan'er, the autumn tax has increased again. Tell me, how are we ordinary people going to survive?"

Lin Wan asked hurriedly: "How do you know that the autumn tax has increased?"

"Autumn harvest notices were posted at the market and at the city gate. We saw them when we came back," Wang Yu Niang replied.

Lin Wan then asked: "How much has it increased?"

Wang Yu Niang was embarrassed and shook her head, saying, "I was so panicked at the time that I really don't remember the exact amount."

Li Chonghai continued to answer: "We were illiterate, so we asked the people around us, who said that in addition to the household tax, the male tax and land tax were all increased, and there was also an additional male female tax. At that time, there was no one around who could tell us in detail, so we didn't fully understand it."

Wang Yu Niang added: "And they also said that if you can't pay the tax this time, you will have to do military service. In the past, you could only do labor service."

Lin Wan frowned and said, "Will this notice be sent to the village head and village chief? Should we go and ask now?"

Li Chonghai thought for a moment and said, "It was just posted at noon today. The village head and village chief may not have it now. But we understand that the county government will send people to the village in a few days to convey the autumn harvest notice."

"Don't worry too much. As long as you don't sell grain in the past few days, you will definitely be able to pay the autumn tax. As for whether the remaining grain after the tax will be enough to eat, we will find a way to deal with it later." Lin Wan comforted softly.

Wang Yu Niang suddenly said anxiously: "Oh, we came directly from the county town to your place. I have to go back and tell my family about this."

Li Chonghai replied with a worried look on his face, "No one else in the village knows about this yet. I don't know what those people who sold their grain two days ago will do after they find out."

Then, the two of them left in a hurry, and Lin Wan then remembered that her family also had to pay taxes.

Alas~ She had forgotten that their family also had to pay autumn taxes.

At that time, she thought that she would not have to pay taxes if she did not have fields or dry land. She did not realize that in ancient times there were household taxes and male tax, and now there is also a tax on female males.

Li Chongle, who had just followed over, also heard about the autumn tax. He asked worriedly:

"Sister-in-law, we have to pay taxes, right? Do we need to transport the grain for the taxes back from the cave?"

"Don't ship it for now. Let's wait and see how much we have to pay." Lin Wan came back to her senses and said.

Seeing Li Chongle's worried look, she added comfortingly:

"Don't worry, we have a small family and no fields or land, so we shouldn't have to pay too much."

After hearing Lin Wan's answer, Li Chongle walked into the house with a backpack and said firmly: "Sister-in-law, let's continue picking sour dates, sea buckthorns and melons in the afternoon." He felt that he still had to make more money.

Just like that, Lin Wan and her two siblings went into the mountains again.