The little girl from a farm family has a big wish to make a fortune by farming and picking mushrooms

Old Mrs. Zhou agreed as soon as she thought about it. It was already time to cook, so if she went there, she would have to come back soon.

"Dazhi and Xiaojie, you and Sanya go to the mountain to pick some gardenias. Come back on time. Remember to bring a stick."

When Zhou Mingzhi and Zhou Mingjie heard the arrangement, they immediately dropped the mallets in their hands. They had been pounding rice all day and it was a good time to take a break.

"Oh, I'm finally free." Zhou Mingjie fetched some water, washed his hands and face, and wiped the sweat off his body.

Zhou Mingzhi smiled, took the wormwood paste and smeared it on him, and then smeared it on himself, "You think you can have fun in the mountains, there are too many mosquitoes."

"That's better than pounding rice at home. My arms are sore."

"The good food I ate ended up going to the mosquito's stomach. It's not worth it just thinking about it."

Even if they applied mugwort paste, the medicinal effect would be lost if they sweated, but they had no other choice but to try to sweat less.

Hearing their complaints, Zhou Mingshu also noticed this problem.

Mugwort ointment can relieve itching and repel mosquitoes, but once you sweat, the ointment will be wiped off, and this layer of protection will be lost.

"Brother, Xiaojie, we just bought some cloth. Let's ask sister to make some sachets for us. Put some mosquito repellent herbs in the sachets. Maybe it will be effective."

I thought she had come up with a good idea, but unexpectedly Zhou Mingjie burst into laughter.

"Third sister, we don't wear that stuff. It's only for girls. If we wear it outside, people will laugh at us."

"Ah? How could that be?" She remembered that men in ancient times would not only carry sachets and perfume bags, but also wear jade ornaments.

"We don't wear those fancy things. They look a bit out of place with our clothes."

Zhou Mingzhi took Zhou Mingjie to the woodshed to get the backpack, but Zhou Mingshu did not intend to let them go.

"Brother Xiaojie, you are thinking wrongly. I am not going to make you pink or red sachets. What are you afraid of? I will make you black ones. Maybe I will embroider some patterns on them. When you hang them up, your friends may not only not laugh at you, but may even envy you."

Hearing San Ya's confident tone, Zhou Mingzhi looked at Xiao Jie beside him. He thought that after A Niang made new clothes for them and put on sachets, they might really look like city people.

"That's fine, you don't have to wear it if you have it, but it's better than nothing, hahaha..."

"Yes, that's right. Maybe it will come in handy someday. Let's go up the mountain quickly. I'll ask Doctor Chen for a prescription and add more mosquito repellent herbs."

When the three siblings went out, they saw three brothers in the wasteland next door. They were busy making blackboards for the children.

After saying hello, the three of them walked towards the mountain.

There are still many villagers in the fields harvesting rice, working hard.

Fortunately, there are few paddy fields at home, otherwise their family would also be busy.

After a few days, many of the gardenia buds that were left behind have indeed bloomed.

The three of them started picking flowers when they arrived at the Gardenia Nest. However, Zhou Mingzhi was more careful. He knocked on the flowers with a stick first before letting his younger brothers and sisters in.

"Let's get closer. The noise we make may scare the snake away."

The three people were picking flowers while talking. Because they said something funny, Zhou Mingjie burst into laughter and scared away the birds in the trees.

"Brother, no wonder girls like flowers. This gardenia is so fragrant. If you don't know me, you might think I'm going to find a girl after walking here."

"He's not tall, but he's quite courageous. He just talks nonsense all day long."

Because the flowers in this gardenia garden have been picked several times before, they are not as lush as before, but they are still very fresh.

The three of them spent half the afternoon picking, sweeping the entire garden, and even if they poured all the fruits together, they only got a little more than one basket.

"This is enough. The gardenia's blooming season is almost over. I didn't even see many buds this time."

"Yes, brother, are there any gardenias left in the nearby mountains? Without them, how can we make ointment?"

Zhou Mingzhi frowned. This was indeed something the Zhou family needed to worry about.

"It doesn't matter. If we can't make the gardenia ointment, we can just make some more mugwort ointment. This mugwort ointment is what everyone really needs."

The two were worried at first, but after hearing what she said, they were no longer worried. San Ya was the smartest child in the family, and if she was not worried, they didn't have to worry too much.

"Then let's go look somewhere else. There's still an empty backpack. Let's go in and try our luck."

The three of them went deep into the mountains to see if they could pick some mushrooms.

With the previous experience of picking mushrooms, Zhou Mingzhi took them directly to the mushroom nest where Xiang Tan had picked mushrooms before.

Although they didn't pick many mushrooms, they didn't come back empty-handed. They picked up some shiitake mushrooms and small shiitake mushrooms, as well as some tricholoma and chanterelles.

When they returned home, Liu and Zhu had already returned.

They lined up in front of the kitchen door and sorted the mushrooms and vegetable sprouts they had picked up.

It looks like we’re going to make dumplings for dinner.

Seeing a few people coming back, I hurriedly asked them if they were tired or thirsty.

Zhou Mingzhi poured the mushrooms together with theirs, and then poured the fresh gardenias into a large basin.

"Sana, why did you only pick so few gardenias?"

"Second sister, the gardenias are gone, they are not blooming anymore, you don't have to go again if you go to pick them once."

Hearing her say this, Zhou Mingqi nodded. Flowers bloom and fade every year. If this year's flowers fade, we will have to wait until next year.

Zhou Mingqi helped to scoop water into the basin, while Zhou Mingshu moved a stool to see if the mushrooms in the bamboo basket on the roof were dried.

She pinched the dried mushrooms to feel their hardness, and luckily, most of them were almost dry.

She put all the dried mushrooms into a bamboo basket and hung them out to dry. She took down the remaining bamboo baskets, cleaned them, and would hang up the washed gardenia petals to dry later.

Dinner was not ready yet and everyone was busy. The sun was setting and the heat from noon was gone. The people in Old Zhou's family were sitting in the yard, each busy with their work, beating rice, picking mushrooms, washing gardenia petals, scrubbing garlic sprouts, or kneading dough... They were chatting about family matters, which was both ordinary and beautiful.

After Zhou Mingshu and Zhou Mingqi hung up the gardenias, they went to the backyard to find Zhou Mingqin.

The adults had already set up a table in the front yard and started making dumplings, so they couldn't help much.

With Grandma Zhou in charge, the dumplings for the family can be made quickly, and there is no need for the children at all.

Whenever Zhou Mingqin had time, she would take out the fabrics and think about how to make the clothes look better.

Once she has an idea she likes, she plans to start making the clothes.