I trade in both worlds

"It should be quite a lot. We also picked up three baskets of mushrooms. I just brought one basket down and will leave it at Sister Xuxu's house first."

After taking a sip of water, he continued, "In the morning, we saw that the mountain was full of people, so we walked inside. No one was there, and Sister Xuxu found two pieces of Gastrodia elata near the inner circle. They cut some dead wood and dug them."

Lin Erya asked curiously, "There are so many. Have you been picking them up from the inner circle?"

After drinking the water, Chen Lihua took two bamboo tubes to fill with water, and then took two small hoes and put them in the backpack: "No, we walked a little further inside, near the inner circle, and we picked up 6 Hericium erinaceus."

"Hericium?" Lin Erya's voice became shrill out of shock.

"Yes." Chen Lihua nodded, and seeing Xu Jizong coming out with a carrying pole, she followed him up the mountain.

Xu Jizong did not go to the place where Gastrodia elata was being dug, but carried the bundled firewood down the mountain directly.

Chen Lihua walked over to Second Aunt Xu, took out two small hoes from her backpack, handed one to her and said, "Mother, use the hoe to dig. Father has already carried a load of firewood down."

Aunt Xu took the hoe, nodded, and continued digging Gastrodia elata.

Seeing this, Chen Youliang said, "Mom, since my sister-in-law brought a hoe, it will be much faster to use it. We don't need so many people here. I'll go help Dad pick up firewood first."

Aunt Xu took the small hoe handed over by Chen Lihua and agreed, "Go ahead."

"Mom, I'll take the hoe and dig over there. I'll ask Youyin to go chop some firewood later. There are only two hoes anyway, so two people will be enough to dig."

"Okay." Aunt Xu said without raising her head.

Chen Lihua came over with a small hoe and said to Xu Youyin, "Youyin, my elder brother went to help my father pick firewood. I brought a small hoe to dig gastrodia elata. You can go and chop some more firewood. I and I will dig together."

Xu Youyin looked up and saw that there were bushes all around, which he could chop down for firewood, so he said, "Okay, I'll chop around here. This is close to the inner circle, and I'm worried about leaving you three here alone."

"Okay." Chen Lihua agreed.

Then he turned to Xu Xu and said, "Sister, I'll dig here. You're lucky. Look around to see if there's anything else."

This made Xu Youyin and Xu Xu laugh out loud. Xu Youyin agreed with his wife: "Indeed, look how many good things we picked up today. Most of them are what you saw."

Xu Xu stood up and looked around, then said with a smile, "Obviously no one has been here before, so we got lucky. You have to say that I am lucky. If I were lucky, I would have dug up wild ginseng. I have heard since I was a child that there are wild ginsengs on Lingshan Mountain, but unfortunately I have never seen anyone dig them up."

"Oh my." Chen Lihua couldn't help laughing and said, "It takes a lot of luck to get wild ginseng. We just need a little luck to pick some Hericium erinaceus and dig some Gastrodia elata."

"You only checked Hericium erinaceus and Gastrodia elata." Xu Youyin couldn't help but complain: "Why don't you go to heaven? These are all valuable. If it were you, I would just dig more mushrooms."

Chen Lihua rolled her eyes at him: "Aren't you greedy? Dried mushrooms are very expensive in winter."

"You think this is a Taoist temple and you can make a wish, right?" Xu Xu smiled and picked up the empty backpack: "Okay, you dig here, I'll walk around and see if I can get lucky and pick up wild ginseng."

"Come on." After saying that, Chen Lihua laughed so hard that she couldn't even squat steadily.

Lingshan does produce ginseng, but it is basically located deep in the mountains. The surrounding areas are where villagers gather, so even if there is ginseng, it is not their turn. It is like the mushrooms on the surrounding areas, which do not grow in large patches. It is estimated that just one or two mushrooms will be picked in the morning, and they may appear on other people's dinner tables at noon.

Xu Xu started walking around the outer edge with the basket in his hand. He first knocked around with a wooden stick, then pushed aside the weeds to have a look. In this way, Xu Xu really picked up half a basket of hazel mushrooms.

Aunt Xu and Chen Lihua had already finished digging up the Gastrodia elata. They stood up straight and called out, "Xuxu, we won't look for more. Let's bundle up the firewood and go back."

After picking the last two hazel mushrooms, Xu Xu carried the backpack and walked over. He saw Xu Youyin still chopping wood, but he didn't see Chen Lihua. He asked, "Where's Lihua?"

Aunt Xu replied as she bundled up the firewood: "She went out with a basket on her back. Please call your eldest brother and the others in to carry the firewood out."

Xu Xu nodded, put down the backpack, and bundled firewood with Xu's mother.

In just one morning, I picked up four baskets of mushrooms, one basket of Gastrodia elata, and four carts of firewood.

Xu Xu's home was at the foot of Lingshan Mountain. The group returned to Xu Xu's home first, found two large bamboo mats for drying food, spread them on the ground, and then poured the mushrooms on them to dry. They put the Gastrodia elata and Hericium erinaceus in the woodshed, and planned to go to the county clinic tomorrow to ask if they would accept them.

Each family has four carts of firewood, two of which are now piled against the courtyard wall outside Xu Xu's house to dry. They will be moved back after they are dried. There are few people living here and there is a lot of open space outside, so it is very convenient to dry things.

By the time they finished, it was already past noon. They were so tired after working all morning that they just wanted to find a bed to lie down, but their stomachs didn't want to, and they were growling with hunger. They could only drag their tired bodies and move step by step back to Xu Jizong's house.

When Chen Erya saw them come back, she quickly fetched two basins of water for them to wash, and then brought the warm food in the pot to the apple tree in the yard.

Seeing that their hands were shaking with hunger, Chen Erya stepped forward to take the bowls, filled them with food and handed them to them. They picked up their bowls and chopsticks and started eating without even having time to say a word.

They finished their lunch quietly. After they were full, Xu Xu thought of the children: "Sister-in-law, where are the children? Are they taking a nap?"

Chen Erya smiled and said, "Yes, I have been sleeping for almost half an hour. Before going to bed, I was still asking when you would be back."

Xu Xu smiled embarrassedly.

After a full meal and a short rest, the fatigue in her body was relieved a lot. Aunt Xu finally had the strength to speak: "Er Ya, we need to rest first. When you are free later, go to Xu Xu's house to separate the mushrooms we picked this morning and dry them in the sun. I was so tired and hungry just now that I fell directly on the mat when I came back with them. Drying them separately will make it easier to sell them when the time comes."

Seeing that everyone was full, Chen Erya began to clean up the dishes: "Okay, after the dishes are cleaned up, I will wake up the children and take them over together."

Xu Xu and Chen Erya brought a group of children back home. After telling them not to act naughty, they lay on the couch, closed their eyes and fell asleep in seconds.

Chen Erya was stunned when she saw the mushrooms all over the yard. They had poked the mushroom nest today. She put Xu Tiantian and Niu Dan in the rocking nest together, and Xu Jin, Xu Zhun and Xu Qiwei consciously played around the rocking nest and helped to look after the children.