Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

"Sister-in-law, have you gone deep into the mountains?" Mu Xiao asked, leaning closer.

"No! It's in the mountain valley on the other side of the bamboo forest."

Mu Xiao said, "Where did you go? You shouldn't go there again. There was a herd of wild boars there the year before last, and those trees were knocked down by the wild boars."

"Huh?" Wang Cuiying suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Mu Nan, "Your sister-in-law and the others haven't reached the area where wild boars roam yet."

"Is the area where wild boars roam if we go any further down? Have wild boars been seen there in the last two years?" Wang Qing'er wasn't scared, but she was worried because she hadn't seen any trees that had been knocked down by wild boars. If there were many dead trees, there would definitely be a lot of silver ear fungus and wood ear fungus, and maybe even shiitake mushrooms. She would have to go further in next time.

Mu Xiao: "No, not at all."

"What's there to be afraid of? Maybe they've already moved away." Wang Qing'er wasn't scared, thinking they were just wild boars passing by.

After resting for a while, the family got busy again. Mu Nan had already planted all the tea seedlings.

Old Man Mu was handling the rabbit.

Mu Xiao took the two girls to the backyard to settle the little rabbits, and then cut some grass to feed them.

Mrs. Zhou was peeling bamboo shoots alone in the yard...

Wang Cuiying lit the fire to cook lunch, and the family hurriedly ate their meal at noon.

Wang Qing'er was frying tea on the stove in the backyard, while Wang Cuiying helped to tend the fire.

The father and his two sons went up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots.

Zhou was peeling bamboo shoots with her two children.

The whole family was busy.

After Wang Qing'er finished frying the tea leaves, she brewed a pot and poured a cup for each of them.

Mu Xiao couldn't wait to take a sip. "It smells nice, but tastes a bit bitter. Is this what rich people drink? It's just so-so."

Old Man Mu took a sip and savored it carefully. "Hmm, this is the taste. Qing'er, the tea you made is excellent, much better than the ones I've had before."

Wang Cuiying made braised rabbit, stir-fried shepherd's purse, and stir-fried mushrooms.

Everyone gathered around a large pot of rabbit meat and began to eat. It must be said that Wang Cuiying's cooking skills were quite good; the rabbit meat was bright red, the broth was thick, and it was very flavorful.

Adding chili peppers makes it even more delicious.

Mu Nan specifically picked out the meatiest pieces for his wife and daughter, and would occasionally glance at Wang Qing'er with eyes full of doting affection.

Mu Xiao couldn't help but tease her brother, "Ever since you got your sister-in-law, you haven't seen anyone else."

Mu Nan picked up a piece of rabbit meat and threw it into her younger brother's bowl, saying, "You can't shut your mouth even while you're eating."

Wang Qing'er reached out and touched her burning ears. She thought about how Mu Nan had never treated her well since she got married, so why was she always blushing and her heart racing lately?

After finishing his meal, Old Man Mu handed over the money he earned from selling braised meat, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms that day to Zhou Shi, totaling seven taels of silver. After deducting costs, he would have a net profit of five taels of silver.

The main problem is that spices are expensive. Wang Qing'er kept thinking that it would be great if she could find some spices in the mountains.

After Wang Qing'er helped her mother-in-law braise the meat, it was already very late. She took a bath and went to sleep without any further incident that night.

The two Mu brothers went to town early in the morning. After delivering braised meat to the restaurant, they went to sell Ganoderma lucidum, but since they had never sold it before, they didn't know the market price.

Mu Xiao also inquired with a few acquaintances to get a general idea of ​​the price, and Mu Nan also went to several pharmacies to ask about the price.

The two brothers discussed it and went to Wenchang Pharmacy. When the owner saw Mu Nan returning, he greeted him happily, "Young man, have you decided to sell?"

"Boss, the price you quoted is fine." After asking around, it turned out this place offered the highest price.

Mu Xiao took out six of the smallest Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms and sold them for a total of one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

The pharmacy owner happily paid the money, saying, "Next time you have something good, bring it to me again. I guarantee you won't be shortchanged. This one is just a bit small, otherwise it would definitely cost more than this."

Mu Xiao asked, "Boss, if they were twice the size of these, how much would you sell them for?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, "If they are of the same quality, I can offer forty taels per flower. You can bring any you have."

Yesterday, a total of fourteen flowers were picked. Wang Cuiying kept four of the smallest ones, and Mu Xiao took out four of the larger ones from his basket.

The shopkeeper beamed with joy and praised Mu Xiao, saying, "Little Huozi, you're quite clever and know how to do business."

The shopkeeper carefully examined the largest one, looking at it repeatedly. Mu Xiao guessed that this Ganoderma lucidum must be of good quality, so he asked the shopkeeper to name a price.

The boss looked at the two young men, thought carefully for a moment, and said, "Come with me to the inner room. I need to take a closer look."

The two brothers took the Ganoderma lucidum and followed the boss to the inner room to sit down. The boss then picked up the other three Ganoderma lucidum to look at, but the two brothers were not in a hurry and let the boss look at them to his heart's content.

The shopkeeper finally spoke up, "I'll offer one hundred taels for this big one, and forty-five taels for each of the three smaller ones, how about that?"

The two brothers exchanged a glance, and Mu Nan slowly said, "Boss, we don't really know much about this either. We'll just go with your price, and we'll bring you all the good stuff we come across in the future."

"Don't worry, young men," the boss said sincerely, stroking his beard. "I've been doing business in Wenchang for decades, and I believe in long-term, steady profits. You can ask around; I never cheat people."

Seeing the tea set in the inner room, Mu Xiao asked the owner, "Boss Wen, do you buy tea?"

Mr. Wen was taken aback. "You still have tea?"

"My mother and sister-in-law didn't pick much tea leaves on the mountain. Since you have tea sets here, why don't you try them first?"

Mu Xiao took out tea leaves from his basket, and Boss Wen brewed a pot and poured a cup for each person.

"Hmm, not bad. How many do you have? I'll take them all." Boss Wen took a sip and decided to buy them all.

"Only three jin."

How about I give you fifteen taels of silver per catty for this tea?

Mu Xiao had inquired about the price of tea, and the price offered by Boss Wen was not low, so he agreed.

The tea leaves, weighing three catties, sold for forty-five taels, and the lingzhi mushroom, weighing three hundred and fifty-five taels, totaling a full four hundred taels of silver.

Boss Wen quickly settled the bill, paying three hundred taels of silver notes and one hundred taels of cash as Mu Nan requested.

Mu Xiao weighed the silver and silver notes in his hand, his heart almost jumping out of his chest with joy. He seemed to have never seen so much silver before.

This one time alone will not only pay off all the debts, but should also leave you with several dozen taels of silver.

This is an astronomical figure for the Mu family now; they couldn't earn that much money in many years.

Mu Nan took out two taels of silver from the braised meat sale and hid the rest in a hidden compartment in her basket.

The two went to the market to pick up the offal, pig's head, and pork knuckle that they had ordered the day before.

The ducks were all collected by Zhou from the village. She also encouraged the villagers to raise more ducks, and her family needed ten ducks every day.

The Mu family also bought some ducklings to raise in the backyard. Fortunately, the yard is big enough that raising dozens of them is no problem at all.