Falling into the mortal world

"Miss, the ladle you requested is ready." The shopkeeper simply named the item Lan Qingqing ordered a "ladle." Lan Qingqing picked it up and examined it; it was indeed the same as what she wanted. Lan Qingqing paid the money.

"Please hurry up with the rest of the items," Lan Qingqing said.

"Girl, we'll try to make it as fast as we can," the waiter said.

Having made the agreement, Lan Qingqing went home.

By this time, Yao Niang and her children had already picked three baskets of fruit. Each basket weighed over forty jin (approximately 20 kg). When Lan Qingqing arrived home, Yao Niang and her children also went down the mountain.

Since it was the first time picking them, and they weren't sure if Lan Qingqing would really accept them, they didn't dare pick too many.

Before Lan Qingqing could even sit down to rest, her aunt and the others arrived. "Qingqing, come here for a moment," came the voice from outside, calling out to her mother. Lan's mother, unsure how to respond, simply called Lan Qingqing over. When Lan Qingqing came out, she saw her aunt and three children.

The young woman took the basket from behind her and said, "We picked these early this morning. Can you take a look and see if this is the one?"

Lan Qingqing went over to check and found nothing wrong. She then asked her mother to bring a scale, which weighed the total weight of fifty-eight jin. Lan Qingqing showed it to her aunt, saying that there were fifty-eight jin in total, and that it cost two coins per jin, totaling one hundred and sixteen coins. Lan Qingqing counted out 116 coins.

The young woman held the money in her hands in disbelief. She never thought she could earn money. She and the children had earned more than a hundred copper coins today.

No, she had to pick some more before dark. After leaving Lan Qingqing's house, Yao Niang followed the child up the mountain again. That evening, Yao Niang handed the copper coins she had earned that day to Aunt Li. Looking at the copper coins on the table, Aunt Li almost burst into tears. Now she had a stable income every day, and her daughter-in-law could also earn money. With income, the family could make ends meet.

Her son went out to work two years ago and hasn't come back since. Only she and her daughter-in-law were struggling to make ends meet. Just when she was about to collapse, the Lan family reached out and helped her. Li Dahua will always remember this kindness.

"Auntie, no matter what others say, you must remember that the Lan family helped us. We must remember this kindness and not be like those ungrateful beasts," Aunt Li said earnestly.

"I understand, Mother. I know what's good and bad," said the youngest sister.

That evening, Lan Qingqing told her family that the tofu recipe had sold for two hundred taels of silver, and that they were buying mushrooms and wood ear fungus at high prices. When Lan's mother heard that wood ear fungus was being bought at five taels per jin and shiitake mushrooms at three taels per jin, she couldn't sit still and wished she could go up the mountain to pick mushrooms right now.

"Sister, I'll go with you tomorrow!" Lan Xiaoya said.

"Okay, let's go together tomorrow," Lan Qingqing said.

"Sister, I want to go too!" Lan Xiaotian interjected.

"You should still go to the new house tomorrow and keep an eye on things," Lan Qingqing said.

"I'll be in charge of keeping an eye on those boys who are doing the work tomorrow," said Mr. Lan.

"I'm in charge of overseeing the tofu making at home," said Lan's mother.

Seeing that everyone had something to do and she had her own things to do, Feng Caidie realized that her legs weren't hurting as much anymore and she could walk with crutches.

"What can I do?" Feng Caidie asked Lan Qingqing expectantly. Seeing Feng Caidie looking at her expectantly, Lan Qingqing didn't want to say that there was nothing she could do for her, so she said: "Tomorrow we'll pick the mushrooms, and you can check them again to make sure there aren't any poisonous mushrooms mixed in."

Feng Caidie said: Okay, miss. I will check it carefully tomorrow.

After arranging tomorrow's itinerary, Lan Qingqing went to check if the sweet potato starch had settled. Skimming off the water on top, a thick layer of white sweet potato starch had settled. Lan's mother was quite surprised.

"Qingqing, what is this?" Lan's mother asked curiously.

Lan Qingqing smiled and said, "Mother, this is sweet potato starch. I'll make you something delicious tomorrow. Mother, please boil some water in the pot in a moment." Following Lan Qingqing's instructions, Lan's mother quickly went to boil water.

Lan Qingqing mixed the sweet potato starch with warm water, then added hot water and pounded the starch continuously. After the water in Lan's mother's pot boiled, Lan Qingqing put the sweet potato starch into a strainer and kept patting it. Soon, the sweet potato starch, like noodles, fell into the boiling water one by one. Lan's father stirred it and scooped it out, putting the scooped-out noodles directly into a bucket of cold water.

After all the vermicelli was made, Lan Qingqing hung it in the yard to air dry.

Everyone was curious: how should these rice noodles be eaten?

"Is this vermicelli delicious, sister?" Lan Xiaoya asked curiously.

"It's delicious. I'll cook it for you tomorrow," Lan Qingqing said.

Everyone went to sleep that night filled with curiosity.

The next day at dawn, Lan Qingqing took her younger brother, Lan Xiaoya, up the mountain to pick mushrooms.

Wild vegetables are hard to find in the mountains, but mushrooms are quite common. The locals don't eat mushrooms, so they are quite common in the mountains.

If Lan Xiaoya sees a mushroom she doesn't recognize, she'll ask Lan Qingqing for advice. Only after Lan Qingqing has checked it and deemed it safe will she pick it and put it in her basket.

Lan Xiaoya picked the mushrooms slowly. Lan Qingqing would only let Lan Xiaoya pick them after checking that there were no problems. Lan Qingqing looked for places where mushrooms were likely to grow. Mushrooms mostly grow from spores formed from dead wood and rotten leaves, and wood ear fungus mostly grows on dead willow trunks. With directions, finding them became much easier.

Before the morning was even over, the two of them had filled their baskets to the brim with mushrooms.

Lan Qingqing glanced at the sun overhead and decided to head back first. Reaching the foot of the mountain, she saw a large crowd gathered in front of her house from afar.

As I got closer, I saw that it was my stepmother who had come to cause trouble. Old Mrs. Lan was crying and screaming for her mother, sitting on the ground and pounding her fists on the ground.

You ungrateful wretch, you heartless scoundrel! Now that you have money, you don't care about your own mother's life or death, you only care about your own enjoyment. My life is so miserable! I worked so hard to raise my child, and now that he's grown up, he doesn't care about his old mother anymore. Is there no place in this world where justice is served?

Everyone, please be the judge. Whose descendants are like this ungrateful wretch?

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Lan Qingqing put down the basket on her back. Lan Xiaoya put down her basket and hid behind Lan Qingqing, somewhat frightened.

Lan Qingqing asked her mother, "What's wrong with this person?"

Your grandma came over today asking your dad for a tofu recipe. He didn't give it to her, so she just sat down at the door and started crying.

Now your dad is so angry at her that he doesn't dare to leave the house.

"What did Father say?" Lan Qingqing asked her mother.

What else can you say? Of course, he doesn't want to give it, but he can't argue with your grandmother. These days, filial piety reigns supreme. Your father can't do anything to her either, so he can only avoid her. Mother Lan said helplessly.

Lan Qingqing looked at Old Lady Lan. All that fussing was a lot of noise, but she didn't shed a single tear.

You heartless wretch! All these years I've raised a dog, and it would wag its tail at me. Raising a thing like you is worse than raising an animal.

God, open your eyes and look! Just strike this unfilial son dead!