Return to the small mountain village in 1983

There are not many Dendrobium officinale growing here, so Lin Heng and his friends pick some every year and make Dendrobium officinale tea to drink.

This year, there are more fruits growing here. After picking them, Xiulan estimated: "There are about two kilograms when wet, and two ounces when dried."

"It's okay. It's enough for stewing chicken and drinking tea. We have a lot of Chinese medicine at home. It's not just dendrobium that is used to make tea." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"That's certainly enough," said Xiulan, nodding.

Carrying the dendrobium to the cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Lin were swinging their child on the swing.

"Son, it's time to harvest honey in autumn," said Father Lin.

"Let's wait until it rains in a few days and then harvest some." Lin Heng replied.

There are also many flowers in autumn. Cutting them will make room for the bees to continue making honey.

"Okay." Father Lin nodded in agreement.

Before they knew it, the sun had set. Lin Heng wanted to go downstairs directly, but the children wanted to continue playing on the swings. Lin Heng had no choice but to take Xiulan into the woods to see if they could pick up any mushrooms.

The forest has not been taken care of this year, and many small trees have grown, making it less transparent than before with only big trees. The two people each broke off a branch and waved it up and down in front of them. There are many spider webs in the forest, and doing this can effectively prevent spider webs from sticking to their faces and hair.

"It rained a few days ago, but I can't find any mushrooms."

After searching for a while, Xiulan raised a question, it was very easy for mushrooms to grow at the current temperature of over ten degrees.

"You still have to go to the deep mountains, like Baishigou. There aren't many mushrooms in places where people often go."

As Lin Heng explained, he picked a small yellow flower and put it on Xiulan's head.

Xiulan blinked and waited quietly for him to finish arranging the flowers before she smiled and said, "There seems to be Hericium erinaceus recently. Shall we go pick some?"

She really wanted to go out and look for mushrooms with Lin Heng. It was a very pleasant and relaxing thing to do.

"Sure, let's get some Hericium erinaceus, it's pretty good to eat." Lin Heng thought about it and nodded in agreement. He and Xiulan have been out together relatively rarely this year.

The mushrooms in this season are indeed quite good, whether it is enoki mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, or hericium erinaceus, pine mushrooms, black truffles and the like.

Unable to find the mushrooms, the two turned around and went back. Xiulan and her parents each pulled a child downstairs, while Lin Heng held the things.

Only three fish were caught in the afternoon, one was the big mandarin fish that Xiaoxia caught, and two were plum fish weighing about one pound. Looking at the plum fish jumping in his hand, Lin Heng really wanted to breed this kind of fish, but he didn't have the ability to do so at present.

This kind of cold-water fish is difficult to breed, and the profit from breeding it is not as good as raising pigs. In this day and age, pork, which is cheap and can be sold in large quantities, is the one that can make big money.

He really wanted to raise one at first, because he thought that everything should be easy after rebirth, but when he actually did the math, he found that this was not a good deal.

You have to follow the trend of the times and make enough money first, and then talk about your own preferences.

After getting down the mountain, Lin Heng killed the fish, then simply marinated it, steamed it, and added some light soy sauce. This kind of fish raised in mountain spring water, especially the carnivorous mandarin fish, basically does not have any fishy smell.

Lin Heng was killing fish while the children were playing with the puppies. The blue wolfhound Lai Fu had recently given birth to a litter of six puppies, all of which were Xiongba's children. There were fewer colors than last time, four with big yellow colors and two with black and yellow colors.

The puppies are just one month old now. They were running around everywhere, howling and fighting with the three children. After Lin Heng caught the fish, he watched from the side to prevent the children from hurting the dogs and the dogs from hurting the children.

In addition to the fish, Lin's mother cooked three dishes, two of which were meat and one of which were vegetables. Together with the fish, the family started to eat. Lin's father heated up a pot of rice wine, and the adults drank while eating.

The children kept clamoring for fish, and one fish fed most of the three of them. It was very lively with children at the dinner table, and they enjoyed the meal very much.

When the meal was almost over, Lin Heng told his mother about going to pick mushrooms with Xiulan tomorrow. After hearing this, Lin's mother nodded repeatedly and said, "You guys go pick your own mushrooms. I'll take care of the child."

"Okay, thank you, Mom." Lin Heng nodded with a smile.

After finishing the meal and returning to the village, Lin Heng asked his eldest brother if he wanted to go, so that with more people they could take care of anything that might happen in the mountains.

"I'll go with your sister-in-law. We're going to dig some yams to eat." Lin Yue said.

"Is the child home alone?" Lin Heng looked at his eldest nephew Lin Wei. The little guy was strong now and was not fatter than before because he ate well.

"Yes, Lin Wei can take care of the house by himself. He is six years old and knows everything." Lin Yue said with a smile.

Lin Wei hugged Lin Heng's legs and complained, "Second Father, I actually want to go up the mountain, but my father won't let me."

Lin Heng patted his chubby head and said, "How about this, next time Second Dad goes up the mountain, I'll take you with me."

"Okay, Second Dad, you are the best person in the world." Lin Wei cheered happily.

Lin Heng said something to Lin Wei, then looked at his eldest brother: "Okay, let's have breakfast and set off."

When we returned to the house, Xiulan was already washing the children's faces and feet. The little ones were very tired after jumping around all day.

Lin Heng came over to help, and after they went to bed, he told Xiaoxia such an interesting story about Journey to the West that she fell asleep before she could even listen for a while.

"Let's go to bed early too."

Xiulan said this and undressed and went to bed. Lin Heng followed closely and got into the not-so-warm bed.

The next morning the sun was shining brightly, so they got up early, lit a fire, and used a large steamer to steam the apples that had wilted from the sun yesterday, and then went to practice milking.

When the milk was squeezed back and the apples were steamed, Xiulan opened the steamer and said in surprise, "It has really changed. It has turned orange."

“This time you can take it out and dry it. After it’s dried, steam it again. After drying it again, honey will come out and you can eat it.” Lin Heng picked one up and tasted it. Although it was sour and sweet now, the taste was not good enough.

When the two men finished drying the apples, Lin's mother came over. She was a little surprised to see the dried apples they made. After eating one, she said she wanted to learn how to make them.

"This is very simple..." Xiulan told her mother, and she immediately said she had learned it.

When they were about to leave with the backpack, things became more troublesome. Xiaoxia was older now and could still listen to what was said, so Lu Ming and Du Heng just held her legs and wouldn't let her go. Finally, they found a chance and quietly slipped away.

Each of them carried a small backpack. Lin Heng carried a hatchet for clearing the way, Xiulan carried a small hoe for digging medicinal herbs, and they also brought a big wolfdog, Xiongba.

"Let's go. Let's go directly to Baishigou first and talk about it when we come back." Lin Yue said with a smile.

"Yes, there is nothing nearby, only in the deep mountains can there be good things." Liu Juan also said.

Their configuration is similar to Lin Heng's, and they are lucky with their hunting dogs.

Lin Heng nodded and agreed: "We think so too."

After making the decision, they followed the path up the mountain. It was already autumn, and the temperature was only 23 or 24 degrees even when the sun was out. The four of them were sweating when they got to the top of the mountain.

They walked slowly and it took them two and a half hours to reach Baishigou. They didn't see anything on the way.

"It's been a year since I last came here, and it's still the same." Lin Heng sighed as he looked at Baishigou, which was covered with white stones.

Lin Yue brought some bad news: "We haven't been here, but it seems like someone has been here. There are still some branches that have been broken not long ago." "That's okay. We can't pick up all the mushrooms. At most we can pick up a little less." Xiulan said.

Lin Heng nodded, looked at his elder brother and sister-in-law and asked, "Are you going up or down?"

Liu Juan looked at it and said, "Let's go up there. I think there are more yams over there. I want to dig some."

"Okay, let's go down." Lin Heng nodded, and walked towards the bottom of the ditch with Xiulan.

After crossing the stream and coming here, he found a surprise not long after walking. He saw a large bunch of gray-white oyster mushrooms growing on the trunk of a dead tree.

"Wife, this bunch must weigh two kilograms!" Lin Heng was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. This was really a silver lining. Just now someone said that someone had been here, and he made a discovery when he came here.

"This old forest is different." Xiulan squatted down happily to pick the fruits. She picked them all at once and put them into the backpack happily.

The feeling of harvest was so great that the two of them couldn't help but quicken their pace, looking forward to more ahead.

But the reality went against our wishes. All we saw were dead trees. Some of the trees had traces of Hericium erinaceus, which had been picked not long ago.

Lin Heng held Xiulan's hand, shook his head and said with a smile: "It is true that if a person has lofty ambitions, luck will bring them to fruition. It seems that my luck is not good today."

"Let's go to the front and take a look. Take your time."

Xiulan pursed her lips, let go of Lin Heng's hand, took out an apple from his backpack and asked him to break it in half. They each ate half while exploring the woods.

"Woof woof!!" After a while, Xiongba barked twice in the distance.

"Go quickly."

Both of them were a little excited and walked over quickly. When they came over and took a look, the boredom disappeared immediately.

"I've been searching for half an hour and finally found it." Lin Heng said happily.

"There are more than one, two, three... There are five Hericium erinaceus in total. I said they would never be able to pick them all up." Xiulan counted them and rubbed Xiongba's head happily.

Xiongba hadn't come out to play for a long time. He stuck out his tongue and rubbed his hostess, then ran out to have fun again.

Lin Heng first picked the two at the bottom, then used a stick to poke the ones on the tree down. These five Hericium erinaceus were not big, only the size of a fist.

"This weighs two kilograms." Xiulan found a plastic bag to put it in and put it in Lin Heng's backpack.

Without the children, they were free and walked and searched quickly in the woods. After a while, Lin Heng found a bunch of enoki mushrooms, weighing more than half a pound.

After walking for dozens of meters, Lin Heng found another Codonopsis pilosula under the forest. It was quite big. He immediately took out his machete and chopped a stick to start digging. The soil under the forest was very loose so he didn't need a hoe. After a while, he dug out a large Codonopsis pilosula weighing about two taels.

The ones he digs now are generally kept at home for his own use. Sometimes, if they are not enough, he will get some back from the purchasing station to eat. His family is no longer in the situation where he would break the flower into three petals for every dime.

"I found another Hericium erinaceus here, come quickly, husband!"

Lin Heng had just dug out the Codonopsis pilosula when he heard Xiulan's cheers from the left front.

He walked over quickly, and Xiulan pointed happily at a large acorn tree that was barely 40 centimeters in diameter and said, "Look, there are three big ones on this trunk. I suspect each one weighs a pound."

"Really? I'll pick it."

Lin Heng smiled and said, the largest Hericium erinaceus is as big as a baby's head, it is so pleasant to pick it.

After putting down the backpack, he held the tree and climbed up. He had been climbing trees since he was a child, so the big tree was not a problem for him.

Soon he found the first Hericium erinaceus on the tree trunk. He picked one and held it in front of his nose to smell it. The rich fragrance made him swallow his saliva a little. He hadn't eaten stir-fried Hericium erinaceus for a long time and he missed it very much.

He did not abandon the tree, but put them into the bag hanging around his waist, then went up again and successfully picked the remaining two. The largest one was yellow in color and was very old, but it was still edible.

It hurt a little when I got down from the tree, but it was okay.

"Let's go, let's keep looking." Handing the bag to Xiulan, Lin Heng couldn't wait to continue searching.

Time flies, and soon the sun was above their heads. Because someone had been there before, they didn't have a good harvest today.

It was already half past one, and they had only found eight Hericium erinaceus, luckily they were of decent size. There were about five kilograms of oyster mushrooms, and only a clump of Flammulina enoki mushrooms, less than half a kilogram.

In addition, there are some Chinese medicinal materials. I dug up a few Codonopsis pilosula and found three pounds of Gastrodia elata.

"Let's eat. Maybe we'll have another chance in the afternoon." Xiulan took out the food and placed it on the stone, enjoying it face to face with Lin Heng.

"Come, take a wife!"

Lin Heng took a bite of the scallion pancake, picked up the kettle and clinked water with Xiulan.

"Go one!"

Xiulan smiled and touched Lin Heng.

"Ouch!"

Xiongba was wagging his tail beside them, as if saying, "Don't just focus on eating by yourselves, give me something to eat."

"Hey, open your mouth!"

Lin Heng would definitely not treat his son badly, so he picked up a scallion pancake and stuffed it into Xiongba's mouth.

"Don't play around so much this afternoon, work harder!" Xiulan fed it a piece of potato cake.

The two people and the dog were enjoying their lunch happily under the shade of the trees. The cool mountain breeze gently caressed their faces. When they looked up, they saw the blue sky and white clouds, and when they looked down, they saw the mountains and valleys.

They didn't know where their elder brother and sister-in-law had gone, but they agreed to meet up at Baishigou before 5 p.m. After dinner, they ate an apple and continued on their way to look for mushrooms.

Although I didn’t pick up much today, they were all high-quality items, so I don’t have to pick and choose again when I get home.

Not long after walking, Lin Heng found another bunch of oyster mushrooms growing on a rotten tree root. He picked them happily.

"It would be good to discover more of these oyster mushrooms." Lin Heng said with emotion.

"I would rather have some enoki mushrooms so we can have some hotpot when we get back." Xiulan said with a smile.

As they said this, the two of them moved forward. There was not much movement in the forest, so they could find some mushrooms from time to time, and they were quite happy to pick them up.

"Hubby, come and take a look. This yam vine is so thick."

Xiulan suddenly found something good and shouted to Lin Heng.

Lin Heng didn't look at Xiulan, he was stunned by another scene: "Let's not talk about Yam first, look at Xiongba, my God, where did it get such a big prey!" (End of this chapter)