When the Su family dragged their weary bodies home, Su Qingran had already prepared the meal and laid it out on the table.
Though there weren’t many dishes, the portions were generous—after all, the Su family had quite a few mouths to feed.
The main staples were steamed rice and a few Wo Wo Tou. Such a meal was considered quite decent in Su Family Village.
Zhao Lanzhi stared at the dishes on the table, her expression pained. “Ranran, why did you use so much oil for cooking? And for the scrambled eggs—you should have used fewer eggs and more vegetables! Eggs are so expensive!”
Su Qingran chuckled. “Mom, you, Dad, and my brothers and sisters-in-law work so hard in the fields. How can your bodies hold up without enough oil and nutrition? Besides, these eggs were a gift from Qiao Manxue—might as well eat them while we can!”
Zhao Lanzhi had no choice. If her daughter wanted to eat this way, what could she do? She’d just have to indulge her!
Su Junze grinned too. “It’s great having Little Sister as the cook these days. I feel like I have more energy working in the fields.”
“You rascal, are you saying my cooking isn’t good?” Zhao Lanzhi swatted the back of his head.
“No, no! I just meant Little Sister uses more oil when she cooks. Mom, your skills are still the best!”
“Keep talking nonsense!”
The whole Su family laughed. Su Erhu was still munching on the wild grapes Su Qingran had picked—sour yet sweet, he absolutely loved them.
Su Junze, sharp-eyed, noticed. “Erhu, where did you get those wild grapes? Did you go into the mountains?”
The others’ expressions turned serious too. Huang Cuicui paled in fright. “Erhu, you didn’t really go into the mountains, did you? Mom told you not to! There are tigers in there! You foolish child…”
Su Qingran quickly explained, “I picked those. Erhu didn’t go up the mountain.”
Now Zhao Lanzhi grew anxious. “Ranran, you went up the mountain? You just hit your head—how could you go back up there?”
“Mom, don’t worry. I only wandered around the foot of the mountain. I didn’t go deep inside.”
Su Yuanfeng chimed in, “Mom, lots of people go to the foot of the mountain. It’s not dangerous. Little Sister surely knows that.”
“Exactly, Mom! And today, I had really good luck. Look what I found!” As she spoke, Su Qingran pulled out the White Fungus and the stunned wild chicken from her basket.
“A wild chicken!”
“What’s this?” Huang Cuicui had never seen White Fungus before. “It looks like fungus, but why is it white?”
“This is White Fungus! Goodness, it really is White Fungus!” Su Junze, being more worldly, recognized it. Whenever the Su family ran short of grain, oil, or other supplies and had no ration coupons, he would venture into the Black Market to buy what they needed. Over time, he’d become a familiar face there.
At first, Su Hongshan firmly opposed Su Junze taking such risks. As the Brigade Leader of the village, he held a minor official position and was expected to follow national policies. How could he stand by and let his son engage in illegal activities?
But despite his objections, Su Junze continued secretly.
Then, one year, a severe drought struck the entire province. Many households in Su Family Village had no food left, surviving day to day by digging up wild vegetables and roots.
It was Su Junze who brought back several bags of grain from the Black Market, allowing the family to endure those difficult times. From then on, Su Hongshan never interfered with his Black Market trips again, only reminding him to be careful and avoid getting caught.
“White Fungus? Is it very expensive?”
“No matter how expensive, can it really be more costly than meat?” Huang Cuicui eyed the plump wild chicken and swallowed hard.
“It’s far more expensive than meat!” Su Junze declared. “In the former dynasty, this was something the Empress Dowager used for maintaining her health. Twenty-some taels of silver could only buy a tiny amount!”
“It’s that valuable?” Huang Cuicui was dumbfounded.
“Absolutely! On the Black Market, this thing basically has a price but no supply—it’s nearly impossible to buy! I’ve heard they’ve started cultivating White Fungus down south, but the yield is still too small to be shipped here. I guarantee, with this quality of wild White Fungus, each piece could sell for at least three or four yuan here!”
“Three or four yuan? Good heavens!”
At that time, rice was only thirteen cents per jin. Three or four yuan was definitely a significant sum.
“Second Brother, could you help me sell it then? And while you’re at it, buy some rice, flour, oil, and meat to improve our family’s meals.”
“Sure! Leave it to me! Should we sell all of these pieces?”
“Maybe keep one for the family to try? We’ve never eaten it before.”
“Eat it? At three or four yuan a piece, I couldn’t bear to!” Zhao Lanzhi quickly objected. With so little of it, one bite each for the whole family would probably finish it. This was something her Ranran found in the mountains—better to exchange it for money and save it for her dowry.
Su Qingran knew her mother would be reluctant. “Alright, Second Brother, take them all to sell. We’ll keep this wild chicken for ourselves.”
Su Hongshan felt something was off. “Ranran, you found all these things at the foot of the mountain? Is that really possible? Tell your father the truth—did you venture deep into the mountains?”
Zhao Lanzhi caught on too. Yes, the foot of the mountain was visited by people every day. How could Ranran have found these things there?
“Ranran, you…”
“Oh, Mom and Dad, I’m really not lying! How would I dare go deep into the mountains? And even if I saw a wild chicken, I couldn’t catch it. This one ran out and knocked itself out against a tree—I just picked it up. It was pure luck.”
“Besides, I’ve noticed that ever since my engagement to Lu Jingxuan fell through, my luck has been getting better and better. Today in the mountains, I kept running into good finds.”
Zhao Lanzhi and Su Hongshan exchanged glances. The wild chickens in the mountains were cunning and flew exceptionally fast. Under normal circumstances, Ranran really couldn’t catch one—not just her, but even those of them who worked regularly would find it hard. Could it really be luck?
Su Junze exclaimed, “Hey, maybe Lu Jingxuan was draining our little sister’s luck before, and now that the engagement’s off, her luck has returned? Otherwise, how could someone as worthless as Lu Jingxuan become a Deputy Company Commander so young?”
Su Qingran stifled a laugh. Second Brother was truly her best ally, providing her with the perfect excuse.
Su Hongshan shot him a glare. “Don’t talk nonsense!”
Mentioning such superstitious things could get you taken away for re-education these days!
Though spoken casually, Zhao Lanzhi took it to heart. She pondered and thought it might really be possible. When her Ranran was born, her husband became the Brigade Leader—wasn’t that good luck?
Her previous luck must have been sucked away by that wretched Lu Jingxuan. Now that the engagement was off, it had returned, hadn’t it?
Who else could find a wild chicken and White Fungus worth three or four yuan per piece just at the foot of the mountain?
Only her Ranran!
Thinking this, she waved her hand, “Alright, alright, it’s good that Qingran has good luck. Second brother, take the afternoon off to sell this white fungus. Keep the pheasant for dinner tonight. Eldest brother, after the meal, take care of preparing the pheasant.”
“Let’s eat, the food is getting cold.”
“Yes, yes, let’s eat!”
…
After the meal, Su Qingran used spiritual spring water to cook a pot of mung bean soup, adding a bit of white sugar. Once cooked and cooled, she placed it in the well to chill, planning to bring it to her parents in the fields around three in the afternoon.
In the meantime, she entered the Space again to organize the plants she had just moved in. Seeing the neatly arranged Space, she nodded in satisfaction.
After taking a nap in the villa inside the Space, Su Qingran retrieved the mung bean soup. Chilled by the well water, the cool soup made her feel completely refreshed after drinking a bowl.
She poured the mung bean soup into a thermos, placed several bowls in a basket, and carried it to the fields.
The Su family’s plot was adjacent to the Lu family’s. Grandpa Lu was too old to work in the fields, Li Lan’s husband had died early, and Lu Jingxuan was away serving in the military, so the Lu family had pitifully few laborers.
Li Lan could barely manage to earn the full work points for women, but Lu Yunxi couldn’t. She had the airs of a princess without the fortune, and despite working herself to exhaustion, she could only earn four or five work points a day.
She had wanted to gather pigweed instead, which would earn her four work points daily—much easier than fieldwork—but Li Lan wouldn’t allow it. That one extra work point mattered, as their family’s food supply was truly insufficient.
Su Qingran had never worked in the fields growing up, which was a source of both envy and jealousy for Lu Yunxi.
In her previous life, after marrying into the Lu family, Lu Jingxuan’s rank wasn’t high enough for her to accompany him to the army, so she had to stay with the Lu family. Besides household chores, Li Lan also demanded she work in the fields because the family’s food was never enough. However, her own parents, feeling sorry for her, didn’t want her to do fieldwork and sent her monthly food rations to the Lu family, which finally made Li Lan relent.
Now that Lu Jingxuan happened to be home, he couldn’t just watch his widowed mother and sister toil in the fields while he rested at home, so he had to join them in the fieldwork.
In his previous life, Lu Jingxuan had detested returning to his hometown, feeling that he was different from the locals who worked the land.