Breakfast ended amid the family’s laughter and cheerful conversation.
Afterward, Qin Ruan gathered the dishes and chopsticks and went to wash them.
When she came back out, she asked as she usually did,
“Shall we go out for a walk around the village today?”
Receiving a subtle signal from Qin Ruofeng, Shen Jianing replied,
“No, let’s go up the tea mountain instead. We don’t have to pick tea today. Let’s see if we can find some mushrooms.”
“Great! I’ll go get the baskets. Uncle, you should grab one too. Grandma, you stay home and rest.”
“All right. I’ll stay home, feed the chickens, and rest. You all go enjoy yourselves on the tea mountain.”
“Okay! Time to pick mushrooms!”
Qin Ruan was visibly excited.
Even Shen Jianing was looking forward to it. She had never experienced going into the mountains to gather wild mushrooms before.
“Auntie, you’ll see in a little while. Picking mushrooms is so much fun. But this time of year on the tea mountain, you also have to watch out for ant nests and caterpillars.”
“Huh? There are those on the tea mountain too?”
“Yes. Some places have huge ant nests filled with tiny ants, and in other places you’ll find entire patches covered with caterpillars.”
Qin Ruofeng couldn’t stand listening anymore.
“Ruanruan, stop scaring your aunt.”
Qin Ruan covered her mouth and giggled.
“So you were doing it on purpose!”
As she spoke, Shen Jianing moved toward Qin Ruan and reached out to tickle her.
“I was wrong! I was wrong! Auntie, please don’t tickle me! I’m really ticklish!”
“Oh? So you’re actually afraid of being tickled?”
Qin Ruan immediately threw both hands into the air in surrender.
“I am! I’m really ticklish! Auntie, please stop!”
Qin Ruofeng was laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.
“All right, honey, that’s enough. She’ll laugh herself silly at this rate.”
“Hmph. I’ll let you off this time.”
“Thank you for showing mercy, Auntie. I’ll make something delicious for lunch.”
“Come on, let’s go pick mushrooms first,” Qin Ruofeng interrupted with a smile.
“It would be nice if it rained. Since it hasn’t rained, there are only small mushrooms. But it must have rained here a couple of days ago.”
“It definitely did. It’ll probably rain again in the next day or two. Let’s first gather the fragrant mushrooms you found yesterday.”
“Okay, okay! Rain is the best. After it rains, there are so many more mushrooms, and more wood ear mushrooms too. Let’s go check the wood ear mushrooms near the mountaintop later.”
“Sure. Once the wood ear mushrooms grow, we should pick them right away. After we harvest them, they’ll grow again after the next rainfall.”
“Mhm! Mhm!”
The three of them headed straight toward the Qin family’s tea mountain.
“Wow… Are all these tea trees really ours?”
Shen Jianing couldn’t help exclaiming in amazement.
“Yep! They all belong to our Qin family, Auntie.”
“Jianing, slow down.”
As he spoke, Qin Ruofeng carefully helped Shen Jianing up the mountain.
“Auntie, you know what? If this were ancient times, you’d definitely be a landowner.”
His remark made both Qin Ruofeng and Shen Jianing burst into laughter.
“I’m not wrong! With so many tea mountains, back in Grandpa’s day our family would’ve been wealthy landlords.”
“You’re right. But times are different now.”
“Oh! Uncle, in a few years we absolutely have to buy lots and lots of houses.”
“Why do we need to buy so many houses?”
“So we can rent them out and collect rent! We wouldn’t even have to work—we could just stay home while the money rolls in.”
“You really do have quite an imagination.”
“I’m serious! Don’t you believe me? Look around. Little by little, more and more people are finding themselves without enough housing.”
“People don’t have enough places to live, so of course houses are going to be bought and sold. Just wait a few more years. Once the time is right, I’m going to buy lots and lots of houses. Not just in Yunnan and Shancheng—I want to buy houses in the capital too.”
“Oh? You’re even planning to buy property in the capital?”
Qin Ruofeng looked at her in complete disbelief. It was obvious he didn’t believe her.
“I know you don’t believe me. You’ll see once I actually buy them.”
“Where are you going to get the money?”
“I’ve got my own money—and quite a lot of it too.”
She looked at Qin Ruofeng with a smug grin.
Watching the uncle and niece banter so amusingly made Shen Jianing smile as well.
This kind of warm, lively family atmosphere was something she had never experienced before.
Shen Jianing was an only child, and her parents had spoiled her since she was little.
As a result, she never learned how to cook. Even after marrying Qin Ruofeng, they usually ate at the cafeteria because of work.
“Auntie, stop laughing for a second. We’re almost at the place where we’ll pick mushrooms. Later, you don’t have to gather mushrooms yourself—you can just stand there and watch us.”
Qin Ruofeng quickly chimed in.
“That’s right! Jianing, don’t squat down to pick mushrooms. Just stand and take it easy.”
“Wait, Uncle. Let’s go to the dead logs first. Auntie can stand there and pick wood ear mushrooms for a while. That way she won’t get bored while we gather mushrooms.”
“Sounds good. Let’s head up to the summit first and see if there are any mushrooms around the dead logs.”
Chatting and laughing all the way, the three of them soon reached the mountaintop.
“Looks like these old logs have been producing wood ear mushrooms all these years.”
“Of course. Grandma and I come up every year to take care of them.”
“Take care of them? How?”
Shen Jianing looked curious.
An ordinary old log was actually growing wood ear mushrooms.
Some of the logs even had fragrant oyster mushrooms growing on them.
“Every so often, we come and turn the logs over. That way, mushrooms don’t only grow on one side, and the logs get a chance to ‘rest’ too.”
(Fictional.)
“Wow! You and Mom are amazing!”
Shen Jianing looked at Qin Ruan with admiration.
“Auntie, that’s nothing.”
“That’s right. It’s no big deal. Everyone in the village knows about it,” Qin Ruofeng added.
That earned him a glare from Qin Ruan.
“Sure, everyone in the village knows about it. But only our tea mountain grows them like this.”
She deliberately replied in a sarcastic tone.
“Hahaha!”
Shen Jianing burst into laughter.
“All right, Jianing, let’s get to work.”
Qin Ruofeng shot Qin Ruan a playful glare.
“You little rascal. Go pick your mushrooms.”
This time, Qin Ruan didn’t argue back.
She carried her little basket to another area and began gathering fragrant mushrooms beneath the tea bushes.
“No, this spot is probably too close. Some of these mushrooms have already dried out.”
“The dried ones are still fine. Aren’t we going to blanch them later anyway? As long as they haven’t rotted, we can take them home.”
“I think some of them are starting to rot. There are already insects underneath.”
“Then don’t pick those. This area probably gets too much sunlight.”
“Let’s harvest the wood ear mushrooms here first.”
As Qin Ruan spoke, her eyes suddenly landed on something in the distance.
She stared for a moment in disbelief before tugging on Qin Ruofeng’s sleeve.
“Uncle, look over there. Isn’t that a yellow laitou mushroom?”
Qin Ruofeng looked over as well.
There, standing proudly, was an enormous yellow mushroom.
“You’re right. Let’s go take a look. It seems a little old, but let’s check it first.”
Hearing their conversation, Shen Jianing followed them over, curious to see what this “yellow laitou” mushroom was.
The first thing that came into view was a gigantic yellow mushroom.
Qin Ruan gently patted the top of the mushroom before pulling it out of the ground.