The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Yuchuan grinned, showing his neat white teeth. “Wife, are you planning to feed me first?”

“Didn’t you always say that I was biased towards my second brother? This time, I’ll feed you first.”

“Wife, I was just joking, it’s okay if you feed my second brother first.” He laughed, “Your kind intentions are enough.”

Su Qingyue held a bowl with a soup spoon and a pair of chopsticks, bringing a piece of mushroom to his mouth, “Eat up, stop talking.”

He opened his mouth. The mushroom was delicious and fragrant, without a hint of mustiness. “Wife, the mushrooms you cooked are delicious!”

“Yes, they are delicious.” Xiao Qinghe moved his chopsticks, envying his third brother who was being fed by his wife. It would be his turn soon, but sadly, it would never be his turn. “The soup is also tasty.”

Even Xiao Yishan couldn’t stop praising the food while eating.

Su Qingyue cooked ten jin of mushrooms. It was a bit much, but the men of the family had larger appetites than average. She had calculated each person’s portion when cooking.

Even without rice in the pot, she had to make sure everyone was full.

She was full after eating only two bowls, but what she didn’t expect was that the second, third, and fourth brothers didn’t waste any soup. They let her pour all of it and drank it all.

After the meal, she gave the second brother his medicine, changed the medicine for his leg injury, and it was almost ten o’clock in the morning.

She had picked all the mushrooms, planning to dry the ones they couldn’t finish eating right away for future consumption. Besides, if left on the mountain, they would rot in a couple of days. She planned to sell as many mushrooms as she could.

She carried their vegetable basket, filled it with mushrooms, and headed towards Aunt Zhang’s house. When she arrived at Aunt Zhang’s house, Aunt Zhang was embroidering in the yard. Seeing her, Aunt Zhang put down her embroidery work. “Wife of the Xiao family, you’re here. The back basket you wanted to borrow is over there.”

She pointed to a large bamboo back basket.

“Thank you, Aunt Zhang.” She handed over a basket of mushrooms to her. “Aunt Zhang, these are the mushrooms I picked this morning. They’re fresh, you can add some to your dish.”

“Don’t be polite.” Aunt Zhang didn’t accept, “Your family can’t even feed yourselves, and I can’t help much. How can I take your things?”

Su Qingyue didn’t hide it from her, ‘You’ve helped a lot. I picked two loads of mushrooms this morning, weighing more than two hundred jin.” “Oh, so much!” Aunt Zhang was surprised, ‘Where did you pick them?”

“They’re from a mountain quite far away. My second brother discovered it when he was hunting and told me about it. I made two trips this morning and brought them all back. We can’t possibly eat all of them. It’s just one vegetable basket, please take it.” She knew that people in ancient times were superstitious. If she told Aunt Zhang that they were picked from Hanging Neck Mountain, Aunt Zhang might be scared to eat them. A little white lie wouldn’t do any harm.

“Well then, I’ll accept it.” After Aunt Zhang took all the mushrooms in the basket into her kitchen, she handed the empty basket back to Su Qingyue. “Dashan is indeed capable, but it’s a pity he was bitten by a poisonous snake and broke his leg. The men of the Xiao family have all fallen, and with no money at home and three men to support, you’ll have a hard time in the future.”

“It’s okay. It’s my duty. I was seriously injured some time ago and didn’t do anything. No one at home complained about me. I can feed the family.” She smiled and said, “Aunt Zhang, I want to ask, do people in the village or town buy mushrooms… I mean, these fungi?”

“There’s certainly no one in the village. The ordinary things that can be found in the mountains, except for game, no one wants the vegetarian stuff. Most of them are poor families, and no one buys them. However, people occasionally sell fungi in town. Sometimes they sell out, sometimes no one wants them, it depends on luck. Even if they get sold, it’s only two cents per jin..”