Chapter 33： snow fungus

Chapter 33 Snow Fungus

Jiang Sanlang responded quickly.

Happily, he returned home with the copper coins on his back, took out 500 coins and gave them to his little girl. He took another 1,500 coins for himself, and gave the rest to his wife.

He took the copper coins to his eldest brother's house, called his two nephews, and gave each of them a hundred cents. He also gave the elder brother and his second brother five hundred cents each.

Because they all came to help when his family built the bamboo shed and drying oven.

He gave his parents another three hundred coins as a filial piety, and then he said with a smile, "I sold the golden ear that Yingbao picked up in the woods today, and I got more than four coins."

"Si Guanduo?" Jiang Dalang was surprised, "Is that golden ear made of gold? Why is it so valuable?"

Jiang Sanlang smiled and said: "It's more valuable than gold."

Then he said to the eldest and second brothers: "I have bred another batch, and now they have sprouts. When they mature, I will give some golden ear roots to the eldest and second brothers, and teach you to grow some too."

Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang nodded happily.

Jiang Erlang was embarrassed to accept the money from his third brother, so he declined: "I still owe you three guan, how can I ask for these 500 yuan."

Jiang Sanlang smiled and said: "Second brother, you can use it first, and then you can pay me back when you make money."

“That’s good.” Jiang Erlang took back the money and sighed in his heart.

After divorce, he had to raise two children. Life was not easy, but he did not regret it. I also made up my mind to make a lot of money in the future so that I and my children can live a good life without making others laugh.

But making money is not easy.

I have been busy with farm work recently, and I have no time to go out to find a living. I can't even get ten cents out of my hands.

If his eldest brother and sister-in-law hadn't asked his family to come back for dinner every day, he would probably not be able to survive even two meals a day.

Sigh, if the third brother's golden ears can really be sold at a high price, then I will have hope. I will follow the third brother to plant a little bit, but still worry about not making money?

Thinking of this, Jiang Erlang proposed that he want to see the golden ears cultivated by his third brother.

Jiang Sanlang was naturally happy and took his second brother, eldest brother and old father to his yard.

Nowadays, the yard of Jiang Sanlang's family is extremely cramped. It not only has a chicken shed and a deer shed, but also a bamboo shed and an earthen kiln that is two people high.

A wooden frame is placed in the bamboo shed. The wooden frame has two floors, and ten pieces of dead mulberry wood are placed on each floor.

More than a dozen holes were drilled into the mulberry trees, filled with rice husk sawdust, and planted with golden ear roots.

At this time, the fungus has emerged from the golden ear, and the stars are dotted with golden color, which is very gratifying.

“If all this grows, how much will it cost?” Jiang Dalang exclaimed. I counted and found twenty dead mulberry trees.

If each mulberry tree grows ten golden ears, that means two hundred.

Two hundred golden ears, how much silver will they cost after drying?

Jiang Dalang's heart trembled.

He also came to see the third brother when he was baking golden ears a while ago, but didn’t pay much attention.

After all, no one has ever seen this thing, and I don’t know if it is really valuable.

Now that Sanlang has really sold at a high price and earned more than four guans at a time, how can he not be envious and have heart palpitations?

If only a dozen dried golden ears are sold for so much money, how much money can be made from more than two hundred golden ears?

Hey, I don’t even dare to think about it.

Jiang Dalang turned to his third brother and asked: "Sanlang, where did you find the golden ear seedlings? Why don't we go look for them and look at them with you?"

He couldn't wait any longer and had to go into the mountains to find golden ears immediately.

 Jiang Sanlang scratched his head and said, "Ying Bao found this. I'll go and ask."

So, Yingbao, who had returned from the deer run, was surrounded by her eldest and second uncles. They asked her expectantly where she got the golden ears.

Yingbao blinked: "I found it in the woods over there, but it's gone. How about we go to Beishan and look for it."

She still remembered that the boy in ragged clothes said that the load of firewood was chopped at Shita Mountain in Beishan.

"Okay! Let's go to Beishan to look for him." Jiang Dalang slapped his thigh and said excitedly. There are many woods and mulberry trees in Beishan, so maybe you can actually find them.

The next day, Jiang Sanlang carried his daughter on his back and led his eldest brother, second brother and two nephews into the mountain. Just in case, they all brought bows, arrows, ropes, machetes and backpacks.

There are many fruit trees in Beishan Mountain, and it is the early spring in March. The peach blossoms, pear blossoms, and apricot blossoms all over the mountain are in full bloom, which is so beautiful.

This reminded Yingbao of the fruit seedlings in the cave, and he had to find a way to plant them in Nanshan as soon as possible.

The group of people walked up and down several hills and searched through countless trees. They couldn't find any golden fungus, but unexpectedly found a few snow fungus as big as an egg.

Ying Bao was pleasantly surprised and did not allow his father and the others to move. He only asked them to cut down the dead mulberry tree and carry it home.

Because it was a dead tree, Jiang Sanlang did not hesitate, and he and his eldest and second brothers started to chop down this dead tree as thick as a bowl.

“I don’t know who owns this piece of land, and no one comes to take care of it.”

Jiang Dalang muttered, looked around, and urged his two younger brothers to leave quickly. "But we can't be seen. Let's leave quickly."

He was worried that the owner of the land would discover that his brothers were secretly cutting down other people's trees. If they were caught, it would be terrible, and it would be a fierce battle.

Jiang Erlang stood on the high **** and looked at it for a while, then said: "It's okay, this land should be taken over and no one will take care of it."

According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, after the death of the landowner, the land allocated in his name must be returned to the court, and it will be distributed to other young men in the future.

So the owner of this land either died, or the whole family fled the land, that is, they fled the famine.

Jiang Dalang was happy when he heard this, and immediately ordered his two sons: "Hurry and look around again to see if there is any snow fungus like this."

It was also the first time for him to see this thing. He heard from his niece and third brother that it was called snow ear and it was also very valuable. It was sold in Mr. Li’s family drugstore, so he hurriedly asked his two sons to look for it.

Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan agreed and went to look for them separately.

Not to mention, I found a mulberry tree with snow fungus nearby.

It’s just that the snow fungus on this tree is very small, just bigger than a fingernail, but it’s better because there are so many of them, there are several clusters of them.

So Yingbao asked Dad and the others to cut down the whole tree and take it away.

In the evening, several members of the Jiang family carried two sections of dead trees back to the village.

Although the villagers I met were curious about them carrying the whole dead tree back, they didn't ask.

After all, every family has been short of firewood, and it is common to come back from Beishan.

Two dead trees were brought to the yard of Jiang Sanlang's house. The three brothers cut off the head and tail of the tree, leaving only the middle section, leaning against the bamboo shed.

At night, Yingbao secretly sprinkled the water from the cave pond on the two dry trees with the snow ear, and then sprinkled it with the golden ear before returning to the house to rest.

Looking at it the next day, Xue Er was not only not dead, but also actually grown a lot.

Yingbao is very happy.

Seeing that there are snow fungus strains, she will get some and keep them in the cave.

More than twenty days passed in a flash.

The golden ears in Jiang Sanlang’s bamboo shed are finally ready to be harvested.

The snow fungus on the two mulberry tree sections has also grown up, and is crystal clear, more beautiful than the golden ear. However, the snow fungus is a bit loose, not as well formed, and not as neat as the golden ear.

He and Chun Niang washed their hands and harvested them carefully with the newly bought thin knives.

Then cut off all the roots of the golden ear, carefully place it on the hollow bamboo drawer, expose part of it to the sun, and bake the other part in the kiln.

The white fungus was also cut off, scattered on the bamboo drawers, and pushed into the drying oven together with some of the golden fungus.

The weather has been exceptionally sunny these days. In just five days, more than a hundred golden ears have been dried out by the sun.

Jiang Sanlang picked up one and looked at it, then compared it with the ones he had baked, and said: "The golden ears baked in the stove are still drier, but the color is not as good as those dried in the sun."

Chunniang feels that drying is better, but it is too time-consuming and tiring.

Because someone has to guard the kiln all night long, add wood and remove the fire at any time, and keep the temperature of the furnace neither too high nor too low. My husband has been losing weight these past few days.

The gold ear price has been modified. Please point out any unreasonable things and I will correct them.

(End of this chapter)