Chapter 16: Delicious Mushroom Porridge

Jiang Ning curled the corners of her mouth and said calmly, "Back in the day, before I married your father, I was quite a capable hand at my maiden home. There were plenty of men from ten villages around who wanted to marry me!"

The children all blinked in unison. Was the person Mother was talking about herself?

Jiang Ning felt a bit embarrassed. "What I said is true! If it weren't for your father being unreliable, would I have ended up like that?"

She wasn't lying. Before the original owner of this body married, she had been a brisk and efficient person at her maiden home. Aside from having a bit of a fierce temper and a difficult personality, she was quite hardworking. Later, when she married Yang Hu, he proved to be no good man. After using sweet words to coax her into marriage, he became restless; not only was he lazy and gluttonous, but he also harassed respectable women and spent his days idling with thugs, causing the original owner—who was image-conscious and vain—to lose face time and time again.

The original owner spent all her days keeping an eye on Yang Hu, leaving her no heart to care for the household. Over time, it became a habit. Coupled with the fact that Yang Hu became increasingly out of line in the following years and even resorted to physical violence, she simply gave up on herself.

Thinking of that unreliable father, the children stopped smiling. Liu Ye even felt a bit of sympathy for her mother-in-law. Marriage was a woman's second rebirth; not only had her mother-in-law failed to be reborn, she had nearly sunk into a quagmire from which she couldn't escape. Looking at how her mother-in-law was becoming better and better, Liu Ye suddenly felt that it was a good thing that her father-in-law had died just like that.

Of course, she only dared to think such things; she didn't dare say them aloud.

The children watched for a while. Seeing Jiang Ning eager to pick mushrooms, they all wanted to try as well, but since they didn't recognize them, they were afraid of picking poisonous ones. They could only watch blankly before running off to pluck melon seeds.

After picking for a while, Yang Santie discovered there weren't many melon seeds left to pick, so he simply headed up the mountain. Before long, he shouted, "Big Brother, there are wild chickens and wild rabbits!"

Yang Datou immediately dropped his work, grabbed his tools, and rushed up.

The wild chickens and rabbits reacted quickly and were fast, vanishing in a flash. Jiang Ning didn't think the children had such abilities, but she didn't stop them either, continuing to dig through her mushrooms.

She intended to dig as much as possible while the sun hadn't fully risen; once the sun came up, certain fungi would rot quickly, and once the temperature rose, they would be impossible to pick.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ning grew a bit anxious and instructed Yang Erdan and Yang Xiaoya, "You two come with me to wander around the bamboo grove. See if there are any bamboo fungi. If there are, I'll leave the picking to you, alright?"

The two children nodded in unison. The two of them had already explored the bamboo grove thoroughly while cutting bamboo. When Jiang Ning arrived, she even needed the two children to lead the way. By having her describe what the bamboo fungi looked like, the two children actually managed to find them for her.

Once Yang Erdan and Yang Xiaoya knew what bamboo fungi were, it was like they had a cheat code; they found them one after another. Jiang Ning watched for a while, and after ensuring they were doing fine, she returned to the foot of Qingfeng Mountain to continue picking mushrooms.

She didn't stop until the sun had risen. She distributed the mushrooms into the children's baskets, covering them with wild vegetables and thatch, and the whole family crossed the field ridge to head home.

On the way, they inevitably encountered villagers working. Everyone craned their necks to take a look and greeted Yang Datou, "Back from the mountains so early! What did you find?"

"Nothing much! Just went into the mountains to pick wild vegetables and cut thatch to repair the house!" Yang Datou responded with a simple, honest smile.

After yesterday's commotion, the villagers all knew that the two dilapidated houses allocated to the Jiang family were uninhabitable. Since they were repairing a thatched shed, no one doubted Yang Datou's words. Some even praised Jiang Ning for changing her ways and finally learning how to work.

Jiang Ning curled her lips speechlessly. After bringing the mushrooms back, she quickly sent the children to fetch the loofahs.

By now, Yang Erdan and Yang Xiaoya had also returned, both their baskets about eighty percent full of bamboo fungi. After pouring the fungi out, the two little ones wanted to keep picking, but Jiang Ning called them off. "That's enough! Just pick this much for now. When the big market comes, we'll take them to town to see if anyone buys them. If they do, we'll get more next time."

Only then did the two children stop.

After Yang Datou brought back the loofahs, he immediately went to the fields with Yang Erdan. Liu Ye was busy making clothes in the thatched shed, with Yang Xiaoya assisting her.

Yang Santie took Yang Sizhuang to process the loofahs, while Jiang Ning cleaned the fungi by herself.

The ones that couldn't be kept were picked out directly to be boiled and eaten today, while the ones that could be dried were sorted and placed on top of the thatched shed to air dry.

The four large round bamboo trays she had bought were somewhat insufficient; it seemed she would need to buy a few more the next time she went to town.

Hearing her mutter, Liu Ye hurriedly said, "Mother, Datou can weave trays. We happen to have a few bamboo stalks left at home that haven't been used. Just let him make them; it'll save a few cents."

Almost every man in the village knew how to do this kind of weaving work.

Jiang Ning quickly sent Yang Xiaoya to the fields to tell Yang Datou, then went to prepare food for everyone.

They had been busy since early morning and it was almost noon, yet no one had mentioned that the whole family hadn't eaten.

She shook her head helplessly, took some coarse rice from the storehouse, and washed the remaining fungi. She planned to make a vegetarian mushroom porridge for the whole family. To ensure everyone ate their fill, she specifically added extra grain and tossed in half a cabbage.

Before the porridge was even finished, the aroma had already drifted out, making the working children so hungry they couldn't sit still, frequently stealing glances her way.

Jiang Ning curled her lips amusedly. When the porridge was ready, Yang Datou and his brothers also returned, and she immediately announced mealtime.

There were only two sets of bowls and chopsticks in the house, so the others used bamboo tubes as bowls, which worked well enough.

The children, who had never tasted mushroom porridge before, had only taken one bite when their eyes lit up as if they had discovered a new continent.

"Mother! Is this what mushrooms are? It's too delicious! Why don't the villagers eat this?" Yang Santie was both excited and puzzled, asking incessantly while rapidly shoveling the porridge into his bowl.

Jiang Ning was utterly helpless. "Eat first, talk later!"

With one pot of porridge, the children wolfed it down, finishing it in just two minutes. They were left wanting more, staring unblinkingly at the pot even after it was nearly scraped clean.

Yang Sizhuang looked at Jiang Ning expectantly and pleaded, "Mother, can we cook this again tonight? I want to eat it!"

He had never eaten such delicious food in his entire life.

The others all nodded in agreement, even the most reserved Liu Ye couldn't help but voice her support.

Jiang Ning readily agreed.

Having eaten such a surprising meal, the children were full of energy. Since they couldn't work in the fields at midday, they headed into the mountains. Yang Datou led his younger brothers, taking the family's sickles and wood-cutting knives with them, under the pretext that even if they found no food, they could at least bring back some firewood.

The household used firewood heavily, so Jiang Ning naturally had no objection. Seeing Liu Ye and Yang Xiaoya making clothes again, she took a short rest before getting up to continue processing the loofahs.

The previous batch of loofahs was almost dry, estimated to be about twenty pounds. The next batch should be ready in a couple of days, just in time to be delivered to Hong'an Hall in town the day before the big market.

Just as she finished cleaning the loofahs, Yang Sizhuang rushed into the courtyard excitedly. "Mother, Mother! Guess what good things we found!"

(End of Chapter)