Returning to the mountain village, starting with mushroom picking to get rich

"Thank you for the gifts of nature."

Looking at the dense cluster of termite mushrooms before him, Yang Lin silently recited a prayer, a smile only he could understand appearing on his lips.

It's not that easy to live off the land you live off.

The mushrooms in front of him were not a gift from nature, but rather mushrooms that he had buried a few days ago, which had grown naturally on his way here.

All the good fortune and coincidences were created by a combination of human intervention.

Fresh mushrooms sprouted from the ground, their caps smooth, their stems straight, and a fragrant aroma wafting from them.

Yang Lin put down his basket and bag and began picking the flowers one by one.

After repeatedly using a basket to pack mushrooms, Yang Lin's bagging technique has become increasingly proficient.

At the beginning, Yang Lin could only hold a little over ten kilograms of mushrooms in one basket.

Yang Lin can now make full use of the space in his basket, filling every nook and cranny with mushrooms, arranging them in both directions, and easily fits in about twenty kilograms.

Moreover, his control over the number of fungi growing has become increasingly skillful and precise.

After the last mushroom was picked, Yang Lin's large basket was just full.

Not a single mushroom was wasted.

Cover the surface with a urea bag and tie it with a rope to prevent it from being blown off by the wind.

Yang Lin then carried a full load of mushrooms on his back and slowly returned home.

……

After leaving the mountains and approaching the village, the cell phone signal began to return.

After two consecutive notification sounds, Yang Lin immediately took out his phone.

Two messages popped up on the messaging app.

They were sent by Mr. Huang from Hongyan Town and Mr. Li from Huangtu Township, respectively.

Because it rained last night, both bosses were asking Yang Lin if he had gone into the mountains today and if he had any mushrooms on his hands.

"Yes, there are some, but there were a lot of people on the mountain today, so I didn't see many. I haven't gotten home to weigh them yet. I wonder what price the boss is offering today?"

Yang Lin rushed home, took out two bunches of mushrooms, placed them in different places, took a set of photos of each, and then replied to the two bosses.

"Here's the thing, quite a few people came to town to sell mushrooms today, and we still have some of the more than ten kilograms of mushrooms we bought from you earlier, so the price is a bit lower than last time..."

The two bosses replied in different languages ​​and with different habits, but their general meanings were the same.

Because of last night's rain, a lot of termite mushrooms suddenly appeared on the market.

Although the overall quantity is still not large, there are also not many people in the town who can afford to buy matsutake mushrooms.

They had some stock on hand, so they could only offer Yang Lin a price of a little over two hundred.

"Okay, boss, wait a moment, I'll deliver it to you later."

Undeterred by the two shop owners' price reduction, Yang Lin still agreed to deliver the goods to his door.

After all, the reason they were able to sell for such high prices before was entirely due to the early maturity of the mushrooms, as termite mushrooms from other regions had not yet officially appeared, which allowed them to obtain such high premiums.

Last night's rain brought what can be considered the first batch of termite mushrooms of the year, which can still command a certain premium.

The mushrooms in the mountains and forests have begun to revive and slowly grow.

As time goes on, the price of mushrooms will continue to decline until the peak production season for wild mushrooms arrives, when the quantity of mushrooms is at its highest, at which point the price will stabilize and reach the normal price that people expect.

The usual price of termite mushrooms is around 100 yuan per kilogram.

Therefore, the price offered by the two bosses was indeed a fair price.

Even if it's the first batch of mushrooms, it can still sell for more than 200 yuan in town, so it's not a loss.

Even so, Yang Lin did not intend to give all the mushrooms he had to the two bosses.

The two business owners didn't even finish selling all of the more than ten kilograms of mushrooms they sold last time.

This clearly shows that the town's spending power is not so optimistic.

Even if the owners of those two stores had the means to consume his twenty kilograms of goods, they wouldn't be able to digest them in a short period of time.

This will only cause the price of termite mushrooms in the two towns to drop again, even significantly lower than in other towns.

If I sell mushrooms again in the future, I'm afraid there won't be any premium at all.

This is not good news for Yang Lin, or for the mountain people in both towns.

Therefore, Yang Lin only planned to send them one or two pounds, or at most two or three pounds of mushrooms.

He plans to take the remaining mushrooms to other towns to sell.

……

"How come it's only two pounds and four ounces? Your harvest this time isn't great."

At the Yingbin Hotel, upon seeing that the matsutake mushrooms Yang Lin had brought weighed only a little over two jin but less than three jin, Boss Huang couldn't help but tease him with a smile.

"There's nothing we can do. You never know what might happen in the mountains. It's already pretty good that we've found this many. There are quite a few people in our village who haven't even encountered a single edible flower..."

"Yeah, you really scared me last time. If I were to run into someone weighing over ten pounds every time, I'd be thinking of selling the restaurant and going up the mountain with you, bro."

Boss Huang spoke eloquently, showing no sign of disappointment at the small amount of mushrooms Yang Lin had brought.

In his view, the situation where he could only take out one or two kilograms at a time, like today, was the most normal.

After all, termite mushrooms are different from other mushrooms.

To date, scientists worldwide have not yet developed a technique for the artificial cultivation of termite mushrooms.

Other wild mushrooms may be counterfeited by artificially cultivated ones.

But termite mushrooms definitely won't.

Wild things can't be obtained as easily as cultivated things, where you can just want them and have them whenever you want.

Behind these two kilograms of termite mushrooms lies countless mountains and forests traversed, and a tremendous amount of time and effort invested.

Behind the price of over 200 yuan per kilogram lies a wealth of sweat and toil.

He even had someone make a special trip from the village to buy it for him; normally, he would go out to find someone to buy it.

Thinking of this, as he was about to leave, Boss Huang couldn't help but stop Yang Lin, took out two bottles of drinks from the store, and gave them to Yang Lin.

"Young man, you must be tired from your journey. Here, take these two bottles of water. Next time there are mushrooms, I'll collect them again."

"Thank you, boss. Don't worry, Boss Huang, I'll still send you mushrooms whenever I have them."

……

After leaving Hongyan Town and arriving at a deserted spot on the road, Yang Lin parked his car by the roadside and uncovered the basket he had been covering tightly.

I grabbed a handful of mushrooms and put them into small plastic bags for individual packaging.

Then he covered the basket again, making sure it was completely sealed.

After entering Huangtu Township, Yang Lin rode his bicycle to a remote place and then walked to find Boss Li of Huangtu Township.

After weighing, the handful of mushrooms that Yang Lin had grabbed haphazardly only weighed two jin and one liang, which was less than what was available in Hongyan Town.

However, just like Mr. Huang from Hongyan Town, Mr. Li from Huangtu Township had no doubts whatsoever about the two jin of mushrooms that Yang Lin had brought out.

Not only did he not have any doubts, but Boss Li also looked relieved.

If Yang Lin brings out more than ten kilograms of matsutake mushrooms like last time, he might not dare to accept them all.

After receiving the money for the mushrooms and a small gift from Boss Li, Yang Lin took a detour to Xin'an Town and Mili Township, planning to sell the remaining ten-odd kilograms of mushrooms in these two towns.