The timeline system has gone awry; they insist that steamed buns are a magic pill.

[Immortal Branch Spirit Fungus - Snow Spirit Fungus (Beginner-level Spirit Plant), discovered in the Nine Netherworld, collected, separated, and domesticated by the Lazy Eater Sect Master using the Lazy Eater Method. Characteristics: Extremely cold-resistant, minimum growth temperature -35°C, suitable temperature -25°C to -5°C, crisp and tender texture, rich in various spiritual energies...]

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "Wow, even entry-level spiritual plants are this amazing. Even in the 21st century, Li Qingqiu doesn't remember any edible fungi that can grow naturally at -35°C."

"Is the 'Xianzhiling' fungal strain a first-generation strain with a growth cycle of only one day?"

"Can the fungal strain be transplanted onto other wooden sticks?"

Li Qingqiu had some doubts. This thing can grow in low temperatures. If we grow more of it, it will be so much more enjoyable to eat in hot pot. We can even give it away as a gift.

"The cultivation technique of spirit fungus does indeed include snow spirit fungus, which is the most common beginner-level strain. It can be transplanted when it matures, but after transplanting, it becomes the second generation, which takes ten days. Transplanting again will make it the third generation, which takes twenty days longer. It can be transplanted up to five generations."

"Beginner level: 5 generations; intermediate level: 10 generations; intermediate level: 20 generations; and so on. Couldn't advanced strains be transplanted for 40 generations?"

Forget it, who knows when we'll be able to get high-grade spirit mushrooms? Let's focus on snow spirit mushrooms first. The first generation matures in a day, so tomorrow we can find some sticks and wood to use as substrates. "Make a lot more. With this heavy snow, fresh vegetables are scarce. Some mushrooms for hot pot would be nice."

"Knock knock knock".

Who is it?

"Third Brother, dinner's ready."

"They're here."

Li Qingqiu set the Immortal Spirit Branch aside and let it grow.

"Hey, Third Brother, where did you pick this branch? The leaves are still so fresh and green!"

"It was picked from the mountains, so it's quite rare to see it."

Li Qingqiu said with a smile, "By the way, little sister, did you dig up any winter bamboo shoots this afternoon?"

"No, the snow is too heavy."

Li Qingmei shook her head. "The soil is frozen so hard that it's impossible to dig with a hoe. Aunt Liu and the others tried their best, but they didn't dig up many plants. That's why everyone went down the mountain early."

"Then let's not dig anymore. The snow is getting heavier and heavier, and we might not be able to get out of the mountains."

"Um."

Upon arriving at the main room, dinner was simple: cornmeal porridge and pickled vegetables. There were no cornbread buns. According to Shi Lanhua, no one had done any heavy work today. If they didn't get any work points tomorrow, they would have to eat two meals a day.

Everyone acted as if it were perfectly normal. Li Qingqiu opened his mouth, but then decided he couldn't be the one to stick his neck out. Luckily, there was still the educated youth settlement, and Yin Yi was cooking for them. "Eat quickly, the snow on the roof will be falling soon, so go to bed early."

"Don't light the oil lamp."

"Understood."

Li Qingqiu was speechless. Even lighting more lamps wouldn't help. But in this godforsaken era, there wasn't even a decent book. His brother-in-law brought over two books on crop cultivation and a booklet on pig farming, but Li Qingqiu glanced at them and wasn't very interested.

I should have bought some comic books. These days, there's no spiritual life at all. Nobody's going to be silly enough to show an outdoor movie on a snowy day, let alone tell stories. Uncle Fugui is probably hiding under the covers right now.

Sigh, Li Qingqiu didn't dare mention the radio at home, he was sure he would be scolded. His family didn't have industrial coupons, so not only could they not buy a radio, but Shi Lanhua would definitely not agree to buy one just because of the price.

"We still have to figure it out ourselves."

A radio would probably require two industrial coupons, which the fourth brother definitely has. However, he's saving up industrial coupons to buy a bicycle, so he can't get bicycle tickets and has to accumulate more industrial coupons. "I should be able to get some on the black market."

However, industrial coupons are quite expensive on the black market. After all, you only get one industrial coupon for a monthly salary of twenty yuan. It can be used to buy pots, pans, thermos flasks and other industrial products. Ordinary families don't have any extras.

It would be best to get a tin stove. Burning coal briquettes is out of the question, but some firewood will do. We can cook some hot meals from time to time. "Sigh, let's go to the educated youth settlement first." It was getting dark, but the snow made the area look bluish-white, so we could walk without a light.

"Li Qingqiu".

As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the educated youth settlement, Li Qingqiu almost peed his pants in fright. A woman's voice came from behind him. Damn it, and thinking about how Crazy Aunt had just died today, this guy was really trembling.

"you?"

Turning around, Li Qingqiu was speechless. Yin Yi was actually playing on the snowman slide, waving happily when she saw him coming. "It's already dark, why are you still playing?"

"Hehe, I'll be waiting for you."

Li Qingqiu slid down from the snowman. "You can see far from where you're standing. I saw you as soon as you came over, Li Qingqiu. Come inside quickly, I've cooked some meat for you."

"To be honest, I'm actually a little hungry."

Corn porridge is hardly filling; two bowls are barely enough to fill you up. The whole family is probably lying in bed with rumbling stomachs, starving. They're fine; they have strong immune systems and are used to hunger. But Li Qingqiu is different; he's a time traveler.

Physically, there might be some resistance, but mentally, there was absolutely no way to withstand hunger. Eat, eat heartily. "Have you all eaten?"

"Third Uncle, we're all full."

Neither Guo Zhaonan nor Yin Yi were aware of the need to go hungry or skip a meal. Only Xiao Hua was a little more sensible and knew not to eat too much, otherwise there wouldn't be enough food. "Alright, it's good to be full. By the way, I'll bring some new things over tomorrow."

As she spoke, she remembered and took out some wild pears she had packed. "I bought these at the commune today, but I forgot to take them out. They're fresh, crisp, sweet, and juicy. Each of us can eat a few, and we'll save the rest for tomorrow."

"Third Uncle, you're amazing! You even managed to buy pears on such a hot day."

Guo Zhaonan took a few and handed two to Xiaohua, who instinctively shrank back. "Xiaohua, eat, it's okay."

"Little Bai, have one too."

"noob?"

"Little piglet, my third uncle and I named him Li Xiaobai."

Li Qingqiu chuckled, both amused and exasperated. This girl was quite childlike. "Why not call her Jiang Xiaobai?"

"But Third Uncle, your surname is Li?"

Guo Zhaonan looked puzzled. What Jiang Xiaobai? What strange things was her uncle saying? "Okay, so he found me a pig son."

"Then I'll be the mother pig."

Yin Yi teased Li Xiaobai with a grin, but what she said sounded a little off. "How old are you to be a mother? Go away."

"snort."

Yin Yi snorted and continued playing with the little pig.

"Stop playing around, let's go, I'll help you haul the snow."

After eating pork and two multigrain pancakes, his stomach finally felt at ease and he was no longer hungry. He really admired the women who didn't eat to lose weight; they were incredibly awesome. Starvation is the most terrifying torture in the world, but these women could endure it all.

"It's snowing heavily."

"I just had a bowel movement this afternoon, and now there's a thick layer of pus again."

"I'm afraid we'll have to clean it again tonight."

"Zhao Nan, did you bring your alarm clock?"

"No, there's only one alarm clock at home," Guo Zhaonan shook her head.

"I brought one, but I didn't set the time. I have to go to the commune to set the time." Yin Yi did bring an alarm clock. Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "Maybe I can set an alarm clock when I come to the educated youth check-in point again."

I don't even know the time passing now, what time it is, I have no idea at all. I just look up at the sky and go to sleep.

The three of them took turns hauling the snow, and in no time they had cleared it almost completely. Li Qingqiu let the two of them go inside, and he cleaned up the snow himself, using the system's storage rack to move it to the side, 100 pounds at a time, piling it into a snow wall.

Sure enough, Li Qingqiu's eyes lit up. That's right, could he go into the mountains now? Clearing snow from the storage rack would be so convenient; he could clear a path right away. "Never mind, I'll think about it later. I don't want anyone to notice anything amiss."

After clearing the snow from the yard, Li Qingqiu greeted Yin Yi and told her to come over for breakfast the next day.

"I'll make you multigrain meat patties and millet porridge tomorrow."

"Okay, keep an eye on Xiaohua tonight, make sure she doesn't sneak out again. In this weather, if she really runs out, she'll probably freeze to death tomorrow." With this temperature, it's perfectly normal for people to freeze to death.

On the way back, we met a patrol team and chatted for a bit. The patrol team wasn't planning to sleep that night because the snow was too heavy, and they needed to check the snow accumulation on the roofs of every house. Also, some old houses were prone to collapse, and the patrol team was responsible for rescue operations.

Back in his cave, Li Qingqiu glanced at the snow fungus in the corner, which seemed to have grown a bit more, now pure white. "I can eat it tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it." He went to bed, but the blankets were freezing, so Li Qingqiu pulled his coat tightly over them.

"It's really cold."

This awful weather woke Li Qingqiu up in the middle of the night by his second brother, Li Qinghua. "Third brother, hurry up! The snow on the roof is too heavy. Clear it quickly, or it will damage the roof."

"Understood, Second Brother."

Li Qingqiu quickly put on his coat and cotton shoes, and got up to clean the roof. He worked on it several times throughout the night before he could finally get some peace. He even went to his grandparents' house, where Qingqun helped him remove the snow. The next morning, as soon as Li Qingqiu got up, he heard that several houses in the village had collapsed.

"Uncle Bachelor's house collapsed, Aunt Widow's shack collapsed, Jiang Mei's kitchen behind our house collapsed, and several outhouses were also crushed."

"Enough of that, Third Brother. The treasure hunting team is going to be turned into a patrol team, and you'll still be the deputy captain."

Li Qingzhu's words left Li Qingqiu completely bewildered. "The treasure hunting team has been changed into a patrol team? How come I didn't know about that?"

"As Uncle Fuyuan said, the patrol team didn't sleep all night yesterday and was too busy, so they merged our treasure hunting team into the patrol team."

"Does that mean we won't need to sleep at night?"

"Yes, but Uncle Fuyuan said they'll still give fifteen work points a day. Lots of people want to join, but they can't get in yet," Li Qingzhu said, sounding very happy. "I thought with this heavy snow, the treasure hunting team would disband, but it's great, they've been merged into the patrol team."

"What's so good about it?"

Li Qingqiu was speechless. "No, I have to talk to Uncle Fuyuan and tell him that the treasure hunting team should just disband..."

Upon arriving at the brigade headquarters, Li Qingzhu found Li Fuyuan and explained the situation.

"What? You don't want to join the patrol team?"

Li Fuyuan hadn't expected Li Qingqiu to be unwilling to do it, while everyone else was scrambling to do it. The snow was too heavy; they couldn't go into the mountains, making the treasure-hunting team completely unnecessary. "If you don't join the patrol team, you'll lose your work points."

"No work points, no work points."

Li Qingqiu really couldn't handle patrolling all night and hauling snow.

"Alright, fine. You'll continue as the deputy captain of the treasure hunt team, but the work points will be adjusted; you'll get six a day for now." Li Fuyuan sighed helplessly when he saw that Li Qingqiu really didn't intend to join the patrol team. "Go back and tell Qinghua to let him join the patrol team."

"Second brother, okay, I understand."

Back home, Li Qingqiu told Shi Lanhua about the patrol team.

"What?! You just cancelled a patrol team that's worth fifteen work points?"

Shi Lanhua exclaimed in surprise.

"Third brother, are you confused? That's fifteen work points a day! Who are the people who can join the patrol team? The children of brigade cadres, nephews and such. How could you turn it down?" Li Qinghua was practically beating his chest in frustration.

"Staying up all night is too tiring. I'm not in good health anymore, I can't do it."

"You...you."

Shi Lanhua sighed helplessly. This would be a great thing for other families, but this kid was unhappy about it and couldn't be bothered to do anything about it.

"Oh, right, I recommend my second brother. Second brother, Uncle Fuyuan wants you to register with the team."

"Me, joining the patrol team, fifteen work points?"

"Yes, join the patrol team, but I don't know the specific work points."

"His dad, hurry up and go ask at the team, don't just stand there." Lin Xiu said as she went into the house and grabbed a handful of red dates. "Third son, eat some dates, you're not feeling well, eat some dates to nourish yourself."