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

"These old women getting together is never good. Ignore them and eat first. Don't let their idle gossip ruin your good mood." As for the mission, we'll think about it later. We'll figure it out after we finish eating.

"It smells delicious, hot pot is the perfect match for a snowy day."

Li Qingqiu was eating with his mouth full of oil when there was a knock on the door.

"Who will come over now?"

Li Qingqiu muttered to himself, "The educated youth settlement is in a remote area. The nearest commune member is about two hundred meters away."

Who is it?

"Qingqiu?"

The voice sounded familiar. Li Qingqiu opened the door and saw Li Fuluo and Li Qingzhu, carrying baskets and wearing straw hats. Good heavens, these were peddlers!

"Uncle Fu Luo, what's with this celebration?"

"This is Xiaohua's family's food rations, just cleaned out." Li Fulu put down the carrying pole.

"So many?"

"Little Flower and her grandma."

"What is this? It smells so good!" Li Fuluo took off his straw hat and went into the house.

"Uncle Fu Luo, have you eaten? Would you like something?"

Li Qingqiu gave Yin Yi a wink as he spoke, and Yin Yi immediately grabbed a pair of chopsticks and handed them to Li Qingqiu.

"Never mind, there's already dinner at home."

Li Fulu swallowed hard. This kid really knows how to eat. Whatever he's making has such an overpowering aroma.

"Third Brother, what's this? It smells so good!"

Li Qingzhu wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. He had smelled the fragrance as soon as he entered the courtyard; it was incredibly strong.

"Yin Yi, cut some more meat."

The beef was almost gone, and there wasn't much left in the bowl, plus two more people arrived.

"Uncle Fu Luo, let's celebrate! Since you're already here, have something to eat before you leave."

"Never mind, never mind."

Li Fuluo said that, but he had already sat down. What was this burning food? It was bright red and smelled delicious. Li Qingzhu sat down with a smug look on his face.

"Come on, come on, let's eat meat."

There wasn't much left, just enough for one person with chopsticks. I also added some cabbage and potatoes. There was quite a lot of that stuff. Li Qingqiu, the fan, was a little reluctant to use it up, because it's not easy to get these things. Side dishes are always in short supply.

"It smells so good, Third Brother! What did you put here? It smells amazing!"

Li Qingzhu took a bite and almost swallowed his tongue. It was so fragrant, spicy, and oily. One bite, and it tasted like even dragon liver and phoenix marrow.

"How much oil should I use?"

"A little butter was added."

Li Qingqiu smiled and placed a piece of cabbage on Li Fuluo's plate. It was incredibly spicy; it was the first time Li Fuluo had ever eaten such spicy cabbage, and he kept slurping it up. "You really know how to eat," he said.

"If others see this, you'll probably have to do self-criticism."

"Oh, why?"

"Tell me, how much oil and seasoning did you use in this pot? This is hedonism, the behavior of a capitalist." Li Fulu ate the spicy potatoes. Even the potatoes tasted good. How much seasoning did this kid use?

"No, Uncle Fu Luo, I'm just a bit of a chatterbox. I promise, I bought everything here myself, bit by bit, and I didn't take advantage of the brigade at all." Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "Goodness, these days you really can't show off when you're eating well."

I thought this educated youth settlement was remote enough, and that no one usually came here, but I didn't expect it to be blocked.

"Alright, alright, at least it's me today. Just be more careful about what you eat and drink in the future."

Li Fuluo was, after all, a brigade cadre, and he had to say what needed to be said. However, since he had eaten someone's food, he was bound to offer advice and admonition.

"Uncle Fu Luo, I understand. Try this, it's a fresh mushroom."

"You're quite something, kid. How did you manage to get your hands on fresh mushrooms?"

Li Fulu looked surprised; this kid was quite capable. "Hmm, very fresh, not bad. What kind of mushroom?"

"Snow mushroom".

"Never heard of it."

Li Fuluo assumed that Li Qingqiu had gotten it from somewhere, never considering that Li Qingqiu might have cultivated the snow mushroom himself.

"Third Brother, some more mushrooms, please."

Li Qingqiu, a self-proclaimed glutton, reluctantly grabbed a handful of mushrooms and threw them into the pot.

"Alright, I should go back now. My family is waiting for me. Xiaohua, here's the remaining three yuan and fifty cents. Take it. The grain hasn't been weighed yet, but it's about three hundred jin, enough for you to eat." Li Fuluo glanced at the educated youth settlement.

"You need to clean up your house first. We'll discuss it again after the snow stops."

There were two houses; one had a collapsed wall, and the other had a collapsed roof. With the snow falling so heavily, the team couldn't fix the roof, so they had to leave it for now.

"Alright, I'm going back."

"Third Brother, I'm going back too."

Li Qingzhu quickly ate a bite of mushroom and hurriedly stood up. "Put the basket here for now, I'll take it to the brigade later."

"Uncle Fu Luo, I know. I'll make room for it and send it to the brigade later."

Li Qingqiu stood up and saw the two out of the yard. He went back into the house and looked at the four baskets. This was Xiaohua and her grandmother's food ration for half a year, about 300 jin. Among them, there were more than two baskets of dried sweet potatoes, about 100 to 200 jin.

There was some sorghum, cornmeal, and less than two pounds of rice; there was no wheat flour at all. Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "This food is really a mixed bag." "Let's pack it up and put it inside first."

"I'll find someone to sell the dried sweet potatoes later and exchange them for other grains."

Li Qingqiu reasoned that Xiaohua couldn't eat much by herself, so it would be better to switch to better quality food, which would be easier for the little one to digest. As for dried sweet potatoes, they were absolutely disgusting. Since transmigrating, Li Qingqiu hated dried sweet potatoes the most, as they were hard to swallow. Such food should not exist.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Xiaohua blocking the basket with her hands, Li Qingqiu was puzzled, but Yin Yi seemed to understand. "Xiaohua, do you not want to sell dried sweet potatoes?"

"Um."

"Dried sweet potatoes are particularly unpalatable."

Xiao Hua shook her head again. Fine, let's leave it for now. Anyway, it's not for me to eat. The little brat is quite stubborn. Li Qingqiu wanted to give him a few slaps, but she held back. Hitting a child is not a good thing, especially since his grandmother just died.

Whatever, Li Qingqiu didn't care anymore; he was still just a child himself.

"Eat meat, eat meat!"

After finishing the hotpot, Li Qingqiu patted his stomach comfortably, feeling relieved. He'd finally had a full meal; it wasn't easy these days, a decent meal was like a holiday. "Let's rest for a bit, then we'll get to work."

"drilling."

In the afternoon, Xianjing was also called over to drill holes. She drilled about forty holes in one afternoon and finally finished. "Alright, we'll plant the mycelium again first thing tomorrow morning." A small bowl of collected mycelium from the mature snow fungus should be enough.

It has to be said that snow fungus is really different from ordinary fungi. Whoever cultivates it like this is quite special. Li Qingqiu packed up and went home. The next morning, Li Qingqiu came over with Li Qingmei and Li Xianjing.

After a busy morning, they finally managed to plant the mycelium. They had planned to eat lunch at the educated youth settlement, but Li Qingmei and Li Xianjing felt a little embarrassed, since they were eating Yin Yi's rations.

"Alright then, Yin Yi, let's head back now."

Back home, Li Qingqiu tidied up the cave. "The snow has finally subsided a bit. If it had continued, our brigade might have been cut off from the outside world."

With snow a foot or two thick, a person can only walk a maximum of two miles in an hour, and can't even last for a few hours.

"The third brother is back. This afternoon, the brigade organized people to clear the snow from the roads."

Li Qinghua said in a low voice, "Someone specifically mentioned that you only collect work points and don't do any work. Uncle Fuyuan asked me to tell you not to forget to go over this afternoon."

"Understood."

"These old women can't stand seeing people having a peaceful time."

There's also the task of demonstrating immortal arts, which is quite perplexing for Li Qingqiu. He hasn't learned any special techniques. He could try the cultivation of spirit fungi, but there's also the beast taming technique for pig spirit beasts. However, this technique isn't very effective. The production team's pig farm only has a few piglets left, so it's not a good opportunity to demonstrate any skills.

Mushrooms are better; once the second generation matures, we can release some of the mushrooms to the public.

"Third Brother, dinner's ready."

"What kind of food?"

"Steamed cornbread, pickled vegetables, and stewed cabbage."

Forget it, I shouldn't have expected anything. This is already good enough. I thought I would get work points for clearing snow today. Li Qingqiu sighed. Yin Yi has spoiled him. He found the cornbread a bit hard to swallow and the stewed cabbage was just so-so because it didn't have much oil.

The little ones ate heartily, since there was something dry to eat. Li Qingqiu sighed, wondering if the snow would melt or be cleared away once the mushrooms were harvested, making it much easier to go to the commune.

In the afternoon, the snow around the brigade was cleared, and then more people were organized to clear a section of the road leading to the brigade.

"Several brigades need to work together to clear this road to the commune," Li Qingqiu inquired, and Uncle Fuluo explained the situation to him.

Li Qingqiu was so busy that he didn't have time to practice his "lazy eating method" and missed the sign-in, which he deeply regretted. On the third and fourth days, everyone was clearing the snow on the road to the commune. Several brigades, including Wangjiazhuang and Hanjia Gou, also contributed manpower.

In just two days, after clearing the snow, they went to the main road of the commune to continue the work. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. Li Qingqiu signed in in the field and received another two jin of pears.

"Huh, a meeting tonight?"

A major conference is being held, and everyone has to attend this time. Li Qingqiu was speechless. This was torture; going to a major conference in the freezing cold. "What kind of meeting is it now, to study quotations?"

"Criticism, self-criticism."

"A document issued by the commune."

Li Qingqiu overheard the comments about "criticizing zeros and empty promises" but didn't dare say anything. He knew about this stuff from his later years, having learned a bit about it when he took the civil service exam.

"Alright, let's go." He dared not run away this time.

In the school's large classroom, the Lijia'ao self-criticism meeting officially began, and Li Qingqiu saw himself looking for his shortcomings for the first time.

He was originally just there to watch the fun, but who knew that the first one to go on stage was Li Qingqiu? Damn it, Li Qingqiu was speechless. In the end, he had no choice but to go on stage and was about to speak when the group of old women in the audience started shouting.

"Lazy, ignorant, and prone to shirking responsibility..."

Li Qingqiu was dumbfounded; he had so many shortcomings that he couldn't remember them all at once.

"Forget it, I won't stoop to the level of these old women."

"No, I still have to say a few words. I admit I'm a bit lazy and good-for-nothing, but I won't admit to being ignorant and incompetent. I've been researching how to cultivate a new type of mushroom lately." Li Qingqiu thought to himself, for the sake of the mission, he probably couldn't keep the mushroom thing a secret any longer.

"What new mushrooms? Mushrooms can grow in this weather? What does that mean? It's just ignorance and incompetence."

"that is."

Well, who knew that Li Qingqiu's speech would be criticized even more harshly? Oh well, you'll see when the mushrooms are grown.

On the morning of the fifth day, before Li Qingqiu was even fully awake, there was a loud knocking on the door.

Who is it?

Li Qingqiu was a little annoyed that he wasn't allowed to sleep so early in the morning.

"Third Uncle, it's me, Zhao Nan. Something's happened, something really bad."

"Zhao Nan, what happened?"

Li Qingqiu quickly put on his coat and cotton shoes, and opened the door.

"Third Uncle, come with me to the educated youth settlement, and you'll understand."

"Zhao Nan, what's wrong?"

"Auntie, you should come too. You'll see when you get there."

Li Qingqiu and Li Qingmei exchanged a glance, somewhat speculating. Could it be that the mushroom hadn't grown? Li Qingqiu started to panic.

"Hurry, let's go take a look." The group of three jogged to the educated youth settlement. Li Qingqiu and Li Qingmei stopped as soon as they entered the main room. The male educated youth's bedroom was completely covered in white. "Ah, this...this room is full of mushrooms?"