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

"The shelf fell over. Don't let mushrooms cover the whole room. Quickly pick it up. This is all money. What's the point of selling it if it's all dirty?" Li Qingqiu said speechlessly after taking a look. This little girl is so inexperienced. How did the wooden shelf that was arranged perfectly fall over?

Li Qingqiu thought the room was really full of mushrooms, but it turned out the wooden frame had all collapsed. The ground was indeed covered with mushrooms, but the room was a bit of a stretch.

"Ah, okay."

Several people hurriedly picked up the mushroom stalks one by one. Each stalk usually weighed about four or five pounds of mushrooms, while some weighed about ten pounds. There were nearly fifty stalks, and the total amounted to three or four hundred pounds of mushrooms.

Saying it filled a room was an exaggeration, but saying it filled a bed was definitely not an exaggeration. Faced with a bed full of mushrooms, Li Qingmei, Guo Zhaonan, and Yin Yi swallowed hard. "It's only been a few days, and so many mushrooms have grown. Third Brother, you're amazing!"

"Third Uncle, did we really grow mushrooms?"

Guo Zhaonan could hardly believe that so many mushrooms were grown by digging holes, drilling holes, and filling them with mycelium a few days ago.

"That's right, we're the ones who made these mushrooms."

Li Qingqiu chuckled and pinched Guo Zhaonan's cheek. The girl had really been startled; the loud knocking on his door made him think something serious had happened. "Zhaonan, try it, is it still the same taste?"

"oh."

Seeing the shredded mushrooms Li Qingqiu handed her, Guo Zhaonan instinctively opened her mouth and ate them. "They're sweet, delicious."

"Then that's it, snow mushrooms, we've successfully grown them."

"I can hardly believe it, Third Brother, we really grew them, and they've grown so many."

"Yes, so many, this is a bit troublesome."

Li Qingqiu looked distressed. "This is not easy. If it were only ten or twenty pounds, I could just carry it to the food station and sell it. But if I carry several hundred pounds to the food station, I'm afraid I'll be asked all sorts of questions. Sigh."

"Sell, yes, how much do you need for all these mushrooms?"

"Yes, it weighs several hundred kilograms."

"Third Uncle, do you know how much mushrooms cost per pound?"

"It's snowing so heavily and so cold, and there aren't many vegetables to eat. If you went to the free market and saw such good snow mushrooms, and they tasted good, you probably wouldn't even dare to open your mouth for less than 50 cents, right?" Li Qingqiu looked at the group.

"Five cents a pound, there are three or four hundred pounds here, so that's a hundred or two hundred yuan?"

After Li Qingmei finished speaking, she stared blankly at the mushroom, dumbfounded. Guo Zhaonan was also stunned. "Two hundred yuan, two hundred yuan! My mom's monthly salary is twenty yuan, her annual salary?"

"Two hundred yuan, and it's only been a few days?"

Even Yin Yi's gaze towards Li Qingqiu changed. Although she didn't care much about money, two hundred yuan was still a lot. In less than five days, that's forty yuan a day.

"Third Brother, with so many mushrooms, won't we be accused of speculation?"

Li Qingmei trembled at the thought of the two hundred yuan, especially since her third brother had just been scolded yesterday, and now this two hundred yuan incident had caused a stir. Would this lead to problems?

Thinking of this, Li Qingmei immediately wanted to crush the mushrooms and bury them. Two hundred yuan was a lot of money, but if something happened to her third brother, she felt it was better to just not have it. Too much money, too scary, Li Qingmei's legs were a little weak at this moment.

"No way, Third Uncle, why don't we eat it ourselves?"

"How long will it take to eat all this?"

Li Qingqiu was both amused and exasperated. "At most, we can just say it's snow mushrooms we found while digging for winter bamboo shoots in the mountains. Who can say anything wrong with that? Mushrooms aren't trees, and bamboo belongs to the collective."

"Yeah, we just won't say we grew them ourselves."

Li Qingmei clapped her hands, saying that her third brother was the quickest-witted one.

"This doesn't have to be like this all the time."

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, if I don't mention that I planted it myself, how will I complete the task? Showing off my skills once will earn me one more point. If I teach all the members of the brigade, I could gain hundreds of points at once.

"Let's try planting the third generation later. Once it's stable, then we can let people know. It's not good if people are happy for nothing if it's not stable now."

"Yes, Third Brother, you're right. Although this batch has grown quite a bit, who knows if the next batch will grow?" Li Qingmei didn't doubt Li Qingqiu's words; these mushrooms were indeed growing too fast and too randomly.

Who knows if it will grow again next time? If we spread the word now and the other members of the brigade learn how to grow it and can't, they might cause trouble for Third Brother. It's better to keep it a secret for now.

"What about Mom and Dad?"

"Well, should we keep this from us for now?"

Li Qingqiu looked at the mushroom. "Let's wait until the third generation is stable before making a decision."

"Most importantly, if we tell Mom and Dad, we might not get any of these mushrooms. We need to have some savings on the side," Li Qingqiu observed Li Qingmei, who pondered for a moment before saying, "How about we sell some first and then tell Mom and Dad?"

As expected, his younger sister had her own agenda, which reassured Li Qingqiu considerably. "No problem. How about this, let's get some now. Going to the commune is too risky and there are too many people there. How about we try the county town? There are more officials there, their salaries are higher, and they like to eat something new."

Li Qingqiu thought to himself that Lishan Commune was definitely out of the question, as he might run into his fourth brother, his girlfriend, or other acquaintances. Lukou Commune was also out of the question, as he had to deal with his sister, brother-in-law, and others. The free market was only open every few days.

With such heavy snow now, it's unlikely the road will be open before the New Year. As for the patrol team in the county town, Li Qingqiu has a better understanding of the situation now. In addition, with the storage shelves, he'll put the mushrooms on them first.

He would take some out when he was selling them. Even if he got caught, a few pounds of mushrooms picked from the mountains wouldn't be considered speculation, at most a warning. With this in mind, Li Qingqiu became even more determined to go to the county town.

There might be a small black market in the county town where you could exchange for some industrial vouchers. Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "I'll get some industrial vouchers, buy a thermos, and a stove. If I have extra money, I'd like to get a radio."

It's so lonely these days, so Li Qingqiu plans to visit a bookstore in the county town to buy some books.

"Isn't the county town too dangerous? There must be a lot of patrols there."

"It's alright, I'll be careful and avoid crowded places. Besides, selling some mushrooms won't get me arrested." Li Qingqiu had made up his mind. He would go to Uncle Fuyuan later to get a letter of introduction, since his second aunt lived in the county town.

When visiting relatives, bringing some winter bamboo shoots wouldn't be excessive, right? As for whether you'll actually go, who knows?

"We didn't sell grain, so at least we're not engaging in speculation."

"Alright."

Li Qingmei didn't say anything more. Guo Zhaonan was just a child. Yin Yi wanted to go with her, but Li Qingqiu said that he would go and scout things out first, and they would talk about it later.

Yin Yi pouted; she actually really wanted to go to the county town, as she hadn't been to the department store in a long time.

Xiao Yan has returned to the county town and hasn't written a letter for many days...

"You guys keep picking them, I'm going to the brigade headquarters."

When Li Qingqiu arrived at the brigade headquarters, Li Fuyuan and Li Fuluo were both there. Upon seeing Li Qingqiu, they looked away somewhat. "Uncle Fuyuan, Uncle Fuluo, you're busy."

"Qingqiu is here."

"Please sit down."

Li Fuluo quickly invited Li Qingqiu to sit down and even poured him some tea.

"Uncle Fu Luo, you're too kind. Is there something you need?"

Li Qingqiu wasn't stupid; this situation definitely indicated something was wrong. Li Fuluo sighed. "Well, how should I put it? Some people say you're just occupying the title of deputy captain of the treasure hunting team without doing any work, and they even criticized me and your Uncle Fuyuan for making a mistake of prioritizing personal gain, saying that if this matter isn't resolved, they'll report it to the commune..."

"Who is it, Uncle Fu Luo? How can there be such a bad person among the crowd? Sigh, never mind, Uncle Fu Luo, Uncle Fu Yuan, I won't make things difficult for you. I quit being the treasure hunting team leader. As for the work points, I still have fifty work points from the previous reward. Give me ten days' worth, five work points a day. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

He didn't care too much about work points, but he had to accumulate work points every day in order to practice the Lazy Eater Technique.

"You little brat, fine, I'll call the shots here."

Li Fulu slammed his hand on the table. They felt that removing Li Qingqiu as the treasure-hunting team leader now was somewhat like discarding a used tool. "Once things calm down, you'll still be the deputy leader of the treasure-hunting team."

"It's alright, it's alright, I don't care about these empty titles."

Li Qingqiu waved his hand. "Uncle Fuyuan, Uncle Fuluo, I'd like to go into town to visit my second aunt and bring her some winter bamboo shoots. Could you please write me a letter of introduction?"

"It's no big deal, I'll write it for you right away."

A letter of introduction was no big deal; Li Fuyuan handled it without hesitation.

Li Qingqiu left the brigade headquarters with the letter of introduction, glancing at Aunt Liu and her group who happened to be passing by.

"What happened? Is the captain missing?"

"Sixth Aunt, did you report it?"

"I don't have time to report you. You're incompetent, who can you blame? If you were like that medicine-gathering machine, the old headhunter would have the skills, why would he be afraid of being talked about?" Aunt Liu curled her lip. "Incompetent, just collecting work points for nothing, who knows who might dislike you."

Li Qingqiu was unsure whether it was his sixth aunt who reported him, but the woman was highly suspicious.

"I'll show you my skills sooner or later."

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, putting aside the matter of the report, these women were definitely the source of the mission. These female cultivators must have talked a lot about him.

"What kind of skills are you using? Are you just being lazy and shirking your duties, or are you just indulging in food, drink, and entertainment?"

Wang Yulan scoffed. "You're really skilled. Weave a basket or hamper for everyone to see."

"How much can a basket or wicker basket be worth?"

Li Qingqiu really looked down on this craft. The baskets and hampers he made were too rough. He said he'd wait until he mastered weaving techniques and make some bamboo art pieces like those from later generations to broaden their horizons. "No time for your nonsense. I'm off to the county town."

"So, when you go to the county town, which relative's house are you going to freeload off?"

"Who else could it be but his second aunt? She probably just despises this unreliable relative."

"You two really have nothing better to do, huh? What's wrong with your men? You're so bored, your mouths are stinking like this?"

"You bastard..."

"A bunch of stupid old women... I'll get you sooner or later..."

Li Qingqiu was speechless. These old women were just looking for trouble. Sooner or later they'd blow up your outhouse. Li Qingqiu thought to himself that he would buy some firecrackers and throw a bunch at these old women when they went to the outhouse, and blast them to death with bedbugs.

With that thought in mind, Li Qingqiu didn't bother arguing with the others any longer. He quickly returned to the educated youth settlement, having already picked quite a few snow mushrooms. He picked some more as well, but mostly stuffed them onto the storage shelf. "That's about enough."

"Put a few winter bamboo shoots on top."

Li Qingqiu's letter of introduction said that he was delivering winter bamboo shoots, so he had to make a show of it. Fortunately, there were still some winter bamboo shoots at the educated youth settlement.

"Alright, little sister, go home and tell Mom I'm leaving right away." Li Qingqiu slung her basket over her shoulder. To be honest, this basket of mushrooms weighed about 40 to 50 pounds, and with the mushrooms she picked and put into the storage rack, it probably weighed about 60 to 70 pounds.

"Third Brother, drive carefully."

"Goodbye, Third Uncle."

"Li Qingqiu, don't fall."

"Okay, I'm leaving."

"Li Qingqiu, multigrain pancakes, eat them if you get hungry on the road."

Yin Yi stuffed a hot multigrain meat pie and a water bottle into Li Qingqiu's arms without hesitation, and carried the water bottle on her back.

After exiting the main road at Lijia'ao, Li Qingqiu secretly stuffed the mushrooms into the storage shelf.

With a relaxed pace, I walked and jogged all the way, arriving at the commune in just over an hour. However, my "lazy eating technique" hadn't been practiced for even two hours, so I didn't get to sign in at the steamed bun shop. "I won't go to the commune to find Lao Si yet; I'll just take the bus to the county town."

There are two buses a day to the county town, the earliest one at 9:30 am, and the price is 12 cents a trip, which is not cheap.

This thing is a big flatbed cart, it's okay to sit on, it's a bit bumpy, but thankfully it's pulled by mules, so the speed isn't very fast.

There were quite a few people on the bus. Li Qingqiu looked them over and saw that most of them were well-dressed, probably commune cadres or brigade cadres who were going to the county town on business. A few others were dressed similarly to Li Qingqiu.

"Oh, you're Li Qingqiu?"

Li Qingqiu had intended to rest against the cart floor, but unexpectedly someone called out to him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Han Guodong. Don't you remember me? We were classmates in junior high."

Li Qingqiu muttered, "I remember nothing." "Oh, it's you. Are you going to the county town...?"

"I'm working in the county now. I went home a couple of days ago, but then there was heavy snow, so I'm only going back today," Han Guodong said with a smile. "Li Qingqiu, how are you doing?"

Li Qingqiu muttered about working in the county town. Damn, this guy probably went to high school and got some opportunities. Looking at Han Guodong's cadre uniform, he realized it was a completely different world from his own patched-up clothes. "Damn, could it be that we didn't get along back then, and this is a slap in the face?"