Rejection
"Youth is indeed good; look at this spirit."
"Zhoulirang, how much winter wheat does your family plan to plant?" I noticed that you and your brothers have been digging a lot of mud these past few days, and today you even carried a hoe up here.
Lirang smiled and nodded. After entering the mountain, he did not look for Erliurang but went deeper with Manbao. The two pine trees stood near the edge of the deep forest, with almost no one around.
Some people saw Lirang and Manbao passing by but didn't pay much attention. At this time, everyone entering the mountain is either digging or picking tree leaves, so it is quite common.
Lirang looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he started hoeing about two feet away from the pine tree.
After hoeing about ten centimeters down, he didn't find anything. Carefully, he continued to dig inside.
He didn't use much force, carefully digging out the soil bit by bit, and then excavating the area outside. Not finding anything, he continued with this process.
Although this was cautious, it was a bit slow. He dug for a long time and was almost near the tree stump when he saw a layer of dark brown skin.
Excited, Lirang slowly dug beneath the skin layer.
In no time, he had dug out a fairly large area along half of the pine tree, although the Ganoderma underneath was not very large. It was deeply rooted, and part of it was tightly wrapped around the roots of the pine tree.
Lirang had heard that this plant was also a medicinal herb known as Fushen wood. Just by the name, Lirang felt that this part was more important than the Ganoderma.
Because the former had three characters, while the latter only had two, and the former even had a 'god' character in the middle.
So, Lirang became more gentle, realizing that this might be used for his wife and future child's clothing and food, so he had to be careful.
"Lirang, what are you doing?"
A sudden roar came from behind, startling Lirang almost to the ground. Manbao, who had been watching attentively, was also startled as she lacked Lirang's composure. She sat down on the ground and appeared as though she was on the verge of tears.
Upon hearing that Lirang had carried a hoe up the mountain but didn't come to help, Erliurang came to investigate. He paused for a moment, then immediately went up to comfort Manbao, "Manbao, did Erge scare you?"
Lirang didn't care about the Ganoderma in the pit anymore. He immediately turned around to comfort Manbao, saying, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Sige is here." "Did Erg scare you?" "I'll beat him up for you."
As he said that, Lirang nervously slapped Erliurang's shoulder and asked Manbao, "Are you still scared?"
Manbao: "...not scared."
The brothers breathed a sigh of relief. The memory of Manbao getting scared and having a fever due to Lirang's father scaring her last year was still vivid.
Erliurang rubbed his shoulder and glared at Lirang, then looked at the pit Lirang had dug, asking, "Why are you digging up the tree roots?"
Lirang smiled at him, whispering, "Erge, these aren't tree roots." Manbao said it's Ganoderma, a type of herb.
"Ganoderma?" Erliurang brightened up, looking at the thing in the pit. "Manbao, is this really Ganoderma? I remember this thing being white."
"It's white," Lirang also got excited, saying, "the flesh is white." Erge, have you seen Ganoderma before? Is this thing valuable?
Erliurang thought for a moment, "It should be valuable. I heard someone mention that women in affluent families enjoy using this herb in desserts, and it also has medicinal benefits."
Since it was something that could make money, Erliurang naturally didn't blame Lirang for not focusing on his usual work. So, he rolled up his sleeves and squatted down to help.
The two of them dug slowly downwards. After excavating the soil around the Ganoderma, they delicately detached it from the pine tree roots. When they saw the white flesh exposed, Erliurang was extremely happy.
Manbao wanted to fill the pit with mud and restore it to its original state. She thought, "Fungi seem to thrive in the same location." "If we replenish the soil, perhaps more will grow next year."
Erliurang and Lirang didn't completely understand, but they listened to Manbao. Filling the soil back was not difficult. Lirang even patted the pine stump and said, "Should we fertilize it? That way, it will grow faster."
Erliurang glanced at him, "You have plenty of fertilizer at home." Just gather some fallen leaves in this area and use them to fill the roots.
Erliurang put away the items and examined the roots of other trees, asking, "Is this item easy to locate?" Are there more here?
"There's another one over there." Both were found next to pine stumps. "I suspect we need to find pine stumps to locate them."
The brothers, along with Manbao, went to look for the other one. Erliurang pondered, "Pine stumps?" Does that mean we have to cut down the pine trees? And it's not certain that they will grow back. "We definitely can't cut down so many pine trees."
Erliurang suddenly thought of the Zongshan Mountains and lowered his voice, "Lirang, why don't you go to the Zongshan Mountains tomorrow?"
"That's what I was planning."
The two brothers looked at each other, understanding each other's thoughts.
Erliurang instructed, "Be careful and don't let the people from Dalicun see you." If anyone in the village asks, say you're looking for wild mushrooms. If you encounter someone from Dalicun, say the same thing.
Lirang agreed.
Manbao added, "Saying you're looking for wild mushrooms is not wrong; Ganoderma belongs to the fungi family."
Erliurang's eyes widened, "Those clumps that look like tree roots are fungi?"
Manbao nodded. Although she couldn't analyze its name scientifically, she was certain it belonged to the fungi family, which couldn't be incorrect.
Erliurang and Lirang fell silent for a long time. Eventually, the brothers couldn't help but sigh, "Reading books is truly useful."
Lirang whispered, "Erge, when we have money, should we send Da Tou and the others to study? They might become smarter."
Erliurang sighed, "Da Tou and Er Tou probably won't make it." Let's focus on San Tou and Si Tou; when they're a bit older, we can give it a try.
Even though Manbao did not teach them from textbooks every day, she would still assign them homework. They observed the children's learning progress.
With so many children in the family, including Zhoudalang and Zhouerlang, who were learning some characters from Manbao, it was the second daughter who learned the fastest. The eldest daughter was slightly behind, but still much better than Da Tou and Er Tou.
Da Tou and Er Tou were like two unresponsive wooden blocks, unable to remember many characters, even though Lirang's father could remember a lot. Manbao mentioned that children have better memory than adults and learn faster.
Even Lirang's father remembered things faster than the two children.
Erliurang sighed sadly.
He patted Lirang's shoulder and said, "Hurry up and have a child, raise them well; they might become smarter."
He added thoughtfully, "I should talk to your sister-in-law; we should have another son…"
Manbao, who had listened to the entire conversation, remained silent.