Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 395 - 209: Wood Ear

Seeing his sister nod, Qingmu teased, "Then from now on, how about you deliver our family’s eggs to Xiatang Market?" The Zheng Family saved up their eggs for a few days before delivering them to the Qinghui Restaurant, which was a special favor Manager Mao did for them.

Juhua smiled but didn’t answer.

The three of them continued deeper into the woods. At this time of year, mushrooms were more plentiful under the trees.

Qingmu and Zhang Huai flanked Juhua, continuously sweeping the area with their sticks. She felt much safer, thinking, ’If a snake still manages to bite me after all this, then I guess I’m just hopelessly unlucky.’

As they walked, Juhua suddenly caught a sweet, floral scent on the air. The fragrance was intense, intoxicating, and almost overpowering. Looking up, she saw an unfamiliar tree covered in clusters of small white blossoms. The flowers themselves were tiny, but gathered together, they looked like single large blooms.

When Qingmu saw Juhua examining the tree, he said, "I think that’s a wild sugar chestnut tree. The flowers smell nice, but the fruit isn’t very tasty."

Zhang Huai noticed Juhua sniffing the air to catch the fragrance and asked, "Do you want me to pick some for you?"

Juhua shook her head. "They’re too fragrant. They’ll attract bees."

Zhang Huai said no more and took the lead, heading forward.

Suddenly, the scene before them opened up into a clearing with no trees. The green grass was full of mushrooms, some of them grayish-white.

When Zhang Huai saw Juhua eagerly rushing forward, he quickly pulled her back. "Hold on," he said. "Let your brother and I check the grass first. Thick patches like this are perfect hiding spots for snakes."

Juhua stopped in her tracks and asked them, "Why aren’t there any trees in this whole area? Were they all chopped down? Why didn’t they plant new ones?"

Qingmu said, "They weren’t cut down. I don’t know why, but this place has just always been treeless. Right, Huai Zi? We came here as kids, and it was already like this back then."

Zhang Huai kept his head down, carefully beating the clumps of grass as he answered, "Yup! That’s right. I remember there are a lot of wild berries up ahead. I even found some wild bird eggs there once."

Juhua picked mushrooms behind the two of them. When she heard Zhang Huai mention wild strawberries, she thought wistfully, ’It’s not the right season for wild strawberries. They don’t ripen until it’s time to plant the rice seedlings. Otherwise, we could have picked some to eat.’

The ground, saturated by the spring rains, was damp, and a layer of bright green moss covered the earth at the roots of the grass. The gray mushrooms growing out of this moss were especially sturdy and plump. Each one was perfectly intact and wouldn’t crumble at a touch.

The smooth caps of the mushrooms graded from light to dark, with a small depression in the center. They weren’t like the ones they’d picked earlier, which were domed in the middle like a hat.

Qingmu took the basket from his back and set it down. He started picking alongside Juhua, telling his sister, "My basket’s already full. We’ve never gathered this many before. It’s mostly because the rain was so good this time. We had a light drizzle for several days."

Juhua had been wandering through the woods for a good while and felt she’d had her fill of excitement. Having been at it for so long, she was getting tired, so she found a spot with thick grass and plopped down.

She took off her own basket and handed it to Qingmu. "It should be enough once this one’s full," she said. "We can come back in a couple of days for the next batch."

She glanced at Zhang Huai, whose large basket was already half full. The thought made her laugh. ’Before, I was the one scrambling to pick everything, so Qingmu and Huai Zi barely got any. Now that I’m tired, I’ll just let them pick the rest.’

Zhang Huai looked up, saw Juhua sitting and watching him, and asked curiously, "Why did you stop picking? These mushrooms are delicious. They’re my favorite."

Juhua said playfully, "I hogged so many earlier that I felt embarrassed. So, I’m letting you two pick now."

Hearing this, Qingmu glanced at his sister and smiled, pressing his lips together. He knew she was just tired.

Zhang Huai, none the wiser, said to Juhua, "Just keep picking. We haven’t even gone into that part of the woods over there. I bet there are a lot more in there. Sigh, we should’ve brought another basket."

Juhua burst out laughing.

Zhang Huai was confused. Then he saw that Qingmu was also smiling, and noticed Juhua still sitting there without moving. Realization dawned on him. "Oh, you’re tired."

Juhua grinned and said, "I’ve had my fun. You two can pick the rest."

Zhang Huai laughed for a moment, then asked with concern, "What is it? Are you too tired to walk?"

Juhua shook her head. "No, not at all. I’ve just been busy all this time without a break, so I wanted to rest for a bit."

Qingmu quickened his pace and said to Zhang Huai, "Hurry up, Huai Zi. Once we finish picking here, we’ll head down the mountain from the path ahead. Even if we find more, we have nowhere to put them."

Zhang Huai nodded. He and Qingmu quickly cleared the rest of the clearing. Then he shouldered Juhua’s basket, picked up the large basket with one hand, and said to Juhua, "Let’s go!"