Chapter 87

"Is the money enough on your side? I can give you another ten yuan." Li Dong said, taking out ten yuan and handing it to Han Weiguo.

"It's enough. We don't know how much goods there are yet. If it's more, I'll come back to you."

"Alright, let me know if it's not enough."

Li Dong took the bicycle, pushed it into the house, and locked it. He was about to go to work when he saw Wang Chunlan walking over with a basket.

"Auntie, what's up?"

"Yesterday, your uncle dug up a few mushroom heads in the mountains. Do you want to buy them?"

Mushroom heads, what are those? Li Dong muttered, leaning in to take a closer look. 'These are actually monkey head mushrooms. I really should remember better. When I went to pray, the specialty store was promoting these. They are one of the local specialties.'

"Sure, Auntie, are these things common in the mountains?"

Li Dong thought to himself, wild monkey head mushrooms, when dried, can sell for hundreds of yuan per kilogram. This is a good thing.

"There were some in previous years, but it hasn't rained for so many days this year, so I'm not sure."

Wang Chunlan glanced at Li Dong's scale, having already weighed them before coming.

"Three and a half kilograms, minus half a kilogram for the basket, that's three kilograms. I'll give you one yuan."

Fresh monkey head mushrooms, at thirty-three cents per kilogram, isn't cheap, but it's not expensive either.

"Alright, alright."

One yuan, that's enough to buy ten kilograms of grain, and enough salt to last half a year. Wang Chunlan thought about it and decided to talk to her husband. He's an experienced mountain man and good at finding mountain goods. In previous years, mountain goods weren't in short supply.

Everyone was busy working, earning work points, and earning food. Now, with Li Dong's relatives in the city buying mountain goods, three kilograms for one yuan, imagine how much ten or eight kilograms would be worth.

Her husband could probably find thirty to fifty kilograms. Thinking about it, Wang Chunlan felt a bit giddy. Ten or eight yuan, why wait? She ran back home with the basket.

"Old man."

Wang Chunlan pulled Han Guodong, who was about to go to work, and whispered, "Guess how much I sold the mushroom heads for?"

"How much? I mean, if they're not dried, would they buy them? Did they even take them?"

"Guess what, one yuan."

Wang Chunlan proudly showed the one yuan to Han Guodong, it was real money.

Han Guodong was stunned. "Really? They buy fresh ones and give one yuan?"

"Of course. I'm telling you, don't tell anyone. Go into the mountains and find more, earn ten or eight yuan, and you'll have a month's worth of food." Wang Chunlan whispered, afraid Han Guodong would boast about it. Her husband was good at everything except keeping his mouth shut.

"I know."

Han Guodong thought, this is a good thing. Although there aren't many mushroom heads this year, finding twenty to thirty kilograms would be easy, which would be ten or eight yuan. A strong laborer in the production team might earn only a few dozen yuan after a year of hard work.

For someone his age, earning thirty to forty yuan a year was normal. This year, even if they didn't have to pay for food, it would be a good year.

"Alright, I'm going to work. Don't tell anyone else."

Wang Chunlan rolled her eyes. She wasn't stupid and wouldn't tell others about the money-making opportunity.

The couple happily went to work, but Wang Chunhua didn't know that Han Guodong, in his excitement, blurted out everything.

"Really?"

"Oh, how can mushroom heads be so valuable?"

Li Dong was peeling corn with everyone else. It was harvest season for corn and sorghum, and everyone was busy. Li Dong was responsible for transporting the corn from the fields to the carts on the field ridges.

"Li Dong is here, ask him."

Everyone had just heard that Li Dong was buying fresh mushroom heads, three kilograms for one yuan. However, since Han Guodong had said it, they were a bit skeptical, as he liked to boast.

"Li Dong, Auntie has a question."

"What is it, Auntie?"

Li Dong finished loading the corn and was about to carry the basket. This job wasn't heavy, and he could rest a bit while going back and forth. Most importantly, no one was supervising him, as Uncle Guofu and Uncle Guobing were at the threshing ground.

"Did you buy mushroom heads from Uncle Guodong this morning?"

"Yes, I bought some."

"Really?"

Everyone gathered around. "Three kilograms for one yuan?"

"Yes, what's the problem?"

"Why are mushroom heads so expensive?"

"Right, usually dried mushrooms only cost twenty cents or so."

Li Dong smiled. "Mushroom heads are also called monkey head mushrooms. Foreigners, especially the Japanese, love to eat them. They are exported to earn foreign currency, so the price is higher than regular mushrooms."

"Oh, they can be exported."

"That makes sense."

Several women thought, they would definitely go into the mountains to look. Three kilograms for one yuan, fresh goods weigh more, and a large piece might weigh a kilogram or two. This is free money.

Li Dong didn't expect the excitement over monkey head mushrooms to grow so much. By noon, the whole village knew about it. Han Guodong was scolded by Wang Chunlan for boasting, and now the whole village knew.

Some people didn't even eat lunch and ran into the mountains. Surprisingly, a few found some.

"Did you really find them?"

Li Dong thought, Han Xiaohao's luck was incredible. Such a large monkey head mushroom was unheard of.

A monkey head mushroom larger than a basketball, Han Xiaohao had trouble holding it. What luck.

"Xiaohao, did you find this?"

There were indeed many monkey head mushrooms around, and many families found some, ranging from half a kilogram to two or three kilograms, but none were as large as a fist or a head.

However, when they entered Li Dong's yard, everyone's attention was drawn to the large monkey head mushroom Han Xiaohao was holding. They had never seen such a large one in their lives.

"I'll weigh it."

Li Dong took the large monkey head mushroom from Han Xiaohao. It was heavy, and when weighed, it was nearly four and a half kilograms. This was top-quality, as the larger the mushroom, the better the quality and the more effective the medicinal properties.

Li Dong calculated that such a large mushroom would be worth a lot in the future, possibly thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Compared to other monkey head mushrooms, which might sell for three or four hundred yuan per kilogram when dried, this one could sell for ten thousand yuan per kilogram when dried.

Four to five kilograms of fresh monkey head mushrooms would dry to about one kilogram. After some thought, Li Dong decided not to take advantage of the child and felt it would be wrong.

"I'll give you five yuan."

"Ah?"

"Five yuan."

Outside, Zhang Qiuju, who had heard the news, trembled. This child, why didn't he hide it? If his grandmother found out, would they get any of the money? Indeed, Li Chunhua rushed in, hugging Xiaohao and saying, "My dear grandson, you're so capable, Li Dong, five yuan, right?"

"Auntie, five yuan, and fifty cents as a reward for Xiaohao to buy candy."

Li Dong smiled. "I've never seen such a large monkey head mushroom before."

Everyone was envious. Li Dong had mentioned that larger mushrooms could sell for more, as foreigners preferred larger ones and were willing to pay several times the price. They regretted not finding larger ones.

The news of Han Xiaohao selling a super-large monkey head mushroom for five and a half yuan spread throughout the village in no time.

In the afternoon, when Li Dong was peeling corn, he noticed that most of the children were missing. Upon asking, he found out they had all gone into the mountains to look for monkey head mushrooms.

Especially amusing was that Han Weiqun, who had been talking about planting vegetables in the morning, had taken the afternoon off to take his six or seven children into the mountains. Li Dong was both amused and exasperated.

"Brother Li."

Han Weiguo pushed a cart over. "We're going into the mountains tonight. Are you coming, Brother Li?"

"You're going into the mountains too?"

Li Dong wondered if they were also looking for monkey head mushrooms. Upon asking, it turned out they were. Han Weiqun had just returned home after work and was already carrying a basket to go into the mountains.

"Li Dong, can you weigh this?"

"Not bad."

"Good, we went a bit further."

Li Dong weighed it and found it to be nearly six and a half kilograms, so he gave two yuan.

"Six and a half kilograms, minus the basket, two yuan."

"Alright, I'll go back now."

"Wait, Brother Weiqun, I'll bring the vegetable seeds over later."

"No problem, whenever you bring them is fine."

Han Weijun, holding the two yuan, was already thinking about going into the mountains to find more monkey head mushrooms. Two yuan a day, sixty yuan a month, and at nine cents and six per kilogram for grain, even if they didn't have enough grain, they wouldn't starve.

Li Dong noticed that Han Weiqun wasn't listening to him. In the morning, before work, Han Guofu had mentioned planting vegetables, but when asked, only a few of the thirty or so households in the village were interested. Most were planning to plant grain.

Corn, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, and sweet potatoes. Vegetables were only planted in small plots for personal consumption, as food was the priority.

Han Weiqun was the first to strongly support planting vegetables, which Li Dong found touching. In the end, only a few households, including Han Weiqun, Li Dong, and Han Guofu, decided to plant vegetables, while the rest stuck to planting grain.

There was no way around it. In those days, everyone prioritized food. Who knew that Han Weiqun's mind would change so quickly?

"Hope there are more monkey head mushrooms in the mountains."

Unfortunately, Li Dong couldn't control the mountains or the land. The further into the mountains, the fewer monkey head mushrooms there were. In the areas where people were active, there were slightly more.

"Maybe the animals in the mountains ate them?"

"Who knows?"

In the past few days, Li Dong had collected nearly three hundred kilograms of monkey head mushrooms, including those from Han Village, Bi Village, Gao Village, and Zhang Village. Han Weiguo, Han Weidong, and Han Weichao's girlfriends were from these villages.

He also collected over a hundred kilograms of wild Solomon's seal, over thirty kilograms of polygonum, and various wild chickens and rabbits, spending about two hundred yuan. If not for selling the alarm clock, his pockets would have been empty.

"All good stuff."

Li Dong was pleased. He planned to keep some of the best Solomon's seal and polygonum, process the rest, and send them to the acquisition station.

"Will ride into the city tomorrow to check the situation."

Secretary Wan had come down from the provincial capital, indicating that he had won. The discussion on the criteria of truth was over, and Secretary Wan was a reformer. The situation in the city was likely stabilizing.

Besides dealing with food, other things might be relaxed. Of course, Li Dong planned to see it for himself.

Before Li Dong could go, Huang Shengnan arrived on a half-old bicycle.

"Auntie."

"Huang Shengnan, why are you here?"

"I came to tell you that the people accused of speculation have been released. The city acquisition station is now signing contracts with suburban farmers to buy vegetables directly. Farmers from other areas can also sell their excess vegetables to the acquisition station, but at eighty percent of the price for suburban farmers." Huang Shengnan said.