Chapter Seventy-Five: Making a Fortune

  At noon, Mao's family asked Qizhen and her siblings to stay for lunch at Ye's house, but she refused. They had just made a scene in the morning, how could she stay? Besides, she was planning to take advantage of the rain in the afternoon to go up the mountain and pick some mushrooms.

  She borrowed a raincoat and a conical hat from the Mao family, and she and Hu Zi set off home together. She was small and only needed to wear the top half of it, and the conical hat was borrowed for Hu Zi's use.

  Just as lunch was ready, Qizhen heard a hurried knock at the door. She opened it to let in Ye Baizi, who was wearing a rain cape.

  Qizhen'er handed her a clean towel to wipe off the rainwater on her body and asked, "How come you came at this time? Have you eaten?"

  Ye Baiji said nonchalantly: "Nope, just came here to mooch off you for food."

  She rushed over in the rain at this time, and something unpleasant must have happened at home again. Qizhen didn't ask, greeted her and set the table, and they ate in the main room.

  "What are you going to do?" Ye Baiji asked after dinner, seeing Qi Zhen'er take out a backpack and raincoat.

  Qizhen'er sighed and said, "I'm going up the mountain to pick mushrooms. When it rains, the mushrooms in the mountains grow out, I'll go pick some to sell for money. Otherwise, how can I and Hu'er survive without any land?"

  Ye Baiji also thought so and said: "Then give me a basket, I'll go pick mushrooms too."

  Qī Zhēnér curiously looked at her and thought: Does big sister want to experience common people's life?

  "What are you looking at me for? Do you want to live and I don't?" Ye Baiji angrily said: "Now that Auntie is not helping us with the farm work, my dad doesn't care about anything, my mom doesn't understand anything, how can I make a living if I don't earn money?"

  It seems to be the same reason, Qizhen'er thought that she couldn't do it alone either. She had been thinking of finding Yebaiju anyway, and now it's just right, she can also ask for her opinion and find another helper.

  "Baizhi sister, do you want to make a lot of money?"

  "Make a lot of money?" Ye Baiji asked curiously. "How can you make a lot of money?"

  "I found a kind of fruit on the mountain. It's very precious, I think we can pick some and sell them, the price should be good. The workload is not heavy, let's take a look later and make plans." said Qi Zhen'er.

  Ye Baiji heard her words and didn't raise any objections, and even had some expectations. She always thought that Zhen'er was clever and capable, sometimes she even felt that Zhen'er was the older sister, while she herself was the younger sister being taken care of.

  Because of the idea of making a lot of money, Ye Baiji was even more anxious than Qi Zhener, and urged her siblings to hurry up.

  Hunting for mushrooms is something that Hu Zi has done before. Having lived in the mountains, he knows more about mushrooms than Bai Zhi.

  After the rain, the road was slippery and Qizhen and others were all wearing straw sandals. Although it wasn't very comfortable to wear them, they were better than going barefoot, at least not slipping back a step with every step forward. But Ye Baiji had no experience of hiking on rainy days, so her walk was quite perilous. As a result, Hu Zi's gaze towards her carried a hint of disdain.

  Qī Zhēn ér was afraid she would fall, so he walked carefully beside her. Following Yè Bái zhǐ's swaying, they had a few thrilling moments. However, once they climbed the mountain, things got much better.

  After the rain, the mountain is full of treasures, and these treasures are of course mushrooms. Under the green pine trees, there are many mushrooms. Qizhen loves to eat a kind of light plum-red mushroom, which tastes fresh and delicious. Huizi likes to eat shiitake mushrooms, but they are rare on the mountain. The most common ones are white mushrooms.

  Ye Baiji may have never had such an experience. She picked up a mushroom and got excited for half a day, shouting with joy.

  But when Hǔzi found that she had picked many colorful mushrooms, he also shouted. This shout was one of fright.

  "Sister, White Cicada Sister picked poisonous mushrooms." Hu Zi held up the mushrooms he took out of Ye Bai Ci's basket and shouted loudly.

  It's raining lightly now, and there are also some children on the mountain picking mushrooms. When they heard the tiger's roar, they all burst out laughing.

  Qī Zhēnér saw Yè Bái zhǐ's face turn red, thinking she would get angry, but instead she picked up the basket and asked: "I'm not familiar with mushrooms, which ones are poisonous and which ones aren't? Tell me."

  Zi Zhen'er thought to herself, recently she had indeed experienced many things, and Ye Baiju was slowly growing up. Smiling, she told her all about the mushroom knowledge she knew.

  When their baskets and hampers were all filled with mushrooms, and the others who had been picking mushrooms nearby also dispersed, Qizhen led Huzi into the mountains.

  She had a habit of picking fruits from those fruit trees, and there was a small mountain valley beside them. One time she wanted to see if there were any more fruit trees there, so she walked carefully to that place and found such a dense thicket of fruit trees.

  Looking at the red fruit under the green leaves in front of him, Huzi was shocked and fell to the ground, his face turned pale, muttering: "Snake fruit."

  Qī Zhēn ér saw Hǔ Zǐ fall down, and hurried over to pick him up. She gently patted him and comforted him, saying: "Don't be afraid, this isn't a snake fruit, it's a strawberry. It's edible, sweet strawberries."

  The tiger cub was still visibly shaken by the snake bite in the snake fruit thicket, and it wasn't until Qizhen comforted him for a while that he felt better, but his face was still deathly pale.

  Ye Baiji was also curious, wasn't this a snake fruit? Why did Zhen'er say it was a strawberry?

  Qī Zhēnér picked two strawberries and handed them to Yè Bái zhǐ and Hǔ Zǐ, letting them taste.

  Ye Bai Zhi scrunched up her face, as if she was eating poison, carefully putting it in her mouth and taking a small bite. As the sweetness of the red juice touched the tip of her tongue, her eyebrows relaxed, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.

  "It's really delicious." Ye Baiji praised.

  Hǔ zǐ yì zhí jǐn jǐn dīng zhe Yè Bái zhǐ, jiàn tā chī le shuō hǎo chī, cái fàng jìn zuǐ lǐ, yǎo le yī kǒu, xiǎo hái zi dōu xǐ huān zhè yàng tián tián de wèi dào, gèng hé kuò cǎo méi hái dài zhe dàn dàn de guǒ xiāng, nǎ lǐ hái zhēn fú bù liǎo Hǔ zǐ zhè ge xiǎo jiā huo ne?

  "Sister, it's really delicious, and it doesn't taste like snake fruit at all." Hu Zi's small eyes narrowed.

  "How about it? Can we make a deal? I guarantee this thing will make money."

  Ye Baiji had no business experience and didn't know what price to sell the fruit for, but she trusted Zhen'er. Zhen'er had never hidden her family's financial situation from her, even telling her that she was going to sell a kilogram of wild fruit for two silver coins, and Ye Baiji believed that Zhen'er could get a good price for the fruit.

  Besides, she remembered what Zhen'er said: things that don't cost money can be sold for any price and still make a profit. These strawberries are from the mountain, they didn't invest anything in them, so why not make this money? Moreover, she also knew that Zhen'er wanted to help her out, otherwise why would Zhen'er look for her?

  Then picked some ripe strawberries back to eat with Hu Zi, Qi Zhen and others went home carrying things.

  This thing can't be exposed yet, you know that the ones on the mountain are for everyone, anyone can go pick them. If others find out, how will they make a lot of money? There are too many people in the Ye family, if this strawberry is leaked by someone with a loose tongue, it's all over. Ye Baiju also knows this principle and didn't think of picking some to take back for her family to taste.

  "This thing still needs someone to help, that person must be familiar with things in the city, and also have strength, and a tight mouth, who do you think is suitable?" Qizhen'er asked Ye Baiju while discussing picking strawberries.

  Ye Baiji hesitated for a moment and tentatively mentioned a name, "What do you think of Lu Yuan?"

  Qī Zhēn'er had a stern face and didn't say anything, Yè Bái Jí thought she looked down on Yè Lù Yuǎn, so he hastily said: "Among the people I know, only he is more affable, and although he seems somewhat frivolous, his nature is actually good, and he's also discreet..."

  Ye Baiji wanted to say more good things about Ye Luyuan, but was interrupted by Qi Zhen'er, "I also like him."

  "Listen to me, Lu Yuan is really not bad, he..." Just as Ye Baiji was about to continue, she felt something was off and let out a sound of surprise. She lightly patted Qi Zhen'er on the back, "You little scamp, even teasing your sister."

  After fooling around for a while, Qi Zhen'er finally stopped Ye Baiji and said: "Alright, alright, let's talk about the proper business. You quickly go find Luoyuan Ge, see if he is willing to work with us together. If he is willing, bring him here, we will discuss it thoroughly."

  Ye Baiji nodded repeatedly as she listened, stood up and took her rain cape, preparing to head out. Just then, a knock at the door was heard, followed by Ye Luyuan's voice.

  The two of them looked at each other, and a smile flashed in their eyes.