Chapter 544

The night passed without incident, and in the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

Before the sky had even brightened, everyone except Wang An had already gotten up.

It was clear that their desire for gold was quite intense; if it weren't for the fact that working in the pitch black was inconvenient, these people would very likely have gotten up in the middle of the night.

For breakfast, they ate rice, and as for the side dish, it was oil cracklings and the pickled mustard greens that Mu Xueli had brought.

As for pickled mustard greens, many people might not know what they are.

This thing is actually dried pickled vegetables, made by curing mustard greens.

Because mustard greens have a spicy kick, they are also called spicy greens, and as for making pickled mustard greens, it is also a very simple matter.

Washing fresh mustard greens clean and then putting them into a vat to soak in salt water is the first step in curing pickled mustard greens.

After about two months, this thing is basically cured through; at this time, the mustard greens are called mustard pickles, or white pickles.

If you put them into a soy sauce vat, then they are the famous red pickles.

However, the soy sauce used to cure red pickles doesn't taste very good.

After the mustard greens are cured, they are put directly into a pot to be steamed—which is actually boiling.

However, when boiling the mustard pickles, if you add some seasonings, the resulting pickled mustard greens will be even more delicious.

For example, pork skin, large bones, soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, and so on.

Once the mustard greens are boiled until soft, to the point where a chopstick can pierce them easily, they can be taken out and left to dry.

Once the mustard pickles are dried, they are finished pickled mustard greens.

Someone might ask, can you not boil them? Can you just dry them directly? The answer is yes, but such finished pickled mustard greens, although edible, carry a stench of their own.

It is very similar to the smell of stinky tofu; if you insist on saying it has a fecal smell, that is also acceptable.

In any case, this smell is a pure stench, the kind that definitely doesn't contain any impurities.

The most badass thing about pickled mustard greens is that they have no shelf life; as long as they don't get wet or attract bugs, they can be kept for ten or twenty years and still be edible.

Eating rice mixed with oil cracklings and accompanied by pickled mustard greens—although this meal looks very simple, to tell the truth, this thing is simply a delicacy on earth! It tastes good no matter how you eat it, and the more you eat, the better it gets.

Therefore, after the full pot of rice was eaten clean by the group and the two foxes, everyone still felt a bit unsatisfied.

The reason for saying "and the two foxes" is that just as everyone was eating, that broken-tailed fox led its wife over again.

Stopping Wu Dong and the others from their idea of wanting to beat the two of them to death, Mu Xueli exercised his talent for storytelling and told the group about what happened with these two foxes yesterday.

It must be said that when Mu Xueli tells a story, it is always a bit exaggerated.

It's not wrong to say it's exaggerated, because if storytelling isn't a bit exaggerated, it won't give the listeners any desire, and they won't even want to listen.

Therefore, this led to Wu Dong and the others being completely taken in by Mu Xueli.

However, when these six people wanted to verify it with Wang An and the other two, they were met with nods of approval from them.

This shocked the six of them, mainly because the myths and legends circulating among the folk were actually happening right before their eyes; how could they not be surprised? With this, the six of them also accepted the existence of these two foxes.

Especially Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian, who actually won the approval of the mother fox, and they gave the mother fox a good petting.

It must be admitted that even if a fox is shedding, its fur is still very good to touch—soft and fluffy, and it feels so satisfying to touch.

After Wang An poured half a bowl of mixed rice for each fox, he stopped paying attention to them. After breakfast, just as everyone was about to set off, Wang An discovered that the broken-tailed fox hadn't left after eating, but was squatting there, quietly watching Wang An and the others.

When Wang An and the others walked toward the stone bamboo field, the broken-tailed fox still didn't return to its den, but followed behind the group like a dog.

Seeing this scene, even Feng Chengmin couldn't help but speak up:

"What does this fox want to do? Why is it clinging to us?"

Mu Xueli heard this and answered with a smile:

"It's probably because it ate our food and wants to help us work."

As soon as Mu Xueli finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter.

Although what Mu Xueli said was just a joke, what people never expected was that this joke actually became a golden prophecy.

Everyone was still the same as yesterday; except for Wang An, the other nine people all went to dig in the stone bamboo field.

And Wang An dragged his iron shovel, found a place where the river was slightly narrower, and hopped to the opposite bank.

Whether looking for gold nuggets or mineral veins, neither is an easy task, so one's footsteps must never stop.

At first, the broken-tailed fox didn't follow Wang An, but stayed in front of the others.

In fact, for people, animals are just something they might care about or notice when they are in the mood, but usually, they might not even glance at them.

So it was the same for everyone; after discussing a fox standing there watching for a few sentences, they went back to their own business, as no one had the interest to keep staring at a fox.

Besides, the matter of whether a fox is a "Great Immortal" is just a topic of conversation when bored; after all, no one has ever seen it with their own eyes.

After everyone finished digging their first pit and began happily picking out gold grains, they saw the broken-tailed fox observe for a while before quietly slipping away.

Although some people among the group saw the fox slip away, those who saw it didn't take it to heart; after all, this kind of thing really wasn't a big deal.

But the fox slipping away wasn't to return to its den, but to find Wang An.

After Wang An ran to the other side of the river, the trip wasn't in vain; more than an hour later, he dug a gold nugget out of a crack in the rocks by the shore.

This was also the third gold nugget Wang An had picked up since entering the mountains to pan for gold.

This gold nugget was only the size of an egg and didn't look like it had any special features, so its value would definitely be much lower than the previous two.

But as long as it is a gold nugget, it is definitely more valuable than pure gold of the same weight, so Wang An was still very happy.

Just as Wang An was examining this gold nugget with a face full of joy, the broken-tailed fox appeared in front of him.

You have to know that people, when they obtain a novel treasure, all want to find someone to show it off to, mainly to vent the joy in their hearts.

And when there is no one around, even if they see an ant, they want to show off to the ant.

Therefore, Wang An took the gold nugget and started showing it off to the broken-tailed fox.

While showing it off, he said to the broken-tailed fox:

"Look at this, this is the famous gold nugget, hahaha..."

(End of chapter)