Chapter 251

Thick noodle soup, as the name implies, means cooking noodles until they are soft and mushy, paired with the unique flavor of sesame leaves, crushed peanuts, chili oil, and the onion-flour-oil base underneath...

At this moment, a large, steaming, sticky bowl of it had everyone sweating and feeling completely satisfied.

The satisfaction brought by high starch and high calories is something those who haven't eaten it can't even imagine! Even as picky as Song Tan, she finished a full large bowl today.

Come to think of it, she has been back for over two months, and her picky eating habits have actually improved a bit.

Of course, compared to the minimum intake of the Old Song family, who start at two large bowls, this appetite is still not worth mentioning, but it is already a great improvement.

However, dinner was finished, and by 7:30, the new large light bulbs installed in the courtyard lit up again, and the village aunts came over one after another.

There was no help for it; there were truly too many white fungus harvested in the afternoon, and they couldn't be processed in a short while.

This stuff naturally needs to be dried as soon as possible, and since everyone wouldn't be sleeping this early anyway, they might as well work a two-hour night shift to earn some money and get things tidied up sooner.

Thus, Grandpa's courtyard was packed full at this moment.

A clean plastic film was spread on the ground, and large baskets of white fungus were dumped onto it. The aunts sat in a line on small stools next to the plastic film, each selecting the pile of white fungus in front of them, holding sharp little knives to quickly carve off the hard, dry fungal blocks and wood chips, as well as the yellowed, aged edges.

Everyone was used to farm work, and although they weren't very skilled at first, after working for about 10 minutes, their hands were already moving fast.

Before long, the white fungus on the film became less and less, while the baskets in front of them piled up higher and higher.

Once cleaned, the white fungus still needed to be washed and sorted before being spread flat on bamboo mats to dry.

It was late at night, and fearing dew, they even moved them inside the house. Even so, the entire courtyard already felt cramped and tense.

As for the scraps and fragments picked out by everyone, Seventh Great-Uncle and Seventh Great-Aunt had too many tasks every day and had no energy to sort through them carefully at this moment.

Aunt Lianhua was busy all day but refused to stop.

Even though Song Tan tried to persuade her to go back several times, she wouldn't listen at all. At this moment, she simply pushed her paralyzed mother-in-law over, and the two women placed a large basin in front of them, filled with the scraps and trimmings everyone had shaved off.

The old lady was elderly and her eyes were a bit dim, but with so many people in the courtyard, laughing and chatting as they came and went, she didn't feel lonely at all, and her entire mental state had improved by more than a notch.

At this moment, she and Aunt Lianhua were slowly sorting through the scraps in the basin in front of them, collecting the slightly usable trimmings on the side, washing them slightly, and still spreading them out to dry.

Aunt Lianhua couldn't bear to discard the ones that were truly unusable, so she whispered to ask Song Tan if she could take a bowl home when Song Tan was alone outside the courtyard.

Logically speaking, this stuff couldn't be sold or eaten, so giving it to Aunt Lianhua for free wasn't worth much.

But Song Tan was afraid of setting a precedent that might stir up other people's little thoughts, so she set a limit: "Alright, Aunt Lianhua, you can take two jin home!"

The trimmings were heavy and actually didn't have much texture, but they still had some nutritional value. Aunt Lianhua had tasted them before, and at this moment, she was overjoyed.

She whispered to her mother-in-law, and the two reminisced about the taste of the white fungus soup, their confidence growing even more, and they sat there sorting even more carefully.

By 10 o'clock at night, when everyone finished their work and took their wages home, Aunt Lianhua pushed her mother-in-law to say goodbye to Song Tan.

She opened the plastic bag she was carrying to show Song Tan: "I just showed Qiaoqiao, exactly two jin."

Song Tan was a bit stunned.

For no other reason than that Aunt Lianhua was overly honest; there wasn't even a single piece of crystal-white white fungus in the bag, only those yellowed, old, and hard trimmings.

Logically, what everyone shaved off included roots, but there were also many edge fragments! But how come...

She reached out to pull the bag down and went to check the small warehouse—

Sure enough!

She saw that on the bamboo mats stacked layer by layer on the shelves in the room, in addition to some complete white fungus of varying sizes, an extra layer of gauze was clearly spread on the top layer, and those fragments of white fungus, which couldn't be more broken, were spread out flat on top like a layer of crushed snowflakes.

This made Song Tan feel a bit uneasy in her heart.

It was true that she had increased Aunt Lianhua's wages, but 2,500 yuan a month wasn't much.

Although she brought her mother-in-law to eat, which wouldn't be allowed in a typical workplace, the mother-in-law hadn't been idle either; she had done whatever she could with her hands.

Now, without a word, she found a plastic bag from the side and directly filled it with a large handful of the white fungus fragments drying on the gauze.

Estimating it to be about two or three jin, she handed it to Aunt Lianhua:

"Auntie, you work so hard helping out at our place; our whole family keeps it in mind. It's just a bit of white fungus fragments, and you're making it so formal; I feel bad about it."

"Take it; you and Grandma have worked hard all your lives. My white fungus is very nourishing; stew a bowl at home every day to nourish your bodies, so you can help us for a long time."

She smiled: "My farm will be open for decades, and it wouldn't be easy to find an employee like you."

These words were so soothing and warm that Aunt Lianhua felt her heart fluttering, with an indescribable warmth surging within.

Even her paralyzed mother-in-law felt a shiver in her heart.

For decades, she, an old woman paralyzed for decades, had always felt she was a burden to her daughter-in-law, but she was too timid and hadn't dared to end it all...

Now, now, just by lending a hand, she could actually be of help!

She ate Song Tan's family's food every day, and now her complexion was very healthy, and she had strength in her hands; she knew the things at home were indeed nourishing.

At this moment, she felt even more embarrassed: "Why take such good things? Keep them to sell... Don't we eat enough at home every day? Just taking the trimmings home to soak and drink as water is fine."

As she said this, the trimmings were truly as broken as could be; even the ones in her hand were at most the size of a fingernail.

They were all picked out bit by bit with scissors, knives, and tweezers.

Even for these, Seventh Great-Uncle wouldn't have the patience to clean them for soup, yet this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could sit for two or three hours to pick them all clean.

Even in ancient times, people didn't pick bird's nests with such meticulousness!

These things, they deserved them.

The solar streetlights in the village were still bright at this moment, and the road back was flat and stable; the wheelchair made a lonely and solitary sound, which seemed exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

Aunt Lianhua took a deep breath: "Mom, the food and drink we have every day... I think we still need to work hard. Tomorrow, when the house is built, I won't ask for a raise; I'll just tidy up the house too."

They cherished the work at their doorstep and knew what was good.