Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 449 Mushrooms Covering the Mountain

Blue Moon put the iron pot back in its place and said, "Are you ready? If so, let's go. This is a rare opportunity!"

Xu Xiaoyan nodded, pulled her hat brim down, and put on her mask.

The two of them left the wooden house one after the other and walked up the hillside, stepping on the wet mud.

Blue Moon walked ahead, her steps quick and steady, her eyes constantly scanning the ground and tree trunks.

She walked slowly, but almost never stopped. Once her gaze fell on a spot, her feet would already be moving towards the next destination.

Xu Xiaoyan followed behind her and discovered that Lan Yue's mushroom-picking route was not random, but rather very methodical:

First, walk horizontally along the contour lines of the hillside to sweep away the fungal clusters at the same altitude, then climb up a bit and repeat the same operation.

This way you won't miss anything or repeat anything.

"There's some here!" Lan Yue squatted down, parted the leaves of a clump of ferns, and revealed a small patch of white pine fungus.

The largest umbrella-shaped canopy was already the size of a thumbprint, with its edges tightly closed.

She pinched the root with her fingertips, gently twisted and lifted, and the whole mushroom emerged intact from the soil, its roots covered with dark brown humus and some fine pine needles.

Xu Xiaoyan handed over the cloth bag, and Lan Yue put the mushrooms inside before continuing her search in the vicinity.

Sure enough, there were quite a few hidden under this small patch of pine trees, some hidden under the pine needles, with only a small section of white stalk showing.

Some grow in the crevices between tree roots and the ground, so you have to tilt your head to see them.

A few more blossoms emerged from beneath the thick layer of fallen leaves, creating small bulges under the withered leaves covering them; they were almost invisible unless you looked closely.

"The best ones are the ones covered by fallen leaves." Lan Yue carefully brushed aside the withered leaves with her hands, revealing a pure white pine mushroom underneath, its cap not yet fully open.

"It doesn't get old because it's not exposed to the light, and it's very tender. When I was little, my grandma said that this kind of mushroom is called 'muffled mushroom,' and it's ten times more fragrant than the ones that grow outside."

Xu Xiaoyan didn't speak, but she silently memorized every word Lan Yue said.

What kind of terrain is conducive to the growth of fungi? Under what kind of trees are the most fungi? What kind of fungi are considered "young"? What kind are already "old"?

This knowledge might be insignificant elsewhere, but here, on the mountain, in the days when they depend on this forest to support themselves, every single piece of it is essential for survival.

The two walked up the hillside, far away from the flat area where the cabin was located, and entered the depths of the forest where the pine trees were denser and the bushes were deeper.

The pine trees here are taller and thicker than those at the foot of the mountain, their canopies intertwined, completely blocking out the sky.

The air was filled with the smell of humus, damp but not unpleasant; instead, it had a deep, tranquil quality that only comes from deep in the mountains and forests.

There are many more mushrooms here, not just a few scattered clumps like yesterday, but patches of them.

Blue Moon's eyes were almost not enough to take it all in. She squatted down to pick one clump, then saw another clump next to her. As she reached for that clump, she found a few more flowers at her feet.

Her hands were busy, her fingernails were filled with dirt, and her fingers were stained black by fungal sap.

But she didn't care at all; the expression on her face changed from focused to an almost greedy excitement.

"Xiao Yan, look at this, a lilac mushroom!" Lan Yue held up a mushroom with a pale purple cap, her voice filled with the ecstatic joy of discovering a treasure.

"This is so rare! I only found one or two when I was a kid. The aroma of the soup you make from it can be smelled several rooms away!"

She carefully placed the lilac mushroom into a plastic bag, afraid of crushing it, and then buried herself in the pile of pine needles to continue searching.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't compete with her for the most densely populated area, but instead moved slightly to the side.

A clump of grayish-brown fungi was found nestled between the roots of an old pine tree and a rock.

Each flower is only as thick as an index finger, with a thin canopy, a grayish-brown color, and a ring of fine white down around the edge.

"Blue Moon, look at this, is it edible?"

Blue Moon leaned closer to take a look, and her eyes lit up again:

"This is also a good thing. It's called maitake mushroom, or chestnut mushroom. It's crunchy when stir-fried. Unlike wood ear mushrooms, this one is thinner and crispier, with a texture similar to crispy sausage."

As she spoke, she reached out to pick it, carefully avoiding breaking the cap. "This is rare; finding it is considered lucky."

The two of them searched in the woods for more than two hours.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't have as much knowledge about fungi as Lan Yue, but she had her own methods.

They specifically searched for areas that Blue Moon hadn't had time to explore, picking all the mushrooms within sight, regardless of whether they recognized them or not, and putting them in bags to be sorted later.

Anyway, Blue Moon recognizes the poisonous mushrooms, so we can just pick them out and throw them away.

Several plastic bags and two backpacks were quickly filled to more than half full.

She re-tied the bag and was about to call Xu Xiaoyan to go back when she suddenly heard voices coming from down the hillside.

It wasn't a conversation between one or two people, but rather several people talking at the same time.

The sounds were mixed together, making it impossible to understand what they were saying, but the excitement and eagerness could be felt even across half a hillside.

Xu Xiaoyan heard it too. She stopped what she was doing, listened for a while, then walked to the edge of the woods, parted the bushes, and looked down.

On the path below the hillside, seven or eight people were walking sparsely.

Some were carrying bamboo baskets, some were carrying plastic bags, and some were carrying buckets, climbing up the same route that Lan Yue had just taken to ascend the mountain.

She recognized the middle-aged man walking at the front; he was the one in the gray-blue raincoat from yesterday who had asked about the price of the mushroom soup but thought it was too expensive and didn't buy it.

Today he changed into an old work uniform, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and carried a large woven bag in his hand. He took long, fast strides, leaving the people behind him far behind.

"They found out too," Lan Yue said, squatting down next to Xu Xiaoyan, her voice low and filled with helplessness.

"That's normal, isn't it? Anyone who's a little observant can spot the mushrooms. It's not surprising that people are coming up the mountain to look for them at this time of year," Xu Xiaoyan said.

She turned her gaze away from the path and swept it across the distant hillside.

On the western hillside, along the southern ridge, and even on that distant mountain they hadn't visited yesterday, they could see scattered figures.

Some were alone, others in twos or threes, all with their heads down and backs bent, searching for something on the ground.

"It's not just those few," Xu Xiaoyan stood up, hugged the plastic bag, and patted the dirt off her knees. "Look over there, over there, and over there, there are people there too."

Lan Yue looked in the direction she was pointing, and her expression changed. Those more distant hills and higher slopes had already been taken by others before she even had a chance to scout them out.