Picking Chestnuts

Mu Yuchen looked from distance at Liu family's members picking up mushrooms and scoffed. While he might not be an expert when it comes to knowing which mushrooms are which, he still follow Liu Xiaolan to pick them for some time and listened to what he can pick and what he can't

Even from a distance he could notice that some of the mushrooms they've picked were brightly red, a color that Liu Xiaolan told him many times to leave alone. It's likely that if someone ate one of these mushrooms he could get poisoned and die.

"Are they stupid or what? Picking them up without any knowledge, wouldn't they all die if they eat them…" Mu Yuchen muttered to himself.

It was truly a little puzzling to him, after all let's not say people from the city, but even common peasants wouldn't dare to eat things they haven't seen before. There are so many different plants, what if someone picked something new and it turned out to be poisonous?

And it's not like mushrooms are some new kind of plant that just started showing up in these mountains. They have been here for years and most villagers don't dare to touch them after one person who ate them died.

Just what was the Liu family doing?

Mu Yuchen waited for them to finish picking in this place and move away before he went back to picking chestnuts, picking up speed as he was doing it. His lady already told him that what he's picking now is going to be their income source for some time now, it's better if he can quickly fill up the sacks and go back before the Liu family comes back.

After all, what if the Liu family saw him picking up chestnuts while going back to their home? Wouldn't they try to copy them again and start picking chestnuts as well? There are quite a few chestnuts trees here, but the more he can pick up himself, the more his lady can earn money.

And from what he saw till now his lady likes her money very much, so he can't let anyone take away her way of earning money!

When Mu Yuchen went back with sacks full of chestnuts the Liu family was still in the mountains.

Upon hearing him saying that the Liu family was picking up mushrooms, Liu Xiaolan had a slight smile on her face. "Little fool, they don't want to eat mushrooms…"

Seeing the confused look on his face, she continued, "The Liu family was jealous since they saw me bring back some things from the city. They probably heard that I've sold some mushrooms in Shenyang and wanted to do the same, but they have no idea which ones are good and which ones aren't…"

"Selling the mushrooms they've picked? It would be good if they weren't chased down by angry customers then…" Liu Xiaolan thought about their miserable state once they start selling and laughed.

Let's not say that she herself had trouble finding a buyer for her mushrooms as a new person in the business, but even if they did find someone, wouldn't they need to check the goods?

Once their buyer saw that their mushrooms are poisonous, wouldn't he think that they tried to fool him? In worst case scenario, he might even think that they were trying to get him poisoned. In that case, wouldn't they be chased by the Yamen if he reported it?

Mu Yuchen heard what she said and was a little worried. "Lady sold mushrooms and they rushed to sell them as well. Wouldn't they try to sell chestnuts when lady does it?"

Liu Xiaolan thought about it and felt that it was true. With how greedy the Liu family was, it was completely possible for them to copy her again and try to steal her chestnuts business.

After all, chestnuts are a pretty low grade product and aren't too popular with people because of their bland taste, but almost everyone knows what they are and that it's possible to eat them.

Once the Liu family realizes that their golden business of selling mushrooms is actually a big failure, they might really swap to selling chestnuts…

"Little fool, I need to wait some time to collect needed materials before we can start selling anyway. Let's try to collect as much chestnuts as we can during this time…"

The good thing about chestnuts was that they are very easy to keep. Even if they are left lying on the ground outside they shouldn't get spoiled, so they might as well stash as many of them as they can while no other person in the village is interested in them…

Mu Yuchen smiled happily and said, "Lady can leave this to me. I promise to pick up enough chestnuts for lady to sell a long time!"

Seeing the foolish look on her little fool's face, Liu Xiaolan's mood was much better and she even laughed a little.

"Alright little fool, I will leave it to you…" She said as she shyly moved towards him and hugged him quietly.

Somehow she was a little used to being near him and it would make her calm down and feel safe. After she thought about it, it wasn't a bad feeling to be hugged by her little fool.

Mu Yuchen saw his little lady holding him on her own initiative and a bigger smile bloomed on his face. It seems that his persistence is slowly breaking down the wall around Liu Xiaolan and she started to respond to his feelings.

Thinking of her responding to his feelings, Mu Yuchen couldn't contain himself anymore and deepened the hug, looking down at his lady with affection.

Liu Xiaolan saw herself in his eyes and blushed a little, but she didn't try to get out of his hold this time. Instead, she closed her eyes and slowly put her head on Mu Yuchen's chest, letting herself enjoy this slight moment of tranquility.