Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 454 Sorting Service

"Big Brother" Lan Yue stood up, patted the mud off her hands, and pointed to the mushrooms in the basket on her back, showing them to him one by one:

"This one has already sprouted water, so it's not edible; this one is poisonous. Look at the white spots on its cap, that's called the death cap, eating it will kill you; this one..."

She picked through the mushrooms one by one, finally selecting about a third from the full basket and piling them on the stone table of the stall.

The mushrooms that were picked out were intact, with their caps not yet fully opened. They were firm to the touch and had a pleasant fragrance.

"These are edible, fresh, and of good quality," Lan Yue said, pointing to the pile of mushrooms. "They weigh about ten pounds. You can exchange them for a compressed biscuit at a rate of 9.5 pounds per piece."

"Brother, if you'd like, let's weigh it now, and I'll give you the cookies right away."

The man nodded. "Weigh it."

Blue Moon took out the old scales that she had rented from the trading post from the wooden house.

The steelyard is made of wood and the weight is made of iron. It's quite old, and the markings on the steelyard are worn and faded.

She put the selected mushrooms into a cloth bag, hung it on the scale hook, and held the scale weight in one hand while moving the weight in the other.

The scales rose and fell several times before finally balancing. She squinted at the markings.

"Eleven pounds and three ounces, and we can exchange nine and a half pounds for one compressed biscuit. If eleven pounds and three ounces can be exchanged for one biscuit, how do we calculate the price difference of one pound and eight ounces?" Lan Yue turned to look at Xu Xiaoyan.

Xu Xiaoyan was leaning against the door frame of the wooden house, watching all of this.

She walked over, took a compressed biscuit out of her pocket, and placed it on the stall.

He took the scale from Lan Yue, put a few small mushrooms on the scale pan, and adjusted it to 1.8 jin.

She put the mushrooms in a small bag and pushed it in front of the man along with the large biscuit.

"Take a biscuit and these mushrooms home with you," Xu Xiaoyan said softly, but clearly.

"Or you can just wait here and see if anyone comes from behind."

If anyone is a few pounds short of a piece, give them your two pounds, and you can all make up the difference and share the extra piece.

The man looked at the biscuit, then at the bag of mushrooms, paused for a few seconds, and then reached out and took both items.

"Okay," he said, stuffing the biscuits into his pocket, putting the bag of mushrooms into his basket, hoisting it on his back, and turning to leave.

Lan Yue watched his figure disappear around the bend in the road, let out a long breath, and turned to look at Xu Xiaoyan.

"Xiaoyan, what you just said about 'giving away two jin to others when they come later,' is that true? Can we really help them reach the minimum order amount?"

Xu Xiaoyan was putting the pile of discarded mushrooms into a bag, preparing to dump them on the hillside later.

Hearing Lan Yue's words, she raised her head and smiled slightly.

"Yes, we can. Everyone has their own difficulties. If they're a few pounds short and can't make up the difference, we can help them connect and let them discuss it themselves."

"Xiao Yan, you seem cold, but your heart is actually softer than anyone else's." Lan Yue put away the scale in the corner of the wooden house and dusted off her hands.

Xu Xiaoyan smiled but didn't reply.

The price of 9.5 jin for one compressed biscuit was even more attractive than Xu Xiaoyan had expected.

In the afternoon, five or six people arrived one after another.

They were all mushroom pickers who had just come down from the mountain; some carried baskets, some carried bags, and some carried them in the hem of their clothes.

Their first reaction upon seeing the sign was disbelief, but they were relieved to see that someone had successfully obtained the compressed biscuits.

By the end of the day, the stall had collected nearly 100 kilograms of fresh mushrooms. It wasn't much, but it was only the first day, and the news hadn't spread yet.

Xu Xiaoyan wasn't in a hurry. She knew that once those people went back and told the people around them about the news, even more people would come tomorrow.

The next day, before dawn, a line had already formed in front of the stall. They stood in front of the crooked cardboard sign, craning their necks to look inside.

When Lan Yue peeked out of the wooden house, she was startled.

"Xiao Yan!" Lan Yue called into the house in a low voice, her tone barely concealing her excitement, "People are coming! Quite a few!"

Xu Xiaoyan was packing dried goods behind the wooden house when she heard the shout. She wiped her hands and walked over unhurriedly.

She stood at the door of the wooden house, her gaze sweeping over the group of people. Instead of rushing out, she made some plans in her mind.

Yesterday was the first day of testing the waters. We accepted any food that was edible, fresh, and of good quality, regardless of the variety.

But starting today, we can't accept them like this anymore.

There are too many varieties of mushrooms. Some taste good and are recognized in the market, while others taste so-so and are not worth much when dried.

They're in the dried goods business, not doing charity; the mushrooms they collect need to be able to be sold later.

"We'll only accept those few that taste the best," she told Blue Moon. "Matsutake, green-headed mushroom, lilac mushroom, and maitake mushroom, just these four."

"We won't buy anything else, even if it's edible. I'm afraid it will just take up space and we won't be able to sell it for a good price later."

Blue Moon hesitated for a moment, "What if they come with other mushrooms on their backs? If we don't buy them, aren't we pushing away business?"

Xu Xiaoyan shook her head. "It's not about pushing business on them, we don't accept these, but we can help them out by picking out the poisonous ones and throwing them away, and letting them take the non-poisonous ones to the trading point to continue selling."

Lan Yue thought about it and felt it made sense, so she stood behind the stall.

Facing those expectant and tentative faces, he cleared his throat, flipped the cardboard sign over, added a few more lines of text on the back, and stuck it on top of the wooden stake.

The newly added text reads: "This stall only accepts: matsutake mushrooms, green-headed mushrooms, purple lilac mushrooms, and maitake mushrooms. Other varieties are not accepted, but we will also help you distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms."

The person at the very front of the line was a middle-aged woman who had come yesterday.

She brought over 20 kilograms of mushrooms yesterday, but 10 kilograms of edible ones were picked out and exchanged for a biscuit.

She came again today, her basket even fuller than yesterday, with mushrooms oozing out of the opening.

"Young lady," she said, putting her basket on the stall and panting, "I'm here again today. Look at these, how much can I collect?"

Lan Yue squatted down and rummaged through the basket. There were pine mushrooms and green-headed mushrooms, but there were more copper-green mushrooms and some other miscellaneous mushrooms that she couldn't name.

Following the rules Xu Xiaoyan had instructed her to pick out the pine mushrooms and green-headed mushrooms one by one and place them on the table on the left side of the stall.

Pick out the lilac mushrooms and maitake mushrooms separately and place them on the table on the right.

Pile the edible but unharvested fungi on the middle table.

Put the poisonous, old, or rotten mushrooms directly into a specially prepared waste bag.

The middle-aged woman squatted down beside her, watching intently as Lan Yue's hands rummaged through the mushrooms she had painstakingly picked.