Chapter 149: Continuous Rain and the Unlucky Days After

Lin Heng held Xiaoxia as the three of them walked to the courtyard gate, from where they could clearly see the area where the mudslide blocked the river. Next door, his elder brother and sister-in-law had also come out to check the situation, and some villagers had taken umbrellas and gone to the road to have a look.

“Looks like the riverbank is about to break,” Lin Heng said, gazing into the distance.

From afar, the river water was already level with the bank formed by the mudslide. Water was spilling out from both sides, and it seemed the final straw before a breach.

“Dad, what’s that?” Xiaoxia asked with wide, curious eyes.

“That’s a disaster. It’s very dangerous,” Lin Heng replied, holding his daughter close as the rain and wind still roared around them.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a large gap appeared under the force of the rushing water, quickly widening. In an instant, the piled-up rocks, soil, and trees were swept away by the furious river, a three-to-four-meter-high wall of water raging downstream like a golden dragon.

Everything in its path was mercilessly destroyed.

“The terraced field is gone! Your grandpa and great-grandpa had painstakingly built those stone terraces stone by stone,” Lin’s father said with a sigh, helplessly watching the river wash away the stone walls of their family’s riverside field, everything swallowed up by the rushing water.

Though Hongfeng Village is a small basin, it’s not flat land; the slopes on both sides of the river are gentle, and many stone terraces were carefully built by the older generation.

Many others shared the same grief and anger—some stood on the road slapping their thighs and shouting in frustration.

As the flood subsided somewhat downstream, the water still surged but was far less fierce than before.

The land washed away was gone, and the riverbed had noticeably widened.

“I’m going back,” Lin’s father said, shaking his head and walking back in low spirits.

Lin Heng also took his wife and child back inside. It was already past two o’clock. He brewed some tea, took a few sips, then picked up a book to read out of boredom.

Xiulan was doing needlework, and Xiaoxia sat on a small mattress holding Jinbao, occasionally interrupting Lin Heng with questions.

Lin Heng looked at her helplessly and tried to explain, but he was reading a classic work—completely over her head.

After a while, Lin Heng gave up and started reading her a storybook instead.

Around six in the evening, Lin’s mother brought over a pot of pork leg stewed with Chinese yam, chestnuts, and codonopsis root, along with a few rice cakes.

“Your sister probably won’t make it home today,” Lin’s mother said with some worry as she placed the pork on the table.

“I already told Caiyun. If it rains, she’ll rest at the shop. I put some blankets there, Mom, don’t worry,” Lin Heng said with a smile to reassure her.

Lin’s mother nodded and looked at Xiulan: “Xiulan, stop dragging your shoe soles and come eat the pork before it gets cold.”

“Grandma, I want meat!” Xiaoxia had already climbed into her grandmother’s arms.

“All right.”

Xiulan put down her needlework, went to the kitchen for chopsticks and bowls, and they started eating.

“Mom, you eat too. Don’t just feed Xiaoxia,” Lin Heng said, watching his mother.

“I ate with your dad in the room before bringing this out to you,” Lin’s mother shook her head, saying she wasn’t hungry.

After feeding Xiaoxia some yam, she added, “The village chief is back. Apparently, the biggest loss was at Li Zijian’s house down by the river. They built their pigpen right at the riverbank, and this time the flood was so strong it washed away two hundred pounds of pigs.”

“That’s awful. They’ll be slaughtering pigs soon,” Xiulan said sympathetically.

In the countryside, the only meat you get all year comes from your own pigs. Losing such a big pig means the Li family will struggle for meat all year—and their New Year feast will be ruined.

“I bet Baima Village suffered even more damage. That place is flatter, and many houses are built right next to the river,” Lin Heng shook his head.

Floods are a common disaster these days.

Everyone fell silent. No matter whose hardship it was, it was sad.

“I’m heading back first. Take your time eating,” Lin’s mother said after a short chat. Seeing the rain intensify again, she quickly left.

After dinner, Lin Heng braved the rain to feed the chickens and ducks, collecting three chicken eggs and two duck eggs.

Lin’s father had already fed Hongzao, so Lin Heng didn’t have to worry.

That night, after boiling eggs for Xiaoxia, Lin Heng and Xiulan finished the pork leg brought by Lin’s mother.

Once Xiaoxia was asleep, Lin Heng and his wife discussed some philosophical thoughts.

Gentle women are like water—irresistible; eating a big steamed bun wrapped in paper causes a dizzy kind of delight.

Truly like a red candle burning peonies, tears flowing like rivers.

Xiulan tossed the bedsheet onto the chair by the bed and lay sweetly on Lin Heng’s chest, falling asleep.

On the 6th, the two woke up from their dreams; the rain still hadn’t stopped.

Xiulan curled up like a little cat on Lin Heng’s chest, boredly watching the rain outside, ignoring that they were both still naked under the covers.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Lin Heng looked at his wife.

Xiulan glanced at him: “What? You think I got fat and am crushing you?”

Lin Heng gave her a look and gave in, letting her lie there, thinking of it as a test of his willpower.

Xiulan snorted lightly, showing a hint of a smug smile.

After a while, they got dressed and went to check on the leopard skin.

After all these days of tanning, it had transformed from leopard skin into leather.

“Now we just need to wash it clean and hang it to dry,” Xiulan said, looking at the hide.

“I’ll do it. You go make breakfast—I’m a bit hungry,” Lin Heng said.

“Okay,” Xiulan nodded.

They washed their faces, brushed their teeth with tooth powder, and then got busy with their tasks.

Today’s rain was much lighter than the past few days—just a drizzle—but still no sign of clearing.

Lin Heng scrubbed the leopard skin several times. Now it felt as soft as a towel.

After washing, he soaked it in clean water and waited until after breakfast to take it out and hang it under the eaves to dry.

Originally, Lin’s father had arranged for someone to inspect it today, but with the rain still falling, they had to postpone.

Bored at home and with the rain easing, Lin Heng put on his raincoat, grabbed his hat, bow, and slingshot, and went out for a walk.

After searching all around the village, Lin Heng didn’t see a single one. On the way home, he noticed a few green hornbills chirping noisily right in front of the door. He grabbed his slingshot and shot one, then found and killed another nearby.

Looking toward the back mountain, thick fog was everywhere, so he figured there wasn’t much hope and decided to just go home and roast the two green hornbills.

For lunch, he had his wife make some potato pancakes to pass the time.

With half the day left, he pulled out a deck of playing cards and called over his elder brother and sister-in-law to play.

On the 7th, Lin Heng was already deeply fed up with the rain. He finally took out the fish trap mesh he hadn’t gotten around to using, fashioned a frame out of wire, and stretched the net over it.

In the afternoon, the leopard skin had dried. Lin Heng took it down and hand-tanned it until it became as soft as a towel. That meant the tanning was done.

Xiulan examined it and said, “Let’s make two pairs of gloves. There isn’t enough to make a jacket.”

“Sure, just make whatever you want,” Lin Heng shrugged.

That night, the rain stopped.

Early on the 8th, with no more rain and golden sunlight rising in the east, Lin Heng couldn’t help but let out a long shout to the sky.

“Thank God, it’s finally sunny!”

He felt like the whole world had become beautiful again.

“Wow, the sun is out!!” Xiaoxia cheered happily. She hadn’t been outside to play in so long and really missed it.

They pulled out a stool and the three of them sat under the eaves soaking up the sun.

Only when their whole bodies were warm and the dampness had completely disappeared did they go inside to cook.

In this rural village without electricity, continuous rain is like being imprisoned for farmers.

Lin Heng had been able to read for a couple of days early on, then during the worst of it just wanted to barbecue, and by the end he was so irritable he didn’t want to do anything—not even eat.

While his wife cooked, Lin Heng took out all the incense powders he’d made earlier.

He set up three bowls—one with pine resin, one with calamus incense powder, and one with mugwort powder.

He mixed each with nanmu wood glue powder and water, stirring until it was like dough. The nanmu powder has natural tree gum and makes the best adhesive.

Once mixed, he shaped them by hand into thumb-sized cones for incense, then laid them out in the sun to dry.

Lin Heng preferred single scents like these, not the mixed, alchemy-style incense that combines various ingredients.

For breakfast, Xiulan made rice with stir-fried sour long beans and braised eggplant.

Lin Heng happily ate two big bowls.

After eating, Xiulan looked at him and asked, “Want to go pick mushrooms?”

Lin Heng shook his head, “No, the ground is too wet today, and after so many days of rain, the mushrooms are probably already rotten. Better to wait a couple of days until the ground dries and a fresh batch appears, then we’ll go up the mountain.”

“That makes sense. We probably can’t do much today anyway. I’ll wash the clothes,” Xiulan nodded.

After the meal, Xiulan bathed Hongzao inside since outside was all mud and not suitable for playing.

Lin Heng fed Hongzao, then rode it out to check conditions. Several places had collapsed along the way, but the road was still barely passable.

Baima Village was worse off—he saw houses destroyed by the flood.

He asked around and heard two people had been swept away by the water, which made Lin Heng fall silent.

Huangtan Town was still unreachable—the water was still too high to cross the river. Probably would have to wait until tomorrow for it to recede.

The next morning, after seven days in town, Caiyun and Liu Ciwen returned together.

Everyone at home had been terribly worried; seeing her safe finally put their minds at ease.

“Caiyun, since you’re fine, after eating, help take care of Xiaoxia. She’s been missing you a lot,” Lin Heng smiled at his sister.

Caiyun pouted and rolled her eyes. “Second brother, you’re really not polite at all.”

Lin Heng laughed, “That’s natural. Besides us, you’re the only one Xiaoxia won’t cry for.”

“Then I’m having a good meal at your place today,” Caiyun said without hesitation, told their parents, and then followed Lin Heng out.

Dinner at Lin Heng’s house was naturally good—rice topped with minced pork and sour long beans that made Caiyun practically drool.

After eating, she took Xiaoxia out to play on the road. Xiaoxia wanted to run around, just like Xiongba; going days without a walk made her gloomy.

“Okay, our targets today are just two: Matsutake mushrooms and black truffles, plus lion’s mane mushrooms,” Lin Heng said, shouldering his basket and looking at his wife.

“Got it!” Xiulan nodded, gathering her things to join him up the mountain.

“Woof woof!!”

Xiongba, who had been home for a long time, raced around wildly, excited beyond measure.

After a short while, Xiulan found a lingzhi mushroom and was surprised, “Good luck today—a great start!”

“I found one too,” Lin Heng said with a smile, holding a small lingzhi.

They crossed mountains and hills toward an older pine forest, passing many mushrooms along the way—yellow umbrella mushrooms, broom mushrooms, oyster mushrooms—but most were fragile and rotted at the slightest touch.

The best mushrooms to pick are those after just two or three days of light to moderate rain. More than three days, and most mushrooms rot.

By 11 a.m., they reached a pine forest even farther than last time’s black truffle spot, about five or six kilometers from home.

These two mountains were full of large pine trees—Korean pine, black pine, and Masson pine—with very few visitors.

“So many pine mushrooms, but unfortunately, all rotten,” Xiulan said, picking up a few pretty Lactarius mushrooms and breaking them open to find them infested with worms.

“Woof woof~~”

Xiongba barked nearby.

“Something’s up?”

Lin Heng and Xiulan exchanged a glance and headed over.

Xiulan happily said, “It’s morel mushrooms! Let’s see if they’re rotten.”

Morels are excellent mushrooms—at least good dried and used for soup.

“Not bad, barely rotten—should be freshly grown,” Lin Heng picked two and put them in the basket.

They kept searching; most Lactarius mushrooms were unusable, nine out of ten rotten.

By noon, Lin Heng had collected eight chicken egg mushrooms weighing about two pounds and three pounds of morels. They hadn’t found any Matsutake or black truffles yet.

“Honey, I found a Matsutake mushroom!” Xiulan suddenly cheered.

“Finally found one,” Lin Heng smiled.

Lin Heng came over and took a look. These Matsutake mushrooms all seemed a bit old. When he dug them up, a few were indeed infested with worms, but since they were Matsutake mushrooms, the two decided to just cut away the worm-eaten parts.

After gathering this batch of Matsutake mushrooms, they had lunch. In the afternoon, they only managed to pick about five pounds of morels and two pounds of Matsutake mushrooms.

They didn’t find a single trace of black truffles, let alone pick any.

“What a failure,” Lin Heng said, shaking his head in disappointment as he looked at the contents of the basket on the way home.

Xiulan glanced at him: “You’re just being greedy. Anyone else would be thrilled to have this many good mushrooms.”

“Haha, well, at least we have Xiongba,” Lin Heng laughed.

But what he didn’t expect was that the next day—even with Xiongba’s help—they came back empty-handed.

The whole day they only managed less than ten pounds of Lactarius mushrooms, and the only good mushroom was a single lion’s mane.

“Wife, hold my basket, I’m going to gather some firewood,” Lin Heng said, dropping the basket on the mountain behind the house and went to collect a bundle of dry wood.

Just as he was about to head back with the firewood, Wang Jin, a local beekeeper, came down the mountain and smiled at Lin Heng: “Looks like you didn’t get much today, huh? Already gathering firewood?”

Lin Heng didn’t want to bother with him and just replied, “Yeah, didn’t find anything.”

“Hehe, I picked quite a few lion’s mane mushrooms today, not bad, right?” Wang Jin opened his bag with a smirk, showing off.

“Just so-so, not that many,” Lin Heng said flatly, feeling it was a blatant provocation.

Wang Jin was very displeased. He had been trying to be friendly, yet Lin Heng’s attitude was so cold.

He immediately took his things and left, deliberately shouting from afar, “Don’t be so full of yourself with your filthy money—you’ll blow it all sooner or later!”

Lin Heng was taken aback and shook his head with a smile: “This guy really is funny.”

He just didn’t play along, and the guy got embarrassed and started cursing.

“He’s the biggest show-off himself,” Xiulan said, speechless. “Every time we passed his place before, he loved to brag.”

“Let’s go back,” Lin Heng shook his head, hoisting the firewood and walking down the mountain.

Back home, Lin Heng put down the firewood and asked Xiulan to wash the Lactarius mushrooms that evening—half would be fried, half stir-fried.

Fried mushrooms are a common dish in rural homes, coated in flour and egg, then fried until crispy and fragrant.

Eating them is a perfect mix of crispy outside and soft inside—a top-tier rural snack. Xiaoxia sat on a stool and finished a small bowl in one go.

“Are you going back up the mountain tomorrow?” Xiulan asked curiously.

Lin Heng nodded: “I just don’t believe I can’t find any black truffles. Tomorrow I’m going to check that pine forest near Sanye Valley.”

“Then I won’t go. Who’ll watch Xiaoxia? Black truffles are so rare; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so expensive,” Xiulan said, thinking her husband was obsessed.

“Fine, I’ll go alone and hunt along the way,” Lin Heng nodded, taking a few more bites of fried mushrooms.

Early the next day, Lin Heng set out again with Xiongba.

In the afternoon, he returned with three green hornbills, but only three pitiful chicken egg mushrooms.

“Maybe just forget it for now and wait a while,” Xiulan suggested.

“I’ll try one more time. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll quit,” Lin Heng shook his head.

Those words were like a curse—though he didn’t go empty-handed in the following days, his harvests were never worth the time spent.

One day, Lin Heng finally gave up on the pine forest. In the oak forest, Xiongba was happy as ever.

“Woof woof~”

At Xiongba’s call, Lin Heng hurried over and found another lingzhi mushroom, making him smile so wide he couldn’t close his mouth.

“Screw black truffles—aren’t lingzhi mushrooms better?”

As he picked along the way, Lin Heng felt his anxiety lift, and he grew happier.

Without obsessing over black truffles, finding a lingzhi here and a morel there, occasionally admiring the distant scenery—it was actually quite enjoyable.

Lately, he’d been so obsessed with black truffles he lost his appetite and focus, which really wasn’t necessary.

“I got too attached!” Lin Heng shook his head. Looking up, he realized he was surprisingly close to Baishigou.

“Let’s go check if there are any lingzhi mushrooms there,” he thought. Baishigou was too far, but he could look for lingzhi nearby—there were plenty of mushrooms around here.

Unconsciously, Lin Heng found he had already picked over a pound of lingzhi mushrooms, five or six pounds of morels, three or four pounds of blue mushrooms, and more than a pound of oyster mushrooms.

He looked at the path ahead and changed direction, arriving at a chestnut grove. For some reason, this grove wasn’t producing chestnuts, and almost no one came here.

After walking a few dozen meters, he’d picked only about ten small chestnuts and lost interest.

“Xiongba, let’s go find a place to eat some snacks,” Lin Heng called.

Xiongba ran over from the distant woods, and when it got close, Lin Heng saw it was carrying something black in its mouth.

“Hm? Where did you find that?” Lin Heng’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open.
(The End of Chapter)