Chapter 94: Collecting Bees, Peaceful Days, and a Chance Encounter in the Forest

“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”

Sensing the scent of honey, the outer layer of bees quickly crawled onto the bamboo basket.

Lin Heng was delighted, thinking it would be this easy to succeed. However, after just a few bees flew over, they suddenly stopped moving.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and used the tip of the bamboo pole to prod the cluster of bees. Instantly, a large swarm took flight—some landed in the bamboo basket, while others flew back.

“There’s hope!”

Lin Heng’s eyes lit up. Seeing that this method might work, he leaned the bamboo pole against a tree branch and went to cut another branch.

Using the newly cut branch, he prodded the bee cluster again, and more bees flew into the bamboo basket.

After repeating this process about ten times, the queen bee finally appeared. Lin Heng saw it from a distance—it was much larger than the average bee.

The queen hovered in the air for a moment before being drawn to the honey in the bamboo basket and landing on it.

“It worked!!”

Lin Heng couldn’t help but smile. With the queen bee inside, the rest would follow.

Sure enough, as the queen bee moved, most of the other bees followed. Within minutes, the entire swarm had settled into the bamboo basket.

“Did it work?” Xiulan asked from a distance while holding their daughter.

Lin Heng grinned. “Yes, it did!”

Successfully collecting bees on his first attempt filled him with a sense of accomplishment.

Carefully lowering the bamboo pole, Lin Heng looked at the clustered bees in the basket with excitement—it felt just like catching a big fish.

But the real challenge was yet to come. Transferring the bees into the hive required close-up handling.

He opened the hive and began shaking the bamboo basket.

“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”

Many bees quickly flew out. Lin Heng, feeling a bit nervous, shook it harder. Most of the bees tumbled into the hive at once, though some flew out buzzing.

Fortunately, the hive contained plenty of honey, and since the queen had already gone inside, the remaining bees circled around briefly before also entering.

“Phew, it worked. That wasn’t so hard after all.”

Lin Heng took a deep breath. He realized that as long as he overcame his fear of bees, collecting them wasn’t that difficult.

He removed the bamboo basket, placed the hive’s cover on top, and secured it with rope. Xiulan, carrying their daughter, walked over from the distance.

“Hiss—!”

Suddenly, Lin Heng sucked in a sharp breath, gritting his teeth as he quickly secured the hive’s cover.

“Did you get stung?” Xiulan asked, noticing his expression.

“Yeah, when I put the cover on, one bee got caught under my hand,” Lin Heng replied, stretching out his right hand. A bee’s stinger was still embedded in his pinky finger.

“Hold still, it’ll hurt a bit,” Xiulan said. She carefully removed the stinger, then squeezed the sting site hard until a bit of clear liquid came out. After that, she dabbed some honey on it.

“This is the best we can do for now,” Xiulan said as she let go of his hand.

“It’s just a small sting, no big deal.”

Lin Heng waved it off, finished securing everything, then carried the hive on his back. Xiulan followed behind, carrying their daughter and a backpack.

“Lin Heng, is that a beehive you’re carrying?”

As they walked into the village, someone called out.

Lin Heng grinned. “Yes, I just collected it from the mountain.”

“You’re lucky! With a hive like that, you’ll never run out of honey.”

“Yeah, when bees come to you, it’s a sign of good fortune!”

Many villagers looked at him with admiration, amazed that he could even collect bees—this man could really do anything.

As they passed by Wang Jin’s house, Wang Jin saw Lin Heng carrying the hive with a big smile and was momentarily stunned. “You managed to collect bees by yourself? Didn’t you get stung?”

Lin Heng shrugged and said loudly, “Of course! Catching bees isn’t that hard. I didn’t get stung at all.”

Wang Jin looked him over carefully and saw no signs of bee stings, finding it hard to believe. When he had first tried collecting bees, he’d ended up with multiple swollen welts.

“Do you want to sell them to me? I’ll buy them for one yuan. Keeping bees is hard, and it takes skill,” Wang Jin added.

“If I offer you one yuan for your bees, would you sell them?” Lin Heng shot him a glance. Was he really trying to take advantage of him?

Thinking back, it suddenly made sense why Wang Jin’s family never became wealthy. They were still just a ‘thousand-yuan household’ in the 80s and hadn’t progressed much in the 90s.

Shaking his head, Lin Heng carried his bees home.

“Let’s place them higher up for now. If they’re too low, Xiaoxia might get stung,” Xiulan suggested once they arrived.

“Alright.”

Lin Heng inspected both the front and back yards before deciding on the back. He climbed a wooden ladder and placed the hive on a board that extended from the second floor of their house.

“This should be good, about five meters off the ground,” he said, looking at Xiulan for confirmation.

She nodded. “Yes, that’s perfect. When we plant grapes later, the bees can help with pollination.”

After securing the hive, Lin Heng stepped down. He couldn’t open the entrance hole for the bees just yet—he had to wait for half a day to ensure they wouldn’t fly away.

“Daddy, candy!”

As Lin Heng came down, Xiaoxia pointed at the honey in his backpack, speaking softly. She was hesitant to look at her mother, knowing that her mother didn’t allow her to eat honey often.

“You can have some today, my little sweetheart!”

Lin Heng kissed his lucky star—without Xiaoxia, he wouldn’t have even noticed the beehive in the first place.

Thinking about it, he realized he had found the bees at the perfect time. It had rained that morning, making the bees less active, which reduced the risk of collecting them.

“We’ll make steamed buns tomorrow morning, and I’ll fill one with honey for her. But don’t let her eat too much,” Xiulan reminded him.

“Okay.” Lin Heng took his chopsticks, dipped a little, and fed it to his daughter. Her eyes immediately turned into two crescent moons of joy.

Xiulan let Lin Heng feed her one more bite before taking the honey and leaving. Xiaoxia opened her small mouth but didn’t dare to voice any objections.

Only after Xiulan’s figure disappeared did she dare to mutter softly, “Spank Mama’s butt!”

Lin Heng found it amusing and took her to play on the swing chair. He sat beside her, picking honeysuckle flowers. Whenever the swing chair came to a stop, he would give it another push.

Xiong Ba lay in the pavilion, dozing. Only when the sunlight shone on its body did its ears twitch slightly, proving that it was still alive.

Time passed leisurely. Xiulan finished making white flour steamed buns, carried them along with soup, and brought bowls and chopsticks to the backyard pavilion. The family of three sat together, with a silly dog rolling around under the table, whining and begging for food.

“This is delicious! The crispy pork lard bun is amazing!”

Lin Heng took a bite and was immediately intoxicated by the aroma of the rendered lard. The wonderful texture made him unable to stop eating.

Since they had no baking powder, they used sweet rice wine to ferment the dough, which gave the buns a faint rice wine fragrance, adding a unique flavor.

Having eaten cornbread often, Lin Heng found the crispy pork lard buns incredibly tasty.

“If you like it, eat more. I made plenty,” Xiulan said with a smile, taking a big bite herself.

Xiaoxia lowered her head, nibbling on her honey bun, her eyes once again forming crescent moons.

After breakfast, Lin Heng and Xiulan took their daughter up the mountain again without stopping. Sometimes they had leisure, sometimes they were busy.

After a summer rain, it was the golden time to go mushroom hunting in the mountains. Right now, there were plenty of boletus and chanterelles, and even inedible mushrooms were flourishing.

“Honey, does your hand still hurt?” Xiulan asked with concern when they were on the mountain.

Lin Heng shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, just itches a lot.”

Xiulan walked over and checked. His pinky finger was a little swollen, and there was a red spot where the bee had stung him, but it was nothing serious.

“You just have to bear with it. That’s what you get for not being careful,” Xiulan teased him.

“It’s fine. Compared to collecting a whole bucket of honeybees, this is nothing.” Lin Heng grinned.

Chatting as they walked, the two made their way to the ridge where they had first collected milk caps.

“Xiong Ba, today we’re counting on you to find mushrooms!” Lin Heng rubbed Xiong Ba’s head and looked at it expectantly.

“Awwooo~”

Xiong Ba happily spun in circles.

Xiulan took their daughter to pick the easily found boletus near the forest’s edge, while Lin Heng led Xiong Ba deeper into the woods in search of rarer mushrooms like green head mushrooms and egg mushrooms.

Lately, when walking around their usual spots, Lin Heng no longer brought his bow and arrow—just a slingshot at most.

Sometimes, he didn’t even feel like carrying a slingshot because he hardly saw any game.

He planned to take a break for a while and then go check out the Sancha Valley Gorge again. He still couldn’t forget the musk deer he had seen there. If he could hunt one, he could sell its musk for 1,500 yuan—it was too tempting.

Finding mushrooms in the forest was both easy and difficult. Every type of mushroom had its own habitat. If you found the right spot, you’d get a good harvest. If not, you could search all day and barely find a few.

Fortunately, Lin Heng had Xiong Ba, his four-legged cheat code. Whether it was rare or common mushrooms, they were all easy to find.

After walking just a few steps, he spotted several chanterelles. Unfortunately, when he broke them open, they were full of tiny worms.

Chanterelles in summer attracted bugs too quickly, especially after continuous rainy days. Lin Heng shook his head, picked them up, and tossed them into the bag. At least they could be used to feed the chickens and pig badgers.

“I wonder how delicious that pig badger will be for New Year’s dinner,” Lin Heng muttered, feeling a bit hungry. Pig badger meat was far tastier than wild boar, and feeding it mushrooms would only enhance its flavor.

“Woof woof!!”

Just as he was reminiscing about the taste of pig badger meat, Xiong Ba called out from a distance.

Lin Heng quickly finished picking the remaining chanterelles and walked over. What he saw made his eyes light up—it was a tall and vibrant orange egg mushroom.

“As expected of Xiong Ba, good job!” Lin Heng carefully plucked the egg mushroom. It was a top-quality find and rarely had worms.

With Xiong Ba’s guidance, Lin Heng’s mushroom-picking speed far outpaced ordinary people. In no time, he found several green head mushrooms and egg mushrooms.

“Sigh, if only we were in Yunnan! With a dog like this, we’d be rich by now.” Lin Heng shook his head. Due to climate differences, the mushroom resources in the Qinling Mountains were far inferior to those in Yunnan.

“Woof!”

Just then, Xiong Ba barked again.

Lin Heng walked over and was pleasantly surprised. “It’s a whole tree of wood ear mushrooms!”

Wood ear mushrooms were one of the dishes he and Xiulan both loved. Stir-fried with cured pork, they were incredibly appetizing.

Because of the rain, the wood ear mushrooms had absorbed a lot of water, making them tender and weighing over a pound. However, once dried, they might only weigh a mere ounce.

“Huh? Why is there such a big wild grape vine here?”

Just as he was about to leave, Lin Heng noticed a vine wrapped around a tree.

It was a wild grape vine slightly thicker than his thumb, but it hadn’t borne any fruit.

Checking its roots, Lin Heng saw that it wasn’t deeply rooted. Without hesitation, he chopped it down.

Then he cut a stick to help dig out the grapevine’s side roots. Once he had unearthed a portion, he decisively severed the main root.

The grapevine was, of course, going to be replanted at home. Wild grapevines were hardy and easy to grow.

Since they didn’t have any grape plants at home yet, starting with wild grapes wasn’t a bad idea.

Wild grapevines grew fast. Once he bought proper grape seedlings, he could graft them onto the wild rootstock, and they would thrive.

After tossing the grapevine into his basket, Lin Heng continued mushroom hunting.

The rain-washed forest was fresh and tranquil. Walking through it, searching for mushrooms, was an absolute pleasure.

There was nothing else to think about—just mushrooms. Sometimes he would find nothing in an entire stretch of forest, and sometimes, in just a small area, he would gather a whole bunch.

It was full of the unknown and challenges, just like fishing. If you don’t pull it out of the water, you won’t know what kind of fish you’ve caught.

The difference is that fishing might leave you empty-handed, but picking mushrooms rarely does.

Even if you can’t find edible ones, you can still pick some inedible ones just to satisfy the urge.

“Looks like it’s almost the season for tea tree mushrooms.”

As he walked, Lin Heng spotted a cluster of tea tree mushrooms growing on a nearby acorn tree stump.

The caps of the tea tree mushrooms were grayish-brown, the stems were white, and the flesh was an off-white color. They lacked a ring on the stem.

Their most distinctive feature was that they grew in clusters, not from the ground but on decaying wood. Once they matured, a single cluster would have at least a dozen mushrooms.

A single cluster could weigh over a pound, with larger ones reaching two or three pounds. Harvesting them was quick and easy, with no soil to deal with.

Lin Heng walked over and picked them. This cluster weighed over a pound.

Looking around, he found and picked two more clusters. Tea tree mushrooms were most abundant here at the end of July.

Although dried tea tree mushrooms only sold for two or three cents per pound, like honeysuckle flowers, they were plentiful and easy to gather. Every day, many people would go up the mountain to collect them.

When dried, they tasted quite good, especially stir-fried or in soup. Fresh ones, on the other hand, weren’t as tasty—Lin Heng thought even red mushrooms were better.

“Woof woof!!”

Just as he tossed a few tea tree mushrooms into his basket, Xiongba let out a loud bark.

“What did you find?”

Lin Heng was curious. Xiongba only barked like that when he found something valuable.

“Sure enough, it’s something good. I finally found two today—I thought I wouldn’t find any.”

Lin Heng couldn’t help but smile. Xiongba had discovered two red lingzhi mushrooms.

And not only were there red lingzhi mushrooms here, but several gastrodia plants were growing nearby, their long flower stalks already sprouting.

After picking the lingzhi mushrooms, Lin Heng examined the gastrodia. Since the flowers had already fallen, he marked an X on a tree with his machete, then walked over, pulled out the gastrodia flower stalks, and dug up some of the tubers to take home.

Of course, he wasn’t planning to sell them—he intended to dry them and cook them with pig’s head meat. He hadn’t eaten the pig’s head that Tian Baishun had given him yet.

Gastrodia had excellent medicinal properties. It was known for calming spasms, suppressing liver yang, and improving circulation. In rural areas, it was often used to make chicken soup.

After picking mushrooms for a while longer, Lin Heng glanced at the sky. It was probably already four or five in the afternoon, so he took Xiongba and headed back to find Xiulan.

Not long after walking downhill, he heard people talking.

A few more steps forward, he saw them—Liu Lan, Jin Yan, and Li Yan were foraging for mushrooms in the forest.

Two young men stood nearby. One was Liu Chengzhang from the Liu family, a former classmate of his. The other was his third uncle’s second son, Lin Hai—his cousin.

“Well, if it isn’t Lin Heng,” Liu Lan was the first to greet him.

“Lin Heng, do you really think mushroom picking is worth your time? Even after a whole morning, you probably don’t earn as much as you would from hunting a single rabbit,” Jin Yan said with a smile, her gaze carrying a hint of resentment.

Lin Heng glanced at them and replied casually, “Mushroom picking makes money. Even a single cent is still money, so why not pick them?”

Then he looked at his cousin Lin Hai. “Lin Hai, have you seen your sister-in-law?”

As soon as he saw Lin Hai and Liu Chengzhang together, he understood. These two were both interested in Jin Yan and were trying to get closer to her.

Jin Yan was indeed a beauty, with an alluring figure—ample in all the right places—making her quite popular among rural men.

“I haven’t seen her, cousin. Maybe we took different paths and missed each other.”

Lin Hai shook his head.

“Then come with me and help me look for her.” Lin Heng looked at him.

His third uncle had always been good to him, so he definitely didn’t want Jin Yan marrying into his third uncle’s family.

Not that Lin Heng thought Jin Yan would even consider someone from an ordinary family like Lin Hai’s.

“Alright.” Lin Hai had wanted to keep chatting with Jin Yan, but he still agreed to his cousin’s request.

Liu Chengzhang, seeing this, mentally thanked Lin Heng hundreds of times. With Lin Hai gone, he could have Jin Yan all to himself.

“Lin Hai, go help find her. It just rained recently—if anything happens, it wouldn’t be good.”

Liu Chengzhang, growing impatient, urged him on.

Lin Heng glanced at him and thought, Do you even know your own worth? You’re not good-looking, your family isn’t well-off, and yet you dare to chase after a woman like her?

You’re already hooked like a fish on a line and don’t even realize it.

But he wasn’t going to warn him. As long as it didn’t involve people he cared about, he couldn’t be bothered to interfere.

Just as Lin Heng and Lin Hai were about to leave, Jin Yan suddenly smiled and said, “Lin Heng, you seem to be really afraid of your wife. You won’t even talk to us.”

Hearing this, Li Yan laughed and chimed in, “She’s right. I’ve never seen Lin Heng chat with women.”

Lin Heng glanced at them, spread his hands, and grinned. “I am indeed afraid of my wife. And now that I have Xiulan, I have no interest in talking to other women.”

When faced with provocation, the usual response was to fight back strongly so the other party wouldn’t dare provoke you again.

But that method took too much effort.

There was a simpler way—just play along. If they said he was afraid of his wife, he’d admit it.

Now Jin Yan and Li Yan were at a loss for words. If he had already admitted it, what more could they say?

“Lin Hai, let’s go.” He smiled, then turned to leave.

“Wait,” Jin Yan called after him. “Liu Lan said you’re really good at picking mushrooms. Let us see what you’ve got.”

“She lied. I’m terrible at it.” Lin Heng didn’t even turn around.

The more indifferent Lin Heng was, the more it irritated Jin Yan. She immediately challenged him, “Let’s have a competition. If I lose, I’ll give you all the mushrooms I’ve picked. I don’t believe you’re better at mushroom picking than me.”

Hearing this, Lin Heng turned around. “Don’t go back on your word.”

Then he set his basket down on the ground. “Go ahead, take a look.”

The group walked over to take a look. The most common mushrooms were beef liver mushrooms, followed by golden chanterelles. Although there were quite a lot, they weren’t particularly surprising.

However, what came next left them speechless.

“How are there so many green-headed mushrooms? And seven or eight egg mushrooms? Two Ganoderma, too? How did you find these?”

Jin Yan’s eyes widened. The mushrooms Lin Heng had picked were way too valuable.

She had only gathered some beef liver mushrooms, golden chanterelles, three egg mushrooms, and some wood ear mushrooms, which she already considered lucky.

How did Lin Heng manage to find so many premium mushrooms? Had he made the mountain god his godfather or something?

“Thanks a lot! I’ll be taking these off your hands.”

Lin Heng chuckled, reached into her basket, took out the egg mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, and then poured the rest of her mushrooms into his own basket.

“Hey! Can’t you leave me a little? I was wrong, okay?” Jin Yan looked at Lin Heng’s ruthlessness with a pitiful expression.

If Liu Chengzhang heard that voice, he might have given all his mushrooms back without hesitation. But Lin Heng, completely unfazed, placed her now-empty basket on the ground.

“You chose to bet, didn’t you? Haven’t you heard that gambling almost always leads to loss? Learn your lesson for next time.”

With that, he carried his load, turned around, and left with Lin Hai, not looking back.

Jin Yan and the others stood there in a daze.

“Was that luck or skill?” Liu Lan was once again confused.

“It’s definitely luck. There’s no such thing as a technique for picking mushrooms,” Li Yan said, shaking her head.

“Exactly! There’s no special technique. Next time I see him, I’ll win my mushrooms back,” Jin Yan huffed. She gritted her teeth in frustration—not only had she failed to provoke Lin Heng, but she had also lost a whole basket of mushrooms. Totally not worth it.

What they didn’t realize was that Lin Heng’s secret weapon was a dog. No matter how good someone’s luck was, could it beat Xiongba’s nose?

“It’s okay, Jin Yan. I have mushrooms. You can have all of mine,” Liu Chengzhang quickly tried to curry favor, smiling as he offered his own mushrooms.

(End of Chapter)