Chapter 110: Field Training Spring Harvest
“Haaah~…”
Xiang Chuan groggily opened her eyes and stretched lazily. This was the best sleep Xiang Chuan had since starting field training. On departure day, she had to get up early to prepare the transport robot; the first day she was woken by the base’s alarm clock “bombardment”; the second day and yesterday were a bit better, but organizing the camp took some physical effort, so she slept soundly, though she still couldn’t avoid being woken by the morning wake-up music bombardment.
To be honest, she still couldn’t understand modern people’s artistic behavior of treating metallic clanging sounds as music, let alone using them as wake-up alarm bells. The reason she was willing to get up early today to knead dough and wait for it to rise was one factor; another was that she didn’t want her brain to be bombarded by metallic clanging sounds while completely defenseless.
After a simple wash-up, she checked the time and saw it was not even eleven yet. She thought she would sleep until twelve, but if she had, that group of gluttons would probably have come to wake her up. Just as she was thinking that—
“Xiang Chuan, time to get up… Ah? You’ve already gotten up?”
Chou Manman suddenly rushed in and saw Xiang Chuan holding the bedding with a speechless expression looking at her. She realized her “surprise friendship alarm” plan had failed, so she quickly laughed it off and prepared to turn around and pretend nothing happened.
“How old are you to still play this kind of thing?” Xiang Chuan piled the bedding next to her backpack. Just as she was about to go over for a friendship lecture, she noticed that Chou Manman had quite a few grass blades stuck in her hair and on her clothes at that moment. “Where did you run off to? Why does it look like you rolled around on the grassland?”
“Oh right right, Xiang Chuan, come quickly. We picked so many shiitake mushrooms.” With that, Chou Manman dashed out energetically.
Xiang Chuan looked at her energetic back and thought that if this kid really liked acting, she might have already made a name for herself in some sports club by now.
Lifting the tent flap, a lively clamor hit her face. It was the patrol group returning right then, their portable storage boxes filled with heaps of green wild vegetables. Some patrol group members were also holding chickens in their hands, but not several each like last night. Including these, the domestic chickens at this outpost probably accounted for nearly ninety percent of all domestic chickens in the Northern Area now.
She needed to plan chicken feed, Xiang Chuan thought.
“Xiang Chuan, quick look, quick look!”
Chou Manman stood next to the container shouting at her.
Xiang Chuan turned her head and couldn’t help but smile wryly at the things around the container now. Next to the container she used for meal boxes was another one about the same size, containing the kitchenware, seasoning, and flour used for steamed buns this morning. Yesterday when she returned to camp, she was also startled, thinking how the containers had multiplied. After asking, she learned that the transport robot delivering airlifted supplies judged the spot next to her container suitable and placed it there directly. The good news was that now two transport robots could be used.
“Oh? Xiang Chuan, your club went picking things too?” Mandy smiled, unloading the portable storage box from her shoulder. “We picked so much. How about it, enough to use?”
Xiang Chuan looked at the storage box, her eyes lighting up instantly: good grief, all elm seedlings, green and lush. Swallowing her saliva, she replied: “I don’t know if the others are enough, but these probably aren’t. Put them aside for now; I’ll handle them later.”
With that, she quickened her steps to check Chou Manman and the others’ haul. Mandy scratched her head: put them aside? Where? She looked around, had a flash of inspiration, and waved to the patrol group: “Everyone, put the stuff here!”
She originally thought the large pile of seasonal wild vegetables picked by Mandy and the others was already impressive, but when Xiang Chuan arrived at the gathering where Ouyang Yating and the others were waiting, she realized she was too naive.
“Did you… go rob a shiitake mushroom plantation?” She looked at the three large storage boxes of shiitake mushrooms in front of her, her smiling face twitching. No way—she had searched all morning yesterday to find just that many, so where did these guys find so many shiitake mushrooms?
“What are you saying? Who would dare plant this stuff?” Nancy laughed. “We followed the route you took yesterday and wandered around, then accidentally found a tree with this stuff all over underneath.”
A big tree? Xiang Chuan asked curiously: “What kind of big tree?”
“Not really that big, about the height of those on the street. If anything special, it was that the tree had fallen.” Nancy pulled out her terminal light screen and showed Xiang Chuan a few photos. “Lots of shiitake mushrooms under the fallen tree. Besides that, we found some red and orange ones, but didn’t know if we should pick them, so we left them for now.”
Xiang Chuan took the photos and looked: good grief, all red umbrellas with white spots or orange umbrellas with white spots. If they actually picked them and boiled them together with the shiitake mushrooms, it would probably send the entire camp to meet the black-and-white impermanence who might still be on duty now.
Just thinking about it made her shudder, but seeing everyone’s curious eyes, she had to urgently explain the basics of fungi picking: don’t pick ones with spots, don’t pick colorful ones. After hearing some ancient cases of poisoning from eating wild mushrooms, even Ouyang Yating shuddered.
“That was close, that was close.” Nancy teased, looking at Ainuo. “Someone back then feared nothing and nearly picked those too. If Classmate Liang Gong and I hadn’t stopped it, we’d be showing off poisonous mushrooms now. Our little shiitake mushrooms are still the best—non-toxic and delicious.”
“Actually, shiitake mushrooms need to be fully cooked before eating too, or eating them raw directly isn’t good for the body, though it won’t reach the level of poisoning.” Xiang Chuan added.
“Well said, who eats things raw anyway.” Everyone laughed heartily.
You sure don’t say that when eating liquid food and solid food usually! Xiang Chuan complained silently in her heart. This too-21st Century complaint lacked the courage to say aloud, so she could only mutter it in her mind.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of heavy objects dropping nearby drew the attention of Xiang Chuan and the others. They walked out from the corner and saw: good grief, how did the patrol group stack all the storage boxes next to the container!
Xiang Chuan looked at Mandy in confusion, but Mandy mistook it for praise for doing a good job, smiled at her, and gave a thumbs-up.
What for, watching too much KU○GA? Xiang Chuan coldly complained in her heart.
Over twenty portable storage boxes were neatly placed along the edge of the container, lids open, with a row of lush green wild vegetables that looked almost like a greenbelt, quite nice. Too lazy to dwell on their casual placement, Xiang Chuan simply walked along inspecting the patrol group’s haul.
It had to be said, as expected of a nature reserve, and one from the Third Fleet that emphasized agriculture. Their soil research far surpassed other fleets, so the soil used in the nature reserve was top-quality premium, and such fertile soil naturally benefited wild vegetable growth. Whether the fragrant locust flowers or the lush elm seedlings, all made Xiang Chuan’s mouth water. What surprised her even more was that the patrol group had really picked a lot of shepherd’s purse for her. When she opened the storage box lid, the compressed shepherd’s purse burst right out, leaving Xiang Chuan stunned.
