Chapter 400: Mushrooms Can’t Be Eaten As Meal
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was true that they wanted to plant mushrooms, but the eldest branch also wanted to plant them. They clearly had money on hand, but they were forced to give it to them. Their mother was just biased. They had yet to blame their eldest brother for letting their younger sister miscarry and implicated them to offend the Zhao family.
They were determined not to give her money, which made Madam Qu furious. Her eldest daughter-in-law almost fought with her two sisters-in-law.
While Madam Qu was overwrought over the 20 taels of compensation and her two sons, it was time for the mushroom cultivation shed to reap its harvest.
Everyone thought that it was an exaggeration to harvest mushrooms in a month.
It was not until He Guihua excitedly brought out baskets of fat milky mushrooms from the mushroom shed that everyone widened their eyes and wanted to go to the mushroom shed to find out more.
Especially those who had already signed up to plant mushrooms. If not for Bai Wutong standing at the door of the mushroom shed, everyone would have rushed in.
One basket, two baskets, three baskets… Everyone kept counting in silence.
Each basket contained about 10 kilograms of mushrooms. In the end, they counted and realized that they had picked 20 baskets of mushrooms per mu of land, which was almost 250 kilograms!
Everyone was boiling with excitement.
This was too much. It was even more productive than the rice they planted!
The mushrooms were tender, smooth, and refreshing. They could be eaten for a long time after drying and tasted the same as meat. They were a popular ingredient anywhere. With such a high yield, it was even more worth it than planting rice. Everyone wanted to eat the mushrooms as their staple food.
Especially those who wanted to sign up but did not manage to, their intestines turned green with regret.
If they had not hesitated to sign up to plant mushrooms from the beginning, they would not have had to watch with regrets.
The four acres of mushroom shed that Bai Wutong had asked He Guihua and Yan Tingting to be in charge of were planted with different types of mushrooms.
Each mushroom had different living conditions. Although the mushrooms were planted at about the same time, the yield of the abalone mushrooms was dozens of times higher than that of the milky mushrooms. When baskets of abalone mushrooms were brought out, everyone’s eyes were about to blur.
This was too much. Based on a rough estimation, the yield of an acre of abalone mushrooms was at least 1,000 kilograms!
Everyone could not believe their eyes. Everyone present wanted to transform into a little mushroom picker and go to the mysterious mushroom shed to investigate.
Yan Tingting was in charge of planting the abalone mushrooms. She was not there, but everyone was proud of her for being able to plant so many mushrooms.
He Guihua was not envious. Although it was not time to pick the enoki mushrooms that she was in charge of planting, they were growing at an astonishing rate. If nothing went wrong, she would be able to harvest at least a few thousand kilograms of enoki mushrooms.
When Bai Wutong saw everyone surrounding the piles of mushrooms, as they discussed whether they should change their staple food to mushrooms in the future.
“Mushrooms are delicious, but they can’t be eaten as meal!”
“If you are asked to eat mushrooms every day, try and see if you can last a month.”
“Why can’t we last a month? We can even survive a month eating tree bark and weeds on the way to escape.”
“That’s right. If we all plant mushrooms, we won’t have to be afraid of starving anymore.”
Many people felt that with the conditions to plant rice, wheat, and other food crops, there was no need to plant mushrooms that were classified as vegetables on a large scale.
More starving commoners squeezed in front of Bai Wutong and begged her, “Great Empress, we also want to plant mushrooms. We’re willing to pay to build a mushroom shed!”
One mu of land could harvest so many mushrooms in a month. Moreover, the mushrooms could be picked every time. At least four types of mushrooms could be planted every year. This was an irresistible temptation to the commoners.
The commoners who had signed up in advance were unhappy. If everyone planted mushrooms, what profit would they earn? There would be mushrooms everywhere, and their mushrooms would become worthless. When would they be able to earn back the money to build the mushroom shed?
However, they did not dare to show it openly. After all, who did not want to live a good life? If they said it, they would definitely be hated.
Bai Wutong looked at the expectant citizens and said word by word, “Everyone, listen to me. If you still want to plant mushrooms, sign up.”
Everyone looked at Bai Wutong quietly, waiting for her to continue.
“Mushrooms are rich in fiber. This fiber can’t be absorbed by all of us, so compared to the original staple food, we have to eat more mushrooms every meal to make up for energy provided by rice or noodles. If we take in mushrooms that we cannot digest for a long time, it will cause us to excrete more times. We will waste more time on eating and going to the toilet, greatly reducing the efficiency of our daily production life.”
“Of course. Some people say that they like to eat mushrooms and it’s not a big deal to go to the toilet a few more times. Anyway, the production of mushrooms is high. You can eat them however you want.”
“However, has anyone ever thought that planting mushrooms also has a cost? First of all, you need a mushroom shed with suitable conditions. You also need to cultivate fungi packs, make nutritious soil and constantly pay attention to the growth of mushrooms. These all require a cost. Most importantly, if everyone plant mushrooms now, the mushrooms that originally cost five coins will become one coin or be worthless. This is because everyone is producing mushrooms. Then, when can the cost of planting mushroom sheds be recovered? If it’s not profitable, you will continue planting and invest. If the mushroom house is left idle, why did you plant mushrooms in the first place?”
“If you still have plans to plant mushrooms now, go and sign up. Anyway, everyone knows the consequences. Just think carefully.”
Bai Wutong told everyone the consequences of everyone planting mushrooms.
Many commoners who were afraid of losing money from planting mushrooms immediately wanted to change plans.
At that time, the mushrooms would really be worthless. They might as well use this money to plant a few acres of land or buy an apartment.
The rich people did not care about the investment of 10 taels of silver. In any case, they could learn the technique of planting mushrooms with 10 taels of silver. If the mushrooms could not be sold, they could still provide for their own consumption. If they really incurred losses, they could stop planting and stop the losses immediately. In any case, they had the capital to try it out.
In the end, many people still signed up to plant mushrooms.
However, compared to before, the number of people had greatly decreased.
Those who signed up were all bold and had the capital. Even if the mushrooms really became worthless and caused the market to be flooded, they still had the courage to regroup.
Bai Wutong glanced at the new high-quality mushroom farmer and smiled. An industrial chain had been perfectly formed again.
The mushrooms were abundant, so everyone bought them on the spot.
They realized that the mushrooms growing in the mushroom shed were all about the same size and of especially good grade. Everyone spent money to buy some. When they returned home, they would cook all kinds of mushrooms. The entire area of Carefree City smelled like mushrooms.
Everyone tasted the mushrooms, and Village Chief Zhao exclaimed, “If only our rations could have as high yield as the mushrooms!”
He Guihua smiled and said, “I heard from the Great Empress that if we keep researching and planting food like mushrooms, we can find a way to increase the yield!”
“Father, if you can improve on the yield of rice, you might be the next winner of the Fei Tian Award!”
As soon as she said this, Village Chief Zhao’s eyes immediately lit up. He rushed out of the house with his chopsticks.
Everyone shouted at him from behind, “Where are you going?”
Village Chief Zhao said without turning around, “Farming..”
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