The villagers who had come to sell goods in the afternoon were gone. Everyone gathered around the brazier, sorting the dried mushrooms by type: big-foot mushrooms, porcini, morels...
The Zhou family's three children came to help too. When Lin Lan saw how easily they could tell the big-foot mushrooms from the porcini, she laughed and said, "I'm not even as good as the kids."
Xu Hongju said, "Cousin, as soon as kids in the mountains can walk, the older children take them up the slopes to forage for mushrooms. They know where all the good spots are and head there early every year to pick them clean."
Lin Lan said to Wu Shufang, "Auntie, with this much stuff, we'll need to borrow ten or so large burlap sacks and hire a few more mules to haul it all out. We already have two mules, but we'll need your help with the rest."
Wu Shufang smiled. "It's no trouble at all. Only the production team has burlap sacks. I'll have your uncle go get them right away."
