Wan Niu waved the machete in his hand, chopping it onto the tree, and said resentfully, "Damn it! Even bringing outsiders to make money off our village! If this were a few years ago, I would’ve reported him for sure, had him arrested and taken to the commune for a public struggle session. I’d have struggled him to death, that old undying bastard!"
Sun Laoliu and Old Li nodded their heads in agreement with Wan Niu’s words.
"Never mind, let’s just pick all the morels, and see what they can get when they come!" Old Li said.
Sun Laoliu spread his hands, "But we only brought machetes today, and didn’t bring anything else. How are we going to get them down the mountain after we pick them?"
Wan Niu and Old Li exchanged glances, then both looked at Sun Laoliu, "How about this, we pick the morels here while you make a trip down the mountain to fetch some carrying poles and a few baskets?"
Suddenly, Sun Laoliu became reluctant, "I’m almost dead from climbing so long, if I run another trip, won’t I just collapse from exhaustion? Besides, do you guys have that kind of stuff at home?"
They were all lazy bums who never did any work, so even if they had baskets or bamboo carriers at home, these were likely rotten from disuse for so long.
"Can’t you go borrow some?"
"Pfft, who to borrow from?" Sun Laoliu scoffed, looking disdainfully at Wan Niu, "Do tell, who would be willing to lend stuff to us?"
Wan Niu was immediately at a loss for words.
Their reputation in the village was so poor, they themselves knew no one would be willing to lend them anything.
Both then looked at Old Li.
After all, Old Li owned a variety store, and his home situation was much better than theirs.
"Why are you looking at me? I don’t have those kinds of things at home, I don’t farm."
The three stood there talking for a long time, pushing responsibilities onto each other, and in the end, none of them was willing to make another trip.
"Then, how about we all pick the morels together, hide them, and cover them with some branches or something, and tomorrow we find some vessels to come load them?" Old Li’s suggestion gained two votes of support.
The three of them tossed aside their machetes and began picking morels.
But not long after they started, Old Li was the first to give in, grabbing his waist and calling it quits.
"No can do, too exhausting, my back won’t hold up, I need a break."
He sat down on the ground with a plop.
After a while, Wan Niu also gave up, "This is killing me. Why should I earn this money? Gambling makes money faster than this! How much can these things even sell for? Plus, carrying them down the mountain is too heavy, I can’t bear the weight."
"That’s true," Sun Laoliu nodded.
"So what do we do? Just sit back and watch Chiang Laoer make money?" Old Li said, somewhat unwilling to give up.
A fierce look flashed in Wan Niu’s eyes, "The usual trick, just like with that Tianlvxiang earlier. If we can’t get it, we can’t let Chiang Laoer benefit either."
"Are we going to chop down all the trees?"
"That would kill me," Old Li shook his head.
If they chopped down the whole forest, he figured his arms would be useless by tomorrow.
Wan Niu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Or else, how about starting a fire and burning it?"
"Are you insane? Start a fire in the woods? If we ended up burning the whole mountain, could we even escape?" Sun Laoliu got a big scare, "Besides, Bai Gu Mountain is already sinister. If we start a fire, won’t we anger those in the mountain..."
As he said this, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Old Li was also scared, "We can’t set fire to the mountain. The consequences of that are too severe. If we are caught, we could end up facing the firing squad."
The village broadcasts about forest protection and fire prevention had been repeated many times over.