The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 194 - 190 Xuanbao Is Somewhat Disappointed

Chapter 194: Chapter 190 Xuanbao Is Somewhat Disappointed

After entrusting the handling of a few matters to the villagers, Ruo Xuan cheerily led the Old Madam Xuanyuan and others to her mushroom cultivation house.

Following one night of incubation, small white mushrooms had begun to sprout from the cultivation soil on the shelves.

There weren’t many, far less than Ruo Xuan had anticipated.

Ruo Xuan frowned, somewhat disappointed.

However, the Old Madam Xuanyuan was extremely delighted; she excitedly approached the shelves, "They’ve grown, they’ve truly grown!"

Aunt Yu Hua, looking at the small white dots lined up on the shelves, was also incredulous, "I never thought mushrooms could be cultivated. Lady Xuanbao is really amazing."

Madam Liu was also very happy, "I didn’t expect so many to grow; it’s much more convenient than picking mushrooms on the mountainside. If we clear out a woodshed in the backyard to cultivate mushrooms, we could simply go in and pick a few whenever we want to eat them, fresh and handy."

Ruo Xuan shook her little head, "Not many, too few have grown."

The survival rate wasn’t high, it was like how they naturally grow outdoors.

But these were specially cultivated, and she had planted many spores; the entire shelf should have been full.

Seeing that Xuanbao wasn’t satisfied and a bit disappointed, the Old Madam Xuanyuan hurriedly comforted her, "Xuanbao, this is your first attempt at cultivation. The fact that so many have grown is already a success; perhaps even more will grow by tomorrow!"

The Old Madam Xuanyuan, looking at the rows of mushrooms, became more and more joyful; she picked up Ruo Xuan and kissed her, "How can my Xuanbao be so smart? Even mushrooms she knows how to cultivate!"

Oh no, this won’t do; she must write a letter back to the capital so her son can reward Xuanbao.

Unable to help herself, the Old Madam Xuanyuan kissed Ruo Xuan again.

Xuanbao truly is the little lucky star of Xuanyuan Country!

Madam Liu and Aunt Yu Hua looked at the rows of mushrooms as if they had discovered treasure, inspecting the growth of the mushrooms.

The shopkeeper Gu, having stopped the villagers from coming over, also followed and seeing the little white mushrooms on the shelves, was equally thrilled, "They’ve really grown?"

Saying this, he couldn’t wait to proceed and inspect the rows of shelves.

The Old Madam Xuanyuan also couldn’t resist setting Ruo Xuan down and then going to look over the rows of shelves herself.

The group gathered together, excitedly and eagerly discussing the growth and cultivation methods of those mushrooms, endlessly praising Ruo Xuan’s remarkable skills!

Because Madam Liu and shopkeeper Gu were involved in the whole process, the two of them passionately contributed to the conversation, nearly wishing they could demonstrate the process all over again for the Old Madam Xuanyuan to see.

With such unceasing praise from everyone, and seeing how excited and happy they were, the slight disappointment Ruo Xuan felt completely vanished. She couldn’t help but approach Xuanyuan Que and ask, "Brother Xuanyuan, am I not very impressive?"

The nature of a flower is to enjoy being praised, and she was like a persistent and noisy bloom, fearful of chasing after him and nagging non-stop. He nodded his head, "Hmm, very impressive."

Ruo Xuan was delighted!

"I’ve already found out the reason why so few mushrooms have grown. The cultivation soil isn’t fertile enough, and without having been treated with spiritual power, there are too many bugs and their eggs inside, which affects the growth of the mushrooms. I’ve thought about it, and in the future, we should use horse dung and cow dung mixed with straw as cultivation soil, and steam it first to kill the bugs, then ferment it..."

Ruo Xuan talked at length to Xuanyuan Que, who didn’t understand how to cultivate mushrooms, but he listened attentively, planning to write everything down word for word later and have someone try it out. Once they succeeded with the trial cultivation, they could then write back to the capital.

However, after hearing her out, Xuanyuan Que rarely commented, "These mushrooms are not easy to grow."

Ruo Xuan nodded, "Hmm, they’re much more difficult to attend to than our Xuancao Flowers! Especially me, Brother Xuanyuan, don’t you think I’m much easier to take care of compared to mushrooms?"

Ruo Xuan loved being praised, especially when it was praise from the most formidable Divine Lord Xuanyuan.

Xuanyuan Que: "..."

He simply couldn’t understand why a flower would compare itself to mushrooms.

He glanced at the mushrooms on the shelf, then looked at her, and did not think she was easier to raise than the mushrooms.

Of course, he couldn’t voice that thought.

So Xuanyuan Que just nodded and gave a "hmm" in acknowledgment, and then, he glanced at Ruo Xuan.

Indeed, the flower’s eyes curved into a smile.

Xuanyuan Que also couldn’t help but lift the corners of his mouth slightly. Suppressing the upward curl of his lips, he pointed to the corner of the mushroom hut where log segments were organized in a "character eight" formation and asked, "Why haven’t those shiitake and white fungus grown out?"

Ruo Xuan: "Those don’t grow out so quickly."

Shiitake mushrooms were cultivated on maple logs, and white fungus on oak. Both could be planted directly on wood by drilling holes and embedding the fungal spores, but they grew slower and yielded less.

However, both of these were quite expensive mountain delicacies, often seen on the dining tables of wealthy families, where a pound of the dried product could sell for more than a hundred coins.

There were even more precious fungi, but Ruo Xuan hadn’t seen them in the nearby mountains, so she could only wait to encounter them later and collect the spores to bring back for cultivation.

Indeed, growing mushrooms was a hassle, especially cultivating the spores, which wasn’t easy. Ruo Xuan’s task was made much simpler thanks to her spiritual power hastening their growth.

The mushrooms could double in size every twelve hours, so by the second day when Ruo Xuan and the others went up the mountain again, they discovered the mushrooms had grown noticeably larger.

Early this morning, many villagers still came looking, but Grandmother Xuanyuan told Ruo Xuan to ignore them. They needed to feel some pressure; otherwise, they would all think Ruo Xuan was easy to bully and not know to be grateful.

It was necessary to let the villagers understand that whether it was the third season’s rice or mushroom cultivation, Ruo Xuan would share with whomever she pleased. If she wasn’t in the mood, she wouldn’t give to anyone, and they couldn’t be spoilt.

"Looking at how they’re growing, we should be able to harvest them for eating in a couple of days," Aunt Yu Hua said happily.

Ruo Xuan nodded her little head: "We can, they’re delicious in hot pot. Grandmother Xuanyuan, Aunt Yu Hua, Grandfather Gu, come to my house for hot pot tomorrow."

Lady Xuanyuan laughed: "Good. It so happens my tonghao vegetables are ready to eat, and tonghao is delicious in hot pot, fragrant!"

Ruo Xuan furrowed her little brow. Tonghao was so pungent, how could Grandmother Xuanyuan think it smelled nice?

Xuanyuan Que remembered how after he ate a tonghao plant last time, a certain flower who was sitting next to him immediately moved her chair far away.

He thought, tomorrow, he must not eat tonghao.

The next day, Ruo Xuan happily picked two small baskets full of mushrooms to bring down the mountain.

Madam Liu, on the other hand, was holding two large baskets.

The sight of this caused an uproar among the villagers!

"Are these the mushrooms Xuanbao cultivated? Just a few days and already so many have been harvested?"

"Heavens, they really grew? These mushrooms look so good!"

"Have they all been picked? So the mushrooms from the racks and logs only made up these few baskets?"

Madam Liu smiled and said, "I have only harvested half a rack. There are still many racks left. These mushrooms grow more every day, I just picked the larger ones! If all were gathered, I reckon there would be several basketfuls! Oh, I can’t talk any more, I need to hurry home to eat and see how fresh these mushrooms are. This afternoon, we have to go into town to sell mushrooms."

The villagers became even more envious after hearing this. They once again mentally cursed Tan Popo and her group, and then each began scheming ways to persuade Ruo Xuan to teach them how to grow mushrooms.