Cordyceps is increasing day by day.

The dried cordyceps are carefully put away and packed into a specially made box in the county's white iron shop. The box was wrapped in white tin sheet and lined with red velvet. The dried cordyceps lay quietly one by one in the dark space and fell asleep. In less than a week, not counting the dozens of them still hanging on the wooden board, there were already nearly 600 cordyceps in the box. Not counting the three lying in the stationery box.

Tomorrow is the last day on this Cordyceps Mountain.

When the lot was drawn in front of the tent of the village chief's house, my father still drew a short wooden stick. The father was silent, happy in his heart, but said, "It's time for me to guard the intersection." ”

When he returned home, he was overjoyed and said, "It seems that our family is lucky this year." ”

The mother said, "If our daughter can go to college, then God will really take care of us." ”

The father cleaned his hands, filled the lamp oil in front of the Buddha in the small Buddha shrine, and turned the wick on.

That night, Sanji lay under the covers and gave his three cordyceps a new use.

He thought that when he returned to school, he should give Mr. Dobuje the same gift as Mr. Namu. He remembered that on Saturday or Sunday, when the sun was nice, the teachers liked to be in the yard, washing in the sun. Mr. Dobujie applied Gillette shaving foam to his beard, and Mr. Namu washed his long hair with Rejoicing Shampoo. He wanted to buy them a can of shaving foam and a bottle of shampoo when he went back to school.

Three cordyceps, a total of only 90 yuan!

For this reason, he felt a little distressed in his heart, afraid that because of this he would not have enough money to buy his cousin fingerless leather gloves.

Even in my sleep, there was a little anxiety there, like a gray bird hovering.

When I got up in the morning, my father went to guard the intersection as a picket. Sanchi and his mother went up the mountain. Except for the westward side of the mountain, which belongs to another village, the bulging bellies on the other three sides have been searched two or three times. Therefore, there was very little harvest on this day, and he and his mother only picked a dozen Cordyceps in total. Sanchi suggested that it would be better to go down the mountain early, pack up your things, and move to a new camp early tomorrow.

The mother sat down, let Sanji rest his head on her lap, and said, "What are you doing so early?" Without a mountain sacrifice ceremony, no one can go up the mountain to dig Cordyceps first. ”

Sanji said: "If you go early, you can find more dry firewood and pick up more dry cow dung, and our stove will be more prosperous than others." ”

The mother said, "With a son like you, my family is really going to prosper." ”

Sanji switched to Chinese, using the tone of a class study: "Wang, Wang, Wang, Wang." ”

He smiled and said to his mother, "I can't remember what other words I can make." ”

His mother caressed his head: "God, how many things do you have in your head that I don't know!" ”

Back in the tent, Sanji put the three cordyceps hanging on the wooden board into the stationery box - the cordyceps that he had already had a lot of use in his head.

Then, he went to the stream to fetch water, and his mother said that he would cook a pot of meat today. In addition to the large pieces of meat, the leg bones of the beef can be boiled into a thick soup.

Sanji put the corbel bone on a stone outside the tent and smashed it with the back of an axe. Fragments of bones splattered everywhere. Some of the birds did not frighten when they heard the sound, but gathered together and jumped around the grass, vying to peck at the small detritus that was stained with flesh and marrow. The mother leaned against the tent door and said with a smile, "The birds are not afraid of you, you can gather and be angry." ”

Sanchi smashed the bones harder, smashing more broken bones and splashing them everywhere for the birds to peck.

Although it is said that it is dipped in flesh and marrow, but in the end it is a bone, and the birds only taste it, and then flutter their wings and fly away. Sanji withdrew his hand and took off his velvet hat, a puff of white smoke rising from his head.

The mother said, "Look, you're boiling on the head first." ”

Mother took the smashed bones from his feet and got out of the pot. When the smell of meat filled the tent, Sanji cleared the harvest on this cordyceps mountain - not counting his three, and not counting the twelve he wanted to give to his grandmother and sister alone - the family of three had a total of 671 harvests on this cordyceps mountain. Thirty pieces of each. Three six hundred and eighty, three seven and two thousand one, which added up to twenty thousand and one hundred, and thirty, and he said to his mother, "Wow, it is twenty thousand and one hundred and thirty." ”

Mother smiled widely.

At this time, the father happened to bend down and got into the tent and said, "Are you happy because you have a lot of money, or because your son is so fast?" ”

Without waiting for the mother to reply, the father said, "There is a guest." ”

Sure enough, at the door of the tent, there was still a person standing.

This man was wearing a long tweed coat and a peaked cap, and he was a cadre. A thick black beard covered his upper lip.

The man lifted his hat slightly with his hand and stooped into the tent. Mother moved the mat and invited him to sit by the fire.

The man sat cross-legged and stared at Sanji with a serious expression: "Then, you are the truant Sanji." ”

Sanji said, "I still got 100 points in the final exam. ”

The man said, "You don't know who I am, do you?" My name is Kampot. ”

Sanchi said, "Uncle Kampot. ”

The man said: "I am a researcher at the county government, specializing in researching students who skip school during the Cordyceps season. ”

Sanji asked, "What do you mean by research?" "He really hadn't heard the word.

The researcher said, "The day you skipped school, I went to your school. You've been skipping school for a week. After you, seven more people skipped school. ”

The father interjected to help his son, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a faint syllable or two came out of his mouth, and the researcher only raised his hand, and he swallowed the words back. The researcher said, "Don't talk, I'll talk to Sanchi." Sanji is someone who deserves to talk to. ”

Sanchi still stubbornly asked, "What do you mean by research?" I haven't heard of it. ”

When the researcher took the beef broth from his mother's hand, he smiled politely at her. He took a sip of the soup and clicked his lips as a compliment to the deliciousness of the soup, and then said to Sanchi, "Inspect." ”

Sanchi's eyes fell to the ground: "Inspection." You are the leader. ”

The researcher laughed: "Such a young child knows leadership!" He added, "Don't worry, I'm not here to get you back to school." ”

Only then did Sanji relax: "Really? ”

"Listen outside."

At this time, Sanji noticed that there was a special bustle in the camp at dusk today. A group of children joined the camp and brought a lively buzz. School did go on vacation, and the children from all families came back to camp. The boys have a wild spirit in them, shouting for no reason, running for no reason. The girls dance rubber bands: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!" Seventy-six, five-four, three-two-one! ”

Sanchi rushed out of the tent and joined them.

But his classmates didn't welcome him very well. They harbor petty jealousy. He skipped school, and he would still score 100 points in the final exam, and it was rumored in the camp that he had dug up at least 10,000 yuan of cordyceps. Everyone played football in a circle on the grassy beach, and no one passed the ball to him. However, when the ball was kicked away by someone's big foot, someone shouted: "Sanchi! ”

He picked up the ball and came back, but they still didn't pass it to him.

This made him very happy, and he just wanted to get dark early and go home early.

When he got home, he saw his father counting the money with saliva. Dozens, handed over to the mother, and dozens more...... In the end, my father smiled: "Twenty thousand and one hundred and thirty dollars." ”

The mother was worried: "The village has discussed that Cordyceps will be sold together." ”

The researcher smiled and wrapped the money bag around his waist: "I'll go to the village chief's house for dinner and collect their cordyceps." ”

The mother fished a large piece of beef from the pot, wrapped it, and asked the researcher to bring it. He said, "Keep it, and I'll come to your house one day to eat." ”

That means he won't leave for a while.

The researcher patted Sanchi's head: "These dolls are going home to dig Cordyceps on vacation, I want to keep an eye on them here, don't break them on the mountain, don't let the bear bite them." ”

The father said, "Don't worry, there have been no bears in the mountains for more than ten years." ”

The researcher got up with their Cordyceps box: "It's just a metaphor. I also keep the harvest of your family's next Cordyceps Mountain. With that, he lifted the curtain of the tent door and went out.

Sanji said, "He didn't pay for the box!" ”

Sanji remembered that the red velvet, white iron sheet, thin lining, and handiwork cost a total of about three hundred yuan. For this box, my father waited for three days in the white iron shop, watching the master in the shop make it. Every day after class, he went to the shop to accompany his father. On the first day, the master knocked the cut out white iron sheet into a rectangle, giving it the basic appearance of the box. The next day, the inside of the box was lined with wood lining and red velvet. On the third day, the lid and the iron handle on the box were installed. Finally, a lock was installed. The lock was removed by Sanchi from a broken briefcase he had picked up. Often, people who come to this town from other places will leave behind some unwanted junk after leaving. The driver left an old tire, and the trekking friend left a trekking pole. He was also a cadre who came to the school to inspect the work, and he left behind a briefcase with all four corners polished white. Sanji didn't know why he had removed the lock. At that time, he didn't know that his father was planning to make a special box for Cordyceps. But when his father told him that he had come to town to make a box for Cordyceps, he took out the lock.

Sanji said: "Cordyceps is dug up, and it will take us about ten days to get it, why do we need a box?" ”

My father said, "We can't just put it in an old cloth bag with what we can do for a year." ”

Three days later, a box was made.

And put that lock on.

The owner of the white iron shop laughed at them: "What are you doing with a lock without a key?" ”

The father said, "A lock without a key is also a lock, and the ears of a deaf are also ears." ”

Really, with this lock, with or without a key, it's a decent chest, like a chest that can hold something dear inside.

However, now the researcher has taken the box.

Sanji chased him out, and at the door of the village chief's tent, he pulled the waist of the researcher's coat from behind.

The researcher said, "I didn't overpay your family, did I?" ”

Sanji said, "Box, you can't take the box." ”

The researcher said, "Boxes? I only took Cordyceps. ”

Sanji said: "You can only take the cordyceps, not the box containing the cordyceps. ”

The researcher understood: "You have to tell me whether I hold these cordyceps in my hands or in my mouth." ”

Sanji said: "The people who collect Cordyceps bring their own things with Cordyceps. ”

Sanji didn't know that the researcher was carrying a particular box, and when it was connected to electricity, it had a constant temperature and humidity. This is not a box for cordyceps, it is a box for cigars from the city. The researcher's box was in his car. He was going to have dinner at the village chief's house, then visit a few more families, put the cordyceps he had collected into the incubator in the car, and return the box to them tomorrow morning.

Now, the researcher thinks he's a playful doll and says, "Have you ever bought something in the supermarket in town?" ”

Sanchi said, "Bought it." ”

"Tell me what you've bought."

"Sugar, and ink."

"By the way, did the supermarket ask you to return the candy-wrapped paper and inkwell?"

Sanji shook his head.

The researcher said, "Hey, young man, are you shaking your head?" Don't you know that I can't see in the dark? ”

Sanchi said: "You only paid for the cordyceps, not the box. ”

The researcher smiled, and instead of entering the village chief's tent, he turned around and walked towards the place where he had parked. From a distance, just after seeing the reflected light on the car window, he pressed the key in his hand, and the lights flashed at the same time, and squeaked.

The researcher opened the trunk of the car, and the lights in the car lit up, revealing a box with a swarthy metallic luster. There are also two dials the size of a watch on the door. The researcher said: "Young man, open your eyes, such a thing is worthy of being called a box." ”

He opened the door of the box, took out a plastic box from inside, put Cordyceps inside, and stuffed it into the beautiful box.

Sanji thought it was time for the researcher to return the box to him, but the researcher didn't mean it. He asked Sanchi, "When you ran out of ink, did you return the bottle to the supermarket?" ”

This time, Sanji didn't speak or shake his head, he didn't dare to speak, and he and his classmates put the empty bottles on the school wall and used them as targets for slingshots.

The researcher said: "I know that it has been broken by you, and outside the wall, the ground is full of glass ballast, when I don't know? Good boy, you came after me, I thought you were going to submit a review for truancy. Yes, I don't want this broken box, but I'm telling you, it's the packaging I bought from Cordyceps. ”

Sanji finally showed a pleading tone: "You have such a beautiful box, return this box to my family." ”

The researcher lit a cigarette, and his face showed the expression of a cadre who was about to embarrass people, and said: "For the sake of your score as a student with excellent grades, I didn't ask you to write a review for truancy, so I won't let you take the box back for nothing, right?" ”

Sanji knew that when a cadre showed such an expression on his face, he didn't mean that he couldn't get this box back.

He swallowed his saliva and said with some difficulty, "I'll give you cordyceps." ”

The researcher bent down: "Cordyceps, you give me Cordyceps?" ”

"I'll change this box."

Researcher: "How much?" ”

Sanji raised his voice: "Three, three Cordyceps." ”

The researcher threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped the spark with his foot, and said, "Deal!" ”

Sanji picked up the box, and the researcher said, "Young man, since you have started to learn how to trade, you should bring Cordyceps first." ”

Sanji ran across the tent and took out the tin stationery box from under his pillow. When he returned, the researcher lit another cigarette. He watched Sanji open the stationery box and saw three white and chubby cordyceps lying inside, he carefully took out the three cordyceps and put them into the box, and mixed them with the cordyceps that the family had exchanged for more than 20,000 yuan in the past few days.

Sanchi picked up the box.

The researcher said behind him, "Wait. He pulled out a bag of candy from the car, along with a beautiful notebook, lifted the lid of the box that Sanji was holding in his arms, and put it inside. He snapped the lid shut: "Congratulations on your successful transaction, a reward." ”

The researcher patted him on the head and went to the village chief's tent.

Sanji went home with the suitcase, and under the stars, tears flowed down his eyes. He thought about the three white and chubby cordyceps, the fingerless gloves he planned to give his cousin, the thought that he had to visit his cousin with his free hands, and the fact that he couldn't buy shaving foam and rejuvenating shampoo for the two teachers, and his tears fell. He looked at the sky, and the stars shimmered more beautifully in his teary eyes.

He stood in the evening breeze for a while, waiting for the tears to dry before entering his tent. He said to his father and mother, "I have brought the box back." ”