Chapter 159: The Return of Hao and Tian

Blink and it was already the tenth day of the first lunar month.

A little past two o'clock in the afternoon, Hao Nan and Tian Shangguo returned from their hometown.

Each of them carried a large duffel bag, looking travel-worn and covered in snowflakes.

"Happy New Year, Comrade Zhong." Hao Nan shook the snow off his shoulders, placed his luggage on the floor, and looked up at Zhong Yuxiu with a smile.

Tian Shangguo's movements were more subdued. He gently brushed the fine snow off his coat before speaking, "Happy New Year, Comrade Zhong. Thank you so much for the things you sent me; my family loved them." His expression turned slightly dim.

"As long as they liked them. Since you just got back, go take a hot shower to warm up first. After you've unpacked, go upstairs and get some sleep; taking the train is exhausting." They definitely wouldn't have been willing to buy sleeper tickets.

"Alright, Comrade Zhong." Hao Nan forced a smile onto his stiff, chilled face and quickly rubbed his cheeks. "It's freezing! The weather in Beijing is so different from our hometown."

Tian Shangguo nodded. "We'll get used to it in a few days."

The two men opened their duffel bags and took out various bundles wrapped in oiled paper and black cloth.

"Comrade Zhong, these are mountain goods I brought from my hometown, all foraged from the mountains." Hao Nan pushed the items toward her. Tian Shangguo followed suit, "Comrade Zhong, the mountains in our region are abundant with various mushrooms. While dried mushrooms aren't as good as fresh ones, they have the advantage of making soup very savory."

Zhong Yuxiu accepted them with a beaming smile. "Sorry to trouble you for bringing them all this way. Thank you both. Tonight, I'll have Gou Dan stir-fry some meat with mushrooms and make a mushroom stew. I'm looking forward to tasting these fine goods from your hometown."

"They aren't anything fancy, just some local produce from the mountains," Hao Nan replied with a shake of his head and a smile.

"Even in the city, mushrooms are very popular." With a crescent-shaped smile in her eyes—having eaten radishes and cabbage all winter—these mountain goods arrived at just the right time. "Leave the things on the coffee table. Hurry up and wash up and take a nap. You only have one day to rest; the day after tomorrow I have to go to work at the university, and you won't have any time to rest then."

Hao Nan and Tian Shangguo nodded in acknowledgment, placed the mountain goods on the coffee table, and carried their bags upstairs. When they came back down, they each had a change of clothes in their arms.

Zhong Yuxiu sat down by the sofa and unwrap the mountain goods they had brought one by one: two large bags of mushrooms of quite a few varieties, with at least four or five kinds at a glance, such as shiitake, oyster, and lion's mane mushrooms; pickled dried greens wrapped in oiled paper. A small package nearby caught her attention. Picking it up and opening it, she found it contained pure natural white fungus—small and perfectly colored, entirely unlike the sulfur-bleached variety of later generations.

Chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, walnuts, and most surprisingly, a cured deer leg, consisting of an entire hind leg.

Venison was a precious delicacy at any time. Judging by where it was placed among the packages, it was brought by Tian Shangguo. He must have gone to a lot of trouble to get it, and bringing the whole thing meant this gift carried considerable weight.

Not only did Tian Shangguo bring meat, but Hao Nan did as well—salted fish.

Small and large salted fish, the big ones weighing around a pound, and the smallest no bigger than a fingernail.

"Gou Dan, come here."

"Beep, beep, beep."

Gou Dan responded to the call, emerged from the kitchen, and stopped in front of her.

Zhong Yuxiu selected the fingernail-sized small fish and handed them to it. "Deep-fry them. Don't add salt, just a little dried chili powder."

"Beep." Gou Dan took them.

"And the white fungus. I want to drink it tomorrow morning, so remember to stew it." Zhong Yuxiu picked through the items and handed over some mushrooms, chestnuts, and the entire deer leg. "Cook the shiitake mushrooms in soup, stir-fry the pork with oyster mushrooms, steam the deer leg, and roast the chestnuts for me—I want to eat them. Alright, that's all, get to work."

"Beep, beep."

Gou Dan hugged the pile of items, turned around, and returned to the kitchen.

Zhong Yuxiu sorted out a portion of the mushrooms and wrapped them in oiled paper, selected two salted fish weighing around a pound each, and placed half of the chestnuts, walnuts, and ginkgo nuts to the side, stuffing the rest into the storage room.

When Hao Nan and Tian Shangguo came out after their showers and changing clothes, only half the items remained on the coffee table.

"You two are done washing? Hang your clothes up to dry on the upper floor. Once they stop dripping, bring them down to the dryer; they'll dry faster that way." Zhong Yuxiu pointed toward the storage room. "While you were gone, I had Gou Dan make a clothes dryer. Whenever your clothes won't dry in the future, just hang them inside the dryer."

"A dryer?" Hao Nan and Tian Shangguo looked bewildered.

"Go see for yourselves." Too lazy to explain, she shooed them off toward the storage room.

They put down their wooden basins and walked straight to the storage room. They were too familiar with this room; the moment they entered, their eyes locked onto the object covered by a cotton cloth. Exchanging glances, they walked up to the dryer and inspected it from all angles.

Tian Shangguo untied the rope at the opening of the dryer, revealing its internal structure. On the top layer were three horizontal bars for hanging clothes, and below them were three vertical bars, also for hanging things. However, it was clear that larger items went on top and smaller items went underneath.

"How do you use this?" Hao Nan crouched down and tugged at the cotton cloth.

"There's a machine at the bottom." Tian Shangguo stood at the front and noticed a circular hole about twenty centimeters wide near the bottom of the cotton cloth, where a machine-like device was fitted.

Hao Nan squeezed in to look. "And then?"

The two men searched around for a while before finally fixing their eyes on a long black cord connected to the machine. After tracing the cord to the power source, they crouched down again to study the dryer. Seeing labels like "Power" and "Temperature" printed on it, they roughly figured out how it worked.

"Let's go wring out the clothes." Hao Nan pulled Tian Shangguo out of the storage room, picked up the wooden basin holding their laundry, and returned to the bathroom. Working together, they wrung out all the clothes once more. If they had been dripping water before, now they were dry enough to go straight into the dryer.

However, they didn't put them into the dryer right away; instead, they carried them upstairs to hang on the balcony.

When they came back downstairs, Zhong Yuxiu turned to them and asked, "Why aren't you resting?"

"Comrade Zhong, we wanted to take another look at the dryer," Hao Nan said.

"Oh." Zhong Yuxiu replied calmly, "Comrades Hao and Tian, since you brought so much mountain goods, do you mind if I share a portion with the Yan family?"

Hao Nan nodded indifferently. "We brought them for you, so do whatever you like with them."

"These mountain goods were brought by you two. How could I just give them away without asking your opinion?"

"They belong to you now, no need to ask us." The two men hurried back toward the storage room.

Zhong Yuxiu rubbed her chin. Was the dryer really that attractive?

Since they agreed, Zhong Yuxiu packed up the goods. Leaving them piled on the coffee table looked untidy; it was fine when there were no guests, but when visitors came by, it didn't look right.

Hao Nan and Tian Shangguo opened the dryer, and a wave of warm air diffused inside the cotton enclosure. Promptly, Tian Shangguo tied the rope shut, and the interior of the cotton cover quickly heated up.

After observing for a while, they understood the principle behind how the dryer dried clothes: the hot air circulating continuously carried away the moisture from the wet garments, while the dampness silently dissipated.

"What a great invention! From now on, we'll never have to worry about not having clothes to wear because they won't dry," Hao Nan laughed heartily. "Too bad we can't use this back in the village."