If Secretary Lang of Hongshi Forestry Farm had personally called and Lang Yue'e had made a special trip to find her, it definitely wasn’t a minor issue.
Yan Xue immediately set down her chubby son. "What’s the problem?"
"They said this batch of fungal spawn is spoiled," Lang Yue'e replied. "My father doesn’t know the details, so he’s waiting for you to go over and check."
Yan Xue called out to the Second Old Lady, "Grandma, I have something urgent. Can you watch Yan Yu for me?"
The Second Old Lady responded from the backyard. Yan Xue soothed her son and waited until the old woman returned before leaving with Lang Yue'e.
At the farm office, Secretary Lang was already waiting. As soon as she arrived, he picked up the phone and dialed. "I’ll have them explain it to you directly."
Yan Xue nodded. Once the call connected and Secretary Lang finished speaking, she took the receiver.
"Hello, Technician Yan," the voice on the other end was polite. "Here’s the situation—we’ve been planting slowly, and some of the spawn hasn’t been used yet. Today, when we opened the containers to plant, we noticed something like mold growing inside. We wanted to ask if this is normal?"
Mold growth was certainly not normal—it indicated contamination. But the spawn provided for the pilot project had undergone strict quality control. How could there be contamination?
Yan Xue frowned but kept her voice calm. "What does the mold look like? Can you describe it?"
"It’s hard to explain," the man said. "But a lot of them have it. Technician Yan, you should come take a look."
"A lot of them?" That made even less sense. The weather wasn’t hot yet, and even if they’d stored it improperly, this wasn’t the season for rampant contamination.
But the man confirmed, "Yes, quite a few—at least a hundred or two hundred bottles."
That was indeed a significant number. Yan Xue’s expression darkened. "Alright, I’ll come right away."
She handed the receiver back to Secretary Lang, who immediately said, "I’ll arrange a motor cart to take you."
Though Jinchuan Forestry Farm and Hongshi Forestry Farm were on the same narrow-gauge railway line, the distance between them wasn’t short—walking would take at least an hour or two.
Yan Xue didn’t refuse. After a moment’s thought, she turned to Lang Yue'e. "Sister Yue'e, could you go get Guo Chang'an for me?"
She was training Guo Chang'an for technical roles, and he’d need to handle emergencies like this in the future. Experience wouldn’t hurt.
Soon, Guo Chang'an arrived in a hurry, and the motor cart was ready. The two boarded and headed straight for Hongshi Forestry Farm.
With the spawn compromised, Hongshi was more anxious than they were. Someone had already been sent to wait by the tracks.
Noticing Guo Chang'an’s limp, the man frowned slightly but said nothing, leading them toward the mushroom cultivation site.
From a distance, Yan Xue spotted the brick walls of Hongshi’s cultivation area and couldn’t help asking, "Who chose this location?"
Relations between Hongshi and Jinchuan were lukewarm, so they hadn’t consulted her on the site selection. But she’d already shared the key considerations—how could they have picked a spot like this?
Nestled against a hillside and residential area, it faced south as required, but the surrounding terrain and buildings blocked airflow.
When the man said their secretary had personally chosen it, Yan Xue could only hold her tongue—the building was already finished.
At the site, the team leader and Qin Ling were waiting, along with a middle-aged man in his forties, introduced as the person in charge of Hongshi’s mushroom cultivation.
After exchanging a few words with Yan Xue and Guo Chang'an, the man deferred to the team leader to explain the situation—apparently, he wasn’t directly involved in production.
In this era, even many brigade secretaries only worked part-time. Yan Xue had intended to ask directly, but now she had to turn to the team leader. As she questioned him, she glanced around. "Where do you wash your hands here?"
The team leader pointed to basins by the wall and even fetched fresh water for her. After washing, Yan Xue meticulously wiped her hands with alcohol before entering the room where the spawn was stored.
Inside, she immediately saw the rows of glass jars on the floor—many indeed showed visible mold growth.
Kneeling, Yan Xue inspected them. The fuzz varied between white and green, unmistakably contamination.
"Looks like Trichoderma," Guo Chang'an said, leaning on his good leg as he examined the jars, his brow furrowed.
Since committing to expanding mushroom cultivation, Yan Xue had asked Qu Mingli for books on mold. Both had studied them and recognized the issue.
But that only deepened the mystery—Trichoderma thrived in high heat and humidity, and it was only late April. Far from hot.
Yan Xue scanned the room. "Was the spawn stored here the whole time?"
"Yes," the team leader said. "It’s been here since we brought it back, untouched."
"That can’t be," Yan Xue countered. "This room doesn’t get above 10°C during the day, and it’s colder at night. Trichoderma couldn’t grow here."
Guo Chang'an locked eyes with the man. "This mold spreads through airborne spores and requires warm, damp conditions."
Their scrutiny made the team leader hesitate. "It was kept here. Where else would we put it?"
Yan Xue and Guo Chang'an exchanged glances—something was off.
Before they could press further, a voice cut in: "Their product is defective, and now they’re blaming us for storage."
It was Qin Ling.
The team leader warned her under his breath, "Qin Ling."
But she scoffed. "What? It’s true. Their spawn was bad from the start."
She pointed at the jars. "If it wasn’t, why would untouched jars suddenly grow mold?"
"Qin Ling!" The team leader’s voice sharpened. "Technician Yan came to help. Watch your tone."
"Help?" Qin Ling glared at Yan Xue. "I bet she’s still mad I challenged her for the center spot in the poetry recital. This is revenge—selling us bad spawn on purpose!"
The accusation hung in the air. Guo Chang'an, unaware of the recital incident, scowled. "Watch your words. Our pilot project doesn’t sell contaminated spawn. Any issues are caught during cultivation—ask other farms if you don’t believe us."
"Other farms got good batches. Ours is the exception?" Qin Ling sneered, her tone aggressive.
The commotion drew the person in charge back. "What’s going on?"
Before Yan Xue or Guo Chang'an could speak, Qin Ling declared, "Jinchuan sold us spoiled spawn and won’t admit it."
The man frowned. "That’s a serious claim. Are you sure it was spoiled when we got it?"
"If not, did we ruin it ourselves?" Qin Ling shot back. "Who’d waste over a hundred yuan damaging their own goods?"
"Well… that’s fair," the man mused, turning to Yan Xue. "Technician Yan, how should we resolve this?"
"I think this is most likely a misunderstanding. Who would really sell us defective goods worth over a hundred yuan? It was probably just an oversight," the team leader said, trying to smooth things over.
Qin Ling snorted coldly at his words and seemed ready to retort, but after a sharp glance from the leader, she reluctantly clamped her mouth shut.
Yan Xue watched as they played their roles—one acting reasonable, the other confrontational. Only after they finished did she ask the person in charge, "How do you plan to resolve this?"
"I think it’s best to handle this privately," the person in charge replied. "After all, this is only the first year you’ve been selling mushroom spawn. If word gets out that there are problems, it won’t sound good and could damage your pilot project’s reputation."
The words sounded considerate, but upon closer reflection, they carried an unmistakable hint of threat rather than genuine concern.
Yan Xue didn’t respond. Instead, she crouched down again to inspect the jars.
Seeing this, the person in charge reconsidered and said, "How about this—you must still have some leftover spawn at your place, right?"
Yan Xue remained silent, but he continued anyway, "If you do, just give us another two or three hundred jars. We won’t ask for more than that."
It wasn’t an excessive demand, but Qin Ling, who had been playing the aggressive role, hadn’t spoken yet.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished, Qin Ling cut in, "No way! What if they give us defective ones again?"
The person in charge paused, but Qin Ling pressed on, "I think it’s safest if they just teach us the method so we can cultivate it ourselves."
Guo Chang'an, who had stayed quiet since Yan Xue resumed inspecting the jars, finally glanced at the group.
So this was their real goal—to get their hands on the cultivation technique. What an audacious demand.
And now he wondered—had the contamination in so many of the spawn samples been deliberate?
This was indeed a tricky situation. If the Hongshi Forestry Farm started spreading rumors that Jinchuan was selling defective spawn, it would undoubtedly harm their reputation and might even draw criticism from the higher-ups.
Guo Chang'an frowned deeply. Meanwhile, Yan Xue stood up, brushing the wood shavings from her hands. "Is Secretary Zhao at the forestry farm?"
She looked directly at the person in charge. "For something this serious, shouldn’t we have a leader present to witness the resolution?"
After some thought, the person in charge went to fetch Secretary Zhao, while Yan Xue had someone call over the driver who had brought them in the truck.
Yan Xue and Guo Chang'an moved the jars out to an open area. Once everyone arrived, they briefly explained the situation.
"So you’re certain the spawn we sold you was defective from the start, and now you want the cultivation method to grow it yourselves—is that correct?" Yan Xue glanced at Qin Ling and the others.
The truck driver, who had been brought in as a witness, immediately protested, "What’s this about? How could the spawn from our forestry farm’s pilot project be defective?"
But the Hongshi Forestry Farm group stayed silent, including Secretary Zhao, who had just arrived.
Unfazed, Yan Xue reached into one of the jars and pulled out a handful. "Then do you know what’s missing from your culture medium?"
The team leader and Qin Ling’s expressions instantly shifted. Guo Chang'an, hearing this, quickly bent down. "Their culture medium?"
He also grabbed a handful, rubbing it between his fingers. "This isn’t our spawn."
"How is it not yours? Who else would even know how to make this stuff?" Qin Ling, being young and impatient, couldn’t hold back.
But Guo Chang'an was certain. "It’s not ours. Your culture medium is missing a key ingredient."
The original and cultivated spawn’s medium contained only 1% gypsum—seemingly negligible, but it played a crucial role.
First, it regulated the pH level, neutralizing acidic byproducts from metabolic processes to maintain a stable environment for mycelium growth. Second, it filled gaps in the substrate, improving aeration and moisture retention, preventing compaction of wood shavings that could lead to dehydration or contamination.
But the medium in these jars had no gypsum at all. After three years working with this, Guo Chang'an could tell just by touch.
When no one responded, he scattered the medium on the ground. "Even fully colonized medium wouldn’t be this loose. It should be clumped together."
"How do we know it was fully colonized when you sold it to us?" Qin Ling refused to back down. "All we know is you sold us bad spawn."
This was sheer obstinacy. Guo Chang'an’s expression darkened, but Yan Xue remained silent, retrieving a few more pieces from the jar.
"This is our spawn," she said, opening her palm to reveal clumps of medium with a noticeably firmer texture.
Now Guo Chang'an understood. "You took our spawn, tried cultivating it yourselves, failed, and now you’re blaming us—just to get the cultivation method out of us."
The young man couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. "What kind of fools do you take us for? Did you really think we’d fall for this?"
The entire area fell deathly silent. Even Qin Ling, who had been the most vocal, had nothing left to say.
Yan Xue had no interest in dragging this out. She stood and went to wash her hands. "Chang'an, let’s go."
If their scheme had worked, fine—but failing and then offending them like this?
The Hongshi Forestry Farm team leader hurried after her. "Technician Yan, don’t be angry. There must be some misunderstanding here."
First, he claimed the defective goods were a misunderstanding, and now, after being exposed, he was still calling it a misunderstanding.
Yan Xue gave him a look. "Are you suggesting we inspect every single jar and bring back a normal one for comparison?"
The team leader knew exactly what had happened. He stiffened, at a loss for words.
With tensions at a breaking point, Secretary Zhao stepped in. "Technician Yan, please don’t leave upset. Let’s discuss this properly."
He then put on a stern face. "If things are as you say, I’ll investigate thoroughly and deal with it seriously. You’ll get your answer."
If Yan Xue left angry, who would they turn to for future issues? Would they even be able to buy spawn next year?
Secretary Zhao couldn’t help but glare at the troublemakers.
Faced with Secretary Zhao, Yan Xue couldn’t outright refuse. She smiled faintly. "Then I’ll wait for your answer."
She checked her watch. "To be honest, I left in a hurry today and haven’t even eaten. There’s also a child at home waiting to be fed."
At that, how could they possibly detain her further? They could offer her a meal, but they certainly couldn’t feed her child.
All they could do was escort Yan Xue and the others out, apologizing profusely and trying to make amends.
But Guo Chang'an’s expression remained stormy, and the driver who had brought them was furious. "What kind of people are they? How could they pull something like this?"
Only Yan Xue stayed relatively calm. "It’s fine. They’ll have to give us an answer—unless they want to suffer heavy losses this year."
The driver looked puzzled. "It’s just a few jars of spawn. How much could they possibly lose?"
A single bottle of original culture can propagate dozens of bottles of cultivated strains, and Hongshi Forestry Farm wouldn’t dare waste large quantities of these cultures on experiments.
But Guo Chang’an understood the implications—fungal contamination like green mold often arises not just from high temperature and humidity but also from improper handling and inadequate sterilization.
When Yan Xue washed her hands earlier, she had to search for alcohol. If the sterilization process during inoculation at Hongshi Forestry Farm was similarly neglected, the mold spores could easily cling to workers’ hands.
After returning to Jinchuan Forestry Farm, the group immediately reported the issue to Secretary Lang, who was furious upon hearing it and promptly called Qu Mingli.
Qu Mingli was equally shocked by Hongshi Forestry Farm’s reckless actions and reprimanded Secretary Zhao over the phone, “What were you thinking? If Jinchuan Forestry Farm hadn’t shared their resources, do you really think you could have succeeded?”
Some people have the skill to lift others up, while others only know how to drag everyone down.
Secretary Zhao quickly defended himself, claiming ignorance and blaming subordinates for acting without authorization. He had already disciplined the responsible parties by docking two months’ wages.
For such a serious matter, a mere two-month salary deduction was laughable. Qu Mingli couldn’t even be bothered to argue, asking instead, “Do you honestly think Jinchuan Forestry Farm will be satisfied with this?”
“We’re all under the same town forestry bureau. I truly had no idea about this. Besides, if they hadn’t hoarded the technology, afraid we’d learn it, we wouldn’t have had to figure it out ourselves,” Secretary Zhao retorted, trying to shift the blame.
Qu Mingli ignored him, silently hoping Hongshi Forestry Farm would never need to beg Jinchuan for help again.
With such narrow-mindedness and incompetence, even if food were spoon-fed to them, they’d still choke on it.
When Secretary Lang heard the resolution, he was clearly dissatisfied, but as peers, he couldn’t openly criticize.
Besides, Yan Xue had already hinted at the outcome—there was no need for words. They just had to wait.
The matter seemed to fade away, much to Hongshi Forestry Farm’s relief. They had expected to pay a steeper price to appease Yan Xue.
Apparently, the young technician knew better than to push things too far—after all, no one benefited from outright hostility.
But then, while inspecting the bark caps for mycelium growth, Hongshi’s workers discovered radial white fungal threads.
Something felt off—after all, edible fungus mycelium should be transparent—but they weren’t entirely sure, so they waited a few days to observe.
During that time, the favorable weather caused some of the log holes to sprout fuzzy growths—identical to the earlier contamination.
Panicked, Hongshi Forestry Farm immediately called Jinchuan for help, only to be told Yan Xue was unavailable.
“If Technician Yan isn’t free, what about Observer Guo? Didn’t she say we could consult him in her absence?”
Secretary Lang sighed deeply. “You know Observer Guo has mobility issues.”
Days passed, and the moldy holes began emitting a musty stench, with more and more logs showing similar signs.
The green mold was spreading. Left with no choice, Hongshi Forestry Farm fired Qin Ling and the team leader.
Whether higher-ups were involved or not, these two became the scapegoats, forced to swallow their grievances.
This move, however, signaled Hongshi’s surrender to Jinchuan, leaving Secretary Zhao humiliated.
When news reached Jinchuan, Yan Xue—who had been “too busy” to spare a moment—suddenly found time. She and Guo Chang’an returned to Hongshi.
This time, the ear cultivation manager personally greeted them, offering a sincere apology for the earlier incident and promising generous consulting fees.
Yan Xue wasted no words. She got straight to work, singling out the most contaminated logs. “These need to be burned.”
“Burned?” The manager gaped, echoed by the stunned onlookers.
They had invested time and money into these logs—how could they just destroy them?
“Mold spores spread through the air. If you don’t burn these now, the rest will be contaminated too.”
No one dared take that risk. With so many logs already infected, salvaging the majority was the priority.
Reluctantly, they hauled the logs to an open area, piled kindling, and set them ablaze.
Yan Xue and Guo Chang’an then inspected the remaining logs, separating the contaminated from the healthy.
For the mildly affected logs, they had to scrape out the infected mycelium down to bare wood, then treat the holes with limewater to suppress further mold growth.
The cleanup took Hongshi days, followed by ongoing monitoring.
Even if no further issues arose, their losses were unavoidable—burned logs, ruined inoculation holes, and delayed mycelium growth.
When Secretary Zhao received the report, he suddenly felt the punishment for those two fools had been too lenient.
What kind of idiotic scheme was this? Instead of cracking the cultivation method, they’d unleashed mold that ravaged the entire operation.
Word spread to other forestry farms, extinguishing any lingering ambitions to replicate the technology independently.
Clearly, this wasn’t something just anyone could master—and no one wanted to suffer Hongshi’s fate.
With Jinchuan as the sole reliable source of fungal cultures, every farm adjusted their attitudes.
Maintaining good relations became paramount. At the very least, they couldn’t afford to make enemies—the cost was too high.
Even Qi Fang, returning from town, was recognized on the small train. “You’re Technician Yan’s husband, right? I’ve seen you visit the pilot site. Your wife is incredible.”
The passenger showered him with praise all the way, even asking him to convey Thirteen-Line Forestry Farm’s admiration to Yan Xue.
So when Yan Xue arrived home, she found her husband waiting, his peach-blossom eyes fixed on her.
Their chubby toddler, unusually cooperative, sat nestled against his father and brightened at the sight of her, reaching out to be held.
As Yan Xue scooped up their son, her husband recounted the journey. “Now I’m known as ‘Technician Yan’s husband.’”
“Got a problem with that?” She shot him a glare, prompting an immediate denial.
“Not at all. I think it’s perfect.”
He glanced at the door again, then pulled out a small paper packet from his pocket and handed it to Yan Xue. "Only managed to get two."
At first, Yan Xue didn’t understand, but as soon as she felt the packet and saw the words on the wrapper, realization dawned. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Where did you get these?"
"Last time I went to report the plans to Secretary Qu, I asked him for a favor."
The man’s tone was calm. "Didn’t you say asking him for small favors now and then would help build a closer relationship?"
But clearly, going around asking people for this had made him uncomfortable, so he quickly changed the subject. "Secretary Qu also had something else he wanted me to tell you."
Compared to the small packet in her hand, Yan Xue was much more eager to discuss serious matters. She straightened up, about to ask what it was, when she suddenly felt a tug on the packet.
She looked down—the chubby little boy sitting in her lap had already grabbed the packet tightly and was lifting it toward his mouth...
Little Qi Yanyu: What’s this? Snackies?
