Proofread by Claire.KK
Ye Xiaoxian swiftly ducked into another narrow road. This mountain behind Daliang Village was called ‘Daping’. Villagers would usually chop firewood up there during the day and wouldn’t dare to stay in the mountain when it went dark, since some wild beasts may be wandering around.
There were both tall trees and low shrubs in the mountain. Although the day was illuminated by the sun, being in the mountain she felt cool. In Ye Xiaoxian’s view, this kind of untapped mountain forest was full of treasures. It was not wrong to rely on the mountain and make use of it when you lived nearby.
As expected, she only took a short walk but found a wide sheet of Chinese mesona. Chinese mesona is a unique food ingredient in the South. The herb itself contains polysaccharide, which has the functions of relieving high temperatures, eliminating dampness, cooling the blood and detoxification. The cold noodle snack made with such herb can be used to quench thirst in summer.
According to the original body’s memory, Ye Xiaoxian knew that tens of li (a unit of length, half kilometers) further away from Daliang was Qinghe County. There were cold noodles sold in Qinghe but they tasted bitter and the sellers could by no means make the kind of cold noodles of modern times, which are smooth and tender. Those could only be used to quench thirst.
Ye Xiaoxian then picked up a huge bundle of the herb. Looking around again, she found that there were many mushrooms and wood ear in the mountain.
Some people in Daliang Village were poisoned by mushrooms a few years ago, so the villagers didn’t dare pick any on the mountain, as they weren’t sure which ones were poisonous and which ones were not. But Ye Xiaoxian knew, and so soon she had picked a lot of Chanterelle and shiitake mushrooms. Later, she found that there were many “legendary tofu” plants in the mountain. She became excited again.
“Legendary tofu” was also a type of green weed. It could be made into green tofu. Its taste was like konjac— silky and chewy. In modern times, one could only enjoy this dish in some exclusive restaurants
…
“Ah, little Ye, what did you bring?”
Li Hongmei saw that Ye Xiaoxian had not chopped any firewood but only carried some weeds and wild fungi, and she asked curiously.
Ye Xiaoxian smiled. “Ma, you know, we can just wash the mushrooms clean and stir-fry them. As for the rest, you will see later.”
Then Ye Xiaoxian took the “legendary tofu” and Chinese mesona to wash in the river.
At that moment Li Hongmei felt that Ye Xiaoxian looked pretty mysterious, so she turned her gaze to Baozhu right away.
Baozhu put down her chopped firewood and said sulkily, “Who knows what she’s got up her sleeve? She didn’t chop wood in the mountain but instead fiddled around with those things. Ma, have you cooked anything yet? I’m starving.”
“Yes, I did. I did…” Li Hongmei smiled awkwardly.
However, when Baozhu went to the kitchen and lifted the lid on the wok, she suddenly felt so upset. “Ma, why greens and sweet potato soup again?”
Li Hongmei’s mouth twitched and said bitterly, “Didn’t we just live apart from your grandpa, your elder and third uncle? We’re only allocated 10 jin of rice. I cooked some rice for breakfast and we won’t have the crops till the harvest season in autumn. Our life is really…hard.”
Baozhu felt a sudden bitterness in her heart and her ambition of living apart last night had half gone all of a sudden. Before they lived apart, although they were treated unfairly, they still could have some decent food.
Now that they lived apart, their life became harder than ever. She couldn’t help touching her hungry belly. She couldn’t feel full if there was no meat in the dish.
As Baozhu was thinking, Ye Xiaoxian finished washing the herbs. Once Ye Xiaoxian came back, she shouted happily, “Ma, Baozhu, I’ll make some goodies for this evening!”
Baozhu looked at the herbs in Ye Xiaoxian’s hand and mumbled, “Aren’t they just some wild weeds? Who knows if they’re poisonous or not!”
Ye Xiaoxian took out the only two wooden basins in their home, filled them with water and added in the “legendary tofu” and Chinese mesona, rubbing them hard with her hands as well as stirring the juice constantly.