Chapter 2, The Second Inn: Elm seeds and toon leaves, bamboo shoots and bamboo rats...
This bamboo forest is quite large. The front section has some thin bamboo shoots, while the bamboo shoots get thicker as you go deeper into the mountains. Yunyin glanced casually at the thick bamboo behind her and decided to break off some thin bamboo shoots first.
We'll dig up the thicker bamboo shoots later when we have the tools.
Picking bamboo shoots is an extremely stress-relieving activity; the crisp "crack" sound makes you feel completely relaxed. Yunyin was so engrossed that she didn't realize it until the bamboo shoots had piled up all over the floor. She got up, stretched, rubbed her slightly sore back, and loosened her muscles. Just as she was about to tie the bamboo shoots up, she suddenly heard a rustling sound.
She looked up and saw a large bamboo rat peeking out from deep within the bamboo forest, moving cautiously and glancing back every now and then. Its cute and clumsy appearance made her feel a surge of affection.
But Yunyin's eyes lit up. This was a delicacy! Bamboo rat meat had no gamey smell, and its texture was tender and sweet. She had eaten farmed bamboo rats before, and she could never forget the taste. Whether stewed, braised, dry-potted, or grilled, it was all superb. The more she thought about it, the more her mouth watered.
Before the bamboo rat could react, Yunyin drew her whip from her waist and tied it up in two swift movements.
Seeing the enormous bamboo rat, and thinking there might be more in the forest, she quickly grabbed a vine from a nearby branch, tied the rat up, and, ignoring the bamboo shoots nearby, put the rat in her basket. She then continued searching deeper into the bamboo forest. After searching the entire area, she finally caught two more plump bamboo rats.
She carried the large bamboo rat back home. As she passed a steep slope, she hadn't paid attention to the bottom of the slope until a gust of wind blew by, bringing with it a peculiar fragrance.
This smell… Yunyin sniffed carefully; it was the smell of toon. Toon is delicious whether stir-fried with eggs or used in a cold salad, but some people can't stand its smell. For those who like it, it's a delicacy; for those who don't, even the smell is unbearable. Yunyin particularly loves that unique aroma, and every spring she buys some toon to cook some delicious meals.
Picking Chinese toon leaves herself was something she did when she was a child. Later, she went to the city with her father and never picked them again.
The aroma lifted Yunyin's spirits. With so many ingredients here, all pollution-free, pure, natural, and high-quality, she felt like a mouse that had fallen into a rice bin; suddenly, time travel didn't seem so unacceptable after all.
Besides worrying about Grandma Su's condition, and all the delicious food I haven't tried yet, I also think about the conveniences of modern life. The thought of never being able to eat those fruits again, and all the sweet drinks and cold beverages of summer, dampened my earlier excitement.
Forget it, why think so much? Just live well as long as you can, and we'll worry about the future later.
Stopping her wild thoughts, Yunyin picked the sprouted toon leaves, leaving the ones that had just sprouted toon leaves to grow longer before picking them.
Yunyin carried the bamboo rat and the Chinese toon tree back home. With her sharp eyes, she spotted an elm tree not far ahead at the bottom of the slope.
Clusters of round, green leaves hung from the branches, resembling bunches of copper coins, hence the name "elm seed." This elm tree was tall and sturdy, its leaves densely covering the entire tree. Yunyin, carrying a basket, climbed to the treetop and quickly began picking the leaves.
Elm seeds are easy to pick; a light pluck can yield a large patch. She picked a full basket and realized that there was a lot of food to eat in this mountain. If there were no famine, it would indeed be a suitable place to live.
But in years of famine, even these wild vegetables might not be available, as they would all be snatched up by the refugees. As for why there are no refugees here, perhaps it has something to do with the yamen runners who are arresting people everywhere.
She had overheard the merchants chatting earlier mentioning that if she continued along the main road, there would be a town, and it would be quite a long walk from there to the county seat. Entering the county seat required a household registration, but not in the town. As long as she was careful of the constables along the way, she could take these wild vegetables to the town and see what was going on.
I don't know if I can exchange it for some copper coins, but even if I can't exchange it for money, I can exchange it for some food.
She climbed down from the tree and picked up a few elm seeds to chew on. Raw elm seeds have a slightly sweet taste, and the more you chew them, the sweeter they become. Elm seeds mixed with tofu is also a refreshing and delicious dish. The fragrant elm seeds and tender tofu blend together, creating a flavor that is unforgettable.
When Yunyin returned to the place where she had been picking bamboo shoots, it was time for breakfast. Unfortunately, she had neither a pot nor a knife, and she couldn't process the bamboo rats with just stones. She wouldn't be able to eat these bamboo rats; she could only take them to town to exchange for money.
Those yamen runners are a bit of a problem; I need to hide from them and not let them discover my identity. I wonder what the situation is like in town, and how strictly they check outsiders like me.
Thinking too much is pointless. Since she plans to go to town, she should prepare more things. She definitely can't bring the mushroom sauce, as she has nothing to put it in. The glass jar can't be exposed, so she can only exchange it for copper coins in town and buy some ordinary earthenware jars to replace it.
Yunyin put down her basket, pulled some vines, and started weaving a vine basket. A well-made vine basket can hold heavy things, but she didn't have that skill. She had only seen others weave them before, and the basket she made couldn't hold heavy things, but it was still good for holding wild vegetables.
Yunyin took the woven wicker basket and ran into the mountains again, soon filling it to the brim with wild vegetables. She also picked a lot of the shepherd's purse and purslane she had seen earlier.
As for the bamboo shoots, she put them in a basket and took them down the mountain. Yunyin ate some familiar wild fruits to quench her thirst and then returned to the riverbank with these mountain produce.
The fish by the riverbank and among the water plants continued to swim carefree, unaware that their lives were about to end.
Yunyin found a wooden stick, gestured at the river water a couple of times, and then quickly and accurately speared it into the water. When she took the stick out again, it had a large, fat fish stuck in it.
Take the fish, scrape off the scales and gills with a thin stone slab, clean it, skewer it with a stick, place it on the side of the basket, and put it on a wooden frame made of sticks.
After processing the fish, she started a fire. She had collected a lot of branches, dry grass, and pine needles, and now all that was left was the kindling for a fire.
She knew how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get it going anytime soon. Luckily, she remembered the flint she used to play with as a child. These kinds of stones could be found by the river. She searched for a long time by the river and finally found two flint stones of the right size.
Flint is a type of stone that can be used to start a fire. Yunyin used to play with it to start a fire when she was a child, and she was even beaten by her grandmother. Even after she grew up, she never forgot about it.
With a series of "bangs," sparks flew from the impacts, quickly rising into the air as they met the dry pine needles and grass. Yunyin placed some thin pieces of firewood into the newly emerged sparks, and as the fire grew larger, she added larger pieces, making the fire burn ever brighter.
There was no salt or other seasoning, but thankfully there was mushroom sauce, which gave the otherwise bland grilled fish a unique flavor. Yunyin looked at the sizzling, oily grilled fish, flipped it over, and got up to get a bottle of mushroom sauce.
While waiting for the grilled fish, Yunyin went up the tree to retrieve the books that Sister Xinxin had returned to her. She had only lent her a book on medicinal cuisine and a book on grains and vegetables. Apart from a cooking notebook that she later put in the tree, the other books were not hers.
Upon opening it, there were indeed two more books: "The Complete Guide to Animal Husbandry" and "The Complete Guide to Planting." Yunyin casually flipped through a couple of pages; they introduced various methods for planting crops, raising poultry, and even composting.
Yunyin carefully put the books away. If she lived here in the future, the books Sister Xinxin gave her might come in very handy. She just didn't know how Sister Xinxin got these books, but unfortunately, she would never know the answer.
Yunyin put the books back into her canvas bag and put them away. Smelling the fragrant fish, she turned the fish over again, went to the bushes not far away to find a few large leaves, washed them clean and placed them on a wooden block, and took out the bottle of spicy mushroom sauce she had just retrieved.
As soon as the mushroom sauce was opened, a rich aroma wafted out, even surpassing the fragrance of the fish. Looking at the fish that had been roasted to a golden brown, Yunyin took one and placed it on a wooden stool, then used a stick to pick up a piece of fish with her chopsticks, dipped it in the mushroom sauce, and tasted it.
The skin is grilled to a golden brown and crispy perfection, while the fish meat is tender and delicate, with absolutely no muddy taste—it's incredibly fresh. Dipped in mushroom sauce, a spicy and savory flavor bursts on the tongue, blending perfectly with the fish's natural freshness to make the grilled fish even more delicious. Even without marinating, the fish has its own unique sweetness.
The combination of fish and mushrooms makes the already delicious food even more delicious, and if you taste it carefully, you can also taste the sweetness of the fish.
Yunyin quickly finished a fish with mushroom sauce. After she was full, she extinguished the fire, splashed it with river water to make sure no embers remained, and then carried the tied-up bamboo rat, along with a basket of bamboo shoots and wild vegetables, toward the main road.
By this time, the sun was high in the sky, and there was no one to come and go on the official road. Yunyin walked alone for a long time before finally spotting a figure ahead.
Yunyin paid no attention to the man, but he seemed to have seen some rare treasure and excitedly ran towards her, muttering something under his breath.
Before the man could get close, noticing his unusual behavior, she swiftly drew her whip and lashed it at him. The whip cracked and tore at his clothes, leaving numerous welts on his body. He was unaware that he had attacked someone skilled in martial arts; even after he was tied up, Yunyin could still see disbelief on his face.
Yunyin didn't waste any words and directly pulled him towards the mountain forest by the roadside.
"Let me go, let me go!" The ragged man struggled to break free of his restraints, but the more he struggled, the tighter the whip became. Finally, powerless, he followed Yunyin into the woods.
"Weren't you arrested?" Yunyin looked him over carefully before realizing that he was one of the people who had been arrested by the yamen runners.
The young man said with a mournful face, "I ran away again. Who would want to dig irrigation ditches? I finally managed to escape from Longyou."
“If I hadn’t been unable to survive in my hometown, I wouldn’t have ended up as a vagrant.”
Listening to his rambling, Yunyin interrupted him, saying, "If that's the case, why don't you go back home now? Even though Longyou suffered from a locust plague last year, there isn't one this year, so you can go back home."
"Do you think I don't want to?" The young man sat down on the ground in a fit of anger, looking disheveled. "I won't have any land when I go back. The land of people like us has already been taken back. Even if we go back, the government won't recognize us."
"Everyone can only become refugees, wandering from place to place, but at least they can still survive."
"But who knew that Long'an County would conscript refugees to build irrigation canals? If I had gone there, I probably would have lost my life." The young man patted his chest and said, "Luckily, I was quick-witted and escaped."
Yunyin snorted coldly and said, "So you've come to rob me?"
The man said dejectedly, "I don't want to rob you. I just want to borrow some money from you. I heard that in Long'an County, you can register your household and get land by paying two strings of cash."
"Two strings of cash are expensive, but the thought of being caught by the yamen and having to repair the water conservancy project makes me want to find a way to get the money," the young man said dejectedly. "I don't want to be a vagrant anymore. I'm constantly being chased by the yamen runners. If I'm accidentally caught by a wealthy family, I'm afraid I'll end up as a lowly person."
He sighed and said, "Being classified as a lowly person is worse than working on water conservancy projects. Once you're classified as a lowly person, you're classified as a lowly person for life, and your descendants will be classified as lowly people as well."
"I only thought I could borrow some money from you because you're all alone and have a distinguished air about you," the man said, rubbing his hands together. "I won't hurt you. I just want to register your household first. If you agree, I can even give you half of the land I'm allocated."
He looked at Yunyin expectantly and said, "My wife, believe me, as long as you lend me the money, I will definitely give you half of the land. We can sign a contract."
Yunyin looked the man up and down. He was tall with long arms and legs, and his presence was very intimidating. No wonder he dared to rob people on the road.
Although he said he wanted to borrow money, he seemed to be coercing me. Who knows if he wanted to rob me or what?
Yunyin looked at him, momentarily at a loss for what to do with him. Letting him go was definitely not an option; if she hadn't known martial arts, who knows what she would have faced today.
But if she were to hand him over to the authorities, setting aside her status, handing him over to the authorities would be tantamount to sending him to his death, which she couldn't bring herself to do. Yunyin was caught in a dilemma.
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