Chapter 49, The 49th Inn, Bamboo Fungus
The roe deer was exceptionally clever. Before Fu Wang even got close, it sensed his presence and tried to escape, but Fu Wang had already blocked its escape route. He fired two arrows simultaneously, one to block its escape direction and the other to strike its neck directly.
The roe deer let out a howl and fell to the ground. Fu Wang put down his bow and arrow, walked over to the plump roe deer, and said to Yun Yin, "Not bad. Lady Yun, could you get me some vines so I can tie this roe deer up and take it back?"
Seeing his elegant archery posture, Yunyin felt a pang of longing and hoped that she could be just as dashing when she learned to shoot arrows. She tore a bunch of vines and walked to Fu Wang's side, looking at the blood flowing from the deer, and said, "Shouldn't we leave quickly?"
Fu Wang cut a stick, wrapped the vines and prey around it, and said, "We really need to leave quickly, otherwise we'll attract other animals. If we attract wild boars, that would be bad. Wild boars like to appear in groups, and the two of us are definitely no match for a group of wild boars."
Yunyin was also afraid of attracting large creatures. She hadn't been to many places in this mountain range yet, and didn't know what animals lived deep in the mountains. However, she had heard from the people of Linjiang Village that there were wild boars in the mountains.
She helped carry half the weight, picked up the mushrooms they had gathered, and headed down the mountain.
Fu Wang led the way, taking on most of the prey's weight so as not to make Yun Yin too tired. He glanced back at Yun Yin, saw that she seemed unwell, and asked her, "How do you plan to eat this meat?"
Roe deer meat? Yunyin was genuinely unsure how to prepare it. This animal was a protected species in their time; eating it would likely land her in jail. Her experience with wild game was probably less than Fu Wang's. "How do you usually prepare wild game?"
Fu Wang: "Let's stew it or roast it. These are the only two ways I know how to cook it. I don't know how to cook anything else."
"Bake or stew?" Yunyin nodded. "Okay, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't taste good, I hope you won't mind."
Fu Wang: "Is there any dish that Yun Niangzi can't cook? I really don't believe it. You can cook with confidence, I'm not picky about food."
They carried the roe deer down the mountain and soon came to a bamboo forest. Just beyond this forest, not far ahead, lay Yunyin's dwelling. As she passed through the bamboo grove, she saw white dresses fluttering in the wind among the verdant bamboo. She stopped and said to Fu Wang:
"What a lucky day! Not only have we picked so many mushrooms and hunted some game, but we've also found this patch of bamboo fungus. We're so fortunate! Let's pick these bamboo fungus before we leave, otherwise they'll be gone when we come back."
Yunyin put everything aside and walked to the bamboo fungus. The bamboo fungus had already opened its cap and needed to be removed from the top and bottom to prevent it from continuing to grow.
The caps of the bamboo fungus had a very strong odor, and Yunyin didn't want the fresh and delicious mushrooms to be contaminated with this smell, so she simply used the remaining vines to weave two baskets and separated the bamboo fungus and the caps.
Together with Fu Wang, she quickly picked all the bamboo fungus. Looking at the basket full of bamboo fungus, she said, "It really is true that people live off the land and water. There are so many mountain products. It's just a pity that we didn't find any bamboo rats this time. I sold the bamboo rats I found before, so I didn't get to taste them."
Fu Wang said, "If Lady Yun wants to eat bamboo rats, that's easy. I'll go into the mountains again tomorrow. What else would you like to eat? I can see if I can catch some."
Yunyin's eyes sparkled as she asked, "Can I have a rabbit? I want to eat a rabbit." She scratched her head shyly and said, "I saw the rabbit statue you made before, and I wanted to eat a rabbit, but unfortunately I haven't seen anyone selling rabbits."
Fu Wang: "Sure, I'll go into the mountains first thing tomorrow morning. You wait for me to bring you a rabbit."
Yunyin was looking forward to tomorrow, but she also had delicious food waiting for her today. She returned to the food stall with a large amount of mountain produce. Zhang Lin and Zheng Guilan stared at them with their mouths wide open and said, "Goodness, you actually hunted such a big prey."
Yunyin called out to Zhang Lin, "Do you know how to handle prey? If so, you can handle this roe deer."
"Gui Lan, come with me to process the bamboo fungus and mushrooms."
Zhang Lin stood there stunned for a moment before saying, "I don't know how to handle a roe deer."
Fu Wang passed by him and said, "I'll teach you. You should learn from this and help Yun Niangzi more in the future. You need to learn these chores quickly so she doesn't have to worry about you."
Zhang Lin said "Oh" and immediately followed Fu Wang to process the venison.
Other mushrooms are easy to clean, but termite mushrooms are buried too deep in the soil and their stems are covered with dirt. You need to carefully scrape off the dirt with a knife and then rinse them clean with water.
Yunyin looked at Zheng Guilan, who was standing quietly to the side, and asked, "Do people in your village eat these mushrooms?"
Although she was very confident in her eyesight, she still wanted to confirm with a local.
Zheng Guilan looked at the mushrooms in the basket and nodded, saying, "Most of them are for eating, but not many people eat these green mushrooms. However, I have seen others eat them, and they are non-poisonous."
Relieved, Yunyin finished processing all the mushrooms and then washed the bamboo fungus as well. She dried some of it and kept the rest to make soup for lunch.
Yunyin picked out some venison and mushrooms, packed them up, and said to Fu Wang, "Take Luotian to Sister Aman's place later, and give these to her. I've kept some for myself; remember to give them to Zhou Chang as well, and thank him for his help."
She had been running her shop on the official road for so long, and no local thugs had ever bothered her. She knew it was because Zhou Chang had helped her, so whenever she got something good, she would send some to Zhou Chang.
Of course, Song Shi's place is indispensable. Many of her customers from the county only learned about her restaurant by the official road after Song Shi mentioned her cooking. Many people were curious about the taste of the dishes that the son of the registrar liked, so they came to find out and were impressed by her skills.
With everything prepared for the gifts, Yunyin glanced at the sky and realized it was time to prepare lunch. She took out a wooden board, quickly wrote down today's special: various mushrooms, in charcoal. She then placed the board beside the main road so that passersby could see it.
She had just finished placing the planks when Chen Silang came over carrying a large basket on his back. Seeing Yunyin, he said, "Miss Yun, what brings you here?"
Yunyin clapped her hands and said, "Oh, it's nothing. Put up a sign and let me taste your bayberries."
Upon hearing this, Chen Silang stopped caring about the signboard and went back to the food stall with her. He took the bayberries off his back and said carefully, "Miss Yun, look, the ones I picked are the biggest and reddest."
Yunyin glanced at the bayberries. They were passable in appearance, much smaller than she had imagined, and not as red in color. Wild-grown ones naturally couldn't compare to carefully cultivated ones. She picked one up, washed it with water to remove the small insects and impurities, and put it in her mouth. Instantly, the sour taste made her eyes well up with tears.
She stuck out her tongue and said, "These bayberries are so sour."
Chen Silang's eyes showed worry, "Then, Lady Yun, do you still want these bayberries?"
"Tell me the price of these bayberries first."
Chen Silang hesitated and said, "Ten coins for a basket, and this basket weighs about twenty catties. What do you think of this price?" He was afraid that Yun Niangzi would think the price was too high, so he said, "We have to walk a long way to pick bayberries, and we have to pick the best ones. If the price is too low, it won't be worth it for us."
Although these bayberries are very sour, she's using them to make wine. Two pounds for one coin is already a very good price. She's only met this one person selling bayberries so far. She nodded and said, "Okay, that's the price then."
When Chen Silang heard that Yunyin had actually accepted his bayberries, he was overjoyed and said, "Alright, I'll pack them up for you right away." He poured the bayberries from his basket into the basin that Zheng Guilan had brought, and took the money that Yunyin handed him, saying, "Miss Yun, if you want more next time, you can tell us and we'll send you more. Even if I go to serve in the military, my brothers at home can still send you some."
Yunyin nodded and said, "Yes, if you find any other mushrooms, you can bring them to me." She handed him several kinds of mushrooms she had picked that day, "I'll take all of these mushrooms."
Chen Silang looked at them carefully for a few moments and said, "So, Miss Yun wants these mushrooms too? I understand. I thought you didn't want them, so I didn't bring them with me. We'll pick them and bring them to you later."
Yunyin washed the bayberries with clean water, then soaked them in salt water. After soaking and drying, the bayberries could be used to make wine, using the same method as before for making plum wine. Yunyin planned to make more fruit wine so that she could use it when entertaining female guests in the future.
After the bayberry wine was ready, Yunyin carried it back to her place. Her room was already filled with many wine jars, all containing various fruit wines. She labeled them with the soaking time and name, and placed them with the other wines. As she left, she remembered that she had a food diary and wanted to see if it contained any recipes related to wild game.
She opened it and flipped through it. It contained many ancient methods of cooking dishes. She even saw a sentence about roe deer meat, but it only introduced the method of roasting roe deer and deer tongue. However, it mentioned that roe deer meat is warm in nature and should not be eaten in large quantities by people with yin deficiency and excessive fire. It should also not be eaten with pigeon meat or shrimp meat.
Although there were no specific instructions, it was good to know some taboos. She put the notebook away, pondered for a moment, and then knew how to prepare the venison.
Since venison is lean and tough, it needs to be grilled with fatty ingredients. So, choose a good piece of pork belly to grill with it, which will make the flavor even richer.
After lunch, she rested for a while and then set up a barbecue area. Since she had already decided to have grilled venison, she could also grill other ingredients. Having a barbecue in the evening would be nice. Although it was a bit less flavorful without chili peppers, she could substitute some dogwood and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. It would taste pretty good too.
She carefully selected a large piece of tenderloin from the remaining venison and took out a piece of pork belly from the spring water. Venison has a fishy smell, so it must be marinated in advance to remove the fishy smell. Then she skewered the two kinds of meat together and then skewered the other vegetables as well.
After Zheng Guilan tidied the table, she sat down to help skewer the meat. She took a plate of sliced mutton and asked, "Yun Niangzi, do you want all of these skewered?"
"Yes, I've used them all." Yunyin replied while working. "There might be caravans camping out tonight, so we can make more and sell them to them. Besides, it's not easy to make barbecue, so we should eat our fill."
Zheng Guilan said, "I understand."
The two sat under the shade of a tree skewering meat. The skewered meat was then marinated and preserved with ice. Yunyin watched the ice being used up too quickly and hoped that the inn would be built soon so that food that needed to be refrigerated could be placed in the well, thus reducing the need for ice to preserve the food.
When Fu Wang brought Luo Tian back, the three of them were sitting there skewering meat. Next to Yun Yin was a large basin of skewered meat, and the scene looked very lively.
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