45 Mushroom, Pork and Egg Soup
◎Let's go and see if anyone is coming to the county school.◎
The next day, it was still dark.
Ye Yunzhao held her clothes around her neck with her left hand and held the old candlestick with her right hand. As soon as she opened the door, a cold wind blew and the candlelight trembled in the wind. She quickly loosened her collar and raised her left hand to protect the candlelight.
The weather is getting colder.
She walked quickly into the kitchen, placed the candlestick on the stove, bent down and stuffed some dried straw into the stove, then took out the tinder left by her original owner from her bosom. She blew gently, and the tinder flashed with a flickering flame.
While lighting the straw, Ye Yunzhao was thinking about what they had discussed at the county school yesterday.
She had originally decided to only accept girls who had reached the age of marriageable age, but what the others said made sense. Did those girls who had not reached the age of marriageable age have to stay at home and work every day?
This is not what Ye Yunzhao wants to see.
Zhuang Xue's words made her ponder for a long time. Since girls who had reached marriageable age were already discussing marriage, would learning a skill by then help them earn a living? Or would it help them find a good husband?
If it is smaller, even if you don't make money in the near future, it is still a way to see the world.
The flame on the straw burned Ye Yunzhao's hand, and she suddenly woke up from her memories. She quickly closed the fire starter, shook her burned right hand, and the burning sensation subsided a little. She hurriedly put a thin branch into the stove.
The fire in the stove crackled and crackled, the noise gradually growing louder, and the kitchen became much brighter.
Ye Yunzhao came out of the kitchen and was greeted by a gust of cold wind. She coughed lightly as she walked towards the chicken coop.
Suddenly, there were some subtle noises outside the courtyard gate. It was pitch black all around and so quiet that one could almost hear the sound of a match being lit in the stove.
Ye Yunzhao's body froze, she couldn't leave or retreat. She was naturally an atheist, but after experiencing such a strange time travel, how could there be no gods and ghosts in this world?
She sang in her heart: Rise up—people who refuse to be slaves! Build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood! The Chinese nation has arrived...
Ye Yunzhao became more and more energetic as he sang. All gods and ghosts would be frightened by the uplifting momentum of the national anthem!
As she thought about this, she slowly walked towards the gate. Suddenly, a voice rang out from outside the gate:
"County Magistrate Ye? Are you awake? I'm Zhuang Xue."
Hearing this, Ye Yunzhao was startled. She quickly let down her guard, walked quickly to the gate and opened it: "Xue Niang? What's wrong with you..."
Zhuang Xue didn't light the lamp. She smiled softly and gathered the small bamboo basket slung over her arm. "County Magistrate Ye, I remember you said a few days ago that the county school was recruiting students today and you might not be able to handle it all by yourself. I came to see if there's anything I can do to help."
Ye Yunzhao quickly welcomed her in, locked the door, and the two of them entered the kitchen one after the other.
She scooped a bowl of hot water from the pot, melted some honey, and handed the hot syrup to Zhuang Xue. She asked, "Why are you still selling crystal cakes when you come to my place today?"
Ever since Zhuang Xue broke off her friendship with Huang Sigou, she has been living in a secluded cottage in the county government office with Xiao Chunhua. Crystal cakes are naturally the basis of their livelihood, and her business as a gourmet is far inferior to Cuihua Madam's supply business with Ruyi Tower.
Lingnan County was poor, and ordinary families had no money to buy such snacks. Most of them bartered for goods. Therefore, although Zhuang Xue did not make much money, he saved a lot of food.
Zhuang Xue took the sugar water, lowered her head and took a sip, and her whole body warmed up. "It's been cold these past two days, and I was thinking of resting at home for a few days. It's a good time for me to come and help."
These words were flawless, but Ye Yunzhao knew in his heart that a woman as ambitious as Zhuang Xue would never plan to rest. She must be using these words to deceive him, fearing that he would refuse.
She laughed out loud, not wanting Zhuang Xue to help her in vain. "Thank you in advance. You sit here and warm yourself up while I go pick up the eggs."
Ye Yunzhao's chicks have been doing very well recently, laying at least two eggs every day. But the weather is getting colder. She looks at the chicks huddled together, and she has the idea of building a chicken coop for them that can protect them from wind and rain.
She carefully identified them in the dark and picked up two eggs at the other end of the chicken coop. After washing them briefly at the water tank in the yard, she took them to the kitchen.
"I don't know why it's so cold today..." Ye Yunzhao shook off the icy water droplets on his hands and hurriedly stretched his hands to the stove to warm himself by the fire.
"Yes." Zhuang Xue responded from the side, but did not stop moving her hands.
Only when Ye Yunzhao approached did he see that she had taken out the morels from the bamboo basket and was about to put them into the basin of water.
"etc!"
Zhuang Xue was startled by her sudden voice and turned around anxiously, "Ye... County Magistrate Ye... what's wrong?"
"Isn't this a sheep...weaving mushroom?" she asked.
Zhuang Xue nodded woodenly.
Ye Yunzhao quickly and carefully placed the morels in her hand into the bamboo basket, and then covered it with a large leaf.
"I heard that weaving mushrooms can be sold at a high price in the city! Why don't you keep them safe? You can take them with you to sell near Yuezhou City tomorrow and make some money."
Zhuang Xue smiled and said, "County Magistrate Ye, I'm not selling these wicker mushrooms. I picked them especially for you to eat."
Ever since Ye Yunzhao rescued her and brought her to the county government office, she'd been thinking about repaying him daily, but she hadn't found the right opportunity. Six or seven days ago, while hawking her wares in Xixiang as usual, Zhuang Xue overheard a few women washing clothes talking about County Magistrate Ye's fondness for weaving fungi.
Before she broke up with him, she'd been eager to go to the mountains every day to pick fruit; she knew it so well. So, Zhuang Xue had carefully searched four or five locations, following her memory, to gather this small basket of woven mushrooms, which she eagerly brought over today.
Ye Yunzhao quickly waved his hands: "I won't eat it. Why are you so stupid? Save it and sell it for money!"
She knew that Zhuang Xue's life was not easy. Although she had saved a lot of food from selling crystal cakes, she had no money to buy winter clothes. She didn't want to accept the expensive weaving mushrooms at all.
Seeing Ye Yunzhao's firm tone, Zhuang Xue took advantage of his unpreparedness and suddenly grabbed five or six wicker mushrooms from the bamboo basket and threw them into the basin of water in front of her.
"ah!"
When Ye Yunzhao wanted to reach out to grab them, it was too late. She watched the "copper coins" go down the drain, and felt even sadder than if she had lost the money herself.
Zhuang Xue deliberately said, "County Magistrate Ye, please accept all of these. Otherwise... I'll throw them all into the water. After all, you can't sell the weaving mushrooms that have touched water."
As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Yunzhao quickly took the bamboo basket aside, fearing that she would do the same stupid thing again.
"All right……"
She looked down at the six plump stalks of spore-shaped mushrooms floating in the water, a look of reluctance on her face. Zhuang Xue must have carefully searched for such good-looking mushrooms.
"Eat it...?"
Zhuang Xue raised her eyes and smiled, "Eat it!"
As she spoke, she raised her hand to wash the dusty morels and placed them in a small ceramic bowl. She said at a loss, "County Magistrate Ye... I don't know how to cook..."
Ye Yunzhao smiled and said regretfully: "Just sit down, I'll do it."
She walked quickly to the well in the yard. Because of the special status of the county magistrate, Ye Yunzhao was able to gain a lot of advantages.
For example, the well next to her, although not big, is very convenient for drawing water, and it also serves as a refrigerator.
Ye Yunzhao slowly pulled up the bucket hanging in the well. In the bucket was placed the narrow-mouthed, wide-bellied pottery jar, which contained the pork she had bought from Aunt Hu the day before.
She poured the pork cut into small pieces from the ceramic pot onto the table. There were exactly three pieces of pork the size of eggs left.
Ye Yunzhao first sniffed it closely to make sure it was fresh, then quickly chopped it into minced meat. At the same time, he added half a bucket of water to the small ceramic bowl containing the morels. He then found two larger ceramic bowls and rolled the minced meat into two flat patties, placing them in each bowl.
That was not all. She then dug a depression in the two meat fillings and beat the two eggs she had just found into the two meat patties.
Zhuang Xue on the side stared at Ye Yunzhao's every move curiously. She had never seen such a behavior before.
Then he added just a little bit of well water into the two ceramic bowls. Ye Yunzhao took out half a piece of wild ginger from somewhere, cut it into two slices, put them into the two bowls respectively, and then put the ceramic bowls into the boiling water.
Because the water level was shallow, the heavy ceramic bowl sat obediently in the water. Ye Yunzhao raised his hand and placed the wooden lid on the pot.
Zhuang Xue looked at the iron pot with a wooden lid, and then looked at the shiitake mushrooms still soaking in water. She was a little confused. Didn’t they say they were going to eat the shiitake mushrooms?
But before she could wonder for long, perhaps only a cup of tea had passed, Ye Yunzhao opened the wooden lid, put the woven mushrooms in the small ceramic bowl into the bowl, and poured the water in the small ceramic bowl into the bowl very carefully.
"Just wait a little longer and it will be done." Ye Yunzhao smiled and put a little bit of coarse salt into the ceramic bowl.
Zhuang Xue, who was standing by, was also curious about this practice that she had never seen before.
When it was just getting light outside, Ye Yunzhao carefully took out the pottery bowl from the pot. The two of them wrapped the bowl with two thick layers of bamboo leaves. The scorching heat was blocked by the bamboo leaves, making it like a hot water bottle with just the right temperature.
Ye Yunzhao first handed her the bamboo chopsticks: "Xue Niang, try it."
Zhuang Xue took the bamboo chopsticks and looked at the clear soup in her hand. Three big mushrooms were floating on top, and the tender white egg white was faintly visible underneath. A strong and fresh fragrance rushed straight to her nose, and she was so startled that she didn't know where to start.
I just carefully picked up some eggs mixed with pork with bamboo chopsticks, blew on them twice, and put them into my mouth. The soft and tender eggs were wrapped in rich meat aroma and had the unique fragrance of the shiitake mushroom.
Ye Yunzhao did not taste it as carefully as she did. He blew on it a few times quickly and took a sip of the clear mushroom soup on the top.
It's actually sweet.
Ye Yunzhao was stunned. She had eaten morels before and thought they were fresher than ordinary mushrooms. She never thought that ancient morels had a special sweet taste.
Zhuang Xue followed her example and took a sip, then sighed, "No wonder rich people love this."
After drinking a bowl of mushroom, meat and egg soup, both of them felt warm.
Ye Yunzhao smiled and said, "Let's go and see if anyone comes to the county school."
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