Chapter 12: Huangjing Naughty Kids' Favorite Food—Scrambled Pork with Huangjing…
Lin Xiaopu had no idea that the bamboo mushrooms were not only edible but also so delicious. The glutton in her mouth was aroused, and she couldn't help swallowing her saliva. "Sister, it rains a lot here. Next time it rains, let's come pick these bamboo mushrooms early in the morning!"
Bamboo fungus likes to parasitize on the roots of old bamboo. The two of them noted the place where the bamboo roots were well developed and happily went to other places to scout the spot.
By lunchtime, the two had stumbled upon a spring. Small streams of water flowed from cracks in the rocks, gathering in ever-increasing volumes until they passed a large, flat rock, where they washed over it, forming a small waterfall. The curtain of water splashed silvery white droplets, gathering in a small puddle below before winding down the rocky slopes.
The Lin Shu sisters used their own bamboo cups to collect the mountain spring water flowing from the small waterfall, and ate a piece of bread with this sweet mountain spring water.
In the Dayan Dynasty, wealthy families had already eaten three meals a day, but poor people still had two meals a day: breakfast at Chenshi in the morning and dinner at Shenshi in the afternoon. In simple terms, it was breakfast and dinner.
By the time they finished their simple breakfast, more villagers were arriving. The adults were busy with farm work, so the only people arriving were children. There were half-grown girls cutting grass, and there were also naughty, annoying children of seven or eight, jumping around and scrabbling for bird eggs.
A troublemaker from some unknown family saw the two and shouted, "Look, look, this is the fake daughter of the Marquisate from the capital! The fake daughter is digging wild vegetables with Uncle Lin's medicine jar!"
Lin Shu: ...
The fist is hard.
Whose naughty kid is this?
The naughty kid who laughed at the two of them looked to be about ten years old. He was dark and strong, like a leader among the children. Behind him followed a group of children of similar age, each of them looked like a wild monkey.
As soon as he said this, the other children burst into laughter.
"Sister, this is Wang Yingen from the village." Lin Xiaopu explained in a low voice, subconsciously trying to hide behind Lin Shu. However, she saw Lin Shu frowning and her face flushed with anger. She was so angry that she stood up and shouted, "Wang Yingen, you, you coward! You called me a sickly bastard, and last time you said I was a short-lived ghost. I'm going to tell Aunt Li and have her spank you!"
Wang Yingen's mother, Aunt Li, was a notorious shrew in Tianshui Village. Her greatest wish in life was for her son to become a successful person, but Wang Yingen, let alone a successful person, was only a little troublemaker, which gave her a headache every day. Aunt Li's beating and scolding of Wang Yingen could be heard from far away in the village, but the more she beat him, the tougher he became. He had become a local bully, and he would lead a group of children of similar age to play around the village all day, either robbing bird nests in trees or catching loaches and snails in the fields.
Now it has actually appeared in front of Lin Shu and Lin Xiaopu.
It’s okay to scold yourself, but it’s not okay to scold your sister. Lin Xiaopu was angry.
Wang Yingen made a face at her and stuck out his tongue. "Leluleluo, you're a sickly person, a short-lived ghost. What did I say wrong? Go tell my mother, go ahead."
What good would a complaint do? Lin Shu had her own way of dealing with such a naughty child. She smiled at the dark and strong boy and asked in a gentle voice, "Your name is Wang Yingen, right? Have you ever tried Yu Lu Tuan, lotus root powder and osmanthus sugar cake, candied longan, steamed sugar-coated custard, or seven-piece snacks? Have you ever played Cuju, tangram, nine-linked rings, or Lu Ban's lock? Have you ever heard the play about the nine-year-old county magistrate and the eight-year-old little emperor?"
Wang Yingen was stunned when he heard this.
What, what are these?
Lin Shu tilted her fair and slender neck to look at him, her expression not at all annoyed, her smile prettier than a flower. "So what if I'm the fake daughter of a marquis's mansion? You don't know how many delicious foods I've eaten, how many delicious drinks and fun things I've seen, and how many interesting plays and stories I've heard. I'm afraid a brat like you will never get to eat or see any of those in your entire life."
After Lin Shu and Lin Xiaopu walked away, Wang Yingen was still standing there in a daze.
"Boss, boss, what are those things that the fake daughter of the Marquis' Mansion said?" a younger brother asked curiously.
Wang Yingen's face flushed red. "How should I know? I've never been to the capital!"
On the other side, Lin Xiaopu recalled Wang Yingen's stunned look and chuckled, "Sister is so amazing! Wang Yingen is speechless!"
Lin Shule said happily: "In the future, sister will make you a lot of delicious and fun things. When you meet him, ask him if he has eaten them or played with them. I guarantee that he will be so jealous that he can't wait to become yours."
Lin Shu happily agreed, feeling extremely happy. "Ajie was so kind to her!" She was kind in a different way than the previous Ajie had been.
In the past, her elder sister was always thinking about making money, so she often neglected her and had no time to play with her. But every time her elder sister made money from performing arts shows, she would secretly buy her some candy. When she ate the candy, she felt like the happiest child in the whole Tianshui Village.
And this sister in front of her was willing to take her out to play. Not only was she as pretty as a fairy, she also knew so many wild vegetables. She even taught Wang Yingen a lesson on her behalf, leaving Wang Yingen, a foul-mouthed man, speechless for the first time. She really liked her!
Lin Xiaopu took a step forward, secretly took her sister's hand, and said with a slightly red face: "Sister, the road ahead is not easy to walk, I will hold your hand."
Lin Shu laughed. Who is holding who?
The back mountain is so big that you can spend a whole day walking around it. But if you want to look at each place carefully, I am afraid that one day may not be enough.
But Lin Shu couldn't walk for half a day. At the end of the walk, Lin Xiaopu was still there, but she was already out of breath.
"Xiao Pu, aren't you tired? I'm starting to pant."
Lin Xiaopu also had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, but he was still in high spirits, "Sister, I'm not tired at all!"
Lin Shu was depressed. If her sister was born weak, then what was she? This was too weak!
"Let's go home and come back next time." Lin Shu said, tired physically but not mentally.
I gained so much from today’s trip, the whole mountain is filled with treasures!
I've only visited a small part of the place, and I don't know what good things are in the rest of the places.
When going up the mountain, Lin Shu deliberately did not pick too many wild vegetables. She only added them to her backpack one by one when she came down the mountain.
A little bit of each of wild celery, amaranth, shepherd's purse, wild chrysanthemum, mud cabbage, and tender amaranth leaves. The Aralia oleracea had already grown, so the prickly young shoots were no longer available, which Lin Shu felt a little sorry about. After all, the prickly young shoots that emerged in spring are the king of wild vegetables, known as tree ginseng, nutritious and delicious. The Artemisia selengensis was old, but the tips of its young leaves were still edible, making it the most delicious way to make qingtuan (green rice dumplings).
Thinking of this, Lin Shu asked, "Xiao Pu, what do we eat during festivals here? Do we eat qingtuan during Qingming Festival? Do we eat zongzi during Dragon Boat Festival? What about Mid-Autumn Festival?"
"Qingtuan? Zongzi?" Lin Xiaopu's eyes were blank, as if he knew nothing. "I don't know about other places, but in Tianshui Village, we eat Qingming Baba during the Qingming Festival. There's a lot of mugwort on the mountain, so the villagers crush the mugwort and mix it with glutinous rice. They knead it into small cakes and put them in a pot or on the stove to cook. We don't eat zongzi here during the Dragon Boat Festival. We eat tung leaf cakes instead. Old rice is ground into rice paste, added with lard, and wrapped in tung leaves. It's so delicious when steamed! My sister came a few days late, otherwise I could have eaten the tung leaf cakes made by my mother. As for the Mid-Autumn Festival, we all make glutinous rice cakes. We cook glutinous rice and mash it into a paste..."
Lin Shu was not surprised after hearing this.
This place is remote, and the customs and habits are different, so it's normal that people don't eat zongzi. However, she came all the way from the prosperous capital, and not only the capital, but other provinces have a very rich food. It's just that Tianshui Village is poor, and many delicacies have not been developed, so the people's diet is monotonous.
Rural residents do not have a comprehensive understanding of the types of wild vegetables, perhaps because there are fewer famines in Tianshui Village.
Lin Shu pointed at the old Artemisia selengensis and said, "Next year, when we have more money at home, I'll use the tender leaves of Artemisia selengensis to make Qingming cakes for you. The Qingming cakes made from this wild grass are truly fragrant and delicious!"
"Great, great, sister, you really know a lot!"
Lin Shu said jokingly, "Of course not. Don't you even look at where my sister came from?"
Lin Xiaopu also laughed foolishly: "Hehe."
The highest official the people of Tianshui Village had ever seen was the county magistrate. The capital was too far away and they dared not even think about it. So in Lin Xiaopu's eyes, it was normal for his elder sister to know everything.
She believes whatever her elder sister says.
"And this Guanyin wood, let's pick more."
Lin Xiaopu wrinkled her nose, looking disgusted. "Sister, why did you pick this? It's so smelly. We call it stinky wife. Even pigs won't eat it."
Lin Shu laughed when she heard this, "It smells bad now, but when I make Guanyin tofu, you'd better not eat it too much." Guanyin tofu smells like a special rotten smell, so it is also called rotten tofu, but it is really a good thing.
"What? This can actually be used to make tofu?" Lin Xiaopu was surprised but immediately compromised, "Sister, let's pick more!"
On the way down the mountain, Lin Shu picked a handful of cedar branches and a bundle of the yellow broom that was everywhere.
Lin Xiaopu asked curiously, "I won't ask about the cypress leaves, but what did you pick these yellow brooms for?"
Lin Shu raised her eyebrows jokingly, "Let's go back and make fried pork with yellow broom?"
"What? I knew it hurt when you hit someone, but it can also be used to stir-fry meat? Aunt Li likes to use this yellow broom stick to beat Wang Yingen the most. Sometimes I can hear Aunt Li's screams and curses from a long distance away. Wang Yingen screams in pain like a pig being slaughtered."
Lin Shu laughed out loud. "Whip that naughty kid's butt, and it'll leave red streaks, and it'll burn. Isn't that just like stir-fried pork with broom? It just goes to show the old saying, 'A good son is made under the stick, and a good man is made under the broom."
Lin Xiaopu was stunned at first, then she also laughed, "Sister, are you kidding me?"
"I'm teasing you with the fried meat from Huang Jing, but the alkaline rice dumplings made from Huang Jing are golden in color, crystal clear, and extremely fragrant and glutinous. I'm not kidding you."
Lin Xiaopu's saliva was almost flowing when he heard this.
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