Chapter 15: I exchanged the mountain treasures for a full eight hundred coins in the town! ...
"Sister, why is it called Guanyin Tofu?"
"It's called tofu, but it's actually jelly. Ancient texts say that long ago, during a famine, the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva sprinkled nectar from willow branches. Wherever the nectar passed, a Guanyin tree grew. The starving people took the branches and leaves, added ash, and made tofu. This dish helped them survive the famine, hence the name Guanyin tofu. This Guanyin tree is the stinky wife you're talking about, also known as Guanyin chai. It also has many other names, including fubi, tofu chai, June jelly, and jelly chai, among others."
Lin Xiaopu said with a smile: "I will not call it Stinky Lady anymore, I will call it Guanyin Tree."
The three of them shared the food and quickly finished the whole plate of Guanyin tofu.
Lin Xiaopu was not full, so he secretly glanced at the remaining half piece in the clay pot.
This was left for her father, she just wanted to take a look at it.
Lin Shu couldn't help laughing, "There are plenty of them on the mountain. If Xiao Pu and A Niang want to eat them in the future, we can just pick them up and cook them whenever we want."
Lin Xiaopu recalled something and said hurriedly, "Mother, my sister said that the yellow vitex growing all over the mountains can be used to make some alkaline rice dumplings. My sister was busy all the way and didn't make it to the Dragon Boat Festival. She said she wanted to make some rice dumplings to eat."
He Guixiang gently pressed her brow with her index finger and scolded her softly, "I think you, the greedy one, want to eat it?"
Lin Xiaopu chuckled.
He Guixiang: "If Ah Shu wants to eat, just make it. But there is not much old glutinous rice left at home, so I am afraid I can't make many."
Lin Shu smiled and replied, "That's perfect. I won't make too much, just a few for everyone to try. Xiao Pu, the spring water in the jar isn't cool enough. Go get some fresh spring water from the back of the house. We can use the spring water to cool down the remaining Guanyin tofu. When Dad comes back, he can have the most refreshing and cooling Guanyin tofu."
The spring water at the spring in the mountains is the coolest, but it takes time to go to the mountain, so the spring water flowing behind the house is enough.
"Okay!"
Lin Xiaopu responded quickly, took the gourd ladle for scooping water, and ran away.
It is said that the water comes from the mountain spring behind the house, but in fact, you still have to walk a distance to the place where the ridges at the edge of the field and the mountain spring water converge, and take the mountain spring water that has not flowed into the ridges.
Lin Shu was also busy, preparing to clean the loaches and snails in the bucket, especially the snails. Since she didn't have a small brush, she could only rub them repeatedly with her hands.
After washing, use scissors to cut off a small part of the tail of each snail, so that it is easier to suck out the snail meat when eating. After cutting, wash it again with clean water.
Precisely because it was difficult to cook these snails, Lin Shu did not pick many and only touched a few in the field.
It was not yet dark, but He Guixiang had already lit the oil lamp and placed it on the table. The two of them processed loaches and snails together in the warm yellow light.
After finishing the work, He Guixiang did not let Lin Shu do it, but because of her skill in making Guanyin tofu sauce, everyone listened to her when making loach and snails.
The snails are stir-fried directly. Heat oil in a pan, add minced garlic, wild onions, duck feet mugwort, etc. and sauté until fragrant, then add the snails and stir-fry until cooked through. However, He Guixiang was reluctant to use too much oil, so the stir-frying ended up being stewed. Fortunately, the snails that were stewed were also very fragrant.
For loach, make the simplest loach stewed with tofu. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have tofu at home, because we have freshly made Guanyin tofu. Stir-fry minced garlic, onion, a handful of duck feet, mugwort and chopped loach together, then add water and stew until the loach is cooked, then add the tender Guanyin tofu, sprinkle salt and serve with a handful of chopped green onion.
Before the loach was cooked, Lin Dashan came back and shouted from a distance, "Mom, I'm back!"
He Guixiang quickly wiped her hands with a cloth and went out to greet him, "Dad, why are you back a minute later today than usual?"
Lin Dashan went to the town to work. Usually he went there empty-handed and came back empty-handed too, but today he was holding an oil-paper bag in his hand. He looked tired but also a little happy.
Lin Shu was still busy on the stove when Lin Xiaopu ran over. "Dad, Dad, you're finally back! A-Nian and A-Niang made something delicious for you!"
Lin Dashan happily handed her the oil-paper package in his hand and said, "I bought two pieces of sugar cakes, one for you and one for my sister."
Candy cake?!
Lin Xiaopu immediately jumped up with joy, "Dad is the best! Sister, Dad bought some sweets and cakes!"
The loaches in the pot needed to be stewed for a while, so Lin Shu mixed the Guanyin tofu first. The Guanyin tofu had just been cooled with mountain spring water and tasted very refreshing.
"Dad must be tired and hot after walking so much. Come and eat this Guanyin tofu to feel refreshed!"
Lin Dashan was in a hurry to come back, and he walked the sixteen-mile mountain road very quickly. He was sticky all over, thirsty and hot. The first bite of the Guanyin tofu made him feel cool and comfortable all over.
He couldn't help but wonder, "Mom, are you going to town today too?"
He thought this was food that He Guixiang bought in town.
He Guixiang said happily: "It's not bought, it's made by Ah Shu herself... picking stinky leaves from the mountains. She said she saw this food in ancient books." When she almost blurted out the three words "stinky woman", He Guixiang was cautious and didn't say the name.
It’s not that there is no trust between the couple, but she knows her husband’s character and it’s better to keep her distance.
Lin Dashan wasn't interested in the ingredients for this dish. He was just shocked that his daughter, who had just returned from the Marquis' Mansion, had such a talent! If the trees and grasses in the mountains could be used to make food, wouldn't that mean it wouldn't cost a penny?
Lin Dashan smiled innocently: "My daughter is awesome!"
After eating a whole plate of Guanyin tofu, Lin Dashan felt so comfortable that he didn't want to move.
The brown rice porridge left in the pot was heated up in a short while and He Guixiang brought it to the table. There were also fresh fried snails and the loach stewed with Guanyin tofu that had just come out of the pot were also brought up by Lin Shu. The color was rich milky white with a hint of green, which made people hungry just by looking at it.
He Guixiang explained with a smile as she served the rice and dishes, "Xiao Pu and Ah Shu caught the snails and loaches in the fields, and Ah Shu also cooked them. I took a bite, and they were delicious, not fishy at all!"
There are so many loaches and snails in the countryside, but why doesn't anyone eat them? First, adults are too busy with farm work to catch them. Second, they have a strong earthy smell, and if you don't wash them properly, you'll end up with a mouthful of mud and sand. Few people consider them a proper dish. If children do catch them, nine out of ten end up feeding them to the ducks and geese.
Lin Dashan was also quite surprised after finishing his meal. "There's no fishy smell at all" was an exaggeration, but it was indeed much lighter. After a few more bites, he could even ignore the fishy smell.
The chopsticks in his hand moved faster and faster.
Lin Shu's eyes rolled, and she took the opportunity to say, "Father, it's not just loaches, there's also fish from the rivers and streams. If they're prepared properly, there's no fishy smell at all. If we could dig a fish pond behind our house, bring in mountain spring water, and raise the fish and shrimp we catch in it for two or three months, the quality of the meat would improve. There's no need to remove the fishy smell. Just add some water and boil some fish soup, and it'll be delicious."
As Lin Shu spoke, she took a bamboo stick to pick out the snail meat, fed half to Lin Xiaopu, and put the other half into Lin Dashan's bowl, which was very thoughtful.
Lin Dashan was already hungry. He swallowed the rice porridge in big mouthfuls and stuffed loaches into his mouth one by one. Hearing this, he immediately laughed, "My daughter wants to build a fish pond? Why don't you catch two fish and bring them back to see."
Similar to loaches and snails, few people eat the fish in the streams and rivers in Tianshui Village. Firstly, catching fish is much more difficult than catching loaches. Secondly, the wild fish in these streams and rivers are not as fat as those in the big rivers and waters of the fishing village. They are covered with bones and have little meat.
Of course, if someone can catch a fish, it will never end up like loaches and snails. After all, fish meat is not only a proper meat dish, but also has much less fishy smell than loach. It is very nutritious if you make soup with it.
The young children in the village who do not have to do farm work go to the river to fish every day, but they may not catch a single fish even if they fish for a whole day.
No wonder Lin Dashan laughed when he heard Lin Shu's idea.
"Dad, if I can catch a few fish tomorrow, can I dig a fish pond behind the house?"
Lin Dashan said cheerfully, "If you can really catch one, not many, just one. If you can catch one tomorrow, Dad will call Ah Ye to help dig a fish pond for you. You can dig however you want."
"A gentleman's word is as good as gold!"
Lin Dashan scratched his head and smiled foolishly.
He didn't understand what she was saying or what she was pursuing, but he felt proud because his daughter was a learned person.
There were five loaches, some big and some small, but there wasn't much left after cutting them into pieces and stewing them into soup. Lin Dashan ate them all by himself, even drinking up all the soup. After finishing the meal, he burped several times with satisfaction.
There were still a few fried snails left, so the mother and her two daughters each took a thin bamboo skewer to pick out the meat and eat it, chatting as they did so. It was a rare moment of leisure.
"When will Brother Aye come back? What does he usually bring back from the mountains?" Lin Shu asked curiously.
Zhou Ye didn't come back all night, but the family didn't seem surprised. They probably thought he often spent the night in the mountains. This kid had something on him.
He Guixiang explained, "Your brother A'ye has spent three out of five nights in the mountains. He usually brings back two or three pheasants or rabbits, and also picks some fragrant mushrooms. Fragrant mushrooms are different from other fungi. After drying them, they can be sold in town for fifty coins per ounce!"
Lin Shu searched through her memory and realized that the mushrooms should be shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms at this time were very rare wild delicacies, not something that ordinary people could easily afford.
Fifty wen per liang, and if one jin weighs sixteen liang, that's eight hundred wen. It sounds like a lot, but the weight drops dramatically after drying. I wonder how many shiitake mushrooms are needed to make up one jin of dried food.
"Last winter, Aye went into the mountains and dug up a ginseng, and exchanged it for 800 coins in the town!" He Guixiang added, with a smile on her face.
Eight hundred coins is a large sum of money, and it may take several years for villagers to save up that much.
Lin Xiaopu's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Wow!"
She knew about this, but she didn't know that this ginseng root was worth so much money! Her mother hadn't even told her.
After hearing this, Lin Shu began to calculate in her mind. Although she didn't know the type or quality of the ginseng, the most common ginseng in the medicine shop would cost two taels of silver per tael. As long as a dried ginseng root was not too small, it would definitely weigh one tael.
But on second thought, this pharmacy also needs to make money, so charging the original price is impossible. So, the selling price is actually very good, right?
Unexpectedly, the tool man in the original book not only had a body that met her aesthetic standards, but was also quite capable.
"Aye is very capable. Thanks to Aye, our family is not as poor as you and Xiao Pu think. I have saved all the money." He Guixiang smiled gently, "So you can tell Aye what you want to eat. If we don't have it at home, Aye will go to town to buy it for you."
Back then, when Lin Dashan wanted to exchange a bag of grain for a man out of spite, He Guixiang was extremely against it. Firstly, when she looked at Zhou Ye's tough face and unusually strong physique, she felt uneasy and was afraid of inviting a wolf into the house. Secondly, the family had just separated and there was not much grain at home. Xiao Pu's medicine was also a big expense, so how could they afford to support a strong man?
But not long after they got along, He Guixiang began to be grateful for Lin Dashan's decision.
Aye is a very easy-to-take child. Although he eats a lot, he also does a lot of work. In addition to the fields at home, he also goes to the mountains from time to time to look for some wild game. The wild delicacies he finds can be sold for a lot of money.
By this calculation, it was the Lin family that took advantage of him.
If he had not been forced to that extent to flee the famine, a capable person like Zhou Ye would definitely not have stayed in Tianshui Village.
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*The origin of Guanyin tofu comes from the Internet
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