With his feet no longer restrained, Zhou Chenyu ran all the way, with Little Yellow Bean running wildly alongside him in the grass.
Li Xiuju stared intently at her feet, her heart pounding in her throat: "Slow down, slow down."
Hearing this, a middle-aged woman who had finished digging taro on the other side of the woods came out laughing, "Picking straw mushrooms?"
When Li Xiuju saw that the visitor was Zhou Huilan, her neighbor diagonally across the street, she smiled and said, "Yes, it's been raining for several days. I thought there should be straw mushrooms, so I came out to try my luck. I didn't expect there really were. Look, they're all so big."
Zhou Chenyu didn't recognize all the old ladies in the village. When she met someone she didn't know well, a polite smile and a string of compliments were sure to work. "These taro are grown so well, one is enough for several meals."
"It's not bad, is it?" Zhou Huilan was quite pleased, her eyes crinkling with laughter, and she added a friendly compliment, "But compared to your dessert business, my cooking skills are far inferior."
However, this mutual praise backfired on Zhou Chenyu. It felt like her healed wound had been ripped open and salt had been sprinkled on it. For a moment, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Zhou Huilan gradually realized that what she had said was inappropriate, so she quickly put the taro into a winnowing basket and put it aside. She saw several piles of straw under the tree that had not been turned over. She lifted them with a shovel and found many straw mushrooms.
She picked a large taro leaf, squatted down and picked up some as well. She then noticed the wound on Zhou Chenyu's leg that had been treated with medicinal juice. Curious, she asked, "I heard that Chenyu went to set up a stall on the street and did a pretty good job, but unfortunately, Qian Rushan kept causing trouble for her, causing her business to fail and leaving her with a lot of injuries. Is this the time you got this foot injury?"
Zhou Chenyu noticed that Li Xiuju's expression changed, so he stood up and took a few steps. "It's nothing, my foot is almost healed."
"That bastard Qian Rushan is a real piece of work!" Zhou Huilan cursed angrily, stuffing the straw mushrooms into the taro leaves. Looking at Zhou Chenyu, she sighed regretfully, "Working from dawn till dusk, all that money is hard-earned. You're still a girl, and this isn't a long-term solution. Have you found a husband yet? You're so pretty, why don't you find a good man to marry? With a man to support you, you won't have to suffer like this anymore."
Does having a man support you mean you'll never have to worry about food or clothing?
Who came up with this grandiose promise?
If she hadn't lived these past twenty-odd years without her father's love or her mother's affection, and had to earn her own money for university through part-time jobs, she might have actually believed this nonsense.
She couldn't even rely on her own parents, let alone a completely unrelated man.
Relying on yourself is more reliable than relying on anyone else.
Zhou Chenyu drew out his words, feigning ignorance and laughing it off.
Although Li Xiuju had this thought, it was a family matter and no one else had the right to comment, so she just smiled and brushed it off.
The three of them had only been chatting for a short while, and there were still many piles of straw that hadn't been turned over, but the basket was already full of straw mushrooms.
Zhou Huilan, who still had children at home, left first carrying two baskets of taro.
Go down the stone steps of the deserted white house, and there is a stream in the fields opposite. When it is hot, the stream is almost dry. But because of the rain these past few days, the water has slowly risen again, and you can hear the rushing water from afar.
Zhou Chenyu carried a basket full of straw mushrooms to the spot, followed closely by Li Xiuju. They each found a flat stone to sit down and wash the straw mushrooms.
The rushing water swept over the rocks, and the weeds washed off the straw mushrooms were instantly swept away by the foamy waves.
Straw mushrooms are not easy to preserve, so at night, Li Xiuju immediately cooked a large pot of soup with the straw mushrooms she had picked up and lean meat.
No seasoning is needed. Put a little lean meat into boiling water and cook until it is 70% cooked. Skim off the foam, then add the washed straw mushrooms and bring to a boil.
Li Xiuju ladled out the steaming pork and straw mushroom soup and let it cool, then used the remaining embers to cook a plate of stir-fried vegetables and pork.
The pork, with its alternating layers of fat and lean meat, is stir-fried until it releases its oil and has a slightly charred flavor. The green vegetable leaves and stems are cut in half. First, the green vegetable stems are added and stir-fried with the oil until evenly mixed. Then, the green vegetable leaves, a little bit of red chili flakes, a little bit of fermented black soybeans, and a little bit of minced garlic are added. The mixture is stir-fried over high heat until fragrant, then simmered over low heat until the sauce thickens. The aroma of the stir-fried green vegetables and pork fills the entire yard.
A sip of straw mushroom and lean pork soup, followed by a bite of juicy stir-fried vegetables and pork—the combination of these two dishes, one sweet and the other bold, instantly dispels all the weariness of summer.
"Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready!"
Li Xiuju carried the hot dishes out of the kitchen, and Baoyu followed behind with a bowl and chopsticks. Xiaohuangdou, smelling the rich aroma, obediently sat under the stool and wagged its tail.
Not long after Zhou Chenyu finished showering, her half-dry hair was draped over her shoulders. The cool night breeze blew by, and goosebumps kept rising on her exposed arms.
A bowl of clear soup before meals is an essential part of summer. She picked up the hot bowl and said, "Let me taste what this soup tastes like."
A sip of the sweet and refreshing soup instantly dispelled the chill.
The texture of straw mushrooms is crisper and smoother than enoki mushrooms, melting in your mouth after a couple of chews; compared to crab mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms, its flavor is lighter, more fragrant, and sweeter. Even after boiling over high heat, the broth remains translucent. Drinking it doesn't feel greasy at all; instead, it cleanses the body of impurities.
"It's delicious." Zhou Chenyu had no appetite for food, but couldn't help but ask for another bowl of soup.
Li Xiuju sipped the soup, praising it endlessly, "These straw mushrooms taste great. It's not rice planting season yet, so maybe we can pick them two or three more times."
Baoyu tilted his head back and gulped down the drink. He chewed on a long straw mushroom, slurped it into his mouth, and said, "Mother, sister, there's a new house construction project in town that's hiring people tomorrow. They pay fifty copper coins a day. Hu Zi and I have both signed up. If they hire us, I won't be able to carry bamboo for you anymore."
Carrying bamboo is a small matter; Zhou Chenyu can do it herself. However, the work of building a new house involves either carrying wood or moving bricks, both of which are purely physical labor.
Although Baoyu usually does a lot of heavy work, he still has delicate skin and looks like a pretty boy. It's unimaginable what it would be like for him to do heavy work among a group of strong men. I wonder if he would be bullied.
Zhou Chenyu was a little worried and asked in a doubtful tone, "Are you sure you can do it?"
Baoyu glanced at her displeasedly, "Sister, Huzi is the same age as me. If he can do it, why can't I? Don't you trust me? Besides, it's still far from autumn hunting season. We can earn whatever we can."
Li Xiuju looked at Baoyu with some reluctance, but she was already old and didn't know how many more times she could protect him. In the end, she had to let go.
Li Xiuju put some food into Baoyu's bowl, saying, "This is your first time doing such physical labor, so be careful in everything you do. Don't overexert yourself, understand?"
With Li Xiuju's words in mind, Baoyu nodded excitedly, "Mother, I understand, you can rest assured!"
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