Chapter 249 Misinformation Spreads
The new employees didn't bring a lot of local specialties, about two pounds each. But there were so many of them, twelve people in total, which amounted to twenty-four pounds. Most of it was dried goods, which are lightweight, so one pound made a big bag.
With so many local specialties, it would probably take Xu An's family a very long time to finish eating them all.
Therefore, Xu An took out most of the mushrooms that were in larger quantities and packaged them into mushroom stew soup packets, giving one packet to each of the store's employees. He planned to give the rest to the villagers to try.
When Aunt He received the soup packet, she found it quite unusual. But when she looked at the mushrooms inside, she noticed that not only were there many different kinds, but they also all looked rather strange.
There were all sorts of mushrooms, long and flat, big and small, with branches and twigs, none of them looked like the common mushrooms, which made Aunt He feel uneasy.
Is this stuff really safe to eat? Could it cause any harm?
In the past, if someone had given her something like this, she would have thanked them, accepted it, and then put it aside without paying any more attention to it.
However, now she works in a fast food restaurant, where the chef used to work in high-end restaurants and hotels and is very familiar with all kinds of ingredients. Therefore, when she saw these strangely shaped mushrooms, her first reaction was to show them to Chef Liu Daxi.
Many people shared her thoughts, and by the time she went to find Master Liu, a crowd had already gathered around him.
"...This is called Boletus, it clears heat and relieves irritability, nourishes blood and harmonizes the stomach, dispels wind and cold, relaxes muscles and promotes blood circulation, replenishes deficiencies and invigorates the mind...That's Coral Mushroom, it has the effects of supplementing calcium, calming the nerves, preventing calcium loss from the body, strengthening bones, nourishing blood and calming the mind...That's Green-headed Mushroom..."
"The smell was so faint, it must have been coming from building number seven or eight."
"It's mushrooms, a mixed bunch of mushrooms, like sand mushrooms, small red mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, and all sorts of other things." As he spoke, Xu An scooped up a few mushrooms with a ladle to show them to everyone, then boasted, "Those were a gift from your boss, all rare mountain delicacies picked from outside the mountains, very nutritious..."
Just as the young men were arguing heatedly, someone offered a feasible suggestion, which was quickly accepted by the young men.
"That was a gift from someone to the boss. If you work at a slow-dining restaurant, you won't find that kind of thing there!"
Xu An, who had initially dismissed the soup mix, now found it quite pleasing to the eye after hearing Li Yanfu's explanation.
Xu An picked up a rag from the side, wiped his hands clean, walked to the door, and looked through the peephole. Inside, there was a large group of old friends.
"The shopkeeper in Haishi said our chilies are really bad, and he's buying them for 87 yuan a pound!"
Perhaps no boss really wants to buy chili peppers, but they will definitely buy them with the branches and leaves included, and the price may be 87 yuan per kilogram. There is a small chance that they will buy them for 8.7 yuan per kilogram, and only chili peppers that are completely dried can be bought at that price.
However, when the news reached outsiders in our family and spread further, it took on a different meaning.
"Wow, that looks pretty good. The boss doesn't have any yet. How much is a serving? The taste is so tempting it'll make your mouth water."
A loud rumbling sound came from the stomach of a young man who was playing chess, immediately attracting the attention of several people around him.
When Liu Daxi walked out of Xu's Slow Food Restaurant, he was completely dazed.
The young men all used the same name for "Shuanshuanla" (a type of spicy hot pot), but the message they conveyed was very clear.
Besides, everything is scarce outside the mountains, not just land. Let outsiders give it a try. If they can grow it successfully, it will save them a small amount of income. Why not do it?
"It doesn't smell like mushroom stewed chicken at all."
"You know what, when you came back today you were carrying an old hen, so it really is you!"
Although those chili peppers are very difficult to grow, if they are planted badly, they will produce one crop after another when it comes to fruiting. A single chili pepper plant can produce about 10 to 4 kilograms of fruit, which, when dried, will weigh about 2 kilograms. If we plant them on these acres of land outside the house, it would be no problem to grow hundreds of plants.
Back home, You Biao followed the instructions given by You Biaocai to soak and process the mushrooms, then placed them in a stew pot along with the blanched old hen, covered it, and steamed them over a low flame.
62 yuan per jin, 62 yuan per jin!
"What he's stewing is... mushrooms? It looks so much like it." A young woman with sharp eyes spotted the mushrooms floating in the soup and asked with some doubt.
Before introducing the name of the mushroom and its nutritional benefits, Li Yanfu finished explaining how to cook it.
At the very end, the fragrance was very faint, like the unique scent of grass before the rain; a few people who smelled it simply thought it was some kind of flower blooming. But gradually, the fragrance became stronger and stronger, so strong that it could not be ignored.
"What do you think? Let's not guess anymore. We can tell the smell is coming from outside our region just by smelling it. We can just go down and ask!"
So the young men started making phone calls to their families.
Oh my, I never imagined those mushrooms, which looked so odd and cracked, would be so nutritious! What a rotten thing! My son's family is coming over for dinner tonight, so I'll go to the market to buy an old hen before I go to work. I'll stew it until it spoils and we can't eat it then!
Since You Biaocai's family can grow it, my family might not be able to.
At 2:30, before greeting Aunt He, Xu An carried the bag of soup ingredients to the market and bought an old hen from his usual poultry stall.
"Hey, the boss over there's buying spicy peppers. He grows some, they're 87 yuan a pound!"
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com