There was indeed a fish in the wooden basin; the two brothers had never seen such a big fish before.
"Brother, you're amazing! You caught such a big fish!" The two brothers were both excited and thrilled. This big fish would be enough for their family to eat for several days.
"The fish jumped onto the shore, and I just picked it up. I don't know how to catch fish," Zhao Xian explained.
"The food is ready, everyone, please eat," Li Chun'e said as she entered the kitchen.
Dinner was wild vegetable porridge. The wild vegetables had been simmered until they turned a bit yellow, and the porridge inside was made of some kind of powder, definitely not wheat flour.
There was a bowl of white rice porridge on the stove, and Zhao Xian knew that this bowl of white rice porridge was cooked for him.
For many years, Li Chun'e had always treated the original owner of the body this way: even when others ate coarse food, the family would ensure that the scholar ate white flour and white rice.
The younger siblings didn't seem to see the bowl of white rice porridge; they seemed quite interested in the wild vegetable paste and took a bowl to fill it.
Zhao Xian picked up the bowl of white rice porridge and poured it into the pot. Then he picked up a wooden spatula and stirred it in the pot. The wild vegetable paste and white rice porridge quickly mixed together.
Li Chun'e and her siblings were stunned. They couldn't understand Zhao Xian. Was this still the same scholar from before?
He refused to eat plain rice porridge, preferring instead to eat the same wild vegetable porridge as his family.
"Mother, from now on we will all eat the same food, so please don't cook two different meals. I should eat the same food as my younger siblings."
"Okay, Mother understands." After a long while, Li Chun'e finally reacted.
The five people each filled a bowl with wild vegetable porridge and sat around the table to eat. There was a small bowl of dark-colored vegetables on the table, which should be pickled vegetables.
Zhao Xian picked up a little with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. It tasted a bit salty, but mostly bitter, and was really hard to swallow.
In front of his family, he couldn't spit out the pickled vegetables he had just eaten, so he had no choice but to swallow the bitter pickled vegetables.
Then he began to taste the wild vegetable paste. It really didn't taste very good. The wild vegetables were a bit hard and you had to chew them with force. There was also some bran in the paste, which scraped his throat when he swallowed it.
Luckily, he had poured in a bowl of porridge, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to swallow a single bite.
But the mother and her siblings ate with great relish.
"Mom, the porridge is so delicious today!" Zhao Lingling said excitedly.
The wild vegetable porridge that I found hard to swallow was enjoyed very much by my family.
Watching my mother and younger siblings finish the wild vegetable porridge, while I only ate a small half bowl, I thought it would be nice if there were some pickled vegetables.
He had kimchi for sale in his system, but he couldn't buy it right now, so he could only grit his teeth and swallow the rest of the wild vegetable paste.
Zhao Xian felt as if he were taking Chinese medicine, not eating a meal.
Seeing that Zhao Xian had finished the wild vegetable porridge, Li Chun'e was very happy. It seemed that her scholar son had indeed changed; in the past, he would never have eaten this wild vegetable porridge.
"Mother, what kind of dish is this?" Zhao Xian asked, pointing to the bowl of bitter and astringent dish that was almost gone.
"This is radish greens, pickled with brine and salt when it's cold. They won't spoil even after a year."
It really is pickled vegetables. I've eaten pickled radish before, and it's never tasted this bad. Could it be related to the brine?
"Mom, do you have any brine at home? Let me take a look."
"I'll go get it." After saying that, Zhao Lingling took a bowl from the kitchen, which contained half a small bowl of blackened brine.
Zhao Xian certainly knew what brine was. It was extracted from the brine left over after salt production. Although it had a salty taste, it was mostly bitter and not as good as regular salt. Using brine to cook was definitely not suitable.
My family is too poor. We can't afford the coarse salt that ordinary people eat. We can only eat this bitter and astringent brine salt.
I was glad I bought seasonings when I cooked for lunch; if I had used brine salt, the taste would have been greatly diminished.
Salt in our own market trading system is very cheap; although it cannot be sold, it can be bought for personal use.
He remembered that in his previous life, he had helped his mother make kimchi, and he was very familiar with the kimchi making process.
Today he saw bitter and spicy vegetables everywhere in the fields. This is a kind of wild vegetable that is both bitter and astringent, and even cows don't want to eat it.
This wild vegetable has thick leaves that can be used to make pickles, which are very delicious and in high demand in the market. It is a must-have side dish in every household.
There is an important step in making this kind of kimchi, which is to remove the alkali. The operation is very simple. Just blanch it in boiling water and then soak it in clean water for half a day to remove the bitter taste.
With a large supply of seasonings in my system, I could easily make this kind of kimchi and sell it in the market; it would definitely be in high demand.
Without further ado, let's get to work and get some bitter and spicy vegetables before it gets completely dark.
"Lingling, take the basket, we're going out for a bit, we'll make something delicious later."
Zhao Lingling was overjoyed when she heard this, and braised pork immediately popped into her little head.
"Okay, let's go now."
Zhao Lingling excitedly picked up a large basket and pulled Zhao Xian to go out.
"I'll go too."
Zhao Xiaoshan stood up. Today, his brother built a waterwheel, and he became the focus of the whole village. He was so proud. Now his brother was going to cook something delicious for them, and he definitely couldn't miss it.
"Okay, you take a basket too. Let's hurry, or we won't be able to see you anymore."
Li Chun'e found the oil lamp, knowing it would come in handy later, as her family usually didn't use oil lamps.
The three arrived at the edge of the field, where bitter lettuce grew everywhere. This wild vegetable was extremely resilient and could grow into a large patch, making it very difficult to eradicate. Farmers hated this wild vegetable.
Zhao Xian didn't know what people in this dynasty called this kind of wild vegetable, so he asked.
“This is called ‘cow’s head vegetable.’ My mother said that this vegetable is not edible because even cows don’t like to eat it,” Zhao Lingling said.
"That's because Mom doesn't know how to make it, but my brother does, and it tastes even better than meat."
"Really? That's great! Let's pick more to take home."
Zhao Lingling and Zhao Xiaoshan believed this without a doubt. They quickly picked the wild mustard greens, and soon the two large bamboo baskets were full.
When they got home, it was completely dark. Li Chun'e lit the oil lamp, wanting to see what the three of them had brought back.
Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Li Chun'e immediately spotted two baskets of wild mustard greens and was dumbfounded. Why bring back so much wild mustard greens? During the great famine a few years ago, people starved to death, and no one ate this kind of wild vegetable.
Seeing Li Chun'e's surprised look, Zhao Xian began to make up a story.
"Mother, ox gallnut is a good thing, it's just that we people in this poor, remote place don't know about it. Pickled vegetables made from it taste even better than meat. It used to be a tribute to the emperor."
Later, a war broke out, and the recipe for making kimchi with cowpea leaves was lost, and no one has eaten kimchi since.
A few days ago, I saw a recipe for making pickled vegetables in an old book and wrote it down. Today, I saw a lot of pickled mustard greens on the edge of the field and decided to try making some.
If we succeed, our family will have a livelihood, and we'll never go hungry again.
Zhao Xian's words excited the family. This scholar in the family was knowledgeable and experienced, and what he said was sure to be true.
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