EHCR 14

 Chapter 14: Selling Jian Shou Qing

Whoever holds the money calls the shots.

With these ten taels of silver, the engagement with the Lin family could finally be broken off.

In high spirits, Song Zhaodi found herself looking at Song Yaozu with a bit more leniency, and her tone softened considerably.

Seeing her attitude flip faster than turning a book page, Song Yaozu couldn't help throwing out a sarcastic remark, "Talk about being blinded by money."

Without arguing back, Song Zhaodi busied herself by tucking her back-basket away in a hidden spot, covering it with a layer of fresh grass for safety, before heading off to make dinner.

Supper consisted of cold-dressed shepherd's purse, stir-fried water celery, and coarse-grain porridge.

Having eaten meat every single meal for the past two days, Song Dachuan had gotten used to the rich flavors, and switching back to plain greens left his mouth feeling dull and tasteless.

"Zhaodi, that green dish you made at noon—why didn't you make it for dinner?"

The taste had been tender, crisp, and smooth, even better than big chunks of pork, and Song Dachuan couldn't get it out of his mind.

With wide, innocent eyes, Song Zhaodi replied, "We finished it all at noon, and these were the only wild greens I could find this afternoon."

Staring at the table full of green, Song Dachuan sighed with mild disappointment, though he knew their household condition didn't allow for picky eating.

Song Yaozu, however, was thoroughly unsatisfied. After gulping down a bowl of coarse-grain porridge, he slammed his chopsticks down hard and gave Song Zhaodi his orders:

"Tomorrow, you better buy plenty of meat and fish. Don't cheap out and embarrass me in front of my friends."

Song Zhaodi nodded repeatedly, while Song Dachuan furrowed his brows deeply, shooting a displeased look at a silent Sun Xiuhe.

Seeing her cower and keep her mouth shut, Song Dachuan finally couldn't hold back his advice: "Yaozu, treating your classmates to food and drink outside is one thing, but why on earth are you bringing them home?"

Eating a single meal outside was already costly, and having them over at the house meant feeding them all day long—just how much money would that burn through?

Song Dachuan couldn't bear the expense.

Noticing his father's stingy expression, Song Yaozu scoffed and said, "People invite me to their homes as a guest, how could I not return the favor?"

"Dad, don't worry about it, I've already given the money to Zhaodi, you don't need to stress."

Before Song Dachuan could even react to those words, Sun Xiuhe piped up instantly:

"What? Why did you give her money? If anything needs buying, I should go buy it. What does a little girl like her know about shopping?"

Turning her glare toward Song Zhaodi, she demanded, "How much money did your little uncle give you? Hand it over."

Seeing the fire shift toward his daughter, Song Yaodong stepped in.

"Mother, Yaozu giving money to host his classmates just shows that he's growing up and becoming sensible."

Hearing this, Song Yaozu nodded vigorously as if receiving validation, grabbed Sun Xiuhe by the arm, and said, "Mom, stay out of this. Zhaodi's cooking is genuinely better than yours anyway, so tomorrow's meal is her responsibility."

"She better not pull what she did the other day and ruin my reputation again!"

With that, Song Yaozu shot an unfriendly warning glare at his mother.

Realizing even her own son wasn't backing her up, Sun Xiuhe flew into a rage, muttered "such a traitor siding with outsiders," and stormed back into her room.

The night passed quietly. Before dawn broke the next morning, Song Zhaodi and her mother had already harvested two large bundles of water celery, and under the excuse of going to town to buy groceries, they hitched a ride on Wang Heizhu's ox-cart.

Riding on Wang Heizhu's cart had been arranged the previous night through Song Yaozu, who wanted to make sure Zhaodi could get her shopping done early without messing things up.

Looking at Song Zhaodi with a smile, Wang Heizhu asked, "Is your family throwing some kind of celebration? Making such a big production out of going to town to shop."

Though she had no idea what Song Yaozu had told Wang Heizhu, judging by the question, Song Yaozu must have been bragging wildly again.

Song Zhaodi answered honestly, "There's no celebration; my little uncle is hosting his classmates at home and asked me to go to town to buy some wine and meat."

Hearing this, Wang Heizhu cast a subtle glance at the two massive bundles of water celery in the back of the cart, feeling privately amazed. The Song family had been reduced to eating wild greens, yet they somehow still had silver to spare for wine and meat.

On second thought, it didn't seem that strange—no matter how dirt-poor the Song family was, they were still funding a scholar.

The gap between raising a boy and a girl was just that vast.

Such was fate.

Feeling a twinge of sympathy for Song Zhaodi, Wang Heizhu stopped asking questions, simply assuming her two bundles of water celery were meant for someone in town to feed their livestock.

Upon arriving in town, Song Zhaodi smoothly sold her water celery to the tavern owner, Tiechui, and taught him how to make stir-fried water celery.

After tasting it, Tiechui praised it endlessly and even offered to introduce her to more business:

"There are 150 catties of water celery today, here are 150 copper coins, count them."

"Actually, I have a sworn brother who runs another restaurant, and after trying the cold-dressed water celery last time, he was completely hooked. If you have extra water celery, bring some over to his place tomorrow."

Accepting the arrangement, Song Zhaodi pulled out her stash of mushrooms.

"Uncle Tiechui, this is a brand new wild delicacy. It's fresh, tender, and crisp—it's guaranteed to become your signature dish."

Tiechui squinted down at the items in her hand, furrowed his brow, and eventually recoiled step by step as if avoiding a poisonous creature.

"Zhaodi, aren't these things those poisonous lumps? You can't eat those, hurry up and throw them away."

This reaction was entirely expected. Reassuring him with a soothing tone, Song Zhaodi put the Jian Shou Qing away and patted her chest with repeated guarantees that they were safe, finally convincing a half-doubting Tiechui to let her cook a dish.

Quickly cleaning and washing the mushrooms and chopping up her aromatics, Song Zhaodi heated the oil and tossed the fungi in for a rapid, high-heat stir-fry. As she flipped them, she silently chanted in her head until she had mentally sung through the song "Above the Moon" three full times before adding the chili peppers, making sure every stray piece clinging to her spatula was scraped back into the wok. After a few more turns, she finally pulled the dish off the fire.

"Uncle, have a taste."

Freshly out of the wok, the Jian Shou Qing radiated an intensely savory aroma that made mouths water, but valuing his life above all else, Tiechui didn't dare take a bite.

Seeing this, Song Zhaodi took the lead, popping a piece into her mouth with an expression of sheer ecstasy. Closing her eyes, she showered it with praise, "Delicious, truly delicious."

"Uncle, I ate it myself, see? I'm not poisoned." Encouraging Tiechui to give it a try, she explained, "Actually, these are called Jian Shou Qing, a type of wild mushroom. As long as they're processed correctly, they are completely non-toxic. I eat them at home all the time."

Noticing she showed no signs of poisoning and hearing that her family ate them regularly, a emboldened Tiechui decided to muster his courage, picking up a single slice and placing it into his mouth.

After one chew, a look of surprise crossed his eyes; after two chews, sheer disbelief took over; and by the third chew, his face lit up with absolute delight.

Hurryingly grabbing another chopstickful, he found it smooth, tender, and crisp, and declared that he had never tasted anything like it in his life.

"Zhaodi, what did you call these again? How many do you have? I'll take all of them."

"They're called Jian Shou Qing, and they aren't cheap. Does Uncle really want all of them?"

Finding the dry bites lacking, Tiechui even had a servant dish him up a bowl of white rice, happily eating his meal alongside the mushrooms with a hearty laugh.

"Zhaodi, don't look down on your uncle here—my tavern makes a tidy profit, so just name your price."

These Jian Shou Qing tasted infinitely better than radishes and cabbage, and arguably surpassed even his pork dishes.

When the cold-dressed water celery had been served out previously, diners had praised it endlessly, with many traveling from afar specifically for a taste of it, which in turn had given his overall tavern business a massive boost.

The flavor of the Jian Shou Qing was superior even to the water celery; serving it would undoubtedly pull in a wave of new customers and rake in a hefty profit.

"Thirty copper coins a catty."

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