EHCR 5

The Encyclopedic Harvest: Cultivating Riches in Lean Years

Chapter 5: Water Celery

Sun Xiuhe’s reaction was well within Song Zhaodi’s expectations. She didn’t say anything, merely picking up a piece of fish meat and placing it in Song Dachuan’s bowl.

"Grandpa, have a taste of this fish..."

Before she could finish, her chopsticks were batted away by Sun Xiuhe’s. "Song Zhaodi, why are you so lacking in filial piety? Your grandfather worked hard all day, and you're only giving him such a tiny scrap of meat?"

With that, she picked up the fish head and declared, "Master, you are the head of the household; you must have this fish head."

Faced with a large chunk of fish head and a single small piece of fish meat, Song Dachuan made his predictable choice and took the fish head, which symbolized his supreme status in the family.

Seeing this, Song Zhaodi immediately transferred that piece of fish meat into Song Yaodong’s bowl. "Dad, have a taste."

Song Yaodong had completely abandoned any hope of getting actual fish meat. However, seeing Sun Xiuhe deliberately picking on Song Zhaodi, and wanting to spare his daughter any further grief while forgetting his own rule about only getting broth, he popped the fish meat straight into his mouth.

His eyes instantly lit up. The texture was smooth, springy, and incomparably tender.

No wonder his youngest daughter had eaten one piece and immediately wanted another.

Driven by genuine praise, Song Yaodong nodded and repeated three times in a row, "Delicious, delicious, delicious."

Sun Xiuhe, who had been glowing with smug satisfaction over Song Dachuan accepting her fish head, watched Song Yaodong act so presumptuously and eat the meat. Her face instantly dropped, and she opened her mouth to snap at him.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Song Zhaodi scooped up the fish tail—which she had deliberately chopped into small pieces with virtually no meat on them—and dropped it straight into Sun Xiuhe’s bowl.

"Grandma, this is your favorite fish tail."

The scolding resting on the tip of Sun Xiuhe’s tongue vanished back down her throat. Besides, the rich aroma tickling her nose reminded her just how ravenous she was.

Before digging in, she couldn't help putting on a hypocritical front. "It's not that I love this part; it's just that the tail has too many small bones, and I'm afraid one of you kids will choke."

With that, she shoved the entire fish tail into her mouth in one go, acting as though someone might snatch it away from her.

Taking advantage of this window, Song Zhaodi rapidly used her chopsticks to transfer several large helpings of fish meat into the bowls of Song Yaodong, Zhao Lanzhi, Song Pandi, and herself.

The three who had just been "fed" stared down at the chunks of fish meat in their bowls, swallowing hard, but terrorized by Sun Xiuhe’s lingering "might," they didn't dare lift their chopsticks.

Song Zhaodi motioned for them to hurry up and eat, even setting an example by opening her mouth and devouring several pieces of fish meat all at once.

She even let out a deeply satisfied sigh of culinary bliss.

Pandi, who already knew just how heavenly the fish fillets tasted, couldn't resist the temptation any longer. Throwing caution to the wind, she buried her tiny face deep into her large bowl and began wolfing down the meat.

Song Yaodong noticed that everyone else was eating except for Zhao Lanzhi, and a wave of heartache washed over him. He forced the chopsticks into his wife’s hand. "Eat."

The couple finally joined in and started eating.

Sun Xiuhe, who hadn't tasted meat or oil in ages, had grown far too greedy and shoved the entire section of the fish tail into her mouth at once. Little did she expect there to be so many sharp bones. Mixed together with the chewed-up bits of flesh, she couldn't untangle the bones for the life of her, yet she was far too stingy to spit the meat out.

With a mouth completely stuffed full of fish bones, she could only watch in wide-eyed frustration as Song Zhaodi’s family of four continuously took large, satisfying bites of meat. She wanted to scold them, but terrified of swallowing a bone, she was trapped in a state of frantic, sputtering rage.

They were all eating fish, so why was her mouth full of prickly bones while none of them had to spit any out?!

By this point, Song Zhaodi and the others were already reaching for their fourth round of fish meat. Sun Xiuhe could finally stand it no longer and aggressively jabbed Song Dachuan in the ribs.

Song Dachuan, who was right in the middle of savoring the exquisite flavor of the fish head, completely missed Sun Xiuhe’s hidden agenda. He glanced at her, and just as he was about to ask what she wanted, his gaze was instantly hijacked by the plate of fresh agricultural greens—the wild water celery cultivated from the river's edge—sitting in front of Song Zhaodi.

"Zhaodi, what kind of wild vegetable is this? I've never seen it before."

The water celery had its leaves plucked off, and its tender white-and-green stalks were chopped into finger-length segments, glistening with a slick sheen of oil as Song Zhaodi popped one into her mouth.

A crisp, refreshing crunch echoed out as she chewed. She introduced it to him with a smile, "Grandpa, this is called water celery. It's exceptionally delicious, have a taste."

Because today’s fish head tasted remarkably better than anything from the past, Song Dachuan dropped his usual skepticism toward Song Zhaodi. He picked up a chopstick-full and popped it into his mouth.

As he chewed, he nodded approvingly and reached out for another helping.

"Not bad, really not bad."

Song Zhaodi smiled and scooped another bowl of the rich river-fresh porridge for her little sister. "Eat up more, look how skin-and-bones you are."

Before the sound of her voice had even faded, Sun Xiuhe’s screech pierced the air once more. "Master, why on earth are you eating just anything?!"

"What is this water celery business? We've never foraged or eaten it before in our lives, who knows if it's poisonous? Have you忘了 how someone from the neighboring village ate wild agricultural greens from the fields and dropped dead from poisoning?"

The moment those words dropped, the color drained completely from Song Dachuan’s face. The water celery on his chopsticks tumbled back down, while the mush already ground up between his teeth was too agonizing to swallow and too heartbreaking to spit out.

Sensing his hesitation, Sun Xiuhe hastily reached out and aggressively hooked her fingers into his mouth to clear it out. "Hurry up and spit it out! Are you throwing your life away just for two bites of food?"

Through sheer half-forced violence, she managed to dig the water celery out of Song Dachuan’s mouth.

Song Zhaodi watched Sun Xiuhe’s frantic circus performance without missing a beat, entirely unbothered. She kept right on eating, casually picking up dish after dish, and even met Sun Xiuhe’s glare head-on as she deliberately took another massive bite of the freshly foraged water celery.

Seeing her blatant, unapologetic defiance, Sun Xiuhe grit her teeth, pointed a trembling finger at the river-fresh porridge, and launched a fresh assault. "Song Zhaodi! Look what kind of ungodly mess you've made of our good coarse-grain porridge! Is this even fit for human consumption anymore?!"

Song Zhaodi’s expression remained completely unruffled. "We only have a tiny handful of harvested coarse grain left in the house—how could that ever be enough to feed a whole family? I had no other choice but to throw in some small foraged fish and river shrimp from our farming efforts to bulk it up."

Song Yaodong hurriedly backed her up. "Mother, the river-fresh porridge Zhaodi made is actually incredible; you'll understand once you try a bowl."

Zhao Lanzhi chimed in supportively as well, "It's true, it's rich, savory, and sweet—vastly better than plain coarse-grain and wild vegetable gruel."

Seeing that the four people across the table hadn't slowed down their chopsticks for a single second, Song Dachuan felt a strong urge to test the waters himself.

"Eating reckless things harvested from the wild will get you killed!" Sun Xiuhe bellowed at the top of her lungs. "Master, tell me I'm right!"

Song Dachuan wanted to agree, but that water celery tasted infinitely better than the harvested shepherd's purse, and his conscience balked at lying out loud. Keeping quiet, he simply reached over and grabbed a chunk of braised fish instead.

Song Zhaodi offered lightly, "It's fine. If Grandpa and Grandma are terrified of dying, the rest of us will test it out for you first. Feel free to finish that plate of wild-gathered shepherd's purse in peace—at least you know that one isn't poisonous."

By now, the homegrown or gathered shepherd's purse had grown old and stringy; how could it possibly compete with the tender, crisp, naturally grown water celery?

Seeing this, Sun Xiuhe felt fit to burst with pure fury. She slammed her hand down over Song Dachuan’s chopsticks to pin them in place. "Master, we've eaten all this food, but Yaozu hasn't even tasted a single bite! He's right in the middle of his growing years!"

The moment Song Yaozu was brought up, the brain cells of Song Dachuan that had been hijacked by gourmet flavors snapped back to reality. He shot a glance at Sun Xiuhe and silently retracted his chopsticks.

Giving a light cough, he told Song Yaodong, "We've eaten plenty. Leave the rest so Yaozu can have his share when he gets back."

Song Yaodong couldn't find a reason to argue back. A smug smile broke across Sun Xiuhe’s face as she bent forward, preparing to scoop up the large porcelain bowls.

Song Zhaodi rolled her eyes mischievously, tilted her head back toward the two bowls of fish meat, and let out an exaggerated, explosive "Achoo!"

Sun Xiuhe’s hand froze mid-motion. She stared at Song Zhaodi in sheer disbelief, grinding her teeth so hard they squeaked.

"You've gone and ruined all the fish! How is Yaozu supposed to eat this now?!"

Song Dachuan wore an expression of profound disgust as well, barking in irritation, "Zhaodi, you are acting completely out of line!"

"I am terribly sorry, I must have caught a chill after falling into the river today."

Song Zhaodi rubbed her nose, offering an apology entirely devoid of sincerity. She leaned right across the table, intercepting the large bowl right out of Sun Xiuhe’s grip.

"Oh well! Since Little Uncle can't eat it now, we certainly can't let good food go to waste."

"Dad, Mom, Little Sister—you guys won't mind my cold, right?"

"How about we just divide it up and finish it among ourselves?"

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