EHCR 3

The Encyclopedic Harvest: Cultivating Riches in Lean Years

Chapter 3: The First Pot of Gold

To Song Xingchen, a fish like this meant very little.

However, the original owner’s stomach was completely devoid of any substantial nourishment. After reading through those recipes and imagining the flavors, her brain instinctively yearned for it, and her mouth even began watering.

She was craving it to distraction.

She hurriedly hugged both the fish and the washbasin all the way back home, fetched a pair of scissors, and then stared blankly at the fish flopping around on the ground.

Back when she was Song Xingchen, she had never killed a fish in her life; even if she wanted to eat fish, the fishmonger would always scale and gut it for her.

As Song Zhaodi, the Song household was dirt poor—the poorest in the entire village—while also having to financially support a scholar studying for the imperial exams. Their three daily meals consisted entirely of coarse-grain porridge paired with wild vegetables.

Meat only graced the table during festivals, or whenever Song Yaozu came home. In her memories, the largest fish they had ever killed was barely the length of a palm.

That palm-sized fish had to feed an entire family of mouths.

The fish head symbolized status and had to go to the head of the household, Song Dachuan.

The fish tail was full of small bones that could choke a child, so Sun Xiuhe ate it.

The fish body went to Song Yaozu, because he was the Song family's sole hope of making a name for themselves, and he couldn't be shortchanged.

Over the years, Song Zhaodi's share was strictly limited to drinking the leftover broth.

Her stomach seemed to summon her with a loud rumble, and Song Zhaodi closed her eyes, hardened her heart, and imitated the fishmonger's technique. Grabbing a rock from beside her feet, she smashed it down hard against the fish's head.

Taking advantage of the fish being knocked out cold, she scraped off the scales and removed the gills...

Washing a fish this large inside the courtyard was far too troublesome; in her memories, the original owner always washed vegetables down by the river.

Besides, the clothes she had just finished washing had picked up a fishy odor and needed to be re-rinsed.

She placed the grass carp into a bamboo basket, slung it over her arm, picked up the basin of laundry with her other hand, and headed back down to the riverbank.

To prevent her clothes from acquiring another fishy smell, she washed the laundry first, and only then tackled the fish.

The discarded fish gills tossed into the water immediately drew a small cluster of fish swarming in to feed. Song Zhaodi suddenly paused her movements.

When she was a little girl, she used to catch fish alongside her father using discarded fish gills and entrails as bait. Though it wouldn't net her any large fish, if luck was on her side, she could easily bag small fish and shrimp.

Following the method etched in her memory, she secured the fish entrails firmly to the bottom of the bamboo basket, found a sturdy branch, hooked the basket with it, and lowered it into a slightly deeper stretch of water.

Next came the waiting game.

Since she had some free time, she figured she might as well test her golden finger on the plants growing along the riverbank.

Glancing toward the water's edge, she spotted a familiar yet unfamiliar plant that looked somewhat like celery, except it grew right out of the water.

Its leaves were triangular with rounded notches along the edges, and its stalks were blue-white, thick, and straight, forming a lush, verdant patch.

She plucked a stalk, and subtitles instantly materialized before her eyes: “Water celery, sweet in flavor, neutral in nature, both medicinal and edible. Medicinal benefits include clearing heat, dampness-dispensing, stopping bleeding, and lowering blood pressure; useful for treating colds with fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Rich in nutritional value, suitable for stir-frying or cold tossed salads.”

It even appended a full array of recipes and dietary taboos.

Song Zhaodi was ecstatic—she wouldn't be forced to subsist purely on shepherd's purse anymore!

Although Shuangping Village suffered a poor harvest last year, every household still had some grain stockpiled, so things hadn't deteriorated to the point of surviving entirely on wild greens.

The Old Song family had been the very first in the village to put wild vegetables on the table, and lacking any prior experience, they had simply plucked every bit of shepherd's purse they could recognize.

The ridges and hillsides were practically plucked bald of shepherd's purse by now. After forcing the entire family to eat it for months, they were practically on the verge of throwing it back up.

Finally, she could switch things up.

With her eyes shining brightly, Song Zhaodi picked up her scissors and went snip-snip-snip along the tender stalks of water celery, harvesting a neat little bundle in no time.

The time was just about right. She picked up the wooden branch, squatted down to steady her stance, put strength into her arms, and hoisted the bamboo basket straight up out of the water.

Water streamed out of the basket in a cascade, while small fish and river shrimp bounced frantically inside.

Song Zhaodi smiled—her luck truly was phenomenal.

Only, this bamboo basket felt considerably heavier than she had anticipated. Using a clever twist of leverage, she slowly pulled the basket back up, and her eyes went wide in utter shock.

At the bottom of the basket clung a massive soft-shelled turtle, stuffing its face greedily with the small fish and shrimp inside, completely oblivious to the fact that it had just become someone else's prize.

If she hadn't been afraid the turtle might bolt, Song Zhaodi would have dropped to her knees right then and there to kowtow in gratitude.

"In my past life, I sacrificed myself for others, fearless of life and death—all of this is simply what I'm owed. Thank you, Old King Yama, thank you Heavens, thank you to all the deities..."

"Zhaodi, what are you muttering on about over there?"

A male voice rang out, followed immediately by a shadow casting over her. Before Song Zhaodi could even spin around, an exclamation of awe pierced the air:

"Well, would you look at that—what a massive turtle!"

Wang Tiehu stared in wide-eyed amazement, pointing straight at the turtle in the bamboo basket. "Did you catch this?"

Song Zhaodi nodded. Just as she was about to speak, Wang Tiehu gestured toward the bundle of water celery on the ground. "What's all this? Picked a bunch of aquatic weeds to feed the chickens?"

In Shuangping Village, all wild herbs and greens were collectively lumped together as "pig feed" or "chicken fodder".

Song Zhaodi shook her head. "This is called water celery. It's completely edible—you can stir-fry it or toss it in cold dressing."

Wang Tiehu wore a look of utter disbelief, a flicker of deep pity flashing across his eyes.

Just how starved must her family be to resort to eating grass? Their pantry must be completely scraping the bottom of the barrel.

He pointed down at the turtle in the basket and offered generously, "Why don't you sell this to me? You can take the cash and buy yourself some decent food to eat."

Hearing that, Song Zhaodi figured it was a brilliant idea.

The family already had a large grass carp, which was plenty of meat for two days.

Selling this turtle for cash to buy staple grains at the market made far more sense.

Yet she had never traded anything before and ran a high risk of being lowballed by strangers. If she brought it home for her father to sell, she worried Sun Xiuhe would spot it and immediately siphon it off to nourish Song Yaozu.

In her memories, Wang Tiehu was the son of the village head—honest, upright, and entirely honest in his dealings. Selling it to him meant she wouldn't get cheated.

Therefore, she answered briskly, "Go ahead and weigh it to see how much it's worth."

Wang Tiehu gave an affirmative grunt, turned to retrieve a scale from his ox-cart, and remarked, "Talk about timing—I literally just got back from the market, so the scale's still right here."

With practiced efficiency, he bound the turtle with a hemp rope and weighed it.

"Three catties and seven taels, take a look for yourself." Wang Tiehu held out the scale beam for Song Zhaodi to check. "Since this turtle of yours is exceptionally large, the price is higher too. The going market rate is fifty wen per catty, which works out to..."

"One hundred and eighty-five wen," Song Zhaodi chimed in instantly.

Wang Tiehu looked slightly taken aback. "Well, look at that—you're even quicker at calculating than I am, and I handle accounts every single day."

Naturally; the multiplication table wasn't memorized for nothing.

Outwardly, Song Zhaodi maintained a modest front. "I picked up a bit of it while doing chores at the private school."

During the years Song Yaozu studied at the academy, to ingratiate herself with the tutor, Sun Xiuhe had routinely dispatched Song Zhaodi to handle chores and miscellaneous cleaning tasks at the school.

Wang Tiehu was well aware of this arrangement, so he harbored zero suspicions.

He nodded, drew a coin pouch from his tunic, counted out the exact copper coins, handed them over to Song Zhaodi, and hoisted the turtle away.

The small fish and shrimp in the bamboo basket had been mostly consumed, with barely a few left behind. Song Zhaodi rinsed the basket clean and headed back home carrying both the large grass carp and the water celery.

Wreaths of cooking smoke curled upward into the air. The iron pot bubbled with a steady gurgle-gurgle, river shrimp glowing with an enticing hue as they tumbled alongside bursting grains of rice, thickening into a rich porridge that radiated a savory, sweet aroma.

A generous scattering of chopped green scallions injected the ultimate soul into the river-fresh porridge.

Meanwhile, fish fillets seasoned thoroughly with egg white, salt, and rice wine slid smoothly into a milky-white broth, simmering briefly before being drizzled with hot scented oil.

The rich, savory fragrance wafted out in all directions.

"Zhaodi, we're back!"

"Huh, what is that smell? Why does it smell so incredible?"

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