Chapter 1337 Secret Sauce
"Grandaunt! Where are you?"
Mu Chenyan acted like she didn't hear anything and even asked Raelle, "Is this Justin's voice? Why is he looking for his grandaunt here?"
Raelle gave her a look, "Yanyan, you are his grandaunt."
Mu Chenyan was startled and hit her head, "It seems I'm still not very used to being a grandaunt." She actually forgot that she got promoted a while ago and from the title of aunt, she had also become a grandaunt. She touched the fine lines beside her eyes which weren't very clear and muttered, "I'm getting old. I'm feeling this strongly these days." Taking a deep breath, she called back, "Justin, I'm here!"
Justin ran with short legs towards her side and looked up, "I've been looking for you. Where were you?"
"Can't you tell?" came Hyson's voice. "Yanyan was with her Elle. How would she care about the rest of us?"
"Don't be so sour!" said Mu Chenyan and crouched down to face Justin. "Why were you looking for me?"
"I brought something for you," replied Justin excitedly.
"Ahem!" Hyson coughed as if to give a signal and instantly, Justin changed his words.
"I mean, we brought you something."
Mu Chenyan first looked at Hyson and then at Justin, "Oh, what is it?"
"Come me with," said Justin as he held her hand with his own small hands. When Justin brought her to the main hall, she found the others already there. "You all are up? Feeling better now?"
"Absolutely," responded Xiang Wai but Xiang Weimin and Shui Xian didn't say anything. "Little nephew, why don't you finally tell us all what you brought for my Aunt?"
"Okay," agreed Justin and went to pick up his backpack that he had carried on their camping trip. He slowly opened it and took out things like offering treasures, "Grandaunt, I picked these wild mulberries for you."
Mu Chenyan looked at the ripe mulberries packed carefully in a box. She was pleasantly surprised to have this gift. Just the thought that her grandnephew didn't forget about her on the trip was enough to make her happy.
"I also found these mushrooms. Look, there are pine mushrooms, porcini, and rusullas. We can stew them with farm chicken and it will be delicious."
Mu Chenyan narrowed her eyes when she heard that and asked, "And how does my dear grandnephew know that stewing it with a farm chicken would be more delicious?"
Justin paused and looked towards Hyson who pretended like he didn't see or hear anything.
Mu Chenyan laughed at their so-obvious exchange and shook her head, "Fai, what is this?"
Hyson scratched his head, "He asked how to eat these mushrooms and I just told him a way."
"Oh..." was Mu Chenyan's response but one could hear her laughter. "Is there anything else, Justin?"
"Yes!" replied Justin. "We also found daylilies. Uncle Fai said they are very good for health. They provide calcium and protein and lots of other things. We just have to first steam it and then dry it under the sun before using it. As for how to use it, I don't know yet."
Looking at the small portions he offered to her, Mu Chenyan was really touched. She rubbed his head and then looked at Hyson, "Since Justin is carrying the smaller portions. You must have the bigger portions with you. Right, Fai?"
Hyson grinned, "I have it. Can we dry the mulberries? I also have raspberries. Can we make some raspberry sauce? Please!"
Raelle looked at all these things and couldn't help asking, "When did you guys even pick all this?"
"While we were going up," replied Justin. "We found mushrooms on the way. Later, in the morning, Uncle Fai took me to find day lilies. There was a huge field and it looked beautiful. On the way back, we found the mulberry tree and raspberries too. There were wild apples too but Uncle Fai said they must be too sour and they were very small as well. So, we didn't pick them."
"You guys had plenty of fun," commented Raelle. "And I didn't even notice."
"It's because your attention is no longer on me, Ellie!" lamented Hyson. "Or else, you would have found us taking all this."
"Actually, none of us saw you guys having so much fun," said Xiang Wai.
"You all are blind then," was the only explanation Hyson could give. He refused to believe that he was so easy to ignore. It's true that he was always either way ahead of them with Justin or way behind them. But the fact that none of them even noticed them picking so many things was a real surprise to him.
"You really found so many things," said Shui Xian.
"I told you all, the mountain is full of surprises. You all didn't believe me," said Hyson.
"Yes!" Justin also agreed with Hyson. "There are so many things up there."
"Did you enjoy picking so many things?" asked Mu Chenyan.
"I had a lot of fun," he replied.
"That's good. Then you should go on more exploration trips. It'll be even more fun."
"Okay," agreed Justin without any hesitation. He didn't think the world was so interesting before. Just this camping trip made him realize that he could see a whole different world outside of the books and it was a lot more fun too. So, he was very willing to step out of his room now and explore more. Well, as long as he had all these people who made him feel so comfortable and safe with him. He had no fear of facing the world.
"What about your ginseng?" asked Raelle. "Your luck gave up on you, Hyson?"
Hyson didn't speak but Justin answered for him, "We did find it!"
Everyone looked at Justin who was jumping up and down, "It had red fruits, it looked like a radish but Uncle Fai said it's a ginseng. But he wasn't very happy to find it. When I asked if we were digging it, he said there was no need. The ginseng had some time before it became a hundred years old so we should let it grow."
Raelle looked at Hyson who actually didn't show off that he actually found ginseng. To be honest, he wasn't really comfortable with having such good luck in life. It made him feel so average. Why? Because he felt like everything he achieved in his life was because of his insane good luck and not because of his own efforts and abilities. "Not happy?" asked Raelle.
"It's alright," replied Hyson.
"Were you the one who saw it first?" asked Raelle.
Hyson suddenly had a shift in his mood and smiled, "No. It was Justin who found it and asked me what those red fruits were. I didn't find it. Haha! It wasn't me."
"Wow! I have never seen someone who doesn't like being lucky," commented Xiang Wai.
Hyson sighed and stared at her, "You don't understand me."
"I definitely can't understand and I don't want to either. I'm mad. You didn't even offer me mulberries or raspberries. You didn't take me with you to pick anything."
"What are you talking about? We picked wild vegetables together!"
"What's fun in that? I wanted to see that ginseng! I have never seen one in the ground."
Hyson scratched the tip of his nose, "What's there to see?"
"I just wanted to see it."
"How about next time?" suggested Hyson.
"What's the guarantee we will find one the next time?" she asked.
"I'll find it for you," he said.
Xiang Wai was finally satisfied and patted his head, "That's more like it. As a little brother, you should coax your elder sister some more instead of finding trouble with her all the time."
Hyson swatted her hand away, "Don't touch my head!"
"You did not even peep when Xian put a whole damn frog on your head!" She looked very dissatisfied, "Is it because he is Raelle's husband?"
"No," replied Hyson. "It seems you don't know."
"What?"
"Actually, I have always admired Xian Ge. Even before he married Ellie. I didn't meet him personally before but I heard a lot about him in college so I always admired him. It has little to do with Ellie. I just like him as a person. So, I usually don't argue with him."
"Hm. I didn't know that."
"Well, now you do."
Hyson then smiled at Mu Chenyan, "Yanyan, how about that chicken stewed with mushrooms? We must let Justin know how delicious it really is, no?"
Mu Chenyan looked at his greedy look and tsked at him, "Don't use Justin's name as a gun. As if I won't make it if it's you who wants to eat it."
Hyson grinned in response, "I know you love me the most."
"I do. But now that you have brought all this. Pack it up too. All these mushrooms won't be used. So, wash the rest and dry them for me. Also, since you picked the day lilies, steam them and dry them too."
"I don't know how to," he replied innocently.
"Well, then learn. I won't be pampering you anymore. Learn to do something on your own. Take Raelle with you. Don't let her touch anything but let her watch carefully how it's all done. Weimin will help you."
Hyson looked at Xiang Weimin who nodded, "I'll help you. I know how to do it all. In fact, take the raspberries too. I'll make my secret sauce for you all."
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