Chapter 385: Chapter 385: Winter Mushrooms
Before dinner, Ian Yates came over to call the two of them to eat. He’d grown a bit taller recently, and after changing into clothes that fit him well, he looked much more upright. Once his face was clean, his handsome, boyish face was revealed, still retaining a bit of baby fat.
"Evelyn, hurry up."
Hearing him urging them from the doorway, Ronan Kendrick opened the door and stared at him.
"Quiet."
Ian Yates made a face. "I’m calling for Evelyn, not you. You’re always so jealous, and that’s not good. A man should be more magnanimous. Don’t make things difficult for Evelyn."
He crossed his arms, lecturing Ronan Kendrick with a straight face. Just then, a gust of cold wind blew past. Ian Yates lost his footing and fell flat on his back. After scrambling up, he awkwardly brushed the snow off his clothes and snuck a peek at Ronan Kendrick.
Ronan Kendrick’s lips twitched. Ian Yates, both embarrassed and angry, demanded, "Why are you laughing at me?"
"Short legs." Ronan Kendrick sized him up from head to toe, his disdainful gaze stinging Ian Yates’s pride.
"I’ll get taller! Even taller than you."
Ronan Kendrick gave him another once-over. "Unlikely."
Ian Yates charged over to hit Ronan Kendrick, but Ronan grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him straight off the ground.
"Put me down! You’re bullying me."
"Want to tattle? Fine, I’ll carry you to Evelyn so you can do it."
"No! I can’t let Evelyn see me looking this pathetic." As he spoke, he kicked his legs and struggled, all while trying to fix his messy hair.
Ronan Kendrick scoffed and tossed him directly onto a snowdrift the wolfdogs had been digging in.
Ian Yates got a mouthful of snow and frowned, spitting repeatedly.
"It stinks! This snow is so dirty."
A glimmer of amusement flashed in Ronan Kendrick’s eyes. "Forgot to tell you, the dogs peed on it."
Ian Yates froze, completely petrified.
When Evelyn Ford came out, she saw Ian Yates standing dazedly on the snowdrift while Ronan Kendrick fed the wolfdogs returning from their patrol.
"What’s wrong, Ian? What’s with that look on your face?"
Ian Yates didn’t say a word, just furiously stomped on the snow under his feet to vent his frustration. Ronan Kendrick blew a whistle, and the wolfdogs, now full, obediently returned to their kennel to sleep.
"I’m hungry." Ronan Kendrick reached out, took Evelyn Ford’s hand, and gave her palm a couple of squeezes.
Seeing this, Ian Yates stomped his feet furiously a few more times, glaring at Ronan Kendrick while grinding his teeth.
Evelyn Ford’s temples throbbed. "Stop snarling. Aren’t you hungry? Come on, let’s go eat."
Ian Yates shuffled over, wanting to take Evelyn Ford’s hand as well. Ronan Kendrick snorted but didn’t say anything. In the end, Evelyn took neither of their hands and simply walked on ahead. The three of them arrived at the dining hall. Just as they reached the entrance, the fresh, savory aroma of mushrooms washed over them, and Evelyn hurried inside to take a seat.
"Master Ford, I just took a look around outside and picked a lot more winter mushrooms."
Evelyn Ford looked at the bamboo basket Nathan Xavier was carrying and nodded. "Winter mushrooms don’t keep well. Have the kitchen cook all the ones that have been picked."
"There are still mushrooms this season? Why don’t we all go looking for them tomorrow?" Wyatt Vaughn said excitedly. The aroma of the mushroom soup on the table had everyone’s mouth watering.
"I want to go too." Quincy picked up a piece with his chopsticks. The mushroom was unbelievably fragrant and savory. He let out a satisfied sigh. "Is this a gift from the heavens? After every disaster, they give us a little treat to make us lower our guard, and then they strike again."
Evelyn Ford chuckled at Quincy’s words, but she had to admit he had a point.
Everyone gradually sat down to eat. Evelyn Ford had a rare second helping. Even though the meal included just coarse flour steamed buns, it was exceptionally appetizing tonight.
The next day, Evelyn Ford planned to go out and pick mushrooms too, but she actually had a more important task: checking the surrounding area for any signs that it had been cased.
The nearby mountains were still littered with the carcasses of boars and crows from the last beast tide. The snow cover was thin, making the ground slippery. Evelyn Ford used a stick for balance, with Ronan Kendrick following behind her, a bamboo basket in hand.
Evelyn Ford made a loop around the area but found no signs of it being cased. However, she did notice quite a few muddy footprints in the snow.
There weren’t a ton of mushrooms in the mountains, but Evelyn Ford discovered a pattern: the winter mushrooms growing next to the boar and crow carcasses were plumper, and their fungal aroma was much stronger.
’Are these winter mushrooms a species that derives from animal carcasses?’
Evelyn Ford didn’t find it disgusting. As long as they weren’t growing on human corpses, she had no qualms about it.
"Are those edible?" someone asked. Everyone watched as Evelyn Ford picked a large number of mushrooms from beside a rotting boar carcass, worried they might contain pathogens.
"Everything in nature keeps another in check. If these mushrooms growing next to a rotting corpse aren’t poisonous and are this fragrant and savory, why shouldn’t we eat them?"
"Exactly! We’ve eaten them before, and they weren’t poisonous," Quincy chimed in. He couldn’t care less if they grew next to rotting animal corpses. Back in the safe zone, he’d eaten plenty of desert mushrooms that grew where people were buried, and he was still alive and kicking, wasn’t he?
"If you’re too scared to eat them, then don’t. I love them, so I’m going to pick a lot more. Evelyn, can these be dried for storage?"
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Yes. You can also deep-fry them to preserve them."
By the time they headed down the mountain, everyone’s baskets were full.
When they got back to the farm, they saw Ethan Dawson was there again, reading a book. Evelyn Ford went over and slapped the table in front of him. "Why are you here again? Our farm has a new rule: no outsiders without a specific reason."
Ethan Dawson paused, taken aback. "I paid with grain."
"That doesn’t matter."
"Master Ford, I think you have some sort of misunderstanding about me."
Evelyn Ford didn’t want to waste her breath on him. "You’re always coming to our farm. Do you think that’s appropriate?"
"Is this about the medicinal herbs? I’m sorry. One of my men told me about them. He used to be a doctor, and when he came here to trade for supplies, he saw you were growing medicinal plants. He mentioned it to me later, which is why I told Butler Graham I wanted to trade for some—seeds or roots, either would be fine. We’d like to try growing some ourselves."
Hearing this, Evelyn Ford looked at Ethan Dawson with a smirk.
"They’re not for trade."
"I’ll keep a tighter rein on them in the future. Discovering the herbs was an accident; he wasn’t intentionally snooping around."
Evelyn Ford suddenly changed the subject. "Is your farm still running patrols these days?"
Ethan Dawson froze for a moment, then quickly nodded. "We’re always on patrol."
"There are a lot of footprints in the mountains, coming from the direction of Fairgate."
"I’ll go check on it in a moment. If it was an oversight on our part, I’ll punish those responsible."
Evelyn Ford’s lip curled. She had zero faith in his ability to manage his people.
"Where did you pick these mushrooms?" He picked one out of a basket and sniffed it.
"They’re not poisonous?"
"You don’t have mushrooms on your farm?" Evelyn Ford asked, surprised.
"I haven’t seen any. What are these called?"
"Winter mushrooms." Evelyn Ford snatched the mushroom from his hand. "It’s dinnertime. You should head back."
Ethan Dawson looked exasperated. "It’s not like I’m trying to freeload a meal. I’m just going to see Mr. Vance."
With that, he put his book down and left.
