Chapter 397: Chapter 210: Warmth
When they reached the edge of Zhang Huai’s field, Juhua gave him some of the wood ear fungus.
Zhang Huai smiled at her. "There’s not much. You should take it home. This afternoon, your brother and I will go get that tree. We can look for more then; we might even find some."
Juhua said, "Let’s just have a taste while it’s fresh. Once we get the tree home, more will grow on it. We have to figure out how to cultivate this fungus. We can chop the tree into a few pieces, and everyone can take a section home to experiment. Many hands make light work. Someone is bound to figure it out."
Qingmu nodded. "That’s a good idea. More people means more ideas."
He watched Juhua standing before her son—slender and gentle. Her son, tall and well-built, gazed at Juhua with a soft look in his eyes. The two of them chatted and laughed with ease.
’She’s going to be my daughter-in-law soon,’ He thought.
She could sense the natural chemistry between Juhua and Huai Zi. Compared to their previous distance, this gentle warmth, while not overly intimate, felt far more natural, proper, and reasonable. ’At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Huai Zi marries Juhua.’
Mrs. Yang clearly felt the same way. Her mood brightened considerably as she watched Zhang Huai.
She turned to He with a smile. "Huai Zi and Qingmu are going up the mountain this afternoon, so let’s go find more mushrooms. Don’t bother going back home to cook; just eat at our place. It’ll be easier to get back to work after. Have Huai Zi go home and get Yangzi."
He chuckled. "Listen to you. If you’d found some rare delicacy, I wouldn’t stand on ceremony. But we picked plenty of mushrooms ourselves. We can’t be so lazy that we don’t even cook our own food. My whole family eating at your house? We’d be the laughingstock of the village! It’s not a long walk home. I’ll come find you after we’ve eaten."
Seeing her decline, Mrs. Yang smiled and didn’t press the matter.
Juhua said to Zhang Huai, "Brother Huai Zi, when you go back to the village, send word to Liu Xiaomei and Meizi about the mushrooms. It’s up to them whether they come or not."
Zhang Huai nodded with a smile. "Liu Xiaomei will definitely come. And she’ll probably drag her third and fourth brothers along."
Zhang Dashuan, who had been working in the fields, saw the women coming down the mountain. He shouldered his hoe and bellowed, "Let’s go! Time to go home and eat mushrooms!"
His shout made everyone laugh.
Back in their courtyard, Laishou came flying over and threw himself at Juhua. "Sister, did you get mushrooms?"
Juhua took his small hand. "We got a whole bunch. We’ll cook some for Laishou in a little while."
When Mrs. Wang saw they had picked several baskets of mushrooms, her face blossomed into a wide smile. She was just about to call everyone to eat when both Mrs. Yang and Juhua said they should wash and cook some mushrooms right away for a fresh taste.
"We can stir-fry some with cured meat and green garlic shoots, and make an egg drop soup with the rest. It’ll be really quick. I’ll wash the mushrooms, Mother, you go slice the cured meat," Juhua said in a flurry.
In truth, she was absolutely starving, but she couldn’t wait to cook and eat some of the mushrooms.
Qingmu saw his sister rush into the kitchen, grab a small draining basket, and then dash back out to grab handfuls of mushrooms from the larger baskets. She looked so eager to toss them in the pot that he couldn’t help but chuckle.
He strode over to the well, removed the cover, and began to draw water. "You must be starving," he said to Juhua with a smile. "Go find something to snack on first. I’ll wash these."
Juhua grinned and squatted by the well, pouring the mushrooms into a wooden basin to wash them. She was in high spirits. "Snack on what? The meal’s almost ready, I have to save room! Brother, you guys usually don’t pick this many mushrooms, do you?"
Qingmu squatted down to help her wash. "Oh, we’ve picked a fair amount before," he replied. "But we don’t usually go up the mountain just for mushrooms like we did today. We usually just gather some while we’re doing other things. Grandma Huang loves gathering mushrooms on the mountain. She always finds a ton."
As he spoke, he pulled Laishou aside, afraid the boy might fall into the well. Seeing them bustling about, the child had grown inexplicably excited himself. He followed Juhua everywhere, and was now crowding the edge of the well to watch them wash the mushrooms.
Juhua tore the clean mushrooms into strips, squeezed out a bit of water, and said, "These are delicious even just stir-fried with garlic shoots, though of course, they’re even better with some meat."
Qingmu watched his sister swallow and chuckled. "Just hearing you talk about it is making me hungry. The garlic shoots are a bit old now, not as good as in the winter. Why don’t you braise some in soy sauce? That would probably be great with rice."
Juhua nodded and said she would cook them that way for dinner.
She carried the mushrooms into the kitchen. Mrs. Wang took the basin from her with a kind smile. "You go rest for a bit. I’ll do the stir-frying. You must be exhausted after scrambling around on the mountain all morning."
Juhua grinned. "Alright! In that case, I’ll just wait to be served." As she spoke, her eyes scanned the room and landed on a bowl of stir-fried eggs with chives sitting on the stove. She quickly grabbed a pair of chopsticks, picked up a large piece, and ate it. It tasted exceptionally delicious.
