Chapter 47

Chen Jue caught his breath, straightened up, and waved her off, saying to Zhou Hehua, "Wild boar meat's a bit better—mostly lean."

He didn't let Zhou Hehua eat pork because the pigs raised by the locals were all very fat, raised for a whole year, with more fat than lean meat.

And Zhou Hehua especially liked fatty meat, so it was best not to eat it.

But Huo Jilin probably couldn't catch a wild boar.

If they ran into one, they'd have to run—it wouldn't be them eating the boar, it'd be the boar eating them.

Huo Jilin and Chen Jue exchanged a glance, each reading the other's thoughts. They'd never seen eye to eye, so their thoughts were hardly pleasant.

Zhou Hehua, completely missing the tension, kept pushing Huo Jilin to hunt a wild boar.

Huo Jilin said flatly to Zhou Hehua, "I don't have time. I'll be busy from now on, no more hunting."

"Ah, so I won't have meat for New Year's either?" Zhou Hehua asked as if it were the end of the world. Her husband, seeing Huo Jilin's icy look, quickly cut in: "New Year's is still several months away. Let's celebrate Mid-Autumn first. Hey, Dalin, are you two visiting relatives for Mid-Autumn too?"

Visiting relatives meant going with Chen Jue back to his mother's place, right?

Huo Jilin looked at him. Zhou Hehua was the one who'd married a husband, so how did she visit her husband's family?

Huo Jilin, rarely curious, looked at Zhou Hehua and asked, "How do you go?"

Zhou Hehua didn't catch the curiosity in his tone at all and said matter-of-factly, "We're leaving early tomorrow morning. My husband's family is in Sunjiahe, so we just hitch up the ox cart and go."

Zhou Hehua said proudly that their family also had an ox cart. But since the village head, Zhou Shuyao, used his ox cart to haul goods for money, their family couldn't do that business.

Of course, their cart was used for hauling pigs, so the villagers weren't too keen on riding in it.

But Zhou Hehua didn't care much about the spare change anyway. Every time she rode in Zhou Shuyao's cart, he didn't dare so much as glare at her. She used to take up two people's space and he didn't dare say a word! Though now she was slimmer and barely took up one person's space!

Huo Jilin said, "Oh? We're taking the horse cart tomorrow."

Finally, he had something he could brag about.

Huo Jilin looked at his arch-nemesis of a horse, took a deep breath, and never imagined he'd sink to competing with a village woman.

Behind him, Zhou Hehua bragged about her two-year-old ox calf, while her husband praised Huo Jilin's horse. The couple dominated the conversation the whole way.

Huo Jilin finally reached his doorstep.

He unloaded the goods from the horse's back, tied the horse to a tree, and carried firewood to the kitchen to start cooking. He didn't even realize how practiced his movements were, or how domesticated he looked.

Chen Jue glanced at him, then lowered his head to cut crosses into the chestnuts. He picked up a cleaver and cut a cross into each wild chestnut—he wanted chestnuts tonight.

The hazelnut tree in their yard was loaded with nuts, but they weren't ripe yet, and none had fallen.

The hazelnut tree had grown tall, so getting the nuts down would be a pain.

Huo Jilin watched him press a chestnut into a small hollow on a wooden stump he used for cutting herbs. With a swift chop, a perfect cross appeared. Chen Jue's knife skills were flawless. He handled a cleaver as deftly as a scalpel.

His hands really were too good for cutting chestnuts.

After all, this was the leading cardiac surgeon at Zhonghai Hospital.

Huo Jilin was picking vegetables off to the side, unaware that his gaze had been fixed on Chen Jue the whole time. He said to Chen Jue, "How about noodles with meat sauce tonight?"

Actually, they shouldn't eat such high-carb food at night—it went against everything he knew from modern life. But whatever, this was ancient times, and he couldn't even eat his fill, let alone worry about anything else.

Even beef was hard to buy, even if you had money.

The meat he used tonight was the meat cubes he'd stir-fried that morning. He'd bought three pounds of meat at the market and cooked it all up at once. In this weather, even with the cold mountain water to keep it cool, it wouldn't last.

Luckily, Uncle Liu had brought over the first jar of his new batch of sauce this year, made from the freshly harvested soybeans a few days ago. It smelled great.

Oh, and Uncle Zhou had sent over Aunt Zhou's freshly rolled noodles and hen soup. See, what else could he make but meat sauce noodles?

Huo Jilin, following Chen Jue's lead, had also gotten used to eating meals from the whole village. He had to admit, everyone's cooking was delicious.

Chen Jue finally snapped out of his sweet chestnut daydream, his mind switching to meat sauce noodles—thick meat sauce, shredded cucumber, pale green scallions, vibrant cilantro, and red-and-green chili bits, all mixed together.

Just thinking about it had him drooling.

Chen Jue swallowed hard and cleared his throat: "Alright, I'll cut the vegetables."

Dinner today took a while, but it looked fantastic, and it was as good as it looked. It had both a main course and treats.

For the first time, all the stoves at Huo Lin's house were used at once today. The big pot had a thick bottom, so they stir-fried chestnuts with corn in it. The other two pots were used too—one for the meat sauce, and the stew pot for the hand-pulled noodles in the hen soup.

Shredded cucumber, scallion strips, and chili strips—Chen Jue cut them all with chef-level precision, uniform in length and thickness. The meat sauce filled the air with a rich aroma as it was stir-fried.

Aunt Zhou's hand-pulled noodles were also a work of art—one long strand that never broke.

The noodles cooked in the hen soup were fragrant and smooth, and mixed with the toppings, they were as pretty as they were tasty.

The leftover hen soup got a handful of soaked mushrooms and a handful of fresh baby bok choy added at the end. Each person got a big steaming bowl, and they ate until they were sweating.

Through the hazy steam, Chen Jue looked at Huo Jilin's face and felt he wasn't so annoying after all.

A few strands of hair falling across his forehead softened his domineering edge, and the coarse cloth sleeves rolled up to his elbows tempered his pickiness.

Chen Jue patted his comfortably full belly and thought to himself—people really are such mercenary creatures. When something is useful, it becomes pleasing to the eye.

Since the moon was full, Chen Jue sorted his herbs by moonlight. Tomorrow, on the way back to his mother's home, they'd pass through the county, so he'd first deliver these cordyceps to Wanchun Hall.

Huo Jilin was also working with grass in the yard, planning to build a shelter for his horse ancestor to block wind and rain. It was autumn now with little rain, but you never knew when it might come, so it was better to build it sooner.

But he didn't know how, so after fumbling with the dry grass on the ground and failing to shape it, he shoved it into the stable: "Eat, eat, all you know is eat!"

The horse ancestor thought he was being kind and stretched its head over to nuzzle him. Huo Jilin's snort through his nose was perfectly in sync with his horse ancestor.

Chen Jue kept his head down, sorting the cordyceps, neither joining in nor mocking, because he couldn't weave either. It looked so easy when Uncle Liu made straw mats, but it was actually so hard to do.

Just then, laughter came from outside: "Dalin, don't rush. I'll weave that for you."

It was Uncle Liu, Zhou Qingshan, and Qingzhu, bringing Nannan over for a visit.

Uncle Liu also chuckled, "Right, let Qingshan handle that. He knows how. Tomorrow, go cut some trees first. Are you building a wooden frame shed or a stone one?"

Uncle Liu looked around Huo Lin's yard. The yard was plenty big—since Huo Lin's family was the only one at the foot of the mountain, he'd enclosed two trees within it. There was more than enough room for another stable.

Huo Jilin pointed to the spot next to the woodshed: "I want to build it with stone... mud bricks, with a wheat straw roof. Add extra, make it thick, so it won't be cold when it snows in winter."

He wanted to build a sturdy stone shelter for his horse ancestor, but he worried it might be too extravagant and raise suspicion.

Actually, Uncle Liu didn't suspect him at all. He treated this horse, bought for thirty taels of silver, like an honored elder and would have been fine with Huo Jilin building it a tiled roof. After all, thirty taels of silver in their countryside could build a house for three generations.

Uncle Liu nodded along, "That's right, that's right. With such short fur, it must be afraid of the cold in winter."

He'd forgotten the old yellow ox had the same short fur and still lived in the cowshed.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qingshan was with Uncle Liu and Huo Jilin, planning out the stable.

Zhou Qingzhu was already crouched by Chen Jue, helping with the herbs, and sniffed a couple times, "Brother Chen, are you roasting chestnuts?"

Got a sharp nose on him.

Chen Jue nodded, "Yeah, go see if they're done."

The chestnuts were on low heat—after the meal was done, they didn't add more wood, just let the pot's leftover heat roast them.

That trick came from Huo Jilin's experience roasting sweet potatoes out in the wild.

Zhou Qingzhu jumped up, even more excited than Nannan was, "Ah! Great! Brother Chen, I've been wanting these, and here you go making them!"

Uncle Liu jumped at the noise and scolded him, "How old are you? Still no sense of decorum. Don't go scaring Jue Geer."

Zhou Qingzhu smiled at Chen Jue, "Brother Chen won't be scared by me!"

What kind of guy is Brother Chen? The kind who can hold a knife without batting an eye!

He dashed into the kitchen—he knew Chen Jue's kitchen as well as his own—grabbed a bamboo basket, scooped out the chestnuts, and set them in front of Chen Jue. He popped one in his mouth, sucking air, then scrubbed the pot, filled it with clean water, and left it warming on the stove for their baths and foot soaks later, dead set on not wasting a single stick of firewood.

By the time he came back out, the chestnuts had cooled off some. He washed up and sat down with Chen Jue, peeling and eating. Chen Jue peeled one for Nannan, "How is it? Done?"

Nannan puffed out her little cheeks and nodded, "Done... phew... done..."

Chen Jue also called Uncle Liu and Zhou Qingzhu over to eat.

Uncle Liu saw Zhou Qingzhu had already shoved two in his mouth and sighed, "Eat less—those are Jue Geer's snacks."

Zhou Qingzhu laughed, "I'll go pick a bag for Brother Chen tomorrow. Just didn't get around to it these past few days."

Autumn harvest—his family only planted a mu of soybeans and a mu of corn, and since his oldest brother couldn't work the fields, he and Uncle Liu had been at it for days.

Good thing the sweet potatoes weren't ripe yet, or they wouldn't have gotten a break.

But man, that feeling of harvest was great—he wished he could keep at it forever.

Zhou Qingzhu got a burst of energy just thinking about heading up the mountain tomorrow to pick chestnuts for Chen Jue, "Brother Chen, I'll go up the mountain with you tomorrow. I know where the best chestnuts are, and there's kiwi berries too—bigger than what you got today."

He pointed at the kiwi berries and hawthorns Chen Jue had picked earlier.

Those things were so sour they'd make your teeth ache. A pregnant man's cravings are something else, Zhou Qingzhu couldn't help but think.

Chen Jue nodded, "Alright."

After they'd eaten chestnuts for a bit, Zhou Qingzhu started helping Chen Jue sort the herbs. He didn't know what he was doing, but he neatly lined up the root types and could tell which ones were the same herb.

Chen Jue watched him sort from the side and nodded to himself—Zhou Qingzhu had real potential as a medical apprentice.

With that in mind, Chen Jue asked, "You done with the fields?" If so, Zhou Qingzhu could come along and gather herbs with him. Even just picking cordyceps would be enough to help them get by.

Zhou Qingzhu said, "We'll be done in a few days. It got hot late this year, so the sweet potatoes won't be ready for another ten days or so. Once those are in, roasting them like this will be amazing—even better than chestnuts! Soft and sweet!"

He and Chen Jue were totally on the same page now, always looking forward to good food.

Chen Jue coughed, pulled a cordyceps out of the cloth bag next to him, and got back to business before he started thinking about digging up sweet potatoes at night—he had three rows planted in his garden.

What Chen Jue wanted to show Zhou Qingzhu was the cordyceps. This herb was easier to spot than most, easier to dig up than ginseng, and sold for a decent price.

Zhou Qingzhu held it up to his face and squinted, "Cordy... what grass? A worm?"

Chen Jue just repeated the name without going into what it did—too much info would only confuse Zhou Qingzhu. He just needed to remember what the thing looked like.

"This one's easy to recognize. You dig 'em up, and I'll sell 'em along with mine," Chen Jue said.

Even though Zhou Qingzhu thought the worm was a little creepy, he still asked, "How much does it go for?"

Chen Jue looked at Huo Jilin—this cordyceps deal was one he'd negotiated, so the buy price was his to set. Chen Jue himself was getting a bit of a free ride off it.

Huo Jilin spoke up, "Fifteen wen a piece, twenty if it's good quality."

The price he offered was a fifth of what Shopkeeper Dong paid him—deliberately low. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zhou Qingzhu—he wanted to be the only buyer.

If the villagers found out this herb could sell for a hundred wen, they'd tear the whole mountain apart.

He was a businessman; he wouldn't let others profit from a contract he'd secured.

Though cordyceps would eventually become known to all herb gatherers as marketing expanded, they could earn while the window lasted.

A businessman makes his money off the time gap.

Chen Jue's brow furrowed slightly; he'd thought Huo Jilin would at least offer a fifty-percent discount. But he said nothing—after all, Huo Jilin was the decision-maker on cordyceps purchases.

He thought twenty wen was low, but Zhou Qingzhu let out a shriek, "What! Twenty wen a piece! Twenty wen for one!"

Uncle Liu was also stunned by the price. A grass as long as a finger was worth twenty wen? What was a bag of corn then? A bag of corn was only twenty wen too!

He snapped back to reality at Qingzhu's scream and nudged him, "Keep it down!"

For the Dalin couple to share such a profitable herb with them was a great kindness, and they had to keep it secret.

Zhou Qingzhu wasn't foolish either. After the shock, he tucked the tiny cordyceps into his palm, "I understand. I won't tell anyone."

He didn't recognize this herb, and probably no one else would either. That made it exclusive, and he knew what exclusivity meant.

"Jue Geer, you can't give him that much. Just give him half the price," Uncle Liu said.

Even half was high—a strong laborer hauling loads at the dock earned only twenty wen a day. Zhou Qingshan had worked through winter at the docks and brought home just two strings of cash by year's end.

Chen Jue told him, "Uncle Liu, cordyceps are hard to find. On a lucky day, you might dig up twenty or thirty, but on a bad day, you could scour the whole mountain and find only one or two."

"That's still plenty!" Uncle Liu dared not hope for more. He'd lived most of his life being diligent and steady.

Huo Jilin added, "Tell others if they ask about this herb, it's ten wen a piece, and I'll buy them here."

Uncle Liu agreed and hurried home to study it.

"I'll take you up the mountain tomorrow to show you its growing environment."

After Uncle Liu and the others left, Huo Jilin looked at Chen Jue, "Do you think I'm paying too little?"