Chapter 2: Foraging for Wild Vegetables on the Mountain
Hai Bo worried that the mountain path would be difficult to walk and that wild animals might harm Zhao An. He tried every way he could to persuade Zhao An not to go up the mountain.
But under Zhao An’s insistence, Hai Bo, as a servant, could only relent in the end. Qin Tong, with the disposition of a child, had initially joined Hai Bo in trying to dissuade Zhao An after hearing about the dangers on the mountain. But when he heard they could pick delicious wild vegetables, his face lit up with excitement. Ultimately, they could only do as Zhao An said.
Since he couldn’t stop Zhao An from going up the mountain, Hai Bo could only do his best to help. Before they set out, Hai Bo had Qin Tong cook a large pot of rice. Then, he took out three large bowls, filling one for each of them. They ate it with the last of their pickled radish.
Qin Tong hadn’t eaten a full meal in a long time. The moment he saw Zhao An start to eat, he immediately lifted his bowl and began to chew in big mouthfuls. As a former servant in the Prime Minister’s residence, he had never truly suffered much hardship. Although Hai Bo was also eating heartily, he had already steeled himself for what was to come. After this meal, they would have no grain left. Fortunately, he had found a torn fishing net in the old house’s storage room. He remembered using that very net to catch fish in the mountain stream when he was young. Now, with his old arms and legs, he wasn’t sure if he could still succeed.
Zhao An saw both Hai Bo’s sorrow and little Qin Tong’s hope. He felt that the wood-elemental ability within him had recovered to the first-rank level. He could, at the very least, force-ripen three plants in a single day. With this ability as a safety net, he was certain the harvest from this trip up the mountain would not be disappointing.
The Zhao family’s ancestral home was situated at the foot of a small hill, upon which grew a bamboo forest. It was currently the season for spring bamboo shoots to sprout. Every time Qin Tong passed by, he couldn’t help but salivate. Unfortunately, this bamboo forest belonged to Zhao Tongming. He had stationed a long-term laborer named Ah Wu in the forest, responsible for gathering bamboo leaves for firewood and digging bamboo shoots to make dried preserves, while also keeping an eye on Zhao An’s family.
As Zhao An led Hai Bo and Qin Tong up the mountain past the edge of the bamboo forest, Zhao Tongming’s laborer, Ah Wu, put down his hoe and stared at the three of them warily. His gaze was particularly fixed on the worn-out basket on Qin Tong’s back, as if he feared they had come to snatch the bamboo shoots he had already dug.
Being stared at like a thief by a sallow, emaciated laborer in ragged clothes, Zhao An couldn’t just resort to violence as he had with Zhao Tongming. He could only clasp his hands behind his back and walk straight ahead without a sideways glance, looking for all the world like a young master out for a spring outing.
Zhao An knew he looked a bit foolish acting this way, but even being seen as pretentiously aloof was better than being seen as a thief.
Past the bamboo forest was a slope of scattered rocks. This area didn’t belong to anyone; anyone from Zhaojia Village who needed to build a house could come here for stones. Speaking of which, although Zhaojia Village was named after the Zhao surname, there were only a dozen or so Zhao households in the village. The other hundred or so households were all surnamed Liu. However, the Zhao family owned nearly half the land in the village. The reason for this, of course, was that Zhao An’s father had passed the highest imperial examinations and had even become the Prime Minister.
This time, if the emperor hadn’t sent elite soldiers to escort him back, Zhao An could have lived quite well in the countryside just by relying on his father’s and sister’s reputations. Fortunately, the current Zhao An was not the original one. He held no expectations for or resentment toward his sister. As he climbed, blisters formed on the soles of his feet and sweat soaked his entire back, yet he persisted for a full shichen before finally arriving at the small stream Hai Bo had mentioned.
[Translator’s Notes:Shichen : An ancient Chinese unit of time, equivalent to two modern hours.]
Along the way, he saw fresh fiddlehead ferns and shepherd’s purse and picked some of the tender new leaves. Spring was indeed the season for wild vegetables; they all grew lush and succulent. Unfortunately, he didn’t see any medicinal herbs that could be exchanged for money, only some worthless dandelions, plantains, and moneywort. He didn’t pass them up, though. While not worth much, it was still some income.
When he finally reached the stream and could rest, Zhao An had just sat down on a rock and let out a breath when he heard his stomach grumbling loudly. As expected, eating only rice with no protein or fats made one hungry easily.
Hai Bo heard Zhao An’s stomach grumbling and took out a rice ball made from leftover scorched rice from his robes. “Young Master, if you’re hungry, have a rice ball.”
Zhao An stared at the rice ball for a moment and distinctly heard the sound of someone swallowing saliva. He hesitated for half a second before turning his head. Sure enough, Qin Tong was smacking his lips. The hand he had been about to extend stilled. There were only three small rice balls in total. If he ate one now, he might not have the strength to walk back. Was he supposed to take the rations of an old man and a child?
In truth, Zhao An had experienced hunger before. At the beginning of the spiritual energy revival, society was in extreme turmoil. He had been only as old as little Qin Tong then, and right in the middle of a growth spurt. Every day, he could only survive on the nutrient supplements distributed by the New City Base, and he often experienced the feeling of being hungry again right after eating.
Zhao An refused the rice ball from Hai Bo. Leaning on a wooden stick he had picked up on the path, he closed his eyes to rest, simultaneously pondering how to catch fish.
According to his childhood experience, when one first started to feel hungry, both the body and mind were at their most stimulated, which was very helpful for motivating the search for food. He rested for less than ten minutes before standing up again. He told Qin Tong to go dig for earthworms, while he himself took the fishing net from the basket and walked toward the stream.
When Hai Bo saw him pick up the fishing net, he quickly followed and tried to grab it. “Young Master, don’t go near the water, it’s too dangerous! Didn’t you come to pick wild vegetables? Look, there’s a lot of fish mint by the water. If you pick some, it’ll be enough for us to eat today.”
Fish mint was delicious in hot pot or as a cold salad, but without seasonings, it was almost like eating medicine. The same was true for the fiddlehead ferns and shepherd’s purse they had picked on the way, so Zhao An didn’t have high hopes for them.
He was going to catch fish now because he had a good idea. He could pull up a few water plants by the stream and use his ability to force-ripen them. He remembered that herbivores seemed to be very interested in the plants he force-grew with his ability. Perhaps he could use this method to catch some herbivorous fish. If that didn’t work, there were still the earthworms Qin Tong was digging.
So he said to Hai Bo, who was holding onto the net, “Don’t pull. We spent a long time mending this net last night. I won’t go in the water, I’ll just try casting it from the bank.”
Hai Bo remembered that they had used one of the Young Master’s discarded undergarments to mend the net. Sure enough, he didn’t dare to pull hard anymore, only reminding him earnestly, “You absolutely must not go in the water. It’s just the beginning of spring; you’ll easily catch a cold if you get chilled.”
So you know that too, huh? Zhao An complained inwardly about Hai Bo’s do-or-die expression. Not daring to put down the net in his hands, he walked quickly to the edge of the stream and cast it out without even looking.
Because the key to his fishing method wasn’t the location of the cast, his actions seemed rather casual. Hai Bo walked over anxiously, wanting to teach him how to cast the net, but Zhao An pointed to the lushly growing fish mint on the other side and said, “Go pick some fish mint.”
Accustomed to following orders, Hai Bo went. Only then did Zhao An carefully select a tender green water plant by the water’s edge. With his back to Hai Bo, he used his wood-elemental ability to force-ripen the plant, making it grow from a finger-length blade of grass into a long vine. Then he casually tore the long vine into pieces and threw them into the area where he had cast the net.
Most of the leaves floated on the surface, while a small portion slowly sank to the bottom. Delicious juices flowed from the torn parts of the vine, attracting herbivorous and omnivorous fish from a radius of several hundred meters.
Originally, Hai Bo had been skeptical of Zhao An’s attempt to fish, thinking he was just wasting time. As he was worrying about tomorrow’s breakfast, he suddenly saw a school of fish splashing as they swam toward the net, just like the koi in the Prime Minister’s back garden that would jump up to fight for food when someone fed them.
Of course, it wasn’t quite that exaggerated. After all, in a wild environment, the density of fish wasn’t high. Even though they were attracted by the delicious food, only a dozen or so fish actually swam over to the net. Zhao An didn’t have the patience to wait any longer. He gripped the rope of the net and gave it a sudden pull. In the process, some fish swimming at the back or particularly wary ones escaped the net like lightning. In the end, the catch pulled ashore was only six fish of varying sizes.
Hai Bo had long forgotten about picking fish mint. His mouth hung open in astonishment, speechless for a long time. It wasn’t until the fish pulled ashore started flopping on the ground with loud thuds that he closed his mouth. He clasped his hands together and bowed in all directions. “Thank the heavens for their blessing! Thank the heavens for their blessing!”
Zhao An smiled lightly, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes curving into a lovely arc. This was why he didn’t plan to carefully hide his ability. In ancient times, being superstitious was perfectly normal; talking about science was what would seem suspicious.
If someone asked, it was the heavens’ blessing. If no one asked, it was still the heavens’ blessing.
After catching the fish, Hai Bo no longer cared about any fish mint. He quickly called over Qin Tong, who was digging for earthworms at the edge of the woods, to come and prepare the fish. Grabbing a fish with one hand and raising a rock with the other, he smashed it on the fish’s head. After stunning it, he took it to the water’s edge, scaled it with the only kitchen knife they owned, rinsed it clean, and then tossed it into the basket.
Hai Bo didn’t let Zhao An get involved in the work of preparing the fish. He even gave him a rice ball and told him to sit to the side and eat. This time, Zhao An didn’t refuse. While chewing on the hard, tooth-jarring scorched-rice ball, he imagined how he would cook the six fish. The two carp could be braised in soy sauce, the one mandarin fish could be steamed, and the other three were small white fish, which would be very crispy when deep-fried.
Just thinking about it made his mouth water, but that was all he could do. It seemed the only seasoning left in their kitchen was a tiny bit of salt. At most, they could make some fish soup. Steaming was out of the question; they had no soy sauce.
After all six fish were prepared, Hai Bo and Qin Tong washed their hands, took out their rice balls, and sat on a rock to eat. Little Qin Tong hurriedly took two bites and swallowed them, then suddenly remembered he had two wild fruits tucked in his clothes. He quickly pulled them out, took a big bite, and the sourness made him squint his eyes. Just as he was about to eat the other one, he heard Zhao An’s voice. “Wait. Where did you find that wild fruit?”
Qin Tong was stunned for a moment. He opened his palm and offered the fruit to Zhao An. “This fruit is terribly sour. Does the Young Master want to eat it?”
It wasn’t that Qin Tong was being stingy and didn’t think to give the wild fruit to the Young Master and Hai Bo. It was simply because this kind of wild fruit was too sour. Hai Bo, who was starting to lose his teeth, definitely wouldn’t want to eat something like this. As for the Young Master, when there were other food options, he wouldn’t even dream of giving this kind of thing to him.
But Zhao An took the fruit from Qin Tong’s hand. Although it was only the size of a fingernail and was all white except for a pink top, with the black dots all over it, this was definitely a strawberry.
“Where exactly did you find this? Take me there, quickly,” Zhao An emphasized again, his expression a little wild.
Hai Bo had seen Zhao An collecting medicinal herbs like dandelions and plantains all along the way and assumed this wild berry must also be some kind of medicinal ingredient he didn’t know. So he said sternly to Qin Tong, “Tell the Young Master, quickly.”
Qin Tong was a bit flustered. He pointed to where he had been digging for earthworms and said, “It’s just over there.”
