Yu Zhile wanted to pick some water dropwort by the stream, so the two headed down the mountain from a different direction, encountering many villagers along the way. Having witnessed Yu Zhile’s fierce side, many people dodged her, choosing instead to greet the cold-faced Zhou Yuesheng.
Zhou Yuesheng nodded in response, glancing sideways to check Yu Zhile’s expression. A faint smile remained on her lips, showing she didn’t care in the least. Zhou Yuesheng gained a new level of respect for her mental fortitude.
The stream tumbled down from the mountain ravine with a gentle, gurgling sound. The lush green water dropwort burst with infinite vitality. The plants were crisp and tender, making a sharp snapping sound when plucked, and the leaves emitted a unique fragrance. In the livestream room, the audience was polarized by the scent; some found it enchanting, while others recoiled.
“Water dropwort can be served as a cold salad or stir-fried,” Yu Zhile said as she bent over to pick it. “However, I plan to take some back to pickle. Later, I’ll make sour water dropwort fish—it goes great with rice.”
On the way home, Zhou Yuesheng continued to carry the two bulging baskets while Yu Zhile only held a bundle of water dropwort. Chen Zhao was in the courtyard helping Yu Yue with his studies. Seeing them return with so much, he hurried out to help.
“Sister, why did you pick these sour fruits? They’re so tart and astringent,” Chen Zhao said. He was two years older than Yu Zhile, but he liked to follow Yu Yue’s lead in calling her “Sister.”
While organizing the items in the baskets, Yu Zhile replied, “They’re for seasoning. I’ll make something new for you all in a couple of days.”
Chen Zhao, who had already been conquered by her previous two meals, looked on with anticipation, making her burst into laughter. Zhou Yuesheng glanced at the greedy-looking Chen Zhao and kept him firmly on his list of suspicious persons.
Yu Zhile washed the loquats, raspberries, and wild strawberries, arranging them in bamboo bowls. The loquats were delicate and juicy, the raspberries were sweet and tart, and the wild strawberries were deliciously sweet. Everyone ate to their heart’s content.
After a while, Yu Zhile brought out a wooden basin. “Let’s clean the water dropwort first. We’ll pickle it after dinner.”
Pickling water dropwort required removing the leaves and carefully washing away the mud between the stems, which was a considerable amount of work. Fortunately, Chen Zhao was a chatterbox, constantly sharing interesting stories from his life in the military compound, making the time pass quickly.
Zhou Yuesheng hadn’t lived in the capital for long, but he possessed a wealth of intelligence. He quickly deduced Chen Zhao’s identity from minor details. Consequently, his suspicion of Chen Zhao skyrocketed.
Once the water dropwort was washed and left to dry on a bamboo sieve, Yu Zhile began working on lunch. Zhou Yuesheng was assigned to process the wild chickens. She planned to stew one with mushrooms and salt-cure the other to dry for the next day or the day after.
“Sister, let me wash the vegetables,” Chen Zhao volunteered, thumping his chest.
Yu Zhile handed the wild greens gathered from the back slope to him and Yu Yue. Yu Yue already knew how to process each type. She turned her attention to the Blechnum ferns. After washing, they needed to be blanched in boiling water and then soaked in cold water for at least a full day before they were edible.
Everyone worked quietly on their tasks, with only Chen Zhao occasionally chatting with Yu Yue. The small courtyard was a scene of peace and harmony.
The chicken was chopped into pieces, soaked to remove the blood, washed, and placed in a pot with cold water. Once the water boiled, she added the cleaned wild mushrooms and let it simmer on low heat. Since there were many vegetables today, aside from the toon sprouts used for the omelet, Yu Zhile prepared the rest as cold salads. She had Zhou Yuesheng knead a mixed-flour dough and made a large tray of flatbreads to wrap the cold dishes in.
The toon sprouts were blanched, chopped, squeezed dry, and mixed with eggs and salt. Once the oil was hot, she poured the mixture in, letting the bottom set before stir-frying it evenly. In just a few minutes, a fragrant platter of toon sprout omelet was ready.
By then, the entire courtyard was filled with the rich, savory aroma of the wild mushroom chicken soup. Even Chen Zhao, who was used to fine dining, couldn’t stop salivating, let alone the viewers in the livestream.
[It smells so good! I want to eat it so badly!!!]
[How can such delicious food exist in the universe? I threw my nutritional supplements away in a fit of rage!]
[Cloud Live! Launch the Small Shop feature immediately! I want to eat the host’s cooking!]
[Ahhh, being able to smell it but not eat it is too cruel.]
Yu Zhile chuckled. “Alright, that’s it for this livestream. Thank you for watching. There will be a beachcombing stream in three days. Please follow for updates.”
After enabling the synesthesia function, her room had jumped to become the highest-rated livestream on Cloud Live for the day. The viewers said their goodbyes reluctantly, but fortunately, they could watch the replays to keep relishing all the wonderful scents they had encountered.
“Sister, these flatbreads are made perfectly. Paired with the cold greens, it’s really satisfying.”
“Sister, this wild mushroom chicken soup is so fresh; it’s unbelievable. Your cooking skills are amazing.”
Chen Zhao had a lively and cheerful personality. With every dish he tasted, he poured out a basketful of compliments.
“If it’s good, eat more,” Yu Zhile said, her eyes curving like crescent moons. Zhou Yuesheng found himself dazed by her smile again.
After lunch, once the water dropwort was dry, she bundled the stems into circles and stuffed them into pickling jars. She poured in the boiled and cooled Sichuan peppercorn brine, followed by ginger, garlic cloves, rock sugar, and liquor, before sealing the jars.
One tends to get sleepy after a full meal, and the piercing afternoon sun made everyone’s eyelids feel heavy. Yu Zhile glanced at the pile of spring bamboo shoots in the corner, ran through the final plan for them in her head, and went inside yawning.
After her nap, Yu Zhile began processing the bamboo shoots. The tender ones were kept for stir-frying with chicken, while another portion was sliced and dried. The tougher parts were used for pickling. She peeled and washed the shoots several times, drained them, and cut them into quarters and then into chunks. She boiled some water with a few pieces of bamboo, let it cool, and poured it into the jars until the shoots were submerged before sealing them.
For the next few days, Yu Zhile didn’t go back to the mountain. Aside from the stir-fried chicken with bamboo shoots on the first day, the meals were simple—just steamed rice and cold wild green salads.
Zhou Yuesheng went out twice more at night, and his suspicion toward the Yu family only increased. For one thing, eating pure steamed rice so openly was very noteworthy in Haiyu Village, and the quality of the Yu family’s rice was unbelievably good.
Late one night, Zhou Yuesheng climbed over the wall, covered in mist, and met Yu Yue’s gaze as the boy sat in his wheelchair under the moonlight.
“The backyard,” Yu Yue said after staring at him for a few seconds, turning his wheelchair.
Zhou Yuesheng stared at his straight back, his heart sinking. Only after Yu Yue spoke did he realize he had truly underestimated the person before him.
“Thick calluses on the thumb and index finger, walking with toes pointing straight ahead, and tucking the thumb over the second joint of the index finger while swinging your arms,” Yu Yue said with a faint, ghost of a smile. “I don’t need to point out your identity, do I?”
Without waiting for a reaction, he continued, “I don’t care what mission you’re on, but my bottom line is Yu Zhile. If she gets hurt, I can’t guarantee you won’t fall to the ground from drug poisoning one day.”
Having said that, he flashed an innocent, boyish smile at Zhou Yuesheng and left him standing there alone. Zhou Yuesheng fell into a long silence. Faced with an adult whose combat power clearly exceeded his own, Yu Yue had managed to threaten him calmly. He really didn’t seem like a fifteen-year-old child. However, Yu Yue appeared to be completely oblivious to Yu Zhile’s secret activities. The small clues were tangled and unclear. Zhou Yuesheng rubbed his temples; he could only remain on high alert and wait for news from the people in town.
The next morning, Yu Zhile woke up early for beachcombing before the sun was fully up. Yu Haizong had learned she wanted to build a kitchen shelf and had brought over the lumber yesterday afternoon. Zhou Yuesheng stayed home today to build the shelf using the drawings Yu Zhile had given him the night before.
The sea breeze blew gently, carrying a salty scent.
“Good morning. We’re catching the early tide today,” Yu Zhile said, looking refreshed from a good night’s sleep. Her livestreams were determined by the tides, and since the time had been changed on short notice, there weren’t many people in the room yet.
[Good morning, Host.]
[The sky looks beautiful! Can we see the sunrise later? I’ve never seen one over the sea.]
[Is this the smell of the ocean? How wonderful! The wind feels like it’s carrying moisture.]
“You can see the sunrise. Let’s watch it together in a bit!” Yu Zhile interacted with the audience through the comments.
The tide had fully receded, exposing the beach and mudflats. Yu Zhile habitually headed toward the rocky area, bending down to search through the crevices. She moved a large rock, revealing a cluster of dark, blunt-spined creatures moving sluggishly.
“These are sea cucumbers.” Yu Zhile picked one up to show the camera; it was nearly as long as her palm. “Sea cucumbers promote sleep and beauty. They can be braised with scallions, steamed with eggs, or stewed in soup. Generally, they are dried for preservation.”
Suddenly, the sea cucumber in her hand began to eject an orange-brown substance.
[Uh… that looks a bit…]
[Can that really make you beautiful? It’s so ugly.]
[Ah! What is it doing? That’s a bit gross.]
“This is the sea cucumber’s self-defense mechanism. It ejects its internal organs to confuse enemies; they are regenerative.” Yu Zhile swirled it in the water to wash away the mucus. Then, she picked up the sea cucumbers one by one and slammed them against the rocks, explaining, “Sea cucumbers turn hard after they die. You can process them normally once you get home.”
[Host, are those spiky things in the water to the northeast edible?] xxxx suddenly asked.
Yu Zhile looked in the direction he mentioned. The water was reflecting the light, so she walked over and leaned in to look. Clustered near the rocks, almost blending in with their color, was a dense group of sea urchins.
“They’re edible. These are called sea urchins. You cut them open from here and eat the yellow part inside.” The bamboo tongs Yu Zhile had bought finally came in handy as she picked one up and displayed the opening. “These can be eaten raw; the texture is smooth and creamy, fresh and sweet. They can also be steamed with eggs or mixed with rice.”
As she spoke, she began picking the larger sea urchins and putting them in her basket, filling it more than halfway in a short time. Afterward, she wandered around the rocky area and found several abalones clinging tightly to the rocks, which took a lot of effort to pry off.
“These are abalones. The meat is springy. They can be made into chilled seafood or grilled.”
The gentle waves crashed against the shore, exposing shells. Yu Zhile happily gathered them along the coastline. Suddenly, light broke through the sky as the sun appeared above the horizon, dyeing the sea and sky orange. Yu Zhile stood still, watching the sun slowly rise as the sea shimmered. For a moment, the comments stopped as the viewers stared at the screen, afraid to miss a single change.
After a long time, the day was fully bright, and the sunlight grew intense. Yu Zhile snapped out of it. “Alright, back to beachcombing. Now that the sun is out, many seafood items that didn’t have time to burrow into the sand will be dried up.”
A moment later, she rescued a long-legged octopus from the beak of a seabird. The octopus had been stranded for a while and lacked energy. “It’s still alive, so it’s fine to eat.” She placed it in her basket.
Then, she spotted several lively tiger prawns. She chased them for a while and successfully captured them. Both of these were seafood items that had appeared in previous streams, so she only mentioned their names briefly. Veteran viewers took it upon themselves to educate new viewers on how to eat them, fully displaying their excitement for the upcoming cooking segment.
Yu Zhile looked up at the comments when her leg was suddenly bumped. She looked down and saw, of all things, a codfish. Cod are deep-sea fish, and it was rare to see one alive; this was a major surprise for the day. It happened to be spring, and shepherd’s purse was growing well, so Yu Zhile planned to make a shepherd’s purse and cod chowder.
“We’re very lucky today. This is a codfish, quite rare,” Yu Zhile smiled. “Alright, the tide is coming in. Today’s beachcombing stream ends here. There will be a cooking livestream at 11 o’clock. See you then.”
The cod Yu Zhile caught weighed five or six pounds. It wouldn’t fit in the basket, so she had to carry it by hand. As she walked back, she encountered a young woman. Their eyes met, and the woman’s gaze moved from Yu Zhile’s face to the cod in her hand, and then to the overflowing basket. She was wide-eyed with surprise.
Yu Zhile didn’t know her and walked past, heading toward the backyard. What she didn’t know was that the woman turned around and stared intently at her harvest, her eyes filled with greed.