After crossing several ridges, Li Yao arrived at the edge of the dense forest.
The villagers rarely ventured this far, so wild vegetables were still abundant, though medicinal herbs were nowhere to be seen. Li Yao instructed the children to forage for greens nearby while she headed into the woods alone.
After an hour of trekking, she hadn’t found many herbs, but she had made an unexpected discovery: an abundance of spices.
Star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel, cinnamon, bay leaves, and wild ginger were common enough that one could buy them at the market. But the forest also held cloves, galangal, amomum, and cumin—ingredients the people of this world had yet to discover uses for. She gathered a healthy supply; they would be invaluable for cooking and braising later on.
Just as she prepared to venture deeper, her path was blocked by a north-south mountain valley.
It was flanked by steep cliffs plunging over a hundred meters down, disappearing into a sea of dense trees and tangled brush. There wasn’t a single trace of human activity on the cliffs. This valley was the natural barrier that kept the villagers—even the most experienced hunters—from going further. But to Li Yao, who possessed both skill and nerves of steel, this “impassable chasm” was child’s play.
After carefully observing the terrain, she plotted her route and began her descent, using the trees and brush clinging to the cliff face as handholds. The terrain was indeed treacherous. Even she, lacking safety gear, dared not move too quickly. It took a full half-hour before her feet finally touched the valley floor.
The valley felt like a new world, a treasure trove of resources. Medicinal herbs—Aconitum, Angelica dahurica, Paeonia lactiflora, Notopterygium, Fritillaria, Salvia miltiorrhiza, and Ophiopogon—grew almost everywhere. Many were quite mature. Before long, she had half a basket full.
While digging up a Notopterygium root, Li Yao suddenly heard a distinct, rhythmic cluck-cluck. Her heart leaped. Pheasants!
She set down her basket, took up her bow, and approached silently. Soon, she spotted a small, grayish-brown pheasant pecking at the ground near the edge of the grass. Every few pecks, it would lift its head, scanning the surroundings with alert, nervous eyes.
Li Yao crept to within three meters—the distance she required for a perfect shot—and drew her bow.
Whoosh!
The bamboo arrow pierced the pheasant’s thigh. The bird shrieked and tried to flutter away in a panic, but Li Yao lunged forward, grabbed it, and snapped its neck.
One pheasant down, just like that.
One success inevitably led to another. Before long, she had managed to bag two more in the vicinity.
The three pheasants were quite small, likely weighing a little over a jin, and they appeared quite tender. This kind of young bird was perfect for fried chicken or roasted chicken. It was a bit light, but heaven was on her side—or perhaps the valley’s resources were simply that rich—because she soon stumbled upon a plump wild rabbit and successfully took it down as well.
Three small pheasants and one large rabbit: today’s dinner was finally secured. Tomorrow, she could take the herbs to town and sell them for some quick cash to solve their immediate crisis.
She scaled the cliff, found her bearings, and made a quick return trip. She wasn’t far from the edge of the woods when she suddenly heard footsteps. She gripped her wood-cutting knife tightly.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me.”
Hunter Liu emerged from behind a tree, bow slung over his back. This made Li Yao even more alert. In these woods, a young, beautiful widow encountering a strong, capable man was far more dangerous than meeting a beast.
Fortunately, Hunter Liu was an upright man. Seeing she was alone, he kept his distance.
“I wondered who it was. It’s you, Li Yao,” Hunter Liu said, recognizing her from her maiden village. “What are you doing running into the forest all by yourself?”
“I’m here to hunt.”
“You? Hunting?”
Hunter Liu laughed. A woman entering the mountains to hunt? Was this some kind of joke?
“Well?” he asked with a mocking smirk. “Did you catch anything?”
“Not much,” she replied calmly. “Just three pheasants and a rabbit.”
Hunter Liu froze.
He stared at the game in her hands, all clearly killed with arrows, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. She actually caught that much! He had set dozens of traps in these woods and checked them daily, yet he had come up empty-handed for ten straight days.
It was just sheer luck that she’d caught three pheasants today, so she didn’t have to return empty-handed. Compared to Hunter Liu’s dry spell, this was enough to make a man green with envy.
“Brother Liu,” Li Yao said, satisfied that he meant no harm, “would you like to trade your pheasants?”
“Trade? How?”
“I’ll trade you this rabbit for your three pheasants.”
The rabbit Li Yao had caught was plump, weighing no less than three pheasants, and its fur could be sold for a decent price. It was a bargain, and Hunter Liu agreed immediately. As for why she wanted to trade, it was simple: without cooking wine, it was nearly impossible to remove the earthy, gamey smell of a wild rabbit. Trading them meant she would end up with six pheasants—exactly one for everyone at home.
After the trade, Hunter Liu offered a kind warning: “Wild boar herds are starting to move toward the forest edge this season. You’d best not come into the mountains alone anymore.”
Wild boar?
Li Yao’s heart skipped a beat, but not out of fear. Her mind was instantly flooded with images of crispy, golden-roasted pork belly wrapped in fresh, crunchy lettuce… It seemed she would have to frequent these mountains quite often.
“Understood. Thank you, Brother Liu.”
By the time she returned the way she came and reunited with Dazhuang and the others, the sun was already dipping behind the hills. Seeing she had managed to bag six pheasants, the children’s faces flushed with excitement. Yet, they were also anxious. They wondered if their mother would, as she always had in the past, give the entire haul away to her mother’s family.
As it turned out, their worries were groundless.
Once home, Li Yao immediately began delegating tasks: Dazhuang and Wang Er cleaned the pheasants, Sisan and Xiaosi tended the fire and stoked the coals, while He Xiaoya sorted herbs and cleaned wild scallions and ginger. Li Yao herself roasted the spices over a low flame, preparing a simplified version of “Thirteen-Spice” powder.
“Mother,” He Xiaoya asked, gesturing to some of the spices she didn’t recognize, “what are these?”
“Things I picked in the woods. They smelled good, so I thought I’d try them out. Where’s the stone mortar?”
“Under the shelf. I’ll get it.”
She placed the roasted spices into the mortar and pounded them into a fine powder, releasing a rich, intoxicating aroma. He Xiaoya sniffed repeatedly; it was far more complex than any spice blend she had ever seen. The fragrance was soothing and mouth-watering.
The family worked busily, yet in an orderly, lively fashion. If you ignored the dilapidated thatched cottage, they hardly looked like the poorest family in Riverbend Village.
Once the chickens were cleaned, she marinated them with salt, wild scallions, ginger, and the Thirteen-Spice blend for half an hour. By then, the charcoal was glowing bright red. Li Yao skewered the marinated chickens with bamboo strips and began roasting them slowly over the fire.
“Mother,” little Wang Xiaosi couldn’t help but ask, “are we really roasting all of them?”
“Yes, all of them,” Li Yao replied. “One for each of us.”
Wang Xiaosi nearly jumped for joy. A whole roasted chicken per person? What kind of wealthy, indulgent life was this! Most importantly, Mother wasn’t going to send them away to her mother’s house! Everyone’s heart finally settled, as if a heavy stone had been lifted.
Li Yao brushed a thin layer of oil over the chickens. The skin soon turned a shimmering, golden brown, bubbling and sizzling in a way that looked absolutely divine.
Sssss—
Juices dripped onto the charcoal, creating a melodic hiss. As the chickens finished, she grilled the skewered gizzards over the lower heat, finishing them with a final brush of oil and a dusting of Thirteen-Spice. The intense aroma exploded, filling the entire yard with a heady, delicious scent.
The children stared at the golden-brown roasted chickens, the sound of them swallowing saliva echoing in the yard.
“Go wash your hands. It’s time to eat.”
The family sat around the table, a roasted chicken in front of each person. The skin was golden and crispy, the meat tender and juicy, and the infusion of spices made everyone eager to dive in. Even the plate of grilled gizzards was perfectly charred and tender.
Just as they were about to begin, a jarring voice cut through the air: “What are you eating? It smells so good!”
Li Yao looked up to see her younger brother, Li Fu, standing there—uninvited. Seeing the roasted chickens on the table, Li Fu’s eyes lit up with greed, and he sat down without a moment’s hesitation.
“Big sister, there’s so much chicken, and you didn’t even send any to us? Good thing I arrived in time.”
Without waiting for an invite, he reached out, intent on grabbing the roasted chicken in front of Wang Xiaosi. The children looked on, paralyzed; none of them dared to make a sound. This uncle usually had nothing but harsh looks for them, yet he treated their home with more familiarity than his own, always taking whatever good things he could find—and Mother would always defend his actions.
They expected Mother to offer the chicken to him with both hands, perhaps even telling him to take a few more home.
But to everyone’s shock, before Li Fu’s hand could even graze the bowl, Li Yao’s chopsticks lashed out like lightning.