Wash the mushrooms and slice them into even pieces. Prepare plenty of sliced garlic and chili peppers. Heat animal oil in a wok, add the garlic slices and stir-fry. Then add the mushrooms and stir-fry for about 8 minutes. Add the chili peppers and stir-fry, then add soy sauce, salt, and MSG. Stir-fry evenly and remove from heat. The entire process should take at least 10 minutes. Make sure they are thoroughly cooked!
I’ll say it three times because it’s important: it seems the key to avoiding mushroom poisoning is to cook them thoroughly!
It would be a shame not to take such a good thing with me.
Song Zhaodi carefully picked the mushrooms, held them in her hands and examined them closely, imagining their delicious taste, and couldn’t help but swallow.
Seeing how greedy she looked, Song Pandi grabbed her hand and shouted as if she were saving her life, “Big sister, wake up! These are poisonous lumps. Eating them will cause poisoning. At best, you’ll go crazy; at worst, you’ll die!”
In previous years, Shuangping Village had good harvests, so people disdained to eat wild vegetables. Occasionally, someone would try something new, only to end up learning a bloody lesson.
Ever since the Song family started eating wild vegetables, their elders have often warned them never to touch anything they haven’t tried before.
Even five-year-old Song Pandi was very familiar with those bloody stories.
Song Zhaodi nodded and said, “It is poisonous, but it is edible.”
After saying that, he continued walking forward, picking as he went, and even asked Song Pandi for help.
Song Pandi was sweating profusely with anxiety. When she left home, her older sister led her up the mountain, thinking they were going to dig for wild vegetables. However, her older sister was misled by the poisonous lumps halfway there.
I’ve heard my grandfather say before that some people went up the mountain and were lured by the colorful poisonous bumps. They picked them, took them home, and after eating them, some went crazy and others died.
The way Song Zhaodi’s eyes are shining right now is exactly what it looks like when she’s possessed.
This mountain is unclean!
Oh, right! Dad said urine can ward off evil spirits!
But it’s not appropriate for a girl like her to relieve herself in public.
Song Pandi was caught in a dilemma when she saw Song Zhaodi walking further and further away with an excited smile…
Never mind! Reputation is nothing compared to my sister’s life.
Song Zhaodi had picked a few Boletus luridus and a dozen or so Termitomyces albuminosus along the way. Just as she straightened up, she saw Song Pandi walking over with a water ladle.
“Pandi, I’m not thirsty right now, you can drink it yourself,” she said.
Song Pandi stopped a few steps away from her, holding a ladle of yellow liquid, and said with a frown, “Big sister, please don’t blame me, I’m saving you!”
“Turn your face around, and I’ll exorcise the evil spirit for you!”
After saying that, he turned the ladle upside down, and the liquid, carrying an indescribable smell, rushed towards Song Zhaodi’s face.
At the critical moment, Song Zhaodi slipped and dodged.
With a “splash,” the liquid that was supposed to be splashed on Song Zhaodi’s face ended up spilling onto the ground.
Song Pandi’s face scrunched up like a bun as she said with annoyance, “Oh dear! What a pity.”
Looking at Song Zhaodi again, she said, “Big sister, please hold on a little longer, wait for me a little longer, I don’t need to pee anymore…”
Urine?
Exorcising evil spirits?
Song Zhaodi’s mind went blank for a moment. She stared in disbelief at the puddle on the ground and asked, her lips trembling, “You peed on me?”
The last syllable is always trilled.
No wonder it smelled like that…
Seeing her pale face, Song Pandi scratched her head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, “Elder sister, Father said that a child’s urine can ward off evil spirits, you…”
“I’m not possessed!” Song Zhaodi shouted. “I’m perfectly fine.”
Song Pandi was too young to think that far ahead. She only remembered what the adults had told her and said, “Grandpa said that poisonous lumps are poisonous, can’t be eaten, and can bewitch people. Big sister, wake up!”
It turned out that they thought she had been poisoned by a poisonous mushroom.
Song Pandi was both amused and exasperated, but she also knew the villagers’ fear of these wild mushrooms on the mountain.
Shuangping Village is located in the mountains of the south. There are many mountains and wild mushrooms, but more than one or two people have died or been injured from eating wild mushrooms.
Therefore, even though there are countless mushrooms on the mountain, people don’t know how to distinguish which ones are edible and which ones are not, and they don’t know how to cook them. For the sake of their lives, they simply stop touching wild mushrooms.
Wild mushrooms have become known as poisonous bumps and evil things that should not be touched, and have been spread with increasingly bizarre rumors.
People would avoid it when they encountered it.
“Pandi, come here.”
Song Zhaodi decided to have a serious talk with her younger sister. After all, she was planning to make a fortune from wild mushrooms, and she needed to prepare her family members in advance.
She pointed to a few mushrooms on the ground that hadn’t been picked yet and said, “Look, this is called ‘Jianshouqing’. It is somewhat poisonous, but as long as it is properly prepared, it is edible and will not cause poisoning.”
“There’s also this kind, called Termitomyces albuminosus, which is not poisonous.”
“Those red umbrellas with white stems are highly poisonous. Don’t touch them, and definitely don’t eat them. If you see them, just stomp on them.”
Following the direction she was pointing, Song Pandi looked carefully, then asked with some doubt, “Big sister, are these really edible?”
Song Zhaodi nodded emphatically, very certain, “These are all things that are said in books. Can the knowledge in books lie?”
People who can read books are all intelligent, and what they say in books is certainly true.
Song Pandi finally believed her and said, “Then I’ll help my older sister pick them up too.”
Song Zhaodi nodded, but still very carefully taught Pandi to distinguish.
She stopped by a tree trunk and touched the black thing on it.
“Big sister, this is a black bat, you really can’t eat it.” Song Pandi said firmly, “Some people have eaten it before and their whole body itched and their skin even rotted.”
Song Zhaodi nodded, looked at the words on the subtitles, and said, “This is called black fungus. You can’t eat it fresh. You have to dry it, soak it, and then cook it before you can eat it.”
Upon hearing this, Song Pandi stared wide-eyed and said, “So it has to be dried in the sun. No wonder they were poisoned after eating it.”
After saying that, he looked up at Song Zhaodi, his eyes shining, and said with great admiration, “Big sister, you know so much.”
After the two sisters picked all the black fungus from the tree trunk, they realized it was getting late and headed down the mountain to go home.
Upon returning home, they discovered that neither Song Yaozu nor Sun Xiuhe were home.
“Yaozu lost his temper and went to his older brother’s house, and his mother went to coax him.”
Song Yaodong returned from the fields early because of leg discomfort. When he got back, he saw Sun Xiuhe carrying pork and a rooster on her way to Li Youcai’s house.
Well, I knew they wouldn’t be able to eat that chicken.
Song Zhaodi laid out the black fungus on the low wall to dry, and just as she was about to cook, Song Dachuan and Zhao Lanzhi returned.
Upon hearing that Sun Xiuhe had brought pork, a rooster, and freshly bought brown rice to Li Youcai’s house, Song Dachuan’s face immediately darkened.
Song Dachuan didn’t like this adopted son very much, not only because he didn’t help the family at all, but also because he spent a lot of his money.
Moreover, Li Youcai himself was lazy, and his wife was also lazy and good-for-nothing. Sun Xiuhe often helped them out, both openly and secretly.
Song Dachuan had long been dissatisfied with this. After hearing Song Zhaodi’s embellished account, he said with a dark face and his hands behind his back, “Zhaodi, cook the half fish that wasn’t finished last night and eat it.”
That day, Song Yaozu and Sun Xiuhe did not return until evening. Song Dachuan was furious and went to bed early.
Song Zhaodi was thinking that she would be away from home for half a day the next day to sell water celery, so she told Song Dachuan in advance that she was going to town to buy medicine for Song Yaodong.
Song Dachuan nodded and said in a low voice, “Your uncle works in a carpenter’s shop in town. Go and borrow more money.”
Song Zhaodi didn’t argue with him and left in silence.
Before dawn, Song Zhaodi and her daughter had already cut two large bundles of water celery.
Since no one in the market had ever sold or eaten this product, Song Zhaodi was worried that too much would be difficult to sell, so she took two bundles to test the waters first.
As the mother and daughter were about to set off in the dim light, an oxcart approached and stopped in front of them.
Song Zhaodi looked up and saw the man on the oxcart. His eyes were piercing, and his resolute face conveyed a calm yet decisive air. The scar on his eyebrow gave him an aura of unapproachability and fierceness.
This person seems familiar.
The moment Song Zhaodi had this thought, her mother stepped forward, bowing repeatedly and thanking her.
“Thank you so much for saving my Zhaodi yesterday. If it weren’t for you, Zhaodi would be gone. Thank you.”
Oh, I remember now.
This person is Chen Che.