Chapter 237: Taste of Royal Dishes
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
The small boy took Yuan Zhou to the house of the aged man next to the rented place. Only then did Yuan Zhou find the aged man had an adult son and daughter-in-law in his family. The boy was his grandson.
Yuan Zhou swore that he wasn’t angry at all with the boy not calling him elder brother. How was it possible that he would enter a dispute with a little boy? Yes, he was definitely a generous person.
"Uncle, sit here." The abrupt words of the little boy pulled Yuan Zhou back from his thoughts.
"Humm." Yuan Zhou turned his head and signaled the boy that he should call him elder brother.
By then, however, the boy had already walked to his parents to take the credit.
"Let’s have dinner. These are all simple dishes. Just help yourself to them. I know that you bring only a small bag and surely don’t bring anything to eat," said the aged man wisely.
"Yeah, ok, thank you so much." After the small talk, Yuan Zhou got seated.
On the table were indeed simple dishes including a plate of Garlic Fried Egg, Sauteed Chinese Greens, Shredded Potatoes and a pot of vegetable soup with a pleasant verdant green color. There weren’t any meat dishes.
The taste was pretty good.
"Is the taste good? All the city dwellers said the dishes over here tasted good. We never spray any agriculture chemicals on the vegetables," the aged man said smilingly.
"Yes, the taste is really fantastic." Yuan Zhou nodded his head.
After the meal, Yuan Zhou conveniently paid them the money for the total of four days. Yuan Zhou felt the duration was sufficient to reach his target.
Certainly, he didn’t forget what he had aimed for this time.
"The cliff you have mentioned hasn’t produced honey for many years." His son and daughter-in-law had taken the little boy home to sleep after the meal.
People here lived a life of working after sunrise and sleep after sunset.
"I want to climb down the cliff in person and have a look. Do you know if anybody can lead the way?" said Yuan Zhou sincerely.
"You want to climb down alone?" The aged man was a little surprised at first and soon he felt relieved.
In his opinion, Yuan Zhou wasn’t different from those who came for fun and thought it interesting to tie himself to a rope and climb down the cliff. They didn’t know how dangerous it was during the process. The slightest carelessness would probably make them fall down the cliff and lose their lives.
"Young man, I suggest you not do that. You are not experienced and would put yourself in danger." The aged man told him the risk of climbing down the cliff and, in the end, suggested.
"I know. But I still want to climb down and have a look." Yuan Zhou felt it better to collect the delicious food stuff by himself, of course.
"You went to the needle peak today. Your feet must be in pain, right? Yet, if you intend to climb down the cliff, it would be more tiring than climbing the peak." The aged man knew about these people very well. They would never walk in the intermountain areas where pointed stones were scattered when they just came here.
"Yeah, there are some bloody blisters." Although Yuan Zhou hurt a lot, it was nevertheless bearable.
"Are you sure you still want to go there?" asked the aged man again.
"Humm, I will climb down by myself," after a nod, Yuan Zhou said firmly.
"Alright. Let me find someone to lead you there. You just pay him some money tomorrow." The aged man had only to agree when he realized Yuan Zhou’s strong determination.
"By the way, is it more likely to find the golden mushrooms at the mountain pass of the needle peak?" Asked Yuan Zhou when he stood up and recalled the rumors that he had heard today.
"It’s true. People that are lucky enough mostly got the mushrooms there. However, the mushrooms can also be found in the neighboring areas, yet it will be more difficult." The aged man explained to Yuan Zhou carefully.
"Is it more likely to find the mushrooms in deeper areas?" Yuan Zhou inquired the aged man again.
"Absolutely. Though the path is very hard to pass," the aged man said affirmatively.
However, the aged man was a little surprised. It seemed that Yuan Zhou prepared to go to the needle peak again tomorrow. As far as he knew, the place was the only site where the golden mushrooms grew most. But because the path around was much too difficult to pass, guests from outside looked for the mushrooms in the peripheral area at best and changed to another place when they failed. They would never go there for the second time. After all, even the local people didn’t like to go there due to its discomfort.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou behaved in a way that he wouldn’t give up at all before finding the mushrooms. Looking at Yuan Zhou’s back, the aged man shook his head.
Yuan Zhou then said goodbye and went back to his room to wash up and sleep. After a night of sound sleep, he got up at 5:00 in the early morning as usual. Now that he was travelling outside now, he only exercised for a little while. After that, he left the house for the golden mushrooms. The difference between a foodie and a good big eater lay not only in their appearance, but also in the persistence in the delicate dishes.
Not to mention Yuan Zhou was both a foodie and a chef.
God helped those who helped themselves. Having obtained another 4 or 5 bloody blisters on his feet, Yuan Zhou finally found a trace of the golden mushrooms.
They grew between two rocks. With the light yellow canopy and white stalk, they were quite inconspicuous. Yuan Zhou finally found them only after he confirmed it again and again. The most peculiar thing was that its canopy grew upward with the shape of a small liqueur glass. The creases were distinct from each other and there was even some crystal dew in the canopy.
"Hu", Yuan Zhou let out a sigh of relief and slightly paused.
Finally, he made it. Yuan Zhou took out a wooden knife and cut the mature golden mushrooms before putting it in a cloth bag prepared beforehand. That way, the mushroom could be thoroughly prevented from any damage and would also have good ventilation conditions.
Since the first plant was found, the second was naturally not a problem for him. After he collected half a bag of the mature golden mushrooms enough for one meal, Yuan Zhou stopped looking for more. It was naturally better to eat the mushrooms fresh.
Therefore, he quickened his pace on the way back to the village.
The first thing when Yuan Zhou arrived at the village was to go to an old woman called Aunt Lin to boil them up into a soup, regardless of the time being still early for lunch. Of course, Yuan Zhou inquired a lot before he eventually found this woman, who was said to be the second best candidate following the royal chef.
Yuan Zhou had naturally thought of asking the former royal chef to cook, but he was visiting his friends out of the village currently. The aged man didn’t know when he would come back, either. Therefore, Yuan Zhou had to drop the thought.
"Aunt Lin, sorry to bother you." Yuan Zhou took out the cloth bag carefully and handed them to her gently.
"Young man, you really know so much as to put them in the cloth bag. Just wait. With my culinary skills, I can guarantee the soup will be awfully delicious." Aunt Lin agreed with a smile.
She started to kill a chicken immediately and make the soup. The most advantage of the soup was its freshness, with the fresh chicken, fresh mushroom and the fresh soup.
Three hours later, when the soup was finally ready, lunch time had already passed.
"Young man, here’s your Wu Chicken Soup." Aunt Lin walked to him while carrying a big steaming hot pot.
"Thank you." Yuan Zhou then received the pot hurriedly.
"You are welcome. The soup tastes the best in winter, but it’s also delicious at this time of the year. It’s mainly because the mushrooms you collected are extraordinarily good." With a smile, Aunt Lin gave him an empty bowl and a bowl of plain rice and then left.
"Thank you so much." Yuan Zhou got seated after saying thanks to the woman.
The fragrance of the soup rushed directly into Yuan Zhou’s nose, along with the fragrance of the chicken and the freshness of the boiled golden mushroom. The soup appeared a milky white color while the boiled golden mushrooms took on a yellow jade color. It was just like a top-notch field-yellow stones floating on the soup.
With a smile appearing on Yuan Zhou’s solemn face, he picked up the spoon and directly scooped the soup into his mouth to savor it.
However, the smile on Yuan Zhou’s face gradually vanished while the soup entered Yuan Zhou’s throat.
For this meal, Yuan Zhou ate up the chicken meat and drank up the soup in only half an hour. His eyebrows knit in a frown more severely at the latter part of the meal. The taste totally failed in matching with the name. He could only appraise the dish as medium.
Having finished the soup, Yuan Zhou put the money under the bowl silently and then left.
"Although the taste of the golden mushrooms is fresh and delicate, the dish isn’t as delicious as imagined." Yuan Zhou couldn’t help sighing.
"It’s again the taste of the golden mushroom. People are truly persistent." While Yuan Zhou was contemplating on the way back, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice.
He raised the head and took a look. It was an old man, who was dressed in a Chinese tunic suit and had a goatee on his jaw, not far from Yuan Zhou. The easy-going appearance was ruined by the discontented expression on his face, which made him appear slightly fierce.
"Young man, did you find these mushrooms?" The old man turned the head and stared at Yuan Zhou.
"Yes. I found them." Yuan Zhou nodded the head.
"God's good gifts are simply recklessly wasted." The old man turned around and left immediately after he gave the simple remark.
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