Chapter 2 – Wild Vegetable Fish Soup
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Translated Prosperousfood.com
Retranslated & Edited by Gumihou
About an hour later, most of the people who lived there had made their way back to the temple.
Shiyu finally saw the grandpa who had taken them all in. This grandpa was certainly old looking. Due to not having enough to eat for many years, he was as emaciated as a stick of firewood. His beard was scraggly, his clothes ragged, combined with his dim eyes, dirty hands and fingernails, he looked like a typical old beggar.
“Big Girl, are you better now?” the old man immediately came over to examine the wound on her head.
Big Girl…
Shiyu’s mouth twitched. Whatever, she didn’t care if this old man believes her story or not. She immediately blinked innocent eyes at him and lied through her teeth, “Grandpa, when you were away, an immortal came to this temple. He told me he woke me up and opened my meridians or something. It was all very strange. Oh yes, he also gave me a name. I’m now Shiyu.”
From now on, if there are any inconsistencies in her behaviour, she’ll just blame everything on this convenient immortal.
“An immortal?” the old man was surprised, though it was not completely impossible, for their muddle-headed Big Girl to catch the eye of an immortal was still very unlikely. However, from her clear eyes and confident stance, he could tell that she was no longer the idiot from before.
Though he doubted her story, he could only believe her, “That’s right, those immortal cultivators who fly around freely on their swords have the power to bring people back from the brink of death.” He looked at Shiyu closely and said, “So, you’re clear-headed now? Can you think clearly?”
Shiyu nodded, “I’m fine now. And look, before going away, that nice immortal even granted me a skill. I can now find ingredients in the mountains and turn them into delicious food.”
The old man looked towards the stone pot where she was pointing. The pot was currently bubbling cheerfully away. A wonderful smell was floating from it. It was as though the scent had drifted through their nostrils and caught hold of their appetites.
“You made this?” the old man couldn’t quite believe it.
“Who else?” Shiyu pulled him over to the stone pot and ladled out the first bowl of mushroom soup for him. Next, she called up all the little radishes, and begin handing out bowls of mushroom soup. When everyone had their portion, she added more water into the pot and sprinkle another dash of salt over it.
With so many people around, the soup was not enough for them to eat their fill.
When all the mushrooms were gone, everyone settled back to rub their bellies in satisfaction.
It’s been a long time since they had this much to eat.
After their meal, Shiyu noticed that it was still bright outside. She really could not stand the stink on those little radishes anymore and hustled them all towards the brook.
“If you don’t clean yourself up, there will be no food for you tonight.” Shiyu looked at them fiercely as she stripped their clothes off. As they splash about, she washed their clothes and set them all out to dry on the hot rocks.
These kids were really young, if they get sick, there was a chance they would just die a dog’s death from the sad condition of this world’s medical technology.
However, the radishes’s attention was on a completely different matter. Their bright eyes sparkled at Shiyu, “Big sis, we can have dinner tonight?”
“Of course! With me around, you won’t starve!”
That night, dinner was mushroom soup.
Nothing to it, without money they could not get their hands on other ingredients. Though there were plenty of other wild vegetables and plants, all of them had to be cooked with oil or other proteins to make them tasty. Right now, without a way to make money, everyone would just have to put up with mushroom soup for now.
However, the old man and the radishes did not mind it one bit. As beggars, they were thankful to have warm food to fill their bellies.
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The middle of the night was the best time to think about life.
Shiyu knew her past-self had died from a traffic accident, which meant there was no way for her to go back to the modern world. However, if she were to stay in this world… well, there’s that cheat item those dumb authors had granted her. However, she had no idea where that thing was now. How frustrating, sigh….
And so, her first night passed under such a daze. The next day, Shiyu woke up early, itching with curiosity about this world she had transmigrated to. Thus, with the radishes at her heels, she set out to explore Qing Shan City at the foot of the mountain.
Standing out the city gates and looking up at the massive doors of the city, Shiyu could not help her excitement. This was certainly a city of a Cultivation related fantasy world, just look at those huge rocks. Normal people can’t move rocks like that, ah. They must have used magic or cultivation skill to build that super sturdy wall, ah.
Past the city gates, they were greeted by a street so wide that eight horses could gallop side by side on it. Tea houses and restaurants lined the road as far as the eyes could see.
Though it was still quite early, there were already plenty of people moving about. Most of them were commoners from outside the city limits.
Shiyu made her way down one of the side roads, she had a feeling that this was no ordinary city. She was definitely not in the modern world anymore. As she continued to stroll down the lane, a gentle wind picked up, bringing with it the scent of flowers. The curiosity she carried in her heart, was gradually replaced by a peaceful feeling.
As she explored the streets, time flew by, before long it was nearly time for lunch.
Shiyu was thinking about what she could make for lunch when she saw the back door to one of the many restaurants opened. A trainee chef stepped out with a basket of fish bones. They had taken the meat off those fish and was about to toss the heads and bones away. Shiyu could see there was still a bit of meat sticking to the bones.
“Please wait a moment!” Shiyu called out, “you’re about to throw those away right? Can you give them to me?”
That trainee chef looked like he was about 12 or 13 year old, and did not have much experience in life. At her request, he said, “I need to bring the basket back, you’ll have to bring something to put them in.”
Shiyu immediately agreed. Since there were no trees or plants around, she could only use her clothes to collect the bones. She gratefully said, “Many thanks! By the way, does your restaurant always have these fish bones every day?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wonderful. Could you keep them for me?” Shiyu looked at him with pitiful eyes. “I haven’t eaten anything in days.”
The trainee looked down at her raggedy clothes, knew that she was a beggar, and his heart softened, “Come tomorrow at this time, alright? I’ll make sure to keep them for you. Only, can you really eat these?” The fish themselves weren’t anything special, even their customer rarely order fish dishes.
“Of course, I’ll bring some for you to try tomorrow!”
The trainee did not really have much expectation, but he was courteous enough not to say anything.
After parting ways with the trainee, Shiyu spotted Xiao Qi begging on the street and got her to gather the others to return to the dilapidated temple. As for herself, she hugged the fish bones to her chest and ran home first.
Fish bones were normally discarded by others, however, if you know what to do, you can make something delicious out of them. Fish heads and fish bones make very good stock and would be delicious when added to vegetables. When done properly, people would slap the table and declare it a superb dish.
First, the bones have to be washed. Next, she boiled some water in the stone pot. She managed to unearth a piece of ginger in the corner of the temple and sliced that into pieces before dropping into the pot. Ginger would rid the bones of its fishy smell and warm the stomach. When the water boiled, she placed some of the bones in, keeping the rest in cold water to prevent it from going bad.
The purpose of the bones was to make a delicious broth. However, the broth alone was not filling at all. Let’s go and collect some wild vegetables to supplement the soup. Luckily a few of the little radishes just came back and she led the radishes towards the back of the temple to collect wild vegetables.
In a short while, they managed to collect quite a pile. Aside from Shepard’s Purse and wild ferns, they also managed to find some straw mushrooms.
The ingredients were washed and brought back to the temple. By now, everyone was back and were gathered around the hot pot.
“Oh, it’s not mushroom today! What a nice fragrance!” Xiao Qi rubbed her mouth.
“Xiao Qi, your nose is really incredible! Today we are having Wild Vegetables & Fish Bone Soup.” Shiyu smiled as opened the lid of the pot. The clear soup had already turned white in colour, and the strong smell of the fish drifted out.
It is almost ready. Shiyu took out the fish bones and place the vegetables into the pot.
A few minutes later, a pot of Wild Vegetables Fishbone Soup was ready to be eaten.
