Chapter 18: A-Can’s Invitation
“These pea shoots are really nice. It would be even better if we could stir-fry them,” Zhu Yanyi remarked with a sigh. In this era, winter offered almost no fresh vegetables; most households preserved long-necked Chinese cabbage as their primary winter staple.
“Good idea, little girl,” Xie Zhong smiled. A child’s innocent thoughts were merely expressions of hope for a better life, so Xie Zhong naturally wouldn’t criticize her. “Are you craving bean sprouts? I’ll let your grandmother sprout some for you when we get back.”
“Great, great!” Zhu Yanyi nodded enthusiastically. Bean sprouts in this time hadn’t been treated with the chemicals used in later eras. Even if bought from the market, they were exceptionally clean. However, most families preferred to sprout their own beans at home. Every household typically stored some mung beans, red beans, and soybeans throughout the year, so they could sprout whatever type they desired. “I also want stir-fried pine pollen and sesame salt.”
“I have them all,” Xie Zhong replied with a chuckle.
Sesame salt was quite common. The process involved heating a wok until red-hot, adding a handful of salt to roast it into a peppery seasoning, then tossing in a large bowl of sesame seeds and stir-frying everything together. Once cooked, it was ready to eat. During meals, one would dip chopsticks in water and scoop up a portion of the sesame salt; it was fragrant and flavorful. Stir-fried pine pollen, however, required more effort. The difficulty lay not in the cooking tools, but in collecting the pollen. This wasn’t fresh pollen gathered directly from the trees; instead, the pollen drifted into the river, where people used special tools to filter and collect it. Since there was no tap water and everyone drank from rivers or wells, the river water—and thus the pollen collected from it—was naturally clean. However, harvesting pine pollen was time-consuming and only possible in spring when the pollen was abundant. The pine pollen in Xie Zhong’s household was collected every spring by her uncles from the riverbank. Perhaps due to their location, they always managed to gather more than other families. After collection, the pollen was dried, sealed in jars, and stored for later use. Stir-fried pine pollen was one of Grandmother Qi Qiaoer’s signature dishes. In her previous life, Zhu Yanyi had desperately tried to recreate this flavor, but unable to find suitable pine pollen, she eventually gave up.
Now that she had been given a second chance at life, she could once again enjoy the foods she craved. For delicacies like this, Zhu Yanyi began to ponder whether she should find a way to preserve and pass down the recipe.
“Brother A-Zhong, are you still wandering around the fields? Everyone is waiting for you at the threshing floor,” a voice called out. The speaker wore a cotton-padded jacket covered in patches and had two red frostbite marks on her face, yet she looked energetic. Zhu Yanyi recognized her as Xie Can, who lived near the threshing floor. She called her Uncle A-Can.
“Hello, Uncle A-Can,” Zhu Yanyi greeted her.
“Hello, A-Ni. You’re out now. Are you feeling better?” Everyone knew about Zhu Yanyi’s incident with falling into the water, but in rural areas, accidents involving children were common. As long as there was no threat to life, people generally didn’t worry too much.
Zhu Yanyi’s situation had indeed been dangerous, but she had been rescued by Aunt Zhang. Therefore, everyone knew that at worst, the child would suffer and perhaps develop a fever, but death was unlikely.
“I’m fine now, completely recovered. Look,” Zhu Yanyi said, turning around to show them.
“That’s good. If you hadn’t recovered, we wouldn’t have had any storytelling sessions. Your grandfather has only been telling us stories for ten minutes a day these past few days,” Xie Can said with a helpless expression.
Xie Zhong laughed. “We had family matters to attend to, so there was no time. Well, since everyone is already at the threshing floor, let’s go.” Xie Zhong picked up Zhu Yanyi and walked toward the threshing floor with her.