Chapter 702: Chapter 702

The previous day, a light drizzle had fallen in the mountains. After killing the chicken, Heroine Wu took a walk into the bamboo grove, and when she came back, she had picked a few termite mushrooms. In Yizhou they were usually called mountain mushrooms. She used the old hen from the bamboo grove to stew a pot of chicken and mushroom soup. A layer of golden chicken fat floated on the surface, the rich fragrance of termite mushroom filling the air.

While the soup simmered, she took down some cured meat hanging from the beam, scrubbed it clean, and stir-fried it with garlic sprouts. With the two mushrooms left over, she simply stir-fried them as well. Everything was served in big, rough clay bowls.

The old wooden table and the unpretentious but abundant dishes formed a scene full of homely warmth.

The old friends sat facing each other, eating meat in big mouthfuls and talking as they ate.

Because she needed to look after little Jiang Han, Lady Calico didn’t revert to her true form but kept her human guise. Sitting on a bench beside the child, she fed her while listening to the two converse, and making sure the unsteady Jiang Han didn’t topple off the bench and hurt herself.

“This place is nice,” Heroine Wu said. “It’s far from the jianghu, and the nearest village is more than ten li away. Usually, no one comes to bother me, and no one comes to collect taxes. Whatever I want to eat, I grow or raise myself. If I want wild delicacies, I just head into the mountains and hunt. Whatever I bring home is all mine. Oh, right, you must have come along the official road over there. If you go up the back mountain, it’s all my traps. This afternoon we’ll go take a look, what we have for dinner depends on what we catch.”

“It is good, though buying things is a bit inconvenient. If I want to go into the city, it’s sixty li away. On the other side of the mountain, there’s a market town. A few villages take turns hosting it, one day a month for each, so altogether only a few days each month. The nearest is over ten li, the farthest twenty or thirty. The markets are only open in the morning, and I always forget the dates. When I finally remember, I can’t get up. Back in Changjing, I could get up no matter how early. If I said I’d wake at the fifth watch, I’d wake within a quarter of an hour and hear the watchman’s clapper. Now I’m getting lazier and lazier.” Heroine Wu scratched her head with the back of the hand holding her chopsticks.

“That’s a good thing.”

“What’s good about it?”

“It means your life is getting better and more comfortable.”

The Daoist held a rough clay bowl with half a bowl of chicken soup, ladled for him by Heroine Wu. At first, it was chicken meat and mushrooms with the broth, but now all the solids were gone, leaving only the soup.

He blew away the layer of golden oil on top, took a sip, and the rich, savory flavor hit his taste buds. He sighed before he looked up and said, “Isn’t this life far better than the busy, tiring days back in Changjing?”

“That’s true.” Heroine Wu grinned, but still said with a smile, “But being too lazy isn’t good either. Sometimes I eat only two meals a day, even one. Sometimes I nap during the day, and when I wake it’s already dark. At night it’s pitch black, and I don’t even know what to do.”

“A life of the immortals.”

“Sometimes you still have to go out and buy things. Once, I ran out of salt at home. I forgot the market day, finally asked someone, and then missed it several times because I couldn’t get up. Going into the city felt too far and too much trouble. I went many days without salt, good thing I had some cured meat, or else I might not even have had the strength to lift a sword at a demon…”

She threw her head back and laughed, clearly finding the memory amusing.

“Salt’s gotten more and more expensive these past two years.”

“Yes, in Yizhou too.”

Salt was essentially the most sophisticated kind of head tax in these times. In that sense, Heroine Wu wasn’t entirely untaxed.

“When autumn comes this year, I’ll finish harvesting my crops, then visit your Yin-Yang Mountain. I’ll pass through Yidu along the way and pick out a good horse. My treasured steed is just too old, and I can’t bear to ride it hard anymore. If I buy a new horse, it can spend its twilight years here in comfort, and I’ll have the new one for trips into town.”

“It’s rare to see someone who loves horses so much.”

“Don’t you have one right beside you?” Heroine Wu glanced toward Lady Calico.

The Daoist followed her gaze.

Lady Calico, however, was holding a bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other. Picking up a hefty slice of cured meat, she mixed it into her rice, and lowered her head to shovel it in.

“Well? After all these years, my cooking’s improved, hasn’t it?” Heroine Wu said proudly.

“Not bad,” the Daoist spoke truthfully.

People of Yizhou had always been fond of eating, and Heroine Wu even more so. But compared to food lovers in other provinces, Yizhou folk tended to have a stronger urge to cook for themselves. Heroine Wu had lived alone for many years, and her cooking skills had improved greatly; now, even compared to housewives of her own age, she could be considered above average.

“…” Lady Calico lifted her eyelids, glanced at her, eyes flickering, hesitated for quite a while before finally saying, “Tomorrow night, I will cook for you!”

Lady Calico said nothing, just lowered her head and kept shoveling rice.

Casually, she picked up something and stuffed it into little Jiang Han’s mouth, letting the girl chew it on her own. She was practicing a feeding method reminiscent of how one might feed a cat. Fresh chapters posted on novel★fire.net

“Well, that works too. This afternoon, come up the mountain with me and see what we can find. My fields are right next door, and with the moon so round lately, there’ll be plenty of eels out tonight, plus frogs and river snails. Tomorrow we’ll make all that for you to eat,” Heroine Wu said. “You’re not in a hurry to go back, are you?”

Lady Calico’s expression turned serious, and she looked toward the Daoist.

“No hurry,” the Daoist replied.

“Then stay here a few more days and taste the mountain’s delicacies,” Heroine Wu said.

“Alright!” The Daoist didn’t refuse.

The meal ended with everyone thoroughly satisfied.

The conversation wandered who knows where.

By noon, the sun was strong enough to make one drowsy, and the cicadas’ droning only added to the sleepiness. Since Heroine Wu had no other rooms, she cleared some space in the side room for them to rest.

After a midday nap, they awoke to a world that seemed to have fallen asleep. Then, following Heroine Wu up the back mountain, they checked her traps one by one, rousing this little world all over again.

Lady Calico’s eyes widened in amazement. There was no chasing prey, no fighting them, no lying in wait. Just a few branches set up, a few shallow pits dug, and it was like placing a cage in the river and letting fish swim in on their own. All she had to do was pick up the catch.

It was effortless, yet she could get a steady harvest.

As expected of humans! So clever!

As they walked, the Daoist admired the mountain scenery, noted the official road across the way, and regarded the home where his old friend had spent more than ten years in solitude. Occasionally, he spoke with her, recounting his reflections and experiences over the years.

Dinner that evening was wild rabbit and mountain pheasant.

Lady Calico cleaned the rabbit and pheasant with practiced skill, took out various spices and ingredients from her brocade pouch. With cooking methods unknown in this era, she roasted the rabbit until it was crisp outside and tender within, infused with aromatic spices, and stir-fried the pheasant with chili peppers until it was so crisp they could bite through the bones.

Heroine Wu watched, impressed but smiling more than anything, occasionally asking questions just as the Daoist did, like how had she learned this, acting astonished to feed Lady Calico’s pride.

That night, the moon was full. The bright moon hung overhead, tracing the mountain ridges in silver; the world was filled with the cacophony of frogs and insects.

Heroine Wu knew the surroundings well, and under the moonlight, she could walk the uneven field ridges without misstepping. Lady Calico treated the moonlight as if it were daylight, and in her eyes, the night was bright as day. She held her small bamboo stick and followed Heroine Wu into the fields.

The two caught loaches and eels, frogs and grasshoppers; splashes sounded now and then in the paddies, along with their hushed whispers and occasional exclamations of surprise when they caught something.

Song You, however, didn’t join them.

He lit an oil lamp in Heroine Wu’s main room, spread out a paper, dipped his brush in ink, and recorded the final leg of his twenty-year journey.

Meeting Heroine Wu on his return journey had been an unexpected joy. Seeing how his old friend lived now brought many feelings to mind, and it was all worth recording.

Inside, the lamplight flickered unsteadily. Outside, the moonlight seemed even brighter, and the two women’s faint voices drifted in from time to time.

Little Jiang Han crawled nearby.

The Daoist shook his head and went on writing in the candlelight. When the little girl eventually fell asleep, his brush had never stopped moving.

The Daoist stayed there for several days in a row, not a single day was boring.

Sometimes Heroine Wu would take Lady Calico to the nearest river to fish and catch shrimp. When they came back, Lady Calico would transform into “Teacher Calico,” teaching her the secret cooking techniques she had mastered.

When Lady Calico took charge of the wok, Heroine Wu would tend the fire.

Sometimes Heroine Wu would take her to the fields to check on her crops, and Lady Calico would take out pickled-eggplant seeds to plant in her vegetable patch, telling her that the harvest would last the whole summer and teaching her various ways to eat it. These were all techniques she had secretly learned by watching the Daoist.

Heroine Wu taught her how to set traps in the mountains, while Lady Calico took Heroine Wu riding on a crane through the skies.

Several days later, people from a nearby village came once more, respectfully inviting Heroine Wu to help exorcise a demon. The Daoist took the opportunity to bid her farewell.

“It’s time for us to head back too. From here to Yidu is still three hundred li, and Yidu to Lingquan is another considerable distance. It’ll take us some time to get there. When the time comes, we’ll be waiting for you at the temple, Heroine Wu.”

“I’ll definitely come!” Heroine Wu said, then turned to look at Lady Calico.

Lady Calico was standing in front of the house, holding a piece of dried rat meat and making “tsk tsk” sounds at the yellow dog in front of her. Feeling Heroine Wu’s gaze, and perhaps sensing that it was time to part, she tossed the rat meat to the yellow dog, who had been eyeing it for a long time, then turned to Heroine Wu. Her voice was soft, but her expression was serious. “We’ll be seeing each other many more times, right?”

“Of course,” Heroine Wu said. “Once I buy a new horse and ride out to see you, it’s only a two- or three-day trip. I’ll come at least twice a year.”

“I will ride my crane to visit you too.”

They said their goodbyes at the edge of the bamboo grove, on the ridge between fields.