Zhuzi laughed. "Juhua, you’ve gathered so many! How are your hands so fast? I haven’t stopped working for a mont, unlike izi and Yan, who were even picking flowers."
Juhua was in a very good mood. If she hadn’t been a little dizzy from hunger, she would have started singing. She laughed and said, "Well, you have to know where to look. You’ll definitely find shoots where there are old bamboo stalks. And in so places that look empty, the roots have spread underground and grow toward the loose soil. The shoots there are especially thick. Oh, and rember, after you peel the shoots, you have to boil them once in hot water before stir-frying them with pickled vegetables, simring them in sauce, or cooking them with chilies."
Lanzi smiled. "Got it. i told us already. We don’t eat these wild shoots much, but we’ve eaten plenty of the dostic kind. I guess you cook them pretty much the sa way."
Juhua said, "Wild shoots have their own flavor. They aren’t as astringent as moso bamboo shoots. Hmm, they taste a lot like water bamboo shoots. The bamboo patch on Little Qing Mountain is water bamboo, right?"
izi said, "Of course they are."
Juhua added, "It takes a lot of work to peel this many shoots. But there’s a much faster way. Tear a strip of the husk from the top and keep wrapping it around your finger. Look, like this—" She took out a shoot and demonstrated for them. "This way, the husk gets wrapped around your finger, which saves you the trouble of peeling it layer by layer. That’s such a pain."
Zhuzi tried it and saw it was indeed much faster. She smiled and said, "It’s a good thod, but it’s rough on the hands. You can get cut if you’re not careful. After a few busy sessions like this, my hands will get all coarse."
Juhua laughed. These girls cared more about this than she did; unmarried girls were always very particular about their hands and faces. "It is rough on the hands, but there’s nothing to be done about it. Or you could have your mom peel them while you do sothing else."
izi laughed. "I’m not worried. I’ll go ho and make Gou Dan peel them. If he doesn’t, I won’t let him have any when I cook them."
Everyone laughed at that.
Juhua suddenly rembered sothing and said to them, "I’m all out of dried chilies and chili powder at ho. I used a lot last year for pickling spicy cabbage. Do any of you have extra to share? I’ll need to sun-dry a lot more this year."
izi, Lanzi, and Liu Xiaoi all spoke up at once. "That’s nothing! If it were sothing else, we might not have any, but we’ve got plenty of that." They all said they would bring so over from their hos. izi even said she’d bring her so pickled chili slices too.
Li Jinxiang smiled. "My chili sauce is pretty good. I’ll pack so up for you later. It’ll be a while before fresh chilies are in season, and you can’t cook without chilies in the house."
Juhua thanked them profusely. As they were talking, she reached her house, said goodbye to them, and went inside to eat.
Her little black dog greeted her, circling around with a wagging head and tail. That morning, it had insisted on following her up the mountain, and Juhua had to shoo it back several tis before it finally turned around. Now, it was acting so affectionate, as if they’d been reunited after a long separation, that Juhua couldn’t help but give it a light, playful kick.
When her mother saw her dragging such a huge bag of bamboo shoots, she couldn’t help but chide her, "Why didn’t you get less? A bag that big must have been hard to manage on the mountain. How did you even drag it back?"
Juhua hurriedly washed her face, changed out of her clothes, which were covered in petals, leaves, and thorny fuzz, and ladled out a bowl of cornal porridge. She mumbled as she stuffed it into her mouth, "Lanzi helped carry it back. Mom, let’s peel these shoots first so we can cook so for lunch and try them." She then showed her mother how to peel the bamboo shoots.
The bamboo shoots were deceptive things. After removing a huge pile of husks, she was left with only about half a basket of shoots, but Juhua was still very satisfied. She couldn’t help but admire herself. ’My hands really are fast.’
Gazing at the pale green, tender shoots she had peeled, her heart filled with affection for them. She carefully snapped off the tougher bottom parts—if you didn’t get rid of the old bits, they were like chewing on woodchips—then brought a large pot of water to a boil and blanched the shoots.
The tender green shoots turned a little yellow after boiling, and their fresh fragrance was wonderful. For lunch, Juhua finely chopped a small amount of pickled vegetables, cut the bamboo shoots into inch-long segnts, and stir-fried them with so green garlic to make a dish of pickled vegetables with bamboo shoots. She also made another dish of bamboo shoots braised in sauce.
During lunch, her mother praised, "These shoots are so crisp! They’re just as good as the dostic ones. And braising them in sauce like this really goes well with rice."
Zheng Changhe also smiled. "They’re delicious. I’ll go pick so more tomorrow. Juhua, you shouldn’t go. There are snakes on the mountain."
At the ntion of snakes, Juhua yelped, "Oh! i and Lanzi killed a snake today and brought it back. I completely forgot about that. Also, Dad, if you go up the mountain from our family’s fallow land, there’s a toon tree there. Pick so toon sprouts for us. They’re delicious stir-fried with eggs, and they’re also good as a cold salad. We went there, but none of us could reach them, and we were afraid we’d fall if we tried to climb the tree."
Hearing that they had really encountered a snake, her mother grew nervous and quickly asked Juhua what had happened. Qingmu also stopped eating and looked at Juhua.
Juhua reassured them, explaining that she wasn’t the one who had run into it; Jinxiang was. She added admiringly, "Lanzi and i are amazing. They didn’t even flinch; they just went and killed the snake. It was huge, probably weighed a couple of pounds. It was this thick—" She made a gesture with her hand. "I was telling them to get away, but who knew they were both so brave."
Her mother said, "Lanzi is mature and steady, and i is a feisty one. Jinxiang is a bit more timid. I know where that toon tree is, too. Later, we can tie a sickle to a long pole and go cut so sprouts. Let your dad go. By the ti your brother gets out of school, it’ll be too late."
Zheng Changhe quickly agreed, then said to Juhua, "Then don’t you go picking bamboo shoots anymore. It’s easy to get scratched up crawling through those thickets. Dad’s hands are fast. It’s the sa if I pick them and you prepare them. I’m strong, I can carry back two sacks at once." Hearing that they had really encountered a snake made him even more determined not to let Juhua go.
Her mother smiled. "They’re a fresh delicacy. They won’t taste good once they get old. I’ll go with you. Juhua, I’ll feel more at ease if you just stay ho."
Qingmu also said that his school holiday was coming up, so he could go pick them too, telling Juhua not to go.
Juhua looked at her parents and brother, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. ’It’s not just about the food,’ she thought. ’I just want to wander around the mountain. If you don’t let go pick the shoots and just bring them ho for , they won’t taste nearly as fun, you know? Still...’ Thinking about the snake from today, she decided not to argue. ’Anyway, I already scratched that itch today, and picking bamboo shoots is tiring work. If I don’t go, I don’t go.’ (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to co to qidian to vote for recomndations and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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