The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 905 - 904: Mushroom Sauce

Chapter 905: Chapter 904: Mushroom Sauce

The incident involving Lady Fang only left a mark in Wang Yongzhu’s heart.

Soon, she was too preoccupied to pay attention to such things.

Old Granny Zhang heard that Imperial Doctor Du had agreed to take her daughter as an apprentice, and she was overjoyed.

Honestly speaking, she agreed to let her daughter study medicine, firstly because her daughter liked it, and due to her daughter’s filial piety, it was naturally not easy to refuse. Secondly, she knew that this society was unfair to women.

There are various taboos for women seeing doctors; it might be better for her daughter to learn something. After all, if she has a headache or a fever and can’t find a doctor, she could save herself, right?

Even though Old Granny Zhang blindly trusted her daughter, she knew that her daughter wanting to study medicine might just be up to fate and chance.

Not to mention, Imperial Doctor Du treats the Emperor and the women of the Palace; he is truly a Divine Doctor.

To truly take on apprentices, countless people would cry and beg to be his apprentice, so how could it be her daughter Zhuzhu’s turn?

But Zhuzhu was determined to follow Imperial Doctor Du to study medicine, saying that if she were to learn, she would naturally want to find the best teacher.

Even if she couldn’t become an apprentice, learning something would always be good.

Old Granny Zhang had not yet gone against Wang Yongzhu’s wishes since she was born, even agreeing to so many unreliable things in the past; not to mention that this was a serious matter.

Moreover, Song Chongjin supported this, so she agreed without much hesitation.

Originally, she thought Imperial Doctor Du would only teach half-heartedly out of politeness, but she hadn’t expected that she had misunderstood him.

Indeed, he was worthy of being a Divine Doctor, not only good in medical skills but also good as a person.

In just a month, he already wanted to take her daughter as an apprentice.

If it weren’t for too many scruples, Old Granny Zhang would have wanted to buy a firecracker to celebrate.

However, since Imperial Doctor Du hadn’t explicitly mentioned it yet, she had to keep a low profile, and so Old Granny Zhang just barely restrained herself, pulling Wang Yongzhu along into the side room next door to find some good things to send to the Du Family.

The side room now stored mostly Old Granny Zhang’s private savings and some visiting gifts from others, all piled up there.

They had only been in the county town for a short time, and were still in mourning, so they didn’t have much social activity.

Besides people visiting when Old Granny Zhang was sick, there were no other gifts received.

The side room wasn’t large, except for two chests on the ground, it was rather empty.

Opening the chests, inside were mostly ordinary items; the most valuable were some medicinal materials sent by Gu Zikai, and some nourishing products and more expensive items sent by Ninth Master Lee and Shopkeeper Wu.

Then there were somewhat valuable gifts from the Tian Family Shopkeeper Tian brought to apologize last time.

Old Granny Zhang rummaged for half a day but didn’t find anything suitable—these things were valuable to them, but for Imperial Doctor Du, who had treated the Emperor himself, they were nothing worth showing.

There were a few medicinal materials that Old Granny Zhang wanted to take out, but Wang Yongzhu stopped her: "These medicinal materials need to be kept for you, mother, to nourish your body! Besides, what wouldn’t Imperial Doctor Du have, but he certainly wouldn’t lack medicine!"

Only then did Old Granny Zhang give up and worried, "What should we send then? If it’s too simple, wouldn’t it seem like we’re neglecting them?"

This was the most critical time; if they didn’t do it right, and offended Imperial Doctor Du, what would happen if he refused to take her daughter as an apprentice?

"Mother, it’s not a big deal. Our family is just an ordinary one; the best from our family can’t compare with theirs, so why bother trying to show off? I think we should tidy up some of the mountain goods we brought with us and send them as a bit of rustic charm. Also, let Aunt Ding make a couple of boxes of pastries, and brew a couple of pounds of good wine, and that’s it."

"The Du Family wouldn’t pick on our gift! What haven’t they seen? For them, the best gift would be me, your daughter, studying hard and not disgracing them in the future!"

Wang Yongzhu really didn’t care much about it—at Imperial Doctor Du’s level, having spent years in the Imperial Palace, which is the wealthiest place in the world, there is no shortage of precious treasures they’ve seen; even if offering Wang Yongzhu’s entire family wealth, it would be just trivial to them.

Instead, something wild or homemade would seem more sincere.

Old Granny Zhang heard this, and was moved: "Since that’s the case, why not I make a couple of jars of mushroom sauce, and you take them to Imperial Doctor Du for a taste; at least it’s a gesture of good will."

Wang Yongzhu heard this and started drooling: "Mother, make more, I want to eat too!"

Jing County is surrounded on three sides by mountains and surrounded by water on one side; during this time of year, after the rain, the mountains are full of mushrooms. Some are harvested and dried to sell, and some are brought home, and if they can’t be finished, made into various mushroom sauces, fragrant and appetizing, can be preserved for half a year, and during spring sowing or when vegetables are scarce, they are essential on every family’s table.

Old Granny Zhang’s skills in making sauces are certainly good; she can make both meat sauce and mushroom sauce.

Except, this consumes a lot of oil, and previously, Old Granny Zhang stingily made only paste or pickled vegetables, rarely making this.

Last year’s wolf meat sauce was very popular; now Old Granny Zhang thought there was no need to save oil, and hearing her daughter loved it, she was instantly delighted: "I’ll make lots, ensuring you have enough to eat!"

Without delay, Wang Yongzhu went out to instruct Old Madam Ding to buy more wild mushrooms in the coming days, along with various ingredients needed for making sauces.

Old Madam Ding was a good cook herself and immediately understood the main family wanted to make mushroom sauce.

Every year at this time, all kinds of wild mushrooms in Jing County come out, and every family buys some to make dishes, fresh beyond compare.

So she promptly agreed.

Old Madam Ding was the kind of person who did things very neatly; she just mentioned it to the few families she bought vegetables from daily, saying her family was going to make mushroom sauce, so send any good-looking fresh mushrooms to the Song Family Courtyard.

From the third day onwards, people continually sent fresh mountain mushrooms to the Song Family.

No one was idle; Gu Yu was responsible for cleaning the delivered mountain mushrooms.

Old Madam Ding chopped the cleaned mushrooms into small cubes and also chopped the scallions and ginger for use.

Then she set up a large pot, poured in oil, added the chopped scallion and ginger to sauté for aroma, then poured in the mushroom cubes to stir-fry until fragrant, and then added homemade bean paste, with a moderate amount of water, and simmered on medium heat.

During the simmering, one must keep stirring, carefully avoiding the pot from burning, which is labor-intensive and skilled work.

Once the water in the pot was almost simmered away, and little bubbles began to appear, it was about ready; the cooked mushroom sauce was ladled out, left to cool in a clean basin.

Then it was divided into clean small jars, sealed well, and scooped out when it’s time to eat.

This is the simplest method; if someone likes meat, they can cut the meat into small cubes before stir-frying the mushrooms; this mixed seasoning with meat is even more fragrant.

For those who like it spicy, they can add chili paste, with various options.