Bai Yujun did not know why she had saved them.
Perhaps it was because the first time she had left the mountains, she had met a girl named Yun'er—Bai Yujun's first true friend—and had failed to appear when Yun'er needed help most. If she had stopped her from getting married back then, if...
There were no ifs. Nothing could return to the way it had been...
The two little girls, now dressed in new clothes, were somewhat unaccustomed to them. They sat on stools, watching Bai Yujun clatter about as she cooked. Steam bubbled from the copper pot, and the scent of fish nearly made the two girls drool.
An oil lamp lit up the little room.
The billowing steam obscured everything. All they could see was a long-haired figure in white, busy amid the mist.
She cut up the fish, picked out the bones, and put the meat into the pot with seasonings.
The two girls had not eaten such fragrant food in a long time, and their stomachs were empty. They might very well wolf it down and get fish bones stuck in their throats. If she was going to do something, she might as well see it through. Picking out the bones was no difficult task, and it made the pickled-cabbage fish taste even better.
The fish pot burbled away as she cleaned the river snails and snipped off their tails...
Splash, splash~
The aroma of sizzling oil and spices filled the little room.
Stir-fried river snails were even more fragrant with perilla. She tossed the snails into hot oil and stir-fried them, then added the other seasonings when they were nearly done. She chipped off a chunk of salt and tossed it into the wok. Once that was about right, she added water, simmered it over