Idle Matters in the Mountains

A light rain had fallen in the mountains yesterday. After slaughtering a chicken, Heroine Wu had taken a walk through the bamboo grove and come out with several termite mushrooms. People of Yizhou generally called them mountain hemp mushrooms, so she stewed the old bamboo-grove hen into a pot of mountain hemp mushroom chicken soup. A golden layer of chicken fat floated on the surface, and the rich fragrance of termite mushrooms filled 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 shoots. The two remaining mountain hemp mushrooms were simply stir-fried as well. Everything was served in coarse, oversized bowls.

An old wooden table, unpretentious yet abundant dishes, brimming with the warmth of everyday life.

Old friends sat across from one another, eating meat in great mouthfuls as they talked.

Since she had to look after little Jiang Han, Three Flower Lady did not assume her original form, remaining human instead. She sat on the same bench as little Jiang Han, feeding her while listening to the two speak, all the while keeping an eye on the little girl, who could barely stand steadily on the bench, lest she fall to her death.

"This place is quite nice. Far from the martial world, and even the nearest village is over ten li away. Usually, nobody comes to bother me, and nobody comes to collect taxes. Whatever I want to eat, I grow or raise myself. If I crave mountain delicacies or wild game, I go into the mountains to find them, to hunt them. Whatever ends up in my hands is all mine. Oh, right—you must have come by that official road over there. But if you head into the mountains behind us, those