Plant Trees on Arbor Day
When Liu Chang'an returned, he bought fresh houttuynia cordata at the market. This character, which few people recognize, is pronounced "ji" in the second tone, so it is not the same as shepherd's purse, which is pronounced in the fourth tone.
In the book "Mingyi Bielu", Houttuynia Compendium of Materia Medica is called "Zhe'ergen"; in the book "Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians", it is called "Yuxingcao"; and in some parts of Nanyue, it is called "Gou Tie'er". Basically, with this explanation, people of all ages across China know what it is.
Houttuynia cordata, cilantro, and durian are three common foods that are considered delicacies by some people, while others find them hard to swallow. This is probably related to genes, which influence whether the taste buds produce an enticing appetite or a sense of disgust.
Just as many poisonous creatures use intense colors to warn themselves that they are not to be trifled with, these unusually strong odors are often a warning as well. Eating too much houttuynia cordata is definitely bad for your health, but eating a little bit occasionally can be beneficial.
Liu Chang'an broke the houttuynia cordata into 1-inch pieces. He also tasted the chili sauce, which was still a bit too tender. However, after scraping around the edges, he stir-fried it in the pan until it was drier. Then he sprinkled the pickled houttuynia cordata with the dried chili sauce, added soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and a little sugar, and stirred it all together. It was crisp, tender, and refreshing.
Of course, people who can't eat houttuynia cordata will find it hard to put in their mouths just from the smell, and if they force themselves to taste it, they will only find it strong, fishy, and pungent, making it difficult to swallow.
After preparing the houttuynia cordata, Zhou Shuling upstairs called out to Liu Chang'an, saying she had made pickled vegetable and pig's feet for dinner.
So Liu Chang'an went to Auntie Xie's place and bought a bottle of Red Star Erguotou), then took his own houttuynia cordata (a type of vegetable) upstairs to eat with her.
Zhou Shuling's pickled pork trotters were different from Liu Chang'an's. Her pork trotters were chopped up and fried until crispy, making them more like a snack with alcohol than a dish with rice. However, she also stir-fried some garlic sprouts and cured pork. Since there was also Liu Chang'an's houttuynia cordata, the meal was a complete mix of meat and vegetables. Two meat dishes and one vegetable dish were just right for the three of them. Zhou Shuling didn't bother washing the small potatoes. She had originally planned to make perilla-boiled small potatoes, but washing and peeling the small potatoes was too much work.
Zhou Dongdong stood at the door, earnestly licking her fingers.
Zhou Shuling ignored her in the kitchen.
Chang'an is a reasonable person and wouldn't hit someone without saying a word, so Zhou Dongdong calmly finished licking three of her fingers and held out the remaining two to Liu Chang'an, saying, "Do you want to lick my fingers and eat them?"
"Thank you." Liu Chang'an noticed the chocolate residue on Zhou Dongdong's fingers.
"The teacher said children shouldn't waste food." Zhou Dongdong had a perfectly good reason for licking his fingers.
"You'd better go wash your hands quickly, or you'll be crying your eyes out when your mom comes out."
Zhou Dongdong quickly went to wash her hands.
Zhou Shuling brought out the food and saw that Zhou Dongdong had washed her hands without being urged, so she praised her.
"After Dongdong ate your pickled pork trotters, she kept asking me to make them too, so I made a different flavor. What do you think of the taste?" Zhou Shuling looked at Liu Chang'an expectantly.
Liu Chang'an tasted the pig's feet and nodded in approval, while Zhou Dongdong stared at Liu Chang'an's plate of houttuynia cordata.
"Brother Chang'an, you're out of money and can only eat grass?" Zhou Dongdong asked worriedly.
"I didn't... I didn't eat it... Um, yes, this thing is grass, but it's edible, and it tastes good." Liu Chang'an explained, "It's called houttuynia cordata."
Zhou Dongdong felt relieved and happy to have something delicious she had never eaten before, so she picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
Zhou Dongdong's face twisted and contorted violently. She squinted, opened her mouth, and spat it out, staring at Liu Chang'an in Zhou Dongdong. Although she had smelled the extremely foul odor just before it was put into her mouth, she didn't pay much attention because she had eaten stinky mandarin fish before.
But they seem completely different.
Liu Chang'an took a bite, drank a sip of wine, took another bite, and looked at Zhou Dongdong.
Zhou Dongdong took another bite, then spat it out.
Liu Chang'an continued eating, seemingly enjoying it immensely.
Zhou Dongdong took another bite, still unwilling to give up, but she still spat it out.
Liu Chang'an continued eating.
Zhou Dongdong finally burst into tears, crying out loud, clearly heartbroken.
"You're teasing her again." Zhou Shuling glared at Liu Chang'an reproachfully, but then laughed happily.
"The pig's feet are pretty good, even better than the ones I make. The skin is fried just right, not too dry and losing its chewiness and original flavor, and not too greasy either," Liu Chang'an praised Zhou Shuling's cooking.
Zhou Shuling was very happy. She carefully selected pork trotters with meat, skin, and tendons for Liu Chang'an. She knew that Liu Chang'an had good teeth and could eat pork trotters clean, skin, tendons, and meat. After giving them to him, she didn't eat any herself but just watched Liu Chang'an eat. You know, for a cook, it is especially satisfying to see someone finish their food with such a high standard.
After Zhou Dongdong cried out loud a few times, she realized that no one was paying attention to her. She sniffed, wiped away her tears, and then picked up another piece of food with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
"Wah... woo... ow..."
I was even more heartbroken.
Zhou Shuling placed the plate of houttuynia cordata directly next to Liu Chang'an, preventing Zhou Dongdong from picking it up, and said irritably, "If you can't eat it, then don't eat it. What are you yelling about?"
"It's... it's... it's delicious... why can't I eat it... ah..."
Liu Chang'an continued eating the pig's trotters, reminding Zhou Dongdong, "If you keep arguing with this plate of houttuynia cordata, I'll finish the pig's trotters first, then I'll finish the beef."
Zhou Dongdong finally snapped out of her daze, stunned for a moment, wondering how she had become such a foolish child, so unwitty and brave. She quickly started eating the pig's feet.
"He's both gluttonous and clumsy," Zhou Shuling said helplessly, hands on her hips. "I wonder who he takes after?"
"What do you think?" Liu Chang'an looked at Zhou Shuling, who truly had no self-awareness. "Next Arbor Day, you should take Zhou Dongdong to plant 13 trees."
Although she didn't know why Liu Chang'an asked her to plant trees, Zhou Shuling still felt that taking the children to plant trees was a very meaningful thing to do, so she nodded, "Let's go together."
"Okay, you plant them, I'll watch."
After finishing his meal, Liu Chang'an discussed the design of the children's bed with Zhou Shuling. It was mostly just talk; Zhou Shuling would only say "okay," "you decide," "whatever you say is fine," and "I'm happy with anything."
Back downstairs, preparing to continue making the bed, Liu Chang'an clapped his hands and remembered that he should go check on Shangguan Dandan, since he had arranged a new place for her today.
Upon arriving at the room downstairs and opening the door, Liu Chang'an was surprised to find that the coffin was open, but Shangguan Dandan was nowhere to be seen.
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I highly recommend Xia Hua's only novel of 2018, "Late-Night Bookstore." I'm not kidding, this is the only one I've been following in the last two years. The author is Chunjie Di Xiaolong, who, like Xia Hua, has had over 404 (or 404) censored books, but he's incredibly talented!