Sauce

In the early hours, music tore through the darkness, gradually shifting from gentle to impassioned. Zhao Danshi reached toward the bedside table, groping for ages without finding his phone.

Li Ping propped himself up, stretched out a long arm, and turned off the alarm.

"Ah!" Zhao Danshi buried his head in Li Ping's solid chest, wrapping both arms around his firm waist and muttering, "Why do we have to get up again?"

Zhao Danshi's breath tickled Li Ping's stomach. Li Ping put an arm around his shoulders and patted him lightly, his voice gentle. "If you're still sleepy, sleep a little longer."

"Okay." Zhao Danshi rubbed against his chest and said indistinctly, "Senior Brother, lie with me for a bit. Wake me up in ten minutes."

"Mm. Go to sleep."

Breathing in his scent, Zhao Danshi continued sleeping peacefully.

But just as he closed his eyes, Dou Dou in the little bed next door began fussing too, clearly about to wake up.

"This little ancestor." Zhao Danshi covered his ears in misery. Beside him, Li Ping gently patted his back, got out of bed on his long legs, switched on the dim bedside lamp, and went over in his pajamas to pick up Dou Dou.

Dou Dou had peed during the night, and his damp bottom was uncomfortable. When he saw his father coming over, he gave two little whimpers, his grape-like black eyes full of grievance.

Li Ping lightly tapped his nose and murmured, "Good boy. I'll change your diaper right away."

Li Ping took off his old diaper, wiped him clean with baby wipes, put on a fresh one, then carried him out and mixed hot and cold water from the dispenser to make him formula.

Once Dou Dou had his formula, his mood immediately improved. He smiled at Li Ping, showing two rice-grain teeth, looking like a little angel.

After Dou Dou finished this bottle, Li Ping carried him back to the room. Dou Dou slept a lot and could usually go back for another round.

Zhao Danshi was already awake, his sleepiness gradually fading. Only when he sensed them returning did he reluctantly get up.

Even after getting up, he did not want to move. He found Li Ping and draped his entire body over him.

Li Ping dragged this human ornament along to squeeze out toothpaste and fetch water. Once Zhao Danshi started brushing his teeth, he finally woke up properly.

"Shall we head out later to film the mushroom-picking video?"

"Mm."

"Then I'll get the soybeans we soaked yesterday cooking first."

He went back to change clothes, put on a nice woven basket, and yawned as he prepared to head up the mountain.

There were more mushrooms on the mountain now, but the farmers were all busy with work in the fields and had little time to gather them. Only when children of all ages came home on weekends could whole families head up the mountain and enjoy a little treat.

Most of the mushrooms here were miscellaneous varieties, with no particularly famous species. Delicious mushrooms like termite mushrooms were hard to find, and Zhao Danshi generally did not bother putting in that effort.

Fresh mushrooms tasted good no matter what kind they were.

Zhao Danshi was used to picking mushrooms and knew where the mushroom patches were. The moment he went up the mountain, he headed straight for them. Beneath trees, in the grass, among the shrubs, clusters of mushrooms whose caps had barely opened revealed themselves in the morning light, shyly displaying their lovely outlines.

Nourished by the night dew and morning dew, the mushrooms were especially plump and tender, looking utterly tempting.

Zhao Danshi lined his basket with banana leaves. The colorful mushrooms looked fantastic piled inside.

After gathering the mushrooms, Zhao Danshi went down the mountain to pull up scallions and garlic from the fields, along with a handful of cilantro. Li Ping deliberately filmed a wide shot here, then close-ups, displaying each of the tender green vegetables growing at home.

They cultivated their vegetables carefully and watered them every few days. Their plot was far tidier and more orderly than most people's, looking like a little flower garden brimming with vitality.

Next, Zhao Danshi headed toward the village entrance. He needed to buy meat.

The owner, Zhao Mingzhi, teased him the moment he saw him. "Danshi, buying meat again?"

"Mm, I'm buying some to make fried mushroom sauce." Zhao Danshi said to him, "Uncle Mingzhi, cut me this piece."

"Sure." Zhao Mingzhi skillfully cut the meat as he remarked, "People who come back from big cities really are different. Mushroom sauce—I've never even heard of it."

"Then come to my house later and have a taste."

This part of the video would be cut out later, and Zhao Danshi no longer sounded as restrained as he once had when chatting.

Zhao Mingzhi immediately smiled. "That sounds great. I'll come to your place for breakfast later."

Zhao Danshi grinned. "It's settled, then. Don't fail to come later. Nine eighty in total, right? Here's the money."

"Ah, forget it. I'll come another time—I can't get away today." The owner threaded the meat with straw. "Besides mushroom sauce, what other fresh food are you making?"

"How did you know I'd be making something else?"

"Hey, isn't that obvious? You made sauce—are you going to eat it plain? You have to make something to go with it, right?"

Zhao Danshi gave him a thumbs-up. "I'm making some cold dishes. If they taste good, I'll take them to the market to sell tomorrow."

"You certainly know how to make money. I'll buy some at the market tomorrow too and see what this mushroom sauce really tastes like."

"Sure. We have so many vegetables at home, and selling vegetables alone won't move that much. We have to find ways to use them up." Zhao Danshi picked up the meat. "Uncle, I'm heading back first. There's still a pile of work to do at home."

"Alright, go on."

Once home, Zhao Danshi efficiently washed and sliced the mushrooms, washed and diced the meat, then prepared the scallions, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings.

Mushroom sauce was different from naturally fermented soybean paste. It had to be fried in oil, and it had to be fried in lard. He added minced ginger, chopped garlic, and sticky rice chili to fine diced pork belly, first frying them in peanut oil until fragrant and until the fat rendered out. Then he added the mushrooms and fried off the moisture before pouring in the soybeans and slowly frying everything over low heat.

Once the soaked and boiled soybeans and diced meat had been fried, their flavor was not much different from fermented soybean paste—equally fresh, rich, and fragrant.

This was a bit of a shortcut, though if he had the time, it would be best to follow the traditional method and ferment the soybeans into soybean paste.

Before long, the mushroom sauce filled the whole house with its savory fragrance.

The old man held Dou Dou and poked his head into the kitchen several times. Dou Dou was drooling even more, soaking the clothes over his chest.

After the fire in the stove had died down, Zhao Danshi covered the pot, then cooked noodles in another pot. He scooped the noodles out, added some side dishes, and the family slowly enjoyed their noodles with mushroom sauce.

The plain noodles paired with the rich mushroom sauce, along with the crisp side dishes, had everyone sweating at the tips of their noses after one bowl.

Zhao Wende ate along with them. After three bowls, he wiped his mouth, smiled honestly, and set down his bowl and chopsticks. "I'll go water the vegetables first."

Zhao Danshi nodded. "Uncle Wende, once you're done watering, pick the ripe eggplants and green beans. We'll make them into cold dishes and take them to the market tomorrow."

"Alright, got it."

Zhao Danshi also carried a basket out to pick vegetables, with Li Ping following behind and filming with the camera.

Cucumbers were used most often in cold dishes, but in fact, any vegetable could be used—cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, fresh bamboo shoots. As long as the sauce was good, they could all be made delicious.

Zhao Danshi himself especially liked cold eggplant salad. The steamed eggplants were peeled, leaving only the flesh, then mixed one by one with scallion oil, garlic oil, and sauce. Picking up a strip for a taste, it was fresh, tender, and soft, enough to whet anyone's appetite.

Cucumbers were delicious too—green, crisp, refreshing, and unforgettable.

One crucial trick to making cold dishes was that the seasonings had to be fried, especially the vinegar. Unfried vinegar had a thin, sour taste. Only after being fried could it blend with the other seasonings, becoming both sour and fragrant with a hint of sweetness, its layers of flavor greatly enriched.

The mushroom sauce tasted even better than Zhao Danshi had expected. The cold dishes he made were crisp and refreshing, and even the old man, who did not usually eat much cold food, ate quite a lot.

The weather was still fairly cool now. Once some time passed and high summer truly arrived, these cold dishes would go wonderfully with rice.

"They're delicious even now. I've eaten vegetables all my life, but I've never had any with such a strong vegetable flavor." The old man sighed. "Living this life has truly been worth it."

Zhao Danshi's cold dishes mainly highlighted the flavor of the vegetables, with the sauce only serving as an accompaniment. Vegetables that already tasted excellent became incredibly fragrant with just a touch of sauce.

"I'll fry up some chili oil too. Customers who like stronger flavors will probably think our dishes aren't spicy enough." Zhao Danshi tasted some and said excitedly, "And garlic oil and scallion oil—I need to fry more of those too. Let's see if we can sell all these dozens of pounds of cold dishes tomorrow."

He planned to make twenty pounds of cold cucumber salad, fifteen pounds of cold eggplant salad, and ten pounds each of the other cold dishes. If they sold out, great; if not, it would be no big deal to bring them back.

This was their first trial, so Zhao Danshi did not dare make too much. If they sold well, they could make more next time.

They uploaded the cold-dish video that night as well, and the fans howled again:

—Bro, you used filters when filming, right? How can those cold dishes look so pretty and tempting? —Hahaha, no filters. They really are that tempting.

—Let me ask, is there anything you can't do? —There's still quite a lot, but I can learn. [Shy]

—We finally got to see your whole vegetable garden. Your strawberries grow so well, your eggplants grow well, and your green beans grow well too. I believe you're really a farmer now. —A genuine farmer, no imitation.

—Bro, do you have a girlfriend? —I have a partner.

—Blogger, blogger, can you share the mushroom sauce seasonings? —Sorry, it's a secret recipe, so I can't share it for now. But as usual, repost this video and tag someone, and I'll draw ten people to receive mushroom sauce.

—Bro, why not consider mailing us cold dishes? They won't spoil in this weather anyway. —Mm, I'll consider it.

—Bro, didn't you say you were opening a Taobao shop? Why isn't it online yet? —It'll be up soon. Don't rush.

—Bro, bro, if you can't share the seasonings, can you at least give us more detailed steps for making the cold dishes? You're killing me here. —Sure. Wait a moment, I'll add the full instructions shortly.

After replying to the fans one by one, Zhao Danshi rubbed his shoulder. "I'm exhausted today."

"It'll get better after a while." Li Ping comforted him while massaging him. "This year will be harder, but things may improve next year."

"I feel like we might never get any free time. Every time I think we're about to slow down, I come up with a new idea." Zhao Danshi sighed. "We really are too good at making money."

"Is being good at making money not a good thing?"

Zhao Danshi raised a hand and traced the air over Li Ping's smiling face, then sighed. "But sometimes we don't need that much money. Making it is especially tiring."