Clear Breeze Temple was not far away, and the pan-fried dumplings had probably only just come out of the pan, so they were still slightly warm in their hands. They were filled with shepherd's purse and pork, their wrappers fried a light golden brown. With one bite, meat juices flowed out through the opening, mingling with the fresh fragrance of shepherd's purse-a taste unique to spring.
They popped them into their mouths one after another, and the little box of dumplings in front of each person was soon empty.
Before eating, they had not felt particularly hungry, but those few dumplings had whetted their appetites, and now everyone suddenly felt hungry.
Although it was not completely dark yet, night would fall quickly. Besides, they had to eat anyway. After a little thought, Xu Fugui decided to take everyone up to Clear Breeze Temple for dinner first and leave the remaining rice paddies until after they had eaten tomorrow.
Old Master Lin usually took care of his own meals in the village. For the sake of farming, he had specifically rented an old house with a courtyard there. Of course, Yun Zhaozhao had paid the rent for him.
Today, since Xu Fugui and the others were all going to Clear Breeze Temple for dinner, and Yun Zhaozhao had specifically called him ahead of time, he had not cooked either, deciding to go up with them.
Xu Fugui had wanted to invite Xu Tingting along too, but she said she had to return to school that evening and also needed to go home to pick up some things, so he had to give up.
In the end, the seven of them rode Grandpa Lin's old hand-cranked tractor to the entrance of Qingfeng Park just before darkness fell.
During the day, Qingfeng Park was not much different from other parks, but at night, the difference between it and the parks in the city became obvious. In city parks, no matter how late it was, there might still be elderly people strolling or square dancing, but Qingfeng Park was already completely quiet at this hour. Even the security guard at the entrance had gone home.
So Xu Fugui drove the walking tractor straight into the park. If there had not been steps outside Clear Breeze Temple, he would have liked nothing better than to drive it right inside.
Unlike the deserted, silent Qingfeng Park, Clear Breeze Temple was quite lively at the moment.
A large pot had been set up in the rear courtyard, with an assortment of small fish bubbling away inside.
In the kitchen beside it, Daoist Chang Kong was directing Daoist Priest Jingting as he kneaded dough, because he would be making mixed-grain pancakes beside the big pot shortly.
In another room, Lin Banxia and Xiaojiu were opening jars and drawing out wine. This time, it was not the hawthorn wine Daoist Chang Kong had brewed before. They were drawing out the peach blossom wine and pear blossom liquor he had brewed recently.
The peach blossom wine was made from peach blossoms and red wine, while the pear blossom liquor, as its name suggested, combined pear blossoms with baijiu. Although part of Xiaojiu's name sounded like the word for alcohol, she actually never touched a drop. Lin Banxia was different. She had grown up with her grandfather and had started tasting medicinal liquor with him when she was very young. At first, it had been a drop or two, then a sip or two. By now, she could basically handle a glass or two without a problem and a bottle or two without falling over.
So the sight of alcohol interested her even more than the sight of meat.
Lin Banxia said, "This is the season to steep medicinal liquor. And now that spring is here and the flowers are blooming, the venomous snakes are all coming out too. We could catch a couple on the mountain out back and make a few jars."
Xiaojiu went completely silent at that, not daring to say a word. Ever since she had seen Lin Banxia giving Jingting acupuncture in the rear courtyard last time, Lin Banxia had become the person she feared most in Clear Breeze Temple. Especially since, after needling Jingting that time, Lin Banxia could no longer find anyone in the temple willing to let her practice acupuncture on them. So she would roll up her sleeves and needle herself instead. Often, as Xiaojiu watched Lin Banxia turn herself into a pincushion, she would find herself thinking, This woman is ruthless. When she gets ruthless, she even sticks needles into herself.
Just as she could not help thinking something similar now, hearing Lin Banxia talk about catching venomous snakes more casually than catching frogs.
Everyone in Clear Breeze Temple was busy with their own tasks, which made Yun Zhaozhao look particularly idle.
In fact, Yun Zhaozhao really had been quite idle lately.
Apart from talking and offering everyone ideas, she had not done any other work for a long time. It was nothing like when Clear Breeze Temple had first been established, when she had not only worked part-time as HR to recruit people every day, but also handled the accounts as a part-time accountant, and even worked part-time in sales, going out to run a stall with Daoist Chang Kong...
Compared with back then, Yun Zhaozhao was much more like a temple master now-or rather, more like the temple's treasured centerpiece.
After greeting Yun Zhaozhao, Xu Fugui and his group gathered around the stove to wait for dinner. Unlike Xu Fugui, whose head was filled with nothing but food, Grandpa Lin still had some proper business on his mind.
He had even brought a little notebook along to dinner today to report on his work to Yun Zhaozhao. Really, calling it a work report was just a matter of telling her how many mu of wheat, rice, and tea he had planted so far, and how many mu of rice and wheat remained unplanted...
Yun Zhaozhao's response was the same as ever. "Just go ahead and do it. Whether you need more workers or more money, tell me, and I'll figure something out."
Grandpa Lin nodded and looked toward Xu Fugui's group. "Today's batch of workers was pretty good."
Yun Zhaozhao followed Grandpa Lin's gaze, then suddenly said, "I heard Lin Banxia mention once that back in your hometown, there's a way of raising fish where you put fish and loaches straight into the rice paddies. Then, when the rice is ready to harvest, you can harvest a batch of wild fish and wild loaches at the same time, right?"
Grandpa Lin nodded. "There is indeed a method like that. Fish raised that way have a lovely name: rice blossom fish. Some people even put softshell turtles in there and call them rice blossom turtles."
Yun Zhaozhao asked, "Did Xu Fugui and the others finish planting the rice today?"
Grandpa Lin shook his head. "There's still a little left. But they should be able to finish tomorrow."
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Then how about this? Get up early tomorrow and buy a batch of fish fry and loaches at the market. If the softshell turtles aren't expensive, buy some of those too. Then put them into the rice paddies in front of Xu Fugui."
Grandpa Lin understood instantly. "...Casting a long line to catch a big fish, eh?"
Yun Zhaozhao said leisurely, "Even a mule needs a carrot dangling in front of it to work. Naturally, we have to give the foodies something to look forward to as well. Otherwise, what if they don't come next time?"
Grandpa Lin sighed with heartfelt admiration. "If our Banxia had half your brains, she wouldn't still be thinking about sticking needles into other people every day."
Yun Zhaozhao said, "You flatter me. Besides, Banxia doesn't needle other people anymore. She's switched to needling herself."
Grandpa Lin: "..." She wasn't all that bright to begin with. Now it feels like she's getting even worse.
Chapter 33
That evening, Daoist Chang Kong cooked these middle-aged and elderly babies, who had worked so hard in the fields, a pot of assorted small fish he had raised himself in the pool. In addition, he cooked cakes along the sides of the pot, using wheat flour produced by the vegetable-delivery auntie's family.
Although the little fish had plenty of bones, they were delicious, and the broth was rich. As for the cakes cooked against the pot, they were crisp outside and tender within, golden and crunchy.
Besides this big pot of small fish and cakes, Daoist Chang Kong also made stir-fried river snails and Indian aster tossed with dried tofu at Xu Fugui's request.
There was a saying, "Qingming snails beat a fat goose," meaning that river snails were at their plumpest and tastiest before the Qingming Festival. Xu Fugui sampled this delicacy almost every year, but he did not know how to cook them himself, so he usually ate them at restaurants. However, restaurant snails were never cleaned particularly thoroughly, and he often got sand and grit in his mouth, leaving this delicacy just a little short of perfect.
But no one knew how Daoist Chang Kong had cleaned these snails. In any case, they were spotless inside, without the slightest trace of grit.
He stir-fried the cleaned snails with broad bean chili paste, the wild mountain chilies unique to Clear Breeze Mountain, and scallions, ginger, and garlic. Once the aroma of stir-fried snails filled the entire Clear Breeze Temple courtyard, Daoist Chang Kong cracked open a can of beer and poured it in. Just before taking them out of the wok, he added a handful of green garlic leaves.
To make snails taste good, it was essential to leave a little sauce, so that slurping them out with the juices made them even more flavorful.
In any case, this bowl of stir-fried snails hit Xu Fugui right in the heart. All his hard work organizing his old friends to come and do hard labor for Yun Zhaozhao had not been wasted.
The others who had come with him were not particularly interested in the stir-fried snails, but they were very pleased with the pot of assorted small fish.
Even people who were not good cooks knew that small fish could taste terribly fishy if not prepared properly, and stewing different kinds together could easily turn the whole pot into fish mush. But every single fish in Daoist Chang Kong's pot had remained perfectly intact. Even their skins had been fried beautifully. The savory flavors of the different fish mingled and infused one another, making every mouthful feel like a surprise.
And whether poured over rice or used as a dip for the cakes, the fish broth was delicious. As the group ate the fish broth and sipped their drinks, they felt that even the lives of immortals could be no better than this.
Originally, they had planned to return to their normal retirement routines tomorrow after this meal and their half-day experience of transplanting rice. But while eating, they unexpectedly overheard Yun Zhaozhao and Grandpa Lin discussing putting fish fry and softshell turtles into the rice paddies tomorrow.
Rice-paddy fish and rice-paddy turtles... Xu Fugui had lived for over sixty years and had never tried anything so novel! Just thinking about it made his mouth water.
So Xu Fugui made absolutely no mention of not coming to transplant rice tomorrow. He even volunteered that he would definitely arrive on time in the morning.
Once Xu Fugui spoke up, the others followed suit. In the end, apart from one person who genuinely had something to do tomorrow and could not come, everyone said they would keep coming.
Yun Zhaozhao secretly gloated, but outwardly put on an affectedly innocent air as she replied, "But wouldn't that be too much trouble for everyone?"
Xu Fugui set down the snail he had just sucked clean and declared generously, "What trouble? We should be thanking Clear Breeze Temple for giving us this chance to exercise! And I've already thought it through. Once we finish transplanting the seedlings tomorrow, we can come back later to help take pictures of the rice paddies and tea plantation to promote Clear Breeze Temple. Aren't plenty of city people yearning for this kind of pastoral life these days? Clear Breeze Mountain may be a little way from the city, but it's still much better than those out-of-the-way villages with poor transport links..."