Chapter 11

For most of the afternoon, Sang Luo stripped hemp while Shen An and Shen Ning gathered Fairy Tree leaves to make their new dish.

Making Fairy Tofu was simple, and Sang Luo didn’t hide the process from the siblings. Shen Ning showed a special talent in this, following Sang Luo’s morning instructions to process the leaves.

With Sang Luo occasionally pointing out key techniques, Shen Ning managed to complete the process without Sang Luo’s help. By the end, Shen Ning was thrilled: “Sister-in-law, is it done now?”

Sang Luo teased: “It’s done. Just wait for it to set, and our Ning will be a skilled little lady.”

Shen Ning smiled shyly: “It's because sister-in-law was willing to teach me.”

The kids cleaned and tidied up the used pots and pans. Sang Luo glanced at the sky, immersed the stripped hemp in a makeshift pool in the downstream part of the mountain spring, and said, “Let’s go collect the fish traps. Whether we have extra dishes tonight depends on our luck and the traps' bounty.”

This statement instantly excited the young siblings.

Arriving at the stream where they had set the fish traps, Sang Luo put her index finger to her lips.

The unfamiliar gesture was miraculously understood by Shen An and Shen Ning, who both suppressed their excitement and fell silent in unison.

Sang Luo quietly removed her shoes, making her movements as subtle as possible as she entered the water, slowly approaching the trap she had set.

The siblings didn’t dare join her in the water to collect the fish; their harvest depended on it. Standing shoulder to shoulder on the bank, they watched Sang Luo intently, holding their breath as she reached the trap and gently slid her hand into the water, their excitement palpable.

Sang Luo was equally focused, touching the basket and then swiftly lifting it halfway out of the water.

It was heavy!

Of course, a basket full of stones would be heavy!

Carrying the hefty basket ashore, the children on the bank jumped excitedly, remaining silent due to the proximity of the other trap, their silent exhilaration evident.

As the basket hit the shore and the water drained, the distinctive sound of something flapping against the stones grew louder.

Shen An exclaimed with subdued excitement, “Sister-in-law, there are fish!”

His voice was low, but his excitement was clear.

Seeing the kids reaching for the stones, Sang Luo quickly intervened: “Don’t touch, let me do it.”

It wasn’t that she wanted to dampen their spirits, but she was cautious they might accidentally uncover a water snake amidst their excitement.

Although Shen An didn’t quite grasp his sister-in-law's concern, his admiration for her was undeniable, especially with the continuous splashing sounds from the basket.

She’s so capable!

Sang Luo carefully lifted each stone and gently placed it on the ground. After removing seven or eight stones, the fish became visible.

“Fish!” Shen Ning exclaimed, thrilled: “Sister-in-law, there are three!”

“Four, five now!”

The siblings were eager to lend a hand.

With only a thin layer of stones left at the bottom of the basket, revealing the bottom and ensuring no hidden dangers, Sang Luo smiled and whispered, “You can pick them up now!”

Given the green light, the two joyfully dove in, almost bumping heads as they eagerly rummaged through the basket, growing more excited with each find.

“So many fish, and even shrimp!”

“Look, tadpoles too!”

“And crabs!”

Peering in, Sang Luo couldn’t help but marvel at the abundance of ancient times. The bottom of the basket was alive with movement, with at least fifteen or sixteen fish, the smallest no longer than a finger, and the largest as big as her palm. There were plenty of shrimp and crabs too.

This was a great haul. In her previous life in the modern era, despite living in the mountains, a basket usually yielded only five or six fish, and on unlucky days, just one or two.

Allowing the children to carefully remove the stones, Sang Luo went back into the water to retrieve the basket set by Shen An and Shen Ning. Lifting it carefully after removing the larger stones and ensuring no frightening creatures were inside, she passed the task to the eager siblings.

Watching from the side, she was impressed to see about thirty or forty fish in total!

Sang Luo carefully selected and returned five or six smaller fish back to the stream.

Shen An looked confused, “Big sister, why are you letting them go?”

“They’re too small, barely any meat on them. Better to let them grow,” she replied.

Shen An swallowed hard, looking wistfully at the stream.

“Big sister, a little bit of meat is still meat,” he murmured.

Sang Luo, seeing his expression, couldn’t help but laugh. She playfully tugged his hair, still with damp hands, and said, “Alright, there are plenty of streams like this in the mountains. If you put in the effort and time, you won’t lack for fish. Let the little ones grow. That way, you’ll always have fish to catch.”

Shen An blinked, seeming to understand her logic.

Shen Ning added from the side, “Big brother used to catch fish for us, but he never kept the small ones.”

Shen An nodded, “Got it, big sister. How about the shrimp we caught? Do we just pick them up?”

“They’ll all scatter if we try to pick them up at the shore.”

“We should use the basket,” Sang Luo said, transferring the cleaned fish and crabs from one basket to another. Once finished, she carried the basket towards where they set the shrimp traps.

Sang Luo carefully lifted the trap and shook it vigorously into the empty basket, raising her eyebrows at the abundance of shrimp: “That's quite a lot!”

She gathered all the branches set up in various places and headed back to shore.

Removing the branches, they found they had caught about half a bowl of shrimp, along with three crabs.

“We've got a great haul! We’re in for a treat tonight!”

The siblings couldn't contain their excitement and cheered aloud.

Shen An, quick to react, suggested, “Big sister, let's set the traps again for tomorrow morning!”

Sang Luo agreed, “Sure, but let's move a bit further up.”

It wasn’t that she feared exhausting the spot in two or three tries, but since they had set several traps here already, the next catch would likely be smaller.

Shen An and Shen Ning, one carrying an empty basket and the other holding several bundles of branches, happily ran ahead, with Sang Luo following, carrying the basket full of fish.

This time, the children didn’t need Sang Luo’s guidance and could manage on their own.

After setting several traps, Shen An looked at the fish-filled basket in Sang Luo’s hands with a hint of regret, “We should have brought our clay pot. We could have set more traps.”

Sang Luo, who hadn’t thought of this before leaving, responded, “Remember that for next time. Let's head back and prepare a delicious meal!”

Shen An glanced at the basket in Sang Luo's hands and, feeling content, reached out to take it: “Big sister, let me carry this.”

Shen Ning also chimed in: “I want to help too!”

Sang Luo, knowing the children were just too excited, let them help: “You two can carry it together. Watch out for the crabs. Hold a stick in your hand, and if they climb up, just push them back down. Don’t get pinched.”

A crab pinch can be quite painful.

“Okay!”

Shen An looked around and snapped a branch from a tree by the stream, stripped it of leaves, split it in two, kept one for himself and handed the other to Shen Ning. Then, the siblings happily carried the basket and started their journey home.

Sang Luo led the way but didn’t rush, her eyes constantly scouring the ground around them.

Noticing this, Shen Ning curiously asked, “Big sister, what are you looking for?”

“Wild ginger. Fish has a fishy smell, and adding ginger helps remove it. It makes the dish taste much better.”

Shen Ning looked confused.

Indeed, ginger existed in this era but was not widely used. At the time, ginger was more commonly found in wealthy households as a seasoning and more often as a medicinal herb in pharmacies. Dry ginger was sold, but fresh ginger as a spice was quite expensive.

For rural families, even oil and salt were considered luxuries, let alone spending a significant amount of money on ginger for seasoning.

In Sang Luo's original era, ginger was also a luxury. The 'Historical Records: Treatise on Money Making' mentions, 'A thousand plots of ginger and leeks, the owner equals a thousand-household official.'

In this era, similar to Shen An and Shen Ning, most people hadn’t heard of ginger. Sang Luo knew about ginger in this time period and its approximate price because the original person she replaced was born into a common family where ginger was used in cooking meat and often in brewing ginger soup to ward off colds.

She explained, “Ginger is not only useful in cooking but also as a medicinal herb. For colds and flu, drinking water boiled with ginger is beneficial. However, it’s quite expensive in the market. You could look for wild ginger, which has leaves resembling bamboo leaves and yellow, knobby rhizomes. It usually grows under trees or on shady hillsides, possibly even in bamboo forests. Keep an eye out for it; it’s valuable. In winter, it can be kept as a medicine, or you can try planting some.”

In fact, Sang Luo wasn’t sure if wild ginger existed at this time; it wasn’t part of her predecessor’s memories. She was mainly looking for it now because of the fish dish she wanted to prepare, hoping to get lucky.

Hearing it was a valuable medicinal herb, the siblings exchanged glances and nodded in agreement: “Okay, we’ll pay more attention from now on. If we see anything like it, we’ll bring it back for you to see, big sister!”

Shen Ning was admiring Sang Luo at the moment, thinking as they walked, “Big sister, you know so much! About fishing, making fairy tofu, recognizing wild ginger, and even treating colds.”

Shen An, who had been alert for plants resembling bamboo leaves that might be wild ginger, paused suddenly upon hearing this.