Chapter 105: Flowing Banquet

Chapter 105: The Rolling Banquet

Early the next morning, the Gu family courtyard once again stirred with activity.

Yet everyone's face showed a hint of weariness.

The previous day, the family had been buzzing, and in the afternoon they had discussed with the lizheng and the clan elder the matter of opening the ancestral hall to honor their ancestors.

The lizheng's lineage and Gu Daniu's lineage actually belonged to the same branch. Previously, Gu Daniu's lineage had been more prominent, but later, Gu Changhe's line produced Gu Xingzhi and then Gu Changhe himself, who became lizheng, which allowed that branch to surpass Gu Daniu's.

But at the end of the day, both lines were still one Gu family.

Gu Chaoning had come in first in the provincial exam, earning the title of jieyuan, and Gu Rong had also done well, coming in twenty-third.

So the lizheng had to write a letter to let Gu Xingzhi know and thank him.

Gu Xingzhi was serving as magistrate in Yonghuai County to the south. A letter sent from Dudu Town would take about three to five days to get there.

Chen Hengdao and Xu Huaisheng both came by to congratulate them. Gu Chaoning and Gu Rong also went to the village school to speak with Teacher Zhang, and filled in for him, teaching the students for a bit.

From town, Yin Hongxue's master, Painter Cen, came by. Wang Song, the innkeeper of Tongfu Inn, and Lin Qi, from the carpentry shop, also showed up upon hearing the news to congratulate them.

Things didn't quiet down until after dinner. Then their family and the lizheng's family talked about hosting a banquet together.

They couldn't swing a full rolling banquet, but they could definitely invite the whole village to a meal.

Back when Gu Chaoning and Gu Rong passed the xiucai exam, both families had wanted to throw a banquet, but the boys talked them out of it, saying the provincial exam was coming up and the xiucai title wasn't that big a deal.

They'd been held off once, twice, from tongsheng to xiucai to juren, but at the juren level, there was no holding them back.

And seeing how happy the family was, Gu Chaoning and Gu Wen didn't try to stop them this time either.

After a whole day of that chaos, getting up this early the next morning, no wonder everyone looked dead tired.

The three kids washed up first, Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu made breakfast, Gu Daniu mixed up feed for the chickens, ducks, pigs, and the mule out back, and Gu Wen checked the tools they'd be taking up the mountain.

In about half an hour, the Gu family was ready to head out.

Yin Hongxue grabbed his little box as usual and headed out. By then, plenty of villagers were already out and about, and they smiled and greeted Yin Hongxue as they passed.

Behind him, Gu Chaoning and the others led the mule and cart toward the back mountain.

The trail up the mountain was okay—not so rough that the mule and cart couldn't handle it—but some spots meant taking a longer way around, or if you didn't want to, you'd have to lift the cart over.

Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu had packed plenty of dried food and water, so they didn't mind the longer route. Plus, the mule and cart let them haul more.

The group headed to the bamboo grove farther out first and dug up bamboo shoots like crazy.

Bamboo shoots shrank a lot after blanching and drying, and they tasted great, so they were a favorite winter staple for folks in Xiaohe Village.

With so many hands, they quickly filled six baskets with bamboo shoots. They also picked some bamboo fungus, and Gu Wen caught two bamboo rats.

Going deeper, they spotted a small wooden cabin. The villagers and hunters had built it for folks coming up the mountain, and also as a place to stay if someone couldn't get back down before dark for whatever reason.

Further in or off to the sides, there were a few more cabins like this.

The Gu family stashed the bamboo shoot baskets in a corner of the cabin, then grabbed the rest of the sacks and baskets, led the mule and cart, and pushed deeper in.

Not far ahead was a chestnut grove—well, calling it a grove was a stretch, since there were only six trees. Gu Wen had found this spot while wandering around one day, and over the years of picking here, they'd never once run into other villagers.

Still, other people must have known about it, because sometimes when they showed up late, the chestnuts had already been picked.

When they got there, they first picked up the ones that had fallen. Chestnuts didn't store well, so the Gu family only filled four baskets.

Next, they headed to where they knew the walnut trees were, a walk of over half an hour.

On the way, they found a honey locust tree. Its pods hung in long strips, bigger than any they'd seen in the village or at the foot of the mountain.

Since they'd found it, there was no way they were passing it up. Gu Muan and Gu Chaoning picked up what had fallen, Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu pulled down low branches to pluck some, and Gu Wen and Gu Daniu joined in—one using a long stick, the other climbing right up the tree.

The whole family worked until they'd filled a full basket, then called it quits.

Going deeper, they came across a toon tree.

By this time of year, the toon leaves had already gotten tough, so they could only pinch off the tender tips here and there, ending up with half a basket.

The toon tree was on a ridge. Coming down from it, Gu Muan spotted a patch of wild yam vines tangled up like stinging nettles below.

Pushing the tangled leaves aside, they found a good number of wild yam bulbs underneath.

Yam bulbs were a great find. Gu Wen and Wang Xiuxiu both praised Gu Muan, and the little boy, all pleased, puffed up his chest and looked around, hoping to find more good stuff.

Speaking of wild yam, the vines had edible yam bulbs up top, and the yam roots grew down in the soil.

Luckily, they'd brought all the tools they needed. Gu Wen and Gu Daniu used hoes and shovels to dig up the yams, while Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu led the two children in picking the yam bulbs.

After working for half an hour, they'd gathered half a basket of yam bulbs and a full basket of yams before moving on.

The mountain really was bountiful. What should've been a half-hour walk from the chestnut grove to the walnut grove stretched into over an hour.

Besides the honey locust, toon, and yam, they also found some Jerusalem artichokes, ground silkworms, and wolfberries. Gu Muan, feeling bold from all the praise, looked up proudly and spotted a wild hawthorn tree too.

Jerusalem artichokes were crisp and sweet, great sliced and stir-fried or pickled. Ground silkworms, like Jerusalem artichokes, were eaten for their roots—plump, white, and ringed, looking just like silkworms, but just as tasty stir-fried or pickled.

Wolfberries needed no introduction—you could dry them and use them in stewed chicken or soak them in water. Wild hawthorns were tart and sweet, good for pastries or slicing and drying for snacks.

Chen Youyan also knew another way to fix them: wash the hawthorns, take out the pits, and simmer them with brown sugar and honey to make hawthorn jam—that was tasty too.

But that method was pretty extravagant, and Chen Youyan had never tried it.

When they finally reached the walnut grove, Gu Wen and Gu Daniu climbed the trees as usual, while Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu had Gu Chaoning and Gu Muan pick up the fallen walnuts and pluck from the lower branches.

By the walnut grove, they were already deep in the mountain compared to the woods they usually visited. Even with Gu Daniu and Gu Wen along, they didn't dare go any deeper.

So this time, they didn't hold back. Since walnuts stored well, they filled every remaining sack, packing a full ten.

Worried the mule cart might have trouble on the way back, each of the four adults carried a bamboo basket on their backs.

Gu Chaoning had decent stamina, so he carried one too—the lighter basket with the wild veggies.

The trip back took almost half again as long as the way up. On the way back, they passed a mountain spring with a low spot next to it.

Probably because it was damp there, they also picked some wild mushrooms.

Passing the small cabin, they stashed the bamboo shoots, and the path below got much easier to walk.

They got home around the hour of you (roughly 5–7 PM). Yin Hongxue was already back. He'd put the rice porridge on to cook and set a few cold steamed buns on the steamer.

Wang Xiuxiu went to the kitchen to check, praised Yin Hongxue for doing a good job, and told him there were wild fruits outside if he wanted some.

Gu Muan immediately went over to Yin Hongxue upon seeing him. Being the youngest, he wasn't expected to carry a basket.

For his age, it was already impressive that he walked on his own without asking to be carried. With so much to carry on the way down and having to watch out for Gu Muan, they took frequent breaks.

During one of those breaks, Gu Muan spotted two patches of wild raspberries. He picked them all and wrapped them in his handkerchief, carrying them the whole way, his mouth watering the entire time. Now washed, he brought them to share with Yin Hongxue.

Wang Xiuxiu and Chen Youyan were beat, so Gu Wen handled picking and chopping the veggies.

Wang Xiuxiu said dinner would be scrambled eggs with toon shoots, and Gu Daniu got up to head to the backyard to collect eggs. Just as he got up, Yin Hongxue said he'd already collected twelve chicken eggs and ten duck eggs earlier.

Turns out Yin Hongxue had already fed the chickens, ducks, and other livestock in the backyard after getting back, and grabbed the eggs while he was at it.

But Gu Daniu kept going. He led the mule to the backyard and scooped up a small bag of soybeans too.

The mule had worked hard today, so it earned a little extra grub.

When he heard there was toon, Yin Hongxue grabbed the wild raspberries and got up.

Gu Chaoning had carried the toon all the way back. He walked into the yard, set down his basket, and plopped down right next to it.

It had been a long, tiring day.

Yin Hongxue walked over, saw Gu Chaoning's pale face, and quickly pressed the last few wild raspberries in his palm to Gu Chaoning's lips.

The basket was right beside him. The toon only filled half the basket, and the bamboo fungus and wild mushrooms didn't add much, so he'd dug up some wild greens to fill it out.

The biggest haul was the water celery, which grew in the same spot as the wild mushrooms.

Water celery and toon both had a strong smell, which made the bamboo fungus and wild mushrooms seem pretty bland by comparison.

After dinner, once everyone had caught their breath, they blanched the wild toon, greens, and mushrooms that wouldn't keep, then hung them out to dry.

It was still warm and windy out, so leaving them outside wasn't a worry.

While cleaning up, they also counted up the day's haul—it was a full load, no doubt about it.

Six baskets of bamboo shoots, four baskets of chestnuts—half spiky, half smooth—and ten full sacks of hickory nuts.

The rest—yam beans, yams, bamboo fungus, wild mushrooms, water celery, toon, wild greens, hawthorn berries, soap pods, Jerusalem artichokes, ground silkworms, and more—made the whole trip worth it.

Just looking at all of it seemed to melt everyone's tiredness away.

Wang Xiuxiu smiled and said, "If we make two more trips like this, we won't have to worry about going hungry or running out of snacks this winter."

That was true. The paddy fish had done well, so they'd kept extra rice, dried and cured fish, and set aside more wheat too.

On top of that, they'd planted and stored soybeans, mung beans, fava beans, and peanuts.

The persimmon tree at home hadn't been picked yet. When they did pick it, they'd sell some, give some away, and keep the rest for themselves.

The wild persimmons Yin Hongxue, Gu Muan, and Xu Xiaoshui had picked earlier were still a bit astringent. Some were hung outside to dry in the sun, and Wang Xiuxiu had turned the rest into preserved persimmons.

They couldn't be eaten yet, but Yin Hongxue had tried them before and knew that crisp, sweet, fragrant taste.

Thinking about all this, he couldn't help but smile.

A full belly—just thinking about it made him happy.