Chapter 236

When the aged man heard that Yuan Zhou wanted to eat the famous dish of the village, he naturally felt very happy . However, famous dishes were usually rare . Anyone who would like to eat it had to look for the ingredients by themselves . This was the rule of the village .

“You are welcomed to savor it . You can go to the needle peak to try your fortune alone tomorrow . Somebody managed to pick it several months ago over there . ” The warm-hearted aged man showed to Yuan Zhou the mountain peak like a finger in the distance .

“Humm . Do you have the picture of the mushroom?” Before Yuan Zhou came here, he had once heard of a famous dish originated here .

With the name of “Wu Chicken”, it was said to be a dish of the royal palace and was once served in the Banquet of Thousand Aged People held by Kang-hsi Emperor . As a result, it naturally had its own fame and rule . However, it had been lost for a long time .

The reason why the Yanfeng Village was famous was because every villager could cook this dish . Besides, there was once a chef working in the royal kitchen and he was also from the village .

“No, I don’t . But it’s very easy to recognize it . You’ll know what the mushroom is like when you see it . ” The aged man revealed a mysterious smile after he finished .

“Ok . ” Yuan Zhou nodded the head .

“Here we are . This is the house of this aged man . The contiguous room is for you . You can prepare some foodstuff and cook in the kitchen . The oven is over there . ” The aged man pointed at the neighboring two stone rooms and then at the small shed behind them and explained one by one .

“Thank you . ” Yuan Zhou nodded the head and thanked him .

Following a sound of “zhi ya”, Yuan Zhou pushed open the wooden door . Unexpectedly, the room was quite clean . There was only a stone bed, a stone table and an empty wooden box inside .

“It’s clean, isn’t it?” The aged man stood behind Yuan Zhou and asked him proudly .

“Yeah, it’s very clean . Thank you . ” Yuan Zhou nodded the head and went up to put down the backpack .

“Of course . I clean the room every day . Those people like to live in my house very much . ” After a proud smile, the aged man turned around and left .

He put down his stuff, took out his phone and checked the time . It was 3:00 in the afternoon . China Mobile was powerful . Even in the mountain area, there was still one signal bar .

“Time for lunch . ” Yuan Zhou had been travelling around all the time in the morning and hence, didn’t get time to eat .

With a sound of “Peng”, he shut the door and prepared to go out with only a wallet .

“Young man, I cooked a bowl of noodles just now . Do you eat it?” While the aged man was coming out from the small shed with a white porcelain bowl in his hand, he just bumped into Yuan Zhou who was walking toward him and then asked him enthusiastically .

“Great . Thanks a lot . ” Yuan Zhou received the big bowl, inside of which there were some white noodles and a poached egg as well as some chopped green onion .

“I especially put some beef tallow inside . Just try the taste . It’s the specialty here in our village . ” The aged man revealed an expression of pride . He presumably went to cook the noodles after he left just now as Yuan Zhou had told him that he didn’t have lunch .

“Yes . It smells good . ” Yuan Zhou nodded the head .

“All right . Just eat it up . But I have to suggest that you go to look for the golden mushroom early if you want to eat that dish . ” The aged man waved his hand and returned to his own room .

“Many thanks . ” After thanking him, Yuan Zhou put the bowl on the table and began to eat .

Actually, beef tallow wasn’t really suitable to put into the bland noodles . However, Yuan Zhou felt the noodles were sweet and fragrant as well as chewy . Therefore, he ate the noodles up and even drank up the broth in the end .

As he had lunch too late, he ate it slowly and eventually finished the meal at 4:00 pm . He then went out of the room and washed the bowl first . After that, he started on a journey to the needle peak .

As far as Yuan Zhou knew, the dish was actually the stewed chicken with the mushroom . The mushroom was called the Golden Mushroom .

This mushroom was quite suitable to grow in the soil rich in metals . It was said that if one could find the wild Golden Mushroom, he found the gold mine . That’s why people called this kind of mushroom as Golden Mushroom . What it meant could easily be seen .

The shape of the mushroom was unknown to him . He only knew the taste was incomparably fresh and delicate . Normally, mushrooms grown in the soil rich in metal weren’t supposed to be edible . Nevertheless, it was not so for this mushroom . It not only had an incomparably delicate taste but also tasted smooth and tender while being eaten . The taste was extremely great .

The very dish served in the Banquet of Thousand Aged People used Bian Chicken, also known as Youyu Chicken in Shanxi Province, as the main food material . It was actually Dagu Chicken brought in from Fengtian area when Suidong Siqi Region was reclaimed and cultivated . After domestication, the chicken multiplied, expanded and then formed a distinct breed with the characteristic of decent meat quality, good adaptability and cold resistance . It was especially suitable to stew the chicken soup .

“Ka Cha Ka Cha”, Yuan Zhou walked unhurriedly on the small path covered with pebbles all along and was occasionally greeted by some people .

“Are you here to buy the honey? When will you start?” The curious middle-aged women asked him one after another .

“I won’t buy much . So don’t wait for me,” Yuan Zhou straightforwardly said .

“You must be here to pick the Golden Mushroom . Don’t linger here too late . The mountain paths are bad . ” When they heard Yuan Zhou did not intend to buy much, they didn’t get annoyed . Instead, they reminded him kindly .

“Humm, thank you . ” Yuan Zhou thanked them while walking forward .

“You are welcome . Go back early . ” While the villagers’ words were still lingering in his ears, Yuan Zhou had walked far .

The needle peak was virtually not too far from the village . But as soon as Yuan Zhou arrived at the place, Yuan Zhou understood what the aged man meant .

This needle peak was covered with pointed stones everywhere . Shadows of the plants would be very conspicuous . However, people would get hurt on the feet due to slightest carelessness if they walked on the pointed stones . Yuan Zhou’s hands and eyes were flexible, sensitive, and well cooperated with each other, but the cooperation of his feet and eyes were not so good .

“Si”, Yuan Zhou gasped . In just a little while, he had gotten hurt several times . As for the Golden Mushroom, he hadn’t seen even one of them .

There was nobody else on the needle peak at that time . Therefore, Yuan Zhou had to look for the mushroom carefully alone .

“It’s truly like a mermaid that walks with pain for every step . It’s just that there’s no princess ahead waiting for me to marry,” when Yuan Zhou hurt his feet again, he said with a sense of mockery .

It was gradually getting dark . Not to mention the Golden Mushroom, even a green plant wasn’t seen by him . Around the small needle peak, Yuan Zhou had only likewise searched at this place by half .

At that time, he intended to return on the same route . Of course, he had also thought of going back along other routes, but he found his learning abilities had been greatly improved . For the short distance, he didn’t get hurt anymore .

It took Yuan Zhou only forty minutes to walk from Yanfeng Village to the needle peak, but 1 hour to go back as the bloody blisters on his feet made him ache . Therefore, he walked not so quickly as before .

While hurting on the way back, Yuan Zhou turned on the mode of self-mockery, “It seems I have become delicate now . Such a short distance surprisingly gives my feet bloody blisters . ”

Yuan Zhou felt rather speechless when he saw the three bloody blisters on the sole of his feet . He put on the shoes and headed directly for the village without piercing the bloody blisters .

When he barely arrived at the house he rented, Yuan Zhou found a boy standing at the door .

“You are back, uncle . ” He appeared to be only 5 or 6 years old . Standing in the dim light, Yuan Zhou found there seemed to be some red spots on the boy’s face .

However, Yuan Zhou cared more about how the boy called him .

“You should call me elder brother,” said Yuan Zhou with an expressionless face .

“But you are much older than me . I should call you uncle,” said the boy naturally . He wasn’t shy of strangers at all .

“I’m not older than you that much . Just call me elder brother . ” Yuan Zhou insisted .

“Uncle, you are obviously much elder than me,” the boy reached out his hand and measured his height with Yuan Zhou’s and then said firmly .

“I’m just taller than you . Call me elder brother,” said Yuan Zhou persistently .

“I’m here to ask if you want to eat?” Only by then did the boy recall his own purpose of coming here . He paid no attention to Yuan Zhou’s request and still called him uncle .

“Yes, of course . Show me the way, please . Call me elder brother . ” Yuan Zhou continued talking to him .

“Well, you are so wordy, uncle . ” The boy took an impatient look at Yuan Zhou, meaning approximately, “You are so naive . “

Then, Yuan Zhou became depressed . . .