The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Yishan and Yuchuan sat on the bed, their hearts stirred as they watched their wife carrying Fourth Brother through the open door.

Her body was so thin and fragile; it seemed a gust of wind could blow her away.

She had too much determination and was so capable, holding up the falling Xiao family. No matter how hard or tired, they had never heard her complain about being tired.

They had never heard her cry out in fatigue.

Nor had they ever seen her complain about anyone in the family.

The two of them only wanted to get better as soon as possible so that she wouldn’t have to work so hard anymore. They wanted to provide her with comfort and protection under their wings.

Qingyue carried Qinghe to the side of the bed, where he sat down and placed the vegetable basket on the table, taking out half a bowl of fried fish, a bowl of rice, and two bowls.

The food had cooled, and they hadn’t reheated it in the hot summer night.

The four of them silently and warmly ate dinner together, sharing one big bowl of fried fish divided into two smaller bowls.

After dinner, while clearing the dishes, Qingyue said, “Today, I collected a thousand jin of bayberries and 12,000 jin of fresh ferns.”

The three men were a bit surprised.

“So many…” Yishan looked at her, “Yue’er, do you have any plans?

She said, “Bayberries are almost out of season, and there probably won’t be much to collect in the future. I guess there are still some deep in the mountains. As for the fresh ferns, after seeing me making money, almost everyone in the village has been picking fresh ferns. Our village is a big one, with over a hundred households. Although some wealthier families didn’t go foraging for ferns, some gathered several hundred jin. With hundreds of jin per household and thousands for ten households, it’s not surprising to have near tens of thousands for close to a hundred households. The fresh ferns in the village have been completely collected. I weighed them around a hundred and fifty times today. It cost 250 cents to purchase a thousand jin of bayberries, and 6,000 cents for 12,000 jin of fresh ferns. I piled the bayberries in the kitchen, and the storage room is filled with ferns. Half of the secondary bedroom is also piled up.”

The men listened and waited for her to continue.

She put the cleaned bowl and chopsticks into the vegetable basket, “Today’s purchase cost a total of 6,250 cents, which is just under eight taels of silver, purely at a low price.”

“It’s pretty cheap.” Yishan nodded, “But no one wanted wild bayberries and ferns in previous years. You being able to buy them is also helping the villagers make some money.”

Yuchuan said, “Dear, I know why you bought bayberries; you want to make bayberry wine. But you promised the Shopkeeper of Rich Source Tavern that you won’t sell fried fern dishes anymore, so what’s the point of collecting so many? You said that by the time ferns are available next year, many people would have already figured out how to remove the astringency from the ferns, right?”

“Third brother is pretty smart, guessing that I’ll make bayberry wine.” Su Qingyue hooked her lip, “Of course I won’t sell stir-fried ferns, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t sell dried ferns.”

“Dried ferns?” Yishan asked, “Can ferns be made into dried ones?”

“Yes. Second brother, actually, ferns can not only be made dry, but they can also be pickled into fermented ferns, just like how villagers pickle radishes.”

Yishan wondered, “Pickled ferns are occasionally made by some people. As for

drying ferns, some people have tried it in the past, but it doesn’t taste good when frying; it’s dry and hard.”

“Of course, it won’t taste good if you just fry it directly. There’s a trick to preparing dried ferns. Plus, before frying, they must be soaked for two hours to soften. Otherwise, it won’t be delicious..”