Chapter 292: Comfortable

Chen Shu is naturally no stranger to cooking mushrooms.

Wild mushrooms are indeed delicious and not cheap, but to the people of Yuanzhou, they are not that rare; they are no different from ordinary vegetables. Naturally, there is no need to use overly elaborate methods to prepare them; meaningless fuss is mostly caused by poverty and scarcity, and the people of Yuanzhou do not lack these.

Chen Shu plans to stir-fry some Sword Shou Qing, stir-fry some chicken-oil yellow mushrooms with green peppers, and grab some morels and matsutake mushrooms to stir-fry with Cured Meat—home-style cooking.

The remaining mushrooms will be used to boil a pot of soup, making a hen and mushroom hot pot, which can be used to blanch other vegetables, otherwise it won't be enough for Zhang Suannai to eat.

"Chen Banxia? Chen Banxia?"

"Yeah!"

"Yo! You're not asleep? That's rare."

"Why are you calling your sister?"

"Use the food delivery app to buy a hen at the Lemon Supermarket. Don't have them chop it; I'll chop it myself when it arrives." Chen Shu paused. "By the way, discuss with the others and buy some vegetables you like that are suitable for a soup hot pot."

"Got it..."

"It's a mushroom soup pot, so use your own judgment. Don't go getting me things like tripe or duck intestines."

"Do I look that stupid?"

"Hard to say."

"Which kind of hen should I buy?"

"If you don't know which one to buy, just buy the most expensive one."

Chen Shu muttered to himself, it's not like I'm the one paying anyway.

Chen Banxia didn't mind, and her voice continued to come through: "I still have some ham brought from Yuanzhou here, do you want it?"

"Yes!"

Wild mushroom soup pot and ham are also a very good match.

Chen Shu continued to slice the Sword Shou Qing.

Sword Shou Qing is a type of bolete mushroom; because the exposed wound changes color rapidly after being cut, it is named Sword Shou Qing (See-Hand-Blue). Its taste is delicious and its texture unique, but eight or nine out of ten parts of its fame come from the hallucinogenic toxins it contains. It is rumored to be very mysterious, but in reality, the experience of those poisoned is not so pleasant; hallucinations are just one of many reactions, and one may also experience vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, and even life-threatening danger.

The more dangerous, the more fascinating.

Chen Shu picked up a slice of the freshly cut Sword Shou Qing, saw it turn into an indigo color rapidly, and handed it to Qingqing beside him:

"Come, Qingqing, open your mouth, taste a piece of fresh Sword Shou Qing."

"?"

"Forget it if you're not eating."

Chen Shu muttered as he put the Sword Shou Qing back onto the plate.

He washed his hands and continued to slice the ham.

High-quality ham, sliced into thin pieces, is appropriately salty and very delicious. It can be eaten raw or boiled in soup; adding it to the mushroom soup can significantly enhance the umami.

It's just a bit troublesome to slice.

Chen Shu picked up another slice and handed it to Qingqing.

This time she ate it.

When the vegetables ordered by Chen Banxia were delivered, Chen Shu started to clean the hen, preparing to boil the soup.

Then he stir-fried the Sword Shou Qing.

He was busy non-stop, but the process was very enjoyable.

Sword Shou Qing is a mushroom very suitable for stir-frying, but most tourists who come to Yuanzhou only ever eat it boiled in a soup pot.

The soup pot method is the safest.

Tossed into boiling water to cook, as long as the time is sufficient and the tourists don't drink the soup prematurely, the probability of poisoning is almost zero.

But to make it delicious, it still has to be stir-fried.

High heat and oil can stimulate the unique fragrance of Sword Shou Qing.

It can be stir-fried into shredded pork with green peppers, using it as a seasoning, or one can stir-fry chicken with Sword Shou Qing. Plain stir-fried Sword Shou Qing is also very delicious; mushrooms are one of the rare vegetarian dishes that can be very fresh without relying on meat.

At the same time, high heat is also the key to detoxification.

When stir-frying Sword Shou Qing, one must pay attention to two points: first, high heat and plenty of oil to ensure it is thoroughly cooked; second, avoid letting the mushrooms stick to the spatula, preventing them from being heated.

Most of those who get poisoned eating Sword Shou Qing are eating stir-fried Sword Shou Qing that was not fully cooked.

And just while they were cooking, the little girl sat on the sofa, constantly stealing glances at the backs of her sister and brother-in-law. Seeing that her brother-in-law tried to feed her sister raw Sword Shou Qing and her sister didn't get angry, and that her sister showed no signs of anger throughout the whole time, she couldn't help but frown, a guess forming in her heart.

Could it be that her sister never shifted from "No Anger" to "Chong Nu"?

Did her sister beat them today and tell her to wash clothes just to scare them on purpose? Was her sister actually not feeling any anger at all inside while she was beating them, but was secretly laughing instead?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was possible.

Anyway, her sister always has a deadpan face; even if she were secretly laughing inside, it wouldn't be visible on her face, unlike herself, whose expressions are vivid and lively.

But if that were the case...

Wouldn't she have suffered a huge loss?

The little girl clenched her fists.

That hateful Qingqing!

Soon it was lunchtime.

Her sister took a Portable Spiritual Power Stove, placed it on the table, then walked back to the kitchen, brought out a pot of mushroom soup, and said to them: "It must be at least twenty minutes before you can eat, especially you two; it doesn't matter for the others."

The little girl was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up and said: "Who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?"

The words landed.

Zhang Suannai, Chen Banxia, and Taozi all turned their heads to look at her.

"?"

Her sister also looked over at her.

Her gaze was very cold.

"Swish!"

The little girl stood up instantly, her expression serious, and bowed deeply to her sister: "I'm sorry, sister, I was just talking nonsense."

Zhang Suannai:...

Chen Banxia:...

Taozi:...

Ning Qing, meanwhile, walked silently back to the kitchen to continue serving the dishes.

Plate after plate of hot food was brought out and placed on the table; the variety was quite rich.

Finally, there were three stir-fried dishes: stir-fried blue-staining mushrooms, green peppers with chicken fat, and mushrooms stir-fried with Cured Meat; this was the result of the two of them working hard all morning.

The little girl honestly went to fetch the bowls, each person having a standard set of one soup bowl, one dipping dish, one rice bowl, a pair of chopsticks, and a soup spoon; she served rice for everyone, and when she served her sister, she even thoughtfully asked how much she wanted to eat.

"Can we eat now?"

Zhang Suannai was already impatient.

"Yes."

Chen Shu paused: "Taozi and Xiaoxiao, eat the stir-fried dishes first, then eat the things in the soup pot later; there's plenty, you won't be able to finish it all."

"Okay, brother-in-law."

"Woof~"

The five people and one cat began to eat.

Chen Shu first served himself a bowl of soup, which contained a few pieces of chicken, two slices of ham, and a piece of bamboo fungus, and tasted a spoonful—the chicken soup was the base flavor, blended with the different umami brought by the various mushrooms, while the ham added a touch of the salty, savory flavor of cured products; he was very satisfied with the taste.

This was destined to be a perfect lunch.

After the meal.

The little girl and Zhang Suannai diligently cleared the bowls and chopsticks.

Chen Shu sat on the sofa watching television, Qingqing sat beside him, and he held a plastic fan advertising hair loss treatment in his hand; he wasn't fanning himself, but just watching TV while unconsciously tapping Qingqing's thigh with the fan, one tap after another.

Qingqing ignored this.

When the little girl and Zhang Suannai came out of the kitchen and saw this scene, they couldn't help but look at each other again, but this time they said nothing and just sat down silently on the side.

Until Chen Shu felt bored and started scrolling through short videos.

One could tell the type of video from the music.

Soon, a piece of dynamic music started playing.

Ning Qing listened for a few seconds, then silently moved her gaze away from the television and turned toward him.

Chen Shu was engrossed in watching, but suddenly sensed something was wrong; he looked over the top of his Mobile Phone and happened to meet Qingqing's eyes.

"... Why are you staring at me?"

"Is it good-looking?"

"What?"

"Is it good-looking?"

"It's... it's alright... it has a certain effect on treating my eye ailment." Chen Shu snuck a glance at her and quickly added, "Of course, it's still not as good-looking as you."

"Then why are you still watching!"

"I can't help it, the system pushes these to me; actually, I don't like watching them at all."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Then give me your Mobile Phone."

"What do you want to do?"

"Help you block them."

"That's not necessary, it's too much trouble."

"Give it to me."

"No!"

"?"

"Why are you looking at me with that expression? If I say no, I mean no!"

"??"

"Oh my! That's a fierce look! If you're not convinced, let's have a duel!"

Hearing this, the little girl on the side rolled her eyes a few more times and exchanged a look with Zhang Suannai, but she still didn't say a word, choosing instead to continue observing.

Ning Qing pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes:

"Fine."

"Okay, I surrender!"

"?"

"As expected of Secretary Ning! I am convinced by my defeat!"

"The Mobile Phone."

"Here, take it, take it."

The little girl and Zhang Suannai exchanged another look; one had "as expected" in her eyes, while the other's eyes were full of disappointment and disdain.

Ning Qing took the Mobile Phone and said nothing, instead checking this person's follows and likes first.

Very good, there were no female influencers in the following list, and even apart from Crown Princess Zhusha and two famous female singers, there were very few female bloggers, and the few that were there were either comedic or showcased traditional clothing and traditional culture.

The list of likes was very cluttered.

There were travel landscapes, song sketches, countryside scenes and memories, cute moments of pets, various lectures and popular science, nail art tutorials...

The range was extremely broad.

Occasionally seeing a few videos by female bloggers, they were not purely "edge-balling" content; they either displayed the beauty of clothing, the beauty of art, or a funny Spirit Soul, without those that only featured thighs and breasts.

Ning Qing was relatively satisfied.

Immediately, for the rest of the afternoon, she kept using Chen Shu's Mobile Phone to scroll through videos, and as soon as she scrolled to a female influencer, she would immediately long-press and select "not interested."

Chen Shu felt helpless yet amused.

This woman, she really is petty.

What was even more helpless for Zhang Suannai and the little girl was that they discovered that, toward Chen Shu, Qingqing seemed as if she would never get angry. They even began to suspect that the times in the past when Qingqing pretended to be angry in front of Chen Shu were also completely faked.

Never would they have expected that, in the end, Chen Shu still got beaten.

The little girl and Zhang Suannai did not know why either; they just heard him mention his twenty-third birthday in ten days, and as he spoke, he revealed a meaningful expression toward Qingqing. After Qingqing looked at him for a while, her expression gradually turned from cold to a smile, and she put away the Mobile Phone.

Her movements and expression were the same as before she beat them in the morning.

Seeing that her brother-in-law had absolutely no way to escape, the little girl shouted, "Brother-in-law, run!"

Just as she shouted, her brother-in-law had already been grabbed by the collar by her sister, and he only turned his head calmly to say to her:

"It's too late."

The little girl watched silently, not answering—

She naturally knew it was too late.

It was precisely because it was too late that she had shouted.

Afterward, it was her sister pinning her brother-in-law onto the sofa; while her brother-in-law struggled, he kept saying things like "You clearly promised me, I don't accept this," and the little girl and Zhang Suannai looked at each other in dismay, both blinking their eyes.

"Boom!"

"Do you accept it?"

"You go back on your word!"

"Boom!"

"Do you accept it?"

"You flip-flop!"

"Boom!"

"How about now?"

"Shu, I accept it!"

"Boom!"

"Shu! I accept it!"

"Boom!"

"I said! I, Shu, accept it! Do you not have ears? Can't you understand human language?"

"Boom!"

"Still hitting? Are you sick?"

"Still playing with puns, it seems you can take a few more punches!"

"..."