37 A Unique Time II (1/2)

Jiang Huiqin's movement slowly returned to its original pace as her body was warmed by the fire. Yet, her body was still trembling, the fire wasn't enough during the winter if they weren't indoors. She then counted everything she managed to salvage from the garbage pile before climbing up with a satisfied look.

”Those idiots with their happy faces when they took those two planks away from me,” Jiang Huiqin laughed. ”They didn't even know I left those planks there deliberately for them to take and kept all the good stuff away from their eyes.”

Jiang Huiqin put the snow mushrooms into the pot and climbed over the small mountain of trash with the pot in hand. Her movement was as slow as an old woman.

”What's wrong with your back?” Li Mingyi asked as he realized something was wrong with her wife. ”Did you get hurt when they pushed you?”

”Of course not. I'm not an old lady,” Jiang Huiqin laughed as she rubbed her back. ”I fell down from the tree when I was trying to get the bird's eggs. Where do you think these eggs came from? From the sky? I'll be fine after a rest. You should talk less and focus on recovering. And cover your legs better with the sheet too.”

Jiang Huiqin then walked towards a few damped logs and kicked them apart.

A few fat mushrooms could be seen growing on the logs. Jiang Huiqin plucked a handful of them and put them into the pot.

Jiang Huiqin then went back to where Li Mingyi was with a pot filled with water.

Because of the water, the blood on Jiang Huiqin's hands started to drip again.

Jiang Huiqin realized the blood was dripping and quickly wiped it on her shirt when Li Mingyi wasn't paying attention. Since her shirt was already dirty, the blood that was wiped on the shirt would only merge with the stain.

Jiang Huiqin placed the pot on the fire and started to make a mushroom stock.

The aroma started to seep out from the pot. Jiang Huiqin added a small pinch of salt into the pot and removed it from the fire.

”I'll go change the stock for some bowls and spoons from Mr. Chen,” Jiang Huiqin said.

”Wait, I hid two spoons under the wooden rack,” Li Mingyi said as he pointed at the wooden rack that was supporting a part of their tent.

”Good. That means I can keep two mushrooms for ourselves,” Jiang Huiqin smiled.

After a while, Jiang Huiqin returned with only half of the stock left while holding a bowl and a pair of chopsticks with her other hand. Only a piece of mushroom remained in the stock.

”Well, I don't like mushrooms anyway,” Jiang Huiqin said as she shrugged. ”Here, let me feed you. The stock will spill since you don't know how to use a spoon.”

Jiang Huiqin put the pot back onto the fire and grabbed the remaining mushroom with the chopsticks, and sent it next to Li Mingyi's mouth.

But Li Mingyi did not open his mouth.

”You eat it. I don't like mushrooms, either.”

”Hey! If you don't eat it, I'm throwing it away,” Jiang Huiqing scolded. ”There are a lot of nutrients in mushrooms, so you better eat up. Your leg has been bugging you for more than a month, right?”

Jiang Huiqin quickly shoved the mushroom into Li Mingyi's mouth. Easy and effective.

Jiang Huiqin then started to cook the snow mushrooms with the stock. When they had softened, she added a decent amount of seasoning and cooked the eggs in the stock too.

A hodge-podge soup was ready to serve. Jiang Huiqin placed the snow mushrooms in the middle of the pot and placed the deshelled eggs next to them. Then she slowly poured the soup into the bowl.

Li Mingyi finally could tell what Jiang Huiqin was trying to make.

”This is how you're supposed to make the Salix Leaf-shaped Bird's Nest Soup!”

”What do you mean by supposed? This is it!” Jiang Huiqin said and took out a can of ham. She shook the can in front of Li Mingyi and took the ham out from the can. She then cut a few slices of the cured meat and put them on top of the egg.

”Do you really think I'm stupid?” Jiang Huiqin laughed as she slowly wrapped the can back and hid it. ”There's no way that gold bracelet could only be exchanged for a few snow mushrooms. I also got a can of unopened ham. Well, I call this the poor version of the Bird's Nest Soup. I don't think my brother could make this better than me if he only had these ingredients.”

”Keep on dreaming,” Li Mingyi laughed.

Jiang Huiqin helped Li Mingyi up and handed him the bowl of soup.

”Try it.”

Li Mingyi picked up a piece of the mushrooom, wanting to give it to Jiang Huiqin.