I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 401: Chapter 355: These 2 Wuchang Fish Are for Me to Eat

At least, Ling Xiaoru really liked it.

She saw Li You blow a dandelion seed head, sending the fluff flying everywhere, and wanted to blow one herself.

’Are there any other dandelions around?’

Soon, she found one. There was another one nearby.

Ling Xiaoru walked over and pulled up the dandelion.

Then she also put the seed head to her lips and blew hard. The head scattered, and the seeds danced in the air.

”So pretty!” Ling Xiaoru was very happy.

Li You was also very happy. After all the dandelion seeds disappeared from view, the two of them continued their search.

’I wonder if we can find another type of wild vegetable?’

Before long, Ling Xiaoru called out in delight, ”Boss, come quick! There’s a huge patch of Xia Kucao over here.”

’Xia Kucao?’

Li You was overjoyed. He hurried over to Ling Xiaoru, saying, ”Let me see.”

Getting closer, he saw that there was indeed a large patch of Xia Kucao.

Xia Kucao was good stuff. Although it wasn’t as well-known as dandelions, its value was just as high, if not higher.

”Xia Sang Ju Granules,” a common medicine for colds, dizziness, tinnitus, and sore throats. The ”Xia” in the name refers to Xia Kucao.

As for the ”Sang,” it refers to mulberry leaves, and the ”Ju” is wild chrysanthemum.

Xia Sang Ju Granules are made from these three plants.

”I remember back in the day, around June or July each year, when the Xia Kucao fruit spikes started turning brown, a lot of people in the village would start harvesting them. Then they’d dry them and sell them for money,” Ling Xiaoru said.

Li You nodded. ”That’s right. Xia Kucao is a medicinal herb. People in our village used to harvest it too. They’d sell some and keep some for themselves. It just seems like no one harvests it anymore.”

Ling Xiaoru smiled. ”That’s because everyone’s living conditions have improved. They don’t need to go through the trouble of harvesting Xia Kucao to sell anymore. No one in our village harvests it now either. At most, they’ll gather a small amount for their own use. Drinking water boiled with Xia Kucao seems to be very good for your health.”

Li You said, ”It’s not ’seems to be,’ it *is* very good for your health. It can clear liver heat and purge fire, which is very beneficial for the liver and helps nourish it.”

”Is that so!” Ling Xiaoru said. ”Then I’ll grab some to take back and dry. I can boil it in water to drink later.”

Li You smiled. ”You totally can! This Xia Kucao is pretty much ready for harvesting now.”

Xia Kucao is also called ”wheat-spike grass” because its fruit spikes resemble wheat spikes. The reason it’s called Xia Kucao (summer-wither grass) is because the plant withers in the summer.

However, it doesn’t actually wither.

Instead, its fruit spikes and the entire plant slowly turn brown in the summer, just making it look as if it has withered.

Before that, both the fruit spikes and the plant are green. It has purple flowers. Quite pretty.

This patch of Xia Kucao had already started turning brown. If they wanted to pick it, now was the time.

Ling Xiaoru said, ”Then you should pick some to take back too, Boss. Let’s both pick some. What do you think?”

Li You nodded. ”Sounds good! After we take it back and dry it, it’s great for making tea. You can drink it as a cooling tea.”

Ling Xiaoru added, ”I remember that before they get old, the stems and leaves are edible. So, they can be considered a type of wild vegetable, right?”

Li You nodded. ”Yes, they definitely count. In the spring, their stems and leaves are ingredients. You can use them in cold salads, soups, or congee. Eating them is also very good for your health.”

Ling Xiaoru was very happy. This meant she had discovered another wild vegetable.

It was just a bit of a shame that the season had passed, and they couldn’t eat it anymore.

But even though they couldn’t eat it, they could harvest the fruit spikes.

So, it was still a good season.

”Boss, let’s start picking the fruit spikes then.”

”Alright. Let’s pick them.”

The two of them began picking the fruit spikes.

They only needed to pick the fruit spikes, not pull the whole plant up by the roots. The plants would grow new fruit spikes next year.

Because Xia Kucao is a perennial plant.

After Li You picked the first fruit spike.

”Side Quest ’Wild Vegetables are Ingredients Too,’ fourth wild vegetable completed: Xia Kucao!”

’So Xia Kucao really does count as a wild vegetable.’

’Now I just need one more. This quest really isn’t difficult.’

After they picked enough Xia Kucao fruit spikes, Li You found two strands of Cowgrass and tied the spikes into two bundles.

They didn’t have any bags, so this was the only way.

One bundle each, which was quite convenient.

After that, Li You planned to press on and find the last wild vegetable.

But unfortunately, after searching for a little while longer, neither Li You nor Ling Xiaoru made any new discoveries.

And it was already five in the afternoon.

Li You decided to stop searching for now and head back to the restaurant.

He still had to do business in the evening.

Besides, Ling Xiaoru had just returned after such a long time, so he should let her go home early.

’I can just look for the last wild vegetable after I get back to the restaurant.’

’I should be able to find something if I just look around near the restaurant.’

So, Li You said to Ling Xiaoru, ”It’s getting late. That’s all for the wild vegetable hunt today. I’m heading back to the restaurant, and you should head home early too.”

Ling Xiaoru looked at the time and nodded. ”Alright. There should be some customers at the restaurant by now.”

The two of them took the wild vegetables and returned to where they had parked the motorcycle and electric scooter.

Li You put the four types of wild vegetables—houttuynia, plantain, dandelion, and Xia Kucao—into the storage basket on the back rack of his motorcycle.

Ling Xiaoru had three types: plantain, dandelion, and Xia Kucao. She put them in the storage compartment of her electric scooter.

”Let’s go, Boss. I’ll see you to the village entrance,” Ling Xiaoru said.

Li You could find his own way out, but since Ling Xiaoru offered to see him off, he didn’t refuse. ”Thanks, then. Let’s go.”

The two of them got on their vehicles and set off.

Before long, they reached the village entrance.

Li You said, ”Alright, I’m off. You head home early too.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”Okay. You didn’t get to see our whole village this time. Come visit again next time.”

Li You nodded. ”Okay. I will.”

Then, with calls of ”goodbye,” they went their separate ways.

...

Li You didn’t delay on the way and rode straight back to the restaurant.

Sure enough, customers had already arrived. They were in the arcade game area, either playing games or chatting with each other.

When they saw Li You return, all the customers who had been chatting swarmed around him.

”Boss, where have you been off to this time?”

Then they quickly got a clear look at the things in the storage basket on his motorcycle.

”Houttuynia? Did you go looking for houttuynia, Boss? That must be wild houttuynia, I can smell its fragrance even from here.”

”What’s this? Is that plantain? It looks like plantain. Boss, what are you going to do with plantain?”

”And a dandelion. That’s a dandelion, right? You can eat dandelions. But isn’t that just one plant? Isn’t that a little too little?”

”Those should be the fruit spikes of Xia Kucao, right? That’s good stuff. You can boil it in water or make tea with it. Clears liver heat and purges fire, very good for the liver.”

”Boss, did you go out looking for weeds?”

”...”

The customers weren’t wrong. These were all basically weeds. Even houttuynia was, in fact, a type of weed.

However, Li You pretended to be displeased and said, ”What do you mean, weeds? Wild vegetables, wild vegetables! These are all wild vegetables, not weeds. Wild vegetables are ingredients. So, I went out to find ingredients.”

This made all the customers burst out laughing.

’The boss putting it that way... well, he’s not wrong.’

”But Boss, houttuynia and dandelions are definitely edible, so it’s fine to call them wild vegetables. You can boil Xia Kucao fruit spikes to drink, so let’s tentatively count that as a wild vegetable too. But plantain is a medicinal herb; it shouldn’t count as a wild vegetable, right?”

Li You said, ”This is where you’re mistaken. Plantain is edible too. You can even eat it directly in a cold salad. Or you can boil it and eat it.”

”Really? This is the first time I’ve heard that.”

It was the first time any of the customers had heard of it. However, they didn’t doubt Li You’s words.

When it came to ingredients, Li You had absolute authority in their minds.

If Li You said it was so, then it must be so.

”Boss, how does it taste? Is it good?” the customers all asked.

Li You smiled. ”I wouldn’t exactly call it delicious. You can go try it for yourselves to see. Don’t worry, even though it doesn’t taste great, it’s definitely edible. And it has some health benefits.”

The customers all nodded. Taking a few plantain plants home to try was certainly an option.

They could just treat it as a novelty.

”Huh?” another customer said. ”It looks like there are fish in the fish tank.”

The other customers took a closer look, and it seemed there really were fish. Their eyes all lit up at once.

”Boss, there are fish in the tank, right? What kind of fish? Can we open it and see?”

All the customers asked, every one of them extremely curious.

Li You smiled. ”Of course, you can. Go ahead and open it.”

”Okay, okay.”

The two customers closest to it opened the fish tank.

Everyone crowded around to look inside the tank.

After getting a clear look at the fish inside, all the customers grew inexplicably excited.

Because this was a type of fish that wasn’t on the current menu.

’Could the boss be developing a new dish again?’

And everyone recognized this type of fish. With its flat body, such a distinct feature, it had to be Wuchang Fish, right?

”Boss, is this Wuchang Fish?” a customer asked.

Li You nodded. ”It is indeed Wuchang Fish.”

”Boss, did you bring back Wuchang Fish because you’re planning to launch a new dish featuring it as the main ingredient?” another customer asked.

This question got all the customers very excited.

But Li You’s answer made them want to tear their hair out.

Li You said with a chuckle, ”Not exactly. I brought these two Wuchang Fish back to eat myself.”

The customers all rolled their eyes. The boss was being too cruel!

”Boss, you can’t do this. You can’t just think about eating it yourself. You have to launch the dish so we can all eat it. That’s what a proper boss does.”

”Yeah, Boss! We want to eat it too.”

”By the way, how do you eat Wuchang Fish? I don’t think I’ve ever had it before.”

”You can probably cook it in all sorts of ways, right? Braised, steamed? Boss, how are you planning to eat it?”

”...”

Li You said, ”I’ll probably steam one and braise the other.”

Hearing this, the customers were even more frantic!

...

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