Chapter 261: The Silver Ear Fungus Soup Incident
Both classrooms were finally up and running. After a chaotic and bustling morning, Jian Xingxia’s mouth was completely dry.
The moment she stepped back into the old house, Shaoyin hurriedly brought over a cup of warm honey water.
Madame Lin had specifically instructed her that whenever business was booming or there was too much going on, the Manor Owner would always have to speak a great deal. Therefore, warm water should be prepared early, mixed with just a tiny drizzle of honey, and served to soothe her throat.
Shaoyin knew the drill well from her own past experience. “Back at Feiyue Pavilion, to protect the voices of the courtesans, musicians, and storytellers, the kitchen would also brew a broth of silver ear fungus and lily bulbs. However, it was exorbitantly expensive. Unless you were a top-tier, popular courtesan, you weren’t allowed to have any.”
Shaoyin continued, “Because of that, before we went on stage, we would usually just suck on a sour plum to stimulate saliva and soothe any irritation in our throats.”
Jian Xingxia waved her hand. “It’s fine. Silver ear fungus, right? I remember buying some. I’ll go check the storehouse in a bit and brew a pot. Sanniang and the Scholar will probably both want some.”
Hearing this, Shaoyin was a little surprised. Silver ear fungus was an incredibly luxury item—often described as half an ounce of gold for an ounce of fungus. Yet the Manor Owner spoke of bringing it out so casually, sounding as though she were doing nothing different from cooking a pot of standard white rice porridge.
Shaoyin hesitated for a moment, but ultimately held her tongue.
Perhaps when the Manor Owner spoke of brewing a pot, she meant it in the same way they did at Feiyue Pavilion—using a piece of silver ear fungus no larger than a fingernail to boil a massive kettle of water, giving each musician and courtesan a tiny cup to share.
While Shaoyin was thinking this, she watched Jian Xingxia step into the storehouse and pull out a massive cluster of dried silver ear fungus.
How large was this cluster?
It was practically the size of one of Auntie Pang’s steamed buns.
Shaoyin was utterly flabbergasted. She watched Jian Xingxia bring out this massive blossom of silver ear fungus, tossing it lightly in her hands as carelessly as if she were holding a sweet potato or a cob of corn.
She didn’t seem to feel in the slightest that she was holding a precious item comparable to pure gold!
Shaoyin opened her mouth wide, completely speechless.
Standing at the storehouse door with the cluster of silver ear fungus, Jian Xingxia seemed to hesitate for a split second.
Shaoyin’s heart thumped, a voice inside her head whispering: The Manor Owner can hesitate too, right?
A dried blossom of silver ear fungus this large is incredibly precious. It would be weirder if she didn’t hesitate!
Then, in the very next second, she saw Jian Xingxia casually wave the fungus toward her. “Shaoyin, is one blossom not quite enough? Maybe I should grab two.”
Shaoyin: …
Between her and the Manor Owner, one of them had definitely gone mad.
Thank goodness both Qin Hua and Fan Shishi were here today. She would make them take a look later to prove that the one who had lost her mind wasn’t her.
Shaoyin’s throat felt a bit choked up. After a long pause, she finally managed to say, “It… it should be enough, right? Usually, you don’t need that much silver ear fungus.”
Jian Xingxia thought it over. “True, silver ear fungus expands quite a bit when soaked. One should be plenty.”
With that, she walked out holding the fungus casually, locked the storehouse door, went into the kitchen to find a random large earthenware bowl, and casually scooped a ladle of water from the warm-water urn built into the earthen stove to leave the silver ear fungus to expand.
Then, she slapped her forehead. “I forgot, I still need to grab the lily bulbs and lotus seeds.”
Having said that, she whirled back out of the kitchen, crossed the small lounge, and re-entered the storehouse to fetch the ingredients.
Shaoyin stared silently at the silver ear fungus floating in the coarse earthenware bowl, then looked up at Auntie Pang standing nearby, asking in a hushed, tentative whisper, “Auntie Pang, silver ear fungus… is supposed to be an incredibly expensive item, right?”
Auntie Pang nodded her head vigorously, her eyes shining with pure excitement. “Expensive! Exorbitantly expensive! I’ve only ever heard my mother mention dishes made with silver ear fungus. I’ve never actually cooked it myself!”
Shaoyin: “…”
Great. She wasn’t mad, but Auntie Pang wasn’t entirely normal either.
It wasn’t until Jian Xingxia threw the entire blossom of shredded silver ear fungus into a massive commercial electric rice cooker—the kind meant for feeding twenty to thirty people—added yellow rock sugar, lily bulbs, and lotus seeds, and pressed the cook button that Shaoyin finally processed what was happening an hour later as a giant pot of soup finished brewing.
The Manor Owner… had just boiled a giant handful of gold!
Seeing Shaoyin staring fixedly at the silver ear fungus soup inside the rice cooker, Jian Xingxia simply grabbed three bowls. “They are still busy. Let’s have some first.”
As she spoke, she raised the ladle to dish out the soup for Shaoyin. “Do you prefer more fungus or less fungus in your bowl?”
“Less,” Shaoyin blurted out instinctively.
Then, Jian Xingxia served her a bowl of “light” soup where the sweet broth took up two-thirds of the space, while the translucent, soft, and gelatinous silver ear fungus, lily bulbs, and lotus seeds filled the remaining one-third.
Auntie Pang wanted a thick bowl, so Jian Xingxia directly ladled a brimful, dense portion for her.
As for herself, she went half-and-half.
The sweet silver ear fungus soup was packed with a thick, rich collagen texture that melted the moment it hit the tongue, instantly imparting a deeply soothing moisture to their parched throats.
Shaoyin finished her bowl in tiny sips, feeling as though she were floating in a dream.
Something this luxurious—far more precious than chicken, duck, fish, or pork—could just be… boiled into a massive pot like this?
During the sewing class’s mid-lesson break, Shaoyin and Jian Xingxia brought the silver ear fungus soup and sponge cakes over to them.
This time, Shaoyin finally witnessed the exact same look of sheer astonishment mirrored in the eyes of her companions.
Qin Hua gasped in shock, “Yinyin, is this… silver ear fungus?”
Fan Shishi circled the basin of soup, absolutely unable to believe her eyes. “This is the silver ear fungus soup that only the top courtesans of Feiyue Pavilion are permitted to drink?”
And it was just… served right in front of them in a common basin?
Shaoyin nodded her head frantically. “Right? Right? Unbelievable, isn’t it? Let me tell you, the Manor Owner just grabbed a piece this large—”
Shaoyin couldn’t help but use her hands to gesture in an exaggerated circle larger than her own face.
“—a piece of silver ear fungus that large! A whole blossom! She boiled this massive pot! She even asked me if it was too thin, saying that although she prefers drinking the broth, she didn’t know if we would find it not thick and gelatinous enough.”
Fan Shishi and Qin Hua cried out in unison, “What on earth is the Manor Owner talking about!”
It was pure fantasy!
Meanwhile, the majority of the impoverished apprentices stared at the silver ear fungus, having absolutely no idea what this substance was.
On the other hand, the Scholar from next door came over just as he finished leading his apprentices back from felling bamboo, taking advantage of the moment his students were practicing splitting the stalks into strips.
His original intention had been to soothe his throat after a long stretch of lecturing, hoping to share a small cup of whatever was available.
He hadn’t expected that he would truly be sharing a premium sweet soup—and silver ear fungus soup at that!
Savoring the soup, the Scholar instinctively murmured aloud, “Silver ear fungus… possesses the moisturizing properties of Ophiopogon without its cold nature, and the sweetness of Polygonatum without its cloying density. It is truly an essential item for moistening the lungs and nourishing Yin, surpassing even ginseng, deer antler, and bird’s nest…”
Hearing this, Shaoyin, Qin Hua, and Fan Shishi nodded their heads in perfect unison.
Exactly!
It was just that precious!
Having finished distributing the soup and sponge cakes to Lin Sanniang and the others, Jian Xingxia turned around, only to meet a rare look of profound appreciation on the Scholar’s face, mixed with a tiny hint of regret that Jian Xingxia was “ruining a magnificent treasure through careless preparation.”
Beside him, Shaoyin and her two companions stood frozen in a wave of trepidation and pleasant surprise.
