Thanks to the experience from lunch, Li Xiaohan performed steadily at dinner.

She cooked rice over a low flame and steamed the meat on top of it.

The pork belly was fried and then sliced thin, with one slice per person. After being mixed with sauce, the slices were steamed on top of the rice until the skin became soft and tender. The fat melted easily in the mouth, and the lean part became more flavorful the more you chewed, without being dry.

This all-meat dish needed no explanation. Its tender richness alone won everyone over.

As for the rice steamed along with it, the aroma of the meat released under high heat was sealed tightly into the grains by the pot lid.

Whether they called her Xiaohan, little niece, or the daughter of the host, everyone silently agreed: her cooking was surprisingly good.

If Li Xiaohan knew what they were thinking, she’d probably wave her hand and say, “It’s not my skill, it’s the meat’s.”

After a full day’s work, Li Xiaohan felt like she’d just finished a big exam. As evening fell, the people who came to help had all left. Only the three members of the Li family remained to tidy things up.

Suddenly—

“Father, what are you doing?”

Li Xiaohan’s voice was filled with surprise, disbelief, and shock…

Li Xiandong was startled by her sudden outburst. The hatchet slipped and fell straight to the ground.

“You scared me,” he said, picking up the hatchet. “I saw you nearly ran out of firewood this afternoon, so while it’s not dark yet, I thought I’d chop some for tomorrow. What’s wrong?”

Li Xiaohan’s heart was pounding like a drum, and her hands trembled slightly. She tried to stay calm as she crouched down and picked up one of the branches he’d chopped. She grabbed the bark and gave it a pull and twist.

Sure enough, under the broken bark was a fine, soft layer of silky threads—like those spun by silkworms.

Li Xiaohan swallowed hard and forced herself to speak in a casual tone. “Father, how come I’ve never seen us burn this kind of firewood before?”

“Oh, this is called the false-silkworm tree. See how the fibers under the bark look like silkworm threads? But they can’t be used for weaving, so it’s called ‘false silkworm.’ The tree doesn’t have many uses, but it burns well.”

While continuing to chop, Li Xiandong explained, “If you smell closely, the wood has a special kind of fragrance. Some families like to use it to smoke cured meat in the winter.”

“Then Father, how come we’ve never used this tree to smoke our meat?” Smoking cured meat was a big deal every year. Li Xiaohan searched through her memories but found no trace of this tree.

“Oh, your step-grandmother didn’t like the smell, so we always used pinewood to smoke our meat. And our woodland doesn’t have this kind of tree either.”

Li Xiaohan grew anxious. “Then where did this batch of wood come from?”

How could their family not have planted it? They absolutely had to!

“You’ll have to ask your mother. She brought this firewood back this afternoon.”

Madam Wang was nearby, stringing up some fresh mushrooms she had picked. Though she didn’t find any Sanqi today, she came across a few mushroom patches, which would make a good dish.

Overhearing the conversation, Madam Wang turned and said, “It was near the clan’s communal land. I went to a new spot today. There’s a lot of this kind of wood growing there.”

Li Xiandong frowned and thought for a moment. “If I remember correctly, that land used to belong to the landlord Zhang’s family. They said that back when they were fleeing, old Madam Zhang climbed a false-silkworm tree to hide from the bandits. Later, when things settled down, she planted those trees here as well. The tradition of using false-silkworm wood to smoke cured meat also started with her. Too bad her son wasn’t capable and ended up selling off most of their land. When we divided the land last time, the clan head mentioned it briefly—said we’d need more woodland since the clan keeps growing.”

Li Xiaohan was overjoyed. She took a deep breath of the tree bark’s scent. It really was delightful.

“Father, where else can we find this tree? Let’s transplant some into our land. I like the smell. Let’s use this for smoking our cured meat in the winter too.”

Li Xiandong suddenly went quiet. His stepmother, Madam Chen, didn’t like this smell. But he vaguely remembered that his own mother had loved using this wood to smoke cured meat.

His father’s land used to have a few of them. Now, not a single one remained.

Neither he nor his two brothers had any, either.

Maybe it was a feeling he couldn’t quite explain—perhaps some late-coming rebellion or defiance—Li Xiandong decided and said, “Alright, let’s transplant a few. We’ll use them to smoke cured meat later. But let’s finish building the house first. We don’t have time right now.”

Yes, their family didn’t have time right now.

Li Xiaohan froze for a moment and furrowed her brow.

There were too few people in their family. With a house to build, they couldn’t compete with others when it came to anything.

After a pause, she picked up another type of random branch and handed it to her father. “Father, chop this one instead.”

Chopping wood was chopping wood—didn’t matter which kind—so Li Xiandong didn’t object.

“Mother, I really like this… this false-silkworm tree. Next time you see some, keep an eye out. Once Father has time, we’ll go and cut more.”

“Alright.” Madam Wang’s heart was with her husband and daughter. Since her daughter liked it, and her husband agreed, then switching to another kind of wood for smoking meat was no big deal. Their opinions were hers.

As the night deepened, the family of three finished tidying up, and Li Xiaohan walked back to the old house with Madam Wang.

“Mother, is that new plot far from here?”

“It’s not far. If it were, I wouldn’t go all the way there to gather firewood.”

“Then, Mother, I’ll go with you tomorrow morning to take a look.”

“What are you going to look at? Someone still has to stay home and cook.”

Li Xiaohan paused and said, “I saw the mushrooms you brought back today. They looked pretty good. Why don’t we pick some more? It’ll make a proper dish.”

“Alright, then come with me early in the morning. But you have to hurry back to cook.”

“Okay.”

The next morning, after a simple breakfast of coarse grain pancakes, Li Xiaohan and her mother set out. Even though the pancakes were just plain ones, they were cooked with plenty of oil and paired with the fresh mushrooms Madam Wang had brought back the day before. That alone made them tastier than usual.

As they walked up the mountain, they quickly reached the wooded area Madam Wang had mentioned yesterday.

The landlord Zhang’s son really didn’t know how to manage a household. In most families, their land would be neatly planted with trees like pine and camphor for furniture, or fruit-bearing trees like persimmon and pear. But Zhang’s family’s land was completely overgrown with wild grass and tangled trees, making the path hard to walk.

But that also had its advantages. Since they  didn’t take care of it, the area was full of wild things. Before long, Li Xiaohan picked a few clusters of fresh mushrooms, gathered some wild wood ear fungus, and even found a nest of wild eggs. There were only three, but that was still a meal.

The two of them went up the mountain together, but whenever they came across dense grass or bushes, Madam Wang wouldn’t let Li Xiaohan go in, worried that the branches and leaves might scratch her face.

“Mother, I saw some mushrooms over there. I’m going to pick them.”

“Alright, be careful. Don’t go too far,” Madam Wang said.

After a while, Madam Wang saw Li Xiaohan return. Noticing a neatly cut square piece of false mulberry bark in her basket, she figured the girl was just curious and asked casually, “Why’d you only peel off a piece of bark? That doesn’t burn well. You need dry twigs for firewood, and smoking meat needs branches and leaves.”

“Mm, I know, Mother. I was just curious.”

The two of them didn’t think much of it, and the topic passed quickly.

That day, the workers helping build Li Xiandong’s house had mushroom and pork crackling rice for lunch. The fresh mushrooms were stir-fried with pork cracklings until fragrant, then rice and water were added and simmered. The result was a delicious, savory, and filling meal.

For dinner, they had a soup made with wild eggs, shepherd’s purse, and fresh mushrooms. The tender yellow eggs, the bright green shepherd’s purse, and the floating mushroom slices made for a dish quite different from the rich flavors of lunch. The soup was fragrant yet refreshing, and everyone couldn’t stop praising it.

“Xiaohan’s cooking skills are really something. Just like her mother,” Li Guiqian said as he ate.

In truth, Li Xiaohan’s cooking was even better than Madam Wang’s, simply because she was more generous with oil and sugar. Madam Wang still held back, but Li Xiaohan had no such reservations.

Li Xiandong, his skin dark from the sun, flashed a white smile. “Brother Guiqian, don’t say that about her. She’s still young. Don’t flatter her too much.”

“Why not? If her skills are good, then she deserves the praise.”

At the center of the conversation, Li Xiaohan didn’t really care about what they were saying. She looked at the house they had just started building, glanced at her overly proud father who couldn’t hide his smile after one compliment, then looked at the piece of false mulberry bark tucked away in the corner.

Forget it. She’d wait until the house was done before doing anything.