Mrs. Thompson Spreads Rumors
"Why would I lie to you? My daughter and son-in-law are truly capable!" Mrs. Wang said proudly.
"Mom, who are you talking to?" Lily Evans heard voices and walked out of the kitchen, with Lucky following behind.
As soon as Lily Evans saw Mrs. Thompson, she frowned. With that poisonous mouth and wicked heart, Lily had no interest in dealing with her.
Seeing Lucky come out of the kitchen too, Mrs. Thompson started yelling, "Oh my, Lily, you really let your man into the kitchen? Lucky, you’re a grown man, always trailing after your wife into the kitchen. Shame on you! What kind of man goes into the kitchen? Aren’t you afraid people will laugh at you?"
"So what if he goes into the kitchen? Men don’t need to eat? Let them laugh if they want." Lily Evans retorted.
"That's right, my wife is absolutely right! I stoke the fire, and my wife cooks!" Lucky nodded vigorously. Whatever his wife said was always right!
Seeing Lucky acting silly, Mrs. Thompson sneered, "Poor fool. Lily, that scheming girl, bullies you and you still speak up for her. Serves you right for being an idiot!"
After saying that, Mrs. Thompson slung her basket on her back and headed up the mountain. The more she walked, the angrier she got. Why did Lily Evans get a husband who treated her so well and got to eat meat, while she had to get beaten every day and go dig wild vegetables?
The more Mrs. Thompson thought about it, the more unfair she felt. When she ran into a few other village women gathering wild vegetables, she deliberately sidled up and said, "Did you smell anything when you passed by Lily Evans’s house just now?"
"Smell what? I came from the other side, didn’t pass by Su Li’s place."
"The smell of meat! I saw wild chicken and rabbit at Lily Evans’s house—they’re stewing meat right now, and it smells amazing!" Mrs. Thompson said mysteriously. "Tell me, where do you think Lily Evans got wild chicken and rabbit to eat?"
"Huh, that’s true. Isn’t Lily Evans’s family pretty poor? Her husband’s not all there, and I never heard he could hunt." One woman said while digging for wild vegetables. "So where did their game come from?"
Mrs. Thompson’s eyes darted slyly. "Who can hunt in our village? Isn’t it just Mark Hunter, the hunter at the east end? Last night I saw Mark Hunter coming down from the mountain with wild rabbits and chickens. Isn’t it a coincidence? Mark Hunter comes down, and suddenly Lily Evans’s family has game to eat."
"Wait, Mrs. Thompson, what are you getting at? You don’t mean Mark Hunter gave the game to Lily Evans, do you? That stuff is expensive and could fetch a good price. They’re not family, so why would he give it to her?" The woman looked gossipy and thoughtful.
"Why do you think? Mark Hunter’s a twenty-year-old bachelor, and Lily Evans is a restless girl married to a fool. Who knows if her husband’s any good in bed… Oh, I didn’t say anything! Don’t take it to heart!" Mrs. Thompson covered her mouth, pretending she’d let something slip, dropping a bombshell and watching the other women start gossiping about Lily Evans and Mark Hunter, secretly delighted.
===
"Mom, dinner’s ready!" Lily Evans and Lucky set up a table in the courtyard and laid out the dishes.
Today, Lily Evans made spicy rabbit heads, stir-fried rabbit pieces, and chicken stew with mushrooms. Even though farm spices were scarce, Lily’s skillful hands made the dishes look, smell, and taste amazing.
Margaret Evans was practically drooling from the aroma, but when she saw the mushrooms in the chicken stew, she hesitated. "Lily, where did these mushrooms come from? Mushrooms are something only city folk can afford—they’re pricier than meat. I’ve heard that wild mushrooms by the roadside are poisonous, and us country folk don’t know the difference. Eating them could kill you!"
In this era, there was no technology for cultivating mushrooms, so all mushrooms were wild, foraged from the mountains. Because there were so many types, and most were poisonous, people were afraid to pick them unless they were experts.
Of course, the mushroom gatherers wouldn’t share their secrets, so mushrooms were rare and sold at the market for more than the price of meat.
But for Chef Lily Evans, identifying mushrooms was a piece of cake. She’d already scoped out plenty growing on the back mountain. She could pick them and sell them for a tidy profit!