Having experienced the incident of nearly setting the house on fire last time, Gu Youyou got into the habit of keeping a bucket full of water close by the stove so that if an accident were to happen again, she could put out the fire with sufficient water and prevent a tragedy.
After having her meal, Gu Youyou gathered up the dried herbs, wrapped them in coarse cloth, and handed them over to Jin Zijin, saying, "You should take a trip to town tomorrow, sell these things, and bring back some oil, either rapeseed oil or soy oil will do."
People in this era would press oil from rapeseeds, soybeans, and such, and she had tried it at Jisheng Hall; vegetable oils were much healthier than the traditional animal fats used by rural families.
Jin Zijin simply gave her a detached look and agreed.
As always, Jin Zijin had the habit of sleeping with her in his arms, yet he never made a move on her.
Since the time they kissed last, they hadn’t made any other intimate gestures besides sleeping together.
With Jin Zijin by her side, the bed was always very warm.
Gu Youyou visited her grandfather at Gu Family’s home, mainly wanting to secretly check his pulse. On her way back, she saw Wang Shun fishing in the river.
In his basket, there were already several fish, big and small ones alike.
Jin Zijin only knew how to hunt in the mountains and had never fished in the river, so although Youyou had eaten plenty of mountain delicacies, she had yet to try the fish from Lotus Village’s river.
Looking at the lively jumping fish made her eyes and mouth crave.
She said to Wang Shun, "Hey, Shunzi, how about I trade you half a masked palm civet for a fish, ok?"
Wang Shun climbed out of the river, awkwardly dressing under Gu Youyou’s watchful gaze.
He wore clothes when he was in the river, just an undergarment, rather thin and hardly any different from being naked once it got wet.
But Gu Youyou seemed to be a curious kind of woman; had it been any other woman, they would’ve likely gotten embarrassed and run off, but she just stood there, as if completely unaware of any awkwardness, eagerly waiting for his response.
His face flushed, he hurried to the basket, grabbed the biggest fish, tied its mouth with grass from the roadside, and handed it over to Gu Youyou.
Gu Youyou gladly accepted it and said, "Wait here for me, I’ll bring you the masked palm civet!"
"No, don’t!" Wang Shun quickly said, "If you like my fish, I’ll give it to you to eat, how could I take your masked palm civet?"
"I insist, I can’t just take it for nothing! Just wait here, if you leave, I’ll deliver it to your house."
With that, Gu Youyou ran home with the fish in hand!
Wang Shun called out loudly from behind, "Really, there’s no need, I can go into the mountains with Brother Jin if I want to eat a masked palm civet."
Gu Youyou quickened her pace, "Anyway, if you don’t wait, I’ll take it to your house!"
How could Wang Shun let Gu Youyou make the trip again? So, he had no choice but to wait.
Gu Youyou quickly returned, with half of a salted masked palm civet in her hand, prepared the night before.
Wang Shun scratched his head, extremely embarrassed, but under Gu Youyou’s insistence, he finally accepted it.
As Gu Youyou walked away, he still looked in the direction she left, muttering softly, "Sister is really nice, are all Gu Family’s girls ?"
With keen ears, Gu Youyou heard Wang Shun’s words, which weren’t meant for her, but she couldn’t help but smile knowingly.
When she was in modern times, Gu Youyou had lived by herself for a long while. She liked to cook for herself after work, and she loved fish, especially the heavily seasoned dishes—a real pleasure only to be found in the fiery numbing spiciness!