The next morning, Aunt Zhang and Liu Fangfang came over. Because the rice was stored in the kiln, they had to come over every day to carry the grain they needed to cook to the village entrance.

Su Luo left Zhao Ruyun to come and see the two little ones who were still asleep, while she carried the eggplants to the village entrance.

When the waiter from Fumanlou brought the vegetables over, Su Luo put the eggplants on his carriage and asked him to take them back to Fumanlou.

"Su Luo, aren't you going to use that eggplant to cook anything?"

Liu Fangfang saw Su Luo have someone take away the eggplant and asked.

"Auntie, I'm taking these to sell. If your eggplants are ripe, you can take them to sell too."

Zhao Ruyun gave Liu Fangfang more than 20 eggplant seedlings, which are now ripening. Su Luo stir-fried them yesterday and thought they were quite delicious.

They thought that since everyone in the family worked for Su Luo and Xiao Xiao ate with them, they probably wouldn't be able to get any eggplants. But they never expected that they could sell them.

"Su Luo, but we don't know where to sell them."

Su Luo called Chen Yan over and said, "If you don't know, you can weigh it and bring it to me, and I'll help you sell it."

Chen Yan also heard what Liu Fangfang asked Su Luo. She shared the same feeling as Liu Fangfang, fearing that the eggplants would rot in the ground if no one ate them.

"Su Luo, how much are your eggplants? How much silver per pound?"

Su Luo pulled the two of them aside and whispered, "I sell to Fu Man Lou, just like Li Niu buys tofu, but eggplants are only available this season, so it's one tael of silver per catty."

"One tael of silver per catty?" Liu Fangfang exclaimed in surprise.

Su Luo immediately covered her mouth. Chen Yan was also shocked, but she didn't scream like Liu Fangfang.

I never imagined this new variety would be so valuable. Right now, only these three families have it. If others find out, they'll probably steal it all.

"What are you three talking about? What do you mean by one tael of silver per catty?"

Zhang Xiujuan had just returned from washing a basin when she overheard Su Luo and the others talking.

"It's nothing, it's nothing!"

Chen Yan smiled and took the basin from Zhang Xiujuan, saying, "We were talking about eggplants. We'll save more seeds next year and plant some for you too."

Zhang Xiujuan recalled the stir-fried eggplant with meat she ate yesterday, which was indeed delicious. She just didn't know where Su Luo got the new dish from, and she would definitely ask Su Luo and the others for seeds to plant next year.

Liu Fangfang also realized that she had gotten too excited. Eggplants cost one tael of silver per pound, and Su Luo had brought them here for them to eat yesterday. How much silver must that be?

Thinking about the eggplants in the field, Liu Fangfang now sees them as money; her family is about to become rich.

"Auntie, stay calm."

"Uh-huh!"

Liu Fangfang nodded quickly, her eyes filled with excitement.

I'll go to the field tonight and see if there are any ripe eggplants. I'll pick them and give them to Su Luo to help sell.

...

Inside Fu Man Lou, Nangong Qing had been looking at two eggplants for quite some time. He considered himself to be very learned and had read all kinds of books, but he had never seen a record of eggplants in any of them.

"Young master, you've been looking at it for a while now. Why don't you let me take it to the kitchen and make eggplant stuffed with meat?"

Whenever Fu Man Lou served new dishes, the wealthy landowners and merchants of Yongle County would send their servants to buy them, some even buying four or five portions at a time.

The restaurant is packed with people every day. This eggplant dish was only added to the menu today, and everyone is rushing to order it. It's almost sold out.

Nangong Qing slapped away Axu's outstretched hand and continued flipping through the gazetteer to see if any place had recorded this eggplant.

“Young master, Madam Su said that this is a new variety that you can’t find in books. You might as well let me take it and make some money.”

Ah Xu was anxious; the guests were still waiting.

"Ah Xu, don't you think Su Luo always manages to come up with something new? Tofu is made from soybeans, which is understandable, but where did this eggplant come from?"

Everything has its origin. Nangong Qing didn't believe that the eggplant just grew out of thin air. What else did Su Luo have that he didn't know?

"It's not surprising what Lady Su might do; what surprises me is you, young master."

Ah Xu stood to one side, holding his sword.

Nangong Qing wrote a letter and handed it to Axu, saying, "Send this letter to the capital, along with this eggplant."

Let the people of Beijing take a good look; they might even learn the origin of eggplant.

"Also, I'm going to Changping Village in a couple of days. No matter where Su Luo got the eggplants, she must keep the seeds. They can be planted all over the country, which would benefit the country and its people."

For the first time, Ah Xu looked down on his young master. He suspected Su Luo while simultaneously wanting Su Luo's eggplant seeds. How strange!

~

In the evening, Du Xiuyuan drove his horse-drawn carriage to Changping Village.

After asking Zhao Ruyun to take care of Yanchuan and Yihuan, Su Luo got into the carriage with Du Xiuyuan.

Zhao Ruyun knew that Su Luo was teaching Du Xiuyuan medicine, and Du Xiuyuan was a highly respected person, so Zhao Ruyun felt at ease letting Su Luo, a woman, go with him.

"Mother-in-law, if everything goes well, I'll come back a little earlier; if not, I'll come back tomorrow."

Su Luo only told Zhao Ruyun that she and Du Xiuyuan were going to find a special herb, without telling Zhao Ruyun that they were going to the Chaotic Mourning Hill. If Zhao Ruyun knew that they were going to find corpses, she definitely wouldn't let her go.

"Be careful, and come back if you can't find the medicinal herbs, understand?"

"I understand, Mother-in-law."

Once inside the carriage, Su Luo only brought two oil lamps.

But Du Xiuyuan was different; his carriage contained black donkey hooves, amulets, black dog blood, and a pig-slaughtering knife.

Su Luo wondered to herself, "Is Du Xiuyuan too old to carry such a heavy load?"

“Madam Su, Luansanggang is quite far from Yongle County. It will probably take us an hour and a half to get there.”

"Okay! I'll take a nap first."

There was a reason why Su Luo chose to go to that kind of place at night.

First, it's about training Du Xiuyuan's mindset.

Secondly, during the day, someone might transport a corpse there to dump it. If people see the two of them studying it, they might be called demons, which could incite public panic.

"Madam Su, you..."

Du Xiuyuan was driving the carriage outside, feeling fear and unease. All he wanted to do was talk to Su Luo.

But he couldn't stop Su Luo from sleeping, since Su Luo was his master.

Su Luo was about to close her eyes, but hearing the trembling in Du Xiuyuan's voice, she decided not to sleep. She walked outside the carriage and sat on the footboard with Du Xiuyuan.

"Dr. Du, actually there were no ghosts or monsters at all. It was all just people's imaginations playing tricks on them, or in a state of ignorance, they could only explain it by ghosts and monsters."

"I'm not afraid, Madam Su. It's just my first time going to the Chaotic Mourning Hill, and I'm not used to that kind of eerie atmosphere."

There are no ghosts in the world. Even the zombies in the apocalypse are just corpses that have eaten too much chemical food. After they die, their bodies are in a slow state of decay, or they don't decay at all. Their nervous systems are stimulated, which is why they can walk and attack people. They are mindless dead things.