Su Qingluan finally had an idea about how to configure the jam flavor. Her appetite was whetted and she felt that the taste of the dishes was even better.

Moreover, she was thinking about other things just now and did not pay full attention to the dishes other than the pork ribs and tendons. Su Qingluan came to her senses at this time and found that the shredded cucumber she had originally used as a side dish had been replaced by shredded green bamboo shoots.

Although shredded green bamboo shoots are less fragrant than shredded cucumbers, they have a unique flavor and are more crispy.

Su Qingluan took a bite of the rice roll with a smile, then picked up the white radish that had been stewed until it was soft and tasty and had become translucent. The oily soup immediately rushed into her mouth with the sweet taste of the radish.

The mixed three shreds is a side dish of bamboo shoots, lotus roots, and radish. Although the three vegetables all have a crisp texture, they are slightly different.

Su Qingluan smiled as she ate and drank her fill—tea was considered drinking, of course—and went to inform Manager Liang.

Shopkeeper Liang gave this month's dividend to Su Qingluan - it was indeed much less, not to mention the seventy taels in the first month, even the thirty-four taels in the previous month was much less - twenty-one taels.

This was the result of Manager Liang filling the remaining difference for himself, otherwise he would have been short of dozens of copper coins.

However, even this minimum monthly dividend is enough for another family to live on for two to three years.

It can be seen that everyone's life is not so affluent.

However, with a dish like "Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate", Su Qingluan believes that her dividends can be even higher.

After coming out of Hongfu Building, Su Qingluan did not go home directly, but went to the market again.

Recently, every day or two, she would ask around at the market about the prices of salt, meat, grain, fruits and vegetables, etc.

It wasn't that she had nothing to do, but mainly because the autumn harvest was coming to an end. Before long, many farmers would take their harvested autumn vegetables to the market to sell them and buy some daily necessities.

As autumn vegetables become available in large quantities, prices will surely drop. Su Qingluan herself is not short of money, but considering that other families in Huaxi Village probably don't have the same budget as hers, Su Qingluan still wants to find out the best prices possible.

In addition, Su Qingluan also discovered that although there were a number of butchers in the town, and each stall slaughtered a certain number of sheep and pigs, and they were in short supply all year round, she found that there was another channel to buy meat - hunters.

There are no wildlife protection laws in this era. Moreover, considering that many people are now busy taking care of themselves, it is difficult for people to survive in the severe winter, let alone protect animals.

So Su Qingluan also asked some hunters, and they all said that autumn, especially late autumn and early winter, is the time when many animals prepare to hibernate and their bodies have the most fat stored. Therefore, they often go to the mountains to hunt at this time and can get a good price.

Su Qingluan wrote down the prices of various wild animals sold by these hunters in previous years, in case they might be useful later.

Ever since Su Qingluan received the deposit from the Xie family two days ago, she has been thinking about how much wages to pay each person in each household before winter.

Later she felt that in addition to food, salt and other seasonings for pickling food, thick clothes, warm houses, sufficient firewood, etc. were all necessary reserve materials that could increase everyone's survival rate.

With this calculation, the budget has increased a lot.

When Su Qingluan was walking around the market, she originally wanted to buy some oranges, grapefruits, etc., but unexpectedly she saw lemons and bought some as well.

I went to a bamboo weaving craftsman and bought a few fresh bamboo tubes. After walking around for a while, I happened to meet my mother who was packing up her stall and my father who had gone to pick up my brother. We just went back together.

On the way, Su Xuanhe saw the lemons at first sight and frowned in disdain: "Sister, why did you buy these citrons? They are so sour, I can't eat them!"

Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Its juice can replace rice vinegar to make salads softer and remove the fishy smell. Whether it's the peel or the flesh, if you cook it with meat, it will not only make the meat more delicious, but also make it more tender."

"Eh..." After listening to his elder sister's explanation, Su Xuanhe no longer looked disgusted. Instead, he looked at the bright yellow lemon with great curiosity.

On the way back to Huaxi Village, I met an uncle who made tofu. He was carrying a load of tofu and selling it from house to house.

Huaxi Village is not big, so there is only one tofu-making family. They make brine tofu every other day, and thousand-sheet tofu every other day.

Su Qingluan likes the tofu here very much. It tastes much better than the ones in the town. The tofu blocks are fresh, smooth and tender, and the tofu sheets, also known as dried tofu, are so thin that they are almost transparent.

Today happened to be the day when a thousand sheets of tofu were sold, so Su Qingluan hurried forward and bought a few.

"Sister, are you going to make stir-fried thousand sheets of tofu again today?" Su Xuanhe's eyes lit up.

Yang smiled and said, "It seems you didn't eat enough last time." Su Xuanhe didn't deny it, but just scratched his hair and smiled foolishly.

Last time, Su Qingluan wanted to eat "dried tofu with hot peppers", but there were no hot peppers, so she had to use dogwood instead to create a spicy taste. She also fried the dried tofu with soy sauce to thicken the dish, and it turned out to be almost the same as dried tofu with hot peppers.

However, the other people in the Su family had naturally never eaten the original version of spicy pepper dried tofu, so they were all very happy to eat it.

Su Qingluan smiled and shook her head: "Today we won't be eating spicy pepper dried tofu, let's eat something else."

Su Xuanhe wanted to ask again, but Su Qingluan just smiled and said nothing.

Su Xuanhe also knew that as long as his elder sister took action, there would be nothing unpalatable, so he stopped asking.

When she returned home and was in the kitchen, Su Qingluan picked a handful of coriander grown in her own small vegetable garden in the backyard, and pulled out an onion from the row under the eaves - now, the onion has fully grown and can be picked out and eaten.

Turning into the kitchen, Su Qingluan chopped onions and coriander while chatting with Yang who was making a fire.

"Mother, it's already autumn. Shouldn't we prepare some winter vegetables for our family?"

Yang raised her head and smiled: "It's not the time yet."

Su Qingluan was curious: "Isn't it time yet? I went to the fields during the day and saw that many farmers have already finished their harvests. Even those who haven't finished are almost done. Those vegetable farmers should be carrying their autumn vegetables to town soon, or just selling them in the fields, right?"

Yang looked at Su Qingluan in surprise, then said with relief: "You have never experienced it, so it's normal that you don't know." After that, her smile faded, and she sighed deeply with endless sorrow.

Su Qingluan was surprised and asked, "What's the matter?" Why did her always straightforward mother get so worried?