Chapter 73 - Two-in-One Mint Lamb Rice Noodles

Not only was Lin Jiacai scolded, but Niu Hongxi didn't even have time to say a word before Lin Chuntao also scolded him. Unlike Lin Jiacai and the others, he was younger and seemed indifferent to being scolded.

His face turned ashen, yet he couldn't swallow his anger.

"Why are you being so unfriendly, sister? We just wanted to visit you during the holiday."

Lin Chuntao felt disgusted when he called her "elder sister".

"Who's your sister? Who wants to associate with you? If you're so eager to associate, go visit other people's homes. My house doesn't welcome you!"

Lin Chuntao spoke very resolutely. Niu Hongxi had been watching Lin Chuntao slowly deal with Meng Yun and Fan Liniang, and thought that even if he shamelessly came up, the worst he would get was the same treatment as Meng Yun and the others. He didn't expect Lin Chuntao to treat them differently.

Suddenly, she felt a surge of anger, gritted her teeth, and glared coldly at Lin Chuntao: "Does my cousin have to be so ruthless?"

Lin Chuntao stared at him for a long time before asking, "Are you threatening me?"

Niu Hongxi swallowed hard, but didn't dare to come back.

Lin Chuntao sneered, "You're an outsider, so I'm not holding a grudge against you, but don't think you can come here looking for trouble just because I'm easy to talk to!"

Niu Hongxi blushed, and Lin Chuntao's gaze fell on Lin Jiacai.

"Go back and tell your sister and brother-in-law about your family's glorious deeds. Anyone who has heard of them will not have the face to come and claim kinship with me!"

Lin Jiacai bit his lip, and Lin Chuntao and Lin Chunxing went directly into the house and closed the bamboo fence gate.

Niu Hongxi glared at Lin Jiacai and said angrily, "What on earth has your family done that makes people so disgusted?"

Lin Jiacai frowned: "Our family didn't do anything."

Niu Hongxi scoffed coldly. It would be a miracle if they hadn't done anything, given how much people hate them.

He glanced back at the small, dilapidated house, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Pei Ying returning with water. The two of them passed by Pei Ying without saying a word.

When Pei Ying entered, Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er were still complaining about Niu Hongxi and Lin Jiacai.

Pei Ying frowned slightly: "What are they doing here?"

Lin Chunhe replied, "They said they came to familiarize themselves with the place."

Lin Duo'er snorted coldly, "They must have come up with this idea after coming back from the county town today."

Lin Chuntao felt that she was thinking the same thing. She looked at the small courtyard, then at Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer, and thought that they should put the construction of the house on the agenda soon. Once the new house was built, they would raise two dogs and a goose to guard the house together!

Lin Chuntao instructed them, "No matter what the other party says, ignore the person who just came. If you can't drive him away yourself, call the uncles and aunts in the village and tell them that this person is going to beat you up."

Lin Duo'er and the others nodded.

Although Lin Chuntao felt he couldn't possibly be that reckless, she still wanted to give her younger sisters a heads-up beforehand, since they were still young.

Niu Hongxi returned in a bad mood and scolded Lin Miaomiao, questioning how they had offended Lin Chuntao and the others. Lin Miaomiao sneered and insisted that they had not offended Lin Chuntao and the others.

"Why blame our family if they don't want to talk to you? We didn't separate from our neighbors before, so why don't they scold our neighbors?"

Lin Miaomiao provoked with sarcastic remarks, and Fan Liniang next door glanced at Lin Jialang upon hearing this.

Lin Jialang retorted loudly, "That's not entirely true. I brought my younger siblings to apologize to you! I called you, but you wouldn't come."

This abrupt interruption caused a moment of silence in Lin Miaomiao's courtyard.

Niu Hongxi snorted coldly. Lin Miaomiao's words just now really made him think that Lin Chuntao and the others were targeting him. He didn't expect that the root of the problem was still with the siblings.

He stared at Lin Miaomiao and sneered. Did she think she could use him as a pawn?

He didn't care about Lin Chuntao and the other girls, but that guy surnamed Pei looked like someone not to be trifled with. He just wanted to take advantage of the situation and didn't intend to die.

Lin Chuntao hadn't even counted the money when she got back from her busy morning. Seeing Lin Chunhe's huff and puff, she hugged them and started counting the money. Hearing about counting the money, the sisters' moods instantly brightened.

Today was a bit better than yesterday; I made a little more money.

Lin Chuntao put the money away, and the sisters washed and boiled the eggs together.

Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er were also sleepy, so they tidied up and went to lie down. Lin Chunxing estimated the family's money and asked Lin Chuntao, "Sister, can we start preparing to hire someone to build a house?"

Lin Chuntao nodded, "Okay, we'll go find the master in a few days."

Lin Chuntao was a little sleepy, but she got angry while cursing Niu Hongxi and the Lin family, which made her sleepy. Since she had nothing else to do, she started a fire and boiled water in the yard, and called Pei Ying to kill and clean the big rooster.

After the eggs were marinated and put into the jar, Lin Chuntao took the chicken out to stir-fry and set it aside. While she had some free time, she went to the field to check on the corn and finally brought back a cabbage.

The courtyard was quiet, with only the sound of her younger sisters breathing as they slept. She yawned, put the cabbage away, washed her hands and feet, and prepared to lie down for a while.

I was just going to lie down for a bit, but I ended up falling asleep.

When she woke up, it was already evening, and the aroma of chicken wafted in from outside.

Lin Chuntao jumped up, put on her shoes, and went outside. Lin Chunxing and the others were washing vegetables in the yard. When they heard the door open, they all turned around at the same time.

"Have you started cooking the chicken?" Lin Chuntao asked.

Lin Chunxing nodded, and Pei Ying explained from the side, "I saw that you were sleeping very soundly, so I asked Chunxing to cook it without waking you."

"It's so hard to wake up for a nap in this weather."

Pei Ying said, "If you're sleepy this afternoon and have nothing to do, take a nap. You've been working hard these past few days."

Lin Chuntao yawned, smiled, and walked towards the stove, saying as she went, "I'll take a break after I'm done with these few days."

Lin Chunxing and the others were cooking chicken in an iron pot covered with a straw lid. Steam was rising from the lid. She lifted it to take a look and saw that the soup was still very white. "Has it only been cooking for a short time?"

Lin Chunxing: "It's been cooking for less than 15 minutes."

Lin Chuntao nodded, took a stool and sat down under the courtyard wall to calm herself down. In a daze, she thought of Qin Suyun, whom she had met that morning. She didn't know when this person had arrived, nor did she know if this person knew more about the world than she did.

Next time we meet, I'll definitely make time to invite her over for a chat.

Chicken takes a long time to cook, so once the chicken was cooked, Lin Chuntao scooped out some chicken broth and boiled out the chicken blood. She still had some konjac tofu from the morning, so she cut it into shreds, added some pickled cabbage, and stir-fried a konjac tofu with pickled cabbage.

She also brought back a cabbage in the afternoon and stir-fried it.

The chicken was very plump, and there was a lot of meat inside. It was enough to cook two vegetable dishes, so Lin Chuntao didn't cook any other dishes.

The moon rose early tonight; the sun had just set over there when the full moon had already risen over here, and the sky was still quite bright.

Lin Chuntao and the others were having dinner in the courtyard. A gentle evening breeze was blowing, and the table was filled with laughter and cheerful conversation.

After dinner, Pei Ying went to clean up and wash the dishes, while they sat in the courtyard admiring the moon.

However, the respite didn't last long; the meat filling for tomorrow hadn't been chopped yet, and the vegetables hadn't been washed.

Lin Chuntao took out the meat, washed it, and sliced ​​it. After Pei Ying finished washing the dishes, she came over to chop the meat filling. Lin Chuntao helped pick and wash the vegetables.

By the time we finished our work, the village was already quiet.

After the sisters washed up with warm water, they went to bed. Lin Chuntao tidied up her things and went back to her room. She had just lain down when sleepiness came over her. Before she could fall asleep, Pei Ying returned, bringing a touch of coolness.

Lin Chuntao turned over and leaned closer, trying to absorb the coolness.

Her warm breath fell on his skin, like a feather gently tickling him. He couldn't help but lower his head and kiss her. He had been too busy lately and hadn't rested enough. Pei Ying had been restraining himself from teasing her and had intended to stop after a brief kiss, but this touch was a little out of control.

His palm was pressed against her lower back, holding her tightly.

Lin Chuntao responded to him in a daze, and just as Pei Ying was feeling happy, he heard her murmur, "Go to sleep quickly, I'm so sleepy."

"Um."

He responded and gently kissed her forehead before stopping, then held her properly as they drifted off to sleep.

August 16th was a sunny day. It hadn't rained for several days, so there were fewer mushrooms in the mountains. The system reported today that the chanterelle mushrooms were all picked before even filling a basket.

When she arrived in the county town, the market was quite bustling. Passing by a mutton soup noodle shop, Feng Guan and He Guizhu were both busy. The couple looked up and saw Lin Chuntao walking by with a basket on her back. He Guizhu greeted her with a smile, "Good morning, Manager Lin! Are those mushrooms you're carrying?"

Lin Chuntao was a little surprised, but seeing that Feng Guan's face was no longer dark and He Guizhu was smiling, she also smiled and replied, "Good morning, Manager He. These are mushrooms, just picked when I came into the mountains."

What kind of bacteria did you find today?

"Chive mushrooms, I didn't find any others."

He Guizhu smiled and said, "Sell me a few pounds."

Lin Chuntao had no objection, and she smiled and said, "I have my scales on the stall, so use yours."

He Guizhu went inside and brought out a scale and a bamboo basket. Lin Chuntao weighed the basket, then picked up some mushrooms and weighed out four jin (2 catties).

He Guizhu is a very straightforward person. She told Lin Chuntao directly that they were going to sell mint mutton rice noodles today.

"Yesterday, Lao Feng said he heard you say that eating mutton without mint is soulless, so we bought some to try. It tastes really good. Did Manager Lin come up with this way of eating it himself? It's really brilliant."

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's not really a matter of figuring it out. We didn't plant any vegetables this year, so we don't have many. We got some mint around the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, and we found it while cooking mutton."

He Guizhu smiled and said, "We're planning to sell mint mutton rice noodles today. Manager Lin won't have any objections, will he?"

Lin Chuntao laughed upon hearing this, "Manager He is joking. How to combine various vegetables and meats is not just for me."

Her expression was calm. Lin Chuntao thought that mint was not a dish that everyone liked at the moment. He Guizhu and the others directly launched mint mutton noodles. People would be curious, but they might be deterred by the stereotype of mint. Not many people would try it.

Manager He's generosity was evident to Lin Chuntao, who already had ideas for what she would launch next. Since it didn't overlap with their mutton rice noodles, she decided to help them out this time.

"Then I must thank Manager Lin."

After He Guizhu finished speaking, Lin Chuntao pursed her lips and said calmly, "Manager He, please don't thank me yet. Most people's impression of mint is limited to its use in medicine or tea. Few people eat it as a dish, right? How are you going to promote it today? Just say that you are launching a new mint soup noodle? Then very few people will come in."

He Guizhu's face stiffened slightly. Lin Chuntao continued, "Manager He, why don't you find an excuse to give your mint mutton rice noodles a name, such as 'The most beloved mint mutton rice noodles in Yongchang,' or 'The number one in Xuanhe County!'"

Upon hearing this, Feng Guan and He Guizhu's eyes widened. Could this really be allowed? Before the couple could even process what was happening, Lin Chuntao had already picked up her basket.

"Manager He, you're busy, I need to go check if the stall is ready."

He Guizhu was excited. She said to Lin Chuntao, "Manager Lin, go ahead and get busy. I'll come find you later."

Lin Chuntao waved and walked away with her basket on her back. The couple were left alone, looking at each other.

Feng Guan said, "This Manager Lin is really quick-witted."

He Guizhu was not only amazed by her ideas, but also felt that she was magnanimous. Business in the shop had been declining and her husband had been frowning for days, yet Lin Chuntao was still able to say these words to them.

She seemed completely unconcerned that they might steal her business.

He Guizhu listened to her husband's words and said, "You're going to blush now, aren't you?"

Feng Guan blushed slightly, but didn't refute his wife's words. He simply asked, "Then let's try it according to Manager Lin's suggestion?"

He Guizhu nodded.

When Lin Chuntao arrived, Lin Chunxing and the others had already finished all the preparations. Four or five people were gathered around the stall, and Lin Chunxing was tending the fire to cook the noodles.

Upon seeing Lin Chuntao arrive, Lin Duo'er asked curiously, "Sister, what kind of mushrooms did you find today?"

"Chive mushrooms".

Upon hearing that there were mushrooms, the people in front of the stall looked up and asked, "Shopkeeper, how much are the mushrooms per pound?"

"Chives oil mushrooms are ten coins a pound, would you like two pounds, auntie?"

Lin Chuntao put down her basket and told the woman to put it down. The woman glanced at the bright orange chanterelle mushrooms, which looked very fresh, and said, "Give me two pounds."

Lin Chuntao brought over the scale and quickly weighed out two jin for the person.

She didn't carry any of the goods inside today; they were sold out gradually by leaving them outside.

Those who wanted to eat braised eggs arrived early, and Lin Chuntao's stall was still surrounded by people. As noon approached, Lin Chuntao overheard customers buying meat nearby discussing that they were selling mint mutton rice noodles over there. "The shopkeeper said that people from Yongchang like to eat it the most, and it's the first one we have here."

"I wonder how anyone can eat mutton with that stinky mint?"

"Exactly, I find it hard to accept just thinking about it."

"But if the people in Yongchang really like eating it this way, it might be delicious. I'll try it sometime."

Lin Chuntao smiled upon hearing this. Lin Chunxing also heard it, but she couldn't smile.

If the mutton soup noodle business is good, their business will suffer, right?

"Sis, will we be affected?"

Lin Chuntao patted her shoulder and said softly, "There should be a little bit, but it's not a big problem. Lamb and pork taste different. We'll be making new flavors to sell in a while."

Lin Chunxing was full of surprise; she had never thought about a new flavor before.

Seeing her like this, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's the same in any business. Every now and then, you have to give your customers something new. Do they like something new or something old? If they have a choice, and you only ever have one flavor, they'll get tired of it and won't want to eat it anymore."

Lin Chunxing nodded, so in her spare time she also had to try to figure out new flavors.

Lin Chuntao said, "I've already made arrangements. I'll teach you how to do it in a couple of days."

Moreover, if they start selling sauces in the future, many people will be able to buy the sauces to cook noodles and do the same small business, so they won't be the only ones doing it.

Therefore, it is inevitable that new flavors will be introduced.

They were busy until after noon before they sold out and packed up. On their way back, they passed by the mutton soup and noodle shop. He Guizhu was at the door and greeted Lin Chuntao and the others, "Shopkeeper Lin, are you closing up shop?"

Lin Chuntao smiled and agreed. He Guizhu smiled and said, "Come to my house for lunch, then you can go back."

"No, Manager He, there are still pigs and chickens waiting to be fed at home. How was your business this morning?" Lin Chuntao asked. He Guizhu smiled and said, "It was alright, thank you, Manager Lin."

Lin Chuntao waved her hand, "Manager He, please don't be so polite."

After saying goodbye, the old lady from the shop next door was a little surprised by their friendly manner. "Oh, Old Feng, when did you become so close to the noodle soup lady?"

He Guizhu smiled and said, "Auntie, Manager Lin asked us to buy mutton, and I asked her to buy mushrooms. We got to know each other after a while."

This wasn't the answer the old lady wanted. She smiled, found it boring, and remained silent.

Lin Chuntao and her team have been exhausted from delivering eggs for the past three days, buying over 70 jin of rice noodles every day. Tomorrow, they'll sell the eggs; those who want eggs can buy eggs, and those who want rice noodles can buy rice noodles. They probably won't need that much rice noodles.

Back home, the sisters counted their money and found they had saved quite a bit in just three days.

Looking at the money she had saved, Lin Chunxing thought about how she had bought a lot of charcoal recently. If she didn't need to buy charcoal, she could save some money. Thinking about Lin Chuntao's suggestion to burn charcoal, she decided to get it sooner rather than later so that she wouldn't have to buy charcoal next time.

"Sis, when are we going to burn charcoal, as you mentioned before?"

“That can be fired anytime, but we need to dig a kiln. If we're building a new house in a while, which is quite far from here, should we dig it here or over there?”

Lin Chunxing frowned upon hearing this: "Do we need to dig quite a big one?"

"Hmm, if it's too small, it won't burn enough charcoal. Since we're going to dig it up for burning, we shouldn't make it too small."

Pei Ying listened to the sisters' discussion and joined in, "Let's dig it on our own side. It'll be more convenient to use it later. After all, this is Grandma's territory."

Lin Chunxing thought for a moment and said, "Then can we ask our great-grandfather and the others to confirm the location of the house site again, arrange the locations of each place first, and then dig around the site?"

"Sure, but we haven't decided what kind of house to build yet, or how to arrange the yard. We'll need a chicken coop, a pigsty, a woodshed, and ideally, a small vegetable garden. We also need to leave space for a well. If we save up enough money, we can dig a well in the yard so we won't have to fetch water anymore."

When Lin Chuntao told them all, the sisters' eyes darted around, as if they were trying to visualize the layout of the new courtyard.

“You guys should think about this too. The three of you should each have a bedroom, and we also need to reserve a guest bedroom. The previous one upstairs was too crowded and dark. The bedrooms need to have windows for ventilation. I'm still struggling to figure it out. It's good that you guys can think about it.”

Lin Chunhe pursed her lips and asked Lin Chuntao, "Then we'll have to have five places to sleep, right?"

Lin Chuntao nodded.

"Yes, five sleeping rooms."

Lin Chunhe hissed coldly. She felt that just five rooms were expensive, but she was also very happy when she thought that her sister had reserved a room for each of them. This meant that they would have their own beds and their own rooms, and no one would disturb them when they slept alone. They could roll around in and out without anyone stopping them.

Hearing her gasp, Lin Chuntao laughed and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lin Chunhe shook her head vigorously. Lin Chunxing, who was next to her, glanced at her and laughed, "She probably thinks it will cost a lot of money."

"It will definitely cost a lot of money, but we're building a new house, so we'll definitely build one that we're satisfied with."

Lin Chunhe leaned against Lin Chuntao and nodded repeatedly.

After hearing Lin Chuntao's words, the two sisters drew pictures in the yard. Lin Duo'er wanted to build a row of houses, Lin Chunhe wanted two-story houses, and Lin Chunxing was busy making braised eggs.

Lin Chuntao took a twig and drew in the yard. She drew a house similar to a courtyard house, with a pigsty, chicken coop, and woodshed in the backyard, three main rooms in the front, a living room in the middle, a bedroom on each side, three more rooms on the right, one room for each of the three sisters, three rooms on the left, a kitchen, a dining room, and a room next to it for a communal bathroom.

The well was also located in the backyard.

Lin Chuntao pondered for a moment and then called Pei Ying and Lin Chunxing over to take a look. She also mentioned who lived where. Pei Ying thought it was okay, but Lin Chunxing looked at it and asked, "Sister, do we still need to reserve a room?"

Lin Chuntao frowned slightly: "Is it necessary?"

Lin Chunxing said, "I feel it's necessary. After we bring the corn back, we'll have to carry it upstairs to dry it, won't we?"

Lin Chuntao hissed coldly, as if it was indeed necessary...

"Then let's keep it."

As soon as Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Lin Duo'er asked from the side, "Sister, are we going to find Grandpa now?"

Seeing how anxious she was, Lin Chuntao sighed, "No, I'm going to take a nap. If you're not sleepy, go gather firewood."

"Collecting firewood for burning charcoal?"

"You need coarse firewood to make charcoal. Fine firewood won't work; it'll just burn to ash, and there won't be any charcoal left."

Upon hearing this, Lin Duo'er gave a silly chuckle.

"Sister, are we going with Second Sister again tomorrow?"

Lin Chuntao looked at Lin Chunxing and asked, "If there aren't as many people buying the powder, and you also have to buy eggs, can you manage all the work by yourself?"

"I can manage."

After hearing this, Lin Chuntao looked at Lin Duo'er and said, "Go if you want to."

"Hehe, then I'll go again tomorrow."

Lin Chunhe said, "Then I won't go."

Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "If I'm not going to pick mushrooms, then I won't go to the county town tomorrow either. I'll take a day off." After saying that, she looked at Lin Chunxing and said, "If you want to rest any day, just tell me. I'll go sell them, and you can rest at home."

Lin Chunxing smiled and nodded, but in her heart she thought that she would never get tired if she could earn this much money every day.

She didn't say it aloud; she just thought it to herself.

The system didn't broadcast anything the next day, and Lin Chuntao slept soundly until dawn. It took several crows from the rooster to wake her up. When she opened her eyes, she saw that it was already broad daylight, and Pei Ying's seat next to her was long since cold.

I haven't slept through the night in a long time. The moment I opened my eyes, I was wide awake and quickly got up.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw Lin Chunhe returning with a basket of firewood on her back, all of them as thick as her wrist.

Today is a sunny day with blue skies, white clouds, and fresh air.

"Chunhe, what time did you get up? Why didn't you call me?"

Lin Chunhe smiled and said, "I got up before dawn. I saw Meng Yun and the others go to chop firewood, so I went with them."

Is Meng Yun alone?

"And her niece Meng Yue said that Lin Jialang and Madam Fan went to the county town to carry firewood."