Zhao Qingyan was momentarily speechless, feeling that the old lady's question made perfect sense.

"Milk, well, how should I put it? Merchants are profit-driven. In order to satisfy the tastes of the masses, or you could say in order to make money, they will definitely try every means to develop new products."

As for these products, they contain a lot of additives; otherwise, they wouldn't have such a long shelf life.

However, there are production standards, and they cannot exceed a certain specific range.

Just like the mala tang we make at home, you can only put one spoonful of chili in one serving.

It can't exceed that limit, otherwise the guests won't be able to eat it all.

These things are produced in the same way, according to a standard.

Drinking one bottle is fine, but if you drink too much, problems will naturally arise. I'm just using an example; you don't need to worry about it too much.

As long as we don't drink everything in this fridge at once, we'll be fine.

Looking into her granddaughter's eyes, Mrs. Huang asked, "Are you sure everything's alright?" Zhao Qingyan nodded.

Ms. Huang smiled and asked, "Can I have two different flavors of cocktails for lunch today?"

Zhao Qingyan...

Well, she figured it out. When she was with this old lady, she was bound to be the one who got tricked at any moment.

What else can we do? The old lady only has this small request, so we have to fulfill it.

The grandfather and grandson ate and drank in the valley, and brewed fruit wine on the side. Their life was incredibly comfortable.

Inside the Qingyang County government office, Magistrate Qiu frowned, pondering the sentencing of Madam Ma.

Normally, given Ma's level of misconduct, she should at least be assigned to work in a quarry. However, the problem was that Ma was pregnant.

On the day she was arrested, Madam Ma interrupted the sentencing in the county government hall because of abdominal pain. A doctor was called in to take her pulse, and it was then discovered that Madam Ma was pregnant.

According to the laws of the Divine Dragon Kingdom, pregnant women can have some of their punishments reduced or waived. For example, a death sentence that should have been carried out must wait until the child is born.

Those who should have been exiled might only need to perform forced labor. Those who should have performed forced labor would be sentenced to prison.

Seeing Lord Qiu's deeply furrowed brows, the advisor knew he had to share his superior's burdens.

"Sir, are you troubled by the verdict against Ma?" asked Liu Lin, the clerk.

Magistrate Qiu nodded, "Alas, this Madam Ma is malicious and wicked, plotting to harm the lives of an entire village. She is truly despicable."

Fortunately, Zhao Family Village managed to win against overwhelming odds through clever planning.

Ma's malicious intent could then be considered attempted harm, or even instigation. However, because the harm was so great, a severe sentence was necessary.

But she was pregnant, so exile or hard labor were not suitable for her. It seemed that she could only be kept in a labor camp.

But this wasted the county government's grain.

Liu Lin understood perfectly what Magistrate Qiu was struggling with. "I hate you, but I can't kill you; that feeling is truly frustrating."

"My lord, Ma's actions are indeed infuriating. And she was also lucky; no one in Zhao Village was injured or killed."

When sentencing, one should not be too harsh.

I heard that this Ma woman was a lazy bum. Perhaps she should serve her sentence in prison before the trial for childbirth.

After a month of labor following childbirth, she was sent to a quarry to do hard labor for three years.

Those three years of hardship and suffering should have taught them a lesson, and they probably won't make the same mistakes again.

As for her food and drink, isn't she pregnant? Let her man take care of that.

Even if the man is heartless, he will still keep an eye on Madam Ma until she gives birth.

Once she arrived at the quarry, she had to work every day, and naturally, she had to earn her own food through hard work.

By any measure, our county government is not losing out.

Magistrate Qiu pondered for a moment, "Hmm, what the advisor said is quite right. Let's do it this way, as it will increase the benefits for the jailers."

While eating the large steamed buns brought by the butcher in the dark and damp prison, Ma never imagined that her fate would be decided so soon.

Whether Ma will repent and reform after serving his sentence is anyone's guess.

The weather remained hot, and Zhao's Snack Shop faced a business crisis.

For no other reason than that, although mala tang is a new food, the weather is so hot that no one has an appetite.

On a hot day like this, who wouldn't want something refreshing to cool them down?

The takeout business hasn't been particularly good these past few days.

This caused great distress to the women.

Although there were things to cool down, such as mung bean soup, and the water was chilled in the well, the temperature wasn't low enough. Unless you dine in, the food would be lukewarm by the time it reached the customer.

"What should we do? What should we do? Let's think of something, see what kind of food we can make to solve this problem?"

Tian Xiaolan said anxiously.

"The essence of this mala tang (spicy hot pot) is the numbing and spicy flavors. Without these two tastes, it's just tasteless. But our food will definitely make you sweat after eating it."

This makes the guests even more disgusted. So it's really a difficult situation. If there were a recipe for something cold and refreshing, it could solve our current crisis.

But we don't know how to do anything else. If Qingyan were home, maybe she could come up with some new ideas.

Zhao Qingyan, who was being thought of, had just brewed fruit wine from the wild fruits she had picked.

As for filtering after a while, that's no big deal.

The wine made here in the valley has already been filtered and sweetened a second time. In less than a month, the wine will be truly ready.

Zhao Qingyan has taken care of the most important things since returning to the valley.

Huang also remembered that she had promised Wang Xiucai that she would take Zhao Qingyi to the temple to offer incense and that the villagers would come along as well.

Time flies in the mountains. If Huang hadn't kept track of the days, her eldest granddaughter's matchmaking date would probably have been delayed.

They put away the electric fan, refrigerator, and generator.

They also collected another batch of edible vegetables and put them into their spatial storage. The grandfather and grandson then embarked on their journey out of the mountains.

"Ah, every time I come to this valley, I don't want to leave. It's so comfortable here."

Aside from needing to buy some salt and cotton cloth, one can basically be self-sufficient in the mountains.

Mr. Huang was deeply moved.

"Yes, I also like to stay in the valley."

I don't have any worries, but it would be best if I had milk with me. Otherwise, I'm quite lonely all by myself.

This time, the grandmother and granddaughter didn't take their usual route out of the mountains. The reason was simple: Mrs. Huang took Zhao Qingyan to a "natural pasture."

"My dear girl, look over there, herds of cows, sheep, horses, and deer. And look, there are even roe deer over there! Oh, what's that black thing over there? Doesn't it look like a wild boar?"

Huang introduced them to Zhao Qingyan in a low voice.

It was too far away to see clearly what they were, so Zhao Qingyan took out a telescope from her spatial storage.

After adjusting the focus, "Hmm, it's a herd of wild boars. My God, there are at least several hundred, maybe even more."

There's a wolf pack in the northeast corner. It's quite large, at least fifty or sixty of them. They're all very robust.