Everything I needed to buy has been bought, and everything I needed to learn has been learned.

Besides setting up a stall, the family's rice paddies, chickens, ducks, and geese all need someone to take care of them.

So on the second day of setting up the stall, Wan Shu left Er Ya and Wu Ping, who were more introverted and not well-suited for stall work, at home.

Wu Ping was responsible for cleaning the rice paddies and picking up some dry grass along the way.

Er Ya was responsible for cleaning the house, feeding the chickens, ducks, geese, and the kitten Zhuang Zhuang.

Wan Shu and the others had fragrant multigrain pancakes and steamed bone scraps for breakfast this morning.

The bone scraps were made by Wan Shu a few days ago from marinating wild boar ribs.

When marinating the meat, Wan Shu added plenty of spices and chili powder. The steamed meat smelled so good that you almost wanted to chew it up and swallow it along with the bones.

Unsurprisingly, the bone scraps steamed this morning, not to mention the ribs, even the broth, were all eaten up by them, used to dip their multigrain pancakes.

It was multigrain pancakes, though.

Because the family is now better off, Er Ya is no longer as stingy when cooking as before, and she cooks more than she should, so there were two left over in the end.

Er Ya broke the multigrain cake into small pieces, soaked it in warm water to soften it, and fed it to Zhuang Zhuang.

"Zhuangzhuang, Zhuangzhuang, eat up! You'll grow strong if you eat!"

Er Ya's voice was gentle and clear, which Zhuang Zhuang liked very much. He kept licking her hand affectionately, but he didn't eat any of the multigrain cakes.

Er Ya sighed worriedly: "Zhuang Zhuang, why aren't you eating anything? If this continues, you'll starve... Hmm, I feel like you've gained quite a bit of weight!"

Er Ya originally thought that Zhuang Zhuang would starve to death if he didn't eat anything, but when she picked him up and weighed him, she was surprised to find that Zhuang Zhuang was much heavier than when she had brought him home a few days ago.

Er Ya was very puzzled.

"You haven't eaten anything all day, how come you've gained weight?"

She pried open Zhuangzhuang's mouth to take a look, and was even more surprised: "How come it still has teeth? And it's growing less and less like a tabby cat, more like..."

A sudden idea flashed through Er Ya's mind, and just as she was about to think of something, a creaking sound suddenly came from outside the door.

That's the sound of the courtyard gate being opened.

Hearing the sound, she thought it was Wuping returning from gathering hay.

She quickly put Zhuangzhuang down, wanting to lend a hand, but when she got to the courtyard, she saw that the person who came was not Wuping at all, but clearly Liu Shi.

"Second Aunt, what brings you here?"

Liu worked on the clothes all night, and it wasn't until it was broad daylight that she realized what was happening.

For the sake of a few bolts of cloth, she completely forgot to get the recipe for braised offal and crayfish from Wan Shu!

She was extremely unwilling to accept this situation; she couldn't eat or sleep.

After watching Wan Shu lead Da Zhu, San Shun, and Siya onto the oxcart heading to the county town with pig offal and crayfish, she couldn't resist any longer and quietly came to the Liang family alone.

She looked at Er Ya, who was home alone, and gave her a bright smile.

"Oh dear, my second aunt just suddenly missed you and came to see you!"

Er Ya could hardly believe her ears.

She was her mother's stepdaughter. Although she called Liu "Second Aunt," she was not actually related to Liu at all.

Liu had never really liked her, and even when she occasionally saw her, she never paid any attention to her.

It's so strange that I suddenly said I missed her today...

However, this is my mother's second sister-in-law.

So Er Ya gave a shy smile, invited Liu to sit down, and poured her a glass of water.

Liu drank a glass of water, then her eyes darted around the house, mainly focusing on the location of the kitchen.

However, after looking at it for a long time, she still couldn't figure out what it was about.

She then forced a smile and casually asked, "Oh, Er Ya, when I'm making those braised dishes, do I never let you watch?"

Er Ya was an honest child and didn't know what she was scheming. She just shook her head honestly and said, "No, every time she makes braised food, I'm the one helping my mother."

Liu's eyes lit up instantly.

Unable to contain her excitement any longer, she eagerly asked, "Could you tell my second aunt how to make braised food? What seasonings are used?"

The question was so direct that even someone as honest as Er Ya immediately understood Liu's scheme.

Her expression froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered and said in a calm tone, "I don't know. Although I've been helping out, my mother puts in all the seasonings, so I don't know which ones to put in."

Liu refused to give up: "Then what about the steps? You must know the steps to do it, right?"

Er Ya shook her head, lowered her head to drink water, and refused to say another word.

When Liu saw her taciturn expression, she became furious: "I can tell you clearly that you know, but you just don't want to tell me!"

Er Ya looked up at her and said, "Since Second Aunt already knows, why ask?"

Liu was speechless for once.

However, she could tell that Er Ya was the type of person who responded better to gentle persuasion than force. She coughed twice and softened her voice again.

"Your second aunt is asking this for your own good. Think about it, you call your little sister 'mother' on the surface, but you are not actually related to her by blood."

"No matter how much you work like a slave for her now, once you get married, everything in this house will no longer belong to you."

"We women are born with a hard life, so we have to plan for ourselves as early as possible."

"If you're willing to tell me your recipe for braised food, then every time your second aunt sells braised food, you'll get 20%, no, 30% of the profits! What do you say?"

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