Chapter Nine: Successfully complete the beginner quests to receive a great gift...
In the evening, Li Yan took the meat and large bones she had bought to the Zhang family's well next door and hung them up.
Well water is warm in winter and cool in summer. In this era, there were no refrigerators, so this was the only way to keep the meat fresh overnight.
As for the duck... Li Yan plans to make a sour bamboo shoot and old duck soup.
With the weather hot, eating meat all the time got tiring, so Li Yan wanted to make some duck soup.
She had already thoroughly searched the Xue family's kitchen. In the kitchen, at the foot of the wall, there was a jar containing pickled vegetables that Aunt Xue had made in the winter. Li Yan had looked through it before; there were pickled lettuce and radishes.
If you don't have pickled bamboo shoots, you can make do with lettuce or radish for soup.
There were still some green tomatoes in the vegetable garden that hadn't turned red yet. Li Yan picked a few, washed them, chopped them up, and then stir-fried them in a pan with oil. After stir-frying until all the sour juice was released, Li Yan scooped them into a bowl.
After washing the pot, I put the chopped duck pieces into it and stir-fried them. I also added scallions and ginger slices, and after stir-frying for a while, I added cold water to the pot.
Once the pot boils, remove the duck from the water, scoop out the water used for blanching, and discard it. Then add clean water and simmer over low heat.
Li Yan estimated the time in her mind, and after cooking for half an hour, she poured the tomato juice she had previously made into the pot.
Take some more lettuce and radishes from the jar, wash them, and put them into the pot as well.
Simmer over low heat for about twenty minutes, then add some salt. Let it sit for another five minutes, and the old duck soup is ready to serve.
Li Yan can't eat thin porridge; she must eat rice with side dishes, even if she eats less rice.
So, while one pot was simmering soup, the other was used to cook rice.
These past few days, mealtimes have been the time that Xu Ge'er and Yue Jie'er look forward to the most.
Because whenever my aunt cooked, there was always plenty of white rice to eat. And there was meat with every meal.
Before, I was lucky to eat meat two or three times a month, but now I eat meat every day.
Yue'er is still young and doesn't understand much; she just eats. But Xu'er is already seven years old and very sensible. Although he doesn't talk to Li Yan much yet, he's very observant.
It was hot, and it was uncomfortable to stoke the fire under the stove. He was worried that his aunt would get too hot, so he took the initiative to do the work of stoke the fire.
After the food was prepared, Li Yan served the soup, and he followed her to serve the rice.
Children are naturally hot-tempered, especially one who had just crawled out from under the stove. Right now, Xu Ge'er was dripping with sweat, as if he'd just been pulled from the river.
Li Yan suddenly remembered that when she went to the Li family to ask for money that day, her stepmother had mentioned that her younger brother was studying in the county town.
No matter the era, studying is always a shortcut.
Even if there are no conditions, Li Yan still wants to send the two children to school if there are more and more collaborations in the future and more money can be made.
Even if Yuejie can't pass the imperial examinations, it's still a good thing that she can read and understand principles and be able to support herself in the future.
The two children grew up without parents and lived with their grandmother, which was quite pitiful.
She had this idea in her mind, but since it couldn't be realized yet, Li Yan didn't say it aloud. Li Yan simply took another bowl, filled it with some soup and duck meat, and instructed Xu Ge'er: "Go and take this bowl to the Zhang family next door."
Li Yan is not the type of person who likes to keep things to herself. She loves money and is very careful with it, but she is also generous.
I have some food, and I'm happy to share it with people I'm close to.
After spending these two days together, her relationship with Mrs. He had clearly improved. Besides, she might need her help sometime in the future.
Xu Ge'er listened to his aunt, took the bowl, and ran away quickly.
Li Yan called out loudly, "Slow down, don't spill the soup." Sure enough, the figure that had been running away immediately slowed down.
Li Yan pulled off the two duck legs, one for each of the two children.
After giving the two wings to the neighbor, Li Yan picked up a few pieces of meat and put them in Aunt Xue's bowl.
Suddenly, the mechanical voice sounded again: [Congratulations, host, your target's favorability has increased by 10.]
The sudden noise startled Li Yan.
She didn't even deliberately try to complete the task, so how could she still get points?
The system's mechanical voice sounded again: [Congratulations, host, your newbie mission has been upgraded. From now on, we will no longer assign you missions. As long as the target's favorability towards you increases by one level, you will gain favorability points until they are full.]
For Li Yan, not having to follow the tasks specifically assigned by the system to earn points was undoubtedly much more convenient.
From what the system just said, it means that as long as what she does in the future can further increase Aunt Xue's goodwill towards her, she will be able to smoothly gain points. So, she roughly understands what's going on.
Looking at the blurred numbers on the screen, seeing that she had accumulated 50 points of favorability, Li Yan was full of confidence.
Then, the system announced: "[Successfully completing the newbie tasks will earn you a gift pack.]"
Li Yan was overjoyed.
Completing the newbie tasks will also reward you with a big gift pack, making it even more anticipated.
As Li Yan beamed with joy, she heard Aunt Xue say, "Yan'er, you've already given away all the leg and wing meat to others, and now you're putting so much meat on my plate. What are you going to eat? You eat this meat, I won't." The more time they spent together, the more one could feel the kindness in this daughter-in-law's heart through these small details.
This applies not only to their own children but also to the neighbor's children.
This child has a truly kind heart.
Actually, Li Yan doesn't really like duck meat; she finds it too strong. The reason she made this dish today was simply to have some sour soup to cool off in the summer heat.
“There’s still plenty of meat here, enough for me.” Li Yan took the meat that Aunt Xue had put on her plate and put it back on her plate. “It’s for you, please eat it. I’ll get angry if you don’t.”
Seeing her firm attitude, Aunt Xue stopped refusing.
Li Yan is full of confidence for the future. She said, "Let's work together to make our lives better and strive to have meat to eat every day in the future."
"We have meat and white rice to eat every day." Yue'er agreed with her aunt. Her mouth was full of meat, so she spoke unclearly.
"You little glutton," Aunt Xue said chuckled, raising her hand to poke her thin face.
I haven't been this happy in a long time. In recent years, nothing good has happened in our family.
So much so that she feels like she's dreaming now that life is so good.
As long as Xu Ge'er and Yue Jie'er can grow up safely, she'll be willing to give up her old body right away.
.
It's so hot. It's okay to not shower for a day or two, but if she can't shower for ten days or half a month, Li Yan thinks she'll probably go crazy.
So, when she goes to town to buy meat tomorrow morning, she must buy a bathtub for bathing.
In addition, I will purchase a bronze mirror.
Even now, she still hasn't been able to properly look at her own face.
She knew it wouldn't look good, but she had to have a general idea of how bad it would be. Then, she had to gradually improve upon the original owner's flaws, bit by bit.
In the 21st century, she was a master of staying up late. But after coming to this ancient era, she can no longer stay up all night.
I'm busy from morning till night, and it's all physically demanding work. By the end of the day, I'm exhausted and naturally fall asleep quickly.
But they go to bed early and wake up early.
The next day, she woke up at cockcrow.
Aunt Xue got up even earlier, before dawn. She made vegetable porridge and boiled three eggs.
While eating breakfast, Li Yan was planning her schedule for today and the next few days.
Starting today, I'll be delivering braised pork to Yuanbaolou every day. Before, I only needed to bring one serving, which I could just carry in my hand. Now, I'll need to deliver at least fifteen servings a day, so I'll definitely need a vehicle.
The villagers certainly don't have horses, and they might not even have donkeys, but they definitely have oxen for plowing the fields.
Moreover, it is currently the height of summer, a time of slack farming season, so the oxen that plow the fields are naturally idle.
“Mom, does anyone in the village have an ox? I want to hire an oxcart.” Li Yan said, expressing her thoughts. “I need to go to town at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I can’t do without a cart.”
In the morning, you have to rush to the market to buy meat, and in the evening, you have to deliver the meat.
Aunt Xue: "There are a few families in the village that have oxen for plowing. I'll go and ask them."
Li Yan: "We don't borrow other people's oxcarts for free; we pay them on a daily basis."
Aunt Xue shared the same sentiment. Although it's normal for neighbors to help each other out, everyone has their difficulties. Even though the oxcart belonged to someone who didn't need it, since it was being lent out, there should be some profit to be made.
Aunt Xue returned quickly and was very efficient, bringing the oxcart directly to her doorstep.
“This is the oxcart of the Cheng family at the entrance of the village. I have made an agreement with the Cheng family that I will use it once in the morning and once in the evening, and they will pay me two coins a day.”
The price was negotiated very well, and Li Yan was satisfied.
But Li Yan had never driven an oxcart before, so after breakfast, Aunt Xue told Xu Ge'er to stay home and play with his sister and not to go anywhere, while she drove the cart with her daughter-in-law out the door.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the town; if you take a bus, you can save half the time.
I'm not buying meat today; the five jin I bought yesterday are still hanging in Zhangjiajing. I'll buy tomorrow morning's portion.
To ensure the meat is fresh and the braised pork tastes better, Li Yan plans to buy pork that is slaughtered on the same day whenever possible in the future.
This morning, Li Yan went to the market mainly to buy some personal items. She bought a bathtub, a bronze mirror, and finally, she didn't forget to buy some snacks for Xu Ge'er and Yue Jie'er.
After finishing her purchases, Li Yan went back to the stall where she had sold ducks the day before, paid two coins, and took all the duck feathers.
When I got back, I picked out the fine and soft duck feathers and dried them by the wall, just like yesterday.
Because I had a car, I got back much earlier today.
Seeing that there wasn't much water left in the water tank, Li Yan decided to go to the stream and fetch some more water to take home while the sun wasn't too hot.
She was carrying wooden buckets toward the stream when she happened to meet Ms. He on the way.
Now that their relationship was different, when He saw that she was going to fetch water, she immediately said without hesitation, "It's so far to fetch water from the stream, and it takes so much time to go back and forth. Besides, the sun will be up soon, and it will be so hot. My family has a well, so you can just come to my house to get water from now on."
This would indeed save time and effort, and reduce a lot of trouble. Li Yan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then I'll pay my sister-in-law."
"Let's not talk about money." Madam He wasn't the type to be greedy and unable to resist money. "Sister, you're an honest person, I know that. But how much water can you use? If I charge you for this too, then we won't be able to talk to our neighbors anymore. Besides, yesterday you had Xu-ge bring over some duck soup, and my little boy enjoyed it very much."
After thinking about it, Li Yan also felt that bringing up money in everything would inevitably create distance.
He smiled and said, "Thank you so much, sister-in-law."
"There's no need to thank me." Mrs. He warmly took Li Yan's hand. "Come on, I'll take you to my home."
The Zhang couple were easy-going and honest people. After hearing what He said, they nodded repeatedly and said that they could just come and fetch water if they needed it, no problem.
On her way back with water, Li Yan saw the mulberries again.
But thinking that I probably won't have time these next couple of days, I need to first settle the job of delivering braised pork to Yuanbaolou.
Once the braised pork business is settled in a couple of days and can proceed smoothly, she can hand over the task of going to the market to buy meat in the morning to Aunt Xue, and then she can free up time to study other ways to make money.
I took a nap at noon as usual, and after waking up, I started preparing braised pork.
Today is the first day delivering braised pork to Yuanbaolou, and customer feedback is crucial. If the feedback remains positive for several days in a row, and demand exceeds supply, then she can confidently make more portions.
If you make a few more, you can earn some money.
A note from the author:
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Red envelopes are dropping!
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