Chapter 5: Seeing the Qi Family Again. They had just come to deal with the officials two days ago. Today...
It was a dreamless night, and when Liu Yeshu opened her eyes she felt refreshed.
"It seems that the medicine in this system is really a good thing..."
The first month of the lunar year had not yet passed, the weather was freezing cold, and the roof was leaking. She pulled the clothes covering the quilt into the bed to warm them up. After she felt a little warm, she gritted her teeth and put them on in one go. The longer she stayed in bed, the colder she felt.
When he opened the door, it was daybreak, the air as cold as a knife. The dew still hung in the yard, dampening the dust and making it easier to sweep. Liu Yeshu picked up the broom and began to sweep.
Squeak——
The wooden door of Liudi's room opened. Liu Yeling yawned and rubbed her sleepy eyes, saying, "Sister, you woke up so early." After that, she took the broom from Liu Yeshu's hand and began to clean the dust. "You can take a rest. Leave this kind of physical work to me from now on." She walked to the corner and took down the spider web as well. He knew that sister was afraid of spiders.
Liu Yeshu walked into the kitchen, looked inside from outside the stove, reached in to push away the ashes, and gently blew on the charcoal fire. Seeing the faint flickering of firewood hidden inside, she felt relieved.
After finishing her meal last night, she tried to cover the fire in the ashes, and sure enough, this kept the fire burning all night long. She added some hay, and when the fire started to burn, she quickly retracted her head.
He picked up a large ceramic bowl, scooped a handful of flour into it, added a little salt, and slowly added water and stirred it. After kneading it into dough, Liu Yeshu found a clean wet cloth to cover it.
After patting the flour off her hands, she stood at the kitchen door with her arms folded, and saw that Liu Di had basically cleaned the yard.
There was a noise from next door. It must be Liu's parents getting up. Liu Yeshu waved to Liu Di, "Go tell Dad and Mom that they don't have to make breakfast. Come eat with us."
Back at the stove, the dough had almost risen. After dividing it into small pieces, Liu Yeshu took down a rolling pin from the wall and rolled it into thin round pancakes. She heated the oil in a wok and put the pancakes in to bake. As soon as the aroma of burnt rice started to rise, she switched to the other side and baked the other side.
“It’s a pity there are no eggs.”
After the four pancakes were baked and the soy milk was ready, Liu Yeshu pressed the pancake with her hand, cut it horizontally, stuffed it with pickles, and ate it with soy milk for breakfast.
"The meal is ready!" Liu Di went into the kitchen and brought out the meal. It was cold in the yard, so the four of them ate in Liu Di's room.
"Sister, when did your craftsmanship become so good?" Liu Yeling praised in amazement.
Liu Yeshu remained calm and said, "I read it in a book. It's edible."
"Shu'er, I'll be the one cooking from now on." Mother Liu looked at her daughter's frail body with distress. Her collarbones were jagged, and the bones on her back were about to break through the flesh when she bent over to eat. "You need to rest more and take good care of yourself."
Liu Yeshu nodded. Her mother, accustomed to being waited on, had never cooked for herself. Now, she was simply worried about her daughter. Someone had to bear the hardships of hardship.
Father Liu took the last bite of the pancake and nodded. "Shu'er, you're enjoying a delicious meal by following me. The soybean powder for the soy milk was also sent by Butler Zhao that day, right? Back then... I just did him a favor. Now that our family is in trouble, his timely assistance is truly remarkable."
Liu Di looked at the food in the bowl and nodded heavily. To be honest, he wanted another bowl.
"There's still some left at the bottom of the pot in the kitchen. Go get some more." Liu Yeshu could see that Liu Di hadn't had enough. "Father, Mother, after we finish eating, Ling'er and I will go to the market to see if there's anything we can buy."
In fact, she wanted to see the business situation at the market, maybe she would have the opportunity to make a name for herself in the future.
Father Liu agreed, and then he stood up to get some copper coins. He took out 20 coins and handed them to Liu Yeshu, saying, "Buy some more meat, Shu'er. You're not feeling well, so you need to eat more."
Father Liu took his machete and prepared to go out to chop wood. The three of them went out together.
Before closing the door, Liu's mother caught up and said, "Let's go to the market and see if there's any needlework for sale. If you want to wear men's clothes in the future, I can alter Ling'er's clothes for you."
*
The morning market was not far from Huangtun, and when Liu Yeshu arrived, it was already bustling with people.
The air was thick with the smell of fresh earth and freshly slaughtered animals.
The small stalls on both sides of the street were constantly shouting. The stalls were covered with coarse cloth to sell vegetables, and those covered with bamboo mats to sell meat. There were few varieties of winter vegetables, mostly cabbage and radish, and a few stalls sold leeks and mustard greens.
"Cabbage is cold-resistant and easy to store. If we put it in the storage cabinet, it should be able to last for a long time." Brother Liu pointed to the cabbage stall.
Liu Yeshu agreed, "That's right, Ling'er is really amazing."
But rather than storing it in a storage cabinet, she prefers to pickle it and store it in kimchi. Since she doesn't have livestock at home, she has no way to deal with the chaff. If she had pigs, she could feed them.
After receiving the compliment, Liu Di scratched his head in embarrassment: "I also read this in a miscellaneous book before..."
"As long as one can put what they learn into practice, even miscellaneous books are good books..."
[Host, the system has detected an abandoned vegetable patch behind your home. You can use it to grow vegetables and fruits!]
The sudden voice in his head scared Liu Yeshu, and he said half of his words and swallowed the rest down his throat.
"Sister, what's wrong with you?" Liu Di was a little nervous when he noticed that Liu Yeshu's body stiffened.
Liu Yeshu waved her hands and said in a relaxed tone, "No problem."
Vegetable garden...
Her eyes lit up. If they could grow vegetables in the garden, wouldn't the family be self-sufficient in vegetables? Money should be spent wisely. If they wanted to escape slavery in the future, they would need money for many other purposes.
"Would you like to buy anything?" The stall owner was a middle-aged man with a stubble on his face. Seeing that the two children had been standing in front of him for a long time and had no intention of buying anything, he impatiently prepared to drive them away.
Liu Yeshu came to her senses and dragged her brother to the cabbage stall next door to start picking and choosing. The bearded man saw her and snorted, then spat on the ground. She ignored him without even turning her head.
"Auntie, how much are the cabbages?"
Seeing the visitor, the old lady hurriedly greeted her, "Young lady, these are three cents a pound. I just picked them from the fields this morning. Look at these leaves, they are so juicy."
"Three cents is not cheap. The last time I bought it, it was only two cents." Liu Di rolled his eyes and turned to look at Liu Yeshu. He didn't expect his sister to be so calm when lying. A slightly blind respect rose in his heart.
"Those must be old cabbages that have been stored for several months! If I sell them at a lower price, I will lose money!" the old lady shouted.
"I'm buying these to make kimchi, so it doesn't matter if they're old or new. How about this? I'll buy four, and you'll give me two radishes, so we can pickle them together."
The lady at the stall finally gave up and said, "Okay, okay, come buy from me next time."
"Thank you, I will definitely buy from you next time!" Liu Yeshu stopped while she was ahead and picked up the cabbages with a smile. It was just right for her and Liu Di to hold two each.
Passing by a pork stall, the owner, a sturdy man, was deftly chopping a piece of fresh pork into small pieces. Liu Yeshu approached. The pork was bright red, the fat white. She pointed to a piece of fatty pork belly and asked, "How much is this per pound?"
"Miss, no matter how fat or thin, it's ten cents a pound. No bargaining."
Hearing the price, Liu Yeshu was secretly shocked. Pork is so expensive. Doesn't this mean that eating meat will be a luxury in the future?
During their exile, they didn't even eat pork, let alone meat. Once, the officials roasted a lamb at the post station. The aroma filled the air, and the entire exile group was filled with the sound of rumbling stomachs at night, leaving many tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The next morning, the officials made soup with the leftover lamb bones. It was the best meal the convicts had ever had on the road. They'd grabbed whatever they could get, and the officials tried to stop them from fighting over a bowl of lamb soup like dogs.
Liu Yeshu saw Liu Di staring at the meat blankly and sighed, "I want the piece inside, the fattier one."
Fatter meat can be used to make lard, which is fragrant when cooking and can be stored for a long time, saving money on buying soybean oil.
After calculating it this way, the price-performance ratio is quite good. He counted out ten copper coins and handed them over. The stall owner strung them together with a hemp rope and handed them to him. Liu Di took them happily.
The two of them had a lot of things in their hands, so they just casually browsed around other stalls and did not go into the shop.
On the way back, Liu Di slapped his head and said, "Oh no! I forgot that mom told me to buy needles and thread!"
Liu Yeshu stopped and said, "Don't worry, just go ask the neighbor to borrow a needle. We already have hemp thread."
She didn't forget, but she felt it was not worth buying it specifically. She was already wearing coarse linen clothes, and if she really bought thin thread, the thread might be smaller than the gaps in the linen.
"Sister is really thoughtful. I'll go knock on the neighbor's door when I get home!"
When Liu Yeshu heard this, she curled her lips into a smile and shook her head: "No need to go through so much trouble."
It was not yet noon when the two of them reached the village entrance, and Liu Yeshu asked Liu Di to hide the pork behind the cabbage.
As soon as I reached the village entrance, the aunties who were sitting on mats picking vegetables and talking excitedly stopped talking and cast a few inquiring glances at me without disguising.
Liu Yeshu was not timid at all. He walked forward confidently, and Liu Di followed quickly behind him.
"Girl, have you just moved in?" Aunt Sun broke the silence.
Liu Yeshu smiled and replied, "Yes, Auntie, your fire is lit so early, it smells so good, what delicious food are you making?"
Aunt Sun narrowed her eyes and smiled, saying, "Isn't it just some mixed grain porridge with some wild vegetables to warm you up? What good things did you buy at the market?"
Seeing Liu Yeshu start a conversation, the aunts sitting around started whispering to each other again.
"Is this the Liu family that quarreled yesterday?"
"It's definitely true. This sickly guy fainted yesterday..."
"Too thin, not even a pound of flesh on the body..."
"I heard he's related to someone in the east city?"
Liu Yeshu seemed not to have heard, and knew that Auntie Sun had recognized her a long time ago, but she looked unconcerned and raised the cabbage in her hand: "I bought some vegetables, ah..." Then she changed the subject, "Auntie, the needles at home are too blunt. I wonder if you have any extra needles at home? Can you lend me one?"
Upon hearing this, Aunt Sun propped herself up on her thighs and walked into the house, very enthusiastic: "Come here! I just ground two sticks a few days ago, it's just right for you to take one! When you finish it, give it to me."
Liu Yeshu took it and thanked her repeatedly, "Thank you, Auntie! You've been so helpful! Come to my house for dinner some other day."
"Well, well, we're just fellow villagers. What's the big deal about this little thing?"
Liu Yeshu nodded in agreement, winked at Liu Di, and the two continued walking home.
"The Liu family is quite friendly... They don't seem to be looking down on others."
Aunt Sun moved the stool under her buttocks. It was a bit difficult for her to sit down because she was wearing so many clothes in winter. She picked up the straw in the basket in front of her and wrapped the straw rope around to make the soles of her shoes. Her fingers flipped the straw quickly and she looked in a good mood.
"He's a poor fellow, banished here, without even a needle to mend his clothes."
Aunt Sun put down the half-woven straw sandals in her hand and said, "But if it really has something to do with the east city, then..." Looking at the two figures walking away, she seemed to be thinking about something.
*
As soon as Liu Yeshu arrived at the door of her home, she heard the voice of a strange man coming from her father and mother's room.
"Dad, we're back!" Although the door was open, Liu Yeshu still called out before entering.
Mother Liu came over and took the things the siblings had bought: "You're back!"
Liu Yeshu saw the joy on her mother's face and the way her father received the guests not far away in the courtyard, and she knew that the visitor was of an extraordinary identity.
"Be careful with your hands, there's a needle stuck in this cabbage." Liu Yeshu reminded in a low voice.
Only then did Liu's mother see the needle and said with a smile, "You are so smart." She turned around and put the vegetables and meat into the kitchen.
"Shu'er, Ling'er, come here quickly and meet your Uncle Zhao!" came the voice of Liu's father.
The brother and sister quickly wiped their hands on their clothes, then stepped forward to greet the guest, and respectfully saluted Uncle Zhao: "Hello, Uncle Zhao."
While paying his respects, Liu Yeshu was filled with doubts.
This person must be the housekeeper Zhao T of the Qi Mansion mentioned this morning. However, he just came to take care of the officials two days ago, and he came again today. What's the matter?
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