Chapter 153 Vermicelli, the mercenary group makes vermicelli, the mercenary group returns, ...
Business is very good during the holiday because there are many people coming and going.
After dropping Manler off at home, Lai went to Gugge's house to let him know he was safe. Without taking a break, he immediately got to work selling his wares at his stall.
With the large sales of mountain products, our reserves are running low.
The goblins had no concept of a harvest festival, so Lai contacted Yiru and had a few nimble and tree-climbing goblins selected. While Lai and his group were selling goods in town, they were constantly picking chestnuts and pine cones to replenish their stock, causing the red squirrels in the nearby forest to attack them whenever they saw them.
Because of a stable supply and the fact that Lai had lowered the price, they were able to sell hundreds of pounds of chestnuts every day. They also sold a lot of pine nuts, dried fruit, melon seeds, and grapes at the stall.
After running around the town and villages for several days, it was finally time for Neil to return to the academy. Reluctantly, he left with a bag of food that his brother had given him.
The festival celebrations only lasted three days, so the high foot traffic didn't last long after the celebrations ended, and Lai and his business quickly returned to normal.
The goods needed to be sold, but the work at the low hill couldn't stop. After choosing a time, Lai sent Yiru and the others to the low hill. Once this project was finished, they wouldn't need to go again, so Yiru and the others would stay there for quite a while.
With less busyness, Lai had a lot more free time when selling vegetables.
Taking advantage of the abundance and low prices of autumn supplies, he stockpiled a lot of mung beans, soybeans, and vegetable seeds, which would come in great use when winter came.
That's right, he wants to continue selling vegetables this winter. Fresh vegetables are a good business in winter, and Lai wants to earn more gold coins during that season.
The main structure of the log cabin can be built using timber sourced from elsewhere, but the planks needed for the roof must be purchased in town. Although there's still some money left, it's not something that can be spent quickly.
As time passed, the business of selling mountain products lasted for another twenty days. When it finally ended, there were still quite a few chestnuts and pine nuts left. Lai gave half of them to Lamb.
That autumn, Lai and Lamb sold several thousand pounds of mountain produce. After deducting costs such as paying the goblin laborers, they each received five gold coins.
It's definitely tiring, but the income is quite considerable.
Lamb had never seen so much money in his life. He gave half of the gold coins to his family and kept the rest with Linda. This unexpected income made Hagrid's family's life a little more comfortable.
Linda remembered how kind Lai was to her, so she brought Lai a lot of sausages with her when she made sausages this year.
Seeing how profitable selling mountain produce was, Kelly had another idea. What's the harm in doing this business? She packed large bags and went back to her parents' home, telling them about her new venture…
After deciding to stop selling mountain products this year, Lai finally had time to make vermicelli.
It's potato and sweet potato harvest season now, and since the family needs to select the best ones to keep for seed, Lai bought another 100 pounds of each from a farmer he gets along well with at the market at a lower price.
Two hundred pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes sounds like a lot, but in reality, there are only two bags. After accounting for losses, the final amount of vermicelli that can be made is only twenty or thirty pounds, and the production process is quite complicated and troublesome.
But when Lai thought about being able to enjoy a warm bowl of rice noodles at home in winter, she felt that all the initial effort was worthwhile.
What are you doing, human?
Lian had little to do on a daily basis. He would occasionally wander around the neighborhood, but he was more interested in sleeping than exploring his surroundings.
He noticed earlier that this human had been sitting there peeling potatoes and sweet potatoes, doing something he didn't know.
"Peel the skin and make vermicelli."
What are rice noodles?
"There are four incredibly delicious things that only Lai can make; no one else can!"
Tata proudly puffed out her little chest.
"Have you eaten there?"
"I've eaten!"
It's just a cut-up version.
Ryan stopped asking questions and flew low, watching Lai busy himself. Tata, realizing he wasn't being spoken to, lay back down, watching Lai peel away the skin with a knife and carefully remove each bud.
Ryan was a relatively stable elementalist, and after that night's conversation, everyone's relationship reached an eerie harmony. No one interfered with each other's lives, but occasionally he would ask Ray to cook some new and unusual dishes.
It took Lai more than two hours to peel two whole bags of potatoes.
Ray wasn't very talkative, and Ryan was mostly silent. Only Tata would occasionally whine and ask for some stronger-flavored food. Without Neil at home, the small house felt a bit deserted.
After peeling the potatoes, Lai changed the water several times to wash them thoroughly, and then began to grind them into mashed potatoes using the tools he had used last year. This was an extremely time-consuming project, and it would take him at least two days to complete it all by himself.
Purely handmade potato noodles; if anyone wants to buy them, Lai will definitely ask for a high price.
It's so troublesome and energy-consuming!
Sure enough, by the time he went to bed, Lai had only grated a quarter of a potato.
Potatoes oxidize very easily and would probably turn black overnight, so he had no choice but to soak the already peeled potatoes in water.
The mashed potatoes couldn't just be left to sit, so he added a basin of water to the mashed potatoes and then filtered out the residue with clean gauze.
I repeated the process of adding water and filtering three times, resulting in a large basin of starch water, which I placed in a corner of the living room to settle. After the starch settled, I poured off the water on top before proceeding to the next step.
There were so many potatoes and sweet potatoes that one person couldn't possibly finish them all without spending some time on it, so the next day, Lai called Lamb and Timur to come and help.
The three of them peeled, rubbed, and filtered the contents, and after two and a half days of hard work, they finally finished processing these four bags.
The settled potato starch and sweet potato starch need to be dried before they can be used. These precipitated powders, when mixed with water, form a non-Newtonian liquid, which is resistant to both soft and hard materials.
Lai gently scooped it out with a tool and placed it on a clean wooden board to dry for more than two days. He finally obtained less than sixty pounds of dehydrated starch, which was really not easy.
Both sweet potato starch and potato starch are good ingredients for cooking. Lai kept five pounds of each for later use, and used the rest to make noodles.
The weather cooled down a month after the harvest festival, but it was still very hot.
There was some drought at the beginning of the year, and there were a few scattered rains in the fall, but the rainfall was less than in previous years.
Barnett feared a drought next year and urged households to stock up on food for the winter, so this year, not many households sold much food and had ample reserves.
The temperature seems to have remained unchanged for some time, which is causing Barnett a lot of worry.
But the bright sun made it easier for Lai to make vermicelli, and after a few more busy days, his vermicelli was ready to be dried.
The rice noodles of various shapes and sizes were neatly dried in the yard, which looked quite spectacular. Neil was shocked by the scene when he returned from town.
After the vermicelli is dried, it becomes easy to break, so it can only be tied together and loosely packed in bags. The volume increases, and I filled several large bags. It was a great harvest, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Ray sent one bag to each of the Hagrid and Timur families. He kept one bag in the storage room and stuffed the rest into the pendant.
The pendant's interior is moisture-proof, mold-proof, and space-saving; it already contains quite a few of the various things that Lai has collected.
Autumn is the best season for storing grain, and families have already started drying radishes and potatoes in preparation for the coming winter.
While everyone was calmly busy, Anderson's mercenary group had already emerged from the Great Forest of Eaton, returning much earlier than usual.
Barnett received the message close to night; it was delivered to him by a vanguard of the Anderson Mercenary Group.
He sent people to tidy up the houses in the threshing ground and also prepared enough food for the mercenary group.
Barnett and the village patrol waited at the village entrance. After about half an hour, they finally saw the mercenary group's torches.
The carriage wheels turned slowly, making a rolling sound, which always seemed particularly loud in the dark.
Because of the distance and poor lighting, Barnett couldn't see the situation of the people on the other side until the carriage got closer, at which point he realized something was wrong with the mercenary group.
Their leader, Anderson, was nowhere to be found; the one in charge was the vice-leader, the mage Sheen.
The mercenary group was significantly smaller than when they left, with two fewer carriages and several fewer horses. Only a few familiar faces remained, and each of the remaining members bore some kind of injury, their expressions heavy and weary.
It must have been during an attack by a monster in the forest.
Barnett wondered to himself.
The mercenary group abducted monster cubs from the Eton Forest, and the monster parents attacked them to protect their offspring. Getting injured was commonplace; it would be abnormal for them to emerge unscathed.
"I am extremely sorry to trouble you to get up so late at night."
Sheen had dark circles under his eyes, stubble on his face, and bloodshot eyes, as if he hadn't rested for several days.
"How is Commander Anderson?"
"He is injured, quite seriously, but thankfully he won't die."
Sheen declined to reveal any further information.
"Everyone, go and rest first. We have prepared food and hot water."
"Thank you for your hospitality, Chief Barnett."
Barnett and the patrol led Anderson's mercenary group to the threshing ground. No one spoke a word along the way, and the entire mercenary group was deathly silent. Their wagons reeked of blood.
"It's late, get some rest. If you need anything, ask the patrol officers who are on duty. I'll bring you food again tomorrow."
"thank you."
Sheen tapped his shoulder twice with his fist, and Barnett returned the gesture.
Two candles were lit in one of the houses in the threshing ground, and a fire was burning under the large pot in the communal kitchen, with the water in the pot just heated up.
The staff in charge of housekeeping had already gone in with blankets and thin quilts to tidy up, and several candles were lit in the room again.
"Deputy Commander, the beds are ready."
"Okay, let's carry everyone inside."
Sheen rubbed his hands together, feeling a bit like smoking, as he watched his four men carry Anderson out of the carriage.
Anderson looked terrible; his lips were pale from blood loss, and his lower body was empty where his left leg used to be—he had lost his left leg.
Sheehan knocked him unconscious so he could get a good night's sleep, but Anderson's brow was still furrowed in pain; clearly, unconsciousness did not alleviate his suffering.
After Anderson was carried off the vehicle, several other wounded men got off as well. Some had their arms wrapped around their arms, some had one eye covered, and one had blood seeping from his abdomen.
Those who survived are all here, while those who died...
Sheen looked at the other carriage.
"Deputy Commander, go and get some rest. You haven't slept for three days."
The visitor offered words of advice.
"Are there any cigarettes left?"
Sheen didn't say anything, but asked for a cigarette. The man handed Sheen a cigarette and lit it for him.
The small sparks flickered in the darkness, and the smoke he exhaled made his face appear as if it were shrouded in a thin mist.
On the day of their official departure, due to Anderson's precognitive dream, they took a new route to enter the interior of the Eton Forest as a precaution.
At first, things went very smoothly for them. The road was safe, as if it had already been cleared by other mercenary groups. The highest-level magical beast they encountered was only level six, and Anderson and Sheen didn't even need to lift a finger; the others dealt with it easily.
Ten days later, they entered the border area between the fifth and fourth levels of the Eton Great Forest, a zone where level four and level five magical beasts were active.
Hunters and mercenary groups who frequently explore Eton Forest have divided it into eight levels, much like how monsters are ranked.
The eighth layer is the outermost layer, the edge of the Eton Great Forest. It covers the largest area and is teeming with wild animals and low-level magical beasts.
Similarly, the deepest part of Eaton is the habitat of high-level magical beasts, covering a very large area and a place that no human has ever reached.
Anderson and his team had a relatively easy mission this time. The nobleman wanted to give his youngest daughter a level three magical beast egg so that she could hatch her own little magical beast.
It's said that magical beasts hatched by their owners are more affectionate. Anderson and his companions didn't know if this was true, but they knew that this magical beast egg was worth at least 150 gold coins. If they could get their hands on a rarer level 3 magical beast egg, they could get 200 gold coins.
For a noble family, two hundred gold coins would only cover two or three months' expenses in their territory, but for ordinary people, they might not earn that much in their entire lives.
They dodged several waves of attacks from level-three magical beasts and finally entered the third level. Since this was their last trip to Eaton to "collect" magical beast eggs, Anderson took a risk and led everyone deeper into the third level.
The mercenary group members had cooperated countless times and developed a unique tacit understanding with each other. With the help of more than a dozen magic scrolls, they successfully lured away the monster mother and obtained two level-three monster eggs of different races.
Up to this point, everything was going smoothly. They had completed their mission and now all they needed to do was conceal their presence and leave quietly.
What's even more commendable is that they did not let their guard down because of this, and remained vigilant at all times.
However, the unexpected happened in that split second.
A male scavenger in its prime attacked them.
Because he used too much force, the cigarette in Sheen's hand broke off, and he accidentally burned the back of his hand. He crushed the cigarette butt with his toe and fell back into his memories.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-06-26 23:28:35 and 2024-06-30 23:23:08!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: WoWo, 72682211, and Lili who farms (10 bottles); Don't be wronged! and Yuanxu (5 bottles); Fengyu and Xiuxian Dafahao (1 bottle each);
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