I'll make the cold seaweed salad today, and I can take it to the shopkeeper tomorrow to try it out.
Otherwise, I'll be busy making spicy snails tomorrow morning, and I'm afraid I won't have time to mix seaweed strips.
The two of them were very willing to do it. Yunniang had improved her knife skills a bit during this time, so cutting seaweed strips was no problem for her.
So the task of cutting seaweed strips and other side dishes fell to her.
Chen Fang was washing seaweed on the side.
Pei Yao and Pei Yichen were not idle either. Pei Yao remembered the purslane she had dried before going out in the morning, so she went to take a look.
The sun is strong in Lingnan, and the purslane has been drying in the sun all morning and is now quite dark and dry. Pei Yao pinched it with her hand and found that it was about 60-70% dry.
Her hand was not working properly, so she asked Pei Yichen, who was standing next to her, to get a dry basin to put it in first.
Then sprinkle some salt into the purslane that is about 60-70% dry, mix it together and rub it vigorously.
Once the salt is evenly mixed into the purslane, that's it.
Then spread it out on banana leaves to continue drying. Once it's completely dry and has no moisture left, you can pack it up and store it.
If you want to eat it later, just take out a handful, soak it in water, add some green chili peppers, and stir-fry it.
That's absolutely delicious, even better than meat!
Looking at the purslane, Pei Yao felt a deep longing for that taste.
Yunniang took a break and applied the herbal medicine to Pei Yao's wound before she felt relieved enough to continue working with the kelp. Pei Yao and Pei Yichen had brought back quite a lot of kelp today; after soaking the slightly dried kelp, they had cut out more than four buckets of kelp strips.
The sauce was made with spicy snails, and after it was prepared, it was covered with fresh banana leaves and moved directly to the cellar at the back for storage.
For dinner tonight, Yunniang simply made stir-fried pork belly with green chili peppers, cooked a wild vegetable and clam soup, and served a large bowl of freshly made kelp strips. That was their dinner.
The Pei family ate dinner very early today.
After finishing her meal, Pei Yao, whose hand was injured, had nothing to do and was able to steal a rare half-day of leisure.
Thinking back, since I transmigrated to this world, I haven't had a chance to properly explore the place where I live.
So I followed the mountain path from my house, climbed up a nearby hillside, and found a shady spot to sit down.
The evening breeze swept across the hills; the summer evening breeze in Lingnan was always hot and not refreshing on the skin.
Pei Yao looked down at the village below the slope, finally having a chance to calmly observe the entire village.
Liangshui Village is not large, and most of the houses are stone houses because these houses are sturdy and can withstand typhoons, so local villagers prefer to build stone houses.
The small village is dotted with stone houses of all sizes.
The houses weren't very far apart; the few houses at the village entrance were led by the Niu family, with a few other families scattered around.
At the end of the village lived Pei Yao and her group of exiled people, who were temporarily staying there.
As it was approaching lunchtime, wisps of smoke began to rise from the chimneys of several houses in the village, and people who had worked hard all day were returning home.
The usually quiet village became lively as smoke rose from the chimneys.
Looking across the hillside, the most bustling place in the village was the Pei family's. At this moment, a group of people from the Pei family had gathered, each carrying dozens of kilograms of snails, scallops, and sea urchins.
Chen Fang was waiting ahead to weigh the seafood.
When the villagers of Liangshuijing first heard from Da Niu that the Pei family was collecting these things, they couldn't quite believe it at first.
After all, these things Pei Yao collected wouldn't sell well even if they took them to town, so why would anyone buy them? They expressed their doubts.
They only truly believed it yesterday when Niu Qingshan took the seafood to the Pei family and returned with the money.
So everyone went to the beach early this morning to collect them. There are plenty of these things on the beach, and they can easily collect a whole bunch.
The Pei family was quite busy in the morning, so the time for collecting the seafood was changed to the afternoon.
When Pei Yao returned home, everyone had already left the Pei family courtyard.
The yard is now filled with seafood, all of which were just collected from the villagers.
The snails alone weighed over 200 jin (approximately 100 kg).
Tonight, the moonlight, like fine cotton threads, gently spills onto the country lane near Liangshui Well, creating a tranquil and beautiful scene.
Pei Yao lay sprawled on the bed, holding a palm-leaf fan she had picked up from some corner, and fanned herself gently.
She carefully recalled the events that had occurred since she transmigrated to this world.
From the initial confusion and helplessness upon arriving here, to later accepting the reality.
Adhering to the principle of "since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it," Pei Yao originally just wanted to live a good life, earn more money, and achieve financial freedom.
Incidentally, I also feel that having family is quite nice.
Thinking of the care and concern Pei Yichen, Chen Fang, Yunniang, and Pei Xuan showed her during the day, Pei Yao, who had never received love from her family in her previous life, felt a pang of sadness.
At this moment, I feel that having family and being cared for by them is a very happy and wonderful thing.
It filled her empty heart completely.
She suddenly found herself liking her current life. If she couldn't go back, perhaps spending her whole life in this strange world wouldn't be a bad choice.
At least now she has family by her side, unlike before when she was always all alone.
For Pei Yao, who was an orphan since childhood, these were things she had longed for but could never have.
That night, Pei Yao had fallen into a deep sleep without anyone noticing.
I didn't sleep a wink that night and slept straight until the next morning.
When Pei Yao got up, Yun Niang and the others had just gotten up as well. After washing up, the family busied themselves making spicy snails.
Around 8 a.m., Niu Qingshan came to pick them up in an oxcart. Now that they had more and more things, Niu Qingshan used some planks to widen the back of the oxcart.
This way you can put more things in.
After carrying all the buckets upstairs, Pei Yao also went to get two pieces of seaweed that she had brought back yesterday.
Pei Yao went with the delivery today, but Chen Fang didn't go. She and Pei Yichen were going to continue harvesting kelp at the bay today and also pick up the kelp that had been dried yesterday.
The mountain road was very bumpy, but Pei Yao was already somewhat used to it.
"Brother Qingshan, I want to ask, where should I go to inquire about two exiled prisoners who worked at the salt fields?"
Pei Yao's sudden remark caught Niu Qingshan off guard.
After a moment of silence, he seemed to hesitate, then asked, "Sister Yao, are you trying to find out where your family is?"
Niu Qingshan knew a thing or two about these exiled prisoners. He had heard that once the men in his family entered Lingnan, they would be forcibly sent to work in the surrounding salt fields or mines.
"Mmm," Pei Yao replied softly.
"I don't know either. The salt fields are strictly controlled. If you don't have connections, it's probably very difficult to find out any information about people."
After Niu Qingshan finished speaking and saw that Pei Yao remained silent with her head down, he continued, "However, Uncle Qian's boss, the big owner of Deyun Restaurant, seems to have some connection with the saltworks. I wonder if Uncle Qian..."
Niu Qingshan wasn't entirely sure either; he'd only heard Erdan mention it briefly before.
As for whether the matter was true or false, Niu Qingshan was not sure.
"I understand, thank you, Brother Qingshan." Pei Yao's tone remained calm, revealing no emotion.
......
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