I never imagined it would be like this behind the scenes.
Wu Jun was already outside the store when Gu Lili and the others entered, so he witnessed the whole thing.
Wenping had told me this before, but I didn't believe it. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I realize how much Wenping had suffered in the past.
Upon hearing that Wu Jun wanted to send him away, Wu Chenggui quickly said, "Uncle Wu, why are you sending me away for no reason? Did I do something wrong? Please tell me, and I will definitely change!"
He thought Wu Jun hadn't heard what he had just said and was still pretending.
But Wu Jun was too lazy to waste any more words with him, so he paid him his wages and told him to get lost.
If it weren't for the fact that they were relatives, someone like Wu Chenggui who still wanted his wages would be lucky to escape being fined.
He had originally planned to promote Wu Chenggui to be the new manager since his own manager had gone back to his hometown a few days ago.
Fortunately, I caught him in the act today; otherwise, this kid would have ruined my shop.
Wu Jun said to Wen Ping with some shame, "Wen Ping, I was wrong to misjudge people before, and you suffered because of it. Work hard, and once you've trained an apprentice, I'll let you take over as manager!"
Wen Ping nodded repeatedly, flattered, and then turned to tidy up the jewelry he had just taken out, as well as the teacups that Gu Lili and the others had used.
Gu Lili led Gu Erniu out of Lanyuezhai and headed straight for the pork shop.
Fortunately, it's not too late today, and the pork at the pork stall hasn't sold out yet.
"Boss, give me ten pounds of fatty meat! Three pounds of pork belly!" Gu Lili shouted to the pork vendor in front of her.
Upon hearing this, the pork vendor thought, "This is a big business opportunity!" and immediately greeted him with a beaming smile.
One pound of fatty pork costs thirty-five coins, so ten pounds would be three hundred and fifty coins. At home, three pounds of pork belly costs ninety coins, so selling it all at once would bring in a total of four hundred and forty coins. How could I not be happy?
Gu Erniu was taken aback when he heard that his sister wanted to buy so much fatty meat.
"Sister, we bought so much fatty meat, are we sure we can finish it all?"
It wasn't that Gu Erniu was reluctant to eat meat; it was just that after eating this pork belly with its alternating layers of fat and lean meat, he preferred its texture.
Gu Lili laughed and said, "This fat will be useful, so don't worry about it, just carry it for me."
After hearing what his sister said, Gu Erniu didn't say anything more.
Seeing that Gu Lili had bought so much, the pork stall owner readily gave them some pig intestines and pig blood as a gift.
Normally, no one eats pig intestines; only those who really crave meat will buy them to treat themselves.
Because they don't know how to process it, and they don't have many spices to mask the smell of pig intestines.
Looking at the large intestine, Gu Lili's mind conjured up images of spicy pork intestines and blood curd, and she unconsciously swallowed.
The two thanked the pork stall owner and then turned and hurried toward the city gate.
Gu Lili and Gu Erniu had been shopping for quite a while, and they wondered if Li Ershu was getting impatient.
The two walked quickly, completely unaware that a pair of eyes were staring intently at them from behind.
If Gu Lili were to turn around and look back right now, she would definitely recognize who it was immediately.
"Erniu, tomorrow you can ask Tiedan's dad and the others to move our greenhouse to the new house," Gu Lili said to Gu Erniu as they walked.
Their house is almost finished, so they need to move their things over there as soon as possible.
This would allow Master Yuan to build his own new house; otherwise, it would be inconvenient for him to always stay at the village head's house.
Gu Erniu paused for a moment and asked, "Didn't you just say that Wangji Trading Company wants 100 catties of maltose? Shall I come with you to deliver it?"
There's still some maltose left at home, so we don't need to make any more.
Gu Erniu was a little worried about letting his older sister deliver the candy alone.
However, Gu Lili plans to buy some things from her space tomorrow, as it would be inconvenient to bring Gu Erniu along.
"No need, 100 pounds isn't very heavy. I can just push it in with a cart," Gu Lili refused.
After thinking about it, Gu Erniu had no choice but to agree.
After all, Gu Erniu rarely changed the decisions his sister had made.
Those behind them also overheard the conversation between Gu Lili and her brother.
When they arrived at the oxcart, Li Ershu was already waiting.
When Li Ershu saw the two siblings arrive, he quickly spat out the small twig from his mouth.
He jumped off the oxcart and took the basket from behind Gu Erniu, placing it on the oxcart.
Gu Erniu grinned foolishly, "Second Uncle, were you getting impatient?"
He knew the feeling of waiting for his sister—anxiety, and even more so, worry.
Li Ershu shook his head and smiled, "No rush, there's still plenty of time!"
After putting their things away, the three of them drove the oxcart home.
The pair of eyes that followed Gu Lili and Gu Erniu stayed until they disappeared from the roadside before turning back into the city.
When they arrived at the beach, Gu Lili asked Gu Erniu to stop the car while she picked up some seashells. The three of them then went home.
These seashells are an essential ingredient in making this soap.
Originally, Li Ershu wanted to return to Lijia Village, but he was out of syrup and needed to go to Gu Lili's house to get more, so he decided to stay for another day.
Back home, after unloading her belongings, Gu Lili began rendering lard.
"Erniu, go and burn the seashells I picked up, then grind them into powder and give them to me," Gu Lili instructed.
The shells need to be ground into powder before being fired. The main component of the fired shells is calcium oxide, also known as quicklime.
Making soap also requires lye, which is something you can easily find at home.
They usually use wood and grass to start fires for cooking, and the wood ash, when boiled with water, becomes a natural lye solution.
This task will be assigned to Gu Huanhuan.
Seeing everyone busy, Li Ershu had originally planned to take Gu Sigou to find some firewood, but unexpectedly, Gu Lili also had something to ask him to do.
Gu Lili smiled somewhat shyly, "Second Uncle, take Si Gou to the west end of the village and cut down a few bamboo trees."
Upon hearing this, Li Ershu was delighted to have something to do and happily took Gu Sigou with him to the west end of the village.
After the wood ash is filtered, it needs to be boiled together with shell powder.
After boiling and filtering, it needs to be left to stand overnight before use.
Gu Lili has things to do tomorrow, so she's rendering the lard first, which will allow her to continue making other dishes tomorrow morning.
While Gu Huanhuan and Gu Erniu were boiling the water, Gu Lili had also finished rendering the lard.
After refining it, Gu Lili began cooking dinner.
"Sister, this smells awful. Are you sure we can eat it?" Gu Erniu frowned and asked with disgust as he looked at the pig intestines that Gu Lili handed him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com