Chapter 65
Seeing that Pei Liu seemed to be unwell, Gu Ran, who was leading the way at first, didn't notice. After walking for a distance, he saw that there were no footsteps behind him. He looked back and realized that Pei Liu seemed to be in trouble. He hurried back and squatted beside Pei Liu: "Liu Niang? What's wrong with you? Does your wound hurt?"
Pei Liu slowly raised his head and looked at Gu Ran. His face was pale and his forehead was covered with fine, dense beads of cold sweat.
He had already sustained internal injuries from the beating by that old madman, and last night he had a scuffle with bandits. He had to run non-stop to the miasma forest carrying corpses, digging holes and filling them with soil all night without a break. Not only did his chest hurt badly, but he was also dizzy from hunger.
But Pei Liu wouldn't tell it.
He shook his head and said with a stiff face: "I'm hungry!"
Gu Ran was also hungry, but she could tell from Pei Liu's condition that it was not entirely due to hunger.
After killing the bandits yesterday, Pei Liu started coughing up blood, but for the sake of burying the body, seeing that Pei Liu had no objection, she kept silent. After all, destroying the body was the top priority and it could not be delayed or waited.
Looking at it now, it's obvious that the injury has worsened.
Gu Ran felt a pang of guilt.
The bandits were coming for her. If Pei Liu had not discovered and stopped them in time, it would be hard to say who would win if she, a single woman, really faced this bandit.
Later, it was Pei Liu who helped to deal with the scene, which allowed him to escape.
She didn't say that she was seriously injured, probably because she didn't want to make herself worry. But, she was hungry, what was there to eat?
There were naturally a lot of food in space No. 8. Gu Ran felt embarrassed when she couldn't just take the food out and give it to Pei Liu.
"I'm hungry too, but we came out in a hurry and didn't have anything. Let's rest for a while. Just bear with it. I'll make you something delicious when we get home."
Pei Liu recovered, breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and then reached out to Gu Ran: "Help."
Gu Ran held Pei Liu's hand, pulled her up, and carefully supported her.
Pei Liu lowered his eyes and his gaze fell on Gu Ran's hand that was tightly holding his, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly without being noticed.
When Gu Ran saw Pei Liu standing up, he was afraid that she would lose her balance, so he put his left arm around her waist and with his right hand, he put her arm around his right shoulder and said, "Let's go! Take your time, there's no rush!"
Pei Liu was startled, her ears turned slightly red, but she didn't say a word. She let Gu Ran hold her and slowly walked out of the miasma forest. When they reached the edge of the shallow forest, they could hear the sound of firecrackers and fireworks in the village from afar.
After returning to the cottage, they both washed themselves with cold water and then returned to the hall.
On the table in the main hall were the cakes and pastries from last night's vigil: rice cakes, gift cakes, snow cakes, crispy candies, sesame cakes, fried rice, etc. There were also oranges, candied grapefruits, etc. The two of them ate all of them, and then went back to their rooms to take a nap.
"Sixth Mother, remember to apply the medicine!" Gu Ran reminded her.
Pei Liu looked at Gu Ran with sparkling eyes and nodded vigorously.
Gu Ran slept until the afternoon.
After waking up, he was still in a daze for a while and didn't know where he was. After gradually waking up, he remembered Pei Liu's injury, quickly got up, looked around in space No. 8, and went to the warehouse to look for the medicinal materials he bought at the pharmacy.
Since Pei Liu was unwilling to see a doctor, she would just give her some dietary therapy.
Gu Ran had no relatives in the Great Sheng Dynasty and did not interact with many people in Xiaxi Village. Therefore, from the first to the fourth day of the New Year, no one came to visit relatives and wish them a happy new year. However, there were curious people coming from time to time to see the tall windmill.
Accompanied by the occasional lively noise outside, Gu Ran made medicinal soup for Pei Liu every day these days, hoping that her injuries would get better soon. Then he would play with the cat, set off firecrackers and fireworks in the courtyard, having a lot of fun.
As the weather got warmer and Pei Liuniang's health had recovered a lot, Gu Ran took out a few pieces of fine cotton cloth left over from making winter clothes for Lin Ersao from the box, intending to give them to Pei Liuniang to make some underwear.
During the few days that Pei Liuniang lived in the small house, she wore her clothes. Fortunately, when she asked Lin Ersao to sew them, she made a few extra sets, otherwise she really didn't know where to find clothes for her to change.
Originally, Gu Ran also wanted to go back to Qinghuai Village and go to the place where Pei Liuniang lived to find her clothes, but firstly, Qinghuai Village was a bit far away, and she had to find someone to take her there. Secondly, during the New Year holidays, everyone in the village was busy visiting relatives, and no one was free. Thirdly, if she left, who would take care of Pei Liuniang?
We can't ask Mrs. Lin Er to come over as well, because she also has relatives of her own to leave.
So the matter was put on hold.
When he was walking out with the cloth, Pei Liuniang saw him and asked, "Gu Er, do you want to make clothes?"
"It's not me, it's for you to make clothes."
Gu Ran was about to lift his foot when Pei Liuniang stopped him again: "Since you are making my clothes, where are you going?"
"Find someone to help you..."
Before Gu Ran could finish his words, he was interrupted by Pei Liuniang, "I can do it myself."
Oh, yes!
She almost forgot that Pei Liuniang was very good at needlework.
"But, are you okay with your injury?"
"No problem."
So Gu Ran readily gave all the fabric and needlework to Pei Liuniang.
Pei Liuniang took the cloth, touched it, and glanced at Gu Erniang: "I will return this money to you in the future."
"OK!"
Saving her life is saving her life. Pei Liuniang had been eating and living at her expense during the period of recuperation, and she had not held it against her because of the life-saving grace. Now that she was so kind and offered to give her money, of course she would take it.
No one's money comes from the wind. Her family's money was saved by her hard work, penny by penny, for more than half a year.
When Pei Liuniang was gesturing with the cloth, her eyes fell on the fur coat she was wearing.
I haven't gone out these days and have been wearing this black fur coat.
It also belongs to Gu Er Niang.
Pei Liu pursed his lips and said, "Mrs. Gu, do you have any extra leather at home?"
He remembered that Gu Er Niang had hung out to dry a lot of rabbit skins.
Gu Ran was stunned and his eyes fell on his fur coat.
"Yes, yes, what do you want to do?"
"Sell me all the leather you have. I'll use it to make my own fur coat."
"all right!"
She originally had a lot of bamboo rat skins and rabbit skins, as well as a whole mountain deer skin. It was not impossible to make a fur coat for Pei Liuniang, but she was afraid that there would not be enough materials.
So, Gu Ran gave all the skins he had accumulated to Pei Liuniang, and also painted a fur coat for Pei Liuniang made of black bamboo rat skin and mountain deer skin.
Pei Liu looked at the drawings, glanced at Gu Ran in surprise, and then lowered his head silently.
I didn't expect that Gu Er Niang was also good at painting.
Within four days, Pei Liuniang had used the skins to make a fur coat, a pair of rabbit-skin boots, and a short lining jacket.
As for Gu Ran himself, while Pei Liu was busy, he quietly went to the kitchen. In addition to preparing the meals for the day, he also made food that could be placed in space grid number eight.
Because Pei Liuniang lived in the small house, the matter of preparing the stored food had to be kept secret from her, especially when preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, and making sure to make larger portions.
What Gu Ran wanted to do today was naturally the orange delicacy that he had been craving for a long time.
After tangerines came on the market last year, Gu Ran not only saved the two large baskets of tangerines sent by Pei Liuniang, but also went to the Donglin Township market and the county town to buy many tangerines, including red tangerines, kumquats, yellow tangerines, tangerines, oranges and other varieties. It is estimated that there is enough for a whole year, and they are all stored in space No. 8!
Although it can be kept fresh, I also like to try some orange delicacies with different flavors occasionally!
What's more, there are so many oranges now, she can do whatever she wants.
She had already made roasted oranges, orange juice, canned oranges and orange jam, all of which she had saved. The orange peels were not wasted. Except for a small portion that she used to make orange paste to treat the frostbite that she might get accidentally in winter, the rest were washed and dried. Once they were made into tangerine peels, they could be used as ingredients for cooking and making sweet soups.
And now she wants to try making some tangerine peel cake.
Tangerine peel cake is usually made with kumquats. First, pick out the sweet kumquats with good quality, wash them, put them in a pot with rock sugar, add water and simmer slowly. This is the same as making kumquat jam. When the kumquats are cooked out and the juice turns orange-red, you can move the pot.
At this time, wait for it to cool down and then pack it up to make kumquat jam. It can be used as candied fruit or to make fruit tea, but now we want to make tangerine cake, so continue.
Remove all the seeds from the cooled kumquats, otherwise the pastries will have a bitter taste.
At this time, the kumquats produced in Fujian during the Great Sheng Dynasty contained a lot of seeds. After picking them out, grind them together with the juice to make kumquat juice and set aside.
Then prepare glutinous rice flour, granulated sugar and an appropriate amount of red yeast rice - mainly used to adjust the color of the glutinous rice dough and make it red.
Pour in the kumquat juice, stir evenly, roll into square strips, and put them on the steamer to cook.
After it is cooked, take it out and cut it into long strips as wide as two thumbs. Apply enough glutinous rice flour on the outside to prevent it from sticking to your hands, and then cut it into small square cake sizes. You're done.
Each tangerine cake is placed on a white porcelain plate, with a layer of snow-white powder on the outside and a bright orange-red color on the inside, which makes people very appetizing just by looking at it.
Gu Ran tried one first. It was soft, chewy, sweet but not greasy. The taste was so good that it was beyond words.
As usual, Gu Ran first packed half of the tangerine cake out of the oven and stored it in space No. 8, and then put it on a plate and sent it to the table in the main hall, where it was placed together with other New Year's candies and cakes.
Pei Liu, who was sewing clothes by the fire, had become accustomed to Gu Ran tinkering with things from time to time. He stopped what he was doing and took a look: "What is this?"
"Tangerine cake!" Gu Ran said with a smile, picked up one and started chewing it. "Let's try it?"
Pei Liu wiped his hands and picked one up and put it in his mouth.
"Is it tasty?"
Pei Liu nodded.
"Of course, I did it." Gu Ran said proudly.
Pei Liu curled his lips.
He admitted that all the dishes and pastries made by Gu Er Niang were delicious!
Gu Ran ate the tangerine cake and watched Pei Liu continue to work on the clothes. As he watched, he asked, "Sixth Mother, now that you've finished the clothes, can you help me sew some small items?"
"Sure." Pei Liu nodded. "What do you want me to sew?"
"That's it, the menstrual belt."
Pei Liu was stunned. He didn't pay attention to the needle in his hand and suddenly poked his hand.
He himself didn't feel anything, but Gu Ran watched as blood oozed from the needle hole. Pei Liuniang acted as if nothing had happened and quickly moved her hand holding the needle away. Seeing the blood beads coming out, he felt distressed and said, "You stabbed yourself. Doesn't it hurt?"
Pei Liu then lowered his head and saw the small wound. He wiped away the blood with his long index finger.
What is this little injury compared to the harsh training he has gone through since childhood to become a killer?
Just because Gu Erniang was worried, he still shook his head: "It will stop hurting in a while."
"Well, you can do it, right?" Gu Ran looked at Pei Liu and calculated her age.
How old were the young ladies of the Great Sheng Dynasty when they had their first period? Pei Liuniang looks like she's twelve or thirteen, so she should be having her period, right?
So is she also old enough to use a menstrual belt?
Since coming to Xiaxi Village, this relative did not visit me in the first few months. I guess it was because he had exhausted his body. Later, after slowly recovering, he gained weight, and recovered, and everything became normal again.
But she had them all sewn for her by Tolin's second sister-in-law, and now they were almost used up. There was a needlework expert here, so she asked her to sew some for her.
Pei Liuniang's ears were red, as if they were burning.
It's terrible.
Although he had heard of and seen menstrual belts before, it was his first time to sew one.
Should he blame Gu Er Niang for being so tactless and crossing the line between men and women?
However, he now happened to be a young lady. As a lady to a lady, she naturally did not think that these words were offensive or inappropriate.
Then, should he tell her that he was not Pei Liuniang? But that was absolutely impossible.
She took me in and showed me kindness because of my identity as Pei Liuniang.
If she knew that I was not Pei Liuniang, not even a lady, but a man, and even a killer of the number one thief in the world, would she still take me in?
Of course not.
Not only that, I'm afraid they might even kick me out on the spot.
Pei Liu coughed dryly and forced himself to calm down: "I, haven't used it before, I don't know how."
"oh!"
Gu Ran looked at her flat chest and nodded. No wonder she had no breasts, it turned out she hadn’t developed yet!
Pei Liu noticed that Gu Ran's gaze fell on him, and his entire neck turned red with embarrassment.
"Well, if you show me how to sew it, can you?"
Pei Liu gritted his teeth secretly, almost biting them to pieces. Seeing Gu Ran still looking at him expectantly, his heart suddenly softened: "Should, can I?"
"Okay then." Gu Ran went back to the room and handed the remaining new menstrual pad to Pei Liuniang as a model: "Just follow this."
Pei Liu only felt that the hand holding the menstrual belt was burning, red and swollen, and he was about to lose consciousness.
"Thank you for your help!" Gu Ran pinched a piece of orange cake and ate it while looking for Daju: "Daju, Daju, where are you?"
A small heater that is warm in winter, hug it to keep warm!
Pei Liu glanced at the menstrual belt, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
I've been through the hellish killer training, so what does this little bit of training mean to me?
He can make a menstrual belt.
Gu Ran was holding Daju next to the charcoal brazier on the right and was about to warm him up when he heard a knock on the door outside the courtyard, followed by a burst of enthusiastic firecrackers.
"Are there any guests coming to wish me a happy new year?" Gu Ran was surprised.
Upon hearing this, Pei Liu immediately stuffed the menstrual belt back into his leather bag, then gathered up all the unfinished items and took the small box of needlework with him. "I'll go back to my room and do it."
He can't afford to lose face in front of outsiders!
"good."
Gu Ran watched Pei Liuniang leave in a hurry and thought, this Liuniang is still a shy person!
"Get a charcoal brazier and go back inside!"
The winter in Xiaxi Village was not as cold as the winter they had spent in exile, but they still had to make a fire to keep the house warm. Gu Ran prepared two charcoal braziers, one for each of the east and west wing rooms during rest time. When no one was in the wing rooms, the charcoal braziers would naturally be moved out and placed in the main room.
Two charcoal braziers were placed in the middle of the hall to make it doubly warm.
Gu Ran was well-maintained and did not suffer from frostbite, so the orange peel paste he had ground up was a waste of effort.
Pei Liu glanced at the charcoal basin and immediately said, "I'll come and move it later!"
So Gu Ran hugged Daju and went to welcome the guests. She was wondering if it was Mrs. Lin Er who came to wish her a happy new year, but the people who came were unexpectedly Aunt He and her husband.
The two of them were wearing new clothes and carrying New Year gifts. They smiled happily at Gu Ran, "Hey, Second Mother Gu, we're here to wish you a happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year, Happy New Year!"
Gu Ran welcomed Aunt He and her husband into the house with a smile.
Aunt He and Uncle He were very curious when they came to Gu Er Niang's house for the first time. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they looked around and said, "Wow, Gu Er Niang, your house looks very nice!"
"Of course. It's Chinese New Year, so I also cleaned it up nicely. It's festive."
Uncle He and Aunt He laughed together.
When I entered the hall, I saw that the other charcoal brazier had indeed been moved away.
Gu Ran invited Aunt He and Uncle He to eat sweets and cakes, and happened to sell them the plate of tangerine cake he made: "Uncle, aunt, you are in for a treat today. I made this tangerine cake today. Want to try it?"
"Oh, Gu Erniang, you can also make cakes?"
Aunt He and her husband tasted it with a smile: "Not bad, not bad, just as delicious as grass jelly."
When talking about roasted grass jelly, we have to mention the business at the beginning of the year. It was for this reason that Aunt He and her husband came to pay New Year's greetings to Gu Ran.
Last year, they cooperated with Gu Ran to sell grass jelly and made a lot of money. Aunt He and her husband planned to set up a stall after the Lantern Festival, so they came to ask Gu Ran about the supply of grass jelly.
Gu Ran had already stored a lot of dried grass jelly, so he naturally planned to prepare it and said it was no problem.
"Actually, Second Aunt Gu, we do have this plan..." Aunt He and her husband looked at each other before cheerfully saying to Gu Ran, "How about we open another stall to sell grass jelly? What do you think?"
"Start sharing the cost?" Gu Ran was surprised.
I didn't expect Aunt He and her husband to be so generous. They have only been making grass jelly for a short time, but they are already planning to find more people to open and share the business.
Aunt He and her husband nodded.
"For the second stall, let's go to the one near the academy. There are many students there, so we plan to sell roasted grass jelly to them."
It turned out that Aunt He had a young lady at home, who was a student at the county's official school.
The Dasheng Dynasty was a country founded by a female emperor, and it produced two consecutive generations of both civil and military emperors. Therefore, in addition to the traditional schools that accepted male officials, the government also had official schools for talented women.
At the end of the year, when Miss He brought a group of classmates back to her home, Aunt He treated them to roasted grass jelly, which was well received by the young ladies.
The quick-witted Miss He came up with an idea and asked her father and mother to set up a stall near the academy, which would definitely make money.
"Then, who will go?" Should we let Aunt He and Uncle He do it separately, or recruit other people?
"I'll go." said Aunt He.
Uncle He’s porridge stall business has already been established at the dock and has a lot of stable customers. It is impossible for him to give it up, not to mention that there are more customers who come to eat herbal grass jelly.
And Aunt He is good enough for setting up a stall near the college and only selling roasted grass jelly.
They planned to set up two stalls, with one person in charge of one side, and also called on their relatives to help.
Uncle He and Aunt He only have one little girl of their own. They dote on their good girl very much. They work hard from dawn to dusk just to save up tuition for their daughter to go to school. They hope that their daughter will have a bright future.
Now that they can open another stall and earn more money, they are naturally very willing to do so.
"Well, I'm only responsible for supplying the grass jelly. How will the second stall's share be calculated?"
"Naturally, it's the same as the stalls at the dock, 50-50."
"Okay, I do."
This is better. She doesn't have to worry about customers and daily business. She can make money just by making grass jelly at home.
When she was discussing the details with Aunt He and her husband, and they said that the volume was large and it would be inconvenient to take the boat, and it would be better to take the mountain road, Gu Ran remembered that Xiaxi Village was indeed too far from the county town, and if she wanted to go to the county town by land, she would have to go to the village chief Wu's house to borrow a donkey cart, so she immediately thought of buying a donkey cart.
"It's convenient to travel by water, and if you don't need to carry a lot of stuff, it's not a problem. But if you open two stalls, it's really hard to carry so much roasted grass jelly for a woman like you. Besides, it's not safe to travel by boat. What if something goes wrong..."
At the beginning of the new year, Aunt He immediately stopped talking.
"I see. Auntie, you're doing this for my own good." Gu Ran nodded. "I'm planning to buy a donkey cart. I'll use it to deliver the roasted grass jelly to the city!"
"Hey, that's much better."
So, while warming themselves by the fire, the three of them went over the new apportionment matters one by one. Gu Ran even took out a pen and paper and drafted the terms and conditions agreed upon by both parties on the spot. They signed their names one by one, and the apportionment was settled.
Aunt He and her husband smiled contentedly when they left the Gu family's cottage.
Gu Ran was also very satisfied. He put the deed in the workshop and counted how much silver he had left to see if it was enough to buy a donkey cart.
After counting, he found that he had less than twenty taels of silver in cash, about eighteen taels more.
She couldn't help but sigh.
I have to worry about money before the New Year is over.
It's easy to spend money, but hard to save money!
If you don't want to live a frugal life, you still have to think about how to increase revenue after the New Year.
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