Chapter 67
That night, after Pei Liu put away the things he brought with him one by one, he took out an inconspicuous gray cloth bag from his bag, took out two small gold ingots from it, and went to the hall to find Gu Ran.
Gu Ran had just taken a break and was holding Daju next to the charcoal brazier, peeling chestnuts and petting the cat. When he saw Pei Liu come in, he specially made room for her. Then, when he saw the two silver ingots she handed to him, his eyes lit up immediately.
"Here, I want to buy your leather and cloth. Is this enough money?"
"Enough, definitely enough."
She had just spent almost all her remaining money and was in need of silver when Pei Liu sent her twenty taels of silver. Not only was it enough to buy leather and cloth, it was also enough to pay the rent for her small house for two years.
Gu Ran touched the two silver ingots and smiled. On the one hand, he called Pei Liu to come over to roast the fire and eat chestnuts, and on the other hand, he quietly hid the silver ingots in the workshop.
Pei Liu, who had finally settled down, felt relieved. He took the chestnuts and ate them, his face showing an unprecedented peace.
Now that Pei Liuniang was back, she started to process the bamboos.
According to Gu Ran's needs for building a livestock shed for the donkeys, Pei Liuniang was asked to cut bamboo into different lengths and use them to build the walls and roof.
Gu Ran decided to build the shed behind the house. After all, the patio was small, and if she built another shed, the space would seem cramped, and it would also invisibly reduce the space for her to dry goods.
Behind the house, a buffer bamboo shed passage must be built to connect to the main house, and then the scaffolding.
Since it is for donkeys to live in, the bamboo shed naturally does not need to be too particular. After laying the foundation, thick bamboos are erected to fix the four corners, and the middle one is used as the main beam. These five bamboos serve as the support of the entire bamboo shed.
In addition, use bamboos of the same length and tie them together. Then erect three walls first. Tie bamboos on both sides of the last wall, leaving space for entry and exit, and install the bamboo door.
The cover of the bamboo shed is naturally made by tying a row of bamboos together and then simply putting it on.
For the sake of beauty and warmth, Gu Ran planned to use dried rice straw to cover the roof of the shed after it was built. Rice was grown in Fujian, so there was plenty of rice straw. She happened to buy some rice straw from the people in the village who farmed for her. Some of it was used to weave ropes, and some was used directly as firewood, which now served another purpose.
In addition, considering that Fujian is windy and rainy, we plan to wrap the straw with oil paper cloth and tie it up so as not to worry about the bamboo eaves leaking.
As for the bamboo shed, one side is the fenced area for the donkeys, which is of course also separated by bamboo, and then a feeding trough is installed. The other side is the area for stacking hay and parking racks.
The bamboo shed was estimated to be twenty-five square meters, more than enough to accommodate a donkey, so it seemed very spacious.
Because there were not enough bamboos, Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang went to the bamboo forest again to cut bamboos and dig winter bamboo shoots.
Pei Liuniang did the main work, while Gu Ran was responsible for sharpening one end of the bamboo, which was the end that would be inserted into the ground. This way, it could be firmly embedded in the ground, and the shed wall would be strong enough.
Originally, Gu Ran wanted to find a bricklayer to help, but Pei Liuniang said it was not necessary. Seeing that Pei Liuniang was very skilled in cutting and tying bamboo, Gu Ran gave up the idea.
My understanding of Pei Liuniang was refreshed again.
This Pei Liuniang is really strange. She looks delicate and weak, but she has great strength. The contrast is enough to make her feel cute. It would be fine if such a woman was good at needlework, but she saved her once when she was injured, and she was able to fight against the swordsman. It seems that she has some martial arts skills, but it is probably not high, otherwise she would not have been beaten and fled.
This may also mean that she cannot defeat the jackals of the Pei family on her own, so she has to hire a killer who is the number one thief in the world?
Now seeing that she was also diligent in doing other work, Gu Ran secretly felt that he had found a treasure. Why would he worry about being unable to handle too many miscellaneous tasks in the future?
Pei Liu, whom Gu Ran secretly treated as a treasure, built the bamboo shed in two days.
Push it and you will find it firmly rooted in the ground. Take a look and you will see that the square roof is made of green bamboo and covered with thick straw, which looks antique.
Not only that, Pei Liu also took the opportunity to build a kitten nest for Daju with bamboo on the top of the bamboo shed connecting to the main house, and filled it with straw.
Originally, the two were busy behind the house, and Daju was watching curiously from the side. After the cat house was built, Pei Liu carried Daju and put him in. Since then, Daju liked staying in it. After purring and kneading the milk for a while, he yawned with his mouth wide open and fell asleep in it.
Because the sun was shining brightly at that time, Gu Ran ignored Daju.
Anyway, when it gets dark and cold, Daju will run back into the house to find the kang, which will still be his precious little heater.
Once the bamboo shed is built, it is natural to bring your own donkey back.
It happened that they had to go to Master Huang to get the bicycle frame that day, and it was also the Lantern Festival, so Gu Ran took Pei Liu out with him. They first took the New Year gifts to the home of Village Chief Wu, took back the foster donkey, and then drove the donkey to Master Dihuang in Donglin Township with the New Year gifts and put the finished bicycle frame and bridle and reins on the donkey.
Because the donkey was custom-made, it fit perfectly. After thanking Master Huang, Pei Liuniang and I sat on the donkey cart and planned to return to Xiaxi Village.
Just as Gu Ran was about to whip the donkey with the whip, he stopped.
How should she pump it hard enough?
If I hit the donkey too hard, would it get angry?
Gu Ran was worried. She could drive a car, but driving a donkey cart...
So she had to ask for help from Pei Liuniang, who seemed to have extraordinary abilities based on her observations over the past few days: "Liu Niang, can you drive a carriage?"
"meeting."
"Then you drive the car."
Gu Ran said, and quickly handed the whip to Pei Liu, "When we get back, can you teach me how to drive a carriage?"
"OK."
Pei Liu said as he took the whip handed to him by Gu Ran and whipped it quickly, hitting the donkey with a loud bang. The donkey then slowly started to pull the cart and run.
Gu Ran was very happy as he rode his own donkey cart for the first time in the Great Sheng Dynasty.
Haha, she finally owns her own car again.
When we returned to Xiaxi Village, we heard bursts of firecrackers set off in a last-minute effort, and wisps of smoke from cooking in each household were floating in the air.
When passing by the Shen family's mansion, he happened to meet Shen Erlang who was playing with the children in the village and setting off fireworks.
Seeing Gu Ran coming back on the donkey cart, Shen Erlang threw a firecracker towards them, which exploded with a bang, scaring Gu Ran. Pei Liu pulled the reins and stopped the frightened donkey that was sticking its hind legs up.
"Hey, Gu Erniang, is this the new donkey cart your family bought?" Shen Erlang teased, "As the daughter of a marquis, why don't you buy a carriage?"
"First of all, I'm not the daughter of a marquis. Secondly, if I had money, would you tell me?" Gu Ran retorted.
Chen Erlang laughed, "Then you..." and then saw Pei Liuniang driving a carriage.
Pei Liu was unhappy that the donkey was frightened by his casually throwing a firecracker, and he still had the nerve to speak to Gu Erniang in a sarcastic tone, staring at him coldly.
In Shen Erlang's eyes, she was a beautiful young lady, looking at him with a faint and resentful look. He was stunned for no reason, not knowing how to continue. His face flushed and he stammered: "You...you...who is this person next to you?"
"My guests are none of your business."
Seeing Shen Erlang's shy look, Gu Ran knew exactly how he felt at the moment. However, he didn't do what he wanted, so he turned to Pei Liu and said, "Ignore him. Let's go back to our cottage to celebrate the festival."
Pei Liu nodded slightly, flicked the whip in his hand, and urged the donkey cart to the small house in front, leaving Shen Erlang waiting there stupidly, not coming back to his senses for a long time.
When the two people returned to the cottage, they immediately unloaded the cart frame and put it aside, then locked the donkey in the fence, fed it with beans, and brought some water. Then they closed the bamboo door, entered the cottage from the back door, and started preparing to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
On New Year's Eve, because Pei Liu was injured and couldn't eat seafood, he missed the main dishes he prepared. He took advantage of the Lantern Festival to make up for it. So tonight's meal, in addition to the traditional dessert of glutinous rice balls, was a pot full of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
The broth for cooking Buddha Jumps Over the Wall has already been prepared and stored, so all you need to do is prepare the other ingredients.
Gu Ran didn’t know how other people made Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but as for her personal method, she used all fresh seafood in this dish.
No one knew where or when the rumor that the seafood ingredients in Buddha Jumps Over the Wall must be made with dried goods came from. Anyway, she secretly criticized it with a mean heart, saying that those who said that dried goods must be used must be from areas that are not near the sea and cannot buy so many fresh ingredients anytime and anywhere. Therefore, if you want to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, you can only rely on dried goods. Dried seafood is very expensive. Maybe it was just a gimmick made up by the vendors selling dried goods to sell more goods.
In addition, people who say that only dry ingredients can concentrate the flavor of ingredients and make the cooked Buddha Jumps Over the Wall rich must have a strong taste. Because think about it, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is originally stewed with various ingredients, and it takes two or three hours to cook. Isn’t the flavor of several fresh seafoods rich enough for them?
What's more, when you start stewing, you have to add another pot of broth or milk soup.
Broth is usually boiled chicken soup or old duck soup. A more traditional one is a mixed bone soup made by stewing various chicken bones and other ingredients. In addition, the key to the deliciousness of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is the golden soup made with wine. Such a pot of broth mixed with branches and leaves stewed from various ingredients is not rich enough?
So no matter how other families make it, Gu Ran prefers light and original flavors. In his previous two lives, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall he made for his parents was made with fresh ingredients. The main feature was the freshness of raw ingredients, not dried ingredients, and it tasted just as amazing!
Fresh sea cucumbers, fresh abalone, fresh scallops, fresh shrimps, fresh snail meat, etc., as well as tendons, bamboo fungus, pigeon eggs, dong gui, pork tripe, etc., at least eighteen ingredients can be added depending on personal preference.
Put these prepared ingredients into the pot in order of ease of cooking, soak them in the broth and stew for one and a half hours. After removing from the pot, place them in a large clay pot. Heat the golden soup, add a little fish sauce and soy sauce to season, and finally pour it into the clay pot.
Making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall takes a long time and requires patience.
Fortunately, because I was craving this dish, I prepared all the ingredients and soup base day by day before the Chinese New Year. Otherwise, it would be too late to make it on the Lantern Festival.
If Gu Ran were alone, then the Lantern Festival banquet would naturally be completed with a Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and glutinous rice balls, but wouldn’t there be one more person, Pei Liuniang?
She has a big appetite, so I cooked some rice and fried two side dishes: sweet and sour jellyfish shreds and light fermented rice conch slices.
The two of them sat around the table, roasting themselves by the fire, enjoying the Lantern Festival feast to the sound of fireworks and firecrackers going off outside.
Thinking back to last year’s Lantern Festival, I was still on the road of exile, eating roasted rabbit meat and dry steamed buns!
Throughout the year, she can eat so well, isn't it because she works hard to earn money and stock up on food?
She, Gu Er Niang, is really amazing!
After the Lantern Festival, every household in Xiaxi Village becomes busy. Because the weather gets hot early, they have to prepare for planting rice, so they start raising seedlings at this time, and then they can transplant rice in late February or early March. Therefore, those who plow the fields are busy.
And Gu Ran also became busy.
She also had to prepare the roasted grass jelly to be sent to Aunt He and his wife, and then send it to the county town.
However, because Pei Liuniang was there, the job was very easy. The two of them divided the work and worked together, and in a short while they cooked the grass jelly that the two stalls needed.
It was the first time that Pei Liu saw Gu Ran making roasted grass jelly.
Seeing that after the ordinary wild grass was cooked, Gu Er Niang added something to make the juice of the wild grass solidify into blocks, it was quite magical.
The fact that grass jelly juice can produce such changes after adding fiber powder is Gu Ran's business secret. Gu Ran asked Pei Liu to help cook it, but this step was kept secret from her.
It’s not that Gu Ran doesn’t trust Pei Liu, but he just has to be on guard against others.
Even if I want to tell Pei Liu, I have to wait until I am sure that she won't leak the information.
After making five large buckets of roasted grass jelly, Gu Ran moved the roasted grass jelly onto a donkey cart and transported it to the city with Pei Liuniang.
We have an agreement with Aunt He and his wife that based on the sales of their stall, they will send five buckets of roasted grass jelly to the city every two days, and they can be stored at Uncle He's house and sold slowly.
Now that the weather is not hot, it is naturally possible to do this, but in fact, roasted grass jelly is more suitable to be eaten frozen when the weather gets hot, to relieve the heat. By that time, the current model will not be suitable.
Because when the weather is hot, the grass jelly will go bad if left for too long, and using ice is also a problem.
Especially in Fujian, where it is hot all year round, ice is hard to come by and the price of ice is very high.
This was a small matter for Gu Ran, because she owned a large space grid No. 10, which was equivalent to owning an ice storage. However, with the way Aunt He and her husband set up their stall, selling frozen grass jelly was definitely not an option because the cost was too high.
Although Gu Ran's ice is free, she can't just use it casually. Otherwise, if people ask about the source of the ice and she can't answer, what if she becomes suspicious?
She just wants to live a good life and doesn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.
But there is no rush, we’ll talk about it later.
After asking people, Gu Ran asked Pei Liu to drive the donkey cart to find Aunt He's house.
The He family lived in a residential building in the south of Yongchang County, in a three-room, two-story house on the roadside of Qili Street. All the houses on Qili Street were of this size, and basically three generations of a family lived together in one house.
Uncle He's house is home not only to his second brother and nephew's families, but also to his married sister's family.
So although he lives in a big house and looks prosperous, in fact, it is just an old house accumulated by his ancestors. His family is not well-off, otherwise Uncle He would not make money by selling porridge at a stall.
After Aunt He invited Gu Ran in, she took all the roasted grass jelly off the donkey cart and stored them away properly. She also called her aunt, Aunt He, to introduce Gu Ran to her.
Aunt He is Aunt He's assistant when she sets up a stall near the official school.
Gu Ran saw that Aunt He and Uncle He were somewhat similar, and both had cheerful personalities. He had known that Gu Ran was their family's current business partner, so he was very concerned about them.
"It's a pity that our Huanhuan is not here, otherwise, you, Erniang, could also meet her."
Huanhuan is Aunt He's only daughter. She was the one who suggested that they set up a stall selling roasted grass jelly at the official school.
When talking about her daughter, Aunt He is full of pride.
"Did he go to school?"
"Hey, he went to school right after the twelfth lunar month. He's so diligent." Aunt He nodded and smiled happily. "He said he had to study more in advance, waiting to get into the world's largest university next year."
Gu Ran knew about the largest university in the Dasheng Dynasty. Didn’t Mrs. Lin once say that her brother-in-law also wanted to study in the largest university?
"Is it Shenglin Academy?"
"Eh? No, no." Aunt He waved her hand knowingly. "The Shenglin Academy is for young men. The academy Huanhuan wants to take the entrance exam for is called Shenghua Academy. It's specifically for the smartest young ladies in the world."
"Oh! There's also an academy for the smartest ladies in the world!"
It turns out there are two largest universities in the world?
One is Sheng Lin and the other is Sheng Hua, why are their names so similar?
"That's right. Once you enter Shenghua Academy, you're like a disciple of the emperor. If you want to make further progress in the future, you can even be transferred to the capital to become an official!"
"Auntie, do you want your daughter to become an official?"
Gu Ran, who had accepted the inheritance of the emperor of the Dasheng Dynasty and the selection of female officials, accepted this well.
She had seen ladies serving as officials in the court in her first life, and didn't find it strange at all.
"It's not me who wants to, it's Huanhuan who wants to be the emperor. So let her be the emperor." Aunt He acted like she was her only darling and could do whatever she wanted to her. She smiled but sighed softly. "That's right, I hope the situation in the capital will be better. If the next emperor is that princess, then Huanhuan's life will be smoother in the future."
Gu Ran nodded.
Although she had never actually experienced the original owner's husband's family, Prime Minister Qin, being involved in the conspiracy between the princess and the third prince for the throne, she had experienced being exiled here.
Gu Ran understood what Aunt He said. After all, if a princess were the emperor, she would definitely treat female officials better than a prince. This was evident from the influence that the previous two empresses had on the people during their reigns, which even led to the establishment of official schools specifically for girls.
The struggle for the throne, which had a great impact on the original owner—or it could also be said to have influenced Gu Ran's coming to this world—came to an end in early February of this year.
The princess won, the third prince lost, and the Dasheng Dynasty welcomed its fourth empress.
When the news of the new emperor's ascension to the throne reached the south, it was already the beginning of March.
When Gu Ran heard this from Village Chief Wu, his first thought was that Aunt He would be very relieved that her daughter would go to Shenghua Academy to study and become an official. His second thought was, "Does the new emperor have an imperial decree granting amnesty to the entire country?"
"Do you wonder if there will be a pardon for the whole world? Will you be on the list of pardoned?"
Gu Ran chuckled and glanced at Pei Liuniang, "And Liuniang!"
Village Chief Wu followed her gaze and glanced at Pei Liuniang, who was working in the courtyard, and snorted coldly.
Originally, exiles had to make a living in the village where they settled, but Pei Liuniang somehow persuaded the village chief of Qinghuai Village to agree to let her move to Xiaxi Village.
Because of this, the task of monitoring Pei Liuniang also fell on Village Chief Wu.
Village chief Wu didn't care. It didn't matter whether she watched one or both. They all lived in the same place, so it was more convenient for her to monitor them.
Village chief Wu, who had known Pei Liuniang's background, was still a little afraid of her, fearing that she would cause trouble accidentally. However, it has been more than two months since she moved to Xiaxi Village. Pei Liuniang has been going in and out with Gu Ran, and she seems very well-behaved. She does not match the impression of the vicious lady in the rumors at all.
Could it be that he was forced into a desperate situation and did something like hiring someone to kill the whole family?
Village chief Wu then gradually let down his guard against Pei Liuniang.
"Don't even think about it, Princess. No, the current emperor is a wise man. He won't become so careless just because he's the emperor that he pardons sinners to increase his prestige."
"No?"
"No." Village Chief Wu shook his head, a smile still covering his face. "The Emperor said that all criminals in the world have committed crimes. We must not, in the name of gaining the glory of our ascension and winning over the people, forget the people who have suffered or even lost their lives because of their heinous acts. Therefore, we will not offer a general amnesty, but we will reward those who behave well and turn over a new leaf by shortening their sentences or reducing taxes."
"Ha!" Gu Ran was a little surprised.
"Mrs. Gu, since you've come to Xiaxi Village, it's your duty. When I report to the county magistrate, I'll mention your name."
"Thank you very much, village chief."
"That's right..." Village Chief Wu paused, then looked at the windmill beside the island forest.
Gu Ran also looked over.
"If your windmill works well, you can add another one to your excellent performance."
There was nothing Gu Ran could do about it.
"It hasn't rained recently. If it rains, we can test whether this windmill is effective or not. There's nothing we can do in a hurry."
Less than two days after I said this to Village Chief Wu, the first spring rain came to Xiaxi Village one day.
It rained so fast and so heavily that we barely had time to collect the dried goods that were drying outside.
As the rain was dripping outside and it was still the period of late spring cold, Gu Ran, who was warming himself by the fire in the hall, was first worried about the windmill outside. At the same time, he gave Pei Liuniang some advice on how to avoid the miasma when living in Xiaxi Village after the rain stopped.
"Is miasma really that dangerous?" Pei Liu didn't quite believe it.
"Of course, you know the Shen Er from the Shen family behind ours, right?"
Hearing Gu Erniang say that it was our family, Pei Liu felt particularly happy and nodded.
"He had inhaled miasma in the island forests and fell ill upon returning. He was taken to an old doctor in Donglin Township, where he was treated for over half a month before he was saved from the brink of death."
"So that big windmill is used to dispel miasma?"
"That's right. It's just my personal idea. I don't know if it's feasible. If this method works, that would be great."
Not only Gu Ran but also Village Chief Wu, or those who knew the purpose of Gu's second mother in building the windmill, held this idea. They all wanted to see if the windmill worked, so they waited for the rain to stop.
It rained for two whole days. On the third day when the rain was lighter, Gu Ran took the key to the windmill house, and with Pei Liu, holding an umbrella and wearing a mask, they opened the door of the windmill house and untied the rope that prevented the windmill from turning.
The moment the rain stopped, the sun rose.
All the families in Xiaxi Village stood at their doorsteps, trying to identify the direction from which the miasma was coming while looking at the big windmill beside the miasma forest.
In the misty sunlight, the big windmill moved at the wind's touch and began to spin rapidly, quickly driving the small windmills below to move as well. The villagers couldn't help but hold their breath and looked towards the miasma forest.
As if to meet everyone's expectations, black fog slowly floated out of the miasma forest. When the black fog drifted everywhere, the villagers also prepared to avoid the miasma.
And a thick black fog was floating towards the direction of the windmill.
"Look, the miasma is really drifting over there."
"Is Gu Erniang still in that room?"
"She doesn't want to die?"
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