Chapter 45
After returning to the cottage, Gu Ran put down the heavy bamboo basket, took off his mask, untied the ropes that tied his cuffs and trouser legs, and then took out all the harvest in the bamboo basket: a large bunch of blackberries on a plate, a handful of red-backed vegetables in a wooden bowl, a pile of bayberries carefully poured into a wooden basin, and finally took out two bamboo rats.
First, I scooped water into the wooden basin to soak the bayberries, then washed the cranberries, ate a few, drank a sip of water, and then dealt with the bamboo rat.
Bamboo rat skin is a good thing. The rat hair is fine and soft, and feels smooth and thick. It is a good material for making fur coats. It can be sold at a good price, so you must be extra careful when removing the skin to avoid damaging it.
Fortunately, Gu Ran was used to handling animal furs as a cultivator in his previous life, and he didn't need to hide himself now, so he peeled off the skins of the two bamboo rats very skillfully and quickly.
Of course, dinner is the most important thing right now, so the bamboo rat skin is put aside, spread out in a basket, and refrigerated with ice cubes to be processed tomorrow.
The two bamboo rats, one big and one small, weighed more than ten pounds in total even without their fur. Gu Ran was delighted again at the thought that he could get ten pounds of meat without spending a penny.
Even if ordinary people have money, they would not be willing to buy more than ten pounds of meat at one time.
She can't eat so much by herself, so she can save it and eat it slowly.
So we decided to have a full meal of meat tonight. As for the remaining meat, half of it will be refrigerated with ice and eaten fresh, and the other half will be pickled like fish and then dried in the sun to make jerky.
Since there is meat, the main dish for dinner is naturally bamboo rat.
For the first time, Gu Ran ate meat to his heart's content. He didn't add any other side dishes. He just cut the meat into pieces and put it into the pot to stew.
After cooking the rice, I started to wash the red-backed cabbage.
Red-backed Chinese cabbage, as the name suggests, is a kind of wild vegetable with red leaves on the back. It has strong vitality and can be found everywhere in the mountains. As long as there is a little bit of root left, it can grow another crop.
It can be seen not only in spring and summer, but also in autumn and winter because of its cold resistance.
It is also easy to stir-fry. Boil water and blanch the washed red-backed cabbage to remove the bitterness. Then add ginger and garlic to the pan and stir-fry once.
It is said that red-backed cabbage is very good for replenishing blood.
Gu Ran is now seventeen years old in this body. According to the original owner's previous physical condition, she should have had her period long ago, but since she was exiled, her period has stopped. Until now, the kind aunt has not visited her, probably because her body has been damaged.
It was rare that he could settle down, so Gu Ran decided to take care of his body first, and eating more red-backed cabbage was just right.
When the stewed meat is ready, open the lid of the jar and you can smell the rich aroma of meat.
As soon as I took a bite with my chopsticks, oil started sizzling.
Take a bite, the meat is tender and juicy, mellow and delicious, even sweeter than free-range chicken.
In comparison, the taste of the red-backed cabbage seems very bland.
Fortunately, the stewed meat sauce tasted great, so I just dipped the red cabbage in the sauce and ate it.
In the end, Gu Ran, who didn't have a big appetite, finished the whole jar of stewed meat. He even used the last bit of juice to mix with rice and wiped the bottom of the jar clean.
Because he ate too much, his stomach was bloated, and just exposing his belly to the sun was not enough, so Gu Ran held the candlestick and walked to the patio, taking a walk around the courtyard to help digest the food.
It was at this time that Gu Ran noticed the night sky of Xiaxi Village for the first time.
The sky is deep blue, dotted with stars.
With such beautiful scenery, I am sure tomorrow will be a sunny day.
Sure enough, the next day was bright and clear, which was perfect for her to stay at home and deal with the two bamboo rat skins.
Although Gu Ran was very skillful in removing the skin, there were still residual grease and meat residues on the skin, so the first step in tanning was to remove these from the leather board.
However, before scraping the oil, Gu Ran first plucked off the whiskers on the bamboo rat's head. These whiskers could be made into high-quality brushes.
A bamboo rat doesn't have many whiskers, so if you want to make one into a brush, you have to save them for a while.
After collecting the beard hair, he took out a set of fur processing tools stored in the workshop.
As a talisman cultivator, it is common for her to go to the secret realm to find animal skins to refine talisman skins. It is also her duty to process the animal skins after finding them. Naturally, her workshop is full of tools for processing animal skins, including: peeling boards, lasts, brackets, ropes, blunt and sharp knives, scissors, etc.
Take out the peeling board, which is actually a cylindrical wooden pole with a smooth surface. Pull the inside of the leather toward the outer cover and tie it up. Use a blunt knife to scrape off the remaining meat and fat on the inside of the leather bit by bit. Some parts that are difficult to scrape off with a knife can be cut off directly with scissors.
After the leather has been initially processed, it must be cleaned.
Generally speaking, there are several main steps in tanning fur, which are similar regardless of the size of the animal skin: peeling, scraping oil and shaving the lining, washing and drying, stretching and sanding, greasing and drying, etc.
Bamboo rat skin is not large, so it is much easier to handle.
First, wash it three times with warm water to remove the residual impurities on the outer layer, and then soak it in vinegar.
This step is also crucial for fur, because whether the fishy smell of animals on the fur can be removed effectively depends on whether the cleaning is done properly.
Animal fur is weakly acidic, so if alkaline cleaners are used to remove dirt, it will cause a reaction and then hair loss.
Therefore, neutral or acidic detergents must be used. Wood ash and bath beans are not advisable. Fortunately, she also bought a jar of vinegar, which she reluctantly used as a cleaning agent at this time.
After adding the vinegar, rub it repeatedly to squeeze out the oil in the skin, then soak it in water and filter and wash it repeatedly.
After rinsing in this way, the leather becomes clean and fresh and can be taken out to dry.
There are also many requirements for drying leather. It cannot be exposed directly to the sun, but should be hung in a ventilated place to dry. This is good for both the leather and fur.
Generally, it takes three to five days to dry before proceeding to the next step.
It was almost noon when we finished processing the two skins.
Gu Ran also felt hungry. Considering that he had already eaten a big meal of meat last night, he started to stew rice porridge over a low fire in the kitchen before processing the skin. When he went in now, he found that the rice grains were all boiled and a layer of rice oil floated on the surface.
So Gu Ran fried two more pieces of meat and had lunch with rice porridge.
The sun was too hot at noon to go out, so Gu Ran stayed in the side room and took a nap. He still had a lot of work to do in the afternoon.
For example, the land behind the small house needs to be tilled and loosened, and the ginger and shallots planted in the courtyard, or the red cabbage found in the mountains can be brought back to plant;
For example, we have brought back a lot of food, but we can’t finish it all at once and have to store it.
For example, meat and bayberries currently need to be stored in a cool place.
For example, I haven't figured out a way to make money yet.
For example, the space card needs to be repaired, etc.
After Gu Ran woke up, he was in a daze for a while, and finally decided to take things step by step and implement them one by one without rushing.
Then in the kitchen, he moved a wooden barrel that was originally used to hold water and took out the bayberries inside.
There was no other good place to store food at the moment, so she took two wooden barrels, put a lot of ice cubes in the bottom, separated them with bamboo baskets, put bayberries and meat in them respectively, and then covered them with a pot lid or a colander.
Although the airtightness is not good and a lot of cold air leaks out, which wastes ice, she has plenty of ice and can just add more when it melts.
After taking a few bites of the sour and sweet bayberry, Gu Ran finally came to his senses.
Seeing that a lot of ice had melted into water, and then looking at the fresh bayberries inside, Gu Ran decided to boil these lovely bayberries into juice first.
If you cook bayberries into bayberry water, they will not spoil easily, and you can drink it slowly if you chill it.
She did it right away. After washing it once last night, she soaked it in salt water and cleaned it. After leaving the part she wanted to eat, she took out the rest of the bayberries and rinsed them again. Then she took a ceramic pottery jar, put in a layer of clean water, poured in sugar, and poured the bayberries in after boiling. After adding water to cover the bayberries, she closed the lid and boiled it. After it boiled, she removed some of the firewood from the stove and simmered it slowly on low heat.
When the bayberry water was ready, Gu Ran took out the space card and drew the incomplete pattern on a piece of paper. He would take it out and study it when he had time.
After the bayberry water was boiled, Gu Ran filtered it out and put it into the wooden barrel. He then added a few ice cubes and walked to the back of the house to look at the land.
Generally, the land behind the house is best used to grow vegetables, so that you can pick them and cook them at any time.
Or you can build a shed and raise something there.
But this piece of land, like the four acres of land in front of the village, has been abandoned for some time. If you want to grow something, you have to cultivate it first.
Gu Ran could raise some crops, but he didn't even have a hoe at the moment, and even the wooden pitchfork and hoe he had left were of no use. If he really wanted to reclaim the land, he would have to borrow farm tools from the villagers.
Gu Ran thought that he would have to fall into the hunting trap behind the Yulin Forest again, so he decided to give up.
It will take several months to see the results after you plow the soil, sow seeds, apply fertilizers and water the plants. If you keep busy with all this, you might die of hunger and exhaustion. It is better to do something that can make money quickly!
If she had the time, she could go into the mountains to find more mountain products to sell and save money. Then she could just buy grain from other people's houses to pay taxes.
So Gu Ran gave up the idea.
However, Gu Ran didn't care about the land, but someone was thinking about her.
It’s still Village Chief Wu.
As the head of the village, she naturally has the obligation to help the villagers who have newly settled in Xiaxi Village.
Originally, since Gu Ran was a single woman, he was afraid that she would not stay long. But he did not expect that she would buy the small house right away. It seemed that she wanted to live there permanently. However, two or three days had passed, and except for renting the fields to three other families for some walking around, the other fields were still left untouched. There was no movement from Gu Er Niang, so Village Chief Wu could no longer sit still.
She is a single woman, and even if she has a lot of money, it will eventually run out.
If she doesn't farm the land, what kind of work does she want to do?
Village chief Wu was worried and came to visit again.
This time, she did not come alone, but also brought her youngest daughter, Xiaolan. She thought that Gu Ran was a single woman, and bringing a girl would help her get closer to her and make it less awkward for others to see her.
He also brought a basket of green plums grown at home.
This kind of green plum is very common in Xiaxi Village. Almost every household has one planted in front of or behind the house. Now is the time when it bears fruit, and it is just right to pick some and give them to others.
Unfortunately, there is a camphor tree planted behind Gu Ran’s house, and there is an osmanthus tree in front of the house.
Gu Ran was delighted to see the plump green plums. He quickly invited Village Chief Wu and her daughter to sit inside and took out the remaining bayberries to entertain the guests.
"Mom, these bayberries are so delicious." Xiaolan, who looked only eight or nine years old, picked up the bayberries and ate them with relish.
Village Chief Wu glanced at his daughter unhappily and exchanged greetings with Gu Ran first.
"Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. There's a dragon boat race in the county. Why don't you go and see it, Second Mother Gu?"
"Really?" Gu Ran knew that today was the Dragon Boat Festival. According to traditional customs, the government would probably arrange dragon boat races to entertain the people. What's more, there are many rivers in Fujian, such as Fujian and Wujiang, which are the most suitable places for dragon boat races.
However, considering that the county town is so far away from Xiaxi Village, I have no interest in joining in the fun.
"Really? It's said that the dragon boat will pass by the Donglin Township ferry. If you want to see it, there's still time to go now."
"No, I'm too tired today. Maybe next year!"
So Village Chief Wu began to ask Gu Ran about her plans.
Of course, Gu Ran didn't dare to say that he planned to go into Dayu Forest to look for mountain products in exchange for money. He just perfunctorily said that he already had an idea.
"What's your idea? If you're not sure, you can tell me." asked Village Chief Wu.
"It's not done yet. If it is, I will tell you."
"If you want, you can talk to me. I can help you find a job and earn some money."
As Village Chief Wu spoke, he really suggested several jobs to Gu Ran, including helping people with laundry, making clothes, and cooking.
"Tell me what you can do, so I can bring you some work."
"For now, I have enough money, so there's no rush." Gu Ran thanked Village Chief Wu for his kindness. "If I really get anxious, I will definitely ask you for help."
"Okay then!" Village Chief Wu saw that Gu Ran really didn't want to get into trouble, and immediately thought of the two gold leaves she had taken out.
Yes, the lady who spends gold so casually is afraid that the family is richer than she imagined and will not be short of money for a while. She really does not need to rely on the fields for a living like other families in Xiaxi Village.
So after Village Chief Wu had tried to persuade him, he stopped trying.
Before seeing Village Chief Wu off, Gu Ran gave away a fish that was drying outside.
After accepting their green plums, I have to reciprocate. Bamboo rat meat is too expensive, so fish is just the right gift.
"I pickled the fish myself. It's only been dried for two days. I think it tastes pretty good. Village chief, take it back and try it."
"Why are you so polite?"
"You're welcome, you're welcome." Gu Ran said, and stuffed another handful of bayberries into Xiaolan's hands: "Xiaolan, when you are free in the future, come over and play often!"
"Okay, I'll come to see Aunt Gu again, and Aunt Gu will treat me to bayberries again."
Village Chief Wu smiled and took Xiaolan's hand, patting her little butt hard. "Yangmei is so delicious, and you're still thinking about it?"
"Yangmei is better than green plum!"
Indeed, bayberry is sour and sweet, but green plum is just sour, but it is just right for making green plum jam.
Before making the sauce, the green plums must be washed and soaked in salt water.
After Gu Ran finished processing the green plums, he opened the lid of the wooden barrel, took out the iced bayberry juice inside, poured it into a wooden cup, and took a sip.
The rich fruity flavor of bayberry still remains in the juice, and with the effect of refrigeration, the sweet taste is especially vivid!
Drinking a sip of this bayberry juice on a hot day is so refreshing and comfortable!
Gu Ran took a few more sips, then looked at the wooden cup thoughtfully.
She remembered that on the day she went to the county town, she drank a glass of ice water at the dock, which cost her two cents.
If she were to sell this bayberry juice, I'm afraid the price for one cup would be more than this, right?
Gu Ran was ready to make a move.
Yes, what she made was real bayberry juice that was rich and fragrant. The ice water, which was made by refrigerating soy milk, was famous because of the word "ice". In fact, it did not have any soy fragrance at all.
As for ice, there is plenty of it. As for bayberry, there are two trees in the woods that are full of fruits!
If no one else dares to enter the miasma forest, then you can consider that everything belongs to you.
Besides, bayberries only bear fruit for a short time in a year, and scarcity makes them valuable. How can she make more money selling bayberry juice than selling bayberry water?
Isn’t this just a livelihood?
Gu Ran was happy.
The county town is too far away, and it costs fifty cents to go back and forth, so you can try Donglin Township first. If you can sell it in Donglin Township, you can then sell it at the county town wharf.
The price of bayberry juice cannot be too low, but if it is priced too high, there is a fear that fewer people will buy it.
Looking at the thick bayberry juice, Gu Ran had an idea. Why not sell bayberry water?
Add more water when cooking, cook for a while longer, and dilute it into bayberry water. As long as it tastes stronger than ice water, sell it for three or four cents a cup. With small profits but quick turnover, it is probably more cost-effective than directly selling it at a high price as bayberry juice.
After making up his mind, Gu Ran began to prepare to sell bayberry water.
She could put all the bayberry juice in the workshop and then take it to the county town, but when she took it out to sell, she still had to find something to cover it up that could be shown openly.
Plus, she had to prepare two sample cups!
That day, Gu Ran washed two wooden cups from the kitchen, and then measured them with the spoons he bought. Two spoons made up one cup, and that's how he sold them from then on.
The next day, Gu Ran went to Donglin Township to test whether the bayberry water he made could be sold.
Naturally, he carried the bamboo basket on his back, with a wooden barrel inside. There were ice cubes at the bottom, and on top was a large earthenware jar of freshly chilled bayberry water, a spoon, and a bowl of fresh bayberries, which were used to attract customers.
His hands were not idle either. He was holding a small table where he would sit while selling bayberry juice.
Having been to Donglin Township once, Gu Ran quickly arrived at the market in Donglin Township without anyone leading the way.
I saw that the small vendors were still guarding their stalls and selling their goods just like I did that day.
She looked around, found the intersection leading to the ferry, put down the bamboo basket, lifted out the wooden barrel inside, took out the bowl of fresh bayberries and placed it on the barrel lid. She looked at the passers-by and shouted, "Ice drinks for sale! Freshly made bayberry drinks, so icy and sweet!"
Gu Ran hadn't been shouting for long when a passing merchant saw her bowl of dark red bayberries and asked, "Do you have any bayberries for sale?"
"No, we didn't pick any bayberries today, but we can make bayberry drink with fresh bayberries. It's even chilled, and it tastes just like fresh bayberries. Sir, would you like to try it?" Gu Ran solicited customers. "It's not expensive, only four cents!"
"Four cents?"
"That's right. Ice is very expensive these days. I didn't charge you any, and I also put sugar in it. You... I'll give you a taste." Gu Ran saw that several people were attracted by the bayberries, so he distributed the bayberries in the bowl to them and then opened the lid. "Look at the bayberry water I just made today. Look at the color and concentration. It's obvious that it was made with plenty of bayberries. Let you try it too!"
The pedestrian who received the bayberry said, "Oh, the bayberry is also icy!"
"It's icy, absolutely nothing adulterated. It's icy!" Gu Ran asked with a smile, "How is it? Is it sour and sweet, and delicious?"
"This bayberry is really good. Let's try a sip of the drink."
"Okay, our stall is small and we don't have any cups. If you want to try the drink, please prepare your own bowls or cups. Come and try it."
In order to attract customers, Gu Ran gave a lot of bayberry water to the guests at the beginning. After four or five merchants tasted the bayberry and drank it, they couldn't help but exclaimed and clicked their lips.
"good!"
“It’s really icy and sweet!”
"Right? It's so hot today. Drinking my delicious bayberry drink will cool you down and quench your thirst, right?" Gu Ran smiled. "My bayberries are only available for a short while. After a while, the bayberry season will be over, and you won't be able to drink it even if you want to."
"Then, give me a cup. How much is it?"
"One cup has a spoon this big, two spoons!"
"Give me two spoonfuls then!"
"I'll take two spoonfuls too!"
"I want one too!"
While collecting money, Gu Ran smiled as he distributed bayberry juice to the customers one spoonful at a time. Soon, the large earthenware jar of bayberry juice he brought was sold out.
After all, the target is the merchants and travelers who are willing to spend twenty-five cents on the ship fare. Four cents a cup of iced bayberry water is not expensive for them!
"There is no drink left today, it's all sold out. If you want more, come early tomorrow!" Gu Ran happily put the empty bowls and cans back into the wooden barrel, and then stuffed them into the bamboo basket, and went home.
Along the way, Gu Ran was calculating how many cups of bayberry juice he had sold that day and how much money he had earned in total.
She brought about 20 kilograms of bayberry juice in total. The spoon was used to scoop soup. Two spoons make up a cup, which is about 200 milliliters. So, conservatively speaking, the bayberry juice can be divided into more than 40 cups.
But if we exclude the samples given to the customers at the beginning, and conservatively estimate the remaining thirty cups, we should be able to earn one hundred and twenty coins.
After returning home, he immediately took out the cloth bag containing copper coins from the bamboo basket, rubbed his hands, and counted them. He put them in a pile every time he counted twenty. At the end, he counted them and found that there were twelve more coins than he had imagined, a total of one hundred and thirty-two coins.
Gu Ran looked at the pile of copper coins, grabbed a handful, raised them into the air, and let go. The copper coins fell on the table and collided with each other, making a clattering sound, which sounded extremely pleasant.
You can earn one hundred and thirty-two coins a day!
The bayberries were free, the water was free, and the ice was something she had saved. All she had to contribute was her own labor, sugar, and firewood.
Only sugar is a little more expensive here, but compared to other places in the Dasheng Dynasty, a pound of sugar costs only forty cents, which is considered cheap!
Firewood is free of charge. Once the firewood in the house is burned up, you can just go to the woods to collect more.
Even if we deduct the cost of 32 coins, we can still make a net profit of 100 coins, which means we can earn back one or two ounces of silver in ten days!
That’s three taels of silver a month!
Gu Ran suddenly felt full of anticipation for the future, but...
She pounded her shoulders, which were sore from carrying the bamboo basket and wooden barrel together.
That is, every day I have to carry at least 30 kilograms of things and walk for half an hour on the mountain road. It’s not far, but my back hurts because I have never done such heavy work.
She didn't dare to put the things directly in the workshop and then carry them over, because she would meet people from nearby villages on the way. Moreover, when she arrived in Donglin Township, there were so many people watching, and it would be difficult for her to take the things out of the workshop in public. So, she had to grit her teeth and carry it herself.
Who told her she was poor? She had to go for it no matter what!
While bayberries are in season now, we must first make full use of the fruits on the two bayberry trees in the forest to make some money!
So, for several days in a row, Gu Ran was busy picking bayberries in the woods in the afternoon, boiling bayberry water in the evening, and taking it to Donglin Township to sell the next day. He could only sell about thirty or forty cups every day.
But because she saw that some people wanted to buy bayberries directly, Gu Ran naturally prepared the bayberries and sold them directly for twenty cents a small pile - she didn't have a scale on hand, so she just sold them individually.
Because the bayberry fruits are big, round and sweet - of course, they grow in the miasma forest that ordinary people dare not enter. They are naturally raised by nature and are really beautiful.
By selling them in this way, in addition to the daily income of more than 100 coins from bayberry ice water, the bayberry fruits can also bring in an income of about 200 coins.
After making huge profits for another three days, Gu Ran discovered that the sugar he had stored was all used up!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com