Prefect Xiao was already very familiar with eating in the village; this was his third time eating there. However, Eunuch Deng found it quite novel, but he still sat down.
The tables were already laden with dishes. Eunuch Deng was astonished to see dishes he had never seen before. Although he was not the chief eunuch by His Majesty's side, he had served the emperor for many years.
He had seen many of His Majesty's dishes before, and these were no different from those in the palace. In particular, there were many things that he had never seen before.
Seeing that he wasn't eating, An Shuyi reminded him, "Grandpa Deng, please eat as much as you like. This is how we eat in our village, and the food tastes pretty good."
Although it couldn't compare to the exquisite dishes in the palace, it tasted very good. She hadn't eaten for several months and was quite missing it.
"Eunuch Deng nodded, "Princess An will eat too." He picked up his chopsticks and put some food into his bowl. He picked up a piece of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, since the dish looked very appealing.
After eating it, she nodded involuntarily, "Gongren, what is this dish? It's so delicious."
"The red ones are tomatoes, a vegetable we discovered by chance. They can be eaten raw, in salads, or stir-fried like this. Have some of that meat; don't let the greasiness fool you, it's delicious." An Shuyi finished speaking and picked up a large piece for herself.
This is braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens; the taste is absolutely amazing.
After hearing what she said, Grandpa Deng also picked up some meat and put it in his mouth. Needless to say, he also knew to hurry up and eat.
While he was speaking, Prefect Xiao was frantically piling food onto his plate. He hadn't eaten Taoyuan Village's food for months and missed it terribly. He had originally wanted his wife to come to the village to buy some to take back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
But in the end, his wife couldn't resist his nagging. When she came to Taoyuan Village to buy clothes and face cream, she brought him back some braised meat. But that wasn't enough to eat, and it was gone in just one meal.
Besides, you can get that braised meat at restaurants, so it's nothing special. The real delicacy isn't the braised meat, but the dishes made by the women of Taoyuan Village.
After finishing their meal, Prefect Xiao returned home. For the next few days, An Shuyi and Xia Hua didn't go anywhere. Instead, they slept until noon every day, and after lunch, they would take Eunuch Deng to look around.
This was the day that Eunuch Deng was to leave. Although An Shuyi asked him to stay a few more days, he said he couldn't stay outside for too long and he also had to go back to report to the Emperor, so he had no choice but to go back.
She added that since the two ladies were so capable, they might be able to meet again soon. Watching the departing convoy, An Shuyi decided to go to Jinnan City to buy things today.
There's not much left in the workshop, especially now that people know Taoyuan Village produced two fourth-rank ladies, the number of buyers has increased again, so there's not much left in the workshop.
Originally, we were thinking of having the second brother and the others take some goods to the capital to sell, but now the workshop's inventory is only enough for daily sales. However, it may take a few more days for the second brother and the others to return after taking the goods out to sell.
These few days are a good time to make more goods, so that when they return, we can take them to the capital to sell.
Tell Changwu to prepare horse-drawn carts and oxcarts. This time, they must bring back a lot of grain, preferably enough to fill all four cave dwellings. Why four? Because one of the cave dwellings contains the grain harvested from their village.
The grain would be used to feed the villagers, but of course, it wouldn't be free. The two decided to sell the grain to the village at a price a few coins lower than the price in Jinnan City, so they wouldn't have to buy grain themselves.
As for the village's grain, whether it was rice, corn, potatoes, or sweet potatoes, they had all been taken away by Xiao Zili when she came. The price was also set beforehand. However, Village Chief Lin still left some of the potatoes and sweet potatoes behind.
These two grains had very high yields, but they weren't staple foods, so they kept some, and Xiao Zili didn't say anything about it.
After the carriages were fitted with their compartments, the two of them boarded the carriages and set off, with the oxcart following behind. Upon arriving in Jinnan City, Xia Hua led Chang Wu and the others to buy chests and porcelain jars, which were essential items, and there weren't many workshops that had them.
An Shuyi went straight to the house and took out all the things she had bought along the way from the warehouse: fabric, chicken, duck and goose meat. She had heard from Village Chief Lin that after they left, they could still buy some chicken and duck, but it would be very difficult to buy geese.
The most popular items were braised meat and offal. We bought more of those this time, as well as ten live pigs. After the experience of herding pigs last time, the oxcarts in the village have been raised so that the pigs can be put inside.
She also bought more than ten piglets and live sheep. Didn't Village Chief Lin say that we should set up a few tables? Although we don't have to set up tables, it's still necessary to eat something good.
She also took out a lot of fruit, several hundred kilograms of each kind. Since it was already October, the fruits from the mountains were ready to eat, and taking so much wouldn't bother anyone.
She didn't take any grain from the village, only flour. The grain could be used not only for daily consumption but also for brewing wine. The wine she had her eldest brother and the others brewed was also being sold, and her eldest brother said that many people were buying it.
After taking everything out, we bought ten prescriptions for medicine, ten prescriptions for poison, ten prescriptions for antidote, blueprints for plows and seeders, and finally, the recipes for tea and snacks.
Those prescriptions were given to Doctor Liu, but not all of them at once. He was given one for treating infertility first. Xiao Wu was given two prescriptions, one for poison and one for antidote. As for tea and snacks, they were all given to the women in the workshop.
This would also allow the cafeteria to have some new food options. Otherwise, she would be tired of eating steamed buns, porridge, and eggs every day. She wouldn't need to make so many dishes every day. As long as there is hope, she is content.
After all, they were just her clansmen, not servants she had bought, so she couldn't order them around. Fortunately, they earned money every day, otherwise she wouldn't dare to let them do anything.
Seeing that there was nothing she needed to buy, she left the room and checked the balance in the trading system. She only had 52,000 taels left. Although the fruits, chickens, ducks, geese, and meat were not expensive, the prescriptions were very expensive.
Fortunately, after buying all the prescriptions, there wasn't much else that required much money. They sat outside and waited for a long time before Xia Hua finally arrived with her people.
She deliberately delayed, otherwise it would be too much trouble if she arrived too early and hadn't bought the books yet.
Looking at the two side rooms piled high with stuff, including live pigs and sheep, Lin Changwu and the others couldn't help but feel relieved that they had brought the horse-drawn carts and oxcarts. Otherwise, it would have taken four or five trips to haul all that stuff back.
Ignoring their surprised expressions, An Shuyi instructed, "Changwu, take those piglets and live sheep back first. Tonight we'll have roast suckling pig and roast whole lamb."
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