"Auntie...it really was an accidental injury while playing with Dazhuang! I...I'm not lying."
Jiang Ling's expression seemed to frighten Lu Chengyun, who hid behind Lu Youyi and said in a trembling voice.
"Village chief, did you hear that? This has nothing to do with me!" Jiang Ling looked up at the village chief and said.
The village chief nodded, looking at Old Lady Lu who was covering her face and groaning beside him, and said, "Hey, sister-in-law, what can I say to you? You'd better go back quickly! Don't come causing trouble for Jiang! Otherwise, I... I really will keep my word!"
Seeing that the village chief was truly angry, Old Lady Lu quickly lowered her head and, hunched over, was helped back by her son.
Seeing that there was no more excitement to be had, the crowd began to leave in twos and threes, leaving only a few village women looking at Jiang Ling with some worry and saying, "Jiang, I... I promise, even if my son is injured, I will not cause any trouble."
Jiang Ling glanced at them. Fortunately, these women were all honest and simple people in the village. Apart from occasionally gossiping, they hadn't done anything too outrageous.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling sighed and said, "Alright, I'll continue to buy the spicy herbs from your homes, ladies!"
Upon hearing this, the village women all breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Jiang Ling, and then left.
Jiang Ling turned to look at Jiang Suihe, whose eyes were filled with tears and who was holding fragments of the Three Character Classic in her hands, and comforted her, "Suihe, don't cry, Mom will buy you another one tomorrow!"
After hearing this, Jiang Suihe's lips drooped and tears continued to flow.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling squatted down, gently pulled Jiang Suihe into her arms, and patted her back softly, saying, "Suihe, don't cry, don't cry. Mommy is going to Changning Town tomorrow, and I'll buy you another book then! Be good! Don't be afraid, Mommy's here."
"Mother... Waaah..." Jiang Suihe was still a child, and especially after being comforted by her mother, she couldn't hold back her sadness any longer and cried in Jiang Ling's arms for a long time.
After completely calming Jiang Suihe down, Jiang Ling left her house and headed towards the village chief's house.
"Village chief, are you home?"
Jiang Ling's appearance startled the village chief, who coughed for a long time because of the smoke from his pipe.
"Jiang, you...you...want to see me for something?" the village chief asked, covering his mouth.
"Village chief, do you have any oil paper at home?" Jiang Ling asked.
"Ah... oil paper, how much do you need? I'll go get it for you." The village chief was somewhat surprised by Jiang Ling's words.
"Just give me two or three, how much?" Jiang Ling said, feeling the copper coins in her pocket.
"Oh, you can take it and use it. Wait a minute, I'll go get it for you!" With that, the village chief jogged into the house.
"Old man, who is it?" the village chief's wife asked curiously.
"Jiang Shi! She suddenly asked me to borrow oil paper. I have to give it to her quickly, or I'll anger her and she'll beat me up again." As the village chief spoke, a few drops of sweat had already seeped onto his forehead.
“How could Jiang Shi possibly hit you? She’s been married into the family for years, and everyone knows she has a good temper!” The village chief’s wife asked the village chief with some curiosity.
"Oh dear! My dear wife, you have no idea, Jiang beat up Old Lady Lu today! When I got there, she was straddling Old Lady Lu and slapping her nonstop. You didn't see the scene, she even knocked out her teeth!" The village chief seemed very wary of what had just happened.
As he spoke, his whole body trembled for no apparent reason.
The village chief's wife was surprised and was about to ask something when the village chief quickly waved his hand and said, "Don't ask yet, I'd better give her the oil paper quickly, what if she goes crazy and beats me to death!"
He then scurried out the door, leaving his bewildered wife behind.
“Jiang Shi, here… here you go…” The village chief opened the door a crack and stuffed the oil paper out.
Jiang Ling took the oil paper, but before she could thank him, the village chief slammed the door shut.
Jiang Ling was a little dazed, but she still took the oil paper and walked towards her home. Little did she know that the village chief, who lived just a door away from her, was patting his chest and muttering, "Thank God, Buddha, and Guanyin Bodhisattva, thank goodness she didn't beat me up."
When Jiang Ling got home, she found that the three children had prepared the mint and were drying it in the sun.
Jiang Ling took a small amount of mint to the kitchen and followed the previous steps, but with a different approach to the water usage.
After filtering the mint water, Jiang Ling took out the sugar she had bought earlier and started making syrup in a pot.
As the sugar melted in the red-hot pot and gradually became viscous, Jiang Ling immediately poured in the filtered mint water. After it boiled again, Jiang Ling poured the mint syrup into a bowl and then placed the bowl in a shady place.
Then Jiang Ling took out some oil paper, cut it into several squares, and carefully laid one of the pieces of oil paper inside the teacup.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Jiang Wenxi and Nianci ran over curiously, staring at the teacup in Jiang Ling's hand.
"You'll find out soon enough. You two go play for a while!" Jiang Ling said, taking the teacup and mint leaves and walking back into the house.
Jiang Ling took out the beeswax and put it in a pot to heat and stir. Then she added the crushed mint, and after the two ingredients were thoroughly mixed, Jiang Ling quickly poured it into a prepared oiled paper bowl. Looking at the mint balm that was already taking shape, Jiang Ling felt a vague excitement.
If this production is successful, Jiang Ling believes that in this sweltering weather, this product will definitely sell very well.
After finishing both tasks, Jiang Ling was about to sit down and rest for a while when she heard the sound of horses' hooves approaching from afar, followed by a knock on her front door.
"Who are you?" Jiang Ling opened the door a crack and saw a strange man.
"Are you from the Jiang family?" the other person asked politely.
Jiang Ling felt that the man was not dangerous, so she opened the door and went out.
The man's clothes were quite decent; although they weren't made of fine silk or satin, they weren't coarse linen either. He was most likely a servant or steward of a wealthy family.
"What can I do for you?" Jiang Ling asked, sizing up the man.
The man took out a piece of silver from his pocket and said, "I am a servant of the Li family in Changning Town. The Li family is particularly interested in your mint water and specifically ordered me to order a barrel from you!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ling was somewhat troubled. Three buckets of mint water had already taken a lot of her energy, and if she were to make four buckets, she would probably only be able to sleep for three or four hours at most tonight.
Moreover, I'm currently working on improving my mint water. If the improvement succeeds, everything will be fine; if it fails, I don't have enough basins at home to store the mint water.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling shook her head with a regretful expression and said, "I'm really sorry, I don't have enough manpower or tools right now. The earliest I can make a reservation is the day after tomorrow!"
The servant was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "Aunt Jiang, if I provide the tools, can I reserve some mint water for tomorrow?"
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