Shopkeeper Chen Haoyu and the owner Chen Xuanmo had come to inspect the shop’s work. When they saw this scene, they did not make a fuss. Instead, seeing Ye Qiuling smiling brightly, Chen Xuanmo asked the nearby townspeople about what had happened.
The townspeople explained everything to him in detail, and only then did Chen Xuanmo understand the reason behind the situation.
His expression remained calm, but inwardly he thought that although this girl looked carefree and straightforward, he had not expected her to come up with such a method. By letting the townspeople gather and speak on her behalf, she ensured that she would not suffer any loss. It made her even more interesting. He decided to go and meet her.
Chen Xuanmo immediately stepped forward with an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry, Miss. This was our shop’s mistake. We will give you another jin of flour as compensation. I truly apologize. I failed to properly train the shop assistant.”
Ye Qiuling stared blankly at the man in front of her. This handsome guy was really handsome, and he looked a bit familiar. Oh right, she remembered. He was the handsome man who had bought her plantain grass earlier.
Since he had bought her things before, and since he looked so handsome, she decided to forgive him. She was not someone who nitpicked over every little matter. She bought half a jin of flour and half a jin of rice, along with the extra jin of flour he had given her, then thanked Chen Xuanmo.
“Thank you.”
It was the first time Chen Xuanmo had met someone who interested him so much, and he did not want to let her leave just like that. He tried to continue the conversation.
“No need to be polite,” he said, then praised awkwardly, “Your… grass tastes very good.”
Ye Qiuling burst out laughing.
“That’s called plantain grass, but thank you for the compliment. Bye.”
She pulled Xiao Feng along and left.
Interesting.
Chen Xuanmo watched her departing figure. Thinking of the brief moment when Ye Qiuling had looked slightly stunned earlier, the corner of his lips curved upward unconsciously.
What he did not know was that someone not far away had witnessed their entire interaction.
They arrived at a shop that resembled a modern vegetable market, with a dazzling variety of goods displayed everywhere. At the egg section, chicken eggs were about the same size, each costing one copper coin, while the duck eggs beside them cost twenty copper coins each. The price difference was enormous.
It was not that the shopkeeper did not want to wrap duck eggs for customers, but duck eggs were simply too expensive. Buying chicken eggs was the better choice.
Customers, when she had money in the future, she would wrap duck eggs for them.
Hehe! This time, the shop assistant did not mock them. Instead, she dutifully packed the eggs for them and even reminded them to be careful not to crack them.
Ye Qiuling thanked the assistant and left while pulling Ye Feng along.
As they passed a tailor shop selling bolts of cloth, the shop assistant warmly recommended several fabrics. A blue black cloth and a light pink cloth both looked very nice.
Ye Qiuling directly handed the two copper coins to the assistant. The assistant repeatedly thanked her and wrapped the cloth for them.
She even reminded them that if the cloth turned out to be defective, they could bring it back for an exchange. Worried that someone might rob them, she thoughtfully wrapped it in an older piece of cloth.
This assistant was truly warm hearted, and the after sales service was quite good. Ye Qiuling nodded and thanked her.
Xiao Feng still had not spent all of his five copper coins when he spotted an old grandfather fiddling with large bright red tanghulu.
He tugged at her sleeve and revealed a brilliant smile.
“Big Sister, I want to eat tanghulu.”
Ye Qiuling smiled. “Go buy it then.”
Ye Feng happily skipped over to the tanghulu stall and asked, “Grandpa, how much is one tanghulu?”
Seeing that it was a child, the old man smiled.
“One string of tanghulu is five copper coins.”
Ye Feng thought it was too expensive. The tanghulu only had five hawthorn fruits on it, and with that money he could buy many other tasty things. Forget it.
He thanked the old man directly.
“Thank you, Grandpa.”
When Ye Qiuling saw that he had not bought anything and was leaving, she walked toward him.
“Xiao Feng, why didn’t you buy the tanghulu? Do you not have enough copper coins?”
Not wanting to lie to his sister, Ye Feng answered honestly.
“Big Sister, the tanghulu is too expensive. I’ll buy it next time. I want to eat meat, let’s buy meat.”
“If you want to eat it, then buy it. We can buy meat next time,” Ye Qiuling said.
Ye Feng shook his head.
“No, Big Sister. I want to eat meat. Let’s buy meat.”
Seeing him act like this, Ye Qiuling sighed helplessly and thought that she could only buy some hawthorn next time and make tanghulu for him herself.
Holding his hand, she brought him to a pork stall. The pork vendor greeted them warmly, but when he heard that they wanted to buy pork worth five copper coins, he was somewhat shocked.
The amount they wanted was really too small.
However, seeing their tattered clothes, he cut off about one sixth of a piece of pork for them.
Ye Feng took the pork and smiled obediently.
“Thank you, Boss.”
Ye Qiuling noticed the discarded pig intestines on the ground and cautiously asked, pointing at them.
“Boss, are those no longer wanted?”
The vendor laughed.
“Yes, they smell too bad. No one can eat them, so they’re thrown away.”
Ye Qiuling shamelessly asked, “Boss, could you give them to me? If it’s not possible, then forget it.”
Without hesitation, the pork vendor put them in a bag and handed them over.
“Of course you can take them, little sister. Take them.”
Ye Qiuling received them in surprise and quickly thanked him.
“Alright, thank you, Boss. We’ll come again next time.”
The pork vendor responded warmly.
“Alright, alright, little sister.”
He knew their clothes were ragged and patched. Being able to eat meat even once must have been difficult, and perhaps there would not be another chance. Being a little warmer toward them might let them feel a bit of kindness.
After thanking him, Ye Qiuling and Ye Feng rode the village donkey cart back. The road was full of bumps and potholes, and the ride jolted Ye Qiuling terribly. After enduring it for a long time, she silently swore that she would definitely buy a house in town one day.
At last, they returned to the village.
Shen Wanru was anxiously pacing back and forth. When she saw them carrying large and small bundles, she hurried forward to take the things from them. Because of her anxiety, her tone carried a trace of anger.
“Where did you two go? Why didn’t you tell Mother? I didn’t even know where you went. I was so worried I almost reported it to the authorities.”
Panting from exhaustion, Ye Qiuling said, “We went to sell herbal tea and earned thirty copper coins. We bought these things.”
Not seeing Ye Dazhi, she asked directly, “Mother, where did Father go?”
Seeing how tired she looked, Shen Wanru could not bear to scold her further. She shot her a resentful glance.
“Your father went to look for you, of course.”
“You two little rascals didn’t say a word before leaving. We were worried sick.”
Ye Qiuling stuck out her tongue and laughed.
“Mother, we’ll definitely tell you next time.”
“You still dare say that?” Shen Wanru said. “You should have called Mother so I could go with you. You two are still so young. What if you ran into bad people? Next time, no matter where you go, you must tell either Mother or Father.”
“Alright, Mother, we know, we know. Let’s go call Father back first,” Ye Qiuling said while pulling her hand and acting coquettishly.
“You little rascal. I’ve only said a few words and you’re already impatient?”
“No, Mother,” Ye Qiuling replied with a smile.
Meanwhile, Ye Feng excitedly described how much money they had earned and how they bought so many things.
Ye Dazhi hurried back from outside the house. When he saw them, his heart finally settled.
He did not scold them and simply said that it was good that they had come back safely.
The family gathered together happily.
Ye Qiuling said to Shen Wanru, “Mother, today I’ll cook something delicious for everyone.”
Shen Wanru looked puzzled. How could her daughter possibly know how to cook? Could it be that she was planning to make some sort of dark cuisine? Thinking this was very possible, she said,
“Forget it, Ling’er, let me cook. Go sit over there first.”
She pointed to a stool nearby.
“You’ve been out selling things all day. You must be tired.”
“I’m not tired,” Ye Qiuling insisted, competing with her to cook.
Shen Wanru could not win against her stubbornness, so she allowed her to cook.
Ye Qiuling washed the rice three times, added water, placed firewood under the large pot, and started boiling the rice.
Then she entered her mind and exchanged for a recipe.
Looking at the dazzling array of goods displayed on the computer in front of her, Ye Qiuling asked,
“66, are there any recipes for pork and pig intestines? Do you have white sugar? Rock sugar works too.”
The chubby little hamster 66 nibbled on sunflower seeds and laughed.
“Of course.”
With a casual wave, recipes for pork and pig intestines appeared in his hand along with rock sugar.
“Host, this will cost forty points. Do you want to exchange it?”
Ye Qiuling had just earned forty points today, and now she had to spend them all. Grinding her teeth painfully, she said,
“Exchange.”
System 1668 placed the recipe in front of her and said slyly,
“Host, welcome to visit again next time.”
Closing her eyes, Ye Qiuling exited the space. She felt distressed. The points she had earned with such effort had vanished in an instant.
But now was not the time to dwell on it.
Following the system’s recipe, she placed a little flour into the pig intestines and washed them thoroughly.
Shen Wanru did not think her daughter was wasting flour. Instead, she thought her daughter was very clever for thinking of using flour to clean the intestines.
After being kneaded with flour, the pig intestines became extremely clean and even looked pale and white.
Shen Wanru helped beside her, but Ye Qiuling said helplessly,
“Mother, go sit outside. With such a great chef standing here, it makes me feel pressured.”
Shen Wanru burst into laughter.
“Our Qiuling is the real chef. Mother is just an old cook. Fine, fine. Then Mother will wait to eat your feast.”
Pushing her outside, Ye Qiuling said with a grin, “Then just wait to enjoy the feast.”
After cleaning the pig intestines, she blanched them in boiling water. Heating oil in the pot, she added ginger. The family was too poor to have scallions or garlic, so she had to skip them. After frying until fragrant, she added the pig intestines and stir fried them until slightly charred on the surface before adding dark soy sauce.
Without cooking wine, she could only add a little rice wine. Then she added rock sugar and an appropriate amount of water, simmering it over low heat until the intestines became tender and flavorful. Finally, she turned up the heat to reduce the sauce. Braised pig intestines were done.
She set the dish aside and scooped out the cooked rice from the pot. After adding hot water, she blanched the pork belly and cut it into chunks. Putting a small amount of pork lard in the pot, she added rock sugar and fried it until it melted and turned color. Then she added the pork belly and stir fried it until coated.
After adding dark soy sauce and rice wine, she poured in some of the hot water from earlier.
She simmered it slowly over low heat until the meat became tender enough to be pierced easily with chopsticks, then reduced the sauce over high heat. The braised pork belly was finished, its rich color making one drool at the sight of it.
When both dishes were brought out, Ye Feng sniffed the air like a little puppy, inhaling the delicious aroma.
“Big Sister, your cooking smells amazing.”
Ye Qiuling laughed at his pitiful little expression.
“Then Xiao Feng should eat more.”
Unable to wait any longer, Ye Feng picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of braised pork.
“Okay, Big Sister. Father, Mother, you should eat too,” he said while stuffing it into his mouth.
Looking at the delicious food on the table, Ye Dazhi felt a little bitter inside. He felt useless, relying entirely on his daughter to eat such good food.
Shen Wanru squeezed her husband’s hand silently to comfort him. She picked up a piece of the glossy braised pork and placed it in her mouth. The savory flavor burst across her tongue. The meat was tender and not tough at all, perfectly cooked.
She glanced at the shiny pig intestines that tempted the taste buds. Unable to resist, she picked up a piece and placed it in her mouth.
There was no unpleasant smell at all. The soy sauce coated the intestines, giving them a chewy and delicious texture.
She praised her daughter.
“Did the immortal in your dream teach you this? Even the grass you make tastes delicious, Qiuling.”
Ye Qiuling nodded guiltily.
The family ate happily together.
Afterward, Ye Qiuling dipped the eggs in wine, coated them with salt, wrapped ten of them, and sealed them in a small jar to cure for three or four days.
Later, Ye Qiuling brought her younger brother out again to gather wild plants.
Looking at the grass in front of him that was taller than himself, Ye Feng asked uncertainly,
“Big Sister, can this grass really be eaten?”
Swallowing nervously, he waited for her answer.
“This is mugwort. It’s edible. When we go back, I’ll make something delicious for you,” Ye Qiuling explained.
Ye Feng trusted his sister completely. Hearing that it would be tasty, he immediately started digging enthusiastically.
From a distance, Ye Qing saw the scene and walked closer, sneering at them.
“You’re so poor you’ve come out to dig grass to eat. Do you want me to give you some leftover food from my house?”
Ye Qiuling rolled her eyes and ignored her, but Ye Qing refused to stop.
“Oh right, I forgot. We still have chickens at home, so maybe we can’t even give the leftovers to you. What a pity.”
After filling a basket with mugwort, Ye Qiuling stopped tolerating her and snapped back.
“I don’t eat pig feed, thank you.”
Ye Qing immediately flushed red with anger.
“You’re the pig!”
She stepped forward and raised her hand, about to slap her.