“Great-Uncle, do you think this thirteen-spice seasoning of mine can sell? Food cooked with it tastes amazing.”
Doctor Li stroked his beard and chuckled.
“It can. It definitely can. But it’d sell better in a general store. Your second cousin from the village chief’s family owns a sundries shop in town—leave it there to sell on commission.”
“Alright!”
Ye Manshu grinned like a little mouse.
Once this seasoning hit the market, it would definitely make big money.
Then she could just lie flat and enjoy life.
Hahaha!
There was already a small general store in the village, and Ye Manshu had long since placed her products there too. Who would dare refuse her? Did they not want to stay in business anymore?
Especially now that everyone knew Ye Manshu had repaired her relationship with the village chief.
Still, the villagers couldn’t afford to buy much. Medicinal ingredients were expensive to begin with, and thirteen-spice seasoning wasn’t cheap to make.
But surely people in town would buy it.
Soon afterward, Ye Manshu also developed five-spice powder and sent that to the store as well.
Unfortunately…
There were no chili peppers.
She asked everyone nearby, but nobody had ever seen them before.
Looks like this era simply didn’t have chili peppers.
From Cheng Qian, she had learned that the current dynasty was the third year of Yuanchang under the Qi Kingdom—a dynasty that didn’t exist in real history.
Kaoshan Village belonged to Pingxiang Town, Da’an County, Jizhou Prefecture, located in the northern region. Winters brought heavy snow.
The culture and customs resembled somewhere between the Song and Ming dynasties.
So chili peppers probably hadn’t spread here yet.
Not only were there no chili peppers, there were also no potatoes, sweet potatoes, or corn.
Ye Manshu felt somewhat depressed.
She loved spicy food, but now she only had numbing heat—using evodia, Sichuan peppercorns, and prickly ash to imitate spice.
But it still wasn’t as satisfying as actual chili peppers.
She also missed potatoes, corn porridge, and vermicelli made from sweet potatoes or potatoes.
None of those things existed here.
“Grandma, did we gather the right herbs?”
Da Ya and Er Ya returned carrying tiny baskets on their backs.
Ye Manshu had taught them to recognize several simple medicinal herbs. The moment the girls heard herbs could be sold for money, they immediately rushed out to gather some.
And surprisingly enough, they had gathered the correct ones.
Ye Manshu processed the herbs gathered by herself and the children, then sold them to Doctor Li.
Doctor Li didn’t profit from her at all—whatever price he sold them for, he paid her the same amount.
In only ten days, Ye Manshu earned one hundred and fifty copper coins.
The earnings from the thirteen-spice seasoning and five-spice powder also came in, totaling another hundred coins.
Even so, Madam Zhao became extremely envious.
“A grown man doing labor work only earns ten coins a day. Yet you earn this much without exhausting yourself—it’s really not bad at all.”
Grinning, Ye Manshu took out fifty coins.
“Auntie, this is repayment toward my debt. I’ll slowly pay back the rest.”
Of the hundred coins she earned, she split half with the general store owner.
After all, she couldn’t expect them to sell her products for free.
Still, even with this income, she remained far from the lifestyle she wanted.
She later made a trip to the county city, hoping to promote her thirteen-spice seasoning and five-spice powder.
Not a single packet sold.
In the end, only her cousin’s medical hall managed to sell two packets for her, earning her ten coins.
Ye Manshu refused to believe the products were unsellable.
But before she could expand sales, large general stores in the county suddenly began selling the exact same seasonings.
Apparently, some wealthy family had enjoyed the flavors, then hired people to reverse-engineer the recipes.
And honestly, reproducing them wasn’t difficult at all.
Just like that, her work was stolen.
Ye Manshu nearly died from frustration.
She had no ability to register trademarks or protect recipes.
But the other side clearly did.
Not only did her sales fail to increase—they actually dropped sharply.
Eventually, she only earned around one hundred coins a month total.
After splitting profits, her personal share became merely fifty coins.
Even then, she still had to feel grateful they hadn’t crushed her entirely.
Otherwise, they could simply declare her seasonings “unregulated village products,” and her cousin’s store would instantly be forbidden from selling them.
After all, anyone capable of flooding the entire county market and launching massive promotion campaigns was clearly no ordinary person.
They earned mountains of gold.
She earned scraps.
Even tiny seasoning packets got stolen!
Yet Ye Manshu had absolutely no way to fight back.
Inside Kaoshan Village, she could act like a tyrant thanks to the protection of the village chief and clan leader.
But outside the village?
She possessed no real power whatsoever.
Li Daoshun and Doctor Li both comforted her.
“Earning fifty coins a month is already pretty good.”
Ye Manshu immediately wilted.
She had originally dreamed of making serious money through this.
It was her own fault for understanding too little about the world.
Before transmigrating, she had only been a doctor.
She had never done business.
Now reality had taught her a brutal lesson.
Without absolute strength, your “innovation” merely became a wedding dress sewn for someone else.
Sometimes they wouldn’t even leave you soup to drink afterward.
And if they left a little behind, that alone counted as mercy.
“A common man is innocent, but possessing treasure is a crime.”
Some truly ruthless people were even worse.
If your invention generated enormous profits and couldn’t easily be replicated, then buying your formula politely was already considered generous.
Others would simply use every means possible to obtain the secret—and then slit the inventor’s throat afterward.
From that point onward, Ye Manshu no longer dared reveal most of the innovations she knew.
She had been too naive.
Better to move forward slowly instead.
Growing quietly and cautiously was the smartest approach.
Things like luxury perfumes, soap, advanced weapon concepts…
She could forget about them.
But small-scale improvements were still manageable.
For example, now that the autumn harvest had ended and life finally eased somewhat, she organized the entire family into gathering medicinal herbs.
Sun Shi’s condition had stabilized by now, so she stayed home to clean, cook, and feed the chickens, ducks, and pigs.
Everyone else climbed the mountains daily to gather herbs.
At present, all household finances were controlled by Ye Manshu.
If anyone wanted refined rice, white flour, or meat, she alone decided whether they could eat it.
Anyone who dared complain or disobey simply wouldn’t eat.
Skipping a meal was the lighter punishment.
More often, they’d also get beaten.
Rubbing his aching thigh, Cheng Yuan complained to Madam Yang,
“Mother’s become way too ruthless. She makes us work nonstop every single day.”
Madam Yang rubbed her sore waist.
“You should count yourself lucky! We eat oily food every day now and never go hungry. What more do you want?”
“But don’t you think Mother’s changed? Ever since she stopped favoring Third Brother, she’s become stricter with us… though she treats those two little girls much better now.”
“I think I understand a little,” Madam Yang replied quietly.
“It’s probably because when Mother nearly died, what you all said hurt her feelings.”
“Hiss—rub lighter! By the way, Mother said whoever shows filial piety gets meat to eat. And if we treat her well, she’ll make us new clothes and shoes. Is that true?”
“It probably is. Just watch tomorrow. Mother said the two girls have been good to her, so she’s rewarding each of them with a new outfit.”
The next day, Ye Manshu truly bought some floral fabric and handed it to Sun Shi.
“Make clothes for the girls. They’ve worked hard lately and shown me respect. This is their reward.”
“Thank you, Mother!”
Sun Shi beamed with joy.
“Thank you, Grandma!”
Da Ya and Er Ya each grabbed one of Ye Manshu’s hands while acting spoiled affectionately.
Ye Manshu pinched their now smoother little cheeks and pulled out several strips of dried meat.
“Go eat.”
Da Ya limped slightly as she followed Er Ya outside.
Ye Manshu frowned.
She had examined Da Ya’s leg long ago.
Because it had never been treated properly, the bone had healed crookedly.
The only way to fix it now would be surgery.
But with the current medical conditions, sterile operations were impossible.
The risk of infection after surgery would be enormous.
Who knew when proper conditions could finally exist?
If she could somehow produce alcohol disinfectant, iodine solution, antibiotics, and anesthesia—and also find a skilled surgeon among the local physicians—
Then maybe surgery would still become possible someday.