Reborn in Dunhuang, I am farming and doing business in the desert

Chapter 31 It's really strange
The Shen family was so poor that the furnishings in the house were extremely simple. Apart from two tattered boxes in the room of mother Zhang Shanyue, the other rooms did not even have a small table.

The only wooden table in the house is the dining table, which has to be moved back and forth when guests come.

Of course, there was still a wicker basket in Shen Zhao's room, with a few pieces of clothing stuffed in it, which was used as a suitcase.

Shen Zhaoke envied the furniture and furnishings in the bronze mirror world, which were even more gorgeous than those in the imperial palace.

The ground was like a mirror, and the walls were whiter than snow.

She thought that only gods could live in a place like that.

Fortunately, he was favored by the gods and could communicate with them using a small bronze mirror and purchase items from the gods' world.

"A Zhao, how many cotton-padded clothes do you have? I'm going to the market to sell them today." After Shen Heng finished washing up, he came over to sniff the soy milk in the pot.

Shen Zhao lit up both stoves and added more firewood while saying, "There are more than a dozen of them. Go to my room and get them. It won't be too late to go after dinner."

Those dozen or so pieces were the ones left over from the last time Wu Hou came. There were originally twenty pieces, but after three were sold yesterday, there are only seventeen left.

Shen Heng nodded, turned around and ran to his sister's room and dragged out a large bag full of cotton clothes.

After counting, there were indeed seventeen items.

He placed the big bag on the cart and went straight to his cousin's house.

But my cousin went out to plow the fields early in the morning and was not at home.

Shen Heng simply went to find his childhood friend A Zhu and invited him to go to the market with him.

Ah Zhu agreed immediately, took a piece of coarse flour cake and went back with Shen Heng.

At this time, Shen Zhao had already fried half a pot of egg rice with a small amount of mutton fat, heated up yesterday's leftovers, scooped a spoonful of salty sauce and bean dregs together and fried a bowl, and brought it to the small table.

"Dad! Mom! It's time for dinner." Shen Zhao poked his head out of the kitchen and greeted his parents.

Shen Ang was feeding water and bean dregs to the camels and goats, and he also pulled a bunch of grass from his own haystack and threw it into the sheep pen.

Zhang Shanyue was also cleaning the hanging scrolls and pottery jars, and he casually said, "Coming."

So the couple knelt down beside the small table and took the bowls of rice handed to them by their daughter.

Shen Heng just happened to run back, followed by the young boy Azhu.

"Come and have your meal quickly, or the party will be over soon." Shen Zhao served the two of them some food and asked them to sit down at the small table.

Ah Zhu felt a little embarrassed, but the fragrant rice made him reluctant to refuse.

So he knelt down cautiously, picked up the bowl, and ate the rare delicacy in small bites.

"Azhao, why don't you eat?" Zhang Shanyue looked at his daughter.

"You guys eat first. I've left a bowl of rice for you. I'll let you try some soy milk later." Shen Zhao was busy stirring the pot, and soon the strong aroma spread throughout the kitchen.

She thought about it, then ran back to her room and spent ten coins to buy a two-pound bag of sugar.

Lian Xiaoqing said that adding sugar to soy milk would make it more delicious, so she asked her family to try it together.

After simmering it over low heat for a while, the soy milk became oily. Shen Zhao then served each person a bowl and put a small spoonful of sugar in it.

Looking at the soy milk in the pot again, there was only half of it left.

"Wow! The soy milk cooked by A Zhao is still the best!" Shen Heng praised sincerely. He drank a big bowl in one breath and still felt unsatisfied.

But he also knew that if he drank any more, he would not be able to make tofu, so he put down the bowl and said to Ah Shu, "Let's go to the market quickly." Ah Shu also finished drinking the soy milk, wiped his mouth and stood up: "Okay! I'll push the cart." At this moment he felt full of strength.

Shen Zhao ignored them and took out a bag of tofu brine, poured a little into a bowl to dissolve it with water, then slowly poured it into the soy milk pot and stirred it.

Seeing the soy milk slowly becoming thick and solidifying into tofu pudding, she used a wooden spoon to scoop it into a square wooden frame.

Before this, a layer of filter cloth had been laid in the wooden frame. After all the tofu pudding was scooped into it, Shen Zhao wrapped the filter cloth on the tofu pudding, covered it with a wooden board, and then moved a clean stone to press on the board.

"Once some of the water is squeezed out, it will become tofu." Shen Zhao said to his mother.

Zhang Shanyue nodded and asked, "Is the tofu you bought last time also made in this way?"

"It should be." Shen Zhao cleaned the stove and helped his mother collect the dirty clothes that the family had changed out of, preparing to go to the river to wash them.

The mother and daughter carried two baskets and walked towards the Jinshui River. At this time, Shen Ang had already led the camel to Tingyi.

When we arrived at the river, we saw that the originally turbid water had become clear, and several neighbors were drawing water there.

Shen Zhao then walked downstream with his mother, put down the basket and washed clothes on a stone.

The dirty clothes were rolled in wood ash and then just had to be wetted with water and beaten on stones.

Rinse it with clean water several times and the dirt in the clothes will be basically removed.

While he was beating the clothes, two women came over carrying a basket of dirty clothes. When he turned around, he saw that they were Qin Yi's mother Yang and sister Qin Shu.

Shen Zhao pretended not to see anything and continued beating clothes with his mother.

The two men walked away, and Qin Shu angrily glared at Shen Zhao several times.

The two families, who were originally relatives, now ignore each other like enemies.

It was not until Shen Zhao and her daughter finished washing their clothes and walked away that Qin Shu said to her mother, "Mom, don't you think it's strange? Two families that are obviously unrelated gave birth to daughters who look exactly the same. Just now, I almost mistook the annoying Shen Zhao for Sister Lingyao."

Yang smiled and said softly, "Who said it wasn't?"

A few years ago, when the Xue and Qin families first arrived in the northwest, they were all shocked when they saw a girl who looked so much like Xue Lingyao. Later, Yang secretly inquired and learned that the Shen family was also from the Central Plains who settled here several years earlier than them.

It is said that the Shen family was forced to immigrate here, and their hometown is only fifty miles away from the capital.

This is even more strange.

With a smile on her face, Yang said to her daughter, "Maybe Shen Zhao is the child left behind by the Xue family."

"How is it possible?" Qin Shu said angrily: "Who is Shen Zhao? How could he be a child of the Xue family?"

Yang said nothing more. After putting the washed clothes into the basket, she said softly, "Let's go to Xue's house later. I want to ask your aunt Wang for advice on needlework."

Qin Shu pulled at his sleeves, which had become much shorter, and shook his head to refuse: "I still have work to do, so I won't go."

She wanted to go home and make the sleeves of her jacket two inches wider, so as not to be looked down upon by the Xue family, especially Xue Yi. She didn't want him to see her miserable state.

Because my mother said that she must get married in two years. Instead of marrying a poor local soldier, it would be better to choose Xue Yi. After all, both families are aristocratic families who were exiled. If there is an amnesty one day, they can return to Beijing together.

Yang looked at her daughter and said, "It's up to you. I also have something to talk to Wang about. It would be convenient if you are not here."

"What's the matter?" Qin Shu's curiosity was aroused, and he quickly asked, "Are you discussing the marriage between my elder brother and Sister Lingyao?"

Yang scolded, "Don't talk nonsense. If your elder brother and Lingyao could be together, our family would not have been engaged to the Shen family before."

(End of this chapter)