Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

At noon that day, Lao Jin came to Lao Sheng's house for lunch again. Cui asked Liu and Xiao Ye to go back and help.

The two brothers returned in the evening, bringing neither money nor their eldest brother. Just as Xiaolan had expected, things got worse.

The next day, the second and fourth sons went to town again.

Xiaolan decided to take good care of herself after coming down from the mountain. She stored all the dried goods at home so that no one would miss them. Shengxuan and Zhang went to work in the fields. In another month, the cabbage and radish in the fields would be harvested. The oil tank at home was empty, so Xiaoting stayed at home to look after the house. Xiaolan and Xiaowen took the copper coins given by Zhang and went to the town to buy lard.

Xiao Lan also put all her property into the bag and said generously, "Come on, Second Sister will take you to the town to eat fruit."

When Xiaowen heard that she was going to buy something delicious, she quickly found her newest piece of clothing and put it on, then said happily, "Let's go."

Xiao Ting looked at her happy brother and sister and held back her laughter, "Watch the road, don't run around, and come back early."

"Don't worry, sister, we will bring you some delicious food." Xiao Lan said with a smile.

Looking at Xiaowen and Xiaoting wearing patched clothes, and then looking at her own new jacket, she felt very uncomfortable and secretly swore in her heart that she must buy cotton before winter and buy new clothes for both siblings.

Xiaowen cheered, picked up the basket and followed Xiaolan out of the house.

Arriving in the town, Xiao Lan went to the butcher shop first to buy lard. The lard in the butcher shop was the best-selling product. If you went too late, it would be sold out. The brother and sister walked into the butcher shop and saw a whole pig that had just been cut in half on the butcher's counter. The pig was very fat and had thick fat. Such pigs have a lot of fat, so lard must be rich in oil.

"Uncle Wang, do you have any oil boards left?" Xiao Lan asked.

"Yes, I just pulled the fat from this pig. You came at the right time," he said as he took out the fat from behind the butcher's counter.

Soybean oil is precious, and its price is nearly ten times that of lard. Farmers usually use lard to cook. This time, Zhang was very determined and asked her siblings to buy a fan of lard to take back.

Xiao Lan flipped it over and saw that the lard was white and clean. "Uncle Wang, do you have any bones?"

"Yes, if you buy all the lard, I'll give you these two pork leg bones." He picked out two pork leg bones from the basket under the chopping board.

"Okay, then uncle, I'll cut another pound of pork belly."

Xiao Lan has been thinking about a way to dig traps at home these days, and plans to go to the mountains with Sheng Xuan to experiment in a few days. Now that the family has gradually gained income, we can't just make money without spending money. Health is the capital of everything. The children need to grow up. Sheng Xuan and Zhang are the laborers of the family, so increasing nutrition cannot be vague.

Ten pounds of lard were weighed, and each pound was sold at fifteen cents. Pork belly was sold at twelve cents per pound, the same price as pure fat meat. Two pork leg bones were given to them as a bonus. Xiao Lan counted out one hundred and sixty-two cents and gave them to Wang the butcher. Wang the butcher wrapped the meat in straw paper and put it in Xiao Wen's basket.

After leaving the meat stall, Xiao Wen tugged at Xiao Lan's sleeve and said, "Second sister, did you forget something?"

Xiao Lan smiled and said, "Second sister didn't forget, I'll take you to eat some fruit right now."

It was the morning market, and the shopkeeper set up a big pot to fry fruits. The fruits were tumbling in the oil pan, and soon they turned golden, and the fragrance spread far away. Xiao Lan spent twelve coins and bought a pound of fruits. The shopkeeper wrapped them in oil paper and handed them to the brother and sister. The brother and sister were not the ones who ate alone, so they put the fruits in the basket and went home. Because they bought a lot of things, the brother and sister walked and stopped, and they walked and sweated before returning home.

It was almost noon and people who had been working in the fields came back one after another. Xiaolan, Xiaowen, Shengxuan and Zhang came into the house one after another, and Lao Jin also went to the next room.

Xiaowen couldn't wait to take out the fruits and shared one with everyone. Shengxuan and Zhang were reluctant to eat them. The children persuaded them for a long time before they each ate one. There were six fruits in a pound. In the end, Xiaolan and Xiaowen ate two each. Xiaoting acted like an eldest sister and refused to eat the remaining two no matter how much she was persuaded.

After eating the fruit, Xiaolan took out the fat, meat, bones and the remaining copper coins and gave them to Zhang. The family discussed stewing the bones at noon. Bones don't have much meat, so Xiaolan thought it would be good to drink some bone soup. Put some chopped green onions in the bone soup, it's oily and refreshing.

"Mom, when we came back, we saw Uncle Jin going next door again. He must have gone there at dinner time." Xiao Lan said.

Mrs. Zhang nodded.

The troubles of the old Sheng family did not affect the mood of Xiaolan's family. After a break, Shengxuan took Xiaowen to the field to catch insects in the afternoon. Zhang, Xiaoting and Xiaolan stayed at home to eat fat. Although the weather was cold, the fat and meat could not be kept. This time it was not as simple as eating fat from the two pounds of fat pork I bought last time. The fat produced much more oil than fat.

Because they bought a lot of lard, Xiaoting and Zhang gathered around the chopping board to cut it, while Xiaolan was in charge of lighting the fire. After the oil was slowly boiled and poured into the earthenware jars, there were two earthenware jars full of lard. Zhang smiled and said, "This lard is enough for our family to eat this winter."

This time, more oil balls were cooked. Zhang scooped out a large bowl for Xiaolan and Xiaoting to eat as a snack, and also scooped out half a bowl for Xiaowen to eat when he came back from the fields.

Xiaolan mixed some salt and sat on the stool with Xiaoting to eat. This time the amount was large and the two sisters did not give way to Zhang. Last time, the family could only taste the fried oil sticks, but this time it was different.

Yousuozi is a rare delicacy in farmers' homes, and the two sisters cherish it very much. "Let's not eat too much, we still have to save room for dumplings." Xiaoting put down her chopsticks after eating two bites.

Tonight, Xiaolan's family prepared to make dumplings stuffed with oil spindles and pork, using a mixture of flour and bean flour. They planned to eat dumplings stuffed with water spinach in the evening. Zhang was in charge of mixing the dough, while Xiaoting was in charge of mixing the stuffing. They put chopped pork and oil spindles in the water spinach shreds, and then added chopped green onions, salt, lard, and soy sauce for seasoning. After a little mixing, the aroma was overflowing.

Put the board on the edge of the kang, Zhang stood on the ground to roll out the dough, Xiaolan and Xiaoting sat on the kang to wrap the dumplings, and when the dumplings were almost done, Xiaolan went down to light the fire. When the dumplings were done and the water was boiling, Zhang held the lid and put the dumplings down, while Xiaoting cleaned up the board and chopping board.

The dumplings were cooked, and Shengxuan and Xiaowen came back. "Go wash your hands, dinner will be served soon," Zhang greeted the father and son.

Xiaowen was a little hungry, so Zhang took out the oil dumplings she had left for him to fill his stomach.

Zhang was using a colander to scoop out the dumplings and just put them on the table when Chunhua arrived.

It turned out that the second and fourth sons had come back and said that they still hadn't seen the eldest son. The old man was anxious and angry, and a circle of blisters appeared on his mouth, and he also got a boil in his mouth.

In the past few days, she saw that the old man had become thinner and his cheekbones were protruding. Cui was so distressed that she made millet rice for him every meal, but he couldn't eat it. Cui was a little panicked, so she changed it to millet, which she was reluctant to eat on weekdays, and made porridge for every meal just to make him eat a little.

Today, Lao Jin sat from noon to night and did not leave until after dinner. Cui could no longer sit still and said, "Hua, go and invite your third brother and his family over. If this loan sharking issue is not resolved, your father will die." Cui completely lowered her attitude and was no longer as arrogant as before.