My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Zhu Laosi panicked and hurried in, sitting down next to his wife: "Wife, it's my fault... I... I... She is my mother after all, she..."

Aunt Zhu Si became even angrier and turned around to glare at him fiercely: "Are you a fool?"

"Ah? I..." Zhu Laosi panicked even more. "Wife, don't be angry. You have to pay attention to the baby in your belly!"

Aunt Zhu stopped crying, wiped her tears with her sleeves, and stroked her belly and said, "If this baby is another girl..."

"Girls are girls, I like all our children." Zhu Laosi said quickly, "Girls are well-behaved and obedient, I love them more than I can say. Besides, doesn't my third brother have two girls too?"

Aunt Zhu Si hummed and said, "If you go to find mother, just go openly. Actually, I think Si Ya's death is not entirely mother's fault. She used to love Si Ya very much..."

Zhu Laosi was stunned: "Huh?"

Fourth Aunt Zhu glared at him again, "You're so stupid! I have a father and a mother myself, and I'm not a heartless person. I just can't get over Si Ya's death. When my eldest sister-in-law said that, I was also very sad. But she's your mother. I don't care about her, so how can you really not care about her?"

Zhu Laosi jumped up with joy: "Wife, you are so kind, you are so kind! I knew you were the best wife in the world."

Fourth Aunt Zhu said angrily, "Come on, but I heard that the Si family is still looking for work. You should stop going to the Si family so often these past two days. Don't let Mother think that you're going there just to do the work for the Si family, okay?"

"Okay. Mom is under the care of the Si family now, and my second and third brothers also give her a lot of things every month, so they don't need me. Besides, I heard that the Si family wants a woman who can cook and light a fire this time, and you won't be able to do that while you're pregnant. We won't go, and we can live a good life on our own. That's better than anything else."

The village headwoman was a capable and fair woman. Si Muyan asked her to find two capable women in the village. She trusted her greatly and quickly recommended two.

By the time the villagers found out, the two of them had already reached an agreement and sent it to Si Muyan to see if it would work.

One is Shuiqinniang, a widow from the Song family. Because she was a widow, she was bullied a lot in the past. Fortunately, the villagers and clansmen protected her and allowed her to raise a pair of children.

My daughter Shuiqin is sixteen this year and has been engaged to a butcher in two villages. Her life is getting better now. My son Shuiqiang is also thirteen. Whenever the elders in the village need some light work, they will call him up.

Although life had gotten much better, the family was still very tight on money at an age when Shuiqiang was a young boy who was already starving his parents. Shuiqin's mother always tried to find work to do so that she could buy good things for her son.

The other is Doctor Zhang's wife, Xiang Cuicui. With a doctor in the Zhang family, life should not be difficult. Unfortunately, Doctor Zhang has four younger brothers and sisters, and a lot of children. Apart from Doctor Zhang, none of them are capable.

People say that the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, and Xiang Cuicui is that eldest sister-in-law. She takes care of her younger brothers and sisters, as well as a bunch of children.

How could she accept such a heavy burden? Because her mother's family, the Xiang family, was the same. Like the Zhu family, the Xiang family fled famine. Their parents died after they settled here, leaving Xiang Cuicui with three younger brothers and sisters, who she raised.

Doctor Zhang was overburdened at the time and couldn't find anyone willing to help raise his younger siblings, nephews, and nieces. He met Xiang Cuicui, and they hit it off instantly...

When Si Muyan heard about Doctor Zhang's family, she thought, isn't this the modern Phoenix man and Phoenix woman? A perfect match!

Oh no, they didn't become a phoenix. They are a perfect match, a chicken boy and a chicken girl. No need to look down on each other.

Si Muyan had a general understanding of their situation and asked, "Can you cook?"

"meeting!"

This is unanimous.

The two of them cooked together in the evening. Shuiqinniang was an expert at cooking meat dishes, but Xiang Cuicui was a little lacking.

Si Muyan couldn't help but be curious: "Mother Shuiqin, you are so good at cooking?"

Shuiqin's mother laughed. "Shuiqiang didn't eat well when he was little, so he didn't have much to eat. So I thought of ways to make wild vegetables taste better. Shuiqin is married to Zhu the butcher. The Zhu family is nice, and they send him some offal every now and then, which is considered meat. I can also make some for them to enjoy."

He is indeed a capable person. Si Muyan is very satisfied.

Xiang Cuicui was a little reserved. No matter if she was from her natal family or there were many people in the family, she would cook in big pots and make whatever was available. Of course, the taste could not compare.

"Aunt Zhang can make hot dishes, there will definitely be no problem."

Si Muyan smiled and agreed to the two of them, and agreed to try it out for three days. If they got used to it, they could stay. Of course, they would be paid according to their normal wages for these three days.

She asked Shuiqinniang and Xiang Cuicui to work in the shop and prepare both lunch and dinner. Aunt Jin and Aunt Wang came back to help her make the base and dipping sauce.

This shocked Aunt Wang. She had thought Si Muyan would let her sister come back. After all, they were family, and she was an outsider. The base was arguably the most important ingredient in a food shop; no one else could imitate it.

Just let her learn it like this?

Si Muyan smiled and said, "I'll prepare all the ingredients. You just need to watch the fire, know how to add water, and cook it. Besides, who is Aunt Wang? How can I not trust her?"

Aunt Wang immediately puffed out her chest and said, "Don't worry, Miss Yan, I promise I won't tell anyone, not even your Uncle Wang."

Si Xingzhi found someone to build another stove and two pots for the house. In this way, Aunt Jin and Aunt Wang each took care of two pots, and they could work much more quickly.

Moreover, as condiments such as chili peppers matured, Si Muyan improved the base and dipping sauces, making them taste even better.

Sijia Food Shop serves a total of 200 meals at noon and in the evening, and the same is true for Jixiang Restaurant, with 200 meals a day, which means 400 meals are served a day.

However, because the restaurant also had to be open for dinner, Zhu Laoer and his team had originally arranged three people to help out at the restaurant at noon every day, but they could not come for dinner.

People always need to rest. Getting up in the middle of the night and working until night is not a good idea. You will be exhausted.

Si Muyan thought about it and went to the He family's house. She asked them to help her, saying they would only work in the evenings, for a maximum of two hours. The wages were 15 wen per person, and for the couple plus He Laiqian, it would be 45 wen a day. He Laiqian was young and flexible, so he entertained guests outside, while He Song and Laiqian's mother cleaned up the dishes.

He Song did not receive any big carpentry jobs this winter. He could only do simple carpentry work during the day. In the evening, he could not only do it for an hour or two, but he could also drive the cart himself.

Si Muyan also chose He Song because he had an ox cart, which made it convenient for him to travel. Seeing this, she said, "You drive the ox cart every day, and I'll rent the cart to you. It's 15 cents a day. Go there in the afternoon and bring the others back in the evening."