Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Dongyu really likes her second older sister.

Having prepared everything, Xia Yu scooped a large spoonful of lard from the oil jar, heated it in a large pot, and then added diced tomatoes to the pot and stir-fried them until the tomato chunks disappeared completely, turning into a thick tomato soup. Xia Yu ladled the tomato soup into a bowl, added another spoonful of lard to the pot, and then stir-fried the cabbage until it softened.

"Second sister, is this eggplant also stir-fried?" Qiu Yu asked, looking at the eggplant strips in the bowl that had already released water from the marinating process.

"This will be mixed with flour and fried in oil in a little while. It will taste great when added to the savory rice porridge pot."

"What should I do now?" Qiu Yu felt listless as she watched Xia Yu busy herself while she stood around doing nothing.

"Help me squeeze the eggplant dry, then coat it with flour. Don't throw away the water that comes out during marinating; it contains salt, and we can use it in the pot later," Xia Yu said to Qiu Yu.

"Hey, I get it."

Qiu Yu agreed and took the bowl of eggplant to work on the side. Xia Yu scooped out the cabbage and put it together with the tomato soup from earlier, then added more than half a pot of water to the pot and asked her aunt to continue cooking.

Soon, Qiu Yu brought in the eggplant mixed with flour, having used up more than half a bowl of flour. Xia Yu added two spoonfuls of lard to another pot. Actually, she felt that two spoonfuls were not enough, but she was afraid that her grandmother would get angry when she came back. She had already used three or four spoonfuls of oil. Although her father said that they should eat some oily food when harvesting wheat, she was not sure how much oily food she should eat, so she decided to be gentle with her hands.

Once the lard in the pan was hot, Xia Yu poured in all the eggplant strips coated in flour, and a delicious aroma filled the kitchen. She used a spatula to spread the eggplant strips out of the pan, and once they were golden brown, she flipped them over to continue frying. The aroma of lard mixed with flour made everyone in the room swallow hard, including Xia Yu. She felt she absolutely couldn't speak right then, or her mouth would water.

"Qiuyu, do you know how to make fried dough sticks?" Xia Yu swallowed her saliva before daring to speak.

"Yes, I know how. Should I roll it out or flip it?"

"You roll it out, I'll flip the pancakes. It's too hot around the stove." Although the two were born in the same year, Xia Yu was a few months older than Qiu Yu, and she was still aware of her role as the older sister.

"Okay, sure. I'll start kneading the dough and rolling out the pancakes now. Once you've fried the eggplant strips, you can put them directly into the pan." Qiu Yu was used to kitchen work and knew how to save time. As she spoke, she sprinkled some dry flour on the work surface and took the kneaded dough out of the bowl. She first kneaded the dough until smooth with the dry flour, then divided it into small portions. Although they were called small portions, each one actually weighed about half a pound. With so many people in the family, making them any smaller would take too much time.

Once the eggplant strips were all fried until golden brown, Xia Yu scooped them out and put them back into the bowl. She then picked one up and tasted it.

"Mmm, delicious." Xia Yu nodded in satisfaction and muttered to herself. When she looked up, she saw her aunt, who was tending the fire, staring at her.

She now understood why her grandmother had left her aunt at home—she was practically a human surveillance camera! She had originally intended to serve some of the fried eggplant strips to Dongyu, but now, well, either she ate them all, or none of her ate them.

However, seeing Dongyu riding a broomstick like a horse in the yard, Xiayu still took three bowls and put a few pieces of fried eggplant in each one.

"Auntie, try the sweet and salty flavor, how is it? I just took a bite and it seems alright, you can try it too." As she spoke, she handed one of the bowls to Qinghe.

"Hmph, at least you've learned something now." Qinghe didn't forget to lecture Xia Yu as she took the bowl.

Xia Yu ignored her and took the bowl to the yard to call Dong Yu, "Dong Yu, come here quickly, try the little fish sticks that your second sister made, are they delicious?" As she spoke, Xia Yu took a stick and stuffed it into Dong Yu's little mouth.

"Mmm, delicious." Dongyu nodded vigorously as she chewed on the delicious food in her mouth.

"Here you go, this bowl is all yours. After you finish eating, put the bowl by the kitchen door, and remember not to come in. There's hot water in here, be careful not to burn yourself. Got it?"

"Yes, Second Sister, I've got it."

Seeing her adorable appearance, Xia Yu couldn't help but pinch her little face.

When she returned to the kitchen, she found that Qiuyu's bowl was empty, so she assumed that Qiuyu had finished eating and asked, "Qiuyu, do you think it's too salty?"

"I...I...I don't know," Qiu Yu stammered.

Xia Yu found her words strange and craned her neck to look at Qiu Yu.

"Qiuyu, what's wrong with you? Can't you tell the difference between sweet and salty?"

"I...I..." Xia Yu looked at her like this, then suddenly turned to look at Qinghe, who was tending the fire.

"Auntie, did you eat Qiuyu's portion?"

"Yes, I ate it. She didn't like it, so I ate it for her." Qinghe didn't feel ashamed at all for taking the food from her niece's mouth.

"It's not that I don't like it," Qiu Yu retorted softly upon hearing her say that.

"If you like it, why don't you eat it? I've finished mine, but you haven't touched a single bite."

"I wanted to save it for my second sister to eat together, but you ate it all without even asking me a question." Although Qiu Yu was timid, she still spoke very clearly.

"I didn't know you were waiting for Xia Yu," Qinghe muttered softly.

"Auntie, you've already eaten two portions. I'll get Qiuyu another one now. You don't mind, do you?" Seeing her attitude, Xia Yu didn't want to waste any more time talking to her; she still had work to do.

"Just give her what she wants to eat, why are you asking me?"

Hearing her say that, Xia Yu directly picked up a few eggplant strips from the basin, put them in a bowl, and handed it to Qiu Yu.

"This is for Qiuyu, you should try some too."

Seeing that there was significantly more eggplant in her bowl than before, Qiuyu took it out and put some in Dongyu's bowl. When she came back, she first used chopsticks to feed Xiayu a bite, then ate a bite herself. After Xiayu swallowed, she fed her another bite, then ate a bite herself. The two sisters finished the few remaining eggplant strips by taking turns eating them.

Qinghe sat opposite them, watching Qiuyu share with Dongyu and Xiayu, but not with herself. She was very unhappy and had a long face, feeling that none of her nieces were filial.

After finishing the eggplant, the water in the large pot boiled. Xia Yu poured the stir-fried tomatoes, cabbage, and eggplant strips into the pot, stirred them with a large spoon, and then covered the pot to continue cooking.

Here, Qiu Yu put the rolled-out dough into a small pot, and Xia Yu quickly spread some lard on it before covering it with a lid.

"Auntie, the fire in this stove needs to be kept low, or the pancakes will burn," Xia Yu said to Qinghe, who was tending the fire.

"Okay, I know, you've got a lot to do." Even so, she still smothered the fire in the stove.

Xia Yu didn't have her grandmother's skill to bake several at once. She could only bake them one by one, covering them with a clean cloth to keep them warm after they were cooked. At first, Xia Yu couldn't quite get the hang of it and kept burning some, but she got better and better at it later. The fried pancakes were golden brown on both sides, sizzling with oil and looking very fragrant.

"Xiaxia, can I have half a pancake to try?" Qinghe said to Xiayu.

"Auntie, my grandma has a limited number of pancakes. If she comes back and finds the number doesn't match, she'll scold us. You'd better be patient and wait for everyone to come back so we can eat together." Xia Yu refused without hesitation. If she was allowed to eat them, she wouldn't stand up for her grandma when she scolded her.