Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Every day was busy; Xia Yu and Liu Shi cooked for dozens of people at home. After four days of this, Xia Yu felt her wrists were about to break from chopping vegetables.

So the mother and daughter discussed it and decided to choose two wives from among the workers to help out. They wanted women who were good at cooking and who were clean and efficient. They would come after breakfast to help wash and chop vegetables, and lunch would be provided, for a daily wage of five copper coins. Xia Yu thought this price was extremely low, and just as she was wondering if the wages were too little, Liu returned with a beaming smile, telling her daughter that she had found wives and they would come after breakfast the next day.

"Mother, who did you hire? Don't they think the wages are too low?" Xia Yu asked Liu Shi curiously.

Hearing her daughter's question, Liu gave her a strange look and said, "How could it be low? The work isn't much; it's just washing and chopping, things they do at home all the time. At home, no one would give them a single copper coin for doing this. Now, we provide them with a meat-filled lunch and an extra five copper coins, which is already very generous!" After saying this, she seemed to recall her daughter's strange experience and explained further...

“The wives here who live with their mothers-in-law basically don’t get to touch any money. The money the men earn when they go out is handed over to their parents. The women don’t have any way to earn money, and all they have is what their families gave them when they got married. It’s rare for someone like your two aunts to dare to go out and do small business. Moreover, not all parents-in-law are happy for their daughters-in-law to go out and earn money. Most of them think that it is unchaste and disrespectful to women.”

"Mom, now that you mention it, my grandparents are actually quite open-minded, aren't they?"

"Sigh, your grandpa and grandma are a bit biased towards your fourth uncle and aunt, but otherwise they're much better than other in-laws in the village." Liu didn't want to comment too much on her in-laws, after all, they were still elders. But even if she didn't say it, the whole family could see the bias, so it wasn't really gossiping about elders.

The next day, right after breakfast, the helpers arrived. One was Li Xiaomiao, Zhang Dashan's wife and also the mother of Changyun's good friend Jinbao. The other was Tian Guihua, Wang Youcai's wife and Gou Dan's mother. The families were all on good terms with each other. Xia Yu greeted the two aunties and, without any formalities, dragged out the vegetables they needed for the day from the storeroom.

A basket of eggplants and a basket of cucumbers. The two asked Xia Yu how to cut them, then rolled up their sleeves and got to work. There was no meat today, so Xia Yu decided to make braised eggplant and cucumber stir-fried with eggs. Liu had never eaten braised eggplant before; her daughter had told her that the eggplant was coated in starch, deep-fried, and then stir-fried. She wouldn't elaborate, but it sounded like it used a lot of oil.

Today's staple food was still steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and wheat flour. After all, the wheat was grown on their own land, while they still had to go out and buy rice. Having two more people to help was a good thing; Liu and Xia Yu finally felt less rushed. Xia Yu helped Liu knead the dough in the kitchen. This wasn't easy work either, but she felt it was more comfortable than chopping vegetables.

When Li Xiaomiao and Tian Guihua, following Xia Yu's instructions, cut all the eggplants into chunks and sent them to the kitchen, they saw the steamed bun dough laid out on the lid and secretly sighed, "Third Brother's family has really prospered."

Watching Xia Yu pour half a pot of rapeseed oil into the pan, and then add the eggplant coated in starch, the two women practically popped their eyes out. Although it wasn't their money, and it was still food made for them, people accustomed to thrift couldn't bear to see waste. Tian Guihua held back for a moment, but finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Third sister-in-law, this is too wasteful. How can you use so much oil to stir-fry an eggplant? This amount of oil is enough for my family to eat for two years."

"Auntie, this isn't stir-frying, it's just deep-frying the eggplant. We didn't prepare any meat today, so we're making a deep-fried dish, otherwise we won't have the energy."

"My goodness, Third Sister-in-law, it's a good thing you separated and moved out on your own. If my mother-in-law saw me cooking like this, she would definitely be chasing me and scolding me for half a year." Tian Guihua couldn't help but swallow as she smelled the aroma coming from the oil pan.

"This oil can still be used after frying; it's not like half a pot of oil is completely wasted. It does use more oil than normal cooking. But the food we make is for our own family, not for outsiders, right?"

Hearing Liu's words, Tian Guihua and Li Xiaomiao felt very comforted; their third sister-in-law was treating them like family.

It's no wonder that Liu and Xia Yu are so generous with food for everyone. In just a few days, the first fishpond is almost ready, and at this rate, it should be finished by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Since everyone is willing to put in the effort, Liu and Xia Yu naturally won't skimp on the food.

Those who had worked there for a few days knew that Zhang Youtie's family ate really well; there was meat at every meal, and yesterday they even had a big plate of chicken, with each person getting a large bowl of chicken mixed with winter melon. After eating the steamed buns and vegetables, there were also white noodles soaked in the vegetable broth. Everyone ate until they were stuffed. Therefore, everyone worked very hard, feeling that if they didn't put in even a little effort, they would be letting down the good meal they had at noon.

The news of their meals while working spread throughout their village, and the five men who hadn't come because of the two coins were filled with regret. Leaving aside the others, Zhang Tianming's wife, Li Cuilan, after seeing Zhang Tianliang bring home food every noon for her family to enjoy, didn't even want him to sleep on the kang (heated brick bed) at night.

At noon, everyone was excited to see braised eggplant and cucumber stir-fried with eggs. Eggs are a common side dish in stir-fries, but today they were the main dish, with even more eggs than cucumbers. And the braised eggplant was something none of them had ever tried before. However, after Tian Guihua and Li Xiaomiao explained what it was, they learned. When they heard that Xia Yu had poured most of a pot of oil into it, and that it was fried in rapeseed oil, they almost cheered.

Today, Tian Guihua and Li Xiaomiao served everyone the food. Liu Shi had said that as long as everyone ate their fill, there would be plenty of steamed buns and vegetables, so the two of them filled everyone's bowls with generous portions. When Zhang Tianliang was carrying the food home, he happened to run into Li Cuilan talking to her wife at their house. Tianliang's wife, Wang Guixiang, was delighted to see him returning with the food and hurriedly went to receive it.

"Sister-in-law, have you eaten yet?" Zhang Tianliang greeted Li Cuilan.

"It's all ready, we're just about to go home and eat." Li Cuilan looked at the dishes her sister-in-law was taking away, her heart brimming with jealousy.

"Sister-in-law, please have some food here. We brought back quite a lot of vegetables today at dawn," Wang Guixiang said, inviting her to stay for dinner.

"No, you guys eat. Everything's ready at home." He said curtly and left.

Zhang Tianliang and Wang Guixiang looked at each other, wondering why she had suddenly become angry.

"Mother, what's wrong with my sister-in-law?"

Women are generally more perceptive. Wang Guixiang initially didn't understand why Li Cuilan was suddenly unhappy, but after hearing Tianliang's question, she pondered it for a moment and finally figured it out. She sighed and said...

"It's probably because the food at Third Brother's house is too good. If it were just wild vegetable porridge every day, she definitely wouldn't be angry."

"What does it matter to her whether the food at Third Brother's house is good or bad? Tianming doesn't work there."

Seeing that her husband still didn't understand what she meant, she scolded him, "You're such a blockhead. Hurry up and eat, don't delay your work."

"..." He didn't understand why his wife was scolding him, but he still obediently washed his hands and started drinking the porridge with pickled vegetables in his bowl. He only drank one bowl before taking the cornbread and leaving.

"Just one bowl? Are you full?" Wang Guixiang called anxiously from behind.

"Third Brother's family has egg drop soup. I'll just take the flatbread and have a bowl of soup with me." He said this and left without turning his head.

He spoke quite loudly, and the Zhang Tianming family next door heard him clearly. Li Cuilan ate her multigrain steamed bun, looking at her husband with utter displeasure. Thinking of the bowl of vegetables brought back from next door, she wanted nothing more than to throw her bun at the man opposite her. A perfectly good job had been ruined because of this short-sighted man.