Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Not long after Zhang Youtie and Uncle Ma went to the pond, Aunt Ma came over, carrying a basin of shrimp. Perhaps it was too cold, the shrimp in the basin had long lost their usual vitality, and they lay quietly in the basin, probably frozen to death.

"Madam, this is what Master asked me to bring over first. He said it's for making dumplings."

"Yes, that's right. Today we're having pork and shrimp filling. Xiaxia, go get some meat. Aunt Ma, you start kneading the dough."

After assigning tasks to everyone, Liu sat on a small stool peeling scallions, which she would later add to the dumplings. When the weather got cold, they didn't have many vegetables left; their winter storage consisted only of cabbage and radishes. Here, scallions were the most popular vegetable to add to dumplings in winter.

In fact, Xia Yu can grow any kind of vegetable in her space at any time, but some of the vegetables are obviously out of season. Before, when it was just the few of them, they didn't have to worry about what they wanted to eat. But now that Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma are here, they can't find an excuse to take out some of the vegetables.

Hearing her mother ask her to get some meat, Xia Yu took the key and opened the storage room door. She cut out a few pounds of meat from her spatial storage and then locked the door again. Only her family was allowed in this room; no one else was permitted. Outsiders would assume that grain was stored here, and if someone came in, they would find that there were only a few bags of grain in the room, and the rest was gone. In fact, apart from the grain stored in the storage room, everything else had been stored in Xia Yu's spatial storage.

Seeing the meat Xia Yu brought out, Aunt Ma exclaimed, "This meat is quite fresh. Did the master just bring it back from town?"

Xia Yu looked at the meat in her hands; it was incredibly fresh. She mumbled something incoherently, which Aunt Ma didn't quite catch, but she didn't press the matter. After all, even though Xia Yu was young, she was still their mistress. Xia Yu washed the meat in water, then brought out a chopping block and cut the meat into small pieces. She then took a knife in each hand and chopped the meat with both hands. Aunt Ma, seeing Xia Yu holding a knife in each hand, was worried she wouldn't be able to hold it properly. She quickly kneaded the dough and stepped forward to take the two knives from Xia Yu.

"Miss, you are small and your hands are not strong. Be careful not to cut yourself with the knife. Let me do it."

Xia Yu listened to Aunt Ma's words and didn't refuse. He handed the knife he was holding to Aunt Ma and stood aside watching.

Around noon, Zhang Youtie and Uncle Ma returned, with Uncle Ma carrying a large bucket of shrimp.

"I thought there weren't many left, but when I carefully scooped them out with the net, I found there were still about thirty catties left. I plan to send five catties to the village chief's family, ten catties to the old house, and the rest will be for our family to eat." Zhang Youtie showed the shrimp that Uncle Ma had caught to Liu, who was making dumplings.

"Okay, do as you please. You and Uncle Ma should go wash your hands quickly, we can eat in a little while." Liu urged, looking at the two of them with their hands covered in mud.

After making the dumplings, Aunt Ma persuaded Liu and Xia Yu to rest in the main room, leaving Uncle Ma to tend the fire for them. At this time, light snow began to fall again. Xia Yu, wearing a cotton-padded coat and trousers and cotton boots, still felt cold.

"Dad, why didn't we build a kang (heated brick bed) back then?" Xia Yu asked Zhang Youtie, holding a cup of hot water.

“Your mother’s family sleeps on a bed. She’s not used to sleeping on a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed), so when the family divided the land and built houses, they didn’t build a kang here,” Zhang Youtie said with a smile, glancing at Liu Shi.

Mentioning her mother's home, Xia Yu suddenly realized that she had been here for several months and had never seen her mother go back to her parents' home, or even mention it. But wait, it did happen once; it mentioned her maternal grandmother, but only that one time, and then never again. Could it be that her maternal grandparents had passed away? Glancing at her mother's expression, Xia Yu didn't dare ask, thinking she would find some time to ask her father first.

"I've already ordered two thousand catties of charcoal. It'll be ready to burn in a few days. Just bear with it for a few more days," Zhang Youtie said, comforting his daughter as she shivered from the cold.

"Xiaxia, if you're cold, I'll make you a hot water bottle. After you finish eating the dumplings, go lie down on the bed and don't get up and run around." Looking at the snowflakes falling outside the door, Liu sighed inwardly that this year's snow not only came early, but the weather was also colder than in previous years.

As the group was chatting casually, Aunt Ma brought in two bowls of dumplings, placing one in front of Zhang Youtie and one in front of Liu Shi.

"Madam, Master, the dumplings are ready. Please eat first. I'll go and bring Miss's in now." She then quickly went out and returned with a bowl, placing it in front of Xia Yu.

"Miss, please eat while it's hot. A hot meal will warm you up."

"Oh, thank you, Aunt Ma." She said, picking up her chopsticks, taking a dumpling, blowing on it, and eating it whole.

"Be careful, it's hot." Aunt Ma was genuinely happy to see Xia Yu eating so deliciously. But seeing that she had eaten the whole thing, she couldn't help but remind her.

"Ha...ha...hot, hot." Although he said it was hot, he still couldn't bear to spit out the dumpling in his mouth. He kept turning it around in his mouth with his tongue and breathing out air, hoping to cool it down quickly.

Seeing that Xia Yu had really burned herself, Aunt Ma quickly picked up the glass of water that Xia Yu had been drinking from, tested the temperature on her wrist, and, finding it to be lukewarm, brought it to Xia Yu's lips. "Miss, quickly drink some warm water, don't burn your mouth."

Seeing Xia Yu's scalded appearance, Liu wanted to laugh but also felt sorry for her and reached out to Xia Yu's mouth, saying, "Spit it out quickly!"

Xia Yu took the cup from Aunt Ma, took a sip, and held it in her mouth to cool down the heat of the dumplings. She swallowed the water only after it felt less hot, then chewed and ate the dumplings.

"Mother, I'm not going to throw up. If I do, then I'll have been burned for nothing." Hearing her twisted logic, Madam Liu didn't know what to say. What kind of excuse was that?

"Miss is very clever." Aunt Ma couldn't help but smile and say to Liu Shi when she saw Xia Yu speaking so seriously.

"Sigh, she just has a lot of fallacies. Don't praise her," said Madam Liu, shaking her head as if in helplessness.

"Aunt Ma, it's delicious! The taste is really good today." Xia Yu's mouth was a little sore from the heat, but she still gave Aunt Ma a thumbs up in praise.

"I'm glad you like it, Miss. I'll make it for you again if you want." After saying this, seeing that everything was alright for the time being, she smiled and went to the kitchen, where she and Old Ma ate. However, she still kept track of time, bringing Zhang Youtie another bowl just as he was finishing his first. A little while later, she brought over another bowl for Liu Shi. But one bowl was enough for Liu Shi, so she gave the other bowl to Zhang Youtie.

After dinner, Xia Yu took the hot water bottle her mother had given her and went to bed. But as soon as the door closed, she vanished into her spatial dimension. First, she looked at the large, vibrant flowers on the tree, showing no signs of wilting. Then, she saw that the chili peppers planted in the space were ripe. Using her mind, she picked them and placed them in a prepared basket. Next, she uprooted the chili pepper stalks and piled them to one side of the ground. She then selected several vegetables from the seeds stored in the space and planted them. These weren't intended for sale, but only for her family's winter consumption.

Now that Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma have arrived, many things are inconvenient to do. She feels she still needs to buy land to plant the crops she has in her space outside, and also build houses—not only a silkworm rearing house, but also a yard for her own residence. She can't just have a few houses stretching out from the yard. She also needs to dig a cellar and build a few more storage rooms. Thinking it over, it seems there are many things waiting for her to do. Xia Yu feels her mind is already overwhelmed just thinking about them.