Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

"Nineteen, where did my dad go?" Xia Yu asked, chatting with the two people while eating after washing up.

"Master and Second Master went to Li Family Village to deliver the good news," Nineteen replied with a smile.

"Oh, Nineteen, start teaching me and Da Niu light-body skills tomorrow!" Xia Yu suddenly said.

"Huh? Oh... okay!" Nineteen didn't quite catch up with Xia Yu's train of thought at first, but it only took a moment for her to understand. Her master had spoken to her about this yesterday. But she'd only gotten halfway through when Uncle Ma arrived.

"Then let's start tomorrow. Do you want it to be tonight or morning?" Because of Liu's words, Xia Yu felt that their martial arts training should also be carried out secretly.

"Um, it's too cold at night, let's do it during the day. Let's go to the back of the house and exercise first," Nineteen said after thinking for a moment.

So the two ignored the girl's thoughts and decided to learn martial arts.

After dinner, with Nineteen's help, Xia Yu continued making hot pot broth. She planned to deliver one more batch before the New Year and then quit. Since opening her eyes in this world over ten months ago, she'd been busy every day. Money is never enough, especially with the recent work on roasting chili peppers; although she hadn't been directly involved, it was mentally exhausting. After picking up the chili peppers and delivering the hot pot broth one more time, she wanted to take a proper rest and prepare for the New Year.

Da Niu has already been sent back to roast chili peppers. The day after tomorrow is the day when Steward Ding will come to collect the chili peppers, so it's best to roast a lot.

Xia Yu entrusted the task of rendering lard to Nineteen. Perhaps because he hadn't done much work in the kitchen, Nineteen's first attempt at rendering lard didn't go well; the fire was too high, and some of it was burnt.

"It's nothing, it's just that the oil is burnt. The oil itself is fine. Just turn the heat down next time." Seeing Nineteen's guilty expression, Xia Yu comforted him. "Besides, even if it's burnt, we can still give it to Si Hei, so it's not like we're wasting it."

"Miss, I'm sorry, I'll definitely be more careful next time," Nineteen assured Xia Yu.

Liu returned around noon, accompanied by Zhang Youtie.

Nineteen remembered Aunt Ma's words, finished what he was supposed to do, and returned to the pond.

"Are you going out again this afternoon?" Liu asked Zhang Youtie, who was sitting opposite her.

"I still need to go to the old house. My second sister-in-law's family will be coming over on the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month to deliver food to the children. Father wants me to go over there to discuss the banquet arrangements."

"When are you going to the county town to deliver goods? Go to the cosmetics shop and bring back a bottle of face cream for your sister-in-law, the orchid scent." After thinking for a moment, she said, "Your sister-in-law has already given us the money, don't worry about the price, just buy it."

Hearing Liu's words, Zhang Youtie chuckled and said, "If you put it that way, I feel like your sister-in-law is your own sister, and I, your own brother-in-law, am an outsider."

Hearing him say that he had gotten a good deal but was still acting innocent, Liu just rolled her eyes at him.

After Xia Yu waited for her parents to finish speaking, she told them about her desire to learn kung fu from Nineteen.

Liu had already told Zhang Youtie about this the night before, so when his daughter brought it up again, he had no objections. He felt that whether or not he mastered the lightness skill, it wouldn't do him any harm.

With her parents' support, starting the next day, Xia Yu got up half an hour earlier than Liu Shi every day to exercise with Shijiu and Daniu.

Nineteen led Xia Yu and Daniu in jumping and skipping around the yard. Xia Yu thought it was somewhat similar to doing radio calisthenics in her previous life, and it seemed quite simple. Who knew that this jumping would last for half an hour? Xia Yu and Daniu were exhausted, panting like dogs, their mouths wide open. Looking at Nineteen, who was still breathing evenly, the two of them were full of admiration.

"Nineteen, I want to learn light-body skills. Is it really useful for you to make us jump around like this?" Xia Yu asked Nineteen, supporting her legs and catching her breath. She felt that this wasn't practicing martial arts, but rather losing weight.

To everyone's surprise, Nineteen opened her round eyes wide and replied seriously, "I don't know if it will work or not, but that's how my teacher taught me when I first started learning martial arts!"

Hearing Nineteen's answer, Xia Yu felt this teacher was unreliable, utterly unreliable. What did Nineteen do? She was a bodyguard. All she wanted was to learn light-body skills so she could escape in case of danger. Training her and Da Niu according to her master's methods—was Nineteen planning to quit?

When Liu got up, she saw her daughter and eldest daughter slumped in small chairs, their faces and heads covered in sweat. Nineteen was still earnestly explaining each person's practice summary to them.

“You can’t do this. You’ll catch a cold if you wear wet clothes after sweating,” Liu said with some concern.

"Nineteen, Da Niu, that's enough for today. You two should go to the kang (heated brick bed) and warm yourselves up while you're still sweating. I'll have Aunt Ma bring you some ginger soup later." He then looked at Xia Yu and said...

"Go lie down on the bed too, and take off your wet clothes and change."

Upon hearing Liu's words, none of them dared to delay and returned to their rooms.

First, Liu took out a clean set of undergarments for Xia Yu from the cupboard, then took out a set of cotton-padded clothes. Liu suddenly realized that Shijiu and Daniu each only had one set of cotton-padded clothes, and the others hadn't been made yet. Thinking about how much sweat the children had put in that day, she felt she should prepare a couple more sets of undergarments for Shijiu and Daniu first.

Xia Yu noticed her mother staring blankly at her undergarment and asked curiously.

"Mom, why are you staring at my clothes like that?"

"I just suddenly remembered that Da Niu and Shi Jiu don't seem to have enough undergarments, and I was thinking of getting two more sets for each of them," Liu Shi said upon hearing her daughter's question.

“Neither of them knows how to sew, and we’ve been busy lately. Every auntie is sewing cotton-padded clothes while they’re roasting chili peppers. Why don’t we ask other aunties in the village to make their clothes? That way they can be done faster.” Xia Yu thought for a moment and then added, “The servants in the house are given a fixed number of clothes. It wouldn’t be good to give them two extra sets.”

“Yes, you’re more thoughtful than your mother. Although everyone’s job has been decided, the hierarchy isn’t clear yet. We should gradually establish some rules.” As she listened to her daughter’s words, Madam Liu shared her own thoughts.

"It's time for some regulations and a system of rewards and punishments. If it remains unclear and ambiguous, honest people will do more work and cunning people will do less work, but in the end everyone will get the same thing. Over time, this will inevitably discourage honest people," Xia Yu continued.

"Hmm, let me think about it slowly." After saying that, she looked at Xia Yu in bed and said, "Get dressed and get up quickly, it's time for breakfast. We still need to make hot pot ingredients later."

"Sigh," Xia Yu sighed. "Mom, let's pick two honest and reliable girls from the ones we bought, and teach them how to make the hot pot base. That way, we can both relax a bit."

"I'm observing, and I've got a pretty good idea of ​​who I've chosen," said Madam Liu upon hearing her daughter's words, without revealing who she had her eye on. Xia Yu, sensing her mother was already pondering this matter, remained silent. Since she had nothing else to do, and her mother was busy with the selection, she might as well steal a half-day of peace!