Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

It took the family almost half an hour to pick all the edible vegetables in the field. The main problem was that the garlic scapes were hard to extract, and they were quite thick, so although there weren't many, it was still a bit of a hassle. Some of them even required peeling the entire garlic stalk to get the scape out.

Zhang Youtie carried all the baskets and crates containing vegetables outside. He estimated the weight by hand: cucumbers weighed the most, about thirty jin; peas about seven or eight jin; and garlic sprouts only three or four jin. After closing the courtyard gate and moving everything to the main room, Zhang Youtie, forgetting about his meal, sat down at the table and asked the two children, "Tell me, what happened? How come all the vegetables in our garden ripened in just one day?"

"I don't know either. I just poured a ladle of water from the water tank onto the vegetables in the garden, and they all went crazy, growing taller and ripe all at once."

Xia Yu looked up at Liu Shi and saw her nod gently at her. In that instant, she made a decision.

“Father, I’ve never dared to tell you this, but while I was in a coma, I went to another world and lived there for over twenty years. I wanted to come back, but I couldn’t find a way. It wasn’t until I jumped off a cliff and died that I woke up from my coma. To you, I’ve only been in a coma for a few days, but in my dream, I lived for many years.”

Seeing his father's eyes widen in disbelief, he froze. Xia Yu hesitated whether to continue, when she heard suppressed sobs from beside her. It turned out that Liu Shi had heard that her daughter had jumped off a cliff and died, and she couldn't control her heartache and started crying again.

Liu's crying brought Zhang Youtie back to his senses. "What does that have to do with these dishes?"

"A little while before I woke up, I dreamt of an old man with a white beard. He said he felt sorry for me and gave me a treasure that could hide things. It was a small space where I could put all my everyday food and belongings, and there was even a small pool inside." She paused here, looked at the three people beside her, and seeing that they were still waiting for her to continue, she continued.

"Since Grandpa said it was a treasure, I thought maybe the water in the pool was also a treasure? I drank from it a few times and didn't feel any discomfort. In fact, I felt stronger and less tired, so I wanted to give you all some water so that our whole family could stay healthy. I put some in our water tank. But I never expected that this water would make the vegetables grow so fast!" She lowered her head, looking very guilty to outsiders. "Dad, Mom, I was wrong. I should have told you sooner, otherwise I wouldn't have caused this trouble."

After she finished speaking, the people next to her still didn't make any move. Xia Yu secretly looked up and found that they were all still stunned, probably digesting what she had said.

"Dad, Mom, Brother, look!" Xia Yu said, placing her hands on the baskets and containers that had just been filled with vegetables. Under everyone's watchful eyes, she stored the items in her spatial storage. Chang Yun walked incredulously to where he had put the items, stomped his foot on the ground, and then looked up at his sister.

Seeing her brother's actions, Xia Yu took the items out of her spatial storage and placed them next to him. Chang Yun was completely stunned by the scene before him, staring wide-eyed at his sister, speechless. Everything he was seeing had overturned all his previous understanding.

Then came a long silence. Xia Yu felt like an eternity had passed, and her heart began to pound with unease. She looked up at her mother, who simply shook her head slightly, as if to reassure her.

"Sigh! Never mind, it's not a big mistake. Just be careful with these treasures in the future, and make sure no one else sees them." Zhang Youtie finally spoke after a long silence.

"I understand, Dad. I'll be careful."

"Only the four of us know about Xiaxia's situation. No one else is allowed to mention it again. Changyun, especially you, after you get married, no matter how good things are between you two, you are not allowed to tell your future wife about this, understand? Otherwise, don't blame me for being heartless. This matter concerns the lives of our entire family; if things go wrong, we could be destroyed."

"Father, don't worry, I know. I won't tell anyone about this." Changyun knew from his father's words that this matter was of great importance, and he understood the gravity of the situation, so he dared not tell anyone.

Hearing this, Xia Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally been recognized by his family, which would make things easier for him in the future. Moreover, he knew that he couldn't make the family thrive on his own.

Seeing that everything was arranged, everyone realized that their stomachs were growling with hunger. Xia Yu then remembered that she had only done half of the cooking; the vegetables hadn't been stir-fried yet, and she had only just finished cooking the millet porridge.

Now that things had been explained, Xia Yu didn't want to wrong herself any longer. So, in front of everyone, she took out five catties of shrimp from her spatial storage. Although they were already mentally prepared, the sudden appearance of so many shrimp still shocked Zhang Youtie and Changyun, who had already calmed down.

Liu was already used to it, and the mother and daughter ignored the father and son, taking the prawns to the kitchen.

"Mom, do we have any scallions and ginger at home?" Xia Yu finally remembered to ask her mother this question.

"There are still a few pieces of ginger, buried in that pile of sand in the northeast corner of the backyard. We're out of scallions. I'll have your brother go dig some up from the backyard," said Liu, as she went out to call her son.

Xia Yu responded and quickly cleaned the shrimp veins without looking up, thinking about what seasonings she had at home and how to cook the shrimp. After thinking for a while, she decided to make the simplest boiled shrimp. Right now, she only had salt, soy sauce, and vinegar at home, and couldn't make anything else. She would go to the general store in town tomorrow to see what she could buy.

Liu Shi watched as Xia Yu quickly learned to clean the shrimp veins, mimicking Xia Yu's movements. As the mother and daughter were working, Chang Yun, who had gone to dig for ginger, ran in and whispered to his mother and sister, "Mother, Xia Xia, a lot of ginger has grown. When I went to dig just now, I found a bunch of grass growing there. When I dug it up, I realized it was ginger sprouts, a whole patch of them!"

"Hmm, don't make a fuss, come and help your mother remove the shrimp veins," Liu said gently.

Changyun, being very considerate, first took the ginger out to wash it clean with water and placed it on the cutting board before squatting down to help clean the shrimp veins. It took the mother and her two children almost half an hour to finish cleaning them all.

"Brother, put a ladle of water in the pot and start the fire."

"Okay, um, can I use the water from the tank?"

"Yes, we can use it. The water there is for our whole family."

Changyun went to boil water, and Liu was about to take the prepared shrimp to wash when Xia Yu stopped her. "Mother, you've worked all day, go inside and rest. I'll take care of this, it'll be quick."

Mrs. Liu was indeed feeling tired today. She had just cried again, and her eyes were swollen and a little sore. Hearing her daughter say this, she didn't argue and went back to her room to rest.

Xia Yu rinsed the shrimp twice in clean water and set them aside. She cut a large piece of ginger, smashed it, and threw it directly into the pot of boiling water. When she saw small bubbles starting to rise from the bottom of the pot, she told Chang Yun not to add any more firewood. Once the water boiled, she poured all the cleaned shrimp into the pot, added a large handful of salt, and left the pot uncovered to cook.

Taking advantage of the break, she grabbed a few garlic scapes, washed them, chopped them into small pieces, and put them in a small bowl. She added a suitable amount of salt, vinegar, and sesame oil to the bowl, and a simple dipping sauce was ready. Meanwhile, the shrimp in the pot had all turned red from the heat. Xia Yu used a strainer to stir them, then took a basin and poured half a basin of fresh well water directly from her spatial storage. Seeing that the shrimp were thoroughly cooked, she quickly scooped them out of the pot and immediately placed them in the basin of well water to cool. Then, she used the strainer to scoop them out again and placed them in a vegetable bowl.

"Brother, it's ready, let's eat."

"Is this ready to eat? Won't it taste fishy if I don't fry it first?"

"No, it tastes great just like this," Xia Yu said confidently.

Half-believing, half-doubting, Changyun carried the bowl of bright red shrimp into the main room, and then he saw his father come over to help serve the food.

Dinner was simple: a bowl of millet porridge and a bowl of boiled shrimp. Noticing there were no steamed buns or flatbreads, Zhang Youtie asked his daughter curiously, "Xiaxia, no flatbreads? This won't be enough to fill you up, will it?"

"Don't worry, Dad, you can still be full just by eating meat, not staple foods."