Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Upon hearing the voice, everyone turned to look at the newcomer. Changyun immediately bowed and gave a student's greeting, "Greetings, Master Li."

"Yes, Changyun, your sister is right. Scholars can't just focus on academics; their health is just as important. I've seen what she described before. So don't always try to save money and ruin your health. You still need to take care of yourself when you need to," Master Li said gently to Changyun.

"Yes, Master, I will be more careful in the future." Hearing that the Master had said so, Changyun immediately made a promise.

"Yes, that's more like it. You can talk to your family. I'm going out to buy some things. Remember not to be late for class." After saying that, he bowed to Zhang Youtie and left.

"Brother, you may not believe what I say, but you must believe what Master Li says, right?" Changyun, who was still watching Master Li's retreating figure, was brought back to his senses by Xia Yu's voice.

"I believe you, and I believe Xiaxia too." Turning around, Changyun saw his parents and sister staring at him and quickly spoke up to defend himself. "I will eat vegetables from now on, both meat and vegetables, and I will never be stingy again."

"Changyun, our family doesn't lack money now. You must eat well at school, understand? Don't try to save money anymore, or you'll ruin your health." Madam Liu said to Changyun with concern.

"I know, Mother. I'm sorry to have worried you," Changyun said with some guilt.

"Alright, alright, didn't we say we needed to buy lamp oil? Let's go now, so we don't miss class." Zhang Youtie reminded the others to take care of the important matter first.

Changyun turned to look at Uncle Li at the door, wanting to speak, but Uncle Li waved his hand and said to him, "Go, go, come back soon."

"Oh, thank you, Grandpa Li."

The family took Changyun to a general store and bought two jin of lamp oil, then to a paper and ink shop and bought a ream of hemp paper for calligraphy practice. Passing a pastry shop, Liu went in without explanation and bought a jin of mung bean cake, a jin of poria cocos cake, and a jin of osmanthus honey. She took out a few pieces of each, wrapped them separately, and saved them for Xia Yu. The rest she gave to Changyun to take to school so he could have something to eat when he got hungry while studying at night. Looking at the more than one hundred coins his mother handed him, Changyun's heart ached.

"Mom, I don't want it. You take it home. You, Dad, and Xiaxia can all eat it. Just leave me two pieces so I can eat them when I go home on my day off." At the school gate, when Madam Liu tried to give the pastries to Changyun, he refused to take them no matter what.

"Changyun, listen to your mother. Take these pastries to your dormitory and eat some when you get hungry at night. You're a child your age, and you're growing a lot, so you get hungry quickly."

"Brother, you arrived late. The teacher has already covered some of the lessons. Will you be able to keep up?" Xia Yu suddenly asked from the side.

"These past two days have been a bit difficult, but I ask Master Fu for help whenever I don't understand something, and he explains things in great detail. My two fellow students who live with me also help me," Changyun said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Yes, the Master answered your question because he is your teacher. Why should your fellow student who lives with you help you? Brother, even though others help without expecting anything in return, we should still express our gratitude appropriately, don't you think?"

After saying that, seeing her brother's somewhat stunned expression, as if he was still pondering the meaning of Xia Yu's words, Uncle Li from the school heard the noise outside, opened the door, looked at the group, and said, "Come in quickly, class will start in a quarter of an hour."

Xia Yu didn't give her brother time to react. She shoved one of the jars into his arms and said, "Brother, this is some braised offal I prepared for you. It's hot and it won't keep well. Remember to invite your classmates and roommates to eat with you." After saying that, she pushed her brother into the doorway.

"Changyun, remember what your sister said, don't drop anything, hurry inside," Liu Shi quickly reminded her son.

After Changyun had gone some distance, Zhang Youtie carried another jar and handed it to Uncle Li.

"Uncle Li, these are some dishes made at home. Please try them."

"No, no, our school rules prohibit accepting items from students' parents." Uncle Li pushed the jar next to him away.

"Uncle Li, it's nothing special, just some food we make from pig offal. We farmers eat simple food, so please don't be offended. It's worthless, and we make it ourselves," Liu Shi chimed in.

"Food made from pig offal?" Uncle Li looked at the jar in his arms with some suspicion.

"Yes, it's made from pig offal. Don't worry, we've cleaned it very thoroughly," Liu quickly explained from the side.

"Well, I've never eaten food made from pig offal before, so I'll just accept it without hesitation. Hey, wait a minute, let me empty the food out, you can take the jar back with you." As he spoke, Uncle Li went back to his gatehouse, found a large rough porcelain bowl, and poured the contents of the jar into it.

The jar was sealed before, so I couldn't smell anything, but now that I've poured it out, a rich aroma of braised meat fills my nostrils. "It smells pretty good," Uncle Li muttered to himself, twitching his nostrils.

"Thank you for your expense. The aroma was really nice when I poured it. My niece-in-law's cooking is excellent!" Uncle Li praised Liu's skills as he returned the jar.

"Hehe, I'm glad you don't mind our humble food, Uncle Li." Zhang Youtie scratched his head again, making his signature gesture.

"Dad, let's go. There are still some things we need to buy," Xia Yu reminded her father at the right moment.

"Hurry up, you all hurry up, the market will be over soon if you're any later." When Uncle Li heard Xia Yu's words, he knew that the family still had things to do, so he gave up his original intention of chatting with Zhang Youtie and just urged them to leave quickly.

After leaving the school, the group headed straight for the grain store. They had only two things to do in town today: watch the grain transport and buy grain. At the grain store, Zhang Youtie only bought eighty jin of wheat flour and thirty jin of cornmeal. If it weren't for the summer harvest and the need to cook with the old family home, they wouldn't actually need that much; they could just grind their own grain at the mill when it was ready.

Because of the hot weather, Xia Yu ordered another ten catties of mung beans, intending to boil a large pot of mung bean water every day for the people digging the pond at home. After making arrangements at the grain store, Xia Yu went to the general store and bought ten catties of rapeseed oil. Rapeseed oil was not cheap in those days, costing fifteen wen per catty. Everyone thought that rapeseed oil was expensive and not as fragrant as lard, so apart from some wealthy families, ordinary people rarely bought rapeseed oil to eat.

"Xiaxia, rapeseed oil is too expensive! We still have half a jar of lard at home, that's enough for us, and it tastes better too." Mrs. Liu was a little puzzled by her daughter's decision. Although they could afford rapeseed oil now, it didn't taste as good as lard!

"Mom, eating too much lard is bad for your health. From now on, we'll mix the two kinds of oil together," Xia Yu whispered in her mother's ear.

Seeing her daughter wink playfully at her, Liu knew that this was knowledge her daughter had learned in another world, so she stopped talking.