With a cheat code, she travels through the 40s and hoards goods to take her motherland to new height

"Miss, you don't know! Chef Guo was almost transferred to the main kitchen, but he said he was going home to retire at the end of the year because he was too old to handle the workload and didn't want to move again, so he came back."

Master Guo! Shu Ran rummaged through her memories and finally remembered the origin of the small kitchen in her yard.

The original owner of this body was sickly from a young age and was also a picky eater. So her mother built a small kitchen in the prepared courtyard and specially invited a master chef, Master Guo, who was particularly good at cooking children's food, to cook for the original owner. All the expenses were paid by the original owner's mother herself.

As for Wang Ma, who was transferred to another courtyard, she was sent there later by Qian Chengji, and she used the public accounts with everyone in the kitchen except for Master Guo.

Wait a minute, she hasn't paid the kitchen staff since she arrived here! The original owner of this body is gone, and she hasn't remembered this!

Shu Ran was devastated. Was she about to become the kind of person she despised most—a heartless capitalist who withheld wages?

After swallowing the shrimp in her mouth and taking a sip of millet porridge with its oily sheen, Shu Ran asked expectantly, "Have the wages for the workers in our yard been paid on time lately? And what about the small kitchen? Where are Chef Guo's wages and the small kitchen's expenses accounted for?"

Cuizhi thought back to the scene of receiving her wages a few days ago. She received the same amount, although her father quickly took it away.

"Every month on the first, everyone in the courtyard goes to the front yard to collect their wages, just like before! Everyone in our courtyard is here except for Master Guo."

Shu Ran took a deep breath, unable to eat anymore, but seeing that there wasn't much left, she quickly finished it all.

He rinsed his mouth, took out his money box and put two small bags of silver dollars in it, and then grabbed two handfuls of gold and silver coins and put them in the small bags as well.

"Let's go to the small kitchen!"

Shu Ran's steps were heavy, and her heart was heavy as well.

Master Guo was watching the two kitchen maids tidy up the kitchen. Once they finished cleaning, they could rest. Her day was very easy; she only cooked three meals a day, one for herself and one for her mistress, and occasionally she would stew a medicinal dish or make a pastry.

"Master Guo!"

Shu Ran looked at the woman of medium build sitting on the stone bench outside the kitchen, who was the same age as the old lady.

"Miss, what brings you here?" Master Guo stood up. "Did you not like breakfast? Or would you like something else?"

"No, breakfast was delicious." Shu Ran pressed the person down to sit on the stone bench, and then sat down next to them herself.

"Wait!" Master Guo helped Shu Ran, who was about to sit down.

"Xiaohua, go and get the new cushion I made a few days ago." Master Guo called out to the kitchen, then turned to Shu Ran, "Miss, you're not feeling well, and the stone bench is cold in the morning. Xiaohua will bring the cushion later so you can sit down on it."

Shu Ran obediently stood for a while, and only sat down after Xiao Hua brought a cushion.

Master Guo didn't urge her. Shu Ran organized her thoughts before finally speaking, "Master Guo, haven't you been paid for these past few days? And what about the expenses for the small kitchen..."

"Miss, you came here for this?" Master Guo asked, somewhat surprised. "Didn't Madam tell you? Madam paid my wages and the expenses for the small kitchen in advance."

"Oh, I see! That's fine then." Shu Ran was a little embarrassed. She really didn't remember this. It was good that she had paid. She almost became someone who owed wages.

Shu Ran changed the subject: "Master Guo, when are you planning to go home?"

“I’ll be leaving before the Lunar New Year. I’m sorry, Miss. I originally wanted to wait until you were a little older before leaving, but last year my son came back from out of town and insisted on taking me back to my hometown to retire.”

Last June, Guo's son, who had been missing for a long time, returned from out of town. After finding out that Guo was working for the Qian family, he came to find him and even resigned from his job with Shu Ying.

Moved by Shu Ying's words of love and her promise of money, he was offered three times his usual wage for the final year and, after much persuasion, decided to stay for another year.

But Shu Ying passed away at the end of the year. Originally, she was supposed to go home in June, but Master Guo was worried and decided to stay for another six months until the end of the year.

Needless to say, the lady gave him plenty of money, enough to cover his expenses for half a year. Master Guo felt that staying for another six months would be a way of repaying the lady's kindness.

"It's alright, it's good for the whole family to be together! You don't need to worry about me, there's a big kitchen! Besides, you've taken good care of my health," Shu Ran comforted her.

Shu Ran was relieved to learn that she was not owed wages.

Since that's the case, silver dollars aren't really suitable. Instead, he took out the small bag containing gold and silver coins and stuffed it into Master Guo's pocket.

"Please take this; consider it a gift from me to your family."

"This is not appropriate! Madam has already given more than enough!" Master Guo intended to refuse.

"You know I don't need these things. Just make me some more delicious food for the next few months! The thought of not being able to eat your cooking and snacks anymore makes me sad."

Shu Ran was sincere; Chef Guo's food was delicious, his snacks were delicious, and his medicinal cuisine was delicious! It suited her taste better than what was sold in restaurants outside.

"Alright, then I won't refuse. I'll give you a gift before I leave."

Chef Guo accepted Shu Ran's gift without further ado and decided to cook some of his signature dishes for the next few months, while also continuing to prepare medicinal cuisine.

Then he took out a handful of silver coins and asked Cuizhi to distribute them to the people who were still in the courtyard.

There weren't many silver coins, but there were even fewer people left in the courtyard, so each person received two silver coins.

After practicing a set of Five Animal Frolics, Shu Ran returned to her study and continued reading the copy of "Qing Nang Shu". The traditional Chinese characters gave her a headache, which slowed down her progress.

I've been reading it for almost a month now, and my biggest takeaway is that I've learned the Five Animal Frolics. I haven't even finished reading the book yet!

-

After a few days of peace, Shu Ran couldn't stay idle any longer and wanted to go out and see if prices had stabilized recently, since she only had a little over a month left to use her "Thousand Faces".

But recently, the Qian family started patrolling again because of her last raid on the large kitchen and the small warehouse next door. There happens to be a patrol team that frequently passes by on the route she takes to climb over the wall out of the yard, so she has to scout the spot carefully if she wants to get out without being discovered.

As for going out in the guise of a servant or housekeeper, Shu Ran dared not do it again. If she were unlucky enough to run into the real Qian family on her way out of the house, it would be a complete disaster.

It's fine if we can't go out for the time being, but if we don't cause some trouble, Shu Ran really feels like she's wasting her "Thousand Faces".

After searching through the "Thousand Faces" database for several days, I finally found a character who looked about 60% like Shu Ying. I then tweaked her face and modified the data, turning the 60% resemblance into a 90% resemblance. The remaining 10% difference was in details such as her eyes and demeanor.

Shu Ran picked out another outfit that Shu Ying used to wear at home, and decided to choose an auspicious day to cause trouble.