Pastoral Splendor

The silvery moonlight poured silently onto the ground, casting long, dark shadows of trees. When the evening breeze blew, the shadows swayed incessantly, as if demons and monsters were stretching out their long arms and dancing.

In a dimly lit farmhouse courtyard, two people sat at the kitchen table, both frowning and looking unhappy.

"Wife, what's wrong with you?" Xiao Laifu looked at his wife's thoughtful expression and felt something was amiss. He had returned late today and found the stove cold and empty. His wife was sleeping with her head covered, and the children surrounded him: "Father, why are you so late? Mother is lying in bed and won't get up to cook!"

Xiao Laifu was anxious, so he quickly pulled open his wife's jacket and touched her forehead: "Wife, are you feeling alright?"

Xiao Laifu's wife threw off the covers and sat up, glaring at him with wide eyes: "I'm not feeling well!"

"What's wrong? Tell me if you're feeling unwell!" Xiao Laifu looked at the two children following behind him, somewhat puzzled: "Even if they're not feeling well, you still have to cook for them!"

Xiao Laifu has two children, a seven-year-old girl and a boy under five. Both are still quite young and innocent, only knowing to open their mouths for food. So, when Xiao Laifu's wife doesn't cook, they go hungry. The two children clutched Xiao Laifu's clothes, listening to the "glug-glug" sound of food gurgling down their stomachs.

Xiao Laifu's wife didn't say anything, probably because she was hungry herself. She got up and asked Xiao Laifu to start the fire. She made a few pancakes and added an egg to the pancake for her son: "Goudan, this is yours. Take it and eat it over there. Don't give it to your sister. Your mother made this especially for you."

Hearing this, Xiao Laifu became angry: "Can't you make two egg pancakes? One for Zhi'er and one for Gou Dan. Why make sure Zhi'er eats worse?" Although Zhi'er was a girl, she was Xiao Laifu's first child, and Gou Dan was born two years later, so he naturally loved her more. Besides, two years ago he borrowed money from his father-in-law's family to get a mule cart to haul goods to Yuzhou City and take villagers to the city, earning some money. The family wasn't that poor, and the two children could afford an egg pancake.

"Make two egg pancakes? You make it sound so easy!" Xiao Laifu's wife banged the pan loudly. "How much money do you have? You think you can afford to make egg pancakes for Zhi'er? You're really carefree. Everyone else is saving money like crazy, but you're so extravagant!"

Xiao Laifu took a bite of the pancake and found it dry: "Pour me a glass of water!"

Zhi'er, who was hiding in the corner eating a pancake, quickly stood up, felt her way to the corner where the water bottle was placed, and poured out a cup of water: "Father, have some water."

Xiao Laifu took the water glass and patted Zhi'er's head: "Zhi'er, be good. After you eat the pancakes, take your little brother to play for a while, and then go back to your room to sleep."

"Okay." Zhi'er's eyes darted around, appearing even larger in the dim light. She silently turned her head away and went to the side to continue eating her pancake. She felt an indescribable sadness in her heart. Her mother was also a woman, so why didn't she love her as much as her father did?

Xiao Laifu took a sip of water and glanced at his wife: "Who upset you today? Why are you so angry?"

"Drink water, drink water! Everyone else, like Old Xiao, is having tea, you know that!" Xiao Laifu's wife slammed her hand on the table, making a loud thud. "We're still drinking cold water, while they're having tea!"

Tea costs money, and boiling water for tea requires firewood. How could an ordinary family afford to drink this kind of tea? Although Xiao Laifu's family lived in a mud-brick house, they ate meat, wore new clothes, and drank tea! The more Xiao Laifu's wife thought about it, the angrier she became, and she really didn't know how to express her grief and indignation.

She had married into the family from afar; her maiden name was Wen, and her home was over forty li (approximately 20 kilometers) from Xiaojia Village. When she first married Xiao Laifu, the Xiao family had nothing, only slightly better off than the eldest son of the Xiao family. After enduring several years of hardship, her brothers suddenly became wealthy, and the family had some savings. Xiao Laifu then encouraged her to go back and borrow money. After much persuasion, she managed to borrow some silver, which Xiao Laifu used to buy a mule cart. Only then did their lives slowly begin to improve.

If he was lucky, Xiao Laifu could earn three or four hundred coins a day, but there were also times when he had nothing to do and just stayed at home resting. In the past two years, Xiao Laifu worked from dawn to dusk and finally paid back most of the money owed to his brothers from his maternal family this year. There wasn't much left, but if he saved up carefully for his daily expenses, he estimated that he could pay it all back in another year.

Ever since Xiao Laifu started driving the mule cart, his wife had been very proud of herself, always feeling that money came quickly. As long as Xiao Laifu was lucky, he could save five or six taels of silver a month. When she received the silver from Xiao Laifu, she was very happy. She always felt that in this village, apart from the village chief Xiao Wenhua's family, the butcher's family at the village entrance, and the Four-Jin Old Lady's family, there weren't many people as rich as her family.

Xiao Laoda was usually the object of her ridicule, but she never expected that Xiao Laoda's family could actually drink tea. This blow was hard for her to accept. Since returning from Xiao Laoda's family, she had been feeling dizzy and lying alone on the bed, not knowing what she was thinking, but just feeling a bit stifled.

"Old Master Xiao, you've had some tea?" Xiao Laifu was also very surprised. He knew that Xiao Sanhua should have some spare money, but he didn't expect her to buy tea to drink. Was she out of her mind?

"Really," Xiao Laifu's wife replied listlessly. "I went to her house today with the butcher's wife from the village entrance. She made tea, and the tea leaves were all fine tea, not the kind of tea stems the village chief uses." She took a bite of the flatbread and found it hard and unpalatable. If she hadn't made it herself, she would have slammed her fist on the table and started cursing. "Sigh, I don't know where their money comes from. We all say it's probably because that young master gave her some silver last time."

“I don’t think so.” Xiao Laifu said thoughtfully, “Last time she rode in my mule cart into the city and brought back more than twenty large jars. Today she brought back more than thirty. I always feel that their sudden wealth is related to these large jars.”

"A big jar? What kind of jar?" Mrs. Xiao Laifu frowned. "Iceware?"

“Of course, they’re earthenware jars.” Xiao Laifu nodded, taking a bite of his pancake. “In total, she bought about sixty jars in two batches. What does she need so many jars for?”

"Oh, my dear husband!" Xiao Laifu's wife suddenly became excited: "Oh, right, there's something else I haven't told you! Today, Xiao's third daughter asked Peach Blossom and Plum Blossom to go up the mountain to dig up bamboo shoots for her. It's two copper coins a pound, and if you peel them, it's four copper coins a pound!"

“Bamboo shoots? These are everywhere on the mountain, why would she pay for them? Does she have too much money?” Xiao Laifu shook his head: “With the third daughter of the Xiao family spending money so lavishly, even if the young master gave her a lot of money, she would spend it all.”

"Honey, I'd like to go dig for bamboo shoots tomorrow. I'll take some branches up the mountain and dig for a day. I should be able to get seventy or eighty pounds." Xiao Laifu's wife suddenly became excited: "Then I can earn some money for odds and ends."

Xiao Laifu slurped up a mouthful of cold water, feeling a chill run through him. After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head: "No, no."

"What's wrong?" Xiao Laifu's wife asked anxiously. "That's money, real copper coins! Don't you want me to make money?"

“I’m not saying you can’t go up the mountain to dig.” Xiao Laifu glanced at his wife thoughtfully. “If you dig it up, don’t sell it to the third daughter of the Xiao family.”

"Not sell to her? We'll just take some to cook at home?" Xiao Laifu's wife shook her head: "These bamboo shoots take the most oil, and we don't have that much spare money to buy oil to cook bamboo shoots! Besides, even if we dig up so many, we can't eat them all ourselves."

"You're really stupid." Xiao Laifu gave his wife a disappointed look; she really was a bit dim-witted. The fact that Xiao Sanhua bought so many jars and had people dig bamboo shoots for her must be related to their sudden wealth. "Wife," he said, "don't go dig those bamboo shoots for the next couple of days. Let Zhier dig some. Keep an eye out for any strangers going to Old Master Xiao's house. Keep a close eye on them; we might even be able to make some money from it."

Listening to her husband's words, Xiao Laifu's wife nodded repeatedly: "Good, good, I must find out where the third daughter of the Xiao family got her money!"

The next day, Xiaojia Village seemed different from usual. Early in the morning, a group of people with bamboo baskets slung over their arms rushed to the back mountain, as if they were afraid that someone would steal some treasure. They were so fast that they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Old Mrs. Sijin was standing at the door of her house with a steamed bun in her hand when she saw the butcher's wife and her chubby daughter Erni panting as they ran up the mountain with the group. She was puzzled and grabbed the butcher's wife, saying, "What's wrong with you? Where are you going? Why are you running so fast?"

The butcher's wife flung the old woman's hand away, saying, "Let go of me now, or I'll miss out on making money!"

Erni opened her eyes, which seemed to never open, and her two chubby cheeks said, "Grandma Sijin, why don't you come and dig up some bamboo shoots too? Old Master Xiao's place is selling bamboo shoots for two copper coins a pound!"

"What?" Old Mrs. Si Jin picked at her ear. "What did you say? Say it again!"

Erni put her mouth close to the old lady's ear and shouted with all her might, "Xiao Sanhua buys bamboo shoots, two copper coins a pound! Peeled ones, four copper coins a pound!"

"Oh dear, why are you making such a loud noise!" Startled, Old Lady Sijin jumped to the side, dropping the steamed bun in her hand to the ground. She bent down to pick it up, dusted it off, and stuffed it into her mouth, her brows furrowed tightly. Her eyes darted around, and she shouted loudly, "Wu Mu, Liu Mu, Qi Mu, you brothers hurry up and go dig bamboo shoots on the mountain!"

Chapter Forty Launch

The yard was piled high with bamboo shoots, which surprised Yan Ying. Yesterday, only Tao Hua and Mei Hua had given her some to dig, but today a large number of people suddenly appeared. By the time she finished work in the evening, she had collected about four or five hundred catties, and all of them had already been peeled.

She still had over thirty jars to fill, each holding about fifteen jin (7.5 catties), and that day she had finished harvesting the bamboo shoots. Standing beside her, Erhua smiled wryly, "Sanhua, you didn't expect this, did you? It's much easier than us sisters going up the mountain to dig them."

“That’s right!” Yan Ying pointed to the bamboo shoots on the ground: “We’ll harvest them for a few more days, then we’ll stop.”

"You're buying more? Are there enough jars to hold them all? These jars are quite expensive." Erhua frowned. "Are we going to have to buy more jars again? Where do you get so much money?"

"No need to buy any for now," Yan Ying smiled. "I won't make pickled bamboo shoots with the extra ones. I'll take advantage of the good sunshine these next few days to dry them and make dried bamboo shoots. Later, if I want to make pickled bamboo shoots, I can use the dried bamboo shoots. Besides, dried bamboo shoots have another wonderful use." Yan Ying smiled. In her previous life, she had eaten dishes made from dried bamboo shoots, and they were truly delicious. She hadn't known what they were made of at first, but after asking the shopkeeper, she learned they were made from dried bamboo shoots.

The shop owner told her that because small bamboo shoots are not as thick as winter bamboo shoots, no one would dry them into dried bamboo shoots. He was just trying it out of curiosity and fun, and he didn't expect it to be so delicious. Later, as Yan Ying traveled to more places, she learned that it wasn't that no one made small bamboo shoots into dried bamboo shoots; it was just that local customs varied. There was something called glutinous rice cake, which was easier to preserve than pickled bamboo shoots. The small bamboo shoots were dried, cooked, and then simmered in oil. The oil was drained and stored away. When it was time to eat, it was taken out, seasoned with salt and chili powder, and then steeped in boiling water like tea.

Inspired by this, Yan Ying also produced various bamboo shoot products on her own farm, such as pickled bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots, and glutinous rice balls. She even tried drying the bamboo shoots into dried bamboo shoots and cooking them with mushrooms and wood ear fungus, then simmering them in chili oil to make canned food. Unexpectedly, the taste was very refreshing and it became very popular.