Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Finally, she carefully buried a dozen or so fresh ginger stalks that she had bought. These ginger stalks cost a hundred coins, and she really didn't know how to plant them, so she couldn't bear to bury them all in the soil.

“You can dig up tons of wild ginger in the mountains. If you want some, I can go and dig some up for you.” Wang Qing’er was diligently burying ginger when she heard Mu Nan say this. She quickly stopped what she was doing, looked up, and asked, “Brother Mu Nan, is there really ginger in the mountains?”

Mu Nan said, "Yes, there are plenty, but the ginger in the mountains right now is all old ginger that grew last year. The new ginger will have to wait for a while. I dug some up and sold them before, and they only cost seven or eight coins per pound."

“Since there’s ginger in the mountains, I won’t plant it. I’ll keep these for home use. Tomorrow, Brother Mu Nan will take me to dig some up. If we don’t use them all, we can dry them and exchange them for some money.” Wang Qing’er said, digging up the ginger she had buried.

She thought to herself, "At least the people in the pharmacy have some conscience; they only charged her two or three extra coins per pound."

Mu Nan acted as a thoughtful little helper, assisting her in digging out all the ginger.

Wang Qing'er and Mu Nan returned to the front yard, but Old Man Mu and Mu Xiao had not yet returned from the mountain.

However, the yard was already piled high with bamboo shoots like small mountains and a large basket of mushrooms that looked like small umbrellas.

Seeing that it was still early, Wang Qing'er led Mu Qin and Yao'er to dig for shepherd's purse. If they didn't dig it up soon, it would get old, which would be a waste.

Just as he stepped out of the gate, he bumped into Wang Cuiying, who was returning from the vegetable garden next door. Upon hearing that she was going to dig shepherd's purse, she quickly put down the weeds she was holding, picked up her basket, grabbed her small hoe, and insisted on going with her.

With one more person, there is one more force. The three of them worked together and quickly filled the three baskets to the brim. Wang Cuiying sent one basket back and then came back with two more baskets.

After tasting shepherd's purse a few times, Wang Cuiying fell in love with it. Shepherd's purse was more delicious than other wild vegetables, and even more delicious than vegetables she grew herself. If it weren't so troublesome to clean, she would have asked Old Man Mu and the others to take some to the restaurant to sell.

Wang Cuiying said, "Qing'er, I also know that your third uncle's family has a piece of land where this shepherd's purse grows. Tomorrow I will go and tell your third aunt, and then I will go and dig it up."

Wang Qing'er: "Okay, Mother, once the preserved vegetables are ready, I'll send some to Third Aunt's family and teach them how to make braised pork with preserved vegetables."

"Sister-in-law, braised pork with preserved mustard greens? Is it delicious?" Mu Qin's interest was instantly piqued at the mention of food.

Wang Qing'er: "Of course it's delicious! I'll make some dried plum vegetables for you to try after they're ready."

"Qing'er, does this preserved vegetable dish really have to be cooked with meat to taste good?" Wang Cuiying felt a pang of heartache when she heard that meat had to be added.

Wang Qing'er: "Yes! Of course! Mother, any dish will become incredibly delicious as long as meat is added, while dishes without oil will definitely be bland and tasteless!"

Wang Cuiying: "That makes sense."

"Mother, don't worry. As long as the family works together, we'll definitely be able to have meat for every meal in the future." Wang Qing'er knew that her mother-in-law was reluctant to spend money on meat, so she comforted her.

Upon hearing this, a spark of hope ignited in Wang Cuiying's heart, and she said with a beaming smile, "Great! The whole family will work together!"

Today, after finally finishing digging up all the shepherd's purse in this plot, Wang Qing'er was pleasantly surprised to find that there were still many wild onions and purslane in the field. However, they were still small, and she hoped that they could grow up quickly and become delicacies on her family's dining table as soon as possible.

Back home, Wang Qing'er and Mu Qin were responsible for washing the shepherd's purse. After washing it, they moved the large clay stove to the yard to blanch it.

Today, Wang Qing'er plans to make some salty preserved mustard greens, which have a richer flavor and she loves them very much.

The shepherd's purse from a few days ago had already been dried, so she put it on the stove to steam it before taking it out to dry in the sun.

Wang Cuiying was in charge of cooking. The main dish for dinner was sweet potato porridge. As for the dishes, there was a pot of fragrant braised pork offal made by Wang Qing'er, as well as a dish of tender and refreshing bamboo shoots, potato slices, and stir-fried shepherd's purse.

The family devoured the food in a flash. Mu Xiao said between bites, "Sister-in-law, this pork offal you made is so good it could be sold! It's absolutely delicious!"

Wang Qing'er bought the pig offal today with the intention of reselling it. She happened to have more than ten kilograms of dried chili peppers left. These chili peppers are quite spicy, and only a few are needed each time to create a very strong spiciness. If she uses them to braise the offal, she should be able to keep up with the production of new chili peppers.

She didn't expect to be able to sell this braised offal every day. Selling one set of pig offal every other day would be fine, but it would be best to sell it only to restaurants. Setting up a stall would be too troublesome, time-consuming, and laborious.

Of course, it would be ideal if we could sell it every day. So she said, "I think it tastes pretty good. Why don't you take some to the restaurant tomorrow and let Manager Li try it? If you want it, buy the offal tomorrow, and I'll prepare it and deliver it to you the day after tomorrow. It would be best if we could get some deposit back."

Mu Xiao quickly said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry about it. I'll take care of this. The only question is, how should we set the price?"

"I spent a full five hundred coins on these spices, and they can only be used five times. There's also the cost of buying pig offal. However, one pot of braising liquid can braise several sets of pig offal, so the more you sell, the lower the cost."

Actually, brine can be reused repeatedly. I once heard people say that a pot of brine is like an elixir of immortality, and can be used for several years.

But after thinking about it carefully, I decided against it. It's safer to braise everything at once, to avoid making someone sick and having to pay compensation, which would be a real loss.

Zhou said worriedly, "Qing'er, the cost is really not low. If we sell the pig offal at a high price, no one will buy it."

Wang Cuiying chimed in, "Qing'er, your grandmother is right. If we sell it too cheaply, we'll lose money; if we sell it too expensively, nobody will buy it. I don't think this business is going to be easy."

"A set of pig offal costs ten coins, plus one hundred coins for spices, for a total of one hundred and ten coins. A set of pig offal, once cooked, will weigh at least ten catties. I think we should set it at twenty coins per catty first, so we can make at least ninety coins per set of pig offal. If that's not enough, we can lower the price further. We basically won't lose money." Mu Nan calculated the costs and set a very reasonable price.

After hearing his elder brother's analysis, Mu Xiao excitedly said, "Brother is right. With Manxianglou's business so good, selling two sets of pig offal a day is definitely not a problem. If we can really sell two sets, then the cost will only be 120 coins, and we can earn more than 200 coins."

"I'll talk to the shopkeeper about this tomorrow. The taste of what your sister-in-law makes is absolutely amazing. I guarantee it will sell like hotcakes."

Old Man Mu nodded in satisfaction: "Alright, bring a lot of each tomorrow and try them out. Maybe they'll sell as well as bamboo shoots and mushrooms."