Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

And then there's the sugarcane. After this patch is harvested, let Mu Nan search elsewhere to see if there's any more. If they can make more sugar, that would be another way to make money, especially since sugar is so expensive.

While blanching the toon leaves, Wang Qing'er was lost in thought, her mind filled with how to make more money.

Her only concern now is to pay off the Mu family's debts. Only in this way can she eat white rice every meal; otherwise, she can only fill her stomach with coarse rice porridge every day.

Well, since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it. I'll work hard and strive to have plenty of meat, fish, and white rice for every meal from now on.

As I was thinking about it, it was time to cook, but there were still many toon sprouts that hadn't been blanched.

The men in the family would be coming back from the mountains soon and would need to eat. They must be starving after cutting sugarcane all afternoon, so she decided to cook first.

Wang Qing'er added bamboo shoots to the pork tripe soup, simmered it for a while, and finally added seasonings.

Mu Qin was in charge of tending the fire. When she was scooping rice, she somehow ended up scooping two bowls of fine rice.

Judging by the appearance, there are only about ten kilograms of refined rice at home. I'm thinking that next time I go to the market, I'll use my own money to buy some refined rice and flour so that I can occasionally improve my meals.

Worried that two bowls of rice wouldn't be enough, she peeled a few sweet potatoes as usual. She preferred sweet potatoes to brown rice.

After the soup was cooked, it was ladled into an earthenware pot and kept warm over a charcoal fire before starting to stir-fry the vegetables. One dish was stir-fried mushrooms with meat, another was stir-fried sweet potato tips, and the last was stir-fried toon sprouts with duck eggs.

Three dishes and a soup, plus a pickled vegetable, all in generous portions, making it a very sumptuous meal.

In her memory, the people here didn't seem to eat sweet potato tips. Wang Qing'er saw that the sweet potato vines in the front yard were growing very lushly, so she ran over and picked a handful of tips to stir-fry and eat.

She had a special fondness for the pickled vegetables her mother-in-law made; the taste was sour and refreshing, and if you added some chili peppers, it would be even more delicious.

She suddenly remembered that her mother-in-law had bought a huge jar in town that day, presumably to pickle vegetables.

It just so happens that there are many large-leafed Chinese cabbages planted in the backyard vegetable garden, and even the vegetable garden next to the house is planted with this kind of large-leafed Chinese cabbage.

I really don't know why the Mu family grows so many large-leafed greens. They don't taste very good when stir-fried. It would be better to pickle them and stir-fry them with bamboo shoots. The most wonderful thing is that they can be used to make pickled fish.

It seems that the dish of pickled fish is not yet available here. When the time comes, we can write it into a recipe and sell it to restaurants, and we can also supply pickled cabbage to restaurants.

By the way, pickled fish also needs chili peppers, which can be sold to restaurants after they mature.

A recipe should be able to earn some money, and with the addition of selling pickled vegetables and chili peppers, it would truly be a business that kills three birds with one stone.

While cooking, Wang Qing'er was also thinking about various ways to make money.

Before long, the food was ready, but the three members of the Mu family had not yet returned, so Wang Qing'er helped peel bamboo shoots in the yard.

As she peeled bamboo shoots, she asked Wang Cuiying, "Mother, didn't you buy a jar yesterday? Why don't we use it to pickle some vegetables?"

"Pickled cabbage? What kind of pickled cabbage?" Wang Cuiying was a little confused and failed to understand Wang Qing'er's meaning. She usually only pickled radishes and scallions.

Wang Qing'er said, "I see a lot of large-leafed greens in the back garden, which can be used to pickle sauerkraut."

Wang Cuiying said, "Those vegetables are meant to be sold, and these days only those green vegetables can be sold."

Mrs. Zhou said, "If the child wants to eat, you can pickle some. Aren't there bamboo shoots and mushrooms available for sale now? You can also sell the braised offal later."

Wang Cuiying hurriedly replied, "Mother, I understand. I'll start pickling tomorrow."

Madam Zhou continued, "Qing'er, your mother may not have any other skills, but her pickling skills are absolutely superb. If you want sour ones, she can pickle sour ones for you; if you want salty ones, she can pickle salty ones for you. Moreover, the pickled vegetables will not spoil even after a year or two."

Wang Qing'er said with a smile, "Grandma, that's right, I have a special fondness for the pickled radishes and scallions that Mom makes!"

Seeing her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law praising her so much, Wang Cuiying's face lit up with a smile as bright as a blooming flower. "I only have these little tricks up my sleeve, and I have to thank Granny Liu for passing on her unique skills to me."

Granny Liu was the cook in the Mu family before. Later, the family fell into poverty and had to dismiss the servants.

Granny Liu had no choice but to leave Aoshan Town with her son and daughter-in-law and settle down elsewhere. Before leaving, she passed on all her cooking skills to Wang Cuiying, including the skill of pickling vegetables.

Zhou said, "That's because you have a talent for it. I can't learn it no matter how hard I try."

"Since Mother's pickling skills are so good, then let's not sell any of the vegetables in the garden, let's pickle them all into sauerkraut instead."

Zhou and Wang Cuiying were stunned by Wang Qing'er's words.

Zhou said earnestly, "Qing'er, if you like to eat it, just pickle a little bit to try. Eating too much pickled vegetable is not good for your health."

Wang Cuiying added, "Yes, Qing'er, even if the family is poor, we can't eat pickled vegetables every meal!"

"Grandma, Mom, the pickled cabbage can be sold in restaurants, and these bamboo shoots can also be pickled into pickled bamboo shoots. When my chili peppers are grown, they can also be pickled into pickled peppers and made into pickled bamboo shoots, which can also be sold in restaurants."

Wang Cuiying said with a smile, "You child, how do you know so much? But every household knows how to make pickled vegetables, would anyone really go to a restaurant to order pickled vegetables?"

"Mom, don't worry, we'll definitely sell them. Also, the wild ginger from the mountains—when the tender ginger comes out in a while, we'll dig some up and make a jar of it."

Wang Qing'er originally planned not to plant ginger and just dig some wild ginger in the mountains, but now it seems that it is necessary to plant some.

"Alright, listen to what the maid says. We won't sell any more vegetables. Except for a few for seed, we'll pickle the rest into sauerkraut. We also have bamboo shoots that we can't sell anyway, so we'll pickle some of those too." Zhou made the final decision, deciding to pickle everything.

Wang Cuiying said, "Okay, then let the father and son buy more salt tomorrow."