Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

“Big ones, but we can’t catch the big ones. My eldest and second eldest brothers can catch big fish, but they’re too busy to come and catch them.”

"Then let your older brother come and catch him."

"Let's forget it. Big brother is so busy, and the fish he cooks won't taste good either. It's too fishy!" Mu Qin thought about how Wang Cuiying's fish dishes were very fishy and not tasty at all. They were fine for cooking, but only for catching fish.

"The fish that my sister-in-law makes is not only not fishy, ​​but also very delicious! Would you like to try some?" Wang Qing'er thought about how she could really catch a fish... Thinking of this, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva, and images of braised fish, boiled fish slices, and sauerkraut fish appeared in her mind... all delicious dishes made from fish!

"Really?" Mu Qin initially looked incredulous, but then she remembered how her sister-in-law could make such smelly offal so delicious. She nodded and said confidently, "Since my sister-in-law is such a good cook, her fish dishes must be delicious too! Let my eldest and second brothers catch some big fish."

"Sister-in-law, we're here. There's a patch of mint here, and a few mugwort trees over there," Mu Qin said, pointing to a small patch of mint and a few mugwort trees on the edge of the ground.

"Aren't we going to the river?"

"Sister-in-law wants to go to the river?"

"Yes!" She wanted to go and take a look.

"It's a bit far down from here, and we won't have time to go back for breakfast. How about I take my sister-in-law there tomorrow?"

"Okay, let's pick these first!" Wang Qing'er looked down but couldn't see a river in sight. She figured it was probably quite far and there wasn't enough time. She was a little hungry after working all morning, so she decided to wait until tomorrow.

This patch of mint is only a third the size of the one by the stream behind the mountain, but it is noticeably larger.

Wang Qing'er noticed that the spacing between the mint plants was too dense, which was not conducive to their growth. "Muqin, give me your little hoe. I'll dig up some of these mint plants and plant them back home. They're too dense, which is not good for their growth."

"Sister-in-law, let me dig it up, you pick the leaves."

"Okay, then be careful when you dig, don't break it."

"Don't worry, sister-in-law, how well did you dig this one?" Mu Qin picked up a mint plant she had dug up and showed it to Wang Qing'er.

"Okay, I trust you to do things right."

It didn't take long to fill a basket with mint leaves. These mugwort trees were also old trees that had been growing for many years; I only picked from two trees before the basket was full.

With these few mugwort leaves, we won't need to go elsewhere to pick more for the next few days. The ones on the back hill will also grow new leaves. It would be best if we could find another leaf.

There's a patch of mint by the stream behind the mountain, and this patch too. Muqin said there's another patch by the river below, even more than here, and also some along the field edges. If you find any scattered pieces, you can dig them up and plant them in your yard.

I'll collect some more seeds and plant some later. After all, mint can be eaten besides making soap. For example, it can be used to make some refreshing drinks in the summer.

The main raw material for soapberry is still soapberry, so these ingredients are not used much.

Especially scented soaps used only for washing clothes are basically made from soapberry juice, with only a small amount of mugwort juice or mint juice added, so that the washed clothes have a slight fragrance of mugwort or mint.

On the way back, I saw a few mint plants and casually dug them up.

As soon as the two climbed the slope, Mu Nan came to meet them, taking their baskets off their backs and carrying one in each hand.

When they arrived home, Wang Cuiying and Sister Wu were serving the food and setting the table, while Mu Yan was helping to set the table. Perhaps the medication was working, or perhaps she was in a good mood from being reunited with her family.

Mu Yan's complexion was much better than the day before. Although she was still a little weak, with some extra nutrition in her diet, she should recover quickly.

After washing her hands, Wang Qing'er walked into the main room and said, "Auntie, don't bother, we can do it ourselves."

Mu Yan said with a smile, "Qing'er, I'm fine, I'm much better now."

"Dinner's ready, Zihao and Zixuan, come and eat first," Wang Cuiying called to the two brothers who were peeling bamboo shoots in the yard.

She still picks bamboo shoots every day, but not as many as before. It's just enough to sell, and if there are any extras, Wang Cuiying soaks or dries them.

Bamboo shoots are usually peeled together after dinner, and during the day, whoever has free time will peel a few.

Life in the countryside is never quiet; there's always work to be done.

Before automation, farmers relied on their hard work and the blessings of nature to make a living.

Sometimes, when the harvest is bad, no matter how hard you work, it's all in vain, and you still can't get enough to eat.

Therefore, Wang Qing'er felt that she must earn more money, whether in the new society she lived in before or in ancient times, money was very important.

Money may not be everything, but you can't do anything without it.

Just like the thick white porridge and the soft, white steamed buns on the dinner table, how could these things be available without money?

When she first arrived at the Mu family, she was served brown rice porridge and buckwheat buns. She really couldn't stand Gesangzi's brown rice porridge.

Fortunately, after paying off the debt, my mother-in-law never cooked brown rice again. Perhaps they didn't like it either, since they used to be wealthy and were used to eating white rice and white flour.

After breakfast, the four of them continued picking flowers. Before leaving, Wang Qing'er gave Mu Nan all the vegetable seeds, sesame seeds, tea seeds, and the mint she had dug up, asking him to plant them all.

The sesame seeds last time were sown by Wang Qing'er herself. She was worried that Mu Nan wouldn't be able to grow them well, so she told him how to sow sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds are small, so they must be mixed evenly with soil in the correct proportions before being sown on the ground to prevent them from growing too densely.

If seeds are sown directly, the seedlings will grow densely, which is not conducive to the later growth of sesame.

She planted the sesame seeds too densely last time, so she'll need to pull some out and transplant them in a few days.

Furthermore, sesame prefers dry conditions and dislikes wet conditions, making it perfect for planting on the slopes behind the mountain.

These past two days, Old Man Mu invited Master Liu, who had helped build the stove last time, to build a cowshed at his house.

The new cattle shed was built outside the fence, attached to the fence, and then three more walls were added on the outside. The door and windows opened from the wall on this side of the fence, so that the door was still inside the yard and there was no need to worry about anyone stealing cattle.

Although there are no petty thieves in my own village, there are quite a few such people in the surrounding villages. They usually wander around the villages and take advantage of any loopholes they find.

The Mu family bought more than a dozen cows; they must already know that, so we have to be careful.

The mud bricks used to build the cowshed were bought directly from Master Liu's house, and the roof was covered with straw. After all, Wang Qing'er only had a little over a hundred taels of silver, and buying tiles was a bit of a luxury.