Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

The vegetables planted in the second batch will be ready for sale in a while.

The second batch of water spinach seeds I bought was more, although the quantity was still not large, but it was enough to supply the restaurant with several kilograms every day.

Water spinach and red amaranth are both vegetables that will grow new shoots after you pinch off the tender tips, and they grow longer the more you pinch them, so you can eat them until autumn.

It seems we need to send Mu Nan to town again; maybe there will be some new seeds.

Even without new varieties, the current ones are excellent; it would be even better if there were more available.

Wang Qing'er carried the groceries back to the front yard and just then saw Wang Cuiying coming in through the main gate.

She carried a full basket of green grass on her back, and two other baskets in her hands. The baskets were covered with pig feed, and underneath were probably mushrooms.

Wang Qing'er quickly put down her basket and ran to help Wang Cuiying take the basket off her back.

"Mother, why are you carrying so much grass?"

"If you see any, bring some back to feed the cattle," Wang Cuiying said breathlessly.

Ever since Wang Qing'er bought more than a dozen cows, everyone in the Mu family has been carrying a sickle with them whenever they go out to work, and bringing back a bundle of grass.

However, the task of mowing the lawn mainly fell to the three brothers, Mu Xiao, Zi Hao, and Zi Xuan.

Each time they went up the mountain, each person would lead a cow up the mountain, let it eat its fill in the mountains, and then lead it back. It could also help carry things back.

There's always a lot of grass left over from each day's cutting, and over time there's an extra day's worth of fodder. Even if it rains the next day, there's no need to worry about the cows not having grass to eat.

Wang Qing'er returned to the kitchen to prepare stir-fry. She used soapberry juice to wash the dishes and stove, making the kitchen spotless and tidy.

She quickly stir-fried mushrooms with sliced ​​pork, stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork belly, and also sliced ​​a plate of braised beef.

Raw beef cost 25 coins per pound, while braised beef sold for 60 coins per pound. On the first day, I only bought 10 pounds of beef to braise.

After tasting it, Manager Li said that this amount was definitely not enough to sell, and asked Old Man Mu to send twenty catties of braised beef the next day.

On the third day, they still said it wasn't enough, so they added another 20 jin, meaning they sold 40 jin of braised beef every day.

In fact, the profit margin for selling braised beef is not as high as that for selling braised offal, braised pork, or braised duck.

A pound of raw beef, once braised, yields only a little over seven ounces. Therefore, even selling forty pounds of braised beef a day wouldn't earn a profit of one ounce of silver.

Therefore, after Wang Qing'er increased the quantity to forty jin, she refused even when Manager Li repeatedly asked her to increase the quantity.

Old Man Mu buys 65 catties of raw beef every day.

The beef vendor, seeing that they bought a lot and were long-term customers, gave them a discount of two coins per pound, and sometimes even gave them some beef liver and heart as a gift.

Therefore, whenever Wang Qing'er cooks, braised beef or stir-fried beef often appears on the family's dining table.

She was also thinking of making braised beef brisket with potatoes when she had time.

In her past life, adults all said that eating beef was good for children, as it would help them grow taller. She wanted her younger siblings to grow taller.

In addition, she herself wanted it to be longer, even though she had already started her period and there wasn't much room left.

After cooking these dishes, Wang Qing'er began preparing to make sauerkraut fish. She scanned the kitchen but did not see the pickling jar.

"Mom, where did you put the pickled cabbage and duck eggs you made?" Wang Qing'er asked her mother-in-law, peeking out from the kitchen.

"You want stir-fried pickled cabbage?"

"I need pickled cabbage to cook fish."

"Where did the fish come from?"

"I caught it in the river."

“Okay, come with me. The pickled cabbage, duck eggs, and bamboo shoots you asked me to soak, as well as the pickled vegetables I soaked before, are all in the back room. These things can’t get oily, or they’ll all spoil.” Wang Cuiying said as she walked, then paused and looked at Wang Qing’er’s hands. “Qing’er, did you wash your hands?”

Wang Qing'er spread out her hands to show Wang Cuiying, "Mother, I washed them."

"Oh, that's good. This is the place." Wang Cuiying pointed to a small, locked door in front of them.

She took out her key, unlocked the door, and went inside. "This key is usually kept in the kitchen. You can do whatever you need yourself from now on. There's a pair of chopsticks here specifically for picking up kimchi and such."

"I understand, Mother." Wang Qing'er looked at the room full of large food vats and clicked her tongue in amazement. "Tsk tsk, Mother, are there vegetables in all these vats?"

"Yes, these two small ones are pickled radishes and scallions that I made, these five large ones are pickled cabbage that you asked me to make, and these are pickled bamboo shoots."

“These small jars contain duck eggs. We don’t sell chicken eggs anymore; we eat chicken eggs now. I’ve pickled all the duck eggs; there are already more than two hundred,” Wang Cuiying said to her daughter-in-law, pointing to the pickling jars in the room.

"Mom, please help me scoop it out. I'm worried I'll ruin the kimchi." It's quite amazing how some people can make such delicious kimchi that a jar of it can last for a year or two without spoiling, like Wang Cuiying.

Some people's pickled vegetables are simply inedible; they're not crisp, they grow white mold, and then they rot, like an auntie who was Wang Qing'er's neighbor in her previous life.

There are also some people who can't even touch the kimchi jar with their bare hands, because the kimchi will spoil if they do.

In that sense, making kimchi seems a bit mystical, almost superstitious.

Wang Cuiying asked, "Qing'er, shall we just get some pickled cabbage?"

"Let's scoop out some pickled radishes and scallions, a couple more sauerkraut, and salted duck eggs should be edible too, let's scoop out ten. And let's scoop out a few bamboo shoots to try them out too?"

Wang Qing'er really likes the pickled radishes and scallions that Wang Cuiying makes. Now that there's chili oil, she can add some to the pickles and mix them in, and they'll taste even better.

Wang Cuiying asked, "Do you need so many salted duck eggs?"

Wang Qing'er nodded, "Yes, everyone should try it, there are so many people in the family."

Wang Cuiying didn't know how to eat the salted duck egg, so she didn't say anything more and silently picked up the pickled vegetables.

Luckily, the basin I brought was big enough, and it was filled to the brim with salted duck eggs and pickled vegetables.

Wang Qing'er picked up a pickled bamboo shoot, tore off a piece, and put it in her mouth. She took a small bite and found it crunchy and slightly spicy.

There weren't many chili peppers available at the time, so she told Wang Cuiying to use less and save some for later.

We have over 100 jin (50 kg) of chili peppers now. You can add more when pickling them; it will taste even better if they are spicier.

When fresh chili peppers come out, let's make some pickled bamboo shoots too, the taste will be amazing!

I just don't know if there were still bamboo shoots back then.

She tore off another piece of pickled cabbage leaf and ate it. "Mmm, sour enough. Mom, the pickled vegetables you make are just amazing. I could eat them every meal and never get tired of them."

She gave Wang Cuiying a thumbs-up in praise.

Wang Cuiying felt a little embarrassed when her daughter-in-law praised her so much, and said with a smile, "Silly child, you can't eat kimchi every meal!"

"Mom, soak all the bamboo shoots from the past few days, except those we're selling, and add lots of chili peppers."

"So many have been soaked? Those guys picked several hundred pounds of bamboo shoots today. They said they're going to find another bamboo grove, and they'll probably pick a lot of bamboo shoots in the next few days."

"Mother, if there's this much every day, then soak most of it and dry some of it."

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say." Wang Cuiying nodded, locked the door, and returned to the courtyard with her daughter-in-law.