Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Wang Qing'er skillfully gutted the fish, removed its internal organs, gills, and scales.

After rinsing the fish thoroughly with clean water, remove the bones, slice it thinly, and marinate it.

At noon, she made boiled fish fillets, braised pork with preserved mustard greens, a platter of braised pork, stir-fried amaranth, stir-fried water spinach, tofu with pigeon leaves, and salted duck eggs, all in double portions.

She set up a table in the pavilion and had Mu Lin, Zi Xuan, and Zi Hao eat with the children.

The food for Grandpa Mu and Mu Nan was delivered to the fields: a bucket of mixed tree leaves and tofu, half a bucket of braised meat, and salted duck eggs.

Have Mu Xiao and Zi Hao deliver it to the field and share it with the group of people who came to plant rice seedlings.

Actually, this is basically a meal plan, it just doesn't include cooking.

In the village, when ordinary families hire people to do chores, the meals usually consist of only two dishes, and there isn't much meat.

The children were initially embarrassed to stay for dinner at the Mu family's house, but in the end, it was only after Wang Qing'er said that she would help dig up aloe vera and plant it in the afternoon that the children agreed to stay for dinner.

This meal was extraordinary. The next day, the whole village was talking about how good the Mu family's new daughter-in-law was at cooking. She even made the fishy and smelly offal and fish taste incredibly delicious.

No wonder the Mu family has risen again; this isn't just about getting a wife, it's about finding a treasure!

Of course, these rumors are not only due to the children, but also to the men who planted the rice seedlings.

For the next few days, the villagers talked about Wang Qing'er's cooking skills, and the whole village knew that Mu Nan's wife was a good cook.

In the afternoon, she prepared aloe vera gel and aloe vera soap in her small courtyard.

Aloe vera is a bit troublesome to process. First, you need to wash the aloe vera thoroughly, cut it into small pieces, and then remove the outer skin.

After removing the outer skin, cut it into small pieces and soak it in clean water for a while.

After washing it several times, grind it into a paste with a stone mill, and then filter it again.

She happened to need beeswax when making aloe vera gel. She had previously told Mu Nan not to clean out the beehives, but now she felt there wasn't enough beeswax.

Sigh! This is really...

If I had known this would happen, why would I have been so dramatic back then, worrying and feeling sorry for my husband getting stung by bees?

I think my career is more important, so I'll put my relationship aside for now.

We should make Mu Nan and the others keep an eye out for beehives when they go up the mountain! At worst, we can design them a set of protective suits so they won't get stung by bees.

On the first day of making aloe vera gel, Wang Qing'er was busy until 7 PM and still hadn't finished, still bottling it.

"Wife, let's stop, okay?" Mu Nan walked over and hugged her from behind.

"Brother Mu Nan, there are still some things that haven't been finished. Why don't you go and rest first?"

"We'll do it tomorrow. I'll carry you to take a bath."

"No, I'm very... Ah! Brother Mu Nan, what are you doing? I can walk by myself, put me down." Before Wang Qing'er could finish speaking, the man picked her up and carried her towards the wooden house behind.

The wooden cabin was filled with mist, and Mu Nan had already prepared hot water for her.

"Qing'er, shall I help you bathe?"

"No, get out of here!" How could Wang Qing'er possibly agree? How could he possibly take a proper bath if he stayed inside? She refused while pushing him out.

But before the person could be pushed out, the man closed the door and bolted it shut.

How come this guy is so fast?

"My dear, let your husband help you bathe and change your clothes."

"You, you're cheating."

"Tell me how I cheated?" Mu Nan hugged her tightly and gently kissed her soft red lips.

Instantly, the cabin was filled with...

"Brother Mu Nan, can we not do it here?"

"Qing'er, it's too late." Mu Nan's voice was deep and hoarse.

"Qing'er, I am yours, and I belong only to you. You belong only to me..."

Well, it turns out it was about what happened during the day. I had forgotten about it, but he still remembered.

Wang Qing'er was afraid she would fall to the ground, so she wrapped her snow-white arms tightly around Mu Nan's neck.

"Don't be nervous, I won't let you fall."

That night, Mu Nan was more frantic than ever before...

For the next few days, Wang Qing'er only made aloe vera soap and aloe vera cream; there were plenty of other scents available.

We now have over 20,000 yuan worth of scented soap of various flavors in the warehouse; it's time to start looking for a shop.

A few days ago, the children helped dig up a lot of small aloe vera seedlings, which have been left at the foot of the mountain outside the wall and haven't been planted yet.

Today, all the rice seedlings in the house have been planted. Mu Nan, Grandpa Mu, and the others helped clear the back hill and started planting aloe vera.

In addition, Mu Nan dug up several large aloe vera plants and planted them.

Aloe vera is very easy to grow and does not require careful nurturing. All the aloe vera plants planted within ten days will survive.

That evening after dinner, the family sat together to discuss what needed to be done next.

Zhou said first, "Let's put aside the family matters for the next few days. Muxia is getting married in a few days, and everyone in the family will be going to help."

Mu Xia is Mu Nan's cousin and the granddaughter of her fourth great-uncle.

"Mother, how many banquets will Fourth Uncle's family be hosting?" Wang Cuiying asked.

“Your fourth aunt said she’s going to have a three-day feast, and everyone in the village should have been invited.”

"Inviting the whole village? That must be over a thousand people, right?" Wang Qing'er had never seen a daughter invite the entire village to her wedding banquet.

It doesn't matter for a small village, but Shan'ao Village has more than a hundred households!

"Your fourth uncle's family only has one granddaughter, Muxia, and she married well, so we should have a big celebration."

Mu Xia's husband's family is Lin Shen, the eldest son of Lin Yuanwailang in the county town.

The Lin family and the Mu family's fourth uncle were old friends. They had both fled to Wuyang County together, but the Mu family decided to settle in the village, while the Lin family settled in the county.

Despite the distance, the two families maintained contact and continued to visit each other frequently.

The two children were engaged two years ago, but the wedding was postponed for a year last year because Lin Shen had to take the imperial examination. Lin Shen passed the examination with flying colors and became a scholar.

The Mu family was initially worried that Lin Shen might break off the engagement after passing the imperial examination.

Unexpectedly, the Lin family set the wedding date the day after their son passed the exam, which put the Mu family at ease.

Wang Qing'er thought to herself, "It's really infuriating to compare people like this. We both married scholars, but the original owner's family didn't even have a decent dowry, let alone a banquet."

Oh! She almost forgot that her grandmother and father were trying to save on the dowry for her brother by marrying him off to Mu Nan, so how could they possibly be throwing a big banquet?

"Qing'er? Qing'er..."

Wang Qing'er's wandering thoughts were brought back by Zhou Shi. "Ah... Grandma, what's wrong?"

“Qing’er, although your fourth uncle didn’t say you should help with cooking, now the whole village knows you can cook. I think you should just help cook a couple of dishes. That way your fourth uncle will be happy. What do you say?” Zhou asked, looking at her.

"Mother, why don't we make more braised meat and send it over these next few days? Qing'er shouldn't cook. If we set this precedent, people in the village will keep asking her to cook for their feasts. Should we agree or not?"

Upon hearing what Wang Cuiying said, Wang Qing'er silently gave her mother-in-law a big thumbs up in her heart.

She really didn't want to help with the cooking; she wasn't a chef.