The Transmigrated Farm Girl's Journey to Wealth

First, she cooked the rice, then scooped it up and kept it warm by the stove while she started cooking. "Little Pig Covered with a Blanket" was basically a big pot of stew, with a soup added—it was quick and easy.

There were too many people, and two chickens didn't seem like much in the pot. Thinking of her younger brother's craving, she threw in a large spare rib. When the meat was almost cooked, she added a bowl of dried vegetables and radishes, then placed flatbreads around the pot and spread a large pancake on top. This pancake was the little pig's blanket.

Song Xiaogu was busy with her work, and the aroma of meat filled the air. Fengzi's wife was really good at cooking; she could make anything differently from the others.

As Wang Dayong and Wang Xiaolian tended the fire, they smelled the aroma of the food. They had only been at their third uncle's house for less than a day, and the things they slept in, ate, and used were things they had never seen before and dared not even dream of.

Xiao An told me that his family used to be very poor, but things only got better after his sister-in-law married into the family. All the money-making businesses were his sister-in-law's ideas. He's the pillar of the family, and he wants to learn from his sister-in-law, work hard to earn money, and give his mother and younger sister a better life.

Mother said that her younger sister might stay at home for the rest of her life. She was worried about her getting married and being bullied. He was also worried about her. He needed to earn a lot of money to support them for the rest of their lives.

At lunchtime, after two days of politeness, Li realized that being polite was useless, so she picked up her bowl and started eating. She figured she had to eat her fill so she could get more work done and not waste such a good meal. Tie Zhu, never one to stand on ceremony, ate heartily with Song An and Da Yong. Xiao Lian, beside Song Xiaogu, also ate attentively. Seeing everyone eating their meat without any restraint, Song Chunni, caught up in the relaxed atmosphere, also relaxed and started eating.

"Xiao Ning, it's not that I'm praising you, but after watching this meal, I'd be happy to come to your house to work every day. With your cooking skills, no wonder you've made your fortune in food."

Song Chunni nodded. Her skills used to be considered quite good in the village, but compared to Fengzi's wife, she was really far inferior.

"It's delicious, Auntie, please have more."

"Hey, hey! If I keep eating like this, I reckon I'll gain several pounds by the time I'm done with all the work before the New Year."

"Being able to eat is a blessing. We're always busy, so we can't go hungry anymore. Auntie, tomorrow we'll have braised pork knuckle, and the day after tomorrow we'll have noodles with minced meat sauce."

"Every day at your house is like celebrating the New Year, no, it's even better than the New Year! Don't come crying to your auntie if you eat her out of house and home!"

Busy days fly by, and after the winter solstice comes the Lunar New Year.

As the year draws to a close, the villagers who have been hibernating during the winter begin to leave one after another to go to the city to buy New Year's goods, clean their houses, and slaughter pigs for the New Year. The Song family, however, becomes busier and busier as the year draws to a close. They replenish their stock again and again, and everyone is so busy that they barely have time to breathe, often just grabbing a quick bite to eat, working overtime to finish up the orders.

They were busy until ten days before the Lunar New Year, finally finishing the last batch of goods and able to catch their breath. Fang Xiaoning breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Oh my god, we're finally almost done! After delivering the last batch of goods tomorrow, they can rest and celebrate the New Year."

The shopkeeper said they won't reopen until after the Lantern Festival next year, and the supply volume will be discussed next year. In other words, they'll have 25 days off!

"Fengzi, we're slaughtering a pig for the New Year tomorrow. Remember to come over for the pig-killing feast."

"Okay, I'll go over and help as soon as possible."

"Chunni, Fengzi's mother, Xiaoning, I won't call you over. I'll save some pig's blood for Fengzi to bring back later. Also, I'll save some pig offal for you." One dared not show her face, one was pregnant, and one was weak; she dared not call any of them.

"Okay, Auntie, how many of your pigs do you keep for yourself?"

"I plan to keep twenty jin."

"Mom, how much meat should we buy for the New Year?"

"What do you think?" Besides their in-laws and aunt, they probably don't have any other relatives to visit during the Chinese New Year, right?

Fang Xiaoning thought for a moment and decided that this year would definitely be a prosperous one, and that she should also send New Year's gifts to those who had been helping them with their work recently.

"Auntie, besides what you keep for yourself, please leave me 100 jin of your pig. It would be best if you could also leave me the ribs."

"You bought so much, can you finish it all?"

"Yes, I'll have Shunzi tell my mom tomorrow. They should want to buy some too."

“Okay, if we divide it among several families, I won’t have much left of my pig, so I won’t have to sell it to the butcher.”

"Yes!"

When Li left, Fang Xiaoning settled her wages.

"What are you doing, child? We agreed to help out, and I've been shamelessly eating so much good food every day. How could I possibly take your money!" Li really didn't want it. She knew exactly what she ate every day, and she hadn't done much work, yet she dared to take money from people.

“Auntie, Aunt Wang, Aunt Zhou, they helped us peel the hawthorns, and I paid them for that. You did more and worked harder, how could I let you work for free? When I went to ask you for help, I wanted to tell you it would be 25 coins a day, but Brother Feng said you had a short temper, so I didn’t let him finish and you came to work right away. You must keep this money; it’s almost a month’s worth of hard-earned money. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to get so much work.”