Crossing Over to Yamada Love

"Lanlan, why did you tell the shopkeeper the shoe design? Are we not going to make them anymore?" Liu asked Molan in a low voice.

Finally, unable to resist asking, Mo Lan thought to herself, then she took a sip of noodle soup and let out a burp.

"Does Auntie think that after Madam He bought a pair of our shoes, we can still keep the shoe pattern a secret?"

Liu was taken aback. Yes, their shoe designs were novel, but they weren't difficult to make. Why did Madam He only want one pair? So that's what she was up to. Business people are really shrewd.

Ms. Liu was somewhat discouraged. She had planned to take advantage of the novelty of the shoes to earn some money so that her family could live a better life, but now that plan was no longer viable.

"Don't worry, Auntie. We can stop making embroidered shoes now, but we can make other things later," Mo Lan said with a smile as she quickly comforted Liu Shi, who looked dejected.

"Oh? What else can we do?" Liu immediately perked up upon hearing Mo Lan's words. The shoe design was Lan's idea, so perhaps she had other ideas as well.

"I haven't decided yet. Let's take a good look when we get home. Also, apart from making those three pairs of shoes for Madam Fang, don't touch any other fabric. Aunt, you must tell everyone that this fabric was given to you by someone else for work." Mo Lan solemnly instructed Liu Shi.

"Yes, I know. If we don't say that, we're afraid we won't have much left," Liu said, her eyes lowered.

Not bad, not exactly a pushover. Not completely weak. Mo Lan nodded inwardly. Actually, she never intended to run the embroidered shoe business long-term. That stuff was only novel; imitations would appear in a few days, and it would become worthless in time. So it was better to give away the shoe patterns and get scraps of cloth, which she could use to make more things.

Besides, although those shoes were pretty, she preferred openwork shoes and said she would definitely make openwork shoes for herself to wear in the future.

His main focus was still on the mountains and fields. Exchanging novel shoe designs for money was a last resort in the early stages, since he had no funds and had to resort to such methods.

Liu ate the noodles, but she didn't touch the steamed buns. She called over a cook and asked him to make some to take with her.

"Brother, give us another twenty meat buns to take away." Mo Lan's words startled Liu Shi as soon as they left her mouth.

"What does Lanlan need so many for?"

"Take it home and everyone should try it."

"This is too much," Liu said, somewhat reluctant, her face showing hesitation.

"Many? If not, who knows if our eldest son's family can even snatch them up when the time comes?" Mo Lan's words were blunt, but Liu Shi had no way to refute them.

A short while later, they walked out of the noodle shop with the wrapped buns in their hands.

As the two walked down the street, Mo Lan spotted a shop with a gleaming signboard bearing the three gilded characters "Huichuntang," clearly indicating it was a pharmacy.

"Auntie, wait for me a moment. I'll go in and ask you something and then come right out," Mo Lan said to Liu Shi, and then quickly ran into the pharmacy.

"Hey, what are you doing at the pharmacy? Slow down. Why is this girl still so impulsive?" Liu called out helplessly from behind.

"Waiter, do you accept dandelions?" Mo Lan asked the waiter who was greeting guests, with a grin after entering the room.

"Go away, little girl, go out and play. Don't you know where you are? Coming here to cause trouble. Dandelion, that kind of wild vegetable that even dogs won't eat, and you come to the pharmacy asking if they'll buy it? Are you desperate for money?" The waiter shooed Mo Lan away with a look of disdain.

"If you don't want it, then don't. Why are you being so fierce?" Mo Lan muttered, dawdling with the waiter as she slowly walked out. However, she kept a smile on her face, and even when the waiter chased her away, she didn't feel embarrassed. After all, her purpose wasn't to sell dandelions.

Mo Lan came out and saw Liu Shi standing in a corner outside the pharmacy waiting for her. She ran to Liu Shi's side, smiled sweetly, and said, "Auntie, let's go. I've finished asking."

"You little rascal, why are you running so fast? What do you want to ask?" Liu complained to Mo Lan for running around.

"I'll tell you later. Take me to the place where they sell vegetables and meat." Mo Lan pretended to be mysterious, but she didn't know where they sold meat and vegetables, so she had to ask Liu for help.

Liu stopped in her tracks, frowned, and looked at Mo Lan with a puzzled expression, asking, "What are you going there for? We have vegetables at home, and as for meat, our family can't afford it."

“Aunt, I just went into the pharmacy and asked the doctor. The doctor told me that Uncle can’t eat eggs because of his illness. His body needs nutrition. He should eat lean meat and noodles. This way, Uncle won’t have frequent relapses and his body can slowly recover.” Mo Lan stared at Liu Shi with a serious expression and slowly explained her reasons.

Upon hearing this, Liu's eyes instantly welled up with tears. "Lan'er, thank you so much, but it's all fate. We won't buy these things; the money should be given to your grandmother when we get home so she can distribute it."

“If we give it to Grandma, her stepmother and the others might find some excuse to leave, and then what will we have to do with it? Besides, Grandpa and Grandma are getting old, and their bodies can’t handle eating sorghum and potatoes all the time. The doctor said that eating these things all the time will cause stomach aches in their old age. We, as the younger generation, can’t let our elders suffer in their old age.” Seeing that Liu Shi wouldn’t agree, Mo Lan had no choice but to say all this, thinking to herself that if her uncle couldn’t be a reason, then she could use her grandparents as a reason.

"Was that what the doctor just said?" Liu looked at Mo Lan with some suspicion.

"Yes, yes. Otherwise, how would I know? Anyway, we still need to make money in the future, so let's eat well and take good care of our health first. That's more important than anything else," Mo Lan answered readily.

"Alright then, let's go buy some." Liu nodded, took Mo Lan's hand and walked forward. She also wanted the elderly and children to eat well.

And so they arrived at the vegetable market, a chaotic market with stalls lined up one after another.

Mo Lan looked at the vegetables from each household. There weren't many varieties of vegetables available right now because it wasn't the right season. Greenhouses probably didn't exist in this time and space yet, so all the vegetables were in season.

Potatoes are the most abundant crop, followed by radishes, scallions, shallots, and onions. There's also some frost-covered spinach, and occasionally a few cabbages, though they're not well-preserved and are quite wilted. There's also some ginger and other similar items.

There are really few varieties, but these are all purely organic vegetables, and their taste is incomparable to those greenhouse vegetables.

The two walked to the pork stall. Mo Lan looked at the hanging pig heads and the burly butchers.

I thought to myself, "Wow, they're really fierce. If a fight breaks out, one stab could kill someone."

Mo Lan carefully examined the meat on the stall. The pork nowadays was definitely fragrant, unlike in that time when you only tasted meat when you ate pork belly. If it was lean meat, you would find it tasteless.

"How much is the lean meat?" Liu asked the stall owner.

"If you like that piece, I can give you a discount." The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a fat body and a fierce appearance, but his eyes were not honest and kept scanning Liu's body.

"How much is this piece per pound?" Mo Lan pulled Liu Shi aside, stood in front of her, and asked, pointing to a piece of meat with little fat.

"Young lady, you've taken a liking to this piece? I'll give you a low price, eighteen coins a pound, that'll do," the butcher chuckled, speaking with great generosity.

Eighteen coins—Mo Lan didn't know if that was expensive, because she had no memory of meat prices.

"It's too expensive. Aren't they all fifteen coins a pound?" Liu whispered behind Mo Lan.