CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 61: WE LIED TO YOU

Under Yu Xiaolian’s intense gaze, Da An nervously began to speak, "Sister, actually... actually we both don’t know how to make charcoal. We lied at that time just to sell for more money."

Little An also spoke up, "We saw the adults in the village make charcoal and thought it seemed simple. But when we tried it ourselves, the fire was either too intense or the timing was off. The first kiln turned to ash, and the second didn’t even produce anything."

Yu Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief.

She was terrified; she had been worrying blindly these past few days, thinking the medicine she gave had caused Anzi’s mother to die.

It looks like doing good deeds at random in the future is truly frightening.

Da An sneaked a glance at Yu Xiaolian’s expression and, seeing it was less scary than before, boldly said, "Sister, since the charcoal didn’t turn out, we’ve already spent the Silver you gave us. Do you still need firewood at home? We can deliver more firewood to you."

Yu Xiaolian had heard that making charcoal was a skillful job, requiring a large amount of wood to be neatly placed in the kiln, preferably thick lumber, so the resulting charcoal would be larger, less likely to break, and of better quality.

How many trees must have been cut down by these two youngsters for those two kilns?

Even though the charcoal making failed, the effort was still the same.

The feeling of failure must be extremely disheartening.

Five coins for a bundle of firewood, twenty bundles delivered the first time, totaling a hundred coins.

Thirty bundles delivered the second time, totaling a hundred and fifty coins.

In that case, the two little kids still owe her two hundred and fifty coins.

Two hundred and fifty—it’s not a very auspicious number.

Yu Xiaolian waved her small hand, "No need. We have enough firewood at home. How is your mother? Has she recovered?"

Da An quickly replied, "She’s better. Sister, the medicine you gave, after my mother took it, she wasn’t cold anymore and even started sweating. Today, our mother asked us to come and confess our mistake to you."

"Sorry, sister. We shouldn’t have lied, nor should we have deceived you for money."

The two little ones were about to kneel to Yu Xiaolian, but she pulled them up.

"It’s not a matter of deceit. You really hit a rough time, and I understand."

If I didn’t have this space and was kicked out by grandma Yu, I might be worse off than they are now. At least they have a home, a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

I’m grateful that Heaven has not treated me harshly, giving me this supermarket space so I don’t have to worry about meals every day.

"Sister, my mother said, if you don’t want the firewood, we’ll wait until the harvest season and repay you then."

"Tell your mother there’s no need to repay the money. Let her take good care of her health."

Yu Xiaolian opened the gate to her yard and waved goodbye to the two little ones.

"Sister, we will definitely practice making charcoal when we go back. We’ll make the best charcoal and send it to you." Da An shouted towards the yard.

Little An pursed his lips, almost on the verge of tears, "Big brother, sister is truly a kind person."

Da An nodded in agreement, "So, we definitely have to make a kiln of the best charcoal for sister to use."

"But, why won’t the uncles in the village teach us?"

"Are you silly? Charcoal-making is a craft that can make money, of course they don’t want it to spread. If everyone knew how, who would buy charcoal?"

...

Yu Xiaolian eventually didn’t get to eat roasted meat and hotpot, simply because there wasn’t any charcoal at home, but she decided to make spicy stir-fry pot.

Fatty beef rolls, squid balls, beef balls, crispy sausage, tripe, enoki mushrooms, lettuce, cilantro, all her favorites.

Actually, it was Yu Xiaolian’s first time making spicy stir-fry pot. She used to go out to eat or order takeout, probably one of those about to hit thirty years old without knowing much about cooking.

Fortunately, the supermarket had a spice pack for spicy stir-fry pot, with a detailed recipe on it.

Following the recipe instructions, Yu Xiaolian first boiled all the meat ingredients and took them out, then blanched the vegetables in boiling water and took them out.

Finally, she heated oil in the pan, cooked the base spices until fragrant, then poured in all the ingredients to stir-fry.

Since the ingredients were already cooked, she just needed to stir-fry a few times to coat them with the sauce and it was ready to serve.

The fragrance of the spicy stir-fry pot wafted enticingly, the spiciness quite strong.

Especially in ancient times, there weren’t things like exhaust hoods, so the entire kitchen was filled with the choking spicy smell.

But if you want to enjoy the stimulating taste of spicy food, you can’t be afraid of the pungency.

With the spicy stir-fry pot done, considering that Yu Changhe still drank herbal medicine and couldn’t eat spicy things, Yu Xiaolian made two non-spicy dishes for him.

She took out frozen toothpick meat, heated oil in the pan, and simply finished the toothpick meat.

Added a smashed cucumber dish, and they were ready to eat.

The spicy stir-fry pot is particularly filling, so Yu Xiaolian specifically asked Sun to cook some extra rice.

Ever since Sun tried the self-heating small hotpot, she had been longing for something with this spicy flavor.

But considering Yu Changhe couldn’t eat such things, she had held back from making it.

When the vibrant spicy stir-fry pot was placed on the kang table, everyone couldn’t help but swallow.

To facilitate Yu Changhe’s dining, their family had been eating on the kang lately.

Every Northern household has a small kang table; some even place it in the middle of the kang when sleeping.

Yu Xiaolian first picked toothpick meat for Yu Changhe, then spicy stir-fry pot for Sun.

Sun took a bite of fatty beef roll, "Delicious, really delicious, but it makes the mouth tingle."

"Mom, have a bag of milk, it’ll relieve the spiciness."

Yu Xiaolian handed Yu Changhe a bag of pure milk.

She and Sun drank iced soda, fortunately the supermarket came along with her, otherwise where could one find cold bubbly soda in this scorching weather.

Thank Heaven, thank Jesus, thank Virgin Mary.

Yu Changhe reached out and touched the chilled soda, "I want to drink something cold too, just not this carbonated one."

Previously, Yu Changhe tried carbonated drinks but didn’t like the bubbly texture.

Yu Xiaolian then took out a bottle of chilled hawthorn juice for him.

Yu Changhe twisted it open and took a sip.

Cold is indeed delicious, in this scorching heat, drinking it refreshes the palate and uplifts the spirit.

Yet, seeing the fragrant spicy stir-fry pot he couldn’t eat, he couldn’t help but give Yu Xiaolian a knowing glance.

Tomorrow we must go out to buy charcoal; hotpot and roasted meat, here I come!

The next day, after boiling herbal medicine for Yu Changhe, Yu Xiaolian used the three-layer food box she bought in town last time, packed it with some snacks, planning to go out and test the market. She had already inquired about the general prices of various pastries of this era.

But since she’s at a street stall, she definitely can’t sell them at the same price as in the shop.

Moreover, her selling targets are mostly the merchants in the bustling market.

Because true young brides and noble ladies won’t go shopping at the vegetable market.

The rule in Great Liang is that street stalls must be set up in the bustling area here; regardless of whether items are sold or not, the stall fee must be paid daily.

Recently, after giving acupuncture to Yu Changhe, she’s frequently hovered around this area, becoming very familiar with the nearby streets.

No one is selling shops in good locations, and those for sale either have a bad location or poor business.

Moreover, Yu Xiaolian asked the broker and learned that any random street-side shop in Yangcheng costs several thousand taels.

If it’s a large shop in a prime location, it requires tens of thousands of taels.

Yu Xiaolian currently has only a few hundred taels; buying a shop is truly a daunting task.