Salivating

Mǎn Bǎo embraced her elder brother's neck and said, "Big brother, we made a lot of money today."

Zhōu Dàlǎng remembered the money he had spent on buying cotton and fabric earlier, and his face turned bitter. "We also spent quite a bit."

"We made five hundred wen selling yams," Man Bao said.

Zhōu Dàlǎng was taken aback and quickly asked, "Who did you sell them to?"

"We sold them to the county magistrate's family," Zhou Wulang quickly handed over the money he had received, saying, "Twenty wen per catty, totaling over twenty-five catties." Mǎn Bǎo gave them the extra and even provided an additional yam.

Zhōu Dàlǎng frowned and said, "Isn't this cheating? We only made twenty wens."

Zhōu Wǔlǎng lowered his head and whispered, "The magistrate also charged us an entrance fee."

Mǎn Bǎo agreed, but she couldn't say that to her brother, so she whispered, "Big brother, yams are rare, and we sold them cheaply."

After summarizing Ke Ke's words, Zhou Dalang was stunned. He hadn't expected such a significant difference in the buying and selling prices of medicinal herbs. He couldn't help but ask, "Did you hear clearly?" Are the dried yams at the herbal shop only one yuan per kilogram?

Mǎn Bǎo nodded, trusting Kē Kē.

Zhōu Dàlǎng felt a pang in his heart.

Mǎn Bǎo continued, "It's only about one hundred and sixty wen."

Zhōu Dàlǎng felt the pain even more.

Seemingly unsatisfied with his reaction, Mǎn Bǎo continued, "Mother's medicinal herbs include privet fruit." I've seen the prescription, and my mother collected eight different herbs in the county, costing twenty wen. The privet fruit alone weighs three qian. I heard that the most expensive herb in my mother's collection is angelica.

Zhōu Dàlǎng did the math himself and realized that privet fruit must not be cheap, but he had only sold it for fifty wen per catty.

Zhōu Dàlǎng said, "Next time, we will prepare the medicine ourselves."

This idea had been suggested by Mǎn Bǎo before, and at that time, his sister-in-law had even mocked him for it. This time, she mercilessly ridiculed her brother, saying, "Our family only has one type of herb." Other people's medicine is prepared in sets, not bought one by one.

Zhōu Dàlǎng fell silent.

Although Zhou Erlang was also uncomfortable, he had a more open-minded perspective. "Some people also earn money through their skills." Mǎn Bǎo mentioned that transporting and delivering these medicinal herbs incurs costs and entails risks. Furthermore, herbal shops should have doctors on staff.

Zhōu Èrlǎng was somewhat envious. "This is the benefit of having skills." Little uncle was right before. "Anything in this world can belong to someone else, but the skills you learn will always be yours."

Zhōu Dàlǎng nodded, then realized something was wrong and glared at him.

Mǎn Bǎo was curious and asked, "Second brother, who is little uncle? His words make so much sense. I want to discuss with him when we return to the village.

Zhōu Èrlǎng forced a smile and said, "You misheard. It's not the little uncle; it's the village head who said that." He is a high-ranking official, so please be respectful when you see him, okay?

Mǎn Bǎo grumbled discontentedly, "I'm not deaf." He clearly said, "Little uncle."

But Zhōu Dàlǎng and Zhōu Èrlǎng didn't give her a chance to ask again. They just picked her up and put her on the cart, then pushed the cart away.

After walking a long way, Mǎn Bǎo suddenly remembered, "Big brother, second brother, I haven't bought you pastries to eat yet."

The brothers laughed and said, "We're not hungry, and the county town is not far from home. We'll be there soon."

How could it not be far?

Zhōu Wǔlǎng and Zhōu Liùlǎng hastily consumed the remaining dry rations, managing to partially fill their stomachs.

They needed to walk back quickly.

The brothers took turns helping to push the cart, while Mǎn Bǎo and the four nieces and nephews alternated sitting on the cart, which made it easier to move.

But it took a lot of effort to go uphill.

So, Mǎn Bǎo always found various excuses to slide down from the cart and insisted on walking.

The Zhou brothers appreciated her thoughtfulness, recognizing their fatigue. But they also felt sorry for her because she was still young.

Little did they know how happy Mǎn Bǎo was. Along the way, she found patches of grass by the roadside, allowing Kē Kē to scan and record the flowers and plants that had not been documented before. Surprisingly, she managed to pluck some without anyone noticing.

Everyone had already become accustomed to Mǎn Bǎo's habit of picking flowers and plucking grass. She had been doing this since she was young, and it was well-known throughout the village. She would even sneak into other people's vegetable gardens and mistake their vegetables for weeds. So her habit was not just known to the Zhōu family, but to the entire village.

When she happily went into the woods to pick flowers and grass along the way, everyone remained calm.

They returned home in this manner, chatting and laughing.

Not only were the Zhou brothers hungry, but Man Bao was also feeling hungry. She hurried into the kitchen and asked Qián Shì to make dinner.

Qián Shì looked at the empty sky and couldn't help but wonder, "Who eats dinner at this time?" If you're hungry, I'll make you a pancake.

"What about Big Brother and Second Brother?"

Qián Shì also felt sorry for them, but the family had just sold two bags of grain, so they had to be frugal with their food.

After learning about the money earned today from Dàlǎng, Qián Shì raised her voice, "Since the children are hungry, let's cook some rice. Let's cook extra so we can make porridge later to fill our stomachs." Let's have dinner a little earlier today.

The children cheered, and even Zhōu Wǔlǎng was especially eager to help in the kitchen.

Qián Shì quickly chased the boys out and had the maidservants help with cooking.

Mǎn Bǎo then brought out the lamb and eagerly handed it to Qián Shì. "Sister-in-law, let's have lamb for dinner, stewed with yams."

"What are yams?"

Zhōu Wǔlǎng took out the yam and boasted about its power, the substantial earnings it had brought them, and how it was a luxury reserved for the wealthy.

Qián Shì was amazed, "Medicine is also a kind of poison." "Why should we eat it if we're not sick?"

"This can be used as a cooking ingredient," Man Bao said. "And it's delicious."

Qián Shì asked her, "Have you tried it?"

Mǎn Bǎo shook her head, drooling. In her mind, Kē Kē mischievously displayed several images of dishes made with yams from the museum's collection. They all looked so delicious, especially the yam stew with chicken.

Seeing Mǎn Bǎo drooling, Qián Shì couldn't help but laugh and wipe his mouth, saying, "You're always well-fed." Why are you so greedy?

But she agreed to cook it and asked for the recipe. Learning that it was as simple as peeling and cutting the yams and stewing them, she patted her chest and said, "This is easy." "I'll make it for you later."