Chapter 22: A Major Oversight
As the sun gradually set, Lin Shifu, busy all day, finally got to pack up his stall.
Today's rabbit meat sold quite well. Although there were some leftovers, she managed to break even and make some profit.
However, after adding up all the small change, she was still short about one qian to redeem the jade pendant.
As the saying goes, "A penny can stump a hero," and Lin Ruanruan now deeply understood its meaning.
She planned to take the leftover cold rabbit meat home for herself. When it came to meals, nothing could compare to the fragrant and spicy rabbit meat.
After thinking it over, she discreetly bought some potatoes and green vegetables from her portable supermarket.
The potatoes were for making spicy potato slices to sell tomorrow, and the vegetables were for herself, as she hadn't had a proper meal with vegetables since she arrived in this world.
Buying these made her seem even further from redeeming the jade pendant.
Fortunately, there was still one day left before the agreed date. She planned to sell potatoes well tomorrow and definitely redeem the pendant.
The meal with green vegetables was particularly delicious, and that night, Lin Ruanruan surprisingly ate an extra bowl of rice.
Since she had the cold rabbit meat, she didn't cook any other meat dishes. The fatty pork that Bai Cheng'an brought back held no appeal for her.
She didn't understand why this man always bought the fattiest meat. Didn't he know that ribs and lean meat were more flavorful? What's appealing about that fatty, greasy meat?
Bai Cheng'an always had a big appetite but didn't like vegetables.
Even though Lin Ruanruan's cooked vegetables were refreshing, he still refused to try them, focusing only on the cold rabbit meat.
Such bad eating habits could not be tolerated by Lin Ruanruan.
After giving him a large helping of vegetables, she lowered her head and finished the last grain of rice in her bowl.
"Do... do... don't... waste," she said, setting down her empty bowl and raising her eyebrows as she stammered.
Looking at the bowl of "cow's grass" in front of him, Bai Cheng'an frowned.
But seeing Lin Ruanruan's bright eyes staring at him, he didn't say anything.
He ended up eating the half-bowl of vegetables, leaving only some bones and chili from the rabbit meat.
As Lin Ruanruan was cleaning up the dishes, Bai Cheng'an brought something out from behind the house.
With just a glance, her eyebrows twitched violently.
What Bai Cheng'an was dragging out with both hands was a half-grown muntjac deer.
Judging roughly, the deer weighed around thirty or forty jin.
"You sold the rabbit meat well yesterday. Do you want to sell this?" Bai Cheng'an threw the deer on the ground, clapping his hands with a smile.
It was a yellow-skinned deer, and whatever method Bai Cheng'an used to catch it, it had no visible wounds but was already dead.
"Poi... poi... poisoned?" Squatting down, Lin Ruanruan touched the deer's smooth fur and asked.
If it was poisoned, could it still be eaten?
"No," Bai Cheng'an replied quickly. "Poisoned game doesn't sell well."
He said it so naturally, but Lin Ruanruan was exasperated.
What do you mean, poisoned game doesn't sell well? Do you hear yourself?
Poisoned game is not edible; it could kill someone!
But since the deer wasn't poisoned, she could cook it and sell it.
Deer meat is different from rabbit meat and couldn't be made into cold dishes.
After thinking it over, she decided to cook the meat first and buy some small earthen pots from the portable supermarket tomorrow for packaging.
This way, people could take the pots home, simmer them over a small fire, and have a delicious meal of deer meat with some warm wine on a cold day.
After Bai Cheng'an skinned the deer perfectly, she understood how it died.
There was a severely swollen ligature mark around its neck, indicating it was caught in Bai Cheng'an's trap and strangled to death.
Hmm, how pitiful.
When she cooked it later, she would add plenty of seasoning to make it worth its sacrifice.
Deer meat, although highly nutritious, has a fatal flaw: it has a strong gamey taste. Unlike the muttony taste of lamb, this gamey taste is different and cannot be masked without plenty of seasoning.
Fortunately, Lin Ruanruan was skillful and had a variety of seasonings from her portable supermarket. When the deer meat was ready, it tasted even better than the cold rabbit meat from the previous day.
Bai Cheng'an ate a bowl of the meat she handed him and then noticed that she had also cleaned and prepared the deer offal and put it into the pot.
"Can you eat this stuff?" Bai Cheng'an asked suspiciously, frowning slightly.
"Of... of course," Lin Ruanruan said, taking out the cleaned deer offal, cutting it up, and putting it back in the pot to stir-fry.
She casually picked up a bottle of cooking wine and poured about half of it into the pot before stopping.
"Where did you buy all these seasonings?" Bai Cheng'an stared at the glass bottle in her hand, his expression increasingly puzzled.
Lin Ruanruan's hand paused, and a flicker of panic flashed in her eyes.
But Bai Cheng'an, busy adding firewood for her, didn't notice her unease.
"From... from... the... grocery... store," Lin Ruanruan stammered out the excuse she had prepared long ago.
"I've never seen seasonings like these before," Bai Cheng'an muttered.
The girl with the spatula smiled sweetly and didn't continue the conversation. The rough man assumed she was too tired to talk and didn't press further.
Lin Ruanruan raised her eyebrows in relief. She actually appreciated Bai Cheng'an's straightforward nature. If he were the type to ask too many questions, she would have been exposed after just a few sentences.
Deer offal doesn't need to cook as long as deer meat. But by the time she finished with both dishes, it was already dark.
Lin Ruanruan scooped out a small bowl of the deer offal, and she and Bai Cheng'an shared it before washing up and going to sleep.
That night, she suddenly regretted giving Bai Cheng'an so much to eat.
Deer meat is very nourishing, and the deer offal, especially the deer whip, is even more potent.
She hadn't thought much about it while cooking, but when she heard Bai Cheng'an's heavy breathing beside her, she realized her mistake.
He was a strong, robust man. How could she have given him such potent food?
Listening to his heavy breathing and feeling his hot body, Lin Ruanruan didn't need to ask to know what was wrong.
In this situation, she could only breathe slowly and try to minimize her presence.
Since their relationship hadn't progressed further, she didn't want anything inappropriate to happen now.
The wooden bed was narrow, and Bai Cheng'an was big. Even though Lin Ruanruan deliberately slept to the side, she couldn't avoid touching his arm.
His scorching body felt like a branding iron, and his heavy breathing stirred her heart.
Biting her lip, she repeated in her mind that she was guilty until she finally fell asleep in a daze.
In a half-conscious state, she seemed to feel the person beside her get up and go out, followed by the sound of water splashing.
When he came back, his body seemed a little cooler...