Chapter 328: Chapter 174: Unity Is Strength

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Fang glanced at Li Changyu and couldn’t help but laugh. "We were just talking about this."

She then repeated what Li Changyu had told her.

Jinxiang was overjoyed to hear this and hurriedly asked Mrs. Fang how to prepare the bamboo shoots.

Mrs. Fang smiled and said to her, "This isn’t something you can rush. It’s late today. Come over tomorrow, and we can figure it out together. If we make something good, we can have Changyu help sell it. You could earn some money and save up for your dowry."

Everyone started laughing, and Jinxiang blushed in embarrassment.

********

Meanwhile, at the Zheng family home, after Zhang Huai and Li Changyu had left, Juhua said to Qingmu, "Brother, next year, after we sell the secret recipe for sausage-making, we should buy land and build a house in Xiatang Market."

Qingmu’s thinking was no longer confined to the village. As soon as he heard Juhua’s words, he understood her meaning—she wanted to stake a claim in Xiatang Market before anyone else.

Regardless of whether the market developed in the future or not, they had to secure a plot of land first.

He nodded. "We have to buy. If we wait until Xiatang Market takes off, it might be too late."

He then asked, "Juhua, do you have other things you want to make and sell?"

Juhua laughed. "Oh, yes! I’ve suddenly realized there are so many things to make. But I can’t get to them all at once. We’ll have to take it slow. Besides, Changyu hasn’t established a firm footing in Qinghui yet. We can’t rely on the Chen Family for everything, let alone Old Mr. Fang. We have to make a name for ourselves first. Only then will people be more interested in what we have to offer."

Qingmu nodded. Seeing her nestled in the foot warmer, unwilling to move, he thought about how her health really wasn’t good. She always got very cold in the winter, and she had suffered quite a bit while making sausages recently. His heart ached for her.

After a moment of thought, he said to Juhua, "I think you should let Liu Xiaomei and Li Jinxiang try making some things too. Didn’t you say their cooking skills are quite good? More people means more ideas. You can’t think of everything by yourself."

Juhua grinned happily. "You’ve hit the nail on the head, Brother. I’ve already talked to them about it. Right now, each of them is working on one thing. Once they’ve perfected it, they’ll bring it for everyone to taste and see if it’s good enough to sell. If it is, we’ll discuss if there are easier, simpler ways to lower the cost."

Qingmu’s eyes lit up. "That’s a great idea. If there’s money to be made, they’ll surely put more effort into this than their usual cooking."

Juhua let out a PFFT of laughter. "Isn’t that the truth! Not just Liu Xiaomei and Li Jinxiang, who both love to cook, I even gave Meizi a task—to work with her grandmother to improve the flavor of the chili flakes and pickled ginger. They have to make them taste great. Those two ingredients have a lot of uses."

Qingmu asked, "So what are Liu Xiaomei and Jinxiang making?"

Juhua said, "Liu Xiaomei is working on roasted melon seeds. As for Jinxiang, I didn’t tell her what to do; I told her to think of something herself. I also spoke with Zhuzi and Lin Zi, and Xiu and Cui. I told them all to try and come up with a new food item. It has to be made with things we grow on our farms, and the seasonings can’t be too expensive."

She smiled smugly, feeling that her move was brilliant. ’It’s like establishing a food research and development team. With everyone working together, what couldn’t they accomplish?’

She had never looked down on these people.

’If not for the common people, how could several thousand years of civilization have been built by just one or two outstanding individuals? Wasn’t it accumulated by generation after generation of ancestors through their daily lives?’

’Cooking on an earthen stove, the cook has to manage both what’s in the pot and the fire beneath it. The heat is very difficult to control, so many people lose patience. They can cook for a lifetime without their skills improving. Besides, personal interests vary; some people just hate cooking. If you ask them to work on something like this, it’s simply impossible for them to achieve anything.’

’That’s why she only sought out those who were better at cooking and enjoyed making new dishes to take on this task.’

’For this reason, she had even made a point of speaking with Shi Tou’s mother, asking her to have Shi Tou’s maternal grandmother keep an eye out and try to come up with something too—her cooking skills were even better than Juhua’s own—and if she came up with a good product, she could earn a lot of money.’

Shi Tou’s mother had agreed ecstatically. She had seen with her own eyes how Juhua made money from these ventures and even brought her family in on it. Of course, she believed and was grateful to her.

Seeing Juhua’s smug expression, Qingmu pictured a group of girls gathered together, competitively presenting one new dish after another, and he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

********

After a flurry of activity, New Year’s Eve finally arrived.

This year, although the harvest from the fields hadn’t changed much, everyone’s efforts in raising pigs had paid off.

It was different from years past, when a family was considered fortunate just to slaughter one pig. Some would even keep their pig until spring or the wheat harvest to get a better price. This year, however, every family had a pig to slaughter. What made everyone happiest was that after butchering one, they still had a big, fat pig left in the pen. Some households even had two, which they were saving to slaughter and sell in the spring.

Although not every household had struck it rich like the Zheng Family—as everyone privately believed—for farming families, having a few extra taels of silver at the end of the year and still having fat pigs in the sty waiting to be butchered... one can only imagine how happy that made them.

As a result, the New Year’s celebration in Qingnan Village was livelier than ever before.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Zhang Huai and Zhang Yang came over to the Zheng family home to visit, as they usually did. Little Shitou and Gou Dan tagged along, and Gou Dan also brought two small jars that Meizi had asked him to give to Juhua.

The group happily wished Zheng Changhe and Mrs. Yang a happy new year first. Zhang Huai then sat down next to Qingmu, while the younger ones gathered around Juhua’s foot warmer.

Little Shitou said to Juhua with regret, "My little sister fell asleep early. I was going to carry her over to play with you, Sister Juhua." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)