Made one liang of silver selling sweet potatoes?
Qin Junyao glanced back at the people following them and asked Grandma Qin, "Did you earn it from behind?"
Grandma Qin raised an eyebrow unconsciously, making the worry lines on her forehead more prominent. "Smart. Guess who you earned it from?"
Seeing Grandma Qin's smug expression, Qin Junyao knew it must have been from Madam Qian.
"That's right. They still have some cakes and rice left. Once they're finished, they'll all have to buy from me." Speaking of this, Grandma Qin patted her granddaughter's shoulder. "You work hard."
Qin Junyao nodded, understanding. This meant she was to "produce" more things.
"Right, Grandma, has Fuzi come to eat yet?" Qin Junyao remembered she had saved a sweet potato for Fuzi.
The break time was limited. Dr. Sheng and his grandchildren were eating roasted sweet potatoes as they entered the forest to gather herbs. Qin Junyao, wanting to learn, could only follow suit. She entered the woods with Dr. Sheng and the others before everyone else had started eating.
"He's here. If he hadn't come, I wouldn't have earned any silver. Tonight, I'll have your second uncle and young Master Hou hunt some game, and have your mother use her skills to make the meal fragrant enough that that boy will come sniffing."
Grandma Qin thought about seizing this opportunity to make money. If she did well, she could not only cover Xiao San's medical expenses but perhaps even earn enough for a house.
Qin Junyao thought the words were not right. "Grandma, didn't you get the silver from Fuzi's mother? You asked for Fuzi's meal money."
"Just now you said you were smart, and now you're foolish. A stepmother like Madam Qian, if it weren't for Fuzi being her son, do you think that little hammer..."
"Ah, I shouldn't call him that. Do you think that bearded god of war would take her?"
"If it were me, I'd seize the opportunity, throw her into this forest, and once we were out, I'd say she was attacked by wild beasts and lost. Could the authorities even investigate the mountain?"
Grandma Qin's eyes darted back and forth. She wasn't sure if her granddaughter being enlightened by a Bodhisattva was a good thing or not.
It was good to spontaneously produce food from time to time, but her mind had become much slower.
She used to understand these things immediately, but now, even with such clear explanations, she still looked confused.
Qin Junyao was a little slow to catch on. In modern times, she had lived a comfortable life thanks to her grandfather's pampering. Later, when she became famous, she was surrounded by "good people."
The biggest blow she had ever suffered was the departure of her parents.
"Oh dear, if Madam Qian wants to control the bearded god of war, she has to make Fuzi obedient to her. If Fuzi wants to eat roasted sweet potatoes, wouldn't she have to spend money to buy them?"
"Then, then why does Fuzi's mother want to control General Zhao?" Qin Junyao became even more bewildered by Grandma Qin's hurried tone.
"Ah, what's wrong with you? After her husband died, she had to rely on her son. If her son was too young to rely on, she'd rely on someone else's son."
"I'm not telling you anymore, you're so stupid." Grandma Qin, seeing Qin Junyao's expression of sudden realization, really wanted to slap her.
But she held back for the moment and hurried a few steps forward, clapping Qin Erniu hard on the back from behind.
Qin Erniu stumbled from his grandmother's clap and dared not speak out in anger or fear.
Qin Junyao touched her nose, feeling a little embarrassed. She wasn't stupid, just slow to process things.
Afterward, she went to find her father and showed him the sprouted leaves from the bag of medicinal seeds she had exchanged, asking if he recognized them. If not, she would ask Sheng Yining again.
Upon seeing three types of plants and learning they were cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants, Qin Junyao realized she had been deceived. That bag of seeds was not for medicinal herbs but for vegetables.
These "medicinal" seeds were planted in her space, and she hadn't dared to water them a second time. Now they were all seedlings. If the original medicinal herbs were large trees, she wouldn't be able to move them when they grew.
Who would have thought.
With ample time, Qin Junyao wanted to plan her space. Now, it seemed she needed to re-identify everything she didn't recognize before she could plan.
From her father, she learned that cucumbers were climbing vines and needed stakes for them to grow up. Qin Junyao confirmed that farming was much harder than learning to play the qin.
There was no water source at the resting place that night. Qin Erniu and some of the younger generation from the Hou family followed Dr. Sheng to a small stream to fetch water.
The Hou brothers, four of them, along with Qin Lin, went into the woods to find wild game.
Zhao Liangcai, following behind, saw Qin Lin and the others enter the mountain and called some people to follow. It was getting dark, and the forest was not safe.
Qin Junyao and Qin Xiaoyu helped Qin mother remove the mushrooms that had been threaded onto strings. They didn't know how Qin mother and Qin second aunt had managed to thread the mushrooms while traveling.
"Mushrooms can't be kept in a basket for too long. Small, tender ones like these get ruined if pressed. Threading them and hanging them on the pole is better for preservation," Qin mother said as she trimmed the mushroom stems with a small knife, not forgetting to teach her daughters about cooking.
"Sister Qin, where are Hou Liang and Hou Shan?" Fuzi ran over from behind, looking for the Hou twins to play with, but didn't see them.
Qin Junyao smiled and replied, "They went with their mother to dig for wild vegetables. Wait here."
"Okay, I'll help Sister Qin."
Fuzi followed Qin Junyao and Qin mother, busying himself and having fun. This was something he couldn't experience with Madam Qian and Zhao Rui.
Qin Lin and the others returned with Zhao Liangcai, their expressions relaxed, indicating they had had success.
"We cornered a roe deer. Sister-in-law, please take the trouble to be the cook."
"I'll have my wife come over to help. It would be a waste for good ingredients to be handled by anyone else," Hou Jing said as he handed a skinned roe deer to Qin mother.
"No, no, I can do it myself," Qin mother said as she took the roe deer, indicating she could handle it.
Hou Jing smiled but said nothing, turning to find Aunt Hou, who was washing wild vegetables, to help.
Qin mother put the roe deer aside and pulled Qin Junyao, who was curiously trying to look at the roe deer skin, to the side. "Junyao, um, can you find some more potatoes and chili peppers?"
Qin Junyao nodded. This was the second time Qin mother had asked her for ingredients. It seemed Qin mother either loved cooking or had high standards for dishes.
In the past, the family was poor, and her mother's culinary skills weren't showcased. A rabbit stew, however, had established Qin mother's position as the cook.
Qin Junyao carried a basket and walked around the vicinity. She soon returned with half a basket of potatoes, chili peppers, and scallions.
Qin mother helped Qin Junyao take the basket off her shoulders and advised her to bring Da Niu next time. Qin Junyao agreed. She really should bring her eldest brother; she couldn't carry the full basket.
The expansion of her space and the vegetables had sharpened her senses, but why hadn't it made her incredibly strong?
Qin Junyao, lost in thought, suddenly remembered that the bamboo slips in her space did not mention the well. In her opinion, a well at the center of the space should be of utmost importance, so why was it not introduced?
Or perhaps it was introduced, but it was hidden within those characters she didn't recognize.
Alas, Qin Junyao, who had received a modern higher education, had become illiterate in her space.
The dinner, when it was ready, didn't spread its fragrance for a hundred miles, but it did spread for tens of meters, at least enough for Madam Qian and the others to smell it.
"Mother, I'm so hungry," Zhao Rui, her morning arrogance gone, now had a rumbling stomach and aching legs from exhaustion.
"Wait a little longer. Your brother went with them. He'll bring back food," Madam Qian said, trying to comfort her daughter, though she didn't fully believe it herself.
However, she believed that Zhao Liangcai wouldn't let them starve.
"What's the use of Zhao Liangcai going with them? He's a general, but he's a coward," Zhao Rui couldn't understand why Zhao Liangcai, her own brother, hadn't helped her that morning and had sent them away.
Those people were just commoners. If they were disobedient, couldn't he just cut them down?