Standing in place, Zhao Liangcai knew for the first time that Qin Junyao could also speak so sharply.
Suozi reached out and pulled Zhao Liangcai aside, giving him a way to save face.
He looked at Zhao Liangcai's face, which seemed to disbelieve that the words came from Qin Junyao, and couldn't help but laugh. He had already told him that she was Old Mrs. Qin's granddaughter.
Qin Junyao grumbled as she thought about the饼皮, getting angrier. She turned around, reached into the empty basket where the bowls were, and grabbed a large bunch of cilantro with both hands. Some of it was already wilted.
"Second Brother, hold this for me," Qin Junyao stretched her hands forward, tilting her head back. The smell of cilantro was too strong.
Qin Erniu stood up and took the cilantro from his younger sister's hands, not knowing what she wanted him to do.
"Rinse it in that bucket, then add it to the roujiamo for my mother," Qin Junyao tried to stay as far away from the cilantro as possible.
Qin Mu had been watching her daughter. Hearing this, she put down the knife she was holding, turned around, and took the cilantro from Qin Erniu's hands, asking Qin Junyao, "Junyao, add it all in?"
Qin Junyao lowered her voice, "The soldiers are rich, add more cilantro and less meat. My second aunt also adds a lot to the noodles she makes."
A quarter of an hour later, a row of soldiers from the eight Salt Guard tribes squatted in front of the donkey cart, slurping noodles, taking big bites of steamed buns, and eating garlic cloves.
"Hammer, do you want more chili? I'll get some more," Suozi stood up with his bowl.
After eating, he saw how delicious everyone else's food looked and couldn't help but get a bowl for himself. It was much tastier than what they made in their mess hall.
"Get me three steamed buns, with lots of cilantro."
"Three? Can you finish them?" Suozi expressed doubt about Zhao Liangcai's appetite.
"I'll save them for tonight," Zhao Liangcai said, sitting on a rock and slowly eating his noodles.
Suozi shook his head. What a hypocrite. He had just told them not to come, and now he wanted to save his dinner.
Chewing the cilantro in the noodles, Zhao Liangcai felt his headache subside, strengthening his resolve.
.
It was Shenshi (3 PM to 5 PM) when Qin Junyao and the others packed up and returned home. This was usually when the Qin family ate their afternoon meal.
No one at home had thought about eating today; they were all waiting for Qin Father and the others to return.
"Grandma, Third Uncle, Father is back!" Qin Xiaoyu ran back from the intersection where she had gone to wait for Qin Father to report the news.
Qin Grandma came out of the house with her hands on her hips. "What are you shouting about? Do you want the whole village to know? Button up your clothes properly. I don't know who you take after, being so boisterous for a girl."
Qin Xiaoyu shut her mouth and looked at her grandmother. Qin Sen also looked at his mother, understanding the unspoken meaning.
The donkey cart entered the courtyard, and Qin Mother helped Qin Father off.
Seeing Qin Father bruised and beaten, Qin Xiaoyu grinned and burst into tears. While crying, she still asked who had beaten him and vowed to avenge her father.
Qin Erniu, without anyone asking, recounted the entire incident, even detailing how much silver Zhao Liangcai finally paid, making it impossible for Qin Junyao to hide any money for Qin Mother and her second aunt.
"Alright, very good. You get beaten, and then you know how to fight. That's good," Qin Grandma showed no concern for her son's injuries, but rather seemed pleased that her son had learned how to fight.
"Second Child, how badly did you beat the person? We don't have to pay any compensation, do we?" Qin Grandma suddenly remembered that after Qin Lin got into fights in the past, her family had to pay some medical expenses.
No matter how unreasonable she was, she couldn't refuse. Qin Lin used to break bones or dislocate jaws when he beat ordinary people. It was only in recent years, as he got older, that his attacks became more measured.
Qin Erniu smacked his lips. "His nose was broken, and several ribs were fractured. But Deputy Officer Zhou said that they were the ones who provoked the fight first, and since both sides were injured, it was settled."
Qin Grandma nodded and told Qin Erniu to go to the Hou family to get some medicinal wine. They would unload the cart first.
"Is this the medicinal herb?" Qin Grandma dug through the straw and asked Qin Junyao about the Cistanche deserticola.
"Yes. Put it in a cool place. I'll take it to Qubingtang in Yan County tomorrow morning to sell. Grandma, can you let my third uncle go with me tomorrow? Doctor Sheng is in Yan County, and it's a good opportunity for Doctor Sheng to take a look."
"Alright. After we unload, go inside and calculate how much money your mother and the others earned."
In Qin Grandma's room, Qin Junyao listened to Qin Father groaning in pain as Qin Erniu massaged him with medicinal wine in another room, while she poured the copper coins from a box onto Qin Grandma's kang.
Then came stringing the coins with hemp rope and calculating the profits.
"Five hundred wen? The food my sister-in-law and I prepared earned five hundred wen?" Qin Second Aunt couldn't believe what she heard. A day's earnings were more than her husband's monthly income.
Qin Junyao put down the ledger. "Second Aunt, it won't always be this profitable. Today was a special situation, and everything sold out. Besides, the salt workers won't spend a lot of money on food every day. If we can guarantee one-third of the income in the future, that would be good."
Qin Second Aunt didn't understand "one-third" and anxiously asked her niece, "What is one-third?"
"About one hundred and sixty wen."
"That's still a lot, a lot."
Qin Grandma looked at the strings of copper coins on the kang. She turned and took out a gray cloth bag from somewhere, and poured some silver fragments from it.
Qin Grandma took out a large piece and placed it in front of Qin Sen. "Third Child, go to the Hou family now and ask for their help to buy more potatoes."
Then she reached out and gathered all the copper coins on the kang in front of her. "We'll use these to buy grain in Yan County tomorrow."
"Big Bull, go with your brother to unload the frame from the donkey cart. We'll sell food again the day after tomorrow."
Qin Junyao stopped Qin Grandma, who was about to get off the kang to find a bag to put the copper coins in. "Grandma, let's wait a couple of days to see which item sells well before buying grain. Isn't it a bit early to buy now?"
"It's not early. Many families in the village have already dried their grain and sold it in the county. If we buy now, it will be new grain, and we might even get a discount if we buy more."
Speaking of grain, Qin Grandma remembered something and said to Qin Second Aunt, "Next time you go, sell less meat and pure white flour. Didn't Old Madam Ma teach you how to make that stone cake and pickled vegetables? Make some of that to sell."
"Grandma," Qin Junyao stopped Qin Grandma again. "That stone cake has low profit margins and is troublesome to make."
Seeing that she wouldn't let her go until she explained clearly, Qin Grandma sat back down on the kang. "Yaoyao, have you forgotten why we moved here? Now that we have money, if we don't buy grain, what will we eat if grain prices go up? What will you sell?"
"The stone cake keeps well. If there are leftovers, they won't spoil, and we can sell them the next day. The key is that it can be made with bean flour, corn flour, or even potatoes."
Qin Junyao had plenty of grain in her space and didn't feel a shortage of food when she went to Yan County. She had truly forgotten that there were a large number of refugees in the Qing Kingdom with no food, and in some places, the people had even rebelled.
She couldn't help but admire Qin Grandma in her heart.
"Grandma, you really think long-term. Were you waiting for the new grain before buying it?"
Qin Grandma patted her headscarf and gave her granddaughter a look that said she knew. She quickly got off the kang to find a bag.
Waiting for new grain? She had just thought of buying more grain to stockpile. But she couldn't say that.
As night fell, Qin Junyao planted the small Cistanche deserticola and the Haloxylon ammodendron branches in her space. Then, she compared the plants in her space with the herbal illustration given by Doctor Sheng.
Afterward, she saw ginseng.