Chapter 36
She carried the basket into the house and saw nobody in the courtyard so she locked the gate and entered into the house. Offloading the things she had some noise in the kitchen and headed there to see Xiao Shan bent over looking for something. Sensing her presence he turned around and their eyes met before he greeted.
"You're back"
"Yes. What are you looking for?"
"The oil barrel"
She entered the kitchen and went to the left and got it from the basket she hid it inside and gave it to him.
"Thank you"
"What do you need it for"
"I'm making wild vegetables and want to add some oil"
Su Ying felt her face scrunch up at the thought of the vegetables but she said nothing. Not seeing the kids she asked him
"Where are the boys?"
"At Qui Fei's house"
"Ooh"
The air turned silent and she feeling awkward decided to go bathe. Fetching water from the vat she carried it to her room to wipe down. Shutting the door she flashed into the space and soaked for a while then arranged the property deed on an empty room where she also kept the money before changing her clothes and coming out. To avoid suspicion she washed the dirty clothes in the water she came with and rinsed it before carrying outside to go pour it away.
As she finished and kept the bucket she saw Xiao Shan looking at the wok.
"I thought it was necessary to buy another one since it's inconvenient to cook with one pot"
"Hm. How much did it cost?"
"Over ten taels. Could you please build another cooking place beside the other one in the kitchen?"
"Okay"
She continued spreading the clothes in the courtyard thinking of what next to do. Xiao Shan stared deeply at the woman who was busy with her clothes thinking of how she was always doing things for them without thinking about herself. He noticed that she had also lost some weight and felt his heart ache at her selfless actions he resolved to treat her better.
Su Ying didn't know that she had been tagged a selfless person or she would have retorted that she was benefitting from it too. Since the kids were playing and her husband had already prepared lunch she decided to go sew her clothes in her room. As she entered she got the thread and needle and began sewing an underwear for herself as she found the ones of this era troublesome. Her fingers nimbly began sewing the cloth and soon she had two sets of undies including her bra with the cotton fabric which was the most suitable.
As she sewed she remembered that not many wore bras but only clothes that support the breast. She could also remember that it was later introduce but she was sure it wasn't now. She could start producing it now in simple styles padded with cotton and also sanitary pads which was a headache for her but cotton was limited and she had no way to get the seeds. There were many opportunities to make money but she was limited as one person which was why she planned to employ sister Fei in embroidery work.
One at a time so she could only concentrate on the fairy tofu to earn money to run the restaurant before deciding on anything else. She planned to enter the mountain to look for any high quality herbs to sell tomorrow to earn more money. She was a person of action so after sewing she packed it one side and then carried the basket into the mountains to chop the fairy Tree and also catch some prey and herbs too.
Walking familiarly into the mountain range she arrived at the fairy Tree and began chopping down the trees. She cut till she was tired before drinking some spring water and began arranging them into the basket before looking around for any prey or herbs. She walked further the path inside the mountains and saw a familiar leaf so she walked closer to examine it. She was elated to confirm her guess, they were indeed potatoes. Potatoes were not yet famously eaten by people because they feared it was poisonous which was usually because they are the sprouts and those with green spots which was harmful so people refrained from eating it.
She quickly started digging and dug up ten potatoes which was two times larger than modern potatoes and put it into her basket. Seems like another means of income had arrived, she looked around and realized she had stumbled on a plot of potatoe land which was grown haphazardly meaning no one planted it. She marked the spot and continued exploring and then saw a licorice hidden under some wild plants but her sharp eyes spotted it she began digging it out.
She dug out three licorice hidden and placed it carefully into her space. Satisfied with today's harvest she went back and carried her basket home. There were many treasures in the mountain was hadn't been discovered so she planned to make the best of it. She had to earn money to buy the mountain and then build a fence over it to avoid trespassing. She walked for an hour before arriving at her house due to how far she had gone inside.
The kids were back and happily came to hug her. As usual they were studying with their father and had already taken their bath. She urged them to go bathe while she went to offload the things inside the kitchen. She came out with a potato and gave it to Xiao Shan who tensed up at the sight.
"What are you doing with those potatoes?"
"Cooking it obviously"
"It's poisonous"
"Don't worry. The only reason people were harmed by it is because you eat the sprouts and those with green patches which is not good for the body"
Hearing her explanation he relaxed,so that was why those that are it were affected.
"This ones I picked are harmless and good so don't worry"
After explaining it she began cutting it to prepare dinner.