CHAPTER 292: CHAPTER 281: REFUSING TO RELEASE

Jiang Mangzi glared at his wife, Mrs. Zeng, "Why roast them? Roasting is wasting them, better to boil them tomorrow."

If they get burnt, you lose a bite, and that’s a waste of good food.

Mrs. Zeng reluctantly put down the sweet potatoes. Eating wild greens every day made her queasy, and she wanted to roast a sweet potato to satisfy her craving, but wasn’t allowed.

Jiang Haiqiu glanced at his father, "Dad, let mom roast a few, I want to eat them."

Jiang Mangzi saw that his only son wanted to eat them, and finally nodded in agreement, "Roast two, one for you and Haiqiu each, I won’t eat, I’ll just drink some wild greens soup."

Mrs. Zeng happily took two sweet potatoes to roast.

Jiang Mangzi took a sip of the wild greens soup before asking Jiang Haiqiu, "Weren’t you supposed to deliver wild greens? How did you end up with stuff from the Yu Family?"

Jiang Mangzi thought it was Jiang Haiqiu who had asked the Yu Family, feeling a bit displeased with his son’s lack of understanding.

Jiang Haiqiu explained, "It was Uncle Yu who insisted on giving them to me. I said no, but he insisted I take them."

Jiang Mangzi sighed, "Though the Yu Family is wealthy, they aren’t overbearing; they are decent, honest folk."

Jiang Haiqiu nodded and told his father about the Yu Family wanting to buy their peaches. After explaining, he whispered, "Dad, don’t let mom know about this. Otherwise, she’ll definitely tell people in the village, and if my grandparents find out, they might come and make a fuss."

Jiang Mangzi understood deeply since he knew exactly what his wife was like, one who couldn’t keep a secret if it were precious.

"Don’t worry. If your grandparents come to make a fuss, we’ll give them at most five hundred coins for retirement, not a penny more," Jiang Mangzi said, feeling quite angry at his parents’ selfishness.

Jiang Haiqiu felt reassured by his father’s assurance that he wouldn’t agree to return the peach orchard, leaving his grandparents without leverage.

The Yu Family, five members in total, after devouring the watermelon, Yu Xiaolian started worrying about the packaging of the canned yellow peaches.

During this time, don’t even mention glass jars; there simply aren’t any, so they can only use clay pots.

Moreover, these had to be well sterilized, sealed with wax paper, and tied with string.

But how long the shelf life of homemade canned syrup can actually be is hard to say.

Yu Xiaolian decided to first use yellow peaches from her supermarket to make a few cans and see.

It must last at least six months, otherwise, this canned yellow peach business might not be feasible.

After leaving some supermarket fruits, along with some milk powder and tissue paper, for Mrs. Sun and the two little ones, Yu Xiaolian returned to Luocheng.

The first thing upon returning to Luocheng was to visit Zhang Zhihe’s relative who makes clay pots to order jars for canning.

She didn’t dare to order too many, just two thousand for now.

She calculated that if she couldn’t use three thousand jin of peaches, she could store them in her space without fear of spoilage.

Before leaving the ceramics kiln, Yu Xiaolian even asked for five small clay pots from the kiln owner, intending to take them back to try with the yellow peach.

Returning home, Yu Xiaolian found that gourmet cookbook and turned to the page on canned syrup yellow peaches. Following the method, she peeled the yellow peaches, removed the pits, cleaned them, and soaked them in light saltwater for ten minutes.

Then she turned on the induction cooker, set the pot with water covering the peaches on top.

After the water boiled, she added appropriate amounts of sugar and rock candy, tasting the syrup once the sugar melted. Satisfied with the sweetness, she nodded contentedly.

Oh, her cooking skills had improved.

But, it’s thanks to this book that she learned this peach requires soaking in salt water; she initially thought sugar syrup alone would do!

After an additional fifteen-minute simmer, Yu Xiaolian poked a peach wedge with chopsticks and, finding it tender enough, turned off the heat.

Waiting for the syrup to cool, Yu Xiaolian boiled the five clay pots in hot water for sterilization.

When the syrup cooled and the clay pots were dry and sanitized, Yu Xiaolian carefully poured the yellow peaches into them, sealed the tops with wax paper, tied several loops with string, and then, satisfied, held the bowl of yellow peach syrup she had set aside earlier, and began to eat.

Well, nothing beats homemade!

Finishing the bowl of yellow peach syrup, Yu Xiaolian patted her belly and exited her personal space.

Just as she was about to pick up her pen to grade assignments, she heard Zhao Erya knocking at the door.

"Come in!"

Zhao Erya entered, smiling, "Xiaolian, ever since you posted that notice outside our Taotao Residence a few days ago, saying you wanted to collect cochineal insects, red and blue, heavy crimson, wildflowers, and saffron wood and such.

Many people have come to sell them, and the family has collected quite a bit, should we continue collecting?"

"Collect, we’ll need these things long-term, however much we can get, no need to ask me. Is your funds running low?"

Yu Xiaolian gestured for Zhao Erya to sit.

Zhao Erya sat down, "We have enough money; these things aren’t expensive, but the storage at Taotao Residence is almost full."

Yu Xiaolian scratched her head, "It’s only been a few days, and we’ve gathered so much?"

Zhao Erya nodded, "Nearby villagers know these things can be sold for money, so they all went to harvest and sell."

Yu Xiaolian frowned, it seemed that she needed to start the lipstick workshop.

"I understand, in a few days, I’ll get Sun Feixue and the others here, then we’ll start making lipstick."

Zhao Erya nodded and added, "The shop next door to the Sheng Family’s, I heard it’s been sold. It seems it’s going to be a herbal hall."

Yu Xiaolian exclaimed, quickly asking, "Did Shopkeeper Li’s store get sold?"

"Haven’t heard."

"I must buy that shop tomorrow. Can’t let someone else get ahead! It’s my fault; I’ve been so busy these days that it slipped my mind, I should’ve bought it sooner."

Hmph, they say the west of the city is like the sky, and the east like the ground, clouds and mud respectively. She’s going to make the east of the city into a commercial street more prosperous than the west.

Truly achieve the goal of crossing this street, and it’s all my shops.

Zhao Erya didn’t understand, "Our marinated meat shop is still empty; why buy another shop?"

Yu Xiaolian responded mysteriously, "I have my uses for it.

Tomorrow, I’ll attend the class at the bookstore first, then on the way back, go to Zhao’s Dental Clinic and buy Shopkeeper Li’s store. After that, I’ll return to Taohua Village to bring Sun Feixue and the others, and then I’ll teach them how to make lipstick..."

Yu Xiaolian felt like she was busier than a spinning top, but thinking of Su Jingchen aiming to be the top official, Zheng Yuanfeng becoming the richest, and Jiang Lin possibly a general, she couldn’t afford to fall behind and embarrass modern people.

So, it’s not yet time to relax; she has to work hard.

Zhao Erya thought for a moment, then said, "There’s another matter to discuss with you."

"What?" Yu Xiaolian wrote the character for "review" on the test paper, not lifting her head.

"It’s about... Gao Da Niang’s son, Gao Yishui, has come back."

"Hmm?" Yu Xiaolian raised her head in puzzlement, "Wasn’t he drafted as a soldier?"

Zhao Erya explained, "Yes, he was sent in place of the original master’s family, but the southern front is no longer at war, and the army can’t afford idle mouths, so they’ve let them go home.

Gao Da Niang’s been worrying about this. She’s saved quite a bit of money recently and wants to go to her original master family to buy her son back, but Gao Da Niang says that family is unwilling to let him go."