CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 56: SETTING UP THE NEW HOME

After Yu Xiaolian finished watering Dahong, Sun Shi had already swiftly set up one pot and was working on setting up the second one.

"Mom, the horse doesn’t have any feed, I’ll go out again."

"Go on, remember the way, don’t get lost."

Sun Shi was so busy she didn’t even look up, and back in the house, Yu Changhe was already asleep on the kang.

Yu Xiaolian asked around at the market to find where she could buy feed, and a servant waiting for a lady to buy vegetables kindly told her she needed to go to the cattle and horse market, which was a bit far, but had plenty of cheap feed.

Even if it’s far, she had to go; she couldn’t let her family’s Dahong starve.

Following the servant’s directions and asking along the way, Yu Xiaolian finally found the cattle and horse market after half an hour.

Upon inquiry, the feed was indeed not expensive, three wen for a big bundle of hay, the feed was a bit pricier, twenty wen for a big bundle.

The hay bundle contained dried yellow grass, while the feed bundle, packed in burlap, was made up of processed corn, wheat bran, soybeans, and black beans.

After asking the horse traders, she learned that horses not only needed to eat these, but also needed to be fed some salt regularly.

Yu Xiaolian took out ten taels of silver, settling everything for the hay, feed, and salt bricks at once.

The most was needed for hay because the horse traders said that the feed didn’t need to be fed every meal, just every few days was fine, and not much salt was needed; the main thing horses eat is grass.

Like buying a car requires refueling, with ten taels of silver, Yu Xiaolian got two large cartloads of feed, which looked quite impressive stacked up in the backyard.

If there were kids at home, they would probably play like crazy on top of this.

After sending off the people delivering the feed, she locked the back gate and bolted it.

Yu Xiaolian tossed a bundle of hay to Dahong, seeing it eat heartily, she ran over to stroke its mane, building a bond with it.

Looking up, she saw smoke curling up from the kitchen, Sun Shi had already started cooking.

Yu Xiaolian walked into the kitchen, "Mom, is the pot boiling well?"

Sun Shi nodded repeatedly, "Boiling well, very well. This stove hasn’t been used in a long time, it needs a good burn."

Yu Xiaolian said, "I’ll go into the space and see if there’s anything we need, I can bring it out."

Sun Shi replied, "Take out the rice, flour, and oil first, I’ll need them in a while."

Yu Xiaolian shuttled between the supermarket and the kitchen, choosing the most expensive Wuchang rice, Luhua pressed soybean oil, Hetao snowflake flour.

For home cooking, naturally one must use the best.

The most expensive bone china small bowls, only six in the supermarket, she took them all out, there would be six more tomorrow.

Bone china embossed dishes, four of them, she took them out.

Took out two large soup bowls, a 3.5-liter clay pot for future soup making.

A kitchen knife, a fruit knife, a bamboo and wood chopping board, a rolling pin.

One spatula and a ladle for cooking, she took out one of each.

Whatever she saw that she thought could be used at home, she took out.

Took out three condiment bottles, filling them with thirteen spices, salt, and MSG respectively.

Soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, sesame oil, chili oil, sesame oil, she took out a bottle of each.

A handful of chopsticks, three small white porcelain spoons.

Then went to the vegetable section to choose some vegetables: eggplant, beans, potatoes, eggs, tomatoes.

Next, went to the fresh section, pork belly, spare ribs, beef, she took out a piece of each.

Tomato and scrambled eggs, ribs stewed with beans, beef brisket stewed with potatoes, braised eggplant.

Still missing a soup, Yu Xiaolian also took out seaweed and frozen shrimp.

Seaweed shrimp soup.

The first meal after moving must be sumptuous.

After making a menu for Sun Shi, Yu Xiaolian went to choose some post-meal fruit.

This Musang King durian is pretty good, normally if she sneaked one, her mom would point to her nose and scold her for half a day.

Now she can finally have durian freely.

Hmm, took one durian.

Afraid Sun Shi and Yu Changhe wouldn’t get used to the durian’s taste, she also got them cherries and Hami melons.

Not only is Sun Shi clean, but she also cooks well, Yu Xiaolian merely mentioned the dish names and roughly how to cook them, and Sun Shi could make very delicious dishes.

Beef brisket with potatoes, tender and flavorful. Tomato scrambled eggs, tangy and sweet. Ribs stewed with beans, savory and fragrant. Braised eggplant also goes excellently with rice.

Seaweed shrimp soup, so fresh that it could knock the tongue off.

The family of three ate to their hearts’ content, their bellies round, and there was still quite a bit left over despite the abundant cooking.

After dinner, when Yu Xiaolian brought up the fruit, Sun Shi and Yu Changhe both said they were full and couldn’t eat any more fruit.

At night, while washing up, Yu Xiaolian took out the shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, facial cleanser, and dental supplies.

Now that there were no other people coming over to this house, she could openly place these items in plain view.

When Sun Shi was washing her feet, she exclaimed, and rolling up her pant leg, only to find her entire calf was bruised, it was from when Yu’s old father beat her with a carrying pole, she didn’t expect the dried-up old man to have such strength.

Sun Shi is indeed tough, several days had passed and she hadn’t uttered a single complaint.

Yu Xiaolian remembered that in the supermarket’s lounge, there was a medical kit her parents had prepared for their own use, and inside seemed to be some red flower oil for treating bruises and injuries.

Took out the red flower oil and applied a little on Sun Shi’s leg, the intense smell of red flower oil immediately permeated the entire room.

Seeing Sun Shi’s injury, Yu Changhe also said, "Tomorrow, take a good rest, don’t do anything. Your calf is swollen like this, and you still forced yourself to clean several rooms. I’m watching you this time, you won’t do anything until the swelling goes down."

"How can that be? There are still many things to organize at home, Xiao Lian can’t do it alone. My leg is fine, it’s just a minor injury, I can endure it." Sun Shi said and then let down her pant leg.

"Oh no, we forgot to buy cotton and fabric today."

Yu Xiaolian took out a summer quilt and blanket from the supermarket, "Let’s make do with these tonight, we’ll buy them tomorrow."

Laid the blanket underneath, covered with the summer quilt.

In her supermarket there weren’t any very thick quilts, there was a set of down quilt and summer quilt, which were from her parents’ lounge.

Sometimes, the supermarket received goods in the middle of the night, so her parents often stayed in the lounge.

In the cold winter, even a down quilt might not suffice, it’s lighter and not wind-resistant, probably useful only in air-conditioned rooms.

It looked like tomorrow she’d have to go to the fabric store to buy cotton and fabric to make a few thick quilts.

Took out a set of pajamas from the supermarket, and these pajamas weren’t new either, they were from her parents’ lounge, worn by her mother, and they were too large for the petite Yu Xiaolian.

But they would fit Sun Shi just fine.

After giving the pajamas to Sun Shi, Yu Xiaolian returned to the west room.

Sun Shi used the small pot in the west room to cook the rice, so the kang in the west room was warm, too. Since crossing into this ancient time, it was the first time Yu Xiaolian slept alone in a room.

This eternal single lady finally didn’t have to listen to Sun Shi and Yu Changhe’s live commentary.

After making her bed, Yu Xiaolian also took out two cassia seed pillows from the lounge to give one to Sun Shi, telling them there would be two more tomorrow, but there would definitely be one without a pillow tonight.

Sun Shi, naturally, gave the pillow to Yu Changhe, and Yu Xiaolian had no choice but to give them the other one as well; she wasn’t going to sleep anyway, used to staying up late and getting up late, she couldn’t change this habit quickly.

Besides, the kang was warm but somewhat damp; luckily, she used a moisture-proof mat, if it were those bamboo woven kang mats, spending a night might result in illness.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she went into the supermarket to research what could be taken out to be sold openly.

Puff pastries, mung bean cakes, chestnut cakes, red date cakes, Fassian small bread, some soft bread, all these could be re-packed and sold as snacks.

Tomorrow while buying fabric, she’d have to stop by a pastry shop to inquire about the market situation.

Yu Xiaolian took all these things out, placing them at the end of the kang.

This way, once midnight struck, the supermarket’s shelves would be updated, restocking the missing items.