Chapter 23: Sold

When Old Man Jian and the others returned, they also smelled the fragrance coming from one of the rooms.

Mother Jian was very surprised. “Ah! Big Sister successfully made stewed meat!”

Jian Qingqing said smugly, “Did I not succeed in anything I did?!”

When Father Jian smelled the fragrance, he stopped talking about how she could not sell it. He said in surprise, “I didn’t expect Big Sister’s cooking to be so good!”

“That’s right! I said that you have to believe me. Do you think I would fail?!” Jian Qingqing was really proud.

He rubbed his head and smiled foolishly. “Yes, yes, yes. I will definitely believe you in the future.”

“Alright, let’s eat!”

Today’s meal was the most sumptuous meal for the family. The whole family was fighting for the rice.

They had eaten very light and unnutritious dishes before, so Jian Qingqing was afraid that their stomachs would not be able to take it. She gave each of them three pieces of meat. Xiao Hu had already eaten two pieces and was only left with one piece.

He was very unhappy. “I didn’t even taste the first piece.”

“That won’t do either. It’s already in your stomach.”

“Alright. “Xiao Hu knew that he had no chance, so he sat down obediently and ate. However, he was also eating very happily.

Only Mother Jian was a little puzzled. “Big Sister, you guys didn’t buy any salt this morning, right? Why does this wild vegetable have a salty taste?”

Jian Qingqing knew that this question was coming. She had no choice but to say guiltily, “Actually, Hero Ming gave me four tubes of salt, and I hid one tube.”

“What!” Father Jian could not sit still. “Why did you hide it? It’s so good to sell it! It’s worth a few taels of silver! How can we afford such expensive salt?”

“The salt outside isn’t cheap either. Even the good ones cost 500 taels of silver per catty, and they’re not delicious. How good would it be for us to eat this? Even if we try to sell it, we can’t sell it. Have you seen this kind of salt in our county? Moreover, there’s only one company that sells smuggled salt. If I sell it to others, they’ll definitely know it’s me.”

Father Jian also understood this logic, but his heart ached too much. “It’s worth a few taels of silver.”

“Alright, alright. It’s not a bad thing to eat it ourselves. I’ve lived for decades and have never eaten such good salt. It’s not bad to let this old man enjoy it.”

“Father, you pamper her too much!” Father Jian muttered unhappily.

Jian Qingqing smiled at Father Jian proudly.

…

Early the next morning, Jian Qingqing carried the mushrooms and a small jar of stewed meat to the county town.

When she arrived at Yunlai Restaurant, the young man from yesterday was already calling for customers outside. When he saw Jian Qingqing arrive, he came over to greet her.

The waiter took a look at the mushrooms in her basket and felt that the quality was not bad. He was quite satisfied.

“Okay, I’ll call the manager to settle the account for you.”

The manager of Yunlai Restaurant was surnamed Lin. He took out the scale.

“May I know your name, Miss?”

“My surname is Jian. My name is Qingqing. Manager Lin, you can call me Qingqing.” The waiter had already told her the manager’s name.

Manager Lin nodded and weighed the mushrooms that she brought.

“This bundle weighs 6 catties and 5 taels.” This was Jian Rong’s bundle.

“This is 11 catties.”

“Miss Qingqing, can I give you 25 wen per catty?”

20 wen of coarse grains. Before the disaster, the vegetables were going for 3 to 4 wen per catty. The price of mushrooms was slightly more expensive than vegetables, so 25 wen was considered reasonable.

She nodded. “Okay, then 25 wen.”

The shopkeeper was about to go in to get the money, but Jian Qingqing immediately stopped him.

“Manager Lin, do you want to take a look at my stewed meat?”

Jian Qingqing lifted the lid, and the fragrance immediately assailed his nostrils.

Manager Lin looked at it with interest. “It smells pretty good. Do you plan to sell this?”

Jian Qingqing took out a clean pair of chopsticks and gave it to him. “You can try it.”