Zhang Qingshan and Lady Li also ca out to help. With more hands, the work beca easier, as these people were all accustod to farm labor and didn’t slack off. They worked until almost nightfall and had managed to prepare thirty vats of grapes. Lian Manman felt as if her hands were going numb. There were also so grapes that had been brought back but were simply left to air out, waiting to be dealt with the next day.
"How many more grapes are left to be brought back from the mountain?"
"By tomorrow morning, they can all be picked and brought back, but I’m afraid we won’t have enough vats," soone replied.
"Then how many more vats do we need?" Lian Manman asked.
Lian Shouxin estimated, "We’ll probably need another twenty vats."
The more grapes the better, and Lian Manman was willing to get as many more vats as needed.
"Then I’ll go to Zhao Family Village right away and ask them to deliver twenty more vats tomorrow morning," Lian Manman said.
"Let go. I run fast," Wu Lang said. Sure enough, he ran there and back, and reported that the Zhao Family had agreed to deliver twenty more vats early the next morning.
Dinner was prepared by Lady Zhou at Old Master Lian’s request, who invited Zhang Qingshan and Lian Shouxin’s family to join. Zhang Qingshan initially declined, but Old Master Lian was insistent, and so he agreed. Naturally, the dinner wasn’t as lavish as lunch had been. The main dish was a stew of chicken with potatoes and eggplant, the chicken stewed until the skin was crispy and the at fell off the bones. This ti, Lady He, Lady Zhao, and several children also set up another table to dine together. Lian Manman could tell from Lady He’s continuously grim expression that the chicken must have been the one she slaughtered at noon but had not yet had the chance to eat before it was requisitioned by Lady Zhou.
During the al, Lian Shouyi asked Lian Shouxin what he had been busy with all afternoon.
Having just separated households, Lian Manman had already brought back so many vats, and Lian Shouyi was curious where the money for them ca from. He couldn’t ask directly, so he tried to do so discreetly.
"The kids want to brew a few vats of wine, and I think it’s a good idea. My family also brews a few vats each year," Zhang Qingshan said with a laugh.
Zhang Qingshan took over the conversation, and since everyone knew that Lian Shouxin hadn’t received any silver coin when they divided the family assets, Lian Shouyi suspected that Zhang Qingshan had provided the money and therefore didn’t press further. Zhang Qingshan then changed the subject, and they moved on from the issue.
After all, having separated from the main family, the next day, the Shouxin Family started cooking on their own fire. Lian Manman and Lian Zhizhi got up early, cut half of the chicken to make a thick soup, and used it to cook a pot of dense rice porridge. They stead a large bamboo stear full of buns made from a mix of wheat and millet flour. The side dishes included a large plate of sour long beans stir-fried with minced chicken and two dishes of pickled vegetables.
Everyone had a hearty breakfast, and as soon as it got light, they proceeded with their tasks as they had done the day before. Zhao Liansheng’s family quickly delivered twenty more wine vats. Selling seventy vats at once and receiving paynt in silver coin, Lian Manman was considered a major custor. Zhao Liansheng also gifted her two smaller vats, one five jin and the other ten jin, telling her that in the future, she could negotiate prices for whatever she needed from his shop. Lian Manman inwardly praised the Zhao Family’s business acun. Seeing the two small vats, Lady Zhang suggested they would be perfect for pickling eggs and vegetables.
Lian Shouxin estimated that by noon, they should be able to bring back all the wild grapes from the mountain. Zhang Qingnian offered to help them finish the work before returning ho, but Lian Shouxin, knowing that it was a busy autumn period and the Zhang family had their own affairs, declined. They agreed to help transport the grapes back and then let the Zhang family people go.
Lian Manman knew that without the Zhang family’s horse cart and extra hands, it would have taken their small family, using only their own cart, four or five days to brew the vats of wine. She was glad and grateful, so she discussed with Lady Zhang early in the morning to use her own private money to go to the butchery in town and buy a few jin of at. She planned to make at pies stuffed with pork filling for lunch.
After washing the purchased pork, Lian Manman first removed the skin, singed the hair off, and chopped it into small pieces. Early in the morning, she started a fire and simred a small pot of thick pork skin soup, which she cooled in a basin to set into aspic. She also prepared a dough made of white flour and let it rise in a bowl.
When it was almost lunchti, Lian Manman went to the backyard garden and cut a large basket of chives. Old Master Lian had agreed that for this season, the Shouxin Family could eat whatever they wanted from the front and back gardens. After washing and cutting the chives, she finely chopped the purchased fatty and lean at into a mince, cooked it in a large iron pot, diced the pork aspic as well, mixing it with the chives and minced at to make the filling.
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