Chapter 145:
Baking bread in an earthen kiln, besides red bean, can also use walnut, sesame, raisins, raspberry
Can also make pumpkin filling, purple sweet potato filling.
Use garlic to make garlic bread.
She then makes croissants, egg tarts, baked bread, pizza.
When she has time later, she will develop meat floss and make meat floss toast, which will be delicious, just thinking about it makes life feel promising.
She also needs to buy a lot of eggs and milk, since there is none, she went to the cattle market and bought an ewe that had just given birth not long ago, temporarily using sheep milk instead.
After buying the ewe, she saw the lamb in the pen looking pitiful, the ewe seemed teary-eyed, reluctant to separate, gazing at her pleadingly.
She sighed that all things have spirits, so she might as well buy the two bleating newborn lambs as well.
Last time she saved a total of two thousand two hundred taels in banknotes, she had over twenty taels on her, plus recent deliveries and today’s bread sales, about thirty-odd taels.
Buying the ewe and lambs cost a total of five taels of silver, she bought another bag each of flour and corn flour, plus odds and ends like rolling pin, apron, thick gloves and such things, leaving about twenty-five taels on her.
After buying these things, she took Miaomiao to the blacksmith shop.
She led the ewe, carried the other things in a bamboo basket, Miaomiao held the lamb all the way.
Arriving at the shop, she put down the things and took out the blueprint.
According to the fireplace dimensions, she had already drawn the size and shape of the baking pan at home.
“Boss, can you make this kind of baking pan here?”
The boss took her blueprint, looked at it, “Yes!”
“How many to make?”
“Make 10 first!”
“Deal!”
Luo Zhi’er said again: “Boss, I also want to make a few other things, do you have paper and pen here, let me draw a diagram, I was in a hurry when leaving and didn’t think of it!”
“Yes! Wait a moment!”
The boss found paper and pen for her, Luo Zhi’er thought of the knife for slicing bread, shook her head, and drew the style she wanted, with thickness and size marked.
Then she drew bread clamps, egg tart cups, handmade egg beater, large and small iron basins, baking molds for other small cakes and sponge cakes, and a complete set of tools needed for baking bread.
“Boss, how much silver for these?”
“Three taels!”
“Good!”
Three taels gone in an instant, this boss is honest, didn’t overcharge her, she felt she came to the right place.
“Boss, about how many days until I can pick them up?”
“Five days later!”
“Good! Next time I have more things to forge, I’ll come find you!”
“Deal!”
Today went pretty smoothly.
This also gave her confidence to make and sell bread, and have a normal livelihood in the future.
If she could open a bread shop in town, even better, also sell coffee, with books placed in the shop
Passersby on the road could come for afternoon tea and read books when tired, that was her dream in the modern era.
Li Xi’er yearned for the future, completely forgetting Luo Zhi’er’s physical condition, who she is, and the current reality problems she faces.
She even felt like she was Luo Zhi’er and had to stay here forever.
Putting the things on the mule cart, tying the sheep securely, covering the bought items with a cloth piece, the mother and daughter prepared to go stroll at the dog market.
Because this mule cart parking area is managed, idle people without a parking tag can’t enter.
So she wasn’t afraid of anyone tampering or things being stolen.
She nudged the lamb closer to the ewe’s belly, decorated the surroundings a bit before leaving reassured, Miaomiao said to the lamb,
“Lamb be good, don’t be scared, Mom and I will be back soon!”
The two lambs’ little legs kept trembling, probably scared in the unfamiliar environment.
The mother and daughter hadn’t gone far past Huaihua Street when she spotted two acquaintances, Zhao Er and his oldest brother Zhao Zhao hesitating at the doorway of the Revival Hall!
Zhao Zhao was at a loss!
“Dad, the doctor says it will cost three taels of silver this time.”
“Ah? Why so expensive? Won’t it cost silver again next time?”
“The doctor says Mom’s injury is very serious, very likely to get seven-day wind, needs good medicine to treat, can’t be careless!”
Seven-day wind is tetanus.
“Sigh, how about I go home and check the wheat at home, if not, sell it all! Gotta scrape it together!”
Zhao Zhao said, “The wound on Mother’s leg needs to have the dressing changed after three days.”
“This wasteful woman, she’s really bored all day, stirring up trouble for nothing!”
Zhao Er frowned, his brows squeezing into several creases, and he couldn’t help blurting it out.
Zhao Zhao was also angry; after all, it was his mother.
“Sigh, Dad, forget it. Mother didn’t mean to.”
“Hmph! Didn’t mean to? You don’t understand this woman of hers!”
Luo Zhi’er recalled that she indeed hadn’t seen Aunt Huaihua wandering around the village these past few days. She hadn’t come to watch the excitement during that scolding either. Was she here to see the doctor?
She was sick?
So that’s how it was!
Heh, she knew it like the back of her hand. She walked toward them and casually greeted Zhao Er,
“Uncle, what are you doing here? Is someone at home feeling unwell?”
Zhao Er looked up and saw it was her. He was vexed—why was it her?
The father and son exchanged an awkward glance, their faces flushed with embarrassment, looking disheveled. It was too late to hide now.
“That’s San Mao’s wife, heh, it’s nothing. Zhao Ge’s mother isn’t feeling well, so we’re bringing her to see the doctor!”
Seeing her, the two of them felt inexplicably a bit awkward for some reason. Zhao Er wished he could bury his face in the dirt.
Earlier, Zhao Ge had heard from his dad that his mother had been caught by the animal trap at Luo Zhi’er’s doorway, which made him extremely angry.
He hadn’t even thought about why his mother was lingering at someone’s doorway.
He was only focused on how this had cost so much silver and how much suffering his mother had endured.
He wondered if she could even walk afterward.
This couldn’t just be let go.
Zhao Er called out to him. After hearing his dad’s analysis, the foot he had stepped out with hesitated.
But thinking about how because of her, they’d suddenly spent so much silver—it was infuriating. That was half a year’s income gone. Why had she set an animal trap at her own doorway when everything was fine?
He wanted to go find the culprit.
With a conflicted mood, he returned to the village and only then heard from his wife Xiao Cui about the series of events at Luo Zhi’er’s home.
Plus what Li Zuzu had said, and after confirming with his mother, it turned out this wasn’t her first time going there—it was the second.
That stove was what she had damaged. She claimed she hadn’t poisoned the fish in the pond, just scooped some up to look.
The mule hadn’t even had a chance to be poisoned before she got caught.
That was why she had been discovered on her first visit, and that’s why they set the animal trap.
As for whether she had poisoned or not, she had brought rat poison but refused to admit it. But their fish had died.
Now he had to swallow this whole thing and couldn’t even complain.
He had to let it go. How could Quan Ge and Xin Ge face people when they grew up? Xin Ge was studying at the school in the village—did he still want to be a person?
If they got chased out of the village without household registration, how could they keep studying?
“Oh? Where exactly is she unwell? Do you need to ride my mule cart?”
Luo Zhi’er looked at them and said kindly.
“Oh, no need, no need. It’s just a minor issue. We have things to do after seeing the doctor and need to go around town. San Mao’s wife, no need to trouble you—go ahead and get busy!”
Zhao Er waved his hands generously!
“Oh, in that case, take good care of Aunt Huaihua at the doctor’s. Illness comes like a mountain collapse. She was perfectly fine just a few days ago—how did she get sick?”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
“Well then, Uncle, I have things to do, so I’ll head out first.”
“Hey! Hey!”
Zhao Er’s face turned purple.
Zhao Zhao also politely nodded to her, his gaze following her as she left, though earlier he had been closely observing her every word and action.
Watching Luo Zhi’er and Miaomiao’s receding figures, Zhao Zhao felt uneasy inside.
“Dad, why do I feel like this San Mao’s wife clearly set the animal trap on purpose to catch Mother! Mother might have suffered a silent loss this time!”
Zhao Er sighed. “What can you do? Do you want to get chased out of the village by Li Fuquan and the others?”
“She didn’t come to our doorstep to trap your mother. Your mother sneaked over to her yard when no one was home and got caught!”
“Now she’s openly accused of stealing, poisoning—their stove was damaged, the fish were poisoned, and the poisoning of the mule failed.”
“Yeah, for now, let’s just gather the silver and get Mother treated!”
This matter was too unclear to argue. Zhao Zhao could only sigh in resignation.
After walking a bit, Miaomiao suddenly said,
“Mother, last time I saw Second Grandmother come to our courtyard, knocking on the stove, and today the one who got sick is also Second Grandmother.”
“Hmph! Miaomiao knows, this time the one who got clamped is Second Grandmother, right!”
“Second Grandmother is that thief who poisoned the mule.”
“Miaomiao can’t talk nonsense, catching a thief requires evidence, we haven’t caught this person yet, you just have doubt, your Second Grandmother just got sick.”
“Mother, even if you don’t say it, I know it’s her.”
Luo Zhi’er smiled and sighed.
The young maid has grown up and can analyze the truth of things, not easy to fool anymore.
She didn’t deny it, she just didn’t want the one saying it out loud to be little Miaomiao.
If it spreads out, and if they don’t admit it and ask her to produce evidence, they would say she is a little young woman who is lying!
She didn’t want little Miaomiao to get hurt!
If someone catches that it’s her, it would be better if it was an adult from the village who personally catches the evidence and says it.
Mother and daughter chatted idly as they entered the Dog Market.
After wandering around, these dogs were all locked in iron cages, listless and dirty, couldn’t see anything special, seemed like they had lost their ferocity.
A non-fierce dog, even tied up at home, no one would be afraid!
After thinking, better to buy one first to guard the home, and buy a suitable fierce dog later?
