Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

The strife among the concubines of the Zou Mansion had nothing to do with the Qin, Gu, or Luotian families; they were busy with building shops, learning to read, and earning money for their daily lives.

After Gu Jinli finished making the preserved tofu, he planned to take advantage of the gradually warming weather and hurried to make several vats of soy sauce. Today, after finishing the morning work in the workshop, he went to call for Ms. Wang Ma and the others: "Aunt Wang, please pick the four loads of soybeans in the courtyard and bring them to my house."

"Eh, Young Master, we'll pick them for you right now," Ms. Wang Ma called her own sister-in-law and Zhu Chahua mother and daughter, and the four of them picked the four loads of soybeans to Gu Jinli's house.

Third Grandma saw Zhu Chahua and her mother and asked, "Old Zhu Family's, has your man come back yet?"

Old Zhu's wife said, "Not yet, Your Grace, don't worry. As soon as he returns, he will definitely come to report to you immediately."

During this time, Old Zhu and He Sanlai were out every day, following the registry given by Jiang Jiao to find the disaster victims from Changping Town. However, the disaster victims from Changping Town lived far away, and Old Zhu and He Sanlai had not returned for two days, which made Third Grandma very anxious.

Gu Jinli comforted Third Grandma: "Don't worry, we already told them when they went out to look for people that they must come back once within three days at the latest. Uncle Zhu is a man who abides by the rules, he will surely return with He Sanlai tomorrow."

"You're right, with Old Zhu present, they will surely come back tomorrow."

But what would that change?

He Sanlai had already said the last time they returned that the people of Changping Town had never seen anyone from Xie Family Plain, and the result would surely be the same this time when they returned.

After Old Zhu's wife and the others put down the soybeans, they went back to the workshop to work.

A short while after they left, Gu Jinli saw that Third Grandma was still looking worried and, fearing she would overthink on her own, said, "Third Grandma, the four loads of soybeans are too much, please help me pick the beans."

Third Grandma glared at him: "Who told you to be greedy and make four vats of soy sauce? Picking beans like this will kill you."

And they even spent extra on vats; in order to make soy sauce, the family spent two taels of silver buying four new water vats.

As Third Grandma complained, she brought two empty baskets, sat in the courtyard, and helped pick the beans.

Brother Cheng saw them and also came to help. The three of them picked beans for half the day and didn't finish until the afternoon.

After Gu Jinli soaked the soybeans in the four water vats, he finally took a breath of relief.

The next day at noon, He Sanlai and Old Zhu returned. But the result was still the same; the disaster victims from Changping Town found didn't know where Gu Fuya's family was or even had seen anyone from Xie Family Plain.

"The two households of disaster victims said when they started to flee the famine, the people from Xie Family Plain had already fled. They fled from behind Xie Family Plain, but didn't catch up with them and didn't know if those from Xie Family Plain had come to the south," said He Sanlai hastily, telling everything he had found out.

Third Grandpa and Third Grandma were very disappointed but could do nothing about it. Now, they could only search like this.

"Alright, we understand. You go back first, rest for a couple of days, and wait for us to rent a mule cart before you go out looking again."

He Sanlai and Old Zhu had previously been on foot to look for people, but there weren't many disaster victims from Changping Town that were allocated to Tianfu County, and now all those in Tianfu County had been searched for. To continue searching, they would have to run to the adjacent counties, which were very far, and it was impossible without a mule cart.

He Sanlai and Old Zhu were very pleased and hurried to thank him: "Eh, thank you so much Elder Gu."

"You've worked hard. This is the braised food made at home, take it back with you to eat," said Third Grandma as she handed two baskets to He Sanlai and Old Zhu.

He Sanlai and Old Zhu were so happy to see the braised meat, fish chunks, and braised eggs in the basket, they kept thanking them before finally leaving.

After they left, Third Grandpa and Third Grandma felt very downhearted.

Mrs. Cui and Gu Jinxiu were mixing spices in the main room and saw them looking gloomy, so they made eye contact with Brother Cheng. The little guy immediately ran to the elders, opened his short little arms, hugged them and said, "Third Grandpa and Third Grandma, don't be sad, you still have us. Brother Cheng will be filial to you."

Hearing his childish voice and looking at his increasingly chubby little face, the elders finally smiled and said, "Ah, with Brother Cheng here, Third Grandpa and Third Grandma aren't sad."

Seeing this, Gu Jinli felt relieved and returned to the kitchen to continue steaming soybeans.

Making soy sauce is quite troublesome. After the soybeans have been soaked, they must be steamed over water, cooled after steaming, then sprinkled with wheat flour for fermentation.

She had just returned to the kitchen when Third Grandpa and Third Grandma came to help with Brother Cheng.

The four were busy until almost dark, only finishing steaming the soybeans, then cooling them on bamboo sieves. Taking out the previously ground wheat flour, they sprinkled it on the soybeans, mixed it evenly, ensuring each soybean was coated with flour, and then the day's work was considered done.

"Second Sister, is it finished yet?" Brother Cheng asked, standing on tiptoe to look at the soybeans in the bamboo sieve.

Gu Jinli said, "Not yet. After the beans mold, we'll put the moldy beans in a jar, pour in salt water, and let it ferment for about half a year. After fermentation is complete, we still need to filter and cook the soy sauce before obtaining the real thing."

Listening, Brother Cheng frowned and said, "That sounds so troublesome, so our family won't be able to have soy sauce until half a year from now."

Gu Jinli tugged at the two little tufts of hair on his head and said, "It won't take that long, about five months should be enough."

Brother Cheng looked slightly relieved when he heard this, and Third Grandma laughed beside him, "You're just teasing him. What's the difference between five months and half a year?"

She added, "Making soy sauce really is such a hassle."

All those steps it takes.

Elder Gu commented, "It takes this much work to make the flavor nearly as good as Hai Xian Sauce. Sure it takes some effort." Then he said to Third Grandma, "Alright, wife, hurry along with Brother Cheng. Have Dashan's wife come in and cook; the kitchen is so crowded there's no place to stand."

To make soy sauce, the entire kitchen was filled with wooden racks. On those racks, bamboo sieves were placed, all filled with soybeans. The kitchen was packed so full that there was indeed no place to set foot.

Furthermore, soy sauce was a new thing made by Xiao Yu, which would definitely be for sale in the future. It was best to keep the recipe in Xiao Yu's hands alone. They shouldn't look too much... Hm, this matter, he had to remind his wife in the evening.

Third Grandma held Brother Cheng's hand and followed Third Grandpa out of the kitchen, sighing, "This house is still too small."

Third Grandpa said, "Just endure a little longer. Once Master Yuan and his workers finish building the shop and workshop, we can build our house."

"Third Uncle, Third Aunt, mother of the child, I'm back." Gu Dashan was covered in dust, entering the yard with a smile and saying to them, "The foundation for the first shop is finished. Tomorrow we start building the walls, and soon the first shop will be constructed."

The first shop was a shared one among several families, the second was Daya's braised food shop, and then came Xiao Yu's own shop.

That shop wasn't urgently needed by Xiao Yu, so it was built last.

Gu Dashan continued, "Master Yuan and his workers are reliable; they built a good foundation. They dug a foundation ten feet deep for us. Doctor Wu said that such a deep foundation, even if the earth dragon turns over, the house won't collapse."