But she had another concern. "If we plant so many vegetables and they all grow this fast, we won't be able to finish them before they spoil. Greens like bok choy wilt easily, and they get old especially fast."
Hmm, that was a problem.
"What if we take them to the market to sell?" The thought popped into Xu Han's mind, and she immediately felt it could work. "We don't have much income right now anyway. Selling vegetables would earn us some money for daily expenses."
Grandma Qiao: "..."
Was she really determined to get rich by farming here?
Still, it was a good idea. The two of them decided to take the vegetables to the market once they had grown.
Most people in their village were self-sufficient, but the elementary school and kindergarten that provided lunch still needed to buy vegetables. Some people were too busy with other work to grow their own, while others did not grow much. When they went to the market, they would buy some to keep in the fridge and cook whenever they ran out of vegetables.
They had been buying vegetables at the market lately as well. Although Aunt Li had said they could pick some from her garden, vegetables were needed for every meal. Taking some once or twice was fine, but they would feel embarrassed if they picked too much.
Xu Han picked through the vegetables while Grandma Qiao washed them. Perhaps it was because of Koukou's Spirit Urine, but every bok choy leaf had grown exceptionally well, with hardly any bad leaves. Still, Xu Han picked off the leaves with too much dirt on them and tossed them to the chickens.
—She wanted to know whether feeding the chickens these leaves would make the chickens grow faster too.
"Next time we go to Town, let's buy a few geese to raise," Xu Han said as she watched the chirping chicks. Once the geese laid eggs, they could give them to her son.
She had originally wanted to raise pigs too, but she had heard that pigs smelled awful and that pig feed was difficult to prepare, so she decided against it for now.
Grandma Qiao had already gone from astonished to calm at Xu Han's determination to put down roots here. She nodded. "All right."
Xu Han made lunch. Although she had only just graduated from university, cooking was one of her strengths. She had also watched many food
livestreams
and had a head full of recipes.
She first diced some pork belly and marinated it with starch and oyster sauce. Then she stir-fried it in hot oil with sautéed minced scallions, ginger, and garlic. She added a handful of diced onion, and once it changed color, she poured in her homemade sauce, covered the pan, and let it simmer slowly over low heat.
Once the meat sauce had thickened, she took it off the heat. The richly fragrant sauce was ready.
Xu Han scooped up a little with a spoon and tasted it. The salty sauce slid across her tongue. She had added a touch of spice, so it carried the heat of chili sauce as it met her taste buds—spicy, refreshing, fragrant, and incredibly delicious.
Xu Han nodded in satisfaction. That was the flavor.
The dough for the noodles had already rested. Xu Han rolled it into a thin sheet, cut it into noodles with a knife, then tossed them with a little raw flour to keep them from sticking together.
She brought water to a boil and cooked the noodles for a minute before lifting them out. Then she tossed a handful of bok choy into the noodle water, blanched it until cooked, and placed it on top of the noodles.
She added a little of the noodle water, then two spoonfuls of the prepared meat sauce. A bowl of meat sauce noodles that looked, smelled, and tasted wonderful was complete.
This was the first time Xu Han had cooked since coming here. Grandma Qiao had originally thought she would burn down the kitchen, so she was stunned when Xu Han brought out two bowls of noodles with such practiced ease.
"Grandma, have a taste. I haven't cooked in a long time," Xu Han said. That was true. She was a student, after all, and rarely had the chance to cook.
"All right. It already looks delicious—far prettier than anything I make. It must taste especially good too." Grandma Qiao praised her first, then picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of noodles.
The noodles Xu Han made were wonderfully smooth and springy. They were delightfully chewy with every bite. The meat sauce was spicy and fragrant, and because the meat had been coated in starch, the gravy was thick. The meat's aroma had seeped into the sauce, making it silky and deeply flavorful.
But the most amazing part was the bok choy. Its stalks were crisp and fresh, carrying a hint of saltiness from the meat sauce. It was sweet, refreshing, and satisfying to chew.
The two of them finished both heaping bowls of noodles. After they had eaten their fill, Grandma Qiao cleared away the bowls and chopsticks while Xu Han fed Koukou.
Newborns changed every day. Koukou was nearly two months old, and with plenty of breast milk, he ate and slept well. He had grown chubby and round. The moment Xu Han held him in her arms, he habitually burrowed against her chest in search of milk.
Xu Han could not stop laughing at his anxious little face. He would definitely grow up to be a tiny foodie.
On market day in the village, Grandma Qiao picked a basket of bok choy and went to sell it. Before long, she had sold out and returned. She said that the cafeteria auntie from the village's only elementary school and kindergarten knew her. The cafeteria had happened to run out of leafy vegetables, so when she saw Grandma Qiao selling them, she bought all of them.
Leafy vegetables cost 3.5 yuan per jin here. The basket of vegetables sold for a total of 38 yuan—their family's first income.
Xu Han had Grandma Qiao take the money to the village household that sold pork and order a pork leg to celebrate.
Two days later, however, the cafeteria auntie from the school that had bought their vegetables came knocking at their door.
The students at their school had eaten the leafy vegetables grown by their family. Even children who usually hated vegetables had actually finished every last bit of greens in their bowls, and they said they were delicious and wanted more.
Even the kindergarten children who did not like eating had eaten with great relish!
Author's note:
I think the vibe of my farming story is rather unusual...
Also, many of you might live in the city and not really understand the farm manure used to grow green food.
It is actually made by fermenting human waste and urine, livestock waste and urine, kitchen scraps such as leftover dishes and rice, and so on.
So the vegetables cultivated this way in the story are completely green and healthy. It is not that they cannot be eaten.
It is just that many people may find the idea difficult to accept on a sensory level _(:з"∠)_
First Business (Major Revision)
Dongyang Village and the nearby villages only had this one elementary school in the area. Children from neighboring villages all attended it, so there were quite a lot of students. Including the kindergarten children, there were several hundred in total.
Originally, the school did not have a cafeteria. Fortunately, several years ago, provincial leaders came for an unannounced inspection, and it happened to be lunchtime.