Beef jerky, seriously delicious

After dinner, Shen Moxi went back to her room to rest for a while before designing Sun Xibai's outfits.

Shen Tao, Shen Yuan, and Wang Xiaoxia took Xiao Xuan downstairs to the first floor, while Song Qi cleared away the dishes in the kitchen. With the days longer now, their shop stayed open until nine thirty.

She took out some paper and spread it flat on the desk, tapping her fingers against the surface as she kept thinking through possible designs. After countless images flashed through her mind, she settled on two and picked up her pencil, quickly sketching the outlines of the outfits.

First came the outfit for the choir performance: a red gauze dress reaching the ankles, with a full skirt and a fitted waist.

The bodice was sleeveless, but an asymmetrical little top went over it.

The top had a stand collar and went over the head, with a zipper at the back. The left sleeve ended at the shoulder, with a ring of golden sequins sewn around it. On the right sleeve, an arm-length strip of irregularly shaped red gauze was sewn on, like a fairy sleeve.

The five stars of the Chinese flag were embroidered across the chest. At a glance, it looked as though the wearer had draped the national flag over herself, an eye-catching, one-of-a-kind design that also gave the person wearing it a spontaneous sense of pride.

For the dance dress, she chose fabric with a blended scarlet-and-yellow effect. The sleeves were yellow, embroidered with phoenix tails, while the bodice had a stand collar and traditional frog fastenings down the middle.

A small section on the left side of the bodice was embroidered with a phoenix sweeping its tail. The skirt had three full layers in alternating red and yellow, with a separate red panel at the very front center embroidered with a phoenix sweeping its tail.

Finally, a yellow Chinese knot hung from the lowest frog fastening.

Once she finished designing both outfits, she went to check the workshop. Those clothes were all finished, so she moved them into the storage room first, then put these two designs into the workshop for production.

"Good thing I don't have to buy the fabric and make them myself. All the costs can just be deducted through the system. If I really had to go shopping, I wouldn't be able to find fabric this good." Shen Moxi sighed.

She checked the vegetables she had planted and the livestock she had raised. They had been ready ages ago, but she still hadn't had time to deal with them. Rubbing her head in frustration, she said, "Where am I supposed to take all these out to process them?"

Remembering that she had been so busy lately she hadn't even chatted with Xiao Tao, she called out, "Xiao Tao, Xiao Tao."

After a while, Xiao Tao appeared. "Master."

"Xiao Tao, what have you been doing lately? Did you miss me?"

"No, Xiao Tao's been busy," Xiao Tao said with a haughty little huff.

"Oh, how pitiful. My Xiao Tao doesn't love me anymore." Shen Moxi even reached up to wipe away tears.

Xiao Tao: "..." ( ･᷄ὢ･᷅ ) Huh?

"Stop acting. What did you need me for? Just tell me," Xiao Tao said helplessly.

"Uh..." Shen Moxi sighed. What a pig brain, trying to play pitiful with a robot.

"I wanted to ask whether you can help me process my livestock in here. You know, slaughter them, clean them, and cut them up."

"Of course. There's nothing I, Xiao Tao, can't handle." Xiao Tao patted its chest. "Three yuan per animal. That little bit of money is nothing to you."

"Mm, that's not expensive. Process all the cattle, sheep, pigs, and whatever else I bought, and clean them properly. As for the donkeys, turn the hides into donkey-hide gelatin cakes. Add the red dates, walnuts, sesame seeds, and so on in the right proportions, and just deduct the money through the system. Get the meat sorted out for me." Shen Moxi made calculations in her head.

Once the gelatin cakes were ready, she would give some to Song Qi's mother and her own mother to replenish their qi and blood. Later, she would raise more donkeys and make more gelatin cakes, then package them for sale when she opened other shops.

As for the meat, she could make jellied donkey meat, beef jerky, pork jerky, and so on. She couldn't take it-just thinking about it made her mouth water.

"Yes, Master. I'll process them now. Once they're ready, Xiao Tao will put them in the storage room for Master. You can just take them out when you need them." With that, Xiao Tao went offline.

Shen Moxi was utterly exasperated. This fellow didn't take her seriously at all. She hadn't even replied before it went offline on its own. Hmph, I'll give it a good beating next time.

Xiao Tao: ( ๑ˊ•̥▵•)੭₎₎ If you can land a hit on me, I'll admit defeat.

Now that things were taken care of, Shen Moxi bought a bag of beef jerky from the system. Thinking about all that food just now had left her unbearably hungry for it. She would go downstairs and eat with the others.

She opened the package and took out the beef jerky, found a small bamboo basket in the kitchen, put it inside, and carried it downstairs.

"Xiao Xuan, Auntie has something tasty for you." When she reached the first floor and saw Xiao Xuan drinking soda, Shen Moxi smiled.

The moment Shen Zhixuan heard there was something tasty, he shoved his soda into Shen Yuan's hand and immediately scrambled up. "Eat... meat... meat."

"Little sis, what tasty treat have you got?" Shen Yuan eagerly trotted over too.

"Beef jerky. Here, everyone, try some." Shen Moxi gave each of them a piece.

"Mm, delicious. Nice and chewy, and so fragrant." Shen Tao nodded.

"Eat slowly, Xiao Xuan. Those little teeth of yours can't chew through it." Shen Moxi pinched his little cheek.

"Little sis, where did you buy this beef jerky? It's really good. Bring some back for Mom and Dad." Shen Yuan finished one piece and took another.

"I had a friend bring it. There's still plenty left. We'll take some for Mom and Dad when we find time to go back." Shen Moxi nodded.

It was Song Qi's first time eating this. It tasted wonderful, every bit as good as spicy strips, if not better. He silently finished one piece and took two more.

Wang Xiaoxia was even more reluctant to finish hers, eating it slowly in tiny bites. She had never eaten anything so delicious before.

"Second Brother, Song Qi and I will watch the shop tomorrow. Go home around noon to see Mom and Dad and take them some things. We're going to have our wedding photos taken the day after tomorrow." Shen Moxi thought it over. Once the photos were developed, she would take the negatives straight to Xiao Tao and have it make an album and frames.

"All right, I'll go home tomorrow at noon." Shen Yuan nodded.

They stayed downstairs until after nine. Once there was no one left on the street, they locked the shop and drew the curtains.

"Let's go! Time to wash up and sleep." Shen Moxi picked up Xiao Xuan.

Back in the bedroom, Shen Moxi browsed the system and bought four jin of beef jerky, four jin of red dates, two jin of dried tiny shrimp, and four jin of dried noodles. She divided everything into two portions and put them in two cloth bags, one for each family tomorrow.

"Brother Song, do you think I should buy a little speaker for the shop? Would playing music every day draw more customers?" Shen Moxi asked when she saw Song Qi come in after washing up.

Hearing that, Song Qi came over and sat down. "Sure. I like listening to music too. I think they'd like it as well."

"Mm, I'll buy one of those little speakers and put it in a corner of the shop. We can nail up a little shelf near the top of the wall where there's a power outlet and put the speaker on it. I'll download more music, a few hundred songs." After saying that, Shen Moxi went to look for a suitable speaker in the system.

There were plenty of good songs from this era. She liked old songs; they were lovely to listen to, while many songs from later years were all flash.

After looking through more than twenty models, she finally chose one about twenty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide. It had a very retro black casing. Placed up high, even if someone noticed it, they wouldn't be able to get a clear look at what it looked like.