She Didn't Want to Serve White Rice Either, Did She?

Zhou Wanwan, meanwhile, followed Lin Shouyi to town. She bought several pieces of meat and a great deal of pig offal. The butcher couldn't help laughing when he saw her. "Why do you like picking out this stuff, girl? Since you bought a few pieces of meat, I'll throw these in for free."

Zhou Wanwan hurriedly thanked him. "Thank you, uncle."

Zhou Wanwan had bought two large pieces of fatty pork and one piece of lean pork. Everything else was ribs.

She still thought ribs tasted best, and they were both cheap and delicious.

Little Ginseng kept squirming in the bag. Zhou Wanwan asked, "What are you doing?"

Little Ginseng chuckled. "Smells so good! There are so many medicinal herbs! Wanwan, I want to eat medicinal herbs, and I want to take a bath. Boo-hoo-hoo..."

Zhou Wanwan coughed. "Then let's buy some medicinal herbs! You were amazing last night, so of course I have to reward you."

Little Ginseng immediately perked up. "I saw the silver yesterday and followed it right away. Hmph, the people next door are all bad!"

Zhou Wanwan walked straight into the herb shop, while Little Ginseng muttered nonstop:

"Give me a jin of angelica root!"

"A jin of astragalus!"

"A jin of codonopsis, a jin of atractylodes, and a jin of licorice root!"

"And a jin each of poria, aged tangerine peel, honeysuckle, and forsythia!"

"Mint, patchouli, eupatorium, lancea atractylodes, dahurian angelica, and platycodon root-a jin of each!"

Zhou Wanwan's eyelids twitched as she listened. She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Are you trying to eat me out of house and home? Who buys medicinal herbs like that? Are you trying to clear out the whole shop?"

The shopkeeper smiled when he saw her. "Little girl, are you here to bring me more medicinal herbs?"

Zhou Wanwan shook her head.

"Herbs have been hard to gather on the mountain lately. I'd like honeysuckle, forsythia, isatis root, bupleurum, skullcap, patchouli, lancea atractylodes, isatis leaf, mint, and licorice root. Just give me 200 wen's worth of each."

"Sure thing!" The shopkeeper turned to prepare the order.

Zhou Wanwan hurriedly added:

"Wait, uncle, please add ten more kinds: angelica root, astragalus, codonopsis, atractylodes, licorice root, poria, aged tangerine peel, saposhnikovia, and schizonepeta.

Just a little of each, not too much. I only need five qian."

Little Ginseng was beside itself with excitement. "Wanwan, you're buying me so many medicinal herbs! How can I thank you?"

Zhou Wanwan coughed.

"The herbs I ordered first are going into storage. They won't be brought out until there's an epidemic.

We can gather herbs on the mountain too, but that takes a lot of time. I'm afraid we wouldn't have enough.

Once we've taken care of this, we still have to buy some grain. Better to be prepared!"

Zhou Wanwan took her three older brothers to the grain shop and bought two taels of silver's worth of grain, along with plenty of vegetable seeds. Only then did they take the ox cart back to the village.

Of the six taels of silver, they had spent only five this time, leaving one tael in reserve.

The ox cart soon returned to the village. Liu Su'e had someone unload the things from the cart and said, "You bought so much again. You really are wasteful, girl."

Zhou Wanwan smiled. "It's just some grain and meat, nothing much. Mother, have the people Eldest Uncle brought arrived?"

Liu Su'e nodded. "They're out back! They said they could finish the structures by tomorrow morning. The people from Liu Family Village are dependable."

Zhou Wanwan saw more than forty people working busily out back. The people from Liu Family Village really did good work. They had cut a great deal of timber from the mountain.

Someone laughed. "Oh! Is this your sister's little girl? She's so pretty! My boy is about her age. How about letting her marry him someday?"

Eldest Uncle scolded him with a laugh. "Stop talking nonsense. She's still little! Wanwan, we'll have these sheds up for you by tomorrow morning. Don't worry, we're all old hands at this. We work fast."

Two days was too tight; there was no way to build a house in time. Livestock sheds were another matter, though. The aim was simplicity and practicality, doing whatever was convenient.

First, they only needed to clear and level an open space, bury the prepared thick wooden posts at intervals in shallow holes, and pack stones around them to hold the frame steady.

Then they could put up a few crossbeams and brace them with thinner pieces of wood. As long as the frame could bear weight, that was enough.

They could fence the sides with tree trunks that still had branches or with reed stalks, tying them securely with vines. It only needed to block the wind and keep wild beasts out.

For the roofs, they could lay down a thick layer of dry grass or old bamboo mats and weigh the edges down with stones. As long as the roofs kept out the rain and didn't blow away, they would do.

Finally, they could lay the slatted floors, divide the stalls, and leave openings for doors and ventilation. No complicated workmanship was needed.

With more than forty people dividing the work and laboring through the night, they could finish the pigsty, sheep pen, and chicken coop before daybreak.

Liu Su'e made red-braised pork and a dish of wild greens before calling them down to eat.

The workers were dumbfounded at the sight of red-braised pork and white rice. The village chief's son hurriedly said, "Oh my! This is far too generous. We're only helping out; you don't need to serve us white rice!"

The corners of Liu Su'e's mouth lifted slightly. "It's all right. Hurry and eat! You can work after you've eaten."

She didn't want to serve white rice either, did she?

But apart from white rice, all they had at home was white flour. There wasn't a scrap of coarse grain.

Zhou Wanwan ate a few bites of the red-braised pork. Pork in ancient times really was nothing like modern pork.

It was a little more flavorful and chewier than modern wild boar meat.

After the meal, Zhou Wanwan slept for a while, then took her three older brothers up the mountain.

Zhou Qingyan couldn't help saying, "I keep wondering if we got it wrong. The way things look, there's no chance of a locust plague at all."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him with the hint of a smile.

"Brother, whether there's a plague or not, the grain will keep in storage. At worst, we can just eat it slowly!

Now that we've stocked up on everything, if that day really does come, we won't be afraid, will we?"

Zhou Qinghe nodded. "Right. I think Sister has a point. Let's go into the mountains and have another look today."

Zhou Wanwan wanted to find more medicinal herbs, since Little Ginseng really needed them. Little Ginseng licked its lips. "Wanwan, do you think a locust plague would be really scary? Should I give my friends a heads-up?"

"Go ahead and tell them! Oh, right, I bought a jug of wine too. Take it to your grandpa."

Little Ginseng blinked. "You're not planning to harm my grandpa, are you?"

Zhou Wanwan rolled her eyes at it. "I wouldn't go that far. All right, hurry along!"

Little Ginseng was quite strong and ran off with the wine jug. Zhou Wanwan couldn't be bothered to worry about it. She narrowed her eyes and listened to the gossip in the woods.

There was plenty of gossip in the woods too. A foxtail grass plant beside a field ridge swayed its seed head and lowered its voice. "Hey, hey, something big happened here yesterday!"

A dandelion beside it immediately leaned over. "What happened? Come on, tell us!"

A purslane plant not far away perked up its leaves and chimed in, "Yes, yes! We were all wilted and listless yesterday. We didn't see a thing!"

The foxtail grass gestured toward the bushes to the east.

"Over there in those bushes, late last night, a man and a woman were hiding and sneaking around. I don't know what they were up to.

Then a whole group of people caught them red-handed!"

The dandelion was so shocked that its fluff stood on end. "And then? What happened next?"