“No need to insist on a high price; if the offered price is fair, we can sell. If we manage to sell, then we’ll buy some meat, eggs, and rice and flour. The meat should have a good balance of fat and lean, with some juiciness.”

Su Yujin’s body was a little weak now, even Mama Liu and Ai Cao were looking pale and needed to be replenished.

“You should also see which flowers and plants around here can be sold for money, and sell them all together. When they are almost sold, you and Mother Liu will tidy up this land and plant some vegetables.”

Selling flowers, growing vegetables…

Ai Cao raised her eyes and looked at the sky above her head.

The sun still rose from the east.

If she pinched herself again, it would hurt, so she was not dreaming.

As the girl ordered, Ai Cao quickly got to work.

Even Mother Liu was called over to help.

With spring, all things were coming back to life, and the flowers in the garden were flourishing. At the moment, she didn’t know which ones to sell.

Ai Ccao and Mother Liu had a discussion and decided to start with the two peony bushes and a few peony flowers.

These were all flowers that would bloom as soon as the weather got warmer. At that moment, they were lush and flourishing, in excellent condition. They appeared to be of good quality, and I estimated that they could fetch a good price.

“Hey, Mother Liu, how did the young lady suddenly start selling flowers?” Ai Ccao asked as she worked, voicing her doubts. “Wasn’t the young lady quite fond of these flowers?”

“No matter how much you like them, they can’t stop you from being hungry.” Mother Liu answered, “The girl doesn’t have much money left in her hand, and the Second Master hasn’t shown up. If we keep going like this, we will go hungry. You don’t know how uncomfortable it feels to be hungry?”

“That’s true…”

Ai Cao knew how uncomfortable it was to be hungry.

Her heart and liver were paining, and she was exhausted all over, and she couldn’t wait to hit the wall to find her death.

“I see that the girl doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry anymore. I guess she secretly exchanged them for money.”

Mother Liu reminded. “Now the girl probably has no other choice. Let’s not talk too much. Just do what the girl says.”

“Yes.” Ai Cao nodded.

But she still sighed.

The girl was so pitiful.

The Second Master is the same, why hadn’t he come to see the girl…

After working hard for a while, Ai Cao and Mother Liu successfully moved the flowers and went to the street to sell them with the flower pots in their hands.

The flowers were beautiful, the pots were in good condition, and although the selling price wasn’t high, in about an hour or so, they sold several pots of flowers, earning one tael and five qian of silver.

“It’s almost enough for this month’s expenses.”

If only they could save some.

Looking at the silver, the stone in Mother Liu’s heart dropped a little.

But Ai Cao stomped her feet, “Those people are really good at bargaining!”

“Alright, if you don’t agree, others might not buy it even for a lower price,” Mother Liu said, holding Ai Cao, whose face had turned red with anger. “It’s almost noon, let’s go buy what the young lady instructed.”

She said this, but she still felt a little aggrieved.

After all, it was because the Second Master didn’t come.

Her girl was so pitiful…

Mother Liu and Ai Cao followed Su Yujin’s instructions and bought some meat, eggs, rice, and flour. They followed the girl’s instructions when buying meat and bought fat and thin pork belly.

At noon, Su Yujin’s lunch consisted of stir-fried bean sprouts, pan-fried tofu, stir-fried pork, white rice, and a bowl of green onion and egg soup.

It was not a huge amount, but it was still a lot better than the previous days.

Su Yujin picked up the chopsticks with joy.

But soon, she put down her chopsticks again.

Her brows were furrowed, and she chewed the stir-fried pork in her mouth for a long time, unable to swallow it.

She found that Mother Liu’s cooking skills…

Can’t be said was so bad that it could not be eaten at all, but in the eyes of Su Yujin, a food lover, there were too many shortcomings.

The oil for the stir-fried mung bean sprouts was not hot enough when the bean sprouts were put into the pan. Before the pan-fried tofu was made, the tofu was not soaked in water and the beany smell was too strong. The stir-fried pork was overheated and fried for too long, so it tasted too hard and the eggs were broken. There was too much salt in the soup and the egg drop was not beaten enough.

But she was really hungry, and she needed to nourish her body quickly, so she needed to eat more food.

Su Yujin ate in small bites, but she didn’t look very good while eating.

Mother Liu and Ai Cao saw that Su Yujin was not in a high mood even while eating as if she was full of worries. After looking at each other, they each sighed.

The girl probably missed the Second Master a lot.

When will the Second Master come…

In the afternoon, Ai Cao and Mother Liu sold a few more pots of flowers: two pots of peonies, and two pots of roses. These flowers were less valuable than peonies sold in the morning, and they earned three hundred and fifty qian.

After getting the money, Moher Liu went to buy a chicken, chopped it into half, and prepared to stew it for Su Yujin in the evening.

Seeing Mother Liu going into the kitchen to do some busy work after she came back, Su Yujin remembered how the food made by her tasted, so she followed her to the kitchen.

While watching Mother Liu preparing peppercorns, star anise, and other seasonings, Su Yujin hurriedly stopped and said, “I’ll do it.”

Sichuan peppercorns and star anise tend to give off flavor when stir-frying meat, but if they were stewed with chicken, they will only make the meat more textured and the tenderness of the chicken will not come out.

Just by looking at this, you can tell the level of Mother Liu’s cooking skills.

“Girl, can you cook?” Mother Liu was surprised at first, and then went to get the spatula that was already in Su Yujin’s hand, “There is a lot of fumes in the kitchen, so I’d better do it as an old slave.”

“Before, when I wasn’t with the Second Master, I would often cook, and my cooking skills are quite good. Today, my hands are itchy and I want to practice. You just have a taste of my cooking.”

Su Yujin couldn’t help but add water to the pot.

Seeing Su Yujin’s insistence, Mother Liu didn’t say anything more. She just found an apron to tie on Su Yujin and helped light the fire.

Pour water to remove foam, mince garlic until fragrant, stir-fry chicken pieces, add soy sauce, cinnamon, and bay leaves to add flavor. After pouring water to submerge the chicken pieces, Su Yujin added half a ladle more and covered the lid. “After the water boils, lower the heat. Stew for half an hour, then make some hand-rolled noodles to eat.”

“When making hand-rolled noodles, remember to crack an egg into it and add a little salt water.”

The noodles made in this way have a smooth texture and excellent taste.

Seeing that Su Yujin was skillful in cooking, Mother Liu knew that she was probably a good cook, so she nodded hurriedly and just did as instructed.

Simmering over low heat, the pot was bubbling, and the aroma mixed in the steam floated out faintly, reaching only people’s nostrils.

“What kind of food did Mother Liu cook? Why is it so fragrant?”

Ai Cao carried the soybeans she just bought into the yard and was attracted to the aroma coming out of the kitchen.

“We’ll stew chicken pieces and have chicken noodle soup for dinner,” Mother Liu loaded the firewood onto the stove, scooped out some flour, and as Su Yujin had instructed, cracked an egg and added salt water.

After thinking about it, she put in a little more flour than usual.

Just smelling it made her feel so fragrant. It must taste good and all of them will definitely eat more than usual.

Hearing this, Ai Cao couldn’t help but licked his lips, sniffed again and again, and grinned, “Mother Liu’s cooking skills are much better than before.”

“It’s not me who is good, it’s the girl who is,” said Mother Liu, “The girl is cooking tonight.”

“Can the girl cook?”

---