Chapter 25: Custom Furniture

Thinking that the house would be completed in just over a month, Lin Nuo decided it was time to order the furniture. After asking Shen, she learned that the carpenter in the village was, who lived at the end of the village. After chatting for a while, she prepared to place her order.

“Hello, is this the Zhao carpenter’s house?” Lin Nuo asked Zhao Mu.

Zhao Mu nodded and opened the door to welcome Lin Nuo inside.

At that moment, Zhao Mu was a bit flustered, looking at Lin Nuo, who appeared like a fairy, and he became somewhat tongue-tied.

“Um, are you here to order furniture? Please come in,” he stammered.

Zhao Mu’s parents were also at home.

“Dad, Mom, she’s here to order furniture,” Zhao Mu said.

After he spoke, Mrs. Zhao warmly invited Lin Nuo to sit down.

“You’re really beautiful,” Mrs. Zhao said with a smile as she looked at Lin Nuo.

She instructed Zhao Mu to fetch some water from the kitchen.

Lin Nuo carefully explained her needs, which shocked the carpenter. It was rare for someone to order so much furniture at once, and even when they did, it was usually made from ordinary materials. Lin Nuo, however, wanted to custom-make high-quality mahogany furniture. In this village, even the village head had never ordered such items.

Since Lin Nuo had never ordered furniture before, she needed a 2-meter large bed for each room, a set of cabinets, a dressing table, a dining table, dining chairs, as well as a sofa and a recliner.

“Zhao Mu, how long do you think it will take to make these items, and how much silver will it cost?” Lin Nuo’s question brought the Zhao family back to reality.

“Ahem,” Zhao Mu cleared his throat and replied, “The main cost of these furniture pieces is the wood, and we need to go to the town to buy it. It should take about 20 days to complete. However, the price will be quite high, around 50 taels of silver.”

Zhao Mu pondered as he spoke.

“That’s fine. Please help me with the order; I’ll be moving in about a month,” Lin Nuo said, placing 20 taels of silver on the table.

“This is the deposit,” she added before leaving.

When Zhao Mu returned with the water, he saw that Lin Nuo had already left, and he stared blankly at her departing figure.

“Zhao Mu, Zhao Mu, what’s wrong? Why are you in a daze?”

The carpenter Zhao also looked at Zhao Mu.

“Mom and Dad, do you know who she is? It seems like there’s no one by that name in our village.”

Mrs. Zhao and the carpenter exchanged glances and shook their heads, saying, “We don’t know.”

Since it was still early, Lin Nuo took her basket and went to the foot of the mountain to gather wild vegetables.

From a distance, the mountains appeared layered and lush, a vibrant green, and imposing.

The roadside was filled with blooming wildflowers. As she walked closer, she noticed many small paths, likely made by people going up the mountain to gather wild vegetables or forage for food.

The outer areas were mostly flat slopes, and she thought that there must be many wild vegetables nearby that had already been picked.

At that moment, Lin Nuo was drawn to a cluster of green leaves, and her face lit up as she ran over, lifting her skirt.

“Wow, it’s mint! With this, I can make so many delicious dishes. Mint fried ribs, mint crucian carp soup, mint shredded chicken, and so on.”

Lin Nuo murmured to herself, already salivating at the thought of all the tasty dishes.

After picking a handful of mint leaves, she ventured deeper into the area, only to be captivated by something else. Oh my, isn’t that chicken fat mushroom? There are so many, and no one has picked them!

She gently placed the chicken fat mushrooms into her basket. After finishing with this patch, she searched in other areas.

Sure enough, as she moved further in, she found a few more and eventually also discovered tea tree mushrooms and beef liver mushrooms.

“I hit the jackpot, I hit the jackpot,” Lin Nuo murmured as she collected all the mushrooms in a small area.

Afterward, she took a sieve from the kitchen to dry the mushrooms.

Noticing the sun was setting, she prepared to make dinner.

After cleaning the chicken fat mushrooms, she planned to stir-fry them for dinner, along with a pig’s trotter soup and a cold dish of purslane.

She heated some vegetable oil in the pan, and once it was hot, she added the chicken fat mushrooms, which were already fresh and fragrant. A few simple seasonings were all that were needed. Once everything was ready, Lin Lei also came over.

The siblings ate until they were full, both rubbing their round bellies and sharing a smile. Finally, they went outside for a few laps before heading back in to wash up and sleep.