Chapter 12: Rotten Maid Leaf

Liu Mingyuan had already made up his mind, and Liu Yinyin couldn’t persuade him otherwise.

Sighing softly, she said, “Third Brother, I’ll go make dinner now. Stay and eat with me later.”

Without waiting for his refusal, she turned and went inside the house.

Liu Mingyuan: “……”

There was still some leftover braised small fish from lunch, so Liu Yinyin cooked an additional plate of scrambled eggs with chives and a plate of garlic stir-fried bok choy.

She steamed six wild vegetable cornmeal buns. Since they were larger than the ones she used to make at the Liu household, Liu Mingyuan should be full after eating four.

When Liu Mingyuan entered and saw the spread on the table, he was shocked. “Sis, are you not planning for the future?”

What kind of household eats like this? Did she not intend to save for the days ahead?

Liu Yinyin shot him a glance and continued setting the table, saying, “The small fish were traded from Xiaoman, and the vegetables were brought by Mother this morning. I hardly spent any money.”

“But you can’t eat like this all the time. Just look at these dishes—all oily! How much oil did you use?” Liu Mingyuan nagged. “And this plate of scrambled eggs with chives—it must have at least three or four eggs! There are only two of us, why cook so much?”

Even when the entire Liu family ate together, they only used three eggs for a dish.

Liu Yinyin, exasperated, picked up a piece of scrambled egg with her chopsticks and put it in his bowl. “Does it taste good?” she asked.

“Of course, it does. Isn’t that obvious?” Liu Mingyuan replied. People in the countryside rarely got to eat meat, and eggs were their only affordable protein source. Everyone loved them.

Without hesitation, Liu Yinyin said, “Then eat more.”

“But…” Liu Mingyuan frowned. “That’s not how we should live. We need to be frugal and save money. If we don’t, what will we do in the future?”

“Don’t worry, Brother. I know what I’m doing. Money is made, not saved,” Liu Yinyin reassured him. She wasn’t worried about earning money at all.

Liu Mingyuan gave a bitter smile. “We’re just farmers. We work in the fields all year round. Where do we even get a chance to make money?”

In the city, jobs were scarce, and even temporary work was hard for villagers to come by.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment before asking, “Brother, do you want to make money?”

“Of course, who doesn’t? But there aren’t any opportunities…” Liu Mingyuan suddenly had a bad feeling. Lowering his voice, he asked, “You’re not thinking of doing that, are you? You can’t.”

It was forbidden to engage in private business.

Liu Yinyin was speechless. “Brother, what are you thinking? I’m talking about the market the day after tomorrow!”

If she really wanted to do business in the city, she would sneak off on her own—she wouldn’t drag Liu Mingyuan into it.

Even villagers had needs. During the off-season, there was a market every 1st and 15th of the month where people could trade for necessities.

This wasn’t considered illegal trading.

“Oh, the market.” Liu Mingyuan looked disappointed. “But what can we sell? At most, we can only trade some eggs for money.”

They couldn’t sell grain, and villagers already had their own food and supplies. Aside from eggs, they had nothing else to offer.

Liu Yinyin seemed to have thought of something and said, “Brother, come to the market with me the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow… after work, come to my place with Eldest Brother. I need your help with something. Oh, and bring two vegetable-washing basins.”

She didn’t have enough basins at home.

“What are you up to?” Liu Mingyuan was puzzled by her secrecy.

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” Liu Yinyin said mysteriously, unwilling to reveal too much.

Although Liu Mingyuan had no idea what she was planning, he still agreed to bring Liu Dage over the next day to help.

The next morning, Liu Yinyin woke up early, had breakfast, and headed up the mountain.

But this time, she wasn’t gathering wild vegetables—she was picking leaves!

What was she up to?

These were not just ordinary leaves—they were Rotten Maid Leaves (Fubi Leaves), which Liu Yinyin had recently discovered while foraging for wild vegetables in the mountains.

In her past life, when she was little, she had eaten Immortal Tofu made by her grandmother using these leaves.

However, in the original owner’s memories, there was no recollection of ever eating such tofu.

So, while she wasn’t sure about other places, she was certain that no one in Liu Village or the surrounding villages knew how to make Immortal Tofu.

In this scorching summer heat, Immortal Tofu was the perfect dish to enjoy, which gave Liu Yinyin the idea of selling it.

At the upcoming market in two days, she planned to make a batch of Immortal Tofu and bring it to sell. Pricing it at two cents per bowl wasn’t expensive—there should be people willing to pay to try it.

Even if business wasn’t great, it didn’t matter. Making Immortal Tofu required hardly any cost.

Besides… earning money wasn’t Liu Yinyin’s main goal. She wanted to introduce Immortal Tofu to more people.

A famine was coming next year. She was just one person and had no power to change anything.

But Immortal Tofu was food, after all. She hoped that by then, it could help people stretch their grain supply a little further.

To gather the Rotten Maid Leaves, Liu Yinyin had brought a large bamboo basket with her.

Once she had filled it to the brim, packed tightly with the leaves, she carried it on her back and headed down the mountain.

She washed the Rotten Maid Leaves clean and set them aside, waiting for Eldest Brother Liu and the others to arrive in the evening to help. She couldn’t handle everything alone.

Plus, with the heat, she worried that if she made the tofu during the day, it might spoil by the next morning.

After finishing her preparations, Liu Yinyin decided to stay home. She made herself a cup of red date tea, pulled a chair into the courtyard, and sat down to enjoy the breeze.

Life was tough, but without financial stress or overwhelming responsibilities, her days revolved around thinking about what to eat and drink.

Coming from the modern era, Liu Yinyin was actually quite content with this kind of life.

Around ten in the morning, Liu Xiaoman arrived, carrying a bucket full of something.

“Auntie, come check if you want these fish and shrimp,” Liu Xiaoman called out, sweating profusely but looking extremely excited.

Last night, he had eaten one of the White Rabbit candies—it was fragrant and sweet! He had been reluctant to eat more, wanting to savor them slowly.

Liu Yinyin glanced down into the bucket and nodded in satisfaction. “Of course, I want them.”

Then, she went to grab her scale to weigh the catch.

Today’s small fish and shrimp totaled three pounds and four ounces. She rounded it up to three and a half pounds. Adding in the half pound from yesterday, it made an even four pounds—exactly worth four candies.

She reminded him, “Tomorrow, I’m going to the market in town. If you have more to bring, do it in the evening. If not… then don’t worry about it.”

This little guy was so enthusiastic, but who knew how long the river’s supply of small fish and shrimp could last?

“I’ll come by tomorrow evening then,” Liu Xiaoman said eagerly.

He was full of motivation now. After catching and selling fish and shrimp in the morning, he still had work in the afternoon—feeding the chickens at home.

If he ever slacked off, his father would beat him again!

Well, as long as he didn’t mind the exhaustion, Liu Yinyin was happy to take whatever he brought.

She sold two pounds of the fish and shrimp to the system, leaving her with the remaining one pound and four ounces…