Chapter 12: Earning Gold Coins

Xia Ning’an squeezed toothpaste for Lu Zecheng and helped him brush his teeth and wash his face. She also wiped his feet clean. Throughout the whole process, Lu Zecheng’s ears and neck were red, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

Xia Ning’an was actually a little embarrassed, but seeing Lu Zecheng, who was as red as a shrimp, she wasn’t as shy anymore.

“I read in a book before that after a leg injury, you should massage it frequently, otherwise, the blood won’t circulate, and the muscles will atrophy over time. I’ll massage your legs for half an hour every day starting today.”

In her previous life, her grandmother had diabetes. Her grandfather massaged her grandmother’s feet for half an hour every day after soaking them. It was said to promote blood circulation. Many complications of diabetes were foot rot, but her grandmother was always fine because of her grandfather’s massage. So, she believed that massage would definitely be beneficial for leg recovery.

Otherwise, the muscles in his legs would be gone after a month of lying down.

But the flesh on his legs was so tight. It felt like she was using all her strength.

After massaging for half an hour, she was sweating. It probably felt like scratching an itch for Lu Zecheng.

Lu Zecheng heard her breathing become ragged and said with concern, “It’s okay. We can massage it every other day.”

“It’s fine. I see that your leg is much less swollen than yesterday. It means you’re recovering quite quickly.”

“You’re taking good care of me.” His voice was low and magnetic.

Oh my god, that’s unfair. His voice is so soothing.

Maybe because they were too close, she felt her ears itching whenever she heard Lu Zecheng speak today.

Xia Ning’an carried the water out to pour it away. She washed the basin and moved the radio over. “Zecheng Ge, listen to the radio if you can’t sleep tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Then I’ll go back to my room. Good night.”

“Good night!”

After returning to her room, Xia Ning’an took out her spoils of the day and began to admire them.

She poured out the diamonds she had exchanged today. The clarity of these diamonds was all above VVS, and she discovered that there was also a 3-carat pink diamond. She had been in a hurry during the day and hadn’t noticed it. This pink diamond was so girly. She loved it. She would find a designer to design it into a necklace later. It would definitely be beautiful. After admiring it for a while, she put the diamonds in the dressing table of the luxurious suite. She would find time to go to the scrap yard and find a beautiful dressing box.

Then, she opened Lu Zecheng’s passbook and saw that it had 7500 yuan in it. A fortune! It was 1973. In the early 1990s, the country was still promoting the concept of “ten-thousand-yuan households.” He was almost a “ten-thousand-yuan household” in the 1970s. Lu Zecheng was really amazing. His salary was only a few dozen yuan. He must have worked hard to go on missions. Thinking about it, she felt inexplicably sorry for him. She couldn’t wait for him to get better. But his eye injury was quite serious. If he recovered too quickly, she wondered if there would be trouble. But seeing his dejected look, she always impulsively wanted him to get better quickly. She knew that Lu Zecheng’s eyes could heal, but Lu Zecheng didn’t know. He must be very desperate and confused. She had often seen him spacing out these past two days, so she bought him a radio to entertain him.

She counted the money she had earned in the county today. Her father had given her 20 yuan, she had given her mother 20 yuan to buy eggs, and she had spent 2 yuan and 10 cents of her own money. She had also spent 200 yuan on the watch. Now, her cash assets were 1000 yuan. She checked her system coin balance, which was 375.

She didn’t want to take the money for the watch. Her family didn’t have much money. It was amazing that the original owner, who was so loved, could own a watch in such a poor family. It showed how much her parents loved their little daughter.

Forget it. She would work hard for the 300 items tomorrow.

“Xiaomiao, how is a dish defined in the system?”

“It’s usually defined by weight and whether it’s meat or vegetable. Two pounds of meat dishes are considered one portion, four pounds of vegetable dishes are considered one portion, and three pounds of half meat and half vegetable dishes are considered one portion.”

“What about steamed buns, flower rolls, rice, and dumplings?”

“Three pounds of staple food are considered one portion.”

“I understand.”

Xia Ning’an thought for a moment and took 250 pounds of river shrimp from the pond. She asked Bond to help her clean the shrimp and trim the whiskers. She prepared the scallions, ginger, garlic, and seasonings.

The first dish: Stir-fried river shrimp with oil.

Prepare cooking wine, scallions, ginger, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, aged vinegar, and sesame oil.

Drain the shrimp and set aside.

Pour vegetable oil into the pot and heat it until it smokes.

Pour the shrimp into the pot and stir-fry quickly. Add the above seasonings and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with scallions. Plate it.

List it: 100 portions of stir-fried river shrimp with oil, 350 coins per portion.

After a sound of coins clinking, her coin balance was 35375.

Wow, this earning speed is so exciting! I’m full of motivation.

Take out 300 pounds of pork belly and make braised pork.

List 100 portions of braised pork, 200 coins per portion. Coin balance: 55375.

There was still about 50 pounds of braised pork left. She directly put it into the warehouse. It would be the same for her family to eat it later.

“Bond, what else is there a lot of in the warehouse?”

“There are a lot of hairtail, Changping fish, and yellow croaker. There are about 500 pounds of each.”

“Then let’s make hairtail. Take out all 500 pounds and make it. We’ll eat it slowly.”

“We’ll just steam the hairtail and then drizzle it with scallion oil.”

In modern times, she especially loved to eat this kind of hairtail with small eyes and a radar net. It was a specialty of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This kind of hairtail is found in the deep sea, and the flesh is more delicate and plump, making it the best of the hairtail.

It is usually steamed to preserve the freshness of the fish.

After processing the hairtail, she put all 500 pounds of hairtail into the steamer.

Heat oil in a pot. Put scallions and scallion flowers in a bowl, add a whole bottle of steamed fish soy sauce, and pour in hot oil to infuse the aroma.

After the hairtail is steamed, add the infused sauce.

List 100 portions of scallion oil hairtail, 400 coins per portion. Coin balance: 95375.

Xia Ning’an looked at her coin balance and felt like she had reached the peak of her life.

“Xiaomiao, what is the price of this dish if Bond cooks it?”

“Half the price.”

“You cunning and black-hearted system.”

“Host, the more you cook and practice, the faster you can improve your culinary skills. Also, you must cook 10 dishes yourself every month and list one dish. You can’t rely too much on others.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Bond, tomorrow, you can list the dishes according to today’s recipes. You can make more and put them in the warehouse for me to eat.”

“Okay, Anjie.”

“Bond, I want to eat boiled corn tomorrow morning. Can you boil a pot for me?”

“Okay.”

If the dishes were priced like today, she and Bond could go back in about five years without spending any system coins. It would be just in time for the opening up of China. Would it be a bit of a loss to go back then? She should take advantage of the spring breeze of reform and opening up to buy a few courtyard houses for herself. She couldn’t even think about it in modern times, but she could still think about it in this era.

Xia Ning’an stretched her tired body and prepared to take a bath in the Farm Spring Water before going to sleep.

The alarm clock in the luxurious suite went off at 5 am. She dazedly sent herself out of the space and went back to sleep for a while. When she woke up again, it was already past 6 am.

Xia Ning’an got up immediately to wash up. The house was quiet. Everyone had gone to work.

She went to Lu Zecheng’s door. “An’an, you’re awake.”

“Zecheng Ge, I’m coming in.”

“They’ve all gone to work. Have you eaten?”

“No, I’ll wait for you.”

Her face turned a little red as she said this.

“Okay, wait for me.”

Xia Ning’an first made a cup of milk powder for Lu Zecheng.

“Zecheng Ge, this is the milk powder I bought for you. You have to drink a cup every day. It can supplement calcium, which is good for leg injury recovery.”

“Okay, you drink some too.”

“Okay, let’s drink it together.”

“Zecheng Ge, do you want to listen to the radio in the room or come out and chat with me?”

“I’ll be with you.”

“Okay.”