Chapter 30: Giving Gifts

“Sixth Uncle is right, I couldn’t possibly accept it if it doesn’t make money!” Liu Dazui suddenly felt wicked and shameless. How could he earn money from such an innocent and kind little child?

Xiang Wentian, who hadn’t spoken, looked at Leng You, a trace of doting smile flickering in his cold eyes.

Finally, after Hu Liu’s mediation, Leng You, feeling genuinely apologetic, accepted the 270 yuan Liu Dazui handed over.

Moreover, Hu Liu refused to accept any commission.

Leaving Hu Liu’s house, Leng You and Xiang Wentian bought some lard, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other necessities. They then returned to Chen Maz’s place to collect the remaining 20 jin of cotton from yesterday.

Leng You couldn’t resist buying some cloth. It seemed easy now, but it would become extremely difficult to go to the county town after the snow melted.

Back home, Wen Jiuyue was wrapping large buns filled with roe deer meat.

“Grandma Wen, can you make more buns? My brother and I will give some to people tomorrow when we go to the county town.” Leng You hesitated before speaking.

“No problem!

I was planning to make more anyway, for your Grandpa Xiang and the others for breakfast.

Take these now, and I’ll make more dough tonight and continue tomorrow.”

Wen Jiuyue readily agreed without asking who Leng You would give the buns to.

“We’ll buy some more grain tomorrow.” Xiang Wentian gently stroked Leng You’s head.

This child, though seemingly cold, was extremely grateful; if someone gave her a drop of water, she would repay them with a spring.

“Buy some coarse grains! Fine grains are too expensive.” Thinking of all the rice and flour they had bought before, Wen Jiuyue felt a pang of heartache.

“Understood.” Xiang Wentian nodded.

In the end, he still let Leng You have the final say.

The fragrant buns were ready. Leng You ate one, and Xiang Wentian ate four. After eating, they went to the deep valley.

Just like yesterday, they dug herbs, caught rabbits, wild chickens, and quails. Today, they also hunted six roe deer.

Although prices were still very low in this era, after several trips to the county town, Leng You still felt that money didn’t last long.

Back at Wen Jiuyue’s house, Xiang Huaixin and Bai Changpu, having received the news, arrived early. After dinner, they began to process the roe deer.

After cleaning them, they threw them into the snow, a natural refrigerator that would quickly lock in the moisture and freeze the meat solid.

This time to the county town, Leng You also carried a bag containing the frozen buns and a large pile of quails, as Xiang Wentian was carrying too much heavy stuff.

At Hu Liu’s place, Leng You first presented a bag of buns, then ten quails, giving them to Hu Liu.

“This is… another gift for me?” Hu Liu looked at the pile of things, quite surprised.

In fact, the siblings hadn’t taken advantage of him, and now they were giving him more things, making him feel embarrassed.

“These are buns my grandma made. Please try them.

The quails were a gift from a relative; we can’t finish them, so we’re giving them to you to try.”

Leng You saw Hu Liu’s fear of Xiang Wentian, so she took over the conversation.

“I’ll take the buns, but I can’t take the quails. You should sell them!” Hu Liu firmly refused.

“They’re for you.” Leng You’s small face was full of determination.

“This…” Hu Liu was truly embarrassed.

“Please ask Uncle Dazui to come over, Uncle Hu Liu!” Leng You stopped Hu Liu from refusing further.

 “Alright, just a moment!

Da Sanzi, quickly go call Liu Dazui.”

Hu Liu warmly put everything away.

It seemed that spanking his brats last night wasn’t in vain; compared to this little girl, even flogging them senseless wouldn’t be enough.

Da Sanzi agreed and quickly ran out.

“What good stuff do you have this time?” In a short while, Liu Dazui，with a wide grin, entered the courtyard.

“Take a look first.” Hu Liu pointed to the large burlap sack on the ground.

Xiang Wentian, without speaking, untied the rope and took out the game one by one.

There were twenty rabbits, thirty-two wild chickens, and forty-five quails today.

“What kind of meat is this? Oh… roe deer meat!” Liu Dazui，as an expert in this area, quickly identified it.

“Yes, how much can this sell for?” In modern times, farmed roe deer meat cost over a hundred yuan per kilogram, but Leng You didn’t know the price in this era.

“Not bad! Very fresh and plump.

Pork is seven cents a jin now, so this roe deer meat… I’ll give you two yuan and five cents a jin!”

Liu Dazui thought for a moment and gave a price.

“Okay.” Leng You thought it was reasonable.

Hu Liu had a large scale, and after weighing it, it was a full 300 jin.

“So heavy, how did you carry it?” Liu Dazui looked around, not seeing any donkey carts or horse-drawn vehicles, and was very curious.

“Sled.” Xiang Wentian simply uttered two words.

“Oh, oh!” Liu Dazui didn’t dare ask any more.

Hu Liu, equally curious, secretly glanced at Xiang Wentian and didn’t dare say another word.

Finally, all the game totaled 1100 yuan. A quick transaction, both parties were satisfied.

“Uncle Dazui，these are buns my grandma made. Please try them.” After the transaction, Leng You took another bag of buns from her bag and gave them to Liu Dazui.

“Wow! Buns? For me? Great, great, thank you, thank you! Hee hee… thank you, little girl!” Liu Dazui’s mouth was almost splitting to his ears.

Even for well-off people in this era, they couldn’t afford rice and flour every day, let alone big buns.

He and Hu Liu both thought they were vegetable buns with radish or cabbage filling. Nevertheless, this was a rare treat, and a heartfelt gift.

Hu Liu was even happier. He confirmed that the bag of buns Leng You gave Liu Dazui was far less than the one she gave him, and she also gave him ten quails.

The little girl was closest to him and was the best to him.

When Leng You and Xiang Wentian left, Hu Liu forcefully gave them some candy and snacks.

The two then found the rice seller and bought 200 kilograms of millet, 30 kilograms of soybeans, and 20 kilograms of mung beans.

Daheishan Village had little arable land, so each household had little land per person, and the soil wasn’t very good. Except for corn and sorghum, which had slightly better yields, the yields of other grains were low.

To fill their stomachs, the villagers could only choose these two crops to cultivate, resulting in corn and sorghum being the staple food on their tables throughout the year.

They just changed the way they cooked them, such as corn grits porridge, cornmeal porridge, cornmeal pancakes, cornmeal steamed buns, cornmeal gruel…