Chapter 24: Old Duck Soup

Chen Manman got up early. After breakfast, she began preparing the schisandra berries.

Grandpa and Grandma insisted on helping, and sister-in-law Yao Chunzhi also offered to lend a hand.

The two little ones, seeing all the adults busy, behaved very sensibly and toddled off to the backyard vegetable garden to catch bugs.

Chen Manman planned to make a vinegar-preserved version of schisandra, a common modern method. First, she selected the berries, removing impurities, then washed them clean. After mixing the schisandra with white vinegar, she placed them in a large basin and steamed them for two hours. Once steamed and cooled, the berries were set out under the sun to dry.

The process was simple, and with clear division of labor among the four of them, they managed to process dozens of pounds by noon.

“Manman, this is easier than I thought,” Yao Chunzhi remarked with a glint in her eye. She hadn’t expected her sister-in-law to be so open with the method—this was a money-making trick after all!

Grandma noticed her expression and warned sternly, “Chunzhi, this is Manman’s technique. If the method gets leaked, you’ll be in trouble!”

Yao Chunzhi hurriedly waved her hands. “No, no, I wouldn’t dare! I wouldn’t dream of it!” After seeing Manman’s ruthless side yesterday, she wasn’t about to cross her. Her life was more important!

“Grandma, the method is pretty straightforward anyway,” Chen Manman said calmly. “Once we sell this batch, we can ask the village kids to help pick berries and pay them. It’s better than doing it all ourselves.”

She knew selling schisandra wasn’t a long-term plan. Eventually, she’d let her father discreetly share the processing method with the villagers. In this era, one family making too much money would draw envy—and envy could mean anonymous reports, which would ruin them.

The vinegar she used came from her space, but vinegar was expensive in this era. If villagers had to use their own vinegar, it would be cheaper to just sell the fresh berries to her family. So she wasn’t worried about the method being leaked.

As lunchtime approached, Manman took out the wild mushrooms she’d picked the day before. She planned to make stir-fried mushroom and pork, along with an old duck she’d prepped for soup. She also secretly added some cordyceps flowers from her space.

Grandma, having witnessed her cooking before, happily volunteered to help with the fire.

Manman prepped all the ingredients. She blanched the duck with ginger and Sichuan peppercorns to remove the odor, then rinsed it and placed it in a pot.

To the pot, she added water, ginger, cooking wine, and scallion knots. After simmering for an hour, she added white radish and cordyceps. When the radish was soft, she seasoned with salt and white pepper.

Outside, she stir-fried the pork: first browning the slices, then adding ginger slivers, scallions, green and red peppers, and the mushrooms. Once done, she seasoned it with salt.

She also stir-fried a few vegetable dishes and finally reheated 15 large steamed buns she had brought home from the state-run restaurant yesterday.

Just as lunch was ready, Chen’s parents returned from the fields.

As soon as they stepped into the courtyard, the rich aroma of meat soup filled the air.

When they saw the large basin of old duck soup on the table, everyone gulped. It was too luxurious!

After washing their hands, the family sat down.

“Manman, your cooking is amazing—I could eat this every day and never get tired of it!” said Chen’s eldest brother as he ate with gusto, mouth full of oil.

Everyone nodded in agreement. “Seriously, we had no idea our Manman had this kind of skill!” Grandma chimed in.

“Really? Well, if you like it, I’ll cook you something different next time. I know a ton of dishes!” Manman smiled modestly—after all, these were just basic modern recipes.

After the meal, Chen’s parents discussed the upcoming task of removing cotton seeds, a job usually assigned to women. Mother Chen, as the Women’s Director, was mainly in charge. The seed-removal still used old-fashioned hand-crank machines.

The extracted cotton seeds were divided: high-quality ones for next year’s planting, the rest for oil extraction, and the leftover pulp to feed livestock.

The cotton (without seeds, called “lint”) would partly be distributed based on work points, and the rest sold to cotton factories. The profits from those sales would also be divided based on work points.

The first round of cotton harvesting was almost done. The next round would begin in about seven days, with a total of three to four rounds. In the meantime, villagers would go harvest corn.

After deciding who would be assigned to seed-removal, Mother Chen left to make arrangements with the villagers. As Women’s Director, she was especially busy during times like these.

Before the afternoon nap, Grandma knocked on Manman’s door. “Manman, can you take me to the county hospital this afternoon to visit your aunt’s family?”

Grandma had thought about it all night and finally decided she wanted to go. Her younger daughter’s difficult mother-in-law was a headache, but she mostly just wanted to see how Xiaozhi was doing.

Manman didn’t object. She couldn’t keep the elderly from seeing their grandchild. “Alright, Grandma, rest up now. I’ll take you on my bike this afternoon.”

Hearing her granddaughter agree, Grandma sighed with relief—she’d been worried Manman would say no.

Inside the room, Lin Shuhe, a bit worried, said, “Want me to go with you?”

He had overheard the conversation.

“No need. I’m not a kid. Aren’t you going to be busy with the seed removal? You’re the scorekeeper—you can’t skip that.”

“Alright. But if anything happens, don’t push yourself too hard.” Lin Shuhe’s deep gaze was full of concern, almost overflowing.

Manman casually agreed. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just going to take a nap.” But seeing him again made her heart flutter. What was going on with this male lead? Was the novel’s plot messed up? He kept acting like a lovestruck hero, and she was having a hard time handling it.

That afternoon, after settling Dahu and Erhu, Manman rode off with Grandma.

It was Grandma’s first time riding a bicycle, and she was fascinated. “Manman, this seat is so soft!”

“If you like it, I can take you out for rides often.”

“No need, just once in a while is good enough.”

Manman didn’t push it. The autumn wind blew gently as they rode, the dry air refreshing her mood.

In the county, Manman first took Grandma to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a bag of apples and some snacks.

She didn’t use items from her space because, one, Grandma was there, and two, she wanted witnesses. Every time she came, she’d make sure people saw her buying supplies and would casually mention their visit—to plant seeds for future protection.

That included mentioning their trip to the police station last night. She was covering all her bases.

Even though she’d beaten up Xu Zhi, she admitted her mistake, paid compensation and medical expenses, and continued to visit with gifts. It was all to minimize risk and prevent blackmail or extortion.

Manman and Grandma rode to the hospital—only to hear piercing screams coming from a ward.

What had happened was this: before leaving yesterday, Chen Shufang had told her family she’d stay overnight at her mother’s. With the 10 yuan Manman had given her, she could’ve stayed at the hospital for a few days.

But afraid her mother-in-law would be furious about her failure and her son’s injury, she’d returned home at noon.

Her mother-in-law, enraged, stormed to the hospital with her.