Chapter 27

Actually, what Yinzhu really wanted deep down was not to live with her grandparents, but so many people kept advising her so seriously, making it seem like the sky would fall if there were no adults in the family.

If Jiang Wan hadn’t come today, she might have been unable to resist agreeing. But after hearing Jiang Wan’s words, she felt understood, and it gave her the courage she needed.

“Xiaowan, thank you! I understand now.”

She decided to take care of her brother herself. Apart from the offerings for her grandparents during festivals, her second uncle could forget about everything else. The house was left by her father for her brother. As long as she didn’t agree, there was nothing they could do. At most, she would have a bad reputation, but that didn’t matter.

Having made up her mind, Yinzhu’s expression finally softened. She placed the tools Jiang Wan had returned to the corner, and her gaze landed on two sea urchins.

“Xiaowan, what are you going to do with these? They sting and it hurts.”

“These? I’m giving them to you to eat. Do you have scissors at home?”

Jiang Wan knew that the villagers didn’t eat sea urchins, so she briefly explained how to eat them.

“My mother is a doctor. If these were poisonous, our family wouldn’t eat them. Sea urchins aren’t just harmless; they’re very nourishing. Don’t eat them raw, though. I’ll teach you how to make steamed eggs with sea urchin. It’s really good for you.”

At first, Yinzhu was a little skeptical, but when Jiang Wan dug out the roe and let her taste it, she was immediately amazed.

She had no more doubts now and seriously followed Jiang Wan’s instructions on how to handle the sea urchins.

“By the way, Yinzhu, do you know who has vegetable seeds in the village?”

“I know, my family has some.”

Yinzhu went inside and brought out a few bundles wrapped in leaves.

“These were prepared by my mother before. I remember there are cabbage, cucumber, and bean seeds. I don’t remember the other two. Right now, our family’s vegetable garden can’t even keep up with what we’re eating, and we’re planning to plant less in the future. You can take these seeds.”

Jiang Wan didn’t hesitate and put the seed packets into her pocket.

“Also, I’ll pull up some garlic, onions, and ginger for you to take. Just plant them directly in the ground. That way, you can harvest them in batches.”

The thought of harvesting in batches reminded Jiang Wan of chives. She wondered if chives were grown in this fishing village, as she had been craving the chive dumplings her mother used to make. It felt like ages since she’d had any.

Jiang Wan swallowed, feeling hungry, but once she finished teaching Yinzhu, she took a basket of vegetables and returned home with her mother.

“Wow! So many eggs!”

Fresh, tender eggs!

Jiang Wan couldn’t help but swallow again. She had just eaten two large meat buns, but seeing the eggs, her mouth watered again.

“Look at you, so greedy. I’ll make scrambled eggs for dinner.”

After earning money today, they definitely had to celebrate.

Yin Huaixi lovingly carried the clay pot of eggs into the kitchen.

“Sister-in-law, our family still needs more bowls and jars. Is there anything else we need? Think about it, and if we’re missing anything, I’ll go buy it tomorrow.”

“We’re fine, we’re fine. Everyone has a bowl now, and that’s already very good.”

Song Wenhui was truly worried that her sister-in-law would spend all the money at once. She scolded her for quite a while. Yin Huaixi quickly shoved a big bun in her mouth to silence her and sneaked off to discuss stall business with her daughter.

That’s right, after yesterday’s trial run, they were planning to continue setting up their stall today to sell mint water and sea urchins.

This time, even Song Wenhui went along.

But by the end of the afternoon, they had only sold two bowls of water to an old man from the neighboring village. Not a single sea urchin was sold.

The total earnings: one cent…

Even though Jiang Wan had expected poor sales, this still hit her harder than she anticipated. She hadn’t expected it to be *this* bad.

Just one cent! It would have been better to go with her mother to gather herbs on the mountain.

“Cousin, we didn’t sell a single sea urchin today. What should we do if they all die?”

Since each sea urchin cost ten cents, she and her mother had gone with her cousin in the morning to gather sea urchins and filled a whole basket. The water buckets at home were already full.

Jiang Wan looked at the pile of sea urchins and thought for a moment. If they couldn’t sell them, they couldn’t possibly eat them all themselves. It would be such a waste to either give them away or let them rot.

Wait! She could turn them into a sauce!

The roe from the sea urchins would make a fragrant paste. It would be great for mixing with noodles or vegetables, and it was easy to make, though she was missing one ingredient.

She needed to get some alcohol.

Jiang Wan secretly mentioned this to her mother. They had their little secrets, and her mother trusted her completely.

So the next day, Yin Huaixi asked Xiao Man’s mother to buy alcohol and jars from the city.

When Yin Huaixi’s brother, Yin Huaishan, saw the alcohol, he chuckled for a while. In the past, his wife had kept him from drinking too much, but now his sister remembered that he liked alcohol and bought it for him.

No, no, he had to stop her. The family was poor now, and he could do without drinking.

“Little sister…”

“What’s wrong, brother?”

Yin Huaixi asked as she handed the alcohol to her daughter.

Yin Huaishan: “…”

“This alcohol?”

“This alcohol is for making sea urchin paste.”

Jiang Wan quickly turned her head, trying not to laugh, pretending not to see the awkward look on her uncle’s face.

“Cousin, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Yin Ning looked confused.

“Hear the sound of a broken heart, haha~”

Jiang Wan felt a little sorry for her uncle and decided that once the sea urchin paste was ready, she would have her mother buy him a small bottle of alcohol to comfort him.

The two sisters went into the kitchen, and the sea urchins they had gathered yesterday morning no longer looked as fresh. Jiang Wan felt bad about the money they couldn’t make, but if they waited until the afternoon and still didn’t sell them, they would surely spoil, and that would be such a waste. So she steeled herself and grabbed them.

The scissors began to clean the sea urchins.

“Cousin, heat some water and rinse those two jars. They need to be completely dry, not a drop of water should be left inside.”

“Okay!”

Yin Ning had long been accustomed to starting the fire, and now she did it with ease. After lighting the fire, she even came over to help Jiang Wan rinse the sea urchins.

The two sisters worked together without needing any help from the adults. They managed to clean the jars, and all the roe from the sea urchins was scooped out and drained.

A large basket of fresh sea urchin roe was now ready. It needed to soak in the alcohol for a bath. This process would disinfect it and help preserve it, while also intensifying the flavor through fermentation.

After the bath, the sea urchin roe was saturated with the scent of alcohol. Jiang Wan spread it out on some palm leaves and placed it in a cool spot to air out the alcohol. Once the moisture dried, they could start packing it into jars.

The method of making sea urchin paste was really simple. Just place the roe into the jars, sprinkle a little salt over each layer, and that’s it.

Jiang Wan packed all the roe into the jars, then sealed the lids and used mud to seal any gaps.

Because the fermentation environment couldn’t be too warm, she decided to move the jars to the little stone house. This way, in two or three months, the sea urchin paste would be ready.

Looking at the jars, Jiang Wan felt a sense of accomplishment, hoping that the paste would suit her uncle’s taste when it was done.

Wait… Did her uncle just come in?

Jiang Wan snapped out of her thoughts and turned around, just in time to see her uncle sneaking a taste of the sea urchin roe’s soaking liquid with a spoon.