Chapter 70: Abundant Provisions

“That nine-liang, one-qian ginseng can fetch a full three thousand taels. As for ours, Leng Xiao surely has a clear idea in mind. I estimate that if the pharmacy’s offer is close enough, your Eldest Brother will sell it,” Wen Nuan Nuan shared her speculation.

After all, for a family like theirs, having silver in hand is more practical and useful than keeping the ginseng.

Leng Chen and Leng Yun nodded in agreement.

In contrast, Leng Tian, who was three years older than them, still seemed somewhat puzzled and exercised his spirit of asking when in doubt: “Isn’t Big Brother planning to take it to Jingcheng to sell?”

Wen Nuan Nuan patiently enlightened him: “This is a process of bargaining back and forth. That’s how business negotiations work. Unless the deal falls through, who wouldn’t want the silver safely in their pocket?”

Leng Tian finally understood. He, too, would want the silver to come into his pocket as early as possible.

Having grown up in poverty, if it were him, even knowing it could be sold for more later, he would probably sell it directly for twelve hundred taels, not daring to take risks with the money.

He lacked his eldest brother’s meticulous thinking and strategic planning.

Now it seemed that his sister-in-law and his two younger brothers also had clearer insights and understanding than he did.

Leng Tian thought somewhat dejectedly, even if he was the ugliest among the family of five, why was he also the most foolish and slow-witted one?

But then he reconsidered: although he was ugly and had poor comprehension, he was strong! What more could he ask for?

After learning the price of the top-grade ginseng, the four of them felt both happy and satisfied. Regardless of whether the price could be increased further, the current quoted price was already more than sufficient for their needs.

They worked with renewed vigor and energy.

The division of labor among the three younger ones became even more refined: Leng Tian cut and hauled back bamboo, Leng Yun sawed and arranged the pieces, and Leng Chen polished them.

In just three days, they had already made about a hundred bamboo tubes.

Wen Nuan Nuan repeatedly said it was enough.

Any more wouldn’t fit anyway.

Her preliminary plan was to use the upper part of the storage room: the first section for meat buns, vegetable buns, flower rolls, and steamed buns; the second section for crispy pancakes, hand-grabbed pancakes, and egg pancakes; the third section for dumplings, wontons, and tea eggs stored in bamboo tubes; the fourth section for ready-to-eat foods, milk, and fruits supplied by the refrigerator; and the fifth section for storing fresh vegetables and meats supplied daily by the refrigerator along the journey.

The fourth section’s ready-to-eat foods could be heated and eaten when they had time to make a fire on the road, while the fifth section would be saved for after they settled down in Jingcheng.

When there was no time or it was unsuitable to make a fire, they would eat from the prepared supplies.

“Sister-in-law, what are you talking about?” Leng Tian asked, leaning in after hearing Wen Nuan Nuan muttering to herself.

“Calculating how much food we need to prepare for the journey.”

“Have you figured it out?” Leng Tian, who couldn’t do the calculations himself, asked directly.

“Assuming each person eats three buns per meal, that’s nine buns per day. For a hundred and twenty days over four months, that would be one thousand and eighty buns. Let’s round it to one thousand.”

Leng Tian listened, stunned. He could calculate the rest: if one person needed a thousand, then five people would need five thousand?!

Did they really need to eat that much food along the way?

He stammered, “S-sister-in-law, will we have enough food to eat?”

Those who have experienced hunger have particularly vivid memories of its feeling and a deep sense of helplessness toward those days of poverty without money or rice.

Hearing Wen Nuan Nuan’s specific calculations, Leng Tian, who had been eating his fill for the past month, once again fell into that familiar helplessness regarding food scarcity.

“Don’t worry. I’ve calculated, and it’s enough. We’ve used quite a bit of flour this month, but I estimate we still have about eighty to ninety jin left! That’s enough to make over nine hundred large buns.”

They hardly ate any coarse grains. Small portions of millet, red beans, mung beans, soybeans, and sweet potatoes were stored in half-basin quantities each. Aside from the meat given to Teacher Qin and exchanged for cotton, most of the remaining meat was also saved.

Rice was consumed more frequently, so very little was left. “Mainly because I initially set aside very little—only two jin of rice. If all five of us were home, that would be gone in one meal. As for flour, I didn’t want to bother dividing and repackaging it at the time, so I squeezed a small bag into the gaps between other food items. That’s why so much was left over.”

“Some rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, and hand-grabbed pancakes also remain. The cooked food that was left was sent to your eldest brother, so there’s hardly anything stored from that.

However, there are still over a dozen large baskets of walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, hazel mushrooms, chestnuts, wild vegetables, and wild fruits, as well as more than ten hares and pheasants! During cat winter, we can process the fruits to save space.

I’ve thought about it. Compared to before, the next few months won’t require much physical exertion. For breakfast, we can have pumpkin millet porridge, century egg and lean meat porridge, red bean and peanut porridge, and so on, paired with a soy sauce egg. That should be enough. We should try to save as much flour and rice as possible and make large batches of steamed buns and pancakes at once.”

As Wen Nuan Nuan spoke, Leng Tian nodded along. His heart, which had been anxious about food, gradually settled. He cautiously asked, “Sister-in-law, what can I do?”

“You can start kneading the dough. Originally, I planned to wait for your eldest brother to return before starting, but that’s still over a month away. I don’t feel secure, so it’s better to prepare early for peace of mind.” When Leng Xiao returns, there might be other matters to attend to anyway.

Besides, it’s not something that can be done all at once. We’ll start the next batch only after accumulating a certain amount of flour and rice. This way, it’s efficient and not too tiring.

“Alright!” Hearing about preparing food earlier, Leng Tian wholeheartedly agreed.

Leng Tian dashed into the kitchen, his little face beaming with joy. “Sister-in-law, my work is done too! Is there anything else to do? I want to work alongside you!”

“You can roast the walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts. Once they’re cooked, shell them.”

It’s easier to carry them if they’re shelled and won’t take up much space.

After giving the instructions, Wen Nuan Nuan casually asked, “What about second brother?”

Leng Yun replied offhandedly, “Polishing takes the most time. We’ve finished our part, but he’ll probably need another three to five days.”

Wen Nuan Nuan nodded in understanding.

After wrapping over three hundred spicy minced meat and tofu steamed buns, Wen Nuan Nuan felt this wasn’t working.

It was too hard on her hands!

She turned to look at eldest brother and little brother, who were still full of energy, and genuinely admired their stamina.

Tired from wrapping, she rotated her sore wrists to rest, her face looking pitiful. “It’s been three days. Aren’t you tired?”

She had wrapped over three hundred large steamed buns, eldest brother had kneaded thirty to forty jin of flour and shelled quite a few roasted walnuts and pine nuts, and little brother had roasted several woks of walnuts and pine nuts. Yet, the two of them looked as if nothing had happened.

Not a trace of fatigue showed on their faces.

“Not tired at all. This little work is nothing. Sister-in-law, are you tired? It’s our fault—eldest brother and I are too clumsy to learn how to wrap them. Why don’t you teach second brother? He’s skillful with his hands and would definitely wrap them beautifully!” Leng Tian had a sudden idea and suggested.

Wen Nuan Nuan thought this suggestion was reliable!

Yes, second brother’s work should be done by tomorrow. Once he’s taught how to wrap steamed buns, dumplings, and pancakes, the two of them working together would surely speed things up.

She planned to make three hundred soy sauce meat buns, six hundred minced meat and tofu buns, two hundred pumpkin flower steamed buns, two hundred brown sugar and red date steamed buns, and two hundred spicy flower rolls.

For crispy pancakes, she aimed to make a thousand in four different flavors.

A hundred portions each of dumplings and wontons, and a hundred portions of bamboo tube rice.

Three hundred hand-grabbed pancakes and egg pancakes.

Three thousand portions should be just about enough to eat. Items like dumplings, wontons, and bamboo tube rice are substantial—one portion can make a full meal.

There are also tea eggs, soy sauce eggs, and simmered chicken soup, mung bean soup, and egg drop soup to accompany them.

Besides, along the way, the refrigerator is replenished daily with a steady supply of steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, shaomai, cooked beef, prepared foods, and fruits.

Not only is it sufficient—for her, it’s already an absolute feast!