Chapter 41: You Know Your Place

Su Mei saw Gu Yan’an walking in again carrying a large basket of items and felt a bit annoyed.

“You child, why are you buying things over every day?”

Gu Yan’an set the basket on the ground, looking somewhat awkward. “Auntie, all these things were bought by Momo.”

Lan Mo locked her bicycle and walked in, saying, “Mom, I just got my salary these past couple of days, so I bought a few things back.”

Su Mei took the items out of the basket one by one, muttering as she did so. “Is this just ‘a few things’? There must be seven or eight pounds of apples here, right? And what’s this big bag of dark-colored meat?”

“Beef jerky!”

“Fresh beef is hard enough to come by—where did you manage to buy beef jerky? You rascal, you didn’t sneak off to the black market, did you?”

“Mom, where even is the black market? Do they sell beef jerky there? Actually, this beef jerky was brought from the hometown of one of my colleagues.”

“Why would they dry beef into jerky? Isn’t fresh meat better?”

“Mom, where they’re from, cattle and sheep are everywhere—they don’t lack fresh meat. Beef jerky is a traditional snack there. She gave me a piece to try before, and I thought it was delicious, so I bought six pounds from her.”

“Not lacking meat to eat—they really must be focusing on cattle industry, developing cattle spirit, living the cattle life over there.”

Lan Mo didn’t say anything, afraid that if she kept talking, her mom would ask a bunch of strange questions again. One lie would require countless more to cover it up.

These things were clearly taken out from her space. Besides the apples and beef jerky, there was also a braised pig’s head, two braised pig’s trotters, a bag of dried small fish, and a packet of dried shiitake mushrooms.

The braised pig’s head and trotters were actually given to her last night by that “eats without wiping his mouth” friend of hers, who also gave her several dozen pounds of cured meat and sausages. In return, Lan Mo gave that little fatty two to three hundred pounds of various stolen tropical fruits as return gifts.

“And where did you buy this pig’s head?”

“Mom, don’t worry about where these things came from. They weren’t stolen, so you can eat them without worry. It’s getting late—I’m going to start cooking. Comrade Gu Yan’an, come over and help us tend the fire.”

Su Mei gave Lan Mo’s hand a firm slap. “You child, Xiao Gu is a guest here. How can you order him around to work?”

“Auntie, don’t blame Momo. I’m happy to help her with work.”

“Mom, I’ll handle tonight’s dishes. You go take care of Xiao Li’er—Grandmother has been looking after him all day and must be tired.”

Su Mei originally wanted to help out, but then she thought if she went into the kitchen too, she’d just be a third wheel. Fine, she might as well go tidy up the rooms instead.

Anyway, the rice was already steamed, and the vegetables prepared earlier were washed, so there wasn’t really anything left for her to do.

Lan Mo brought all the apples and beef jerky to the table and stuffed a piece of five-spice beef jerky into Gu Yan’an’s mouth.

“Comrade Gu Yan’an, please carry the basket to the kitchen.”

This was the first time his sweetheart had fed him something, and Gu Yan’an was overjoyed. This beef jerky was damn delicious—clearly five-spice flavor, but why did it taste like honey to him?

Chewing the beef jerky, Gu Yan’an grinned foolishly as he picked up the basket from the ground.

The two of them busied themselves happily in the kitchen, with Lan Mo directing Gu Yan’an to chop vegetables one moment and tend the fire the next.

Before long, they had prepared five dishes and one soup: cold tossed pig’s head meat, spicy dried small fish, clay pot braised pig’s trotters, fried pork slices with fried tofu, vinegar-braised cabbage, and seaweed egg drop soup.

Both Ye Zhen and Lan Yuanzhi worked at the factory and got off work later than Lan Mo, so naturally, there was no need for Ye Zhen to cook. Sometimes, when Su Mei was cooking, Ye Zhen would help out after returning home.

In any case, after meals, the tasks of washing dishes and cleaning were almost entirely her responsibility.

“Younger Sister, what delicious food did you make today? Pig head meat, braised pig trotters? Xiao Gu, you’re buying things over every day—it’s really too extravagant.”

“Elder Brother Lan, today’s dishes were bought by Momo.”

“So it was Momo who bought them? Then I’ll have to eat a bit more. Dad, Momo made all these dishes to go with drinks today. How about we have a few glasses?”

“Go ahead, go get one of Xiao Gu’s bottles of wine from before.”

Lan Yuanzhi scurried off to fetch the wine, while Lan Jingtian brought four small wine cups and placed one in front of Gu Yan’an.

Gu Yan’an quickly stood up. “Uncle Lan, I promised Momo I wouldn’t smoke or drink. I have to keep my word. You all go ahead and drink!”

Lan Jingtian looked at Lan Mo and laughed. “Well, well, you’re not even married yet, and you’re already controlling Xiao Gu’s smoking and drinking?”

Lan Mo felt a bit wronged. When had she ever controlled Gu Yan’an’s smoking or drinking? He was the one who said he didn’t smoke or drink—what did that have to do with her?

“Uncle Lan, don’t blame Momo. My injuries haven’t fully healed yet, so I can’t drink. You all go ahead. Once I’m better, I’ll have a chance to drink a few glasses with you.”

Hmph, at least you know what’s good for you!

Lan Mo picked up a piece of braised pig trotter and placed it in Gu Yan’an’s bowl, saying playfully, “If you’re not drinking, then eat more. Like supplements like.”

Gu Yan’an had just been thinking about how good his partner was to him, but the phrase “like supplements like” made him laugh. His partner was truly mischievous.

Gu Yan’an picked up a piece of pig trotter and placed it in Lan Mo’s bowl, smiling as he said, “You should supplement too!”

Lan Mo shot Gu Yan’an a glare. Could this silly man be returned?

Watching the interaction between the two, Lan Jingtian recalled his own past. He and Su Mei had only met once before going to get their marriage certificate the very next day. They had skipped the whole process of flirting and dating, and he felt a bit sorry for her because of it.

Lan Jingtian also picked up a large piece of pig trotter and placed it in Su Mei’s bowl, smiling as he said, “Wife, you’ve worked hard all these years. Have a piece of pig trotter to nourish your body.”

The children were all grown up now, and their lives were getting better and better. If possible, he wished his wife could eat meat every day.

Su Mei’s eyes grew slightly red, and she choked up, unable to speak. Lan Mo quickly changed the subject.

“Dad, I have some good news for you. I’ve already taken care of the furniture in the small Western-style house. It seems there’s a cellar under the storage room cabinet, and there’s quite a bit of medicinal herbs inside.”

In truth, the furniture hadn’t been stored in the space yet. Lan Mo planned to go to the Western-style house early the next morning and take out some medicinal herbs to exchange for money openly.

“The cabinet in the storage room seemed empty. I never expected Changqing had another trick up his sleeve—there’s actually a cellar underneath! Dad will go take a look tomorrow afternoon.”

“Dad, I happen to be off tomorrow. I’ll meet you there at noon!”

At this point, Gu Yan’an asked, “Momo, where are you going?”

Lan Mo looked at Gu Yan’an’s sturdy physique. Not bad! He’d make a great laborer.

So she gave Gu Yan an address and asked him to come help at eleven o’clock.

After the meal, Lan Mo took out two pounds of beef jerky and six apples and handed them to Gu Yan’an. “Take these back and share them with your cousin.”

“No need, you have more people to feed, keep it for yourselves!”

Su Mei gently blocked his hand. “Xiao Gu, this is Momo’s heartfelt gesture, you should accept it.”

Thinking it was from his sweetheart, Gu Yan’an smiled and accepted it. He decided to keep the beef jerky for himself to enjoy slowly, while the apples could be given to his second aunt and the others.

As for sharing with Yang Wei—forget it. That guy probably was a pig in his past life. If the beef jerky ended up in his hands, it would likely be gone in one night.

After seeing Gu Yan’an off, Lan Mo quickly took a bath and returned to her room to enter the space. Taking advantage of the free time, she hurriedly organized the items she needed to take out tomorrow.

She kept half a small sack of aged mugwort and took out all the rest. For the decades-old aged tangerine peel and dried tangerine peel, she also took out one sack each.

In later times, artificially cultivated ginseng wasn’t very valuable—five or six-year-old ginseng only cost a few hundred yuan per jin.

The twenty-year-old ginseng given to her by “Little Useless in the Cultivation World,” though also artificially cultivated, benefited from the Spiritual Energy in her space, making it far superior to wild mountain ginseng from outside.

There were a total of one hundred twenty-year-old ginseng roots. She packed sixty of them into a rosewood box.

For the fifteen one-hundred-year-old ginseng roots, she took out five and placed them separately in sandalwood boxes.

There were only five two-hundred-year-old ginseng roots in total. She took out two and stored them in jade boxes. As for the two five-hundred-year-old ginseng roots, she decided to keep them safely stored in the space.

Since the gastrodia tuber and Chinese yam were all fresh, she wouldn’t take them out. Instead, she packed several more sacks of the cotton she had grown herself.

…

After organizing everything she needed for tomorrow, Lan Mo first “stole” the crops she could from her friends and then went to find “Shepherd Boy Riding a Yellow Ox.”

[Shepherd Boy Riding a Yellow Ox, are you there?]

[Little Pitiful in the Sixties, do you need something?]

[Yes, your family runs a large Ranch, right? Do you slaughter dozens of cattle a day?]

[That’s right, my family has over a thousand cattle. Sigh… I’m just a poor cowherd. In the sixties, you probably don’t get to eat fresh beef, do you? Do you want me to send you a few dozen jin?]

[Thank you, but you don’t need to give it to me. I’ll trade you a twenty-year-old wild mountain ginseng for it!]

The ginseng grown by “Little Useless in the Cultivation World” contained a faint trace of Spiritual Energy. Her twenty-year-old ginseng had even better medicinal effects than thirty-year-old wild mountain ginseng from the Mortal World.

[Little Pitiful in the Sixties, your farm is only level ten. I’m at level forty and still can’t grow ginseng. Where did you get your ginseng?]

[Of course, my family gathered it from the mountains. So, do you want to trade or not?]

[Trade! If you give me one root, I’ll give you two hundred jin of fresh beef, two hundred jin of beef jerky—half five-spice flavor and half original flavor—and fifty jin of beef tendon. How about that?]

Lan Mo knew that in later times, fresh beef cost several dozen yuan per jin, and beef jerky was around one hundred sixty yuan per jin.

Could it be that a single twenty-year-old wild ginseng root could sell for tens of thousands? A fifty-year-old wild mountain ginseng could indeed fetch hundreds of thousands per root.

Never mind, since she got these ginseng roots for free anyway, she might as well trade first and think later.

[Alright, thank you. I just sent that ginseng root over. You can have someone appraise it.]

After a few minutes, the other side also sent over a Gift Box. Inside, there were three hundred jin of fresh beef—one hundred jin more than originally agreed.

Even the beef jerky included an extra one hundred jin of spicy flavor, and the beef tendon increased from the original fifty jin to one hundred jin.

[“Young man, my dad says this wild mountain ginseng of yours is excellent—it looks more like thirty years old than twenty. I can’t let you take a loss, so I’ve added some extra meat in the box for you.”]

[“Alright, thank you! Let’s trade again sometime!”]

…