The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

Chapter 110: Chapter 109: The Channel

Ji Mao Tou was a subordinate Leng Yuan had taken in unexpectedly. He was from the County Town and often hung around the black market, so he was very familiar with how things worked there and had some connections.

Whenever Leng Yuan needed to collaborate on something, he would look for Ji Mao Tou.

Ji Mao Tou had a rather pitiful background. His parents died young, and he nearly starved to death back when food was scarce.

By chance, he ran into Leng Yuan, who happened to be visiting the County Town at the time.

Leng Yuan gave him two cornbread buns, which saved his life. From then on, Ji Mao Tou treated Leng Yuan like his own big brother.

At the time, although Ji Mao Tou had a County Town residence permit, he had no job and no land, and spent his days idling about.

So, Leng Yuan gradually had him help deal with some goods, allowing him to earn money from it.

Slowly, he started handling other goods as well.

Over time, he became known as the Third Master of the area.

Hearing there was money to be made, Ji Mao Tou immediately perked up.

”Brother Leng, you’re closer to me than my own brother! I’ll take all eighty jin. Is a price of one-fifty per jin okay with you?”

Previously, Ji Mao Tou wouldn’t take any money. But later, Leng Yuan flatly told him that if he didn’t take a cut, he wouldn’t work with him anymore. Only then did Ji Mao Tou start taking a portion of the profits.

Leng Yuan knew that Ji Mao Tou could turn around and sell it piecemeal for one-eighty a jin.

That’s why he nodded in agreement to the price of one-fifty.

He knew Ji Mao Tou’s earnings were hard-won and came with risks. Getting caught was no small matter.

”Remember to be careful. Safety first.”

Ji Mao Tou gave a simple laugh. ”Don’t worry, Brother Leng. I know.”

The total came to one hundred and twenty yuan.

After settling the payment, Leng Yuan gave Ji Mao Tou an extra ten jin of pork and five jin of large bones.

Ji Mao Tou was so moved he nearly burst into tears on the spot.

Not wanting to see his pathetic display, Leng Yuan simply picked up his carrying pole and left.

There were still ten jin of large bones and ten jin of pork in the baskets, which were for the school.

He couldn’t take too much, or it would be too conspicuous.

After breakfast, Gu Jiaojiao started to process the pork.

Leng Yuan’s butchering was ruthless yet precise. The pork was cut neatly into portions—there were five-jin and ten-jin cuts, as well as one, two, and three-jin cuts.

She cut all the meat into strips. She set aside twenty jin to be cured and air-dried.

Another ten jin she would make into bacon, also to be air-dried.

As for the ribs, she would cut off a piece to eat tonight. She was craving braised pork ribs.

’It’s a shame there’s no rice, or it would be a perfect match.’

Gu Jiaojiao placed a few ribs in cold water, waiting for Leng Yuan to come back and chop them into smaller pieces.

Looking at the things she was fussing over, Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but laugh.

If someone had told her in the past that she would one day be this frugal with meat, she would never have believed them.

Now, despite her craving for meat, she had to think about the days to come.

She planned to air-dry these to eat slowly through the winter.

After dealing with the pork, Gu Jiaojiao had no intention of going up the mountain again. Yesterday had truly terrified her.

But with nothing else to do, she decided to process the soap beans and the medicinal herbs needed for the soap.

Making real medicinal soap was not only troublesome but also time-consuming. For example, just boiling down the medicinal herbs, letting them settle, and filtering them would take six hours from start to finish.

It was a matter of controlling the heat, and there was no faking it.

Looking at the herbs in the pot, she saw they were of good quality—all carefully selected by her.

’It would be even better with a bit of pearl powder.’

But she didn’t have any pearl powder, and even if she did, she probably couldn’t bring herself to buy it.

’Too extravagant.’

For now, she was just starting out and planned to produce some facial soap that everyone could afford—simple ingredients, with a relatively cheaper price.

If it were too expensive, while she wasn’t worried about being stuck with unsold stock, it would require a lot more effort.

The extract from two pots of medicinal herbs could make over a hundred bars of facial soap.

Her mind was still on the Polygonum multiflorum on the mountain. That was good stuff; whether made into shampoo or a shampoo bar, the results would be undeniably amazing.

While the herbs simmered in the pot, she went back out to the courtyard to turn over the air-drying pork.

Normally, smoking it over a fire would be faster.

But a lot of people had been going up the mountain recently, and the smell was so overpowering that it would be trouble if someone caught a whiff of it.

Just in case, Gu Jiaojiao kept the main gate locked to prevent anyone from barging in unexpectedly.

And it was a good thing she had locked it, or it could have led to big trouble.