Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 570 - Chapter 570 570. Good ingredients_1

Chapter 570: 570. Good ingredients_1 Chapter 570: 570. Good ingredients_1 The weather was scorching hot, and although the sun had set at seven o’clock, the light was still good; dinner at home had recently been at around this time.

Just as they were serving the dishes, a taxi suddenly stopped at the door, and Zhang Yanping quickly rushed out of the car, “Seventh Uncle, what’s there to eat? Give me something quick, I’m so hungry!”

He left Qiaoqiao shouting behind him, “Brother Yanping! Your suitcase!”

As she spoke, she also followed into the house, pushing two suitcases.

Xin Jun, unruffled, paid the cab fare first, then double-checked the luggage before calmly bidding farewell to the driver.

As the driver was leaving, he glanced at the rural mansion and thought to himself that this ten thousand yuan per jin tea business must be lucrative! Look at the mansion – how beautiful it was!

The folks at the Lao Song’s family, however, were taken aback.

“Yanping, didn’t you say you were going on a trip? That was just…” Wu Lan did the math — they left the afternoon before last, the family fished last night, and now it’s today…

“All things considered, that’s just two days, right? What kind of trip did you go on?”

Wu Lan even had an extra thought, “Is it because you felt awkward spending Qiaoqiao’s money? Oh, Qiaoqiao has been so sensible these past six months. He treated you; it’s a brotherly thing. Don’t be shy! Running all the way to Sea City, by plane and high-speed rail, just for two days…It’s not enough even for a stroll along the beach.”

In her simple mind, since the travel fare was so expensive, they must get their money’s worth by thoroughly enjoying each and every tourist spot.

Zhang Yanping bitterly said, “Don’t mention it, the food outside is too awful, I haven’t eaten my fill today — what’s for dinner tonight?”

“What for dinner?” Seventh Uncle snorted coldly, “Three extra mouths to feed came back all of a sudden. Whatever I cook, you’ll eat — fancy some pancakes?”

The three strapping young men had hearty appetites; they could polish off a rice cooker full of white rice, so naturally, with their sudden return, there wouldn’t be enough prepared for tonight’s dinner.

“Eat! I’ll eat anything!” Zhang Yanping wasn’t picky at all.

Especially since Seventh Uncle’s white dough skills were remarkable, and his pancakes with pickled cabbage soup were exceptional!

However…

Xin Jun was stunned, “Zhang Yanping, did you not tell your family that we were coming back tonight?”

Zhang Yanping retorted, “Didn’t you?”

Qiaoqiao pushed the suitcases in and proclaimed loudly, “I didn’t!”

Great!

For all their brawn and might, not one of them was reliable.

After the trip, once the trio had confirmed their dinner, they dashed to the third floor to shower and change clothes. Only then, dressed in their big shorts, did they congregate in the dining room to meet up with Professor Song and the others.

Little did they know, Professor Song had already discussed them.

Yan Ran was attentive. Having nothing better to do the past two evenings, she had even gone to watch Qiaoqiao’s live stream replays. Now, having taken a good look, she shared the gossip, “Look at Song Qiao, so fair and handsome! Actually, he’s incredibly good at farm work and very strong, too! I saw in the video, he carried a full bucket of yellow mud with one hand, seemingly without effort.”

Tai Xiaodong and Qi Lin immediately felt a sense of crisis: “It seems the Song Tan family are not as they appear…”

Compared to them, their advantages in being able to work in the fields and countryside had disappeared.

Tai Xiaodong even muttered to himself, “Especially that Zhang Yanping, he’s so sturdy and dark; you can only wonder how strong he must be working in the fields! And I heard he manages an online store…”

And there was the somewhat cleaner-looking Xin Jun who, apart from tutoring Qiaoqiao, also ran an online store part-time.

My goodness!

Everyone in the household was skilled; what were they even doing here? Were they just here to freeload?

The group exchanged glances and resolved: Tonight, they must produce some tangible results!

…

Zhang Yanping, after eating and drinking his fill, sat on the porch crunching watermelon with a ‘crack crack’, while watching Song Sancheng gathering up the tea leaves in the yard that hadn’t dried and bagging them. Curiosity got the better of him:

“Is this all of the old tea leaves?”

Song Sancheng laughed, “We’re hardly there yet!”

Not many tea buds are harvested; a big handful can be grabbed from the old leaves! What’s piled in this yard is only about a fifth of what’s on the mountain.

Outside the courtyard, the tea branches have been piled up into a huge mound.

Zhang Yanping pondered, “With the temperature this high these past few days… In another couple of days, they should be ready to sell, right?”

“Pretty much.”

Seventh Uncle also came over, holding a watermelon, “This pile, after another day of sunning tomorrow, should be just about right. Tantan bought those mesh bags and self-seal bags, and if you get some spices to go with them, they’ll be ready to sell–how much do you plan to sell them for?”

Zhang Yanping laughed, “That’ll depend on you, Seventh Uncle! Are these spice packs for one-time use, or can they become more fragrant the more they are used, like the old master stock?”

Seventh Uncle shook his head steadily, “The master stock becomes more fragrant with cooking, but that fire can’t stop, and you need to add spices every now and then.”

“What about you young people now? I know what you’re like. It’ll be good enough if you can even start a fire.”

“The main point of making these spice packs is for the tea eggs, right? It should last a day or two at most. Any longer isn’t a concern about spoilage; the taste just won’t be right anymore.”

“How much do the ingredients cost?” Zhang Yanping asked in detail.

Seventh Uncle thought for a moment, “For selling, I’ll make you a simple one–star anise, bay leaves, Sichuan pepper, then seal a small packet of salt, a small packet of rock sugar…”

“I’ll give you the recipe, and you can buy the ingredients yourselves to see the cost.”

Professor Song had just finished eating and was strolling around when he overheard the conversation and perked up!

It looked like he could be of help!

He immediately asked, “Need ingredients? I know a few agricultural research bases run by the Agricultural Institute that sell their own products. They’re a bit expensive, but the quality is good. Do you want their contact information?”

This was actually true!

Not every Agricultural Institute in the country gets enough funding, and their sales channels are very… very…

Well, indescribably complicated.

Consequently, many varieties still haven’t been widely circulated, only being grown by a few partnership bases and a handful of businesses.

Similarly, their sales channels are quite limited.

When Professor Song posed this question with some self-interest in mind, he could also assure the quality.

He felt that, although the tea leaves were old, nothing from Song Tan’s family had proven to be bad-tasting so far, and it would be a pity to use common ingredients.

Zhang Yanping was overjoyed!

This was Professor Song, after all. If he endorsed the quality, what was there to wait for?

As for the price being a little expensive… hilarious, they hadn’t planned to sell their tea egg spice packs cheaply anyway!

It was a stroke of luck that such good ingredients were available; he too felt that it would be a waste to use ordinary ingredients.

He brightened up at that moment, “Professor Song, then I’ll trouble you–star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, rock sugar… or anything else, we have a need for them all!”

Professor Song: …

It’s just… even as a renowned expert, he wasn’t usually afforded many opportunities to recommend such items, especially these.

And the other party didn’t hesitate to wait for his contacts…

Goodness me!

It warmed the old professor’s heart, to say the least!

At that moment, he too smiled cheerfully, “Give me a moment, I’ll make a call to inquire.”

After some thought, he still couldn’t help but emphasize, “Don’t worry, the quality is absolutely good. I’ll have some samples sent over, and if they’re not good, we won’t take them.”