The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 103 - 92: Jiang Gui (Additional update at 35000 recommended votes from Yun Qi)

Chapter 103: Chapter 92: Jiang Gui (Additional update at 35000 recommended votes from Yun Qi)

Is there ginger for sale at the big market?

There wasn’t any at the street stalls, but seeing them aimlessly wandering like headless flies, Zhou Erlang grabbed Zhou Wulang’s collar from behind, spun him half a circle, and pointed to old Doctor’s house’s entrance, "That’s where you can buy ginger."

Ginger is used to expel cold and remove the off-taste, so during the New Year, if people plan to stew mutton, many would buy chunks of ginger from the pharmacy or the doctor’s house.

Wulang was old enough to understand better.

Zhou Wulang looked towards the old Doctor’s door with a somewhat uneasy premonition and led Manbao and Liulang there.

The old Doctor had already opened his door, sitting in his rattan chair dozing on and off, and squinted his eyes when he saw two youths and a child standing in front of him. He scrutinized Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, finding them somewhat familiar but could not quite remember their names, so he turned to Manbao.

Hmm, that’s a familiar face.

The old Doctor beckoned Manbao, "Your complexion is rosy; you don’t seem sick. What, is your mother ill again?"

When Manbao was younger, she fell ill every other day, and the old Doctor knew her quite well, having been carried to the Zhou family’s home by the Zhou brothers several times in the middle of the night.

Manbao also had a strong impression of the old Doctor because every time he saw her, he either gave her an injection or made her take bitter medicine, which made Manbao very afraid of him.

She counted her little fingers and said softly, "I’d like to buy some ginger."

"Oh, that’s a good thing. How much do you want?"

"One jin!"

The old Doctor’s forehead twitched, looking at the little one with a smile, he asked, "What do you need so much ginger for?"

"To make soup. My third brother is going into service, and I want to make ginger soup for them to drink."

The old Doctor thought for a moment and said, "Warming the body and expelling cold, that’s a good idea. But ginger is expensive, one jin costs sixty wen."

"Yikes, why is it even more expensive than privet seeds?"

The old Doctor paused, then laughed, "You even know about privet seeds, huh."

He pondered and said, "In medical prescriptions, privet seeds are not used as often as ginger slices. Moreover, wealthy families like to cook with ginger, and tea drinkers always pair it with ginger. This commodity is precious because it’s rare. There’s less ginger harvested and more used, so of course, it’s expensive."

"But ginger is easy to grow."

"Hmm?" The old Doctor slightly straightened up, smiling, he asked, "You know how to grow it?"

Manbao spoke without any concern, "Ginger thrives in fertile and moist soil. Just bury a piece, and you can harvest a lot from it."

This was noted in the entry; Keke also mentioned it. Ginger is easy to cultivate. In the future, due to the great human migration, many species vanished or dwindled, but some thrived and even increased; ginger is one of those that survive easily.

The old Doctor appeared contemplative. He stood up, took out a piece of ginger for her, and said, "There are fresh ginger and dry ginger. I only have dry ginger here. Dry ginger must be buried in the ground for three years to develop a rich flavor and milder effects. What you want seems to be fresh ginger. If you still want it, come again next time during the big market."

He continued, "Now that it’s cold, besides ginger, you can also cook a lot of radishes. In fact, eating sliced ginger is better in summer, while eating radishes is superior in winter. Instead of making ginger soup, you’d be better off making radish soup."

The old Doctor gave Manbao a small smile, playfully winked at her, and said, "Radishes and meat go even better together."

Manbao swallowed, wiped the corner of her mouth, and asked quietly, "Besides radishes, what else can be added?"

"It’s a pity that it’s winter now. Other than radishes, there aren’t many other vegetables available. Otherwise, you could add some green leaves to the soup, which would be delicious."

Seeing their sister drooling, Wulang and Liulang felt that the old Doctor was unreliable. They had come to buy ginger, but why was he teaching them how to make soup?

And was it even soup he was talking about?

That was practically a feast! Zhou Wulang quickly pulled Manbao away for fear that their little sister would be persuaded and insist on making it as suggested. In that case, their business venture would not be making a profit, but suffering a loss.

When Wulang went to pay for the piece of ginger, the old Doctor was particularly generous, waving his hand and saying, "That small piece of ginger, just give me two wen for it."

Zhou Wulang felt even two wen was pricey enough. They planned to boil a large pot of water, requiring quite a bit of ginger.

If they got only such a small piece for two wen, how much ginger would be needed to boil a pot of water?

Zhou Wulang was a bit worried.

Seeing his two younger brothers returning with gloomy faces, Zhou Er was satisfied, although Manbao’s expression didn’t quite match the situation. He asked, "Did you get the ginger?"

Manbao nodded repeatedly, still thinking about the radish and meat soup, her mouth watering as she asked Zhou Erlang, "Second Brother, do radishes and meat go well together?"

Zhou Erlang looked down at his little sister, noticing something shiny at the corner of her mouth, he nodded and said, "Yes, they go well together."

Zhou Wulang immediately interjected, "Manbao, don’t listen to the old Doctor. One bowl of soup for one wen, with meat and radishes—that’s not just losing money, that’s draining our entire savings."

"Then sell it for two wen."

"Two wen still won’t make a profit," Zhou Wulang, not as naïve as Manbao, knew the cost of meat and could roughly estimate how much meat was needed to give a pot of soup a meaty flavor, so he said, "A bowl of soup with ginger, meat, and radishes would need at least four or five wen just to break even. If you want to make a profit, you should sell it for at least six wen. Who would be willing to spend six wen every day on a bowl of soup?"

Zhou Wulang reiterated, "Two wen won’t make a profit."

Manbao, swallowing her saliva, said, "Let’s go take a look at the meat first."

There was meat for sale at the big market too, but it was scarce, basically only two stalls, one selling mutton and the other pork.

Like most people, Manbao preferred mutton over pork, and mutton was also more expensive than pork.

So, instinctively, Manbao first looked at the mutton and inquired about its price before standing aside, calculating the cost on her fingers. It seemed to be a bit high.

Keke reminded her, "Host, bones can also be used to make soup."

"Bones are expensive too," Manbao replied.

"I’m not talking about meaty bones, but bones without meat," Keke guided Manbao to look at the clean-shaven bones at the adjacent pork stall.

Approaching, the stall owner greeted the three, "Buying meat?"

Manbao asked, "How much is the pork?"

The owner divided the meat into sections, pointing, he said, "This pile is ten wen a jin, this pile, nine wen, and this pile, eight wen."

It was divided by fat content, with the fattier meat being pricier.

Manbao didn’t eat pork often and wasn’t particularly fond of it. She pointed to the bones and asked, "What about this?"

"Six wen."

The bones had meat on them, quite a bit, but it’s undeniable that the bones themselves were heavy; one bone weighed more than a jin, but there wasn’t much meat to eat, so the pricing was relatively cheap.

The neighboring mutton was much more expensive in comparison.

Manbao turned her fingers in the air, then asked the stall owner about the bones he had piled aside, "And this?"

Those were the bones that the stall owner had scraped clean of meat. The owner paused and said, "Little lady, are you planning to stew bone soup?"

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