After tasting the food, the sisters helped to sort the items. Edibles were placed next to the kitchen for convenience, and the other items were stored in the warehouse next to the main house.
The warehouse key was with their second mother, and only the couple could open it. Not even the children were curious about where their parents kept it.
The warehouse wasn’t small, but because it was next to the main house and partially covered by a side room, it wasn’t noticeable from the outside.
The sisters seldom entered the warehouse on regular days, but today they ca in to help tidy up the place, each one glancing around curiously.
"Wow, big brother, look, there’s a locked box here."
Little Mi, with her sharp eyes, spotted the box in the corner right away and even wanted to go over to take a look, but was held back by her big brother.
"That’s the box where our parents keep their silver notes, brought from Fu’an Village. Don’t go over there."
Little Mi nodded obediently, "Oh."
After sorting and placing the items, they moved all the food next to the kitchen and ca back to find that the warehouse was already locked.
Second mother just put away the key and said, "By the way, your Aunt Qian sent so ingredients. Try to cook them tonight, so you’re not unprepared on New Year’s Eve."
Little Mi instantly perked up, "Mom, I’ll help you."
Second mother looked at her suspiciously, "Why are you so eager today?"
Little Mi wasn’t lazy, but she lacked enthusiasm for cooking. She preferred pulling weeds in the field over cooking.
Little Mi chuckled, "It’s just that I’ve never seen these things, I want to see how they’re made."
It was the truth. In her past life, she lived inland, and as an orphan, poor, she never had the chance to eat such good things.
Thanks to Aunt Qian’s kindness, this life provided opportunities she didn’t have before.
The preparation wasn’t very complex, just that everything had to be soaked in advance.
Dried sea fish needed to be soaked for two quarters of an hour to remove so of the salt, then stead for a quarter hour, and finally pan-fried.
Supper was still early, so second mother soaked the fish first. Once the soaking was done, it would be stead with the last step saved for dinner ti.
Dried scallops, the product of dried bay scallops, weren’t hard to prepare either, at least based on the instructions, but they were ti-consuming.
First, they needed to be soaked in cold water for one hour, then the outer mbrane was removed, washed clean with clear water, and a little wine was added to remove the fishy sll.
Then, they had to be stead for half an hour, until they could be easily shredded by hand.
Shredded scallops could be used to make congee or in dishes, just that the preparation beforehand was quite ti-consuming.
Dried squid required even longer soaking, at least for most of the day in warm water, with changing the water two to three tis until the dried squid beca rehydrated and softened, then it could be washed clean.
The soaked squid could be stir-fried directly, either braised or quick-fried.
In other words, the only thing they could eat tonight was the dried sea fish, while the scallop congee could be eaten the next morning, and the dried squid the next noon.
However, savoring the fragrant pan-fried sea fish, Little Mi mused, noting the difference from pond fish, and the fish fillet was even larger than her palm. The whole fish would likely weigh over ten pounds!
It was indeed sea fish.
In her past life, she never visited the seaside. She wondered if she’d have the chance in this life, even though the journey was long and transportation wasn’t very convenient.
But as long as she trained her body well, journeying around with a sword wasn’t impossible.
While eating, Little Mi blissfully planned in her mind.
Her dream was to travel to the ends of the earth. Marriage and children were not part of her plan.
This world imposed too many constraints on won, especially after marriage, which she didn’t like. So from the start, she never included those plans.
Moreover, with the existence of space and swordsmanship, even a desert could be crossed safely.
Anyway, the places she didn’t visit in her last life, she wanted to see in this life.
Of course, these things could only be imagined in her mind, they couldn’t be spoken of, at least not now.
Fortunately, she was still young, and those things were a long way off, no need to worry so early.
According to Little Mi’s understanding in these past two years, the poorer people were, the earlier they married.
If the family was poor, the daughter would be married off early to reduce one mouth to feed at ho.
If the family was poor, they’d marry a daughter-in-law early to have one more laborer at ho.
It was as simple and crude as that.
In contrast, children from wealthy families often didn’t marry until seventeen or eighteen.
There’s even a rule that boys must be at least twenty to participate in the palace examination, or take the imperial examination for rank advancent.
The top three in the imperial exam, the zhuangyuan, bangyan, and tanhua, have traditionally accounted for many officials choosing sons-in-law among them. Marrying too early might lose so opportunities.
Like Liu Qingfeng, who at only nineteen was about to participate in the county examination and was confident in passing. At twenty, he would surely be taking the palace exam, yet he was about to beco a father so soon, which was rare.
This also ant that even if he beca a ranked scholar, he lost a powerful support from the in-laws and had to explore the officialdom on his own, which wouldn’t be easy.
Little Mi admired this.
Although Uncle Liu was the County Magistrate of Cheng County, his foundation was limited to Cheng County. For Uncle Liu wanting to climb higher, it was extraordinarily difficult, with limited support available to assist his son, maybe at most teaching him the ways of an official.
However, Liu Qingfeng and Xie Fuya appeared to share a great rapport, deeply in love with mutual affection, so with such a loving foundation, having or not having support from the in-laws hardly mattered.
Suddenly, soone tapped her on the head, "What are you thinking? Didn’t hear calling?"
Little Mi grinned, "Mom, I was just thinking this fish is so delicious."
"Then we’ll make it again tomorrow. Next ti we go to Nanyang Prefecture, we can also look around more and buy plenty."
"Yes! Thank you, Mom!"
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