บท 11: Earn Money

At dinner time, Fu Mei Li entered the kitchen again to help with the cooking.

Although Aunt Li's craftsmanship wasn't bad, Mei Li wanted variety in the meals she eats, so she didn't mind getting busy in the kitchen.

As she was looking around the remaining ingredients on the shelves, it hit her once again that this family needed more money to keep the kitchen well-stocked. She's been here for around two weeks now and the lack of rice and meat was making her long for them so bad.

Then there was also that debt that the Jin family needed to pay by the end of the sixth month.

"Looks like I really need to earn more money soon." Mei Li murmured to herself. She still had 40 taels of savings that she didn't want to touch unless extremely necessary. Got to reserve the silver for rainy days!

Mei Li took out some millet flour. She had been eating millet porridge for days now and was sick of it.

So, she decided to make some millet pancakes for dinner. She recalled eating pajeon or Korean-style pancakes with kimchi. She couldn't help but drool at the thought. Ah, too bad there is no kimchi!

She still wanted to eat pajeon-inspired pancakes though. So she chopped the scallions, got the seasonings ready, and prepared the millet flour. There was no egg in the house so she just added a portion of sweet potato starch to thicken the batter.

She also took out some dried chillies and pounded them until they became powder. This will give that needed heat instead of the kimchi. She resolved to pickle some vegetables and kimchi in the near future.

All this while, Mei Li was also scouring her brains for money-making ideas.

She ran through her skills. Obviously, she can't be an archaeologist here. There was no demand for such a profession and there weren't even the right tools. Where would she find carbon-dating equipment, excavation equipment, and a laboratory?

Still, she had learned a lot of different things from her past life. She had closely studied a bunch of tools and production methods from various dynasties and even from various ancient civilizations around the world.

She can also take out several modern food recipes, a few useful chemical and botanical formulas, and even embroidery and jewelry designs from her memories

Perhaps those modern ways of doing business and advertising that she experienced can help her as well.

Looks like she needed to take a good look at the village and the nearby town soon and see what can be marketed. She has to figure out ways to earn her first silver taels, at least enough to buy more food for the family.

She was an archaeologist before but running a business in this life doesn't sound too bad!

Mei Li resolved to get rich as soon as possible. She has been used to the good life before. There is no way she was going to treat herself badly in this life.

Mei Li brushed a few drops of oil on the pan and prepared to make the pancakes. By the way, Aunt Li wasn't in the kitchen at that time as she needed to tidy up one of the storage rooms. Since Mei Li volunteered to cook, Aunt Li left her to do so.

Over the past few days, Mei Li had learned to adeptly control the fire of the firewood stove. She missed her induction stove and oven and the exhaust in her modern kitchen. But she has always been good with her hands and keen at figuring things out.

While Mei Li was in the middle of cooking the millet pancakes with scallions, Jin Haoran and Jin Weimin walked in intending to get a cup of water to drink. They had been out the whole day to help loosen the soil of their family's farmland. It's now planting season and although these two cannot be considered farmers, they still help some of their tenant farmers from time to time.

They were used to seeing Aunt Li cooking in the kitchen, but today they saw a petite woman busy hovering over the stove with her black hair cascading down her back.

She had a small frame that was delicate and inspired feelings of wanting to protect her. Light gauzy smoke surrounded her and the glow of the setting sun streaming from the windows gave the kitchen a warm and comfortable atmosphere.

The woman was obviously doing basic kitchen work but, somehow, her movements were soft and elegant. She looked ethereal, like a fairy who condescended to prepare a meal for them lowly mortals.

The two brothers who were about to walk in simply stood rooted at the door. They didn't want to disturb this scene and wanted to admire it for as long as they could.

Mei Li soon noticed their presence.

"You're back." She greeted them with her usual polite smile.

Weimin woke up from his trance. "Wife, what are you cooking? It smells so good!"

Haoran, of course, agreed in his heart but didn't bother saying anything. He only looked at her deeply and then looked at the pan with anticipation. Looks like there will be another delicious thing to eat tonight!

Dinner that night was once again full of the sounds of people happily eating and praising Mei Li's pancakes. Mei Li was gratified.

When they were done, Longwei took over the washing of the dishes.

Before Mei Li could leave the kitchen to take a bath, she clearly felt that the atmosphere was a little weird. The brothers glanced at her then the younger ones looked at Mingyu meaningfully. The eldest brother looked quite uncomfortable from his brothers' gazes.

Mei Li could guess with her toes what they were thinking about. Tonight, Mingyu was supposed to sleep in her room.

She found their discomfort amusing. Ah, these men from ancient times are so cute when acting reserved!

Mei Li turned to Mingyu with a smile. "Big Brother Mingyu, just knock on my door when you're ready to sleep. I'll take a bath first." She wanted to give him a teasing smile or even a wink, but she restrained herself. Would he suffer from breathing difficulties when she's too forward?!

When Mei Li left the kitchen, the brothers stood there dumbfounded again, different kinds of emotions flashing through their eyes.

Mingyu wondered why his heart was beating so fast all of a sudden. It's not like he was about to commit something wrong, right?

Jin Weimin and Jin Shufen: Ahh, why am I not the eldest?!