Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

The dumplings were served, steaming hot and fragrant. Yang Gousheng put down his braised meat utensils and deliberately raised his chin, asking, "Aren't you curious how much silver I made selling braised meat today?"

Yang Xiaobao, chopsticks in his mouth, stared intently at the dumplings in his bowl, and mumbled, "I'm not curious. I'll eat the dumplings first. Money doesn't taste as good as dumplings."

Lu Hao also came over, swallowed hard, and praised with a smile, "These dumplings smell so good, even better than the ones made by the cooks at the county government office. Auntie, can we start eating now?"

Seeing the children's eager expressions, Tang Susu smiled and waved her hand, "Let's eat! Eat slowly, there's more in the pot, plenty to go around."

As soon as he finished speaking, the children began to wolf down their food.

The dumplings are large and filled with plenty of filling. The refreshing wild vegetables are mixed with the rich aroma of pork, and the juices burst out with every bite.

Even the usually mild-mannered Tang Chengyu couldn't resist eating heartily, and only slowed down after eating several pieces.

After everyone had eaten most of their food and their stomachs were almost full, they remembered what Yang Gousheng had said about making money.

Tang Lifu spoke first: "Gousheng, tell me quickly, how much did you earn today?"

Yang Gousheng straightened his back proudly and reported loudly, "More than thirty catties of braised pork have all been sold to Zuiyuefang and the neighboring restaurant! I originally ordered sixty coins per catty, but I offered seventy coins, and after the manager's bargaining, we settled on sixty-five coins per catty, making a total profit of nearly two taels of silver!"

As he spoke, he pulled a money pouch from his pocket, followed by several small packages: "I bought hair ornaments for Mom and my aunt, and I brought meat buns for each of you, as well as small toys for my younger cousins ​​to play with. In the future, I will earn more money to buy Mom gold jewelry and give her a good life!"

Miao Yulan held the small hair accessory, her face full of surprise: "You really earned that much? I thought it would be good if you could earn a few coins. I didn't expect you, Gousheng, to be so capable."

Tang Lifu stroked the money pouch and sighed, "One tael of silver can buy a lot of grain, enough to feed our family for a long time."

Tang Liqiang exclaimed in surprise, "I only earn a few hundred coins a month patrolling the villages. To save up an ounce of silver, I would have to patrol the villages for several months!"

Lu Hao curled his lip and said disdainfully, "It's just a tael of silver, what's there to show off? When I was in the county government, I could easily give more than that to the servants."

"How dare you say that!" Yang Xiaobao retorted immediately. "Last time you worked, you only earned a hundred or so coins, far less than my brother. You're even more shameful!"

Lu Hao was speechless after being rebuked. He secretly calculated in his mind: last time he helped with the threshing of rice, more than 30 catties of pig offal, and after a whole day of work, he only earned 140 coins. Compared with Yang Gousheng, he was indeed at a disadvantage and had no right to show off.

After the meal, Yang Gousheng pulled Tang Susu aside and said earnestly, "Mom, Manager Liu and Manager Luo both told me that ten or so catties of braised meat a day is too little, and they want me to increase the amount in the future. They are willing to take it long-term."

Tang Susu nodded, her brows furrowing slightly: "Butcher Zhuo can only supply us with a maximum of sixty catties of pig offal per day, and that's it. The supply is a problem."

She pondered for a moment and then suggested, "Besides offal, we can braise other ingredients too; we don't have to just focus on pork offal."

Yang Xiaobao immediately came over, his eyes lighting up: "Mom, braised pork! The pork smells good, it'll definitely sell well!"

Tang Susu smiled and shook her head, patiently explaining: "Pork is suitable for making Dongpo pork, braised pork, steamed pork with rice flour, and char siu, which fetch a higher price and are more profitable than braising. Pork offal, on the other hand, has a strong odor and is best suited for braising. Spices can mask the odor and make the meat more flavorful. Since they are for different purposes, we can cook them separately."

Upon hearing this, Yang Gousheng nodded repeatedly, "Mother is right, how come I didn't think of that!"

Just then, a barking sound came from outside the courtyard gate. Immediately afterwards, Yang Dagao, Dabai, Dahuang, and Laifu, four dogs, dragged a large roe deer slowly in. The roe deer was quite big and looked heavy.

Tang Lifu quickly stepped forward, weighed the roe deer in his hand, and said with a smile, "This roe deer probably weighs thirty or forty pounds, enough for our family to eat for a long time!"

Tang Susu's eyes lit up as she looked at the roe deer, and she suggested, "Why don't we braise this roe deer and try making braised wild game? Maybe we can open up a new business."

She further explained, "In my hometown, wild game is very popular and expensive; but here, most people don't like to eat wild game because they think it's too fishy, ​​troublesome to prepare, and has little meat, thick skin, and not much oil. But it's different in our village. Everyone has just survived a famine year, and they're satisfied with having meat and don't care about the smell. Braising can solve the fishy smell problem, and spices can remove the fishy smell and enhance the aroma, improving the meat quality. Moreover, wild game is cheap. Pork is priced at 26 yuan per catty, while wild game is only 15 or 16 yuan per catty. It's cost-effective and will definitely sell well."

Yang Gousheng was immediately intrigued and nodded, "Great! Let's use this roe deer to test the waters. If it sells well, we'll specialize in braised wild game!"

That afternoon, Yang Gousheng took the money and went to the village hunter Yang to reserve wild game.

There are four or five hunters in Yangqu Village. There are wild beasts in the mountains, so hunting is not easy. Among them, hunter Yang is the most diligent and often catches prey such as deer and roe deer.

Upon arriving at Yang the hunter's house, Yang Gousheng explained his purpose. Yang the hunter said somewhat embarrassedly, "Gousheng, I'm really sorry, I only caught a small wild rabbit today, but the village head just bought it. He said he wanted to entertain a distinguished guest at his house."

Yang Gousheng was somewhat disappointed, but he didn't insist: "It's alright, Uncle Yang. Then, if you hunt any game tomorrow, leave it all for me, and I'll buy it at the price."

Hunter Yang nodded quickly, "Don't worry, whatever I hunt tomorrow, I'll save it for you first!"

The two then discussed the purchase price. Hunter Yang said, "When grain prices were high before, wild game could sell for 21 coins per catty. Now that Lord Lu has set a price limit, it's only 15 coins per catty, but I'll have to clean it for you."

Yang Gousheng pondered for a moment and said, "Uncle Yang, I'll give you fifteen coins a pound for the cleaned meat and ten coins a pound for the offal. Is that alright?"

Hunter Yang quickly waved his hand: "No need, no need. Nobody wants the offal. It's smelly and hard to clean. I'll give it to you for free. You don't need to pay."

"That won't do," Yang Gousheng insisted. "Hunting isn't easy for you either. Although the offal is troublesome, it's still meat, so you should still pay for it. Let's settle on ten coins per pound. I'll come to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning."

Looking at Yang Gousheng's sincere appearance, Hunter Yang felt very grateful. In the past, he either had to go to the street to sell the game he hunted or he had to endure the wrath of the restaurant owner to get a lower price. Now, Yang Gousheng took the initiative to come to his door to buy the game and was even willing to pay for the offal. He had really helped him a lot.

He secretly resolved that if he hunted more prey in the future, he would lower the price for Yang Gousheng and give him some pelts as a proper way to repay this favor.

After Yang Gousheng returned home, he and Tang Susu cleaned the roe deer together.

Four dogs surrounded her, wagging their tails as if they wanted credit. Tang Susu smiled and patted Yang Dagao's head: "This time, we owe you all a lot, especially Dagao, who deserves the most credit. Once the roe deer is braised, we'll save a big piece for you."

After cleaning the roe deer, Tang Susu cut off a leg weighing about five pounds and handed it to Yang Gousheng: "Give this to Aunt Liu. Laifu also helped out, so we can't forget her."

Yang Gousheng took the roe deer leg and went to Aunt Liu's house with Tang Susu.

When Aunt Liu saw the roe deer leg, she quickly declined, saying, "Su Su, this won't do. Lai Fu just joined in the fun and didn't do anything. How can he take such a big piece of meat?"

"Auntie, please accept it," Tang Susu insisted with a smile. She then picked up the knife and chopped the roe deer leg in half, each piece weighing about 2.5 pounds. "If you don't accept it, I won't let Laifu go hunting with Da Gao and the others anymore, so as not to cause you any trouble."

Aunt Liu couldn't refuse her, so she accepted the gift, smiling as she said, "You're too kind, child. By the way, Little Fish's father, I brought back two dumplings from your house today. The four children shared them, and they still wanted more. I'm planning to go dig some wild shepherd's purse tomorrow and make some wild vegetable and meat dumplings for the children too."

Tang Susu smiled and nodded: "Okay, just let me know if you need anything."

As the two were talking, a heart-wrenching wail suddenly broke the tranquility of the village.

Aunt Liu's eyes lit up, her gossipy nature instantly aroused. She grabbed Tang Susu's hand and ran towards the direction of the sound: "Come on, Susu, let's go see who's crying and what happened."

Pulled along by her, Tang Susu walked quickly forward, recognizing the voice of Widow Lan from afar. The two jogged to the large banyan tree in the center of the village, where a large crowd of villagers had already gathered, making it impossible to pass.

Squeezing through the crowd, they saw Widow Lan kneeling on the ground, clinging tightly to a woman's leg, weeping uncontrollably, pleading, "Aunt Wang, please, please don't make me see a doctor, I have no money, I really have no money..."