Chapter 119: Found a Treasure
With Da Hei carrying the goods, they were sitting in the courtyard of the old house about ten minutes later.
The pavilion framed by the solar panels served perfectly as a cool resting area.
Aside from the bamboo crates and baskets A-Feng had promised yesterday, he had also brought many novel items.
Among them were two sets of woven bamboo tables and chairs, which were exactly what Jian Xingxia had been secretly hoping for. She fell in love with them the moment she laid eyes on them.
The chairs all came with backrests, and this type of treated bamboo was completely waterproof and moisture-resistant, meaning it could be placed directly outdoors. Her manor was lacking exactly this!
Wooden furniture inside the rooms and bamboo furniture in the courtyard—it was the perfect match!
A-Feng had brought six chairs in total, three large and three small, along with two tiny bamboo tables he had carried over.
“Grandfather said that one set is originally supposed to have one table and four chairs, but I truly couldn’t carry any more, so I brought these first.”
A-Feng felt a bit anxious. His grandfather had said that properly presented items should be sold in complete sets, but he genuinely couldn’t manage two full sets. Yet if he only brought one set, his grandfather felt it was a bit too little.
A-Feng looked at Jian Xingxia and said cautiously, “I figured a blessed opportunity like this might not happen every day, so I tried my best to carry as many as possible…”
Jian Xingxia had already plunked herself down onto a bamboo chair, leaning against the backrest and thoroughly enjoying herself. She didn’t even catch A-Feng’s words clearly. “This bamboo chair is seriously too comfortable… Eh? What did you say?”
Observing Jian Xingxia’s relaxed expression and seeing that she didn’t mind the incomplete sets at all, A-Feng instantly brightened up as well.
He had guessed right! The young lady ancestor liked these things, and the more, the better!
A-Feng hurriedly unloaded four bamboo chests next. “People normally use wicker chests, but my grandfather is highly skilled with bamboo, so he wove a few out of bamboo instead. They aren’t as sturdy as wicker ones, but they can still hold things.”
Jian Xingxia took one look and beamed. “Great, great, great! Wicker chests are good, and bamboo chests are excellent too!”
A-Feng fished out several small handcrafted bamboo trinkets from the chests. “Grandfather said these are bamboo saucers meant for fruits and dried snacks. And this one is a pot scrubber, and this is a straining ladle…”
Every single one was meticulously woven out of bamboo.
Unlike the scholar’s delicate and lifelike bamboo toys, these items were woven incredibly sturdily, clearly leaning toward the practical side.
Jian Xingxia was absolutely thrilled. “I’ll take all of them!”
For her guesthouse, this was practically a timely rain!
Seeing Jian Xingxia so happy, A-Feng’s heart filled with joy as well. “My grandfather said these items can count as one thousand two hundred copper coins. Combined with the eight hundred from yesterday, it will serve as the payment to buy the machete.”
In truth, his grandfather had also said that the machete ought to be worth three taels of silver. But A-Feng cared deeply for his grandparents; since the young lady owner had said she would sell the machete to him for two taels of silver, he didn’t say anything more to keep them from feeling guilty or worried.
“But the medicine you bestowed, Miss… my grandmother said it’s a top-tier medicine. My grandfather’s leg had been swollen for ages, but after applying it, it didn’t hurt nearly as much this morning.”
A-Feng gathered his courage. “Miss, I can bring more bamboo ware next time. Once I gather enough to cover the medicine cost, can you give me some more medicine?”
Only then did Jian Xingxia recall the matter of the machete and the medicine. She reached out to ruffle A-Feng’s hair. “Your grandfather used the medicine? It felt effective?”
A-Feng thought to himself: Calling it effective is an understatement; it’s practically a miracle.
His grandfather’s leg had been examined by the village doctor from a neighboring village. That doctor only knew how to look at injuries but didn’t know how to treat them. A-Feng had gone up the mountain to gather herbs exactly as the village doctor described, but after his grandfather drank it for nearly half a month, nothing had changed and the leg remained heavily swollen.
Yet with the medicine Jian Xingxia gave, after just a single application, the nick on his hand stopped bleeding, and the leg didn’t hurt as badly either. While it was still swollen, his grandmother noticed the dark purple bruising had faded significantly.
A-Feng sincerely begged for the medicine, simply asking what kind of bamboo ware Jian Xingxia needed next. He hoped that once he paid off yesterday’s medicine cost, Jian Xingxia would let him take more medicine on credit.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “Whatever you have, feel free to bring it over; I’ll accept all of it. We aren’t short on crates and large baskets right now, but small ones—uh, about this size—you can bring more of those.”
“Tables, chairs, and benches, whatever you have, you can bring them all.”
A-Feng’s eyes shone brightly. “Yes! Miss, then the medicine…”
“There’s no need to wait until next time or the time after that for the medicine. I’ll give you a bit more today. However, I want you to work as a small waiter here at my place. What do you think?”
A-Feng’s bamboo weaving craft was decent, but weaving was a time-consuming process. Even if he wove all day, he would only produce two crates, which didn’t unlock much value.
But A-Feng was sharp! This kid wasn’t intimidated by conversation at all, and his age hit the perfect sweet spot between being responsible yet innocently impressionable.
Jian Xingxia didn’t know how Sanniang had guided A-Feng, but at any rate, the boy was currently highly accepting of everything regarding the manor.
In one more day, the guesthouse would begin its trial run, and Jian Xingxia wanted A-Feng to try his hand at waiting tables.
A-Feng didn’t have any strong opinions on what kind of work he did. Just hearing Jian Xingxia say he could take medicine back today made him agree decisively. The powder from yesterday would likely only last one or two more applications, and with his grandfather’s leg so heavily swollen, it would take several more doses to fully heal.
If he could bring more medicine back today, that would be wonderful!
A-Feng agreed without a second thought, “Miss, as long as you give me the medicine, I’ll do whatever you want!”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Alright, then I’ll teach you right now what needs to be done…”
A-Feng’s day passed in a blur of familiarizing himself with the manor and learning his duties.
Meanwhile, after two double-hours and a half, the plump auntie presented a table full of her specialty dishes.
“Young Lady Owner, the meal is ready! Come give it a taste!”
The auntie was exceptionally confident. Her late mother had once been a chef renowned both near and far. Whenever a household within a ten-mile radius hosted a wedding or a funeral and managed to hire her mother, everyone would praise them, saying the host had put on quite a grand display.
The auntie’s culinary skills had been learned entirely from her mother.
Regrettably, after marrying into the Xue family, it had been a daily routine of plain cabbage and tofu without a drop of oil allowed; there had truly been no opportunity to display her craft.
But today, inside the manor her mother had guided her to, everything was available, and she had been allowed to use the oil completely as she pleased. The auntie felt thoroughly vindicated, sweeping away all her past grievances. She treated this cooking session as if she were preparing a meal for her late mother, letting her mother see that her skills hadn’t been lost.
Hearing the call, Jian Xingxia summoned A-Feng and Da Hei. The three of them sat obediently on the bamboo chairs beneath the peach tree, waiting for the auntie to serve the dishes.
“First dish: Shredded Cabbage with Sesame Sauce.”
The cabbage had been sliced into whisper-thin shreds, drawn of excess moisture with salt, and then thoroughly washed to remove the saltiness. Although it had been rinsed again, the cabbage cells had already lost their water content, so it could no longer be considered raw.
The sesame sauce was whisked smooth with water, combined with light soy sauce, aromatic black vinegar, sesame oil, and a tiny pinch of granulated white sugar, then drizzled over the prepared cabbage shreds. It was bursting with the rich aroma of sesame sauce, yet it didn’t feel heavy at all—purely crisp and refreshing.
“Second dish: Mashed Eggplant.”
The eggplants were cut into segments, steamed thoroughly in the pot, left to cool, and then shredded into strips before being tossed with minced garlic, aromatic vinegar, and sesame oil. It was incredibly tender and fragrant.
“Third dish: Sour and Spicy Lotus Root Slices.”
“Fourth dish: Quick-Tossed Spinach…”
Following the four cold appetizers came eight hot entrees—four meat and four vegetable. The four meat dishes were Red-Braised Pork, Eight-Treasure Diced Chicken, Scallion-Braised Pork Chops, and Lotus Leaf Steamed Chicken.
The four vegetable dishes were Lotus Pond Stir-Fry, Minced Pork with Preserved Greens, Steamed Egg Custard with Silken Tofu, and Sauce-Braised Winter Melon…
Next came four soups—two meat and two vegetable. Wild Mushroom Chicken Soup, Yam and Pork Rib Soup, Winter Melon and Dried Shrimp Soup, and West Lake Beef Broth…
Most impressive of all, the auntie also brought out two massive basins of steamed buns and dumplings.
“The steamed buns come in vegetable fillings: cabbage with lard residue, and chive with egg. The meat fillings are pork with scallion, and sour and spicy diced chicken.”
“The dumplings have similar flavors. Give them all a try.”
The two small bamboo tables A-Feng brought weren’t enough to hold everything, so they had to add the two small wooden tables originally kept in the old house.
Across the four small tables, the bowls, saucers, plates, and basins were packed tight…
Meanwhile, Jian Xingxia, Da Hei, and A-Feng had already completely lost themselves within this massive mountain of delicacies.
