Chapter 68: Transferring the Ointment
By the time Jian Xingxia returned to the massive banyan tree, Liang Chengcheng had already gathered the information she wanted.
“Xiaxia, I bought two jugs of tea oil. One is for your house, and I’ll find a small bottle to send a sample of the other one for testing. I have a feeling the quality of this tea oil is excellent.”
Even though Liang Chengcheng was having fun, she always remembered her responsibilities as a family heiress; she had taken care of proper business.
Jian Xingxia had initially assumed she had only bought two jugs of tea oil. But when she looked into the back bed of the tricycle, there were an additional two chickens, two ducks, and some mountain goods. She had even bought several bowls of the villagers’ home-pickled vegetables.
Knowing that Liang Chengcheng was selecting potential products, Jian Xingxia didn’t say anything and hurried back home.
Upon arriving home, Liang Chengcheng went straight to her room, opened her laptop, and busied herself with her work. She needed to record all the unique ingredients and dishes she had encountered over the past few days, analyzing everything from prices and yields to transportation costs. If any were suitable to be integrated into their sourcing pipeline, she would have to contact the relevant industry specialists for testing.
Jian Xingxia tidied up the items they had brought back, putting what belonged in the refrigerator away and stocking the cupboards with the rest. As for the remaining chickens, ducks, and the massive goose, they could only be released into the courtyard.
The previous six chickens, under Dahua’s leadership, had quickly integrated into the environment and were currently busy eating bugs in the courtyard. Suddenly catching sight of a large goose that was vastly bigger than itself, Dahua’s feathers exploded all over its body.
The goose stared with its tiny bead-like eyes, locking onto Dahua, poised to strike. Even though Dahua was quite a bit larger than an average domestic chicken, in the goose’s bead-like eyes, it was merely a small grasshopper.
Chicken and goose faced off, tension filling the air.
The goose spread its wings, which spanned over a meter long, and rushed toward Dahua with a heavy flapping noise. Dahua wasn’t afraid in the slightest. It had been meticulously selected by the system from its breed’s native habitat, possessing top-tier combat capability and agility.
A chicken and a goose waged a grand battle in the courtyard. The other chickens and ducks scattered in all directions to avoid the fray, completely lacking the courage to join in. Never mind the chickens and ducks—even Jian Xingxia was terrified, and she silently shut the main door.
By the time she finished tidying up the items and reopened the door, a patch of the goose’s neck had already gone bald. Although it was still defiant, it could only lower its head, shrinking into a corner as it pecked at the newly sprouted wild grass on the ground. The other chickens and ducks, meanwhile, had formed a tight cluster behind Dahua, enjoying an outdoor “buffet” across the courtyard.
Jian Xingxia gave Dahua a massive thumbs-up.
Dahua seemed to have mapped out a territory for the goose. With its sharp beak, the goose quickly cleared that specific patch of weeds, exposing the bare ground beneath. Yet it didn’t dare take a single step outward.
Seeing this, Jian Xingxia simply threw the main gate open, letting the goose go outside to eat grass. The goose waddled on its webbed feet, heading out immediately. Sensing this, Dahua also led its army of chickens and ducks outside—with more children to feed, the bugs in the courtyard weren’t enough anymore. They could continue expanding their business scope.
Jian Xingxia knew the courtyard couldn’t contain Dahua anyway, so she let them out to see if Dahua could manage the flock well.
Liang Chengcheng was still in her room making phone calls.
Jian Xingxia took a turn around the kitchen but didn’t see Lin Sanniang. She headed out past the backyard, walking nearly two li before she finally spotted her.
Many of the wild vegetables in summer had already grown tough. Lin Sanniang didn’t mind them herself and gathered them all, but she kept in mind that Jian Xingxia loved eating the tender ones. So she had searched far into the distance along the way, picking the tender ones specifically to cook for Jian Xingxia.
Seeing Jian Xingxia coming to find her, Lin Sanniang hurriedly stood up from the grass. She glanced at the sun, worried that she had lost track of time while picking vegetables and delayed cooking dinner for Jian Xingxia.
Jian Xingxia was indeed worried about the time. But she wasn’t worried about the cooking time; rather, she was worried about whether they would make it before Lin Sanniang’s “shift” ended.
As a Level 2 experienced worker, Lin Sanniang’s daily working hours could not exceed six hours. Jian Xingxia had hired her just after ten o’clock. Cooking had taken two hours, then they ate, and she and Liang Chengcheng had gone down the mountain to buy things, delaying a bit in the village upon their return. It was nearly four o’clock now, very close to Lin Sanniang’s departure time.
Jian Xingxia ran over and produced the medicine she had bought at the pharmacy.
“This is Motherwort Paste, which matches the formula exactly. I don’t know the precise proportions, but it should be close enough, and it will be effective.”
Lin Sanniang nodded frantically. Whether a medicine was effective or not, she knew best of all. When she had been burning with a fever previously, she was nearly speaking in delirium. Even if they had hired the finest doctor in the city, she might not have been cured, let alone being able to stand up after taking just a dose or two of medicine. A medicine this fast and this excellent would definitely be effective.
Jian Xingxia told her, “This is 200 grams, which should equal about four mace in your terms. I bought two bottles, totaling 25 yuan and 60 cents.”
Lin Sanniang wanted to fall to her knees again.
Jian Xingxia reminded her to hurry up and find something to hold it. “You definitely can’t carry the plastic bottles back. See if you can use something else to contain it.”
Lin Sanniang hurriedly fished out two sections of bamboo tubes from her small pouch, both fitted with cork stoppers. Although the seal wasn’t as perfect as modern items, once filled and placed securely, reinforcing and wrapping the stopper and tube tightly with a cloth pouch generally prevented any spilling.
The two walked briskly back to the old house. Jian Xingxia’s spoon was too large to fit inside the bottle mouth. Just as she was about to use chopsticks instead, Liang Chengcheng emerged from her room after finishing her call.
Seeing them holding the medicinal paste, seemingly trying to transfer it without a handy tool, she said, “Are you guys transferring an ointment? I bought chocolate dip biscuit sticks today, and I think they came with a small spoon. Let me go look for it.”
Jian Xingxia was naturally delighted, letting Liang Chengcheng search for it.
Lin Sanniang couldn’t quite understand what she heard—what were “chocolate, dip, biscuits”? She had never heard of them; was it some kind of new food? What kind of flour was the biscuit made of? What kind of sauce was it dipped in?
Liang Chengcheng quickly retrieved it from the massive bag of supermarket snacks. It was a tiny spoon about the length of an earpick, with a scoop roughly the size of the first section of a pinky finger, perfectly sized to reach inside the bottle mouth to scoop out the medicine.
Bringing the spoon over, Liang Chengcheng sat right next to Jian Xingxia, watching them transfer the medicine.
Lin Sanniang’s focus was entirely on the ointment, but her nose couldn’t help but twitch—what exactly was this noble guest of the young mistress eating? It was incredibly fragrant, smelling intensely sweet yet carrying a faint hint of bitterness.
Catching a glimpse from the corner of her eye, Lin Sanniang nearly gasped out loud in shock.
What was going on? Why was this Miss Chengcheng using golden biscuit strips to dip into an ointment and eat it?! That tiny dollop of brown paste was the exact same color as the medicine in her hands, perhaps even thicker!
Lin Sanniang was thoroughly shocked in her heart. She had never seen such a manner of eating. The flour biscuit was cut into strips, looking as though it had been fried until golden, and Miss Chengcheng ate it with a crisp crunch. That part looked normal enough. But what was the deal with that ointment?
Lin Sanniang truly couldn’t fathom it. Could it be that Miss Chengcheng was also sick and needed to take medicine? But looking at the young mistress and Miss Chengcheng, they didn’t seem to be ill at all. Yet Miss Chengcheng ate it with absolute relish, even using a dry biscuit strip to scoop a bit of the paste and pop it straight into the young mistress’s mouth!
Lin Sanniang was consumed by curiosity, but as long as the young mistress and her friend were fine, she strictly observed the rules, saying nothing and asking nothing as she focused entirely on helping Jian Xingxia transfer the ointment.
Liang Chengcheng, on the other hand, watched from the side and found it increasingly baffling. “This isn’t really a transfer, is it? Why on earth are you scooping all the medicine out of the perfectly fine bottles and putting it into bamboo tubes?”
