Chapter 457: Sour Bamboo Shoots
“Guard Chu, stop!”
Carrying two buckets of crayfish, Chu Yun dashed to the fish pond.
Seeing that he was about to pour a bucket of crayfish into the river, Caretaker s.h.i.+ panicked and stopped him.
Chu Yun turned his head suspiciously and frowned at him. “What’s wrong?”
He saw that the place where Lu Sheng kept crayfish previously was a pond. Hence, he thought that Lu Sheng brought these crayfish here to raise them in the fish pond.
“Not the fish pond, but here.”
Caretaker s.h.i.+ pointed at the ditch beside the fish pond.
Chu Yun looked at the ditch, then at Lu Sheng, who was behind Caretaker s.h.i.+. He asked, “Miss Lu, are we putting the crayfish into the ditch?”
“Yes.”
Lu Sheng nodded. “Just pour them in.”
When Chu Yun heard that, he hurriedly changed directions and poured the crayfish in the bucket into the ditch.
Chu Sihan also poured the bucket in his hand into it.
After Caretaker s.h.i.+ scattered the duckweed into the water, he asked Lu Sheng, “Young Madam, don’t we need to feed this thing?”
Lu Sheng shook her head. “No need. They can just eat those water plants. In the future, I’ll come back once every twenty days.”
“Water needs to be changed once every twenty days for this thing?”
Chu Sihan placed the wooden bucket on the sh.o.r.e and raised his eyebrows.
“More or less.” Lu Sheng smiled. “It should be changed once every twenty days.”
Chu Sihan nodded slightly. He looked at Caretaker s.h.i.+ and said, “Caretaker s.h.i.+, did you hear that?”
“Yes!”
Caretaker s.h.i.+ looked at Lu Sheng and smiled. “Young Madam, don’t worry. You don’t have to come over. You just have to teach me what to do.”
Lu Sheng smiled and said, “Thank you!”
Although crayfish reproduce quickly, they take a long time to grow.
Based on their reproduction period, this batch of crayfish might be raised until next year.
Caretaker s.h.i.+ chuckled and said, “Young Madam, you’re welcome. It’s what I should do!”
Upon hearing Caretaker s.h.i.+ address her as Young Madam, Chu Yun glanced at him in disdain. He felt that Caretaker s.h.i.+ was trying to play up to Lu Sheng.
After returning from the fish pond, Lu Sheng instructed Caretaker s.h.i.+ that he could throw any rotten fruits into the ditch to feed crayfish as well.
When Caretaker s.h.i.+ heard this, he immediately called for people to go to the backyard to pick up the fruits and throw them into the ditch.
“Lord, Young Madam, are we going back now?”
Seeing that the duo did not intend to enter the house to sit, Caretaker s.h.i.+ hurriedly asked.
Lu Sheng nodded. “Yes, I still have a lot of work to do. I won’t stay any longer.”
“Do you like loquats?”
Chu Sihan stared at the loquat garden and asked Lu Sheng in a low voice.
Lu Sheng nodded twice. “Yes!”
Chu Sihan smiled and looked at Caretaker s.h.i.+ again. “When the loquats are ripe, pluck some and send them to Young Madam.”
“Yes!”
Lu Sheng glanced at him.
It was one thing for Caretaker s.h.i.+ to address her as Young Madam, but why did he address her as well?
When Chu Yun heard that, he fell into deep thought.
So the Lord preferred them to call Miss Lu Young Madam?
Did he address her wrongly in the past then?
It seemed like he had to change his words.
—————
The three of them had just returned to Liu Yue Village when Lu Sheng got busy again.
She asked twenty villagers to dig out the bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest.
Everyone received one hundred and fifty copper coins a day. Aunt Yu and Mdm Chen were among them.
The two of them threw Xiao Yuan Zi to Liang Ping, who was temporarily free, and ran to the Lu family to meet everyone.
Lu Sheng took out the baskets Lu Dahua made previously and distributed them to everyone.
In order to prevent cheating, Lu Sheng invited Aunt Yu and Mdm Fang to be gatekeepers when finding people.
Hence, everyone present was reliable and capable.
“Miss Lu, aren’t you tired from working so hard every day?”
Seeing her run around, Chu Yun felt dizzy for her.
Lu Sheng smiled faintly and explained, “This is called living a fulfilling life.”
Compared to sitting and waiting for food, she preferred a busy life.
Lu Sheng carried a basket and looked at Chu Sihan. “Lord, do you want to join us?”
Chu Sihan nodded slightly. “Yes.”
“Then… This is for you.”
Lu Sheng picked up another basket and pa.s.sed it to him. There was a teasing smile in her eyes.
When Chu Yun saw this, he hurriedly received it and said, “I’ll carry it for the Lord.”
He had followed the Lord for so long, but had never seen him carry a basket.
Only Lu Sheng had the guts to make his Lord carry a basket.
Not only was Chu Yun shocked, but everyone standing at the side was also shocked.
Recently, Chu Sihan came to Liu Yue Village frequently, so almost everyone in the village recognized him.
Hence, when they saw that Lu Sheng even dared to ‘enslave’ Chu Sihan, they were shocked.
Lu Sheng smiled and raised her eyebrows. “I was just joking with the Lord.”
Chu Sihan glanced at her, picked up a basket, and carried it on his back. Ignoring everyone’s shocked gazes, he raised his eyebrows at Lu Sheng and asked, “Can we go now?”
“Yes… Yes!”
Lu Sheng nodded blankly and only regained her senses after a while.
She said to the crowd, “Everyone has brought their tools, right? Then, let’s prepare to set off.”
Everyone looked at Chu Sihan and nodded. Then, they carried their tools and boarded the rented ox carts to the bamboo forest.
Lu Sheng did not know how much bamboo shoots were produced in the past. She only knew that there were more bamboo shoots in this bamboo forest.
After half a day, twenty people, including her, Chu Sihan, and Chu Yun, had dug up a total of five hundred pounds of bamboo shoots. This was only half of it.
Before digging the bamboo shoots, she specially instructed everyone not to dig the thick bamboo shoots. Those would grow bamboo in the future.
Lu Sheng only cooked for Chu Sihan and Chu Yun after giving everyone their salaries.
Before returning to town, Chu Sihan said to her, “There’s a new case at Lin Jiang Mansion. I have to go back for a while. I’m afraid I can’t come over to accompany you during this period.”
Lu Sheng nodded slightly. “It’s alright, Lord. I’ll wait for you to come back!”
Anyway, if he wanted to come back, he could come back anytime.
One had to know that he was not an ordinary person.
Chu Sihan smiled lightly. “Then, we’ll take our leave first.”
Lu Sheng nodded. “Take care.”
“Take care too!”
Chu Sihan smiled and stroked her black hair before getting on the carriage.
“Guard Chu, be careful on the carriage.”
Chu Yun nodded at her before leaving.
Lu Sheng stood at the entrance and watched the carriage leave. Then, she turned around and entered, casually locking the door.
The bamboo shoots that were dug up today were piled in the courtyard.
The next day, Lu Sheng found ten more people. There were men and women, young and old. These were all the people Mdm Fang had pointed out to her.
They had dug three hundred pounds more bamboo shoots than yesterday.
Perhaps because of the high pay, everyone worked hard.
Looking at the thousand pounds of bamboo shoots piled in the courtyard, Lu Sheng thought for a while and decided to dig for another day tomorrow. Then, they would not dig for now.
Thirty people dug up more than a thousand pounds on the third day. Combined with the previous two days, they dug up a total of more than two thousand and three hundred pounds.
Of course, Lu Sheng secretly took the weighing scale out from the s.p.a.ce Bracelet when there was no one around.
On the fourth day, she bought two vats and marinated sour bamboo shoots. The rest were used as dried bamboo shoots.
Everyone in the village felt that it was strange. Lu Sheng only took two days to peel off such a huge pile of bamboo shoots. Moreover, they became shredded bamboo.
Little did they know that at night, Lu Sheng released all the souls she had previously collected. She even released Tan Jun and Jia Zheng to peel the bamboo shoots.
The ghosts had been busy for two days and were so tired that they almost died again.
Jia Zheng even protested to Lu Sheng. Unexpectedly, the result of his protest was that he and his four men were punished to peel the bamboo shoots into shredded bamboo.
“Lu Sheng is so capable. She’s done with such a high pile of bamboo shoots in two days.”
Aunt Yu, who came over to help dry the bamboo shoots, could not help but praise her after seeing them.
Lu Sheng smiled and thanked her, but did not explain further.
Two days after He Qin’s marriage, the Lu family’s restaurant opened again.
After marinating the bamboo shoots for three days, they were basically already sour.
Lu Sheng and Li Zheng borrowed an ox cart and pulled a jar of sour bamboo shoots to the Lu family’s restaurant.
“Lu Sheng, what’s this?”
He Lai was very curious when he saw the huge jar.
“Sour bamboo shoots.”
In order not to disturb the guests, Lu Sheng brought the sour bamboo shoots in from the backyard.
“It’s so heavy. How did you move it up?”
He Lai tried to move it, but it did not budge.
Lu Sheng smiled and hugged the jar easily.
He Lai was speechless.
He watched in shock as Lu Sheng carried the huge jar into the kitchen.
The jar was so big that even if it was empty, it weighed at least a few dozen pounds. Moreover, there seemed to be a lot of things inside. How could Lu Sheng carry it so easily?
He Lai suddenly doubted himself.
He followed Lu Sheng into the kitchen, trembling. After she placed the jar down, he went over to try hugging it again.
Unfortunately, like before, he could not move it.
“What’s inside?”
He lifted the lid and realized that there was a layer of white cloth covering the mouth of the jar.
However, it did not smell good, and a sour smell filled the air.
He frowned slightly. “What’s this? Why does it smell so strange?”
“Sour bamboo shoots.”
Lu Sheng twisted her arm and looked at He Zhang, who was busy. “Uncle, please stop for a while.”
When He Zhang heard that, he hurriedly put down the items in his hand and walked towards her.
Lu Sheng said, “Uncle, I brought some sour bamboo shoots. This is the recipe.”
She took the recipe out of the cloth bag on her back and pa.s.sed it to He Zhang.
He Zhang received them and took a look. He looked at her suspiciously and said, “You bought these sour bamboo shoots?”
“I marinated them myself.”
Lu Sheng smiled and continued, “I still have some matters to attend to in the village. I have to go back.”
“Wow!”
On the side, He Lai, who had just opened the jar, exclaimed when he saw the jar full of sour bamboo shoots.
He Zhang looked at him in confusion, his expression unhappy.
“Lu Sheng, you… With your strength, you can probably kill a cow with your bare hands, right?”
“What nonsense are you saying?”
He Zhang, who had been busy just now and did not notice Lu Sheng carrying a jar in, could not understand why his brother would say such a thing.
Was it a compliment for a girl to be praised for her strength?
He Lai explained, “Brother, you don’t know. Lu Sheng moved this jar of items in alone.”
The weight of the empty jar, together with the sour bamboo shoots inside, was at least two to three hundred pounds.
How could it not be scary for her to carry it so lightly?
When He Zhang heard that, he still did not believe it. He would rather believe that He Lai was spouting nonsense.
How strong could Lu Sheng be with her small body?
“Really. If you don’t believe me, you can ask others.”
The people who were being suppressed in the kitchen looked at Lu Sheng in fear.
Even a bunch of men like them would not be able to carry something that weighed three hundred pounds, let alone a girl.
How could Lu Sheng, a girl, move it?
“Ah…”
Lu Sheng laughed dryly and said, “I’ve been practicing martial arts with Master recently. I used my internal energy just now.”
Everyone understood immediately.
After all, those who knew martial arts were quite capable.
“I see!”
He Lai was full of envy when he knew the reason.
If he did not know that Lu Sheng’s master was the Third Prince, he would have really acknowledged him as his master.
“Oh right!”
Lu Sheng looked at He Zhang and asked in a low voice, “Uncle, how’s Sister Yaner’s situation?”
Upon hearing her mention this, He Zhang frowned.
He Lai said angrily, “That Zhao Xian came to the He family two days ago to create a scene. He even said that he wanted to take in a concubine. If Brother hadn’t stopped me, I would have beaten him up long ago.”
“Take in a concubine?”
Lu Sheng was stunned. “Did they make it big?”
“How can that be? Their family thinks that our Yaner can’t…”
“Ahem!”
He Zhang suddenly stopped him.
He snorted coldly and continued angrily, “Anyway, we won’t let Yaner return to the Zhao family.”
She was such a good girl, yet she became like this in the hands of that beast.
He Lai became angrier the more he thought about it.
“That’s for the best!”
Lu Sheng smiled coldly. “Then let Sister Yaner divorce him. He can take in as many concubines as he likes.”
Anyway, He Yan was only seventeen years old this year. She was still young.
“Of course we have nothing to say, but how could that bunch of suckers agree so easily?”
He Lai said coldly, “A divorce with Yaner will cut off their wealth. They naturally won’t agree.”
Although spending money could solve the problem, their family would never give the Zhao family another copper coin.
Lu Sheng smiled. “Don’t worry about this. Let me handle it.”
“You?”
He Zhang frowned. “How do you want to resolve this?”
“Secret!”
Lu Sheng chuckled at the two of them. “You just have to wait. A few days later, I’ll get him to take the initiative to divorce Sister Yaner.”
He Lai’s eyes lit up. “Lu Sheng, do you really have a way?”
He wanted to beat him up previously, but could not. He was furious.
It would be great if Lu Sheng could give Zhao Xian a good beating for him.
“I have to go back to the village.”
Before Lu Sheng left, she promised the duo, “Don’t worry, uncles. This matter will be resolved soon.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she strode out of the kitchen and walked to the backyard. She rode to the bustling city to buy some things.
However, not long after she rode out of the backyard, she was surrounded by a group of men in black before she could even get out of the alley.