Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Delivering Dishes

Translator: 549690339

My sister is right. I should wait until she finds someone who suits her best. One can’t rush these sorts of things.

However, before my sister finds the person she’s meant to be with, I’ll be her little helper.

Zhuang Qingsui thought to herself, offering Zhuang Qingning a couple of ribs and even giving her half a bowl of soup. After dinner, she quickly tidied up the dishes and started cleaning the kitchenware.

Zhuang Qingning understood her sister’s intentions and didn’t intervene. She just let Qingsui busily work in the kitchen while she went to water the vegetable patch and harvest the ripe cucumbers, tomatoes, and mung beans.

The pumpkin in the corner was growing really big. When she touched it, the skin was ripe, so Zhuang Qingning picked it thinking she could make pumpkin rice the next day.

Plenty of wax gourd had already grown, and loofah was growing like crazy. With only Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui at home, they couldn’t eat all the vegetables they produced. They would have to pick some and give them away to some other families.

However, every household in the village had a vegetable plot, and at this time, everyone had more seasonal vegetables than they could eat. Even though her vegetables were of much higher quality due to the growth liquid, they were not considered rare, and giving them to any family would seem excessive.

After some thought, Zhuang Qingning decided to gather all these vegetables and send them to Zhang Yongchang in the town when they would deliver tofu the next day.

As for whether he would give them to Fushun Tower or offer them to his apprentices as gifts, she would leave that to him.

It could be considered as a little repayment for Zhang Yongchang’s kindness to her.

Having completed all the tasks from planting to germination, growth, flowering, fruiting, and finally maturity, Zhuang Qingning received the rewards given by the task, including growth liquid and various vegetable seeds.

She had already grown eggplant and chili seedlings from these seeds and planted them in the open space. As for radish, cabbage and other seeds, they had to wait until the hot summer to be planted.

Unfortunately, there were not many of these seeds. Zhuang Qingning wanted to share these superior vegetable seeds with Mrs. Wen, Mrs. He, and others, but she could not.

[Do not worry about this, host. The seeds obtained by the host will yield more seeds when they mature. The stronger the continuity of the task, the more vegetable seeds and varieties you will obtain.]

[Basically, once the vegetables planted by the host such as eggplant and chili mature, the host will get more seeds. The fruit produced by vegetables, such as seeds from pumpkin and loofah, can also be used as new vegetable seeds.]

[Although these vegetable seeds are not as good as those obtained directly from the Mission Mall, they are still better than the vegetable seeds of this era. They produce more vegetables and taste better.]

In that case, the channels for obtaining seeds in the future would become more abundant. With such superior vegetable seeds, it seemed feasible to consider setting up a vegetable planting base when the time was right.

Very good, very good.

Zhuang Qingning was instantly in a good mood, and her irrigation work sped up. When Zhuang Qingsui finished tidying up the kitchen, as usual, they went to the tofu workshop for a look before going to bed early.

The next day, when Zhuang Qingning went to town, she took the pumpkins, wax gourds, loofahs, chives, and other vegetables she had prepared the evening before. They were bundled up tightly together with other tofu products and transported to the town.

“The wax gourds and other vegetables that I grow at home are growing so quickly, it’s impossible to finish them all. Uncle Bai, take a wax gourd back with you. You can make delicious wax gourd and tofu soup for lunch.”

When she was packing the tofu and extra requested bean sprouts for Bai San, Zhuang Qingning left a large wax gourd specifically prepared for him on the bullock cart.

“This is… how could I…?” Bai San scratched his ear.

Since he started to help Zhuang Qingning with the tofu delivery to the town, he had incidentally benefited a lot. Apart from the generous amounts of tofu, she also often gave him extra tofu dry and bean sprouts. Bai San was originally a little embarrassed, and today he received a large wax gourd again, which made him even more embarrassed. He wanted to refuse.

“What’s wrong with accepting it? It’s not like I’m hiding it from Uncle Bai. The vegetables are growing too fast at home that we can’t finish them all. If we didn’t have enough food, we wouldn’t give it to you.”

Zhuang Qingning laughed as she said, “It’s really nothing precious, Uncle Bai. Just take it. Otherwise, it’s a waste to leave it there and let it spoil.”

“Alright then.”

Seeing Zhuang Qingning insist, Bai San accepted it, laughing, “Thank you, Ning.”

“You’re too polite, Uncle Bai.”

With a bright smile, Zhuang Qingning sent Bai San away and turned her steps towards Fushun Tower to find Lian Rong to help her carry these vegetables.

Lian Rong was cleaning the kitchen and preparing for lunch. She found Zhuang Qingning and started chatting with her.

When she heard that Zhuang Qingning was planning to give Zhang Yongchang a few baskets of vegetables, she laughed.

“Just yesterday, my master was talking about how by now some of the early pumpkins and wax gourds should be ready for harvest. He told us to keep an eye out and pick some good ones to make wax gourd candy and baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk. Today, I went to the market and didn’t spot any good ones, but lucky for us, Miss Zhuang brings them.”

Lian Rong looked at the two baskets of glistening vegetables, her mouth almost stretching to her ears, “Look at this pumpkin. It’s big, the skin is dry, it must be sweet and starchy. I just pinched it, it’s not old. This water content is enough, it won’t be too dry when eating. And it won’t make you choke.”

“And this loofah, at first glance, it’s so big it looks like it’s old, but when you pinch it, it’s tender. Whether you make loofah slices, stew loofah soup or cold loofah, it’s all good.”

“These chives, although they look robust and strong, they’re not old at all. There’s not even a chive blossom, so they’ll definitely taste fresh and delicious. My master went to the county town to buy spices this morning and hasn’t been back yet. He probably won’t eat in the county town. When he comes back, I’ll make him a chive pancake.”

“And this wax gourd…”

Lian Rong almost went through all the vegetables in the two baskets brought by Zhuang Qingning.

Zhuang Qingning couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh as she listened.

Lian Rong is really good with words. I can’t help but feel that Lian Rong is not really suited to be a cook. She should be a storyteller. I’m sure the audience would be full every day..