Chapter Twenty-Two: A Sumptuous Dinner

"You're finally back, I missed you so much!"

"Wife, let me tell you some good news—we made quite a bit of money today! And we went to see our three sons!"

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

The three of them entered the house in high spirits. Lin Hongda took out a packet of pastries and said, "We bought these pear blossom cakes in town, just for you."

"Oh, why spend money on that?" Liao Shuxia said, feeling a pang of distress.

Lin Sangqian was busy calculating how much of today's earnings remained. They’d made ninety-one coins earlier; after buying pastries for the three brothers and pear blossom cakes for Liao Shuxia, they’d spent twenty-one coins, leaving them with seventy. Adding the thirty-six coins from before, they now had a total of one hundred and six.

Lin Hongda and Liao Shuxia were delighted, but Lin Sangqian frowned. To be honest, it was still too little—not even enough to buy a decent set of clothes. If they relied solely on selling stuffed pancakes and handkerchiefs at the stall, it would take years to save up any real wealth.

Thinking of the grand Fortune Pavilion restaurant she’d seen that day, an idea began to take shape in Lin Sangqian’s mind.

"Mom, have you eaten yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you all to come back so we could eat together," Liao Shuxia replied with a cheerful grin.

"If you ask me, you just didn’t want to cook and were waiting for Qian to come home and make something tasty," Lin Hongda exposed her without mercy.

Liao Shuxia glared at him, and Lin Hongda immediately fell silent.

Lin Sangqian, watching her parents, couldn’t help but burst into laughter at their antics.

"I’m going to rest for a while—I’m exhausted. I’ll check if my points in the system space have increased."

Lin Sangqian lay down in her room and opened her system space. To her astonishment, her points had suddenly jumped to seventy!

How could there be so many? Wasn’t there only nine left before?

Lines of text immediately began scrolling across the large screen.

"Delivered food to Aunt Wu, plus six points."

That’s right—she’d brought Aunt Wu braised pork and white steamed buns, which were far more valuable than eggs, so she’d earned six points at once.

"Disciplined Guo Da, plus ten points."

Guo Da? Oh, that must be the man who tried to snatch her stuffed pancakes... But wasn’t it her father who taught him a lesson? It still counted for her, apparently.

"Delivered food to brothers, plus ten points."

"Helped brothers get back their wages, plus twenty points."

"Disciplined the worker who framed second brother, plus ten points."

"Cooked a dish that satisfied customers, plus five points."

All these added up to sixty-one points, and with the nine remaining, she now had seventy in total!

Lin Sangqian was so happy she nearly danced. This system space was truly generous! The requirements for doing good deeds weren’t strict, and it rewarded her handsomely.

As she browsed the items available in the space, she suddenly noticed that not only could she exchange for a whole chicken, she could also exchange for individual chicken parts.

A pound of chicken feet cost four points; chicken wings and chicken claws were three points per pound.

After thinking it over, Lin Sangqian ordered five pounds of chicken feet, and with one more point, bought a large amount of pickled peppers and other seasonings.

She intended to use these chicken feet to begin a collaboration with Fortune Pavilion.

Next, she thought about what to make for her family’s lunch. It was already the hour of Shen—around three in the afternoon—so she decided to cook a larger meal and combine lunch and dinner.

She spent two points for a pound of tofu, eight points for a pound of shrimp, and another point for a pound of beef.

In fact, beef was rare in this era, since cattle were needed for farming and the government strictly forbade eating beef. But as long as they ate it at home, it shouldn’t be a problem.

After procuring these items, she had thirty-six points left—enough to exchange for many more things. Lin Sangqian closed the system space, beaming with delight.

She carried everything into the kitchen and began to cook. Liao Shuxia continued embroidering handkerchiefs, while Lin Hongda exercised in the courtyard and kept an eye on the gate for Lin Sangqian—just in case those troublesome relatives caught the scent of her cooking and tried to snatch some food again.

Lin Sangqian started by steaming rice, then turned to the tofu. She cut it into pieces, heated oil in a pan, and fried the tofu until it was golden on both sides. Next, she added minced garlic to the pan for fragrance, returned the tofu, tossed in salt, chili powder, cumin, five-spice powder, and sprinkled scallions on top.

After a while, the aroma filled the air. Lin Sangqian plated the tofu.

The shrimp had already been deveined and shelled. She tossed them into the hot pan, stir-fried them until they turned pink, then added cooking wine, chili powder, pepper, oyster sauce, and tossed everything until fragrant.

The smell was so tantalizing that Lin Sangqian found herself drooling as she stirred.

The shrimp was ready, and Lin Sangqian turned her attention to the marinated beef. It had been soaking in salt, soy sauce, cooking wine, and starch. She blanched the beef in boiling water, arranged it on a plate, then mixed in chili, cilantro, salt, minced garlic, aged vinegar, cumin, and soy sauce, tossing everything together. The cilantro beef salad was complete.

Three dishes, each in generous portions—Lin Sangqian worried the three of them might not finish it all.

There were still chicken wings and a neck left from yesterday’s chicken. Lin Sangqian brushed them with oil, roasted them over high heat, and sprinkled chili powder and cumin on top until the aroma was irresistible.

This meal was truly a feast.

She could already imagine the look of surprise on her parents’ faces.

"Dad, come in and help carry the dishes!"

"Coming!"

As soon as Lin Hongda entered, his eyes widened and he swallowed hard.

"Daughter, why is there so much good food today? It's even more sumptuous than yesterday!"

"We missed lunch, didn’t we? So of course dinner should be better."

His gaze fell on the freshly roasted items. He licked his lips and flashed Lin Sangqian a hopeful smile.

"Daughter, could I ask you something?"

The moment he spoke, Lin Sangqian knew what he wanted and curled her lip. "You want some wine, right?"

"Heh heh," Lin Hongda scratched his head sheepishly.

He used to drink in the modern world, but since he ran a martial arts school and taught taekwondo, he didn't drink much and was nothing like his original counterpart, who drank excessively.

Now, faced with such a spread, he thought a little wine would make it perfect.

Lin Sangqian considered it. "You can have just one small cup. You know your own health."

"I know!" Lin Hongda nodded eagerly. "Just a little."

"I’ll go buy the wine. You bring the dishes inside and cover them up—don’t let them get cold," Lin Sangqian instructed.

"Don’t worry."

Lin Sangqian fetched five coins from the house and headed to Uncle Jia’s grocery shop at the east end of the village for some wine.

Though called a grocery shop, there wasn’t much inside—it mostly sold wine.

As she walked, she soon spotted a slender, graceful young woman approaching from the other direction.