Early in the morning, after seeing off Zhao Qingyun, Li Menglan noticed that the day was still young and there was nothing much to do at home; so she took a wooden basin, loaded it with the family's dirty laundry, and went to the Yun River.
The river water in late autumn was already somewhat chilly, especially in the morning... When Li Menglan rolled up her pant legs and stepped into the river, she couldn't help but shiver violently: "Hoo... so cold!"
Cold as the Yun River water was, Li Menglan still set about pounding away honestly with a wooden club; people in ancient times generally washed clothes by pounding them with a wooden club on a large bluestone slab—this way, the clothes were a bit easier to wash clean.
The Li family had already been quite large to begin with, and now they had added Old Man Zhang, Wang Shi, and Zhang Wenli—a family of three; uh... and there was also Old Master Zhao, who had shamelessly stayed over yesterday... With more people, the amount of laundry naturally increased as well.
Li Menglan was already small and thin to begin with, with her tiny arms and legs; by the time she finally finished washing all the clothes, the sun had already risen high... The sunlight reflected off the surface of the Yun River, making the rippling waters gleam even more brilliantly.
"Huh... what's this..." Just as Li Menglan turned to put on her shoes and leave, she suddenly spotted tiny black dots on the stones in the shallows by the clear, shallow Yun River; she reached out and picked one up to look at it.
"Ah! It really is river snails." What Li Menglan held in her palm was none other than a popular snack loved by men and women in the twenty-first century—river snails!
Truthfully, these things didn't have much meat, but they were the main ingredient in a famous snack that ordinary people loved to order when they went out for late-night food—spicy river snails.
Li Menglan looked closely—good heavens... my goodness; the pebbles in the shallows were densely covered with these river snails, and they were much larger than the ones she had eaten before. At that moment, thinking of the delicious taste of numbing-spicy river snails, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.
Li Menglan didn't know if anyone in the Yunliang Kingdom had eaten this sort of thing before. If no one knew that river snails were edible... perhaps she could make a small profit again, to help cover the silver spent on building the new house recently.
This time, when building the house, the Li family had spent over twenty taels of silver more than Li Menglan's original budget; the total came to nearly fifty taels of silver. Now, the Li family's openly visible silver reserves only amounted to a little over eighty taels.
Silver was the sort of thing where, if it only went out without coming in, even a mountain of gold and silver wouldn't be enough to spend, not to mention... Li Menglan also planned to find a wife for her little uncle to bring home; everything required silver.
"Mother, where are my eldest brother and second brother?" As soon as Li Menglan walked into the courtyard, she saw her mother, Zhang Yuniang, making shoes; she quickly asked.
"Daughter, look at you rushing about so hurriedly—what's happened?" Zhang Yuniang looked at Li Menglan with affection and said reproachfully, "Your eldest brother and second brother are working with your father in the vegetable garden out back. Shall I go call them for you?"
"Yes, thank you, Mother." Li Menglan placed the already washed clothes under the clothesline: "Mother, I've washed the clothes; please help hang them out to dry in a bit."
"I understand. I'll come hang them out in a moment." Zhang Yuniang smiled gently.
By the time the brothers Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao arrived in the courtyard, Li Menglan was already standing in the middle holding several winnowing baskets, wooden basins, and other items, waiting for them.
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, you two are so slow!" Li Menglan had already grown quite accustomed to this ancient way of life; she even often unconsciously acted spoiled toward her elder brothers, little uncle, and others.
Hehe... this could be considered a small interaction between family members!
"Hehe... Sister, Mother said you were looking for us brothers; what's the matter?" Li Zhiming looked at his little sister's increasingly healthy complexion and couldn't help but scratch his head and smile foolishly.
"That's right! Sister, what are you doing with so many wooden basins and winnowing baskets?" Li Zhihao curiously glanced at the tools placed beside Li Menglan.
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, let's go; I'll tell you on the way." Li Menglan indicated for Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao to pick up the wooden basins and winnowing baskets from the ground and follow her, and casually tugged at Li Zhihao, who was standing beside her.
"Go? Where?" Li Zhiming didn't know what his sister wanted to do this time.
Li Zhihao was tugged by Li Menglan and caught off guard, nearly falling: "Sister, slow down, don't walk so fast; watch your step—be careful not to trip!"
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, you two walk faster; I've found another way to earn money." Li Menglan pulled her second brother along as she walked, saying with a smile: "Eldest Brother, don't just stand there blankly; hurry up and keep up!"
"Oh... coming!" Li Zhiming, who had been distracted by his sister's words, hastily responded and hurriedly ran to catch up.
As soon as they left their courtyard, the brothers Li Zhihao and Li Zhiming discovered... Li Menglan was not walking in the direction of Crooked-Neck Mountain, but toward the Yun River.
"Sister, this doesn't seem to be the road to Crooked-Neck Mountain, does it?" Worried that Li Menglan had taken the wrong path, Li Zhihao quickly spoke up to remind her.
"That's right! Sister... aren't we supposed to go up the mountain?" Li Zhiming was also a bit puzzled.
Uh... it was no wonder that the brothers Li Zhihao and Li Zhiming had misunderstood, because all of Li Menglan's previous money-making methods had come from Crooked-Neck Mountain; this time... the two Li brothers were naturally no exception, assuming Li Menglan's words pointed toward Crooked-Neck Mountain.
Li Menglan looked at her elder brothers with a smile: "Hehe... Eldest Brother, Second Brother, I never said that the thing that could earn money this time was on Crooked-Neck Mountain."
Li Menglan was in a great mood and deliberately kept the two brothers in suspense.
"Sister, why did you bring Eldest Brother and me to the Yun River?" Li Zhihao looked at the sparkling river surface with a baffled expression: "Sister... you couldn't be wanting Eldest Brother and me to go down to the river to catch fish for you to eat, could you?"
After thinking for a moment, Li Zhihao put on an expression of sudden realization and spoke as if he were being clever.
"Second Brother, stop talking nonsense." Li Menglan rolled her eyes helplessly toward the sky, reached into the shallows beside her, and picked up a river snail: "Eldest Brother, Second Brother, do you see what your sister is holding? Here... it's this. Help me pick them all up—the more, the better."
"Black shells." Li Zhiming frowned: "Sister, could these black shells be the money-making method you were talking about?"
Li Menglan nodded: "That's right! Eldest Brother, Second Brother, does anyone eat these?"
"Eat?" Li Zhihao curled his lip and said bluntly, "These black shells have hardly any meat and are full of sand; who would eat this thing?"
"Really? Eldest Brother, Second Brother, then let's move quickly and pick up more of these black shells to take back; I'll make you a delicious dish later." Li Menglan could barely stop herself from cheering.
"Sister, these... can these black shells really be eaten?" Watching Li Menglan's overjoyed expression, Li Zhiming asked half-believing, half-doubting.
"Eldest Brother, when have I ever lied to you?" Li Menglan nodded solemnly: "These black shells actually have another name—river snails. Once the sand inside them is purged, they can be made into many different delicious dishes; they really taste very good. If you don't believe me... once I'm done cooking, I guarantee you'll all love eating them."
Watching their sister's solemn, vow-like expression, the last traces of doubt in the brothers' hearts vanished completely.
Hmm... their sister truly had never lied before. Presumably these black beetles... uh... they should be called river snails. Presumably these river snails really might be a delicacy after all.
River snails are a type of aquatic product, mostly growing in rivers; their shells are very hard and spiral-shaped, pointy on top; the meat inside generally needs to be extracted with a toothpick to eat, and you need to know how to prepare them and wash them clean; after all, there is sand in the water; these things generally grow in shallow water areas....