Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 185
Buying Dead Sheep
Xiuying’s words reminded Ms. Liang, “That’s right! My medicinal herbs were grown in my own fields, and I never invited Lao Wai’s sheep to eat them. Due to his negligence, our medicinal herbs have been damaged, and they’re worth their weight in gold! I haven’t even asked him to compensate me for that!”
After Lao Wai heard that, he desperately pleaded with governing official Wu, “Sir, I still have my ageing mother to take care of, and our livelihoods are entirely dependent on selling my sheep! Now two of them have died so suddenly, how can we continue to live?”
Mrs. Li, who had just come in, glared at Lao Wai hatefully, “Why does it matter to them whether your family lives or not? Next you’ll be wanting them to support you and your mother until the day you die.”
He crawled onto the floor, cradling his two sheep as he cried, looking incredibly pitiful.
The sound of hooves came from the streets, and stopped in front of governing official Wu’s courtyard. After a short while, Mo Yan entered the courtyard with a horse whip in hand.
Lao Wai grovelled on the ground and started kowtowing and begging towards her, “Young lady, I beg of you, do a good deed and spare pity for us! You’re so good with money, you won’t feel this small amount of loss, please pay us for our dead sheep!”
Mo Yan bent down to pick him up, “Don’t be like that, I’ll compensate you for your dead sheep.”
After hearing that he would be compensated, Lao Wai wiped tears from his eyes as he stood up, and a smile appeared on his tear-streaked face. His appearance made it difficult for anyone not to feel sympathy for him.
Ms. Liang complained from the side, “Why should we compensate him? He’s the one who didn’t look after his sheep!”
Mo Yan lowered her body to greet Lao Wai, governing official Wu and all of the villagers present, “Governing official Wu, as well as everyone present, those mandrakes were grown by me, and although they have medicinal properties, they are also poisonous. It’s my fault for not considering every possible aspect and not informing you previously, which caused the catastrophe which occurred today. Therefore, I’ll be paying for the dead sheep.”
She took out her wallet, “Mr. Lao Wai, how much do your sheep cost?”
Lao Wai said thoughtfully after flicking his gaze towards the people in the crowd, “Last autumn, the sheep I sold went for one thousand and five hundred dollars per, and it’s been half a year since then.”
Mo Yan took out a string of copper coins from her wallet, “This is almost four thousand dollars, which should be sufficient to buy those two sheep.”
Lao Wai pocketed the money and said while chuckling, “Thank you young lady, you’re such a good person.”
Seeing him pocket the money, Ms. Liang was so frustrated she started stomping the ground, “You spend so much money on two dead sheep? You’re destroying the family fortune?!” [1]
But Mo Yan said, “Mother, let’s return and remove all of the mandrake plants! We don’t want other incidents like this happening.”
Mr. Cao said, “Mandrakes are good medicinal herbs, and it’s a shame for them to be removed now. However, their leaves can also be used in medicine, although their medicinal properties are weaker. How about you cut them off and hand them to me!”
Mo Yan looked at the sheep lying on the ground, “Sir, can these sheep who died of eating mandrakes be consumed by humans?”
“The poison of a mandrake won’t survive within the body, so the meat is edible, but the inner organs of the sheep should not be consumed.”
Mo Yan turned towards Ms. Liang with a faint smile on her face, “Mother, let’s drag the sheep back to butcher and eat!”
She looked at the two dead sheep and sighed, “We won’t be able to finish two large sheep! And the weather’s hot now too, so it won’t be easy to store.”
“Then I’ll take one back to town while you keep the other. If you can’t finish it, then hand some out for others to have as well.”
“But we don’t know how to butcher sheep! Your uncle does, but we shouldn’t ask him to come all the way just for this specific purpose.”
Governing official Wu said, “I know how, and I’ll help you butcher them. It’ll just be a moment, and then you can just take the meat back.”
Lao Wai looked at the sheep on the ground, and then the money in his hand, and walked out while swallowing his saliva.
Governing official Wu went inside his house to retrieve a skinning knife, and separated the sheep’s skin from its carcass in two slices.
The women rarely saw scenes as bloody as skinning carcasses, so all left to return home. On the other hand, the normally-gentle Xiaoyue was unafraid, and even helped by fetching a bucket of clean water.
Mo Yan looked at the other sheep, “Governing official Wu, would you mind helping me place this sheep on the back of my horse? I’ll get someone to butcher it for me in town.”
He dragged the sheep outside of the courtyard, and with the help of Mo Yan, moved it onto the back of her horse. After she thanked him, she returned to town.
Governing official Wu acted quickly, and swiftly skinned and butchered the other sheep. As the inner organs were unwanted, he had less work to do, and chopped the meat up into several pieces.
Ms. Liang gave some of the meat both to the Wu family and Ms. Li’s household, and took the remainder of the sheep back home with Mo Feng.
As soon as Mo Yan entered the workshop, Chi Jie had just come out of his office. When he saw the sheep on the back of her horse, he exclaimed in delight, “Where did you go hunting to find such large prey?”
Mo Yan dismounted and placed the sheep carcass onto the ground, “Stop speaking nonsense, help me out here.”
Chi Jie didn’t want to contaminate himself with the dirty carcass of the dead sheep, and he turned to shout at the kitchen, “Mr. Zhen, Mrs. Zhen, come outside!”
They exited the kitchen, “Where did this sheep come from?”
Mo Yan walked the horse to the stables, “It was poisoned to death by the mandrakes I grew, but I asked a doctor, who said that the meat was fine to eat, it was only the internal organs which were inedible.”
Chi Jie clapped and cheered, “We can have lamb skewers! That’s great!”
Mr. Zhen dragged the sheep carcass to the kitchen, and started butchering the sheep at a skill level equivalent to governing official Wu’s.
When Mo Yan had stabled the horse and went back to the kitchen, the sheep had been fully butchered, and when she smelt the gamey scent, she couldn’t help but dry heave a few times. Mr. Zhen said, “Most girls can’t stand butchering, you should go out first! Come back in after everything has been cleaned up and cooked.”
Mo Yan covered her nose and mouth and went out as she saw Chi Jie doing the same while pointing and saying, “Mr. Zhen, keep and dice the high-quality pieces of lamb leg, and after adding seasonings, skewer them with a bamboo stick…”
Without letting him finish, Mr. Zhen replied, “I know, this is how the Hu people eat it, it’s extremely simple to make.”
When the two of them exited the kitchen, Lu Junming came in from outside and took a whiff of the kitchen, “Why is there such a strong smell of blood? What is Mr. Zhen doing inside of the kitchen?”
Mo Yan dragged him to the office, “Butchering a sheep, so we’ll have lamb skewers and soup tonight for dinner. After Mr. Zhen finishes up, send some of the meat over to your mother.”
“Alright, and I’ll call Liangsheng and Chuzi over. We haven’t gathered together in a long time.”
“It’s a shame we’re missing Zhao’er.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhao’er’s voice came from outside, “Brother, Sister, I’m back!”
Mo Yan got up and ran over, “Did you hear I had brought a sheep carcass home and specifically ran over to have meat?”
Zhao’er didn’t even try to explain himself and answered righteously, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I come over if there was meat to have? I’m not an idiot.” After saying that, Zhao’er smiled with his eyes crinkled up.
Mr. Zhen was really good at dealing with sheep, and within an hour the fragrance of meat was wafting from the kitchen. In a pot sheep bones were being cooked, and judging from the smell the seasonings used were the same as those used to cook beef.
Ms. Hua entered the kitchen, took a whiff and complained, “It’s such a shame to waste sheep bones by boiling them!”
This sentence made Mo Yan and Lu Junming think of the time she made stewed sheep bones, which was the same day the members of the younger generation soon to arrive had become sworn siblings.
Mr. Zhen spoke while flipping the pieces of meat currently being marinated in a bowl, “There are a hundred ways to make the same item of food. The children want to eat grilled meat, which is how the Hu people make it, and I’m making these sheep bones the same way as the Hu people would do it as well. After they’re fully cooked and served with sauce, they’ll taste different but equally delicious.”
P.S. I forgot to post yesterday after translating please forgive me orz. Thanks for reading!
[1] Friendly reminder that Ms. Liang may not be cunning enough to understand the concept of being generous in order to garner goodwill from the community. Although I distinctly remember her doing so (although not with money per se) in the early chapters to show face – that might be the difference here?