Chapter 46: The Recipe for Making a Fortune Has Arrived!

Chapter 46

Li Feng walked out of the house and looked up at the sky. Ancient people truly knew how to endure hardship.

In such a short time, they had already headed up the mountain.

Li Feng waited in the courtyard for a while. Seeing that Big Dog and Second Ox hadn’t returned yet, he instructed Eldest Bud to pack the breakfast in a wooden bucket. Carrying four portions of breakfast, he headed up the mountain!

He had originally planned to go up the mountain today anyway, and he had already figured out what to sell.

Yesterday, in Li Family Village, he had spotted a chili pepper plant, some small tomatoes, and deep in the mountains, there were even the seasonings he needed.

The meals in Li Family Village were extremely monotonous, with virtually no condiments. After pondering for a bit, Li Feng decided to sell hot pot base!

As for the recipe and the large quantity of ingredients, they could all be purchased from the system mall.

He was familiar with this mountain.

Passing off his goods as locally gathered ones would be no problem in the future!

It wouldn't arouse suspicion. Once the business grew larger, he would cultivate some of the common seasoning plants himself.

As for the varieties that did not exist in the Daliang Dynasty, he would simply have to buy them from the mall.

Anyway, the usage amount would not be large, and he could afford the consumption.

It would just cost a bit more in cooking oil!

That was easily solved, too.

The Daliang Dynasty had rapeseed, which could be used to extract oil. Although the yield was low, the oil was not expensive either.

Five cash per catty.

After all, ordinary people would not consume such oil.

In a farming family, everything had to be meticulously calculated.

Firewood naturally fell into this category.

Rapeseed oil required a very high cooking temperature; if the temperature wasn't high enough, the taste would be strange, making it worse than using no oil at all.

Moreover, this kind of oil did not solidify easily, so Li Feng had to buy a small amount of beef tallow from the mall and mix them together.

In this way, the difference would be indistinguishable.

Initially, he had thought about selling recipes, but that sort of thing was hard to control. If he sold it and people couldn't replicate the taste, wouldn't they accuse him of swindling?

Besides, keeping such a formula entirely in his own hands might not necessarily be a good thing.

Hot pot base was different, though. Although the medical arts in the Daliang Dynasty were quite advanced, a proper culinary recipe system had not yet evolved.

Things like star anise and cinnamon bark had not yet been put into use as seasonings.

Putting these items into the food, masking them with special ingredients, and then fishing out the cinnamon and star anise residue afterwards—who would ever guess his formula?

Some ingredients would be bought from the mall, and the finished product would definitely be fragrant enough to make a massive crowd drool.

Lost in thought, Li Feng observed his surroundings and actually discovered some good things.

Li Family Village lacked neither water nor labor, but land could be used to grow chili peppers. If his hot pot base could sell well, this village might undergo a complete transformation.

Of course, they couldn't plant only chili peppers; he still harbored ambitions of securing an official position.

Increasing grain production was a major event for any dynasty whatsoever.

It was said that a farmer had once received a personal commendation from the Emperor simply because he grew an exceptionally large bundle of grains. Not only was he rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver, but he was also granted the honorary title of a Fifth-Rank Assistant Official.

From then on, the family's social standing was elevated, and they became local wealthy gentry.

As for the matter of grain, Li Feng wasn't afraid of anyone stealing the credit. After all, not everyone knew how to farm.

If someone took the seeds and failed to grow them, it would be the crime of deceiving the sovereign.

Li Feng had already made up his mind: first, improve the family's living conditions, and then cultivate some sweet potato saplings in the mountains.

When all conditions were ripe, he would be able to plant the sweet potatoes. However, it took several months for sweet potatoes to grow from planting to maturity, and he couldn't wait that long.

It seemed that the path of relying solely on staple grains wouldn't work.

He had to think of other methods.

...

"Thump!"

Unwittingly, Li Feng had already entered the mountain.

Big Dog and Second Ox had just felled a tree.

"Father?"

"Why have you come here!"

After felling the tree, Big Dog wiped the sweat from his face and looked up to see Li Feng standing not far away.

"Father!!"

Several of them stopped the work in their hands.

"Come over and have breakfast!" Li Feng called out. The boys wiped the tree resin off their hands and walked over.

Seeing the corn porridge and wild vegetable buns inside, all of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, their family's living standard had returned to normal.

Father wasn't going to lead them to their deaths.

Back at Grandpa and Grandma’s house, they had thought their father harbored a death wish, so they had eaten desperately, scaring themselves so much that they didn't dare to speak.

They could only bury themselves in hard work and strictly obey their father!

Now, seeing the food return to normal, they all relaxed. Big Dog skillfully took out a vegetable bun and scooped a bowl of porridge for Li Feng.

Only then did the three brothers serve themselves.

Big Dog swallowed a vegetable bun in two bites, and within moments, a bowl of porridge was down his stomach.

As farming men, they ate heartily, and to save time, every minute was treated like two!

It made Li Feng choke just watching them.

He raised his hand and opened the basket he had been casually holding; eggs rolled around inside.

Big Dog, who had just been drinking the porridge with great satisfaction, instantly froze, his eyes widening as he stared at the eggs in the basket.

No way... surely these weren't for them to eat, right?

"Eat up, two for each of you!" Li Feng said.

Li Big Dog: "..."

Oh no, Father still hadn't snapped out of it!

Second Ox, on the other hand, obeyed Li Feng's words implicitly now.

Whatever Li Feng told him to do, he did.

Holding two eggs, Second Ox ate very earnestly.

Third Ox did the same.

Only Big Dog ate with a heart full of anxiety.

After finishing breakfast, Li Feng looked at the timber on the ground, knowing they wouldn't be able to accompany him deeper into the mountain, so he said, "You guys carry on with your work, I'm going to take a look further up the mountain!"

"Alright, Father!"

Seeing Li Feng head deeper into the mountain, Big Dog didn't say much more.

Second Ox, however, felt a deep sense of guilt as he watched Li Feng's disappearing figure.

Even if their family tightened their belts, they could still get by; after all, Father still had a little silver left in his possession.

However, ever since he mentioned wanting to study, Father seemed to have become much more diligent.

Studying consumed a vast amount of silver. Third Uncle was a clear example: tuition fees, daily living expenses, and most importantly, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones—altogether it cost at least dozens of taels of silver a year.

The silver Father had taken out the other day, all things considered, was barely enough for one person to study for a single year.

He was still being too selfish.

"Let's go, let's head home!"

Big Dog had already packed up the utensils and handed them to Third Ox beside him. He flipped the timber over and called out to Second Ox, "This is the last batch!"

"Once we haul these back, not only can we build a wardrobe for Father, but we can also make a bed for each of us."

"And with all this firewood, we won't have to worry about firewood for the whole year!"

"Mn!"

Second Ox nodded, walked over, and the two of them hoisted the logs onto their shoulders, walking down the mountain.

Deep in the mountains, Li Feng held his Tang dao and before long found a wild chili pepper tree.

The flavor of this wild chili was extremely pungent, incomparable to the quality goods sold in the system mall.

To provide a plausible origin for his ingredients, Li Feng picked a few wild ones, and then bought several catties of premium chili peppers from the mall, costing him a few dozen cash.

After that, he successively found cinnamon bark, bay leaves, chili peppers, and other essential ingredients for hot pot base.

Retrieving his wooden basket, Li Feng placed all the items inside.

By the time everything was done, it was already noon.

Li Feng looked around, bought a few more rabbits from the mall, and prepared to take them back to test the effects of the hot pot base.