Her Cultivation Diary

[Fatty pork cubes? No thanks, I don't like those. It's not that I can't earn a Little Red Flower.]

[Pork lard residue, I can do that! I can! I can chow it down!]

[The leeks and eggs are all from the host's place... so, are salted duck eggs for sale?]

[Are leeks for sale?]

[I'm different! I've already got two Little Red Flowers! I'm heading to the market to buy mugwort!]

[Gang leader, look at me! Do I still need to send a video to the homework group this time?]

Zhang Yanping saw this and immediately replied: "Of course, you need to film a video of your work and post it in the group, otherwise, you might just buy one from the roadside and pretend, and I wouldn't be able to tell."

[Hilarious, we don't even eat that here.]

[Boss, you overestimate me. Us 996 workers, how can we afford to buy this kind of snack? Only the night market BBQ is a constant companion.]

[There's one downstairs from me! But... alright, I'll make it myself.]

[If only I had this enthusiasm for doing my schoolwork...]

The chatter continued, with people complaining but the number of viewers kept increasing rapidly. Zhang Yanping was used to this by now, and he simply adjusted the phone stand, taking a close-up of the mugwort Qiaoqiao was pounding.

"Alright." He put down the pestle and continued the lesson earnestly:

"Little friends, take a good look. This is what the mugwort should look like when it's pounded. Don't turn it into a mushy paste, or it won't taste good."

"After pounding, you need to sort out the coarse stalks and old stems..."

As he explained, he bent down to scoop the pounded mugwort into a basin, turned on the tap, and washed it, not forgetting to boast as he did:

"Look! Your brother and sister picked it meticulously. There aren't any old leaves or stems; you won't find any."

He spoke with pride, eyebrows raised joyfully.

Wu Lan snorted from the side.

Great, after sorting, picking, and washing for half a day, it was all for nothing, wasn't it?

This little rascal!

...

A large basket of mugwort seemed like a lot, but when pounded, it only filled one basin.

The mugwort sprouts were the same. Now in the midst of spring, the leaves were their most tender. Qiaoqiao just pounded for a while, and many hadn't even started feeling sleepy, but he was already rinsing the mortar.

Thinking of the upcoming delicacies, everyone couldn't help but rub their hands in anticipation. Some gourmets were fixated on the big stone mortar and kept muttering—

[We had this at home when I was young. Haven't seen it for over ten years.]

[We have a smaller one at home; it's great for pounding garlic! Crushing peppers is delicious too!]

[With such a big stone mortar, pounding peppers must be really powerful!]

[You're right! Pounding dried peppers is perfect! After crushing, just pour in hot oil—delicious!]

The memories turned into bullet comments, and by the time Seventh Uncle was ready, some non-speaking viewers in the live stream were already drooling.

After all, he's old, and his own attempts at live streaming didn't attract much attention. Now, even in Qiaoqiao's regular streams, he hardly looks at the comments, focusing on what he's doing:

"Let's make Mugwort Glutinous Rice Cake first—elsewhere it's called Mugwort Cake, but they taste the same, so the name doesn't matter."

Qiaoqiao nodded: "Yeah! When I was little, my grandma made rice cakes for me, they were delicious too."

But those cakes were quite ordinary, made with rice flour and a pinch of salt, shaped, and slowly fried in oil in a pan. When taken out, they were hot, with a crispy crust, soft and sticky inside—

"They're really fragrant too!"

Seventh Uncle sighed: "Back then, rural life lacked cooking oil. How could rice cakes fried in lots of oil not be fragrant?"

"Let's follow along today and make one even more fragrant!"

Seventh Uncle directed Qiaoqiao to pour the rice flour into the mugwort sprouts they had just pounded, and laughed: "Our home's rice flour, it's too much for this mugwort. Even without adding anything, it comes out deliciously fragrant—Tantan, make sure we produce more this year!"

"Got it, got it!" Song Tan's response grew perfunctory.

After all, whenever Seventh Uncle thought of something delicious, he'd tell her to add more this year. A bit more of this, a bit more of that; with only over 1,000 acres of land, there has to be some prioritization, right?

Luckily, there are so many kinds to eat this year, he likely won't be too insistent.

Meanwhile, the comments were buzzing with excitement:

[Is rice for sale?]

[I love rice cakes. Is rice flour for sale?]

[Sell rice, sell rice, sell rice! Rice lovers can't go a day without it.]

[I've already decided, I'll buy five kilos of rice just to make porridge—so when are you selling the five kilos of rice to me?]

[How about flour? Is flour for sale this year? Didn't you plant a lot of wheat?]

[Yeah, saw the green wheat fields during a previous stream! Summer harvest, now it's still possible to take pre-orders!]

[Start the pre-orders, start the pre-orders, start the pre-orders!]

When it comes to food, the enthusiasm goes through the roof, and Zhang Yanping realized that this year, the number of people at home compared to last year was much less.

After all, quite a few people have already started eating at the mountain canteen, so there aren't as many mouths to feed.

And a lot of rice and wheat have been planted this year, ensuring there's an excess yield.

But if they were to sell it online, it would basically be a drop in the bucket. With all the effort for small sales, it would be better to sell it directly to Boss Chang. After all, he's generous and straightforward, it'd be embarrassing not to sell to him.

However, with fervent enthusiasm in the chat, he had to clear his throat and change the subject: "A batch of Mugwort Tea and Yuxing Grass Tea will be available in a few days. These have simple effects with a rather distinctive flavor, so if you're not accustomed to it, don't buy it to avoid waste."

[Hilarious, as a true flower nation citizen, as long as it doesn't poison me, I can eat anything,]

[It's only because I don't eat much that I'm not used to it. If you let me buy more, wouldn't I gradually get used to it?]

[Is the Yuxing Grass Tea the same as last summer's? It was delicious, refreshing, and cooling! The rainy season is coming, really needed.]

[Mugwort Tea suits the rainy season more, doesn't it? Haven't tried it, but buying it surely won't go wrong.]

[So... will I be able to grab it when it goes on sale?]

That's a good question.

With that question in sight, everyone went silent.

Given their buying experience, if Zhang Yanping didn't emphasize that there's plenty of stock and no rush to grab it, it likely means there might be...

Not much, maybe even very little.

[Damn, on what day are they selling? I'll climb a signal tower in advance]

[Got it, upgrading the router right now]

[I'm different, with both a tablet and phone open, using both the network cable, WiFi, and data—let's see which is fastest!]

Zhang Yanping: ...

Indeed, as long as modern netizens aren't working, whatever they do is both smart and passionate.

But now, thinking of the yet-to-be-harvested mugwort and Yuxing Grass, he had to awkwardly bring the topic back:

"Alright, the dough is ready, let's sauté the fatty pork cubes now."