Chapter 17
The two of them had spent quite a long time at the Zhou residence.
By the time they hurriedly bought the rest of what they needed, the sky was already dark.
Fortunately, when they had come to town earlier, the ox cart had carried only the two of them.
Gang Jo-hang had given the driver three copper coins in advance and asked him to wait until they finished their errands.
When they finally reached the agreed meeting point, the cart was still there.
"Ah, you finally made it."
The driver, Erniu, let out a relieved sigh when he saw them.
"I was starting to wonder whether you'd already gone back some other way."
It seemed Erniu had been stuck in an awkward position.
He couldn't simply leave first after promising to wait, but it was getting darker and darker.
Gang Gye climbed onto the cart and smiled brightly.
"Brother Erniu, we had a lot to do, so we came back late. You're hungry, right? Try this."
Feeling bad for making him wait so long, Gang Gye took two snacks from the food box and handed them to Erniu.
He also gave two to his father before starting to eat some himself.
When they had left home that afternoon, they had only just finished lunch.
By now, the people in the village had probably already eaten dinner.
Erniu's stomach had been growling for quite a while.
The moment the little dumpling handed him a snack, his face immediately lit up.
"Little Six, this is really delicious!"
It was probably expensive too.
He had never tasted anything like it before.
The three of them laughed and chatted all the way back to the village.
Of course, Gang Gye did most of the talking with Erniu.
His father, as always, remained rather quiet.
When they reached the front of the house, Gang Gye spotted a familiar thin figure waiting outside.
He immediately shouted,
"Mother! Mother! We're back!"
Jang Un-chu heard him and hurried over.
"Why are you so late?"
Gang Gye answered,
"It took a long time to buy everything, and we also went to Grandpa Zhou's house!"
Grandpa Zhou?
By the time Jang Un-chu married into the family, Gang Jo-hang had already left the escort agency.
Still, everyone in the village knew that Gang Jo-hang had once followed an escort surnamed Zhou.
The people they knew in town were limited, so Jang Un-chu immediately understood who Gang Gye meant.
But she only understood the identity.
She didn't know the Zhou family personally.
So she simply helped take the things her son was carrying without saying much.
Once they entered the house, the entire Gang family came out.
Gang Gye handed the food box to Old Madam Gang and asked her to divide the snacks among everyone.
Old Madam Gang asked where the food box had come from.
Once she realized it was connected to Gang Jo-hang's past, she didn't ask any further.
"Your dinner is still in the pot. It should still be warm. Grandma will serve it for you."
"Okay!"
Gang Gye rubbed his stomach.
"I'm hungry!"
He followed his grandmother into the kitchen.
Jang Un-chu also stepped forward to help set the table.
Only after the father and son had started eating did Old Madam Gang open the food box and call the grandchildren over to distribute the snacks.
Old Madam Zhou had filled the box generously.
Since the snacks might spoil if kept too long, the adults also received one each.
The rest would be saved for tomorrow.
"Little Six, if you want another snack later, come to Grandma's room and get one."
Gang Gye nodded and returned to eating.
The next morning, Gang Gye opened his eyes and, as usual, immediately thought about his father's leg before checking in.
Today's reward was a bundle of cilantro and a packet of cilantro seeds.
Gang Gye let out a heavy sigh.
Again? This has nothing to do with Father's leg...
Before, when he had briefly thought about meat buns, the system had immediately given him meat buns.
Could it be that once he had already received one related reward, wishing for similar things afterward would no longer work, and the system would return to random rewards?
He hadn't checked in enough times yet to compare properly.
Still, cilantro wasn't bad.
Cilantro and scallions were indispensable for cold dishes.
More importantly, cilantro was also useful for making spicy konjac.
The onions he had received yesterday would be useful too.
However, instead of chopping them up and adding them directly like ordinary garnish, he could use them to make red chili oil, also known as youpo lazi.
To make especially fragrant chili oil, he needed cilantro, onion, ginger, cinnamon, bay leaves, cumin, and similar spices.
He would slowly heat them in oil over a low flame.
Once the ingredients turned yellow and gave off a dry, aromatic fragrance, they could all be removed.
Then the hot oil would be poured over chili powder.
That would create fragrant chili oil.
Any cold dish tossed in that oil would taste excellent.
And what made things even more interesting was that cilantro and onions didn't seem to exist in this era.
Gang Gye suddenly felt as though he had discovered another ordinary but reliable way to accumulate wealth.
If the Attendance System ever gave him lemons, couldn't he make spicy lemon chicken feet?
Or shredded lemon chicken?
And if he could find some wild green peppercorns, pickled bamboo shoots with chili would be perfect.
The production cost would be low too.
Bamboo shoots could be gathered freely in the mountains every year.
Even if they had to buy them, they probably wouldn't be expensive.
Hmm.
Red-oil bamboo shoots would also be good...
But those were ideas for later.
He needed to proceed one step at a time.
Right now, the most urgent thing was making the spicy konjac successfully.
Gang Gye got up and went to check how dry the sliced konjac and starch powder were.
When they had returned home last night, it was already dark.
He had eaten dinner, washed up, and gone straight to sleep.
He had completely forgotten about them.
At this time of year, the sun rose early.
When Gang Gye went outside, Old Madam Gang and the others were already spreading the konjac slices back out after bringing them in overnight.
Gang Gye washed his hands and touched a few pieces.
After checking them, he decided that one more full day in the sun should be enough.
"I think we'll be able to cook it tomorrow. Then if we freeze it overnight, we'll be able to eat it the day after tomorrow."
"All right."
Old Madam Gang nodded.
"If there's anything else you need done over these next two days, tell your father and mother. You can tell Grandma too."
