Transmigrated Family C23

Chapter 23: Bamboo Slip Three

“How long does this need to be smoked?” Yan Yu, her small face flushed, leaned closer and looked at the meat hanging over the charcoal stove.

“We need to dry out the moisture to make jerky so it lasts longer,” Yan Lao’er replied.

Yan Yu’s eyes lit up as she turned to look at Niu, who had just set her down.

She asked, “Niu, if forage can be compressed and dried, can we do the same with meat strips?”

Yan Lao’er and Li Xuemei both turned to look at it.

Niu—living up to expectations—nodded.

Yan Yu cheered, clapping excitedly. “Come on, come on! How do we do it? Can you open your belly? We’ll put the meat inside!”

Niu walked over unhurriedly, shook its head, then opened its mouth.

Yan Lao’er: …

Li Xuemei: …

Yan Yu: …

Yan Lao’er voiced everyone’s concern: “If you process the meat in your stomach, where does the jerky come out?”

Please, please don’t let it be what they were thinking!

Niu’s tail accurately pointed in the exact direction they dreaded.

The three of them felt as if lightning had struck them!

Then, Niu’s mouth moved slightly.

Thank goodness, thank goodness.

They all let out a breath of relief.

In and out the same way—actually, when they thought about it, it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a real cow anyway. The front and back openings were just for authenticity.

Still, they couldn’t quite get over the psychological hurdle… Ahem, it felt a bit awkward.

Yan Lao’er hesitantly placed a long strip of meat inside. A few breaths later, Niu spat out a piece of jerky…

“Hahahahahaha!” Yan Yu nearly lost her mind laughing.

“We’re rich! We can process jerky for people and make money!

We could make five-spice jerky, spicy jerky… Oh, right! Instead of spitting it out immediately, can you store it in your belly?”

She looked at Niu, who nodded.

Yan Yu burst into another fit of laughter and continued asking, “If meat can be made into jerky, can you do the same with vegetables and fruit?” She ran a circle around Niu, then added, “Your belly has quite a bit of space. Can you store other things too? Can you sort them into categories?”

Niu just kept nodding and nodding.

Li Xuemei asked, “What about the forage it eats? It still has to eat and drink, or people will notice something’s off.”

“If it can sort things, eating and drinking shouldn’t be affected. Right, Niu?”

Niu’s tail pointed to its rear exit again.

Yan Yu understood. “So you’re saying that as long as you expel food normally, it won’t affect what’s stored inside. But if you don’t expel it, there will be problems?”

Niu nodded again.

Yan Lao’er grumbled, “You know, this cow is so high-tech, yet it can’t talk? We have to guess everything! Next time we see that person, we need to ask for an upgrade.”

“It’s better if it can’t talk—makes it feel more like a real cow,” Li Xuemei said. She didn’t want a talking cow. Mooing was fine. But if it suddenly called her Iron Fan Princess, she’d die of fright!

“Hey, Niu, can you refrigerate things?” Yan Yu’s imagination ran wild.

“Can you cook? Braise? Stew? Why not steam? You can dry things, so if we give you some water, you should be able to steam, right? No? Fine, whatever.”

“Can you breathe fire? Like, light a pile of firewood?”

“Can you generate heat? Like a radiator? Do you even know what a radiator is? No? It’s a heating device that keeps us warm. You can do that? Hahaha!”

“I can’t think of anything else for now, but I’ll ask more later. Niu, we need to give you a name… Let me think.” Yan Yu reached out, and Niu naturally lowered its head for her to pat. Then she turned to the still-stunned Yan Lao’er. “Come on, Dad, let’s make jerky!”

Yan Lao’er snapped out of it. “Oh, oh!”

Salted raw meat went in; fragrant jerky came out.

One person and one cow worked seamlessly together.

“Too bad we didn’t bring Sichuan pepper powder, chili powder, or cumin. We could have made different flavors,” Yan Yu said regretfully.

Since dried jerky was much lighter than raw meat, they decided not to store it in Niu. Instead, they split it among themselves, keeping a few pieces on hand for whenever they got hungry.

After tidying up, they hit the road.

When they reached town, they went straight to the fabric shop.

No point dwelling on it—selling the scraps had been fun, but afterward, they realized those leftover fabric pieces were actually useful.

They could sew them into all kinds of cloth bags.

They also needed wrapping cloth to cover up their lack of possessions.

Li Xuemei, despite the heartache, bargained hard. She managed to get six feet of fabric for two copper coins less, spending a total of 118 wen.

“We’re never buying fabric from outside again!” Li Xuemei lamented. “The fabric on the platform is so much cheaper. We’ll get it from there next time.”

Yan Yu mumbled, “Live and learn… We’re still figuring things out, so of course, we’ll pay some ‘tuition fees.’”

“Buy a few more bamboo tubes,” Yan Lao’er said, heading toward the bamboo wares stall. “They’re much cheaper than water pouches.”

For things like oil, soy sauce, and vinegar, bamboo tubes were better than ceramic jars since they took up less space when standing upright.

“Dad, look at those cart wheels,” Yan Yu said sharply, spotting a passing ox cart with its wheels wrapped in coiled hemp rope.

Yan Lao’er chuckled and went to buy some hemp rope. Imitating the other cart, he wrapped it around their wheels. It worked surprisingly well—two layers covered the wood entirely.

Since hemp rope was cheap, Yan Lao’er bought a whole bundle and tossed it onto their cart. Now those iron wheels might actually be useful.

“Dad, how much money do we have left?” Yan Yu asked.

Yan Lao’er counted. “One small piece of silver and seven copper coins.”

“Then let’s stop buying stuff. We should save some for emergencies,” Yan Yu said.

They couldn’t just empty their pockets and then have to ask Uncle for money.

With no more spending, they headed back.

Li Xuemei took out the bamboo slip she hadn’t had time to read the night before and began deciphering it, character by character.

It wasn’t in regular script—it was in seal script!

She read very slowly.

Yan Yu glanced at it and immediately felt dizzy. “Mom, what does it say?”

“It seems to be… a charcoal-making method,” Li Xuemei said, rereading the first section. “A charcoal-burning technique using a fire pit.”

“Look, there are even illustrations.”

Yan Yu ignored the text and focused on the pictures. They showed a person using wood and mud to produce charcoal.

Amazing!

“It looks simple, but we don’t need this at all!” Yan Yu nearly cried. “Mom, I picked the wrong one. I should have chosen Bamboo Slip One!”

“These bamboo slips must each correspond to different skills, and I bought the most useless one.”

“How is it useless?” Yan Lao’er interjected. “Yu’er, this is useful! Don’t forget, we’re heading north, where it’s really cold. This charcoal-making method is incredibly handy! Forget about selling it—just knowing how to make our own charcoal means we won’t have to skimp. We can burn it all day and night! Imagine how warm our home will be!”

Li Xuemei agreed. “Your father’s right. Once we’re up north, having this skill means we’ll have a livelihood. It’s more reliable than selling jerky.”

“Spicy jerky is so delicious, though,” Yan Yu muttered.

“That’s only if you have enough chili!” Li Xuemei retorted.

Yan Yu: Mom’s right… We barely have enough chili powder for ourselves!