Chapter 57 Resuscitation

Fish... has taken the bait!

Did Shopkeeper Sun really think that buying her recipe would solve everything?
That was merely the beginning of another business venture. After all, taking advantage of a village girl is no easy task!
Whether Shopkeeper Sun sees through it or not, Shao Diandian does not care; even if he sees through it, there is nothing he can do to her.
He needs the ingredients for the egg yolk pastries, and she is the only one in the entire town who can make them. Unless he decides to give up this pastry altogether, he has no choice but to purchase them from her.
He has already spent fifteen silver coins on this recipe. Would he really be willing to give it up now? And how would he explain it to his employer?
How does that saying go?
——An exceptional hunter often appears in the guise of the prey.
From the very moment Shopkeeper Sun set his sights on her recipe, today's outcome was already sealed.
Granted, Shopkeeper Sun had another choice—to source his goods from a more distant place.
But if he were able to do that, why would he have come to her in the first place?
Clearly, the cost of sourcing from elsewhere is far higher than the budget Shopkeeper Sun can allocate to his ingredients.
In the end, Shao Diandian agreed to supply Jin'ji at the price of eight copper coins per salted egg yolk. This is far more profitable than selling the recipe itself.
The first batch of orders is scheduled for after the beginning of spring, and Shopkeeper Sun requested a trial tasting first, stating he would only pay if he was satisfied.
Shao Diandian understands that Shopkeeper Sun wants to use the New Year holiday to inquire around and see if there are any alternative supply channels.

--

The pastries were sold out by noon.
Over the next two days, there were hardly any customers on the street, and most of the shops remained closed.
After selling the last pastry, Shao Diandian clapped her hands together. "Stall closed! Business for this year is done!"
Shao Erdan was still unsatisfied. "So fast?"
"It's not fast anymore, it's already afternoon." In the past, when they set up the stall, everything would sell out in less than half an hour, never dragging past noon.
Shao Diandian continued, "Tomorrow is the Lesser New Year. Look, there's nobody on the street, and the market will be closing soon too. Let's hurry up and buy some things."
"Sis, what do you want to buy?" Shao Erdan asked.
"I want to buy some peanuts, and see what else is missing for the New Year goods," Shao Diandian said.
Shao Erdan joyfully exclaimed, "I love eating peanuts!"
Peanuts are indeed wonderful; they can be stir-fried into crispy peanuts, made into peanut pastries, or ground into peanut butter.
Peanut butter is a fantastic nutritional food for weight loss, as it not only supplements the body with essential healthy fats but also enhances satiety. Taking a single spoonful straight from the jar can leave you feeling so full and rich that you won't want to eat anything for half a day.
Unfortunately, however, by the time they reached the market, the peanut vendors had already packed up their stalls.
There would be no more stalls setting up for the rest of the year.
Shao Erdan gazed at the mostly deserted market. "Sis, we can't buy peanuts anymore."
Shao Diandian let out a regretful sigh. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her mind: "If we can't buy them here... we can go buy them over there!"
Shao Erdan scratched his head. "Sis, where are you talking about?"

--

Two decades of minutes later, the two siblings trod through the thick snow and arrived at Spring Willow Alley.
The gates of the Fu residence were tightly shut.
Shao Diandian had her hands tucked cozily inside her sleeves, too lazy to take them out, so she ordered her younger brother, "Erdan, knock on the door."
"Oh." Shao Erdan gave the wooden door a series of loud thumps. "Is anyone home? Doctor Fu! It's us!"
There was no response.
"Not at home? Gone on a house call?" Shao Erdan muttered.
Shao Diandian said, "Granny Fu didn't set up her stall, and Doctor Fu is not around, so she should be here. Keep knocking."
Shao Erdan continued to knock on the door. "Granny Fu! It's us! Are you home? Can you hear us?"
Perhaps because their commotion was too loud and disturbed the neighbors next door, a woman in her early thirties pulled open her own courtyard gate and stepped out.
She glared at the two siblings with a frown and said, "Stop knocking, stop knocking! Doctor Fu is out on a medical call! He's not here!"
Shao Diandian politely inquired, "We are looking for Granny Fu. Is she in, may I ask?"
The woman replied indifferently, "That I wouldn't know. That old hag never interacts with anyone; who keeps track of her whereabouts?"
With that, she retreated back into her house.
Something is wrong.
Shao Diandian frowned.
When she went to settle accounts with Luo Dazhuang in the morning, she hadn't seen Granny Fu either, and she wasn't around in the afternoon. Having skipped her stall for the entire day, where else could she be if not at home?
"Erdan, climb over!"
Shao Erdan looked bewildered. "Huh? Sis, i-is that really appropriate? Didn't we stop blackmailing people for money?"
Shao Diandian asked with a strange expression, "What does this have to do with blackmail?"
Shao Erdan's expression became even more unspeakable. "Don't tell me you want to steal money?"
Shao Diandian sighed and massaged her forehead in speechlessness. "I'm telling you to go in and check if Granny Fu is inside."
"Oh, oh, oh." Shao Erdan sheepishly scratched his head.
The brother and sister shared the exact same habit, though Shao Diandian usually only scratched her head when she was exasperated.
Shao Erdan said, "Then I'm going in."
Shao Diandian instructed, "Be careful!"
"Got it!"
With a kick of his feet and his hands grasping the top of the wall, Shao Erdan easily vaulted into the courtyard.
A short while later, Shao Erdan pulled the dilapidated front gate open with a creak. "Sis! Something has happened to Granny Fu!"

Shao Erdan had found Granny Fu in the open space of the back courtyard. She was lying in the snow, with signs of a struggle where she had tried to get up, and a scattered bamboo sieve and dried plum vegetables lay nearby.
"What is that smell?" Shao Erdan sniffed the air.
"The kitchen!" Shao Diandian said.
Shao Erdan hurried over to check the kitchen. "Oh heavens! The bottom of the wok has been burned right through!"

--

Shao Diandian crouched down.
It looked like Granny Fu had intended to bring the washed plum vegetables to the kitchen to cook, but amidst the freezing snowy conditions, she had slipped and fallen.
She must have tried to crawl back up by herself, but perhaps due to her advanced age, or perhaps because the fall was too severe, she failed.
Doctor Fu was not home, and her relationship with the neighbors was less than harmonious...
In the end, she had simply fainted away in the snow.
"Sis! Granny Fu is still breathing, right? Move aside, I'll carry her inside the house!"
"Don't move her just yet, let me check her first."
She needed to rule out any external injuries or fractures.
Shao Diandian began her examination.
There were minor abrasions on her forehead and the palms of her hands with no obvious signs of bleeding, but her left leg was fractured.
"It's a bad injury," Shao Diandian sighed. "Erdan, go to the kitchen and find a few pieces of dry firewood—the flat and long kind. If there aren't any, chop a few pieces."
"Alright!"
Shao Erdan agreed immediately.
Old Man Shao was a martial artist, so injuries were common, and he would treat minor wounds himself.
Having accompanied his father for years, he had seen enough to understand what kind of boards his sister needed.
Before long, he had chopped several pieces.
"Sis, look, is this enough?"
Shao Diandian glanced at them and said, "Enough. Go to that storage room; I remember there are clean cloth strips hanging on the shelf to the left."
Shao Erdan remarked, "Sis, you even remember things like that!"
Shao Diandian said sternly, "Hurry up! She is freezing; it will be dangerous if she doesn't get inside soon!"
"Coming!"
Shao Erdan went and retrieved the cloth strips.
Shao Diandian performed a simple immobilization procedure on Granny Fu's leg. "Be careful when we lift her later."
A frozen body is prone to secondary fractures.
Shao Erdan fetched an old wooden door panel.
The siblings carefully used the door panel to carry her back inside and onto Granny Fu's bed.
Granny Fu's condition was extremely dire.
While a fracture would not cost her her life, she was suffering from severe hypothermia. If her body temperature could not be restored in time, she might never wake up again.