Transmigration: Life As A Ger In Ancient Times With My Mystical Snake
Chapter 39: Ch. 19 Part 1

Chapter 39: Ch. 19 Part 1

When they woke up the next morning Xiao Ling made the fire and heat water in the wok for them to wash their faces, he made two cups of salt water and they used to brush along with willow twigs. After he started on with making a simple breakfast which was pancakes with eggs and congee... he served them after the cooking. Half way through their breakfast the front yard door was pushed open and Yue walked in carrying three baskets, one on her back and the two on both shoulders.... she happily walked to them and placed all three baskets at the feet of Xiao Ling before she cupped her hands and greeted

" Master, mistress " YanZhi’s gaze was fixed on the baskets as he stared indifferently at the wild strawberries filled in all three baskets making him chuckle.... Xiao Ling couldn’t hold back and started laughing hard as he wiped the imaginary tears from the corners of his eyes. Yue stood there proud as she touched her nose with her finger waiting to be praised.

" Yue.... when did you start bringing master fruits early in the morning? " Yue’s face flushed red as YanZhi teased making her stuttered.

" M... master... there are for mistress to to use for his shop " she said embarrassedly and she blushed... YanZhi cocked his brows.

" Is that all?.... it looks like you now value your mistress more then me " YanZhi said and looked at Xiao Ling jokingly with pained look as he asked Xiao Ling to pacify him..... Xiao Ling blushed embarrassedly, turned away from YanZhi’s gaze and smiled brightly to Yue saying

" But of course she has to value me more... I feed her delicious foods and they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach " he said with triumph making Yue nod happily and YanZhi feeling like he was being gang on " Yue I served your breakfast, it’s covered in the wok. " Yue happily nodded shamelessly and dash to the kitchen... she took her breakfast and finished it in minutes as if she was just swallowing and no chewing. She washed all the dishes they used and went to the kitchen to serve herself some of the remaining deserts they had last night... the front door was knocked as soon as she sat down ready to have the deserts which made her frowned... she hesitated to go and get the door as she looked between the milky jelly desert and the door not wanting to get up.... YanZhi watched her silently as she kept sitting still in hesitant tightly gripping the wooden spoon as ig she’d break it any soon. Xiao Ling laughed looking at her action which he found normal thinking she was still a child, he stood up from his seat and walked towards the door.

" I’ll get it " Yue beamed and gave him a grateful nod before she started to stuff her face with the desert. Xiao Ling was surprised to see a lot of people in front of the house when he opened, some where familiar faces while others were unfamiliar... the village head’s four children were presented, Yanbei the chef he was planning on hiring, the rest he was guessing were the ones he asked the village head’s children to find for him... he was confused as he asked for eight people and all young but there were ten young people along with two adults.

" Boss " Yanbei cupped and greeted when Xiao Ling opened the door... Xiao Ling nodded as a way to answer his greetings and turned his attention to the Village head’s eldest son.

" Lixin I asked for eight young people, well I can do with ten too but why did you bring adults? " Xiao Ling asked and Lixin turned to look at the adults before he cupped his hands.

" Forgive me mistress but I only brought eight... the two and two adults were asking around for your house so i brought them because I thought you asked them to come find you just like the other young man too " Lixin said regretfully as he pointed to Yanbei whom he met first on the way and was looking for Xiao Ling’s since Xiao Ling asked him to come... but the family of four came on their own accounts. The family of four lowered their heads embarrassedly and cupped their hands respectfully as their family head went on and say

" This gongzi, my Surname is Tang and given name Aigo and this is my wife Xie Meng Yao and our two children Liang and Jia... you gave my daughter Jia five taels as gratitude for her taking you to Uncle Fu’s animal farm house when you came to Yujia village to inquire about milk... we’re here you thank you for your generosity, forgive us for our intrusion " Tang Aigo said apologetically which made everyone presented very stunned hearing that Xiao Ling gave out taels as a gratitude for just showing direction... those who followed Lixin to see the reason why Xiao Ling needed people lost their motivation when they saw the shabby looking house... but when they heard the reason the family of four tagged along they felt very enthusiastic and optimistic and Yanbei was more than willing to do his best for him to be hired as a chef for Xiao Ling’s restaurant. At first Xiao Ling didn’t recognize Jia because it was Yue who talk to her while YanZhi and him followed from behind but after hearing that from Tang Aigo he recalled Jia’s face making an oo sound.

" Ah you’re the young lady whom Yue asked directions from... well you all can come in, it’s not good to talk at the door way. " Jia nodded her head enthusiastically when Xiao Ling finally remembered her, he stepped aside and allowed them into the yard before closing the door. They followed him as he led them to where YanZhi and Yue where that was their diner, the Lu’s cupped their hands to YanZhi and Yue as they greeted earning a nod from YanZhi as Yue ignored them as she couldn’t bother with them since she was busy stuffing her face with milk and jelly.

" Yue take your junior brothers and sister to the back and have them train horse stance until I give further instructions " Yue felt so aggrieved as soon as she heard YanZhi ordered... YanZhi gave her a very fierce glare as he saw her refusal in not wanting to part ways with her desert, she hurriedly got up not wanting to anger YanZhi and walk into the kitchen, she took out the wooden spoon and brought the bowl to her mouth as she gobble the rest down in hurry and clean the dish before taking the Lu’s backyard per her master’s instructions. The group who came with the Lu’s... two girls, three gers and three boys were all nervously standing like status not knowing what to do or what to expect...

" Yanbei come with me " Xiao Ling said and walk into the kitchen with Yanbei behind.

" Before i can tell whether I’ll hire you or not depends entirely on you... I’ll have to taste your craft first to see. Just make two portion of your best crafts for my Xiong Gong and I to taste, you can use anything available in the kitchen.... " Xiao Ling said to him before walking to the corner where the one fridge and one ice cube maker were kept... and opened the fridge and showed the food ingredients like pork meat, vegetables and fish which were kept in bowls neatly in the fridge, Yanbei was very shocked when the chillness from the fridge hit his body making him feel refreshed from the heat when Xiao Ling opened the fridge... he was very confused to see a box which he thought was a porcelain made box that could produce chill like in winter, but he knew to keep his mouth shut and not to pry " here are the foodstuffs and the spices like salt, soy sauce, oil, and other personal spices I grinded are over there " he pointed to the small little porcelains which were for salt and spices along with the small jars of oil and soy sauce poured from the original big jars into them.

" Yes boss... please what type of dishes should i make? " Yanbei nodded and ask as Xiao Ling was making his way out.. he stopped and turned to him saying in a stern voice.

" It depends on you... all you need to do is win us over with your best craft for you to get the employment. " Xiao Ling said indifferently to him before walking out to seat by YanZhi’s side who was busily writing calligraphy not bothering with the group of people standing nervously in the yard.

" So the eight people who came with Lixin... I asked him to bring you all here because I need workers for my restaurant in the county... are you all interested in working for me? " everyone’s ears perked when they heard that they get to work in the county... even the family of four were interested but they knew they weren’t called for so they weren’t included in that discussion. The eight people who were now being given a chance were optimistic about it as it was very hard to get work in the county, although there was no mention of the payments they were very willing. Xiao Ling was quiet and studying their expressions before he continued on to ask " who amongst you knows how to cook? " they started to look at one another nervously... " you don’t need to be nervous around me, I’m asking because I plan to train the one who knows how to cook to assist the chef in the kitchen. You’re here for work and I am the employer so you should answer the employer’s questions truthfully and honestly.... so that you get to be hired but if you don’t answer my questions how will I hire you for the work? " Xiao Ling couldn’t stand their nervousness and silence which made him say that to them. " oh and you four too, since you’re already here when I’m about to hire people to work for me... why don’t you join if you’re interested " the family of four were very delighted to hear that.

Liang their son quickly cupped his hand and said politely

" Boss I’m a good cook, I worked in food stalls before so I picked up cooking from them. " Xiao Ling nod and pointed to his right as on his left was YanZhi who was still busily writing so he didn’t want to disturb him.. he said to Liang " stand aside " Liang nod and did as he was told... a ger and a girl who saw Liang take the lead raised their hands too and Xiao Ling asked them to stand by Liang. The rest who didn’t know how to cook were all regretfully thinking they should have learnt cooking.

" Since the rest of you don’t know how to cook let’s get on with the question and answer, when you can answer the question I ask you just answer, the question is intended for all seven that’s including Jia... the three at the side won’t participate in this, but before this question goes to you all... raise your hand up if you know how to read or write or if you can do both " only a young man who was dressed like a scholar, but the clothes looked very faded as seemingly by continuos washing. " I’m a scholar from a peasant family because there’s no money to further my studies I asked for some time from the school to work and save so I could continue studying " Xiao Ling nodded after his explanation.