"Li Zhaodi, you're done for. She will have nothing to do with our Li family from now on."
Li's Mother took the money and left with a grin, leaving Li Zhaodi behind.
"Mother." Seeing her mother's retreating back, Li Zhaodi's eyes welled up with tears.
She never imagined that her own mother would really sell her off and sever ties with her.
She had forsaken her husband's family, all because of what her mother said - that her natal family would back her up. But now...
"Slap! Don't call me 'Mother'! As they said, you'll have nothing to do with me from now on. Don't try to act so entitled."
Seeing Li Zhaodi like this, Huang Laizi raised his hand and slapped her.
He knew her background well - she was a troublesome, lowly woman, but that suited him just fine.
Holding her injured cheek, Li Zhaodi glared at Huang Laizi with wide eyes.
"What are you looking at? Need disciplining, huh?" As soon as he said this, he grabbed Li Zhaodi's hair and dragged her away.
Li Zhaodi's cries of pain echoed as she was dragged off.
...Luo Ge silently hugged her basket and hurried home, watching the two figures disappear.
This was the path she had chosen, she could not blame anyone.
...Meanwhile.
The group of men on the mountain were also working efficiently, finding plenty of suitable wood in just one morning.
Gu Jinchen carried two logs by himself, eager to get back to his delicate young wife. He strode along briskly.
The others, including Wang Big Brother, watched in amazement.
Comparing Gu Jinchen's light, bird-like steps to their own exhausted, dog-like states lugging a single log, they were silent for a while.
"He's not normal, I can't compare myself to him," Wang Big Brother finally muttered.
"Yeah, that makes sense." The others nodded in agreement, fully understanding.
There's no point comparing oneself to someone else - it'll only make you depressed.
"Darling, I'm back!"
Tossing the logs at the doorstep, Gu Jinchen hurried inside calling for his wife.
"Look what I've brought back." He rummaged in his coat as he spoke, walking towards the house.
"Darling?"
When he saw the courtyard was empty, he paused, a sense of panic rising.
Relieved, he saw the note she had left on the table.
Seeing the pears arranged in the courtyard, he thought about it for a moment, then went to get a small cart to take the fruit down to the river to wash.
Back home, he rinsed them thoroughly with the household water.
The note mentioned that Shopkeeper Li had sent over the pears, but he didn't know what new ideas his little wife might have for using them.
In any case, washing the fruit thoroughly was a necessary first step.
With him gone, his little wife would surely be busy and not able to handle everything. While he had the time, he might as well get a head start.
Yet, even after washing all the pears, he still didn't see his wife return.
"Jinchen, we're leaving!"
Seeing the others ready to head back up the mountain, he couldn't linger.
'The pears are washed, don't overwork yourself, I'll be back soon.'
He left a note for his wife and hurried to catch up with Wang Big Brother and the others.
"I'm back."
Just moments later, Luo Ge arrived home.
Seeing the fruit had all been cleaned, she paused in surprise.
Reading the note her husband had left, she felt warmed inside.
Making Autumn Pear Paste and Autumn Pear Candy actually isn't too different - one just uses more ingredients and cooks it longer, while the other uses fewer ingredients and less cooking time.
The initial steps are the same - washing, peeling, pitting, mashing the flesh in a cheesecloth to extract the juice.
You don't have to peel them, but doing so will squeeze out more juice.
Luo Ge divided the extracted juice into two pots - one for the pear paste, one for the candy.
She prepared the ingredients needed for the pear paste - red dates, ginger slices, longan, fritillary, and loquat leaves.
She added them all to the pear juice and simmered for about two hours.
While that was cooking, she made the pear candy, adding rock sugar and some maltose syrup she had bought on the street to the other pot of pear juice.
Once the juice came to a boil, she stirred it continuously for a while, waiting for the foam to become fine and the juice to thicken, then poured it into candy molds to cool.
With the weather this time of year, not too hot or too cold, leaving them to set in a cool spot worked just fine.
After about an hour, the pear paste was also ready.
She strained out the solids, then returned the pure juice to the pot to continue simmering. She stirred it as it cooked until it had thickened to the right consistency, then decanted it into jars for storage.
Luo Ge had used about half a basket of fresh pears to make two jars of pear paste and a little over one jar of pear candy.
After bottling the pear paste, she checked on the candy, which had already set.
She removed the solidified candies from the molds, coating them lightly in powdered sugar to prevent sticking and make them easier to store.
"Darling!"
Just as Luo Ge finished packing up the pear paste and pear candies, she heard Gu Jinchen calling.
"You're back!"
Recognizing his voice, Luo Ge's face lit up with a smile as she poked her head out from the kitchen to greet him.
