Ruling the Historical Romance Novel as the Female Supporting Character-Chapter 139: Bought Two Large Boxes of Medicinal Herbs
First, she soaked all the tools in boiling water, repeating the process three times until they were completely clean. Then she set up two pots on the stove, each containing four pounds of peanuts. She stirred and roasted them until they turned golden brown and were fully cooked, then poured them directly into the hand-operated oil press machine. With all her might, she turned the crank, using a wooden board to squeeze the peanuts vigorously.
Listening to the sound of the oil flowing from the front container into the plastic barrels, a deep sense of joy spread across Su Yijia’s face. Although it was not exactly four pounds for every eight pounds of peanuts pressed, at least two pounds had been successfully extracted.
Su Yijia quickly returned to her original position and continued turning the crank. This time, she used all her strength, pressing twice before barely squeezing out one pound of oil. Any further attempts were fruitless.
Su Yijia opened the small machine and checked the peanuts inside. While the peanuts had flattened considerably, there was still room for further pressing. However, it was clear that her strength was insufficient.
In fact, most of the DIY oil press machines used by bloggers online were powered by small electric motors. Ordinary people were simply unable to afford such a motor, even with Qin Kaize’s help. A single motor could easily cost over ten thousand yuan.
In comparison, the Great Strength Pills were of utmost importance.
Refusing to give up, Su Yijia attempted again and realized that she genuinely couldn’t extract the remaining one pound of oil. She packed everything up and rode her bicycle to the Chinese medicine shop.
She wasn’t particularly skilled at riding a bicycle, and her journey was unsteady. Passersby cast curious glances her way, and Su Yijia felt utterly drained. She decided to sit down and rest in the shade of a tree for a while. With a piece of paper and a notebook in hand, she started sketching clothing designs.
She quickly designed two outfits, one for men and one for women, which took her no more than fifteen minutes. Lacking the patience to ride to the herbal medicine store right away, she decided to drop by the clothes factory first to sell the designs.
The factory director was startled to see her.
"Comrade Su, why did you come so quickly? Is the design already done?"
"I usually have ideas at home, so I’ll sketch some designs. I just picked two that I thought were suitable and brought them over when I had time." Su Yijia found an excuse for herself.
She wasn’t one to boast, but it was mainly because these two men didn’t seem too pleased with her. They were questioning how she could draw so fast, indicating that her work efficiency and income didn’t seem to match.
"So, Comrade Su has many styles. In the future, just bring them over for us to take a look at. We’ll buy the good ones directly." The deputy factory manager’s face lit up with a warm smile, and he spoke warmly.
Su Yijia didn’t respond to his comment. She took the money, said thank you, and used the excuse of having other things to do to leave. She hopped back on her bicycle and pedaled away.
In and out, all in less than ten minutes, she had 1400 yuan in hand. Recenly, she had worked particularly hard, feeling like a spinning top. She sold jobs, created design drawings, and sold items in the black market. In just a few days, she earned 16,815 yuan.
This immediately boosted Su Yijia’s confidence, who had been worried not long ago about the expensive medical expenses for Qin Kaize and felt overwhelmed. Since the incident at the bank not too long ago when her money was stolen, she kept all her money in her personal warehouse. It was convenient and safe, and she could access it whenever needed. She locked her bicycle outside the traditional Chinese medicine store and hadn’t even stepped inside when Yu Zihang hurriedly came out.
"My dad hasn’t come back yet. Would you mind coming back tomorrow?" Although he was afraid of the trouble this girl might cause, his dad and grandpa both said she was a valuable customer for their shop, so he had to treat her well no matter what.
"Okay, but this time, I came to buy some other herbs." Su Yijia took out a list from her bag. It contained nearly forty types of herbs, clearly a big business.
"Okay, wait for me; I’ll get them for you." Yu Zihang’s tone became excited. With a small wooden ladder, he went to the back and started selecting herbs from the entire wall of cabinets.
Su Yijia pulled up a chair and sat outside the counter, watching him work. Although there were two ginseng roots that were over 300 years old, she only planned to make one bottle of Great Strength Pills. She would keep one for herself and slowly distribute the rest. The remaining herbs were for making Functional Restoration Ointment.
Since there were twelve people buying jobs from her, she bought ten sets of ingredients, which cost her 2300 yuan.
Earning money was not too difficult, but thinking about how these herbs could buy a small house in Hu City, Su Yijia’s heart ached.
"Your herbs are ready!" Yu Zihang handed the packaged herbs to Su Yijia, his attitude excellent. However, before Su Yijia could take the herbs, there was some commotion outside the door.
"Hey there, young comrade, you happen to be here, didn’t have to wait too long, right? I’m really sorry; the train was delayed." Yu Qiancheng came in, holding two leather suitcases. He looked very disheveled, covered in sweat. The exposed skin on his body had turned bright red under the summer sun, making him look especially unkempt. However, he didn’t become anxious or agitated because of this. Instead, he couldn’t help but smile, looking a bit silly.
"No, I just arrived too. Why are so happy, master Yu? Did you get something good?" Su Yijia sneaked a glance at the two boxes and her heart raced. But aside from excitement, she also felt a sense of unease, fearing that Yu Qiancheng had purchased too many high-quality herbs, and the money she had worked so hard to earn wouldn’t be enough even if she emptied her pockets.
"Yes! I’ve got quite a few good things. In addition to the herbs you need, I also collected some good herbs for the pharmacy." Yu Qiancheng didn’t hide anything and went straight to the table where he usually examined patients, placing a leather suitcase on it. Recently, the environment had been improving, and people’s minds were becoming more active. Over the years, they had been collecting good herbs, but in some small places that nobody paid attention to, even if there were treasures, they could only be stashed away. While using high-quality herbs could indeed save lives when people fell seriously ill, these days, everyone was struggling financially. They couldn’t even afford to go to the hospital, let alone spend money on traditional Chinese medicine that was already in decline. The old treasures that had been passed down through the generations were now categorized under outdated products without scientific basis.
Yu Qiancheng opened the leather suitcase, and it was filled with herbs wrapped in oil paper. "You collected so much?" Su Yijia was also somewhat astonished. It didn’t seem like he had visited various traditional Chinese medicine shops; it looked more like he had plundered herb fields.
