At that time, Jiang Zhou was sitting on a stool washing vegetables with Wen Yan next to him.

There weren’t many edible vegetables in winter. It snowed in most places, and the snow weighed down the vegetables on the ground. The vegetable garden specially set aside by Jiang Zhou was all white.

After Jiang Zhou had breakfast, he took a shovel and went to shovel the snow in the vegetable garden. He first shoveled off the thin layer of snow on the leaves, then wiped away the layer of snow on the leaves, and finally removed the previously planted seeds from the bottom. The carrots were pulled out.

He planted radishes twice in total. He had already blanched the first batch and cooked it in oden, but he kept this batch for himself.

He originally planned to eat hot pot with Wen Yan because it was cold today.

He asked the blacksmith to make him another copper stove pot, making it look like a pillar facing the sky. The empty piece in the middle was used to stuff charcoal, and a circle around it was used to serve dishes.

He didn’t pay much attention to the deed when he received it. He opened it and took a look before putting it in his arms.

Wen Yan glanced at him, rubbed his fingers that were white from the hot water, and asked, “What is that?”

Jiang Zhou pulled off the radish tassels one by one, preparing to use them to make sauerkraut. Hearing this, he smiled and said, “A shop.”

He told him about Liu Lin: “…he was exiled. The clerk was probably anxious about me spreading the word.”

Jiang Zhou had already told him about the time traveler before. Wen Yan didn’t say anything after hearing the stupid thing he did. In fact, he also felt that the lost money might not be recovered.

Unexpectedly, Liu Lin delivered himself to the door himself, and the shop came back.

But he was obviously still a little worried: “You just had a conflict with Liu Lin on the front foot, and this happened on the back foot. I’m afraid he will hold grudges…”

Jiang Zhou shook his head: “Don’t think so much; on the surface, it’s just Liu Lin brought it upon himself. If he wasn’t greedy for money, I wouldn’t be able to bring him down so easily.”

Anyway, it was impossible for Master Liu to do anything to him on the surface. At most, he would only stumble him secretly – but from his perspective, judging from what he knew about Master Liu’s character, he didn’t seem like a person who made trouble for others.

He thought for a while and shook his head: “Let’s talk about it in the future. Take it one step at a time. I won’t be frightened by such a thing.”

Although he was a little worried, he was not worried about someone targeting him but worried that someone would target and hurt Wen Yan and Xiao Yi.

But in the end, he would do his best to protect them.

“I’ll go check out the shop after lunch.”

Wen Yan smiled and said, “Okay.”

.

The two of them started picking up the radishes again. Due to their careful care, the radish yield was quite high, and all of them were very thick, but they were stained with mud. Cleaning them wasn’t easy, so the two of them were busy for most of an hour to clean them up.

Jiang Zhou set aside part of the food and put the rest into the kimchi jar.

The radishes were cut into finger-long thick strips, making them easier to pickle and enhancing the taste. If the newly soaked radishes weren’t immersed in sour water, they would be astringent and not sour enough.

Jiang Zhou went to Aunt Lu to ask for sour water, adding it and waiting a week or two for the radishes to be ready to eat.

He pickled kimchi taking advantage of the nice weather. He also pickled cabbage, using the method of pickling Korean kimchi from the memory of the traveler.

Initially, he couldn’t find any peppers. However, after visiting the pre-selected place to build a house, he found a few wild peppers in the grass there. The plants were much shorter than Jiang Zhou remembered, and the peppers were also smaller than before. The older ones were a little more deflated, probably because the seeds were underdeveloped.

But at least there were chili peppers.

He brought them back like a treasure but was afraid they would be crushed if planted in the ground, so he checked them every day. He only recently harvested a few, which was quite challenging.

It was also because of collecting the peppers that he got the idea to make a hot pot.

For this reason, he also bought mutton and bones.

There weren’t many sheep farmers in their town, so he went out of his way to buy lamb meat from two towns.

The mutton was sliced thinly, the radish was cut into pieces, and cabbage, vermicelli, tofu skin, and the remaining oden-style meatballs were added. Jiang Zhou cooked a large pot full of it.

Coupled with the spicy taste, swallowing a mouthful of steaming hot mutton soup made people want to sigh with comfort.

The oden was on the lighter side, but the mutton hotpot was rich in meat aroma, and the soup was thick with flavor.

The light snow fell again, the charcoal fire in the copper stove glowing with red warmth, the soup bubbling. Wen Yan blushed and ate radishes from the pot, his eyes sparkling with tiny glints.

.

After lunch, Jiang Zhou took Wen Yan to see the shop in the east of the city.

This shop was in a good location, quite close to the tea house. However, it seemed that no one had been running it for a long time. The door panels were covered with dust, and the steps at the door were covered with moss.

The officer had already given him the key, and Jiang Zhou fumbled for a long time before opening the rusty copper lock.

The shop was small, only about 60 square meters, and it was a bit empty. There was nothing else except two stools with missing arms and legs and a table with one leg missing.

Jiang Zhou thought the dust was too much, so he put on a homemade mask and thoughtfully put one on Wen Yan too.

There was a small cubicle at the end of the shop, and there was a staircase inside. Jiang Zhou was afraid of danger and did not let Wen Yan follow him. He stepped up and took a look. The roof of the second floor was not high, and people could only bend their waists when standing on it. It was not possible to stand up straight, so it could probably only be used for stacking debris.

After going downstairs, there was a river behind the house, separated by a rotten wooden door.

This place could be seen at a glance. It couldn’t be said to be bad. After all, the location was good, but it couldn’t be said to be great—the place was too small. Jiang Zhou visually inspected it, and there would be little space left with five tables.

In addition to its location, another advantage of this shop was the area facing the street has three large windows that open outward.

Wen Yan pushed up the window with force, and the light rushed in, making the small shop bright.

He patted the dust on his hands, turned around, and asked, “What are your plans for this shop?”

Jiang Zhou walked around and had a rough idea: “There are some ideas, but I can’t just open it right away. Not to mention that the shop is too old. I’m afraid it needs to be repaired and some things added.”

His voice was muffled through the mask: “And I don’t have that much energy and time to open the shop at the moment.”

The construction of their house would start next year, and he would have to keep up with them for at least half a month to check on their progress. He would also tell them about the materials and see if the things were up to standard and safe. Only then he could think about the shop.

Wen Yan said: “Actually, it’s not a big deal. After all, the house needs to be repaired, and this place also needs to be repaired. You always have to add some decorations, why not let the craftsmen clean it up together? Isn’t the repair of this place simpler than that of the house?”

He said it makes sense. Jiang Zhou thought about it carefully and then followed him: “Okay, then let the craftsmen repair this place first.”