Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Two small crucian carp, Chen Jie took them to the well, drew water, used a knife to cut open the fish's belly, removed the internal organs, wiped off the blood along the bones, removed the black membrane, and then scraped off the scales and slime from the crucian carp.

Cooking fish soup this way, there would be no fishy taste.

Chen Jie cooked very well. When he first left school, he apprenticed at a restaurant for a while, so he still had some understanding of common dishes.

Ruirui squatted not far away, watching Chen Jie, eyes full of curiosity, *the "bad brother-in-law" could cook?*

Seeing Ruirui watching intently, Chen Jie smiled and waved. Ruirui shook his head, not daring to approach, but Chen Jie still waved. Ruirui hesitated, finally coming over for the sake of the fish soup.

Chen Jie smiled and said, "Ruirui, why is your sister crying?"

Ruirui was taken aback and said, "It used to be because you hit her. Today, um... Ruirui doesn't know, just when you were outside cursing those bad people, Sister started crying."

Chen Jie listened and asked, "How do you know those people are bad?"

Ruirui said, "They always talk behind Sister's back, saying she's a jinx, that she cursed Dad and Granny Chen to death, so Sister cried."

"Oh."

Chen Jie nodded after listening to this.

A woman, in this tongue-wagging village that could ruin lives, without a man's support, *how could one imagine living like that?*

Chen Jie washed the fish again, and at this moment, Ruirui suddenly spoke up.

"Brother-in-law."

"Hmm?"

Chen Jie looked at Ruirui, who looked at him seriously and said, "Can you stop hitting Sister in the future?"

Chen Jie's expression froze, then he saw Ruirui as if making some firm decision, "If, if Brother-in-law really can't help but want to hit someone, then hit Ruirui instead..."

Hearing this, Chen Jie gave a bitter smile, *these sisters truly had a hard life.*

Chen Jie rubbed Ruirui's head with the back of his clean hand and said, "Alright, Brother-in-law promises you, I won't hit your sister anymore, nobody can hit your sister in the future."

"Hmm."

Hearing this, Ruirui immediately grinned happily and stretched out a small hand.

Chen Jie: "What?"

"Let's pinky swear."

Ruirui said in a childish voice, watching them with a smile, used the cloth to dry their hands, and said, "Come."

A large and a small pinky hooked together.

"Pinky swear, hang yourself, no changes for a hundred years."

"Seal it with a stamp."

The two pressed their thumbs together, making an innocent promise.

And at this moment, Su Yunjin, who had cried until her eyes were red, came out of the house and saw this harmonious scene, and for a moment, she even had an illusion, as if seeing herself and her father when she was young, and there was an unexpected smile on her lips.

Ruirui withdrew her hand, feeling she had accomplished something big, turned around, and saw her sister, and smiled as she dashed towards her sister.

"Sister!"

Su Yunjin picked her up, and she quietly said, "Sister, I just made a promise with Brother-in-law."

"What kind of promise?"

Su Yunjin asked, but at this moment Chen Jie said, "Ruirui, a promise is meant to be secret, no one should know, okay!"

Ruirui's face turned serious and then very seriously told Su Yunjin, "Yes, a promise is meant to be kept secret, I won't tell Sister."

Hearing this, Su Yunjin felt her curiosity piqued, *what kind of promise was so mysterious?*

Ruirui, however, had a face saying she could keep a secret and wouldn't spill it, which made Su Yunjin, who was full of worries, couldn't help but tap Ruirui's nose.

Chen Jie finished washing the fish, and Su Yunjin came over and said, "Let me do it."

Chen Jie said, "No need, I've got plenty of experience making fish soup."

Saying this, Chen Jie asked, "Is there any green onion, ginger, or garlic at home?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yunjin shook her head and said, "No."

Chen Jie was stunned momentarily but didn't say much more. He went to the stove, found some wild vegetables picked today with a few small wild onions, and thinking of it, he said to Su Yunjin, "Then the small onions, clean them, give me the onion roots, and chop the onion leaves into scallions."

"By the way, is there any animal fat at home?"

"Adding a bit of animal fat to the fish soup makes it more fragrant."

Su Yunjin shook her head. They didn't even have grains at home, let alone high-end items like animal fat.

Animal fat, specifically lard, was in this era the only means for people to supplement their diet with fat, making it very precious, not affordable for Chen Jie's family now.

Chen Jie sighed and looked at the little bit of remaining rapeseed oil, the only cooking oil left at home.

*This truly was a home bare of everything.*

Chen Jie said, "Alright, you chop the onions."

Chen Jie poured the rapeseed oil into the pot, heated it, browned the fish on both sides, added some small onion roots to the pot, then poured in hot water, the only seasoning being coarse salt.

Staring at the pot of milky white fish soup, Chen Jie fell into deep thought.

*The biggest problem now was survival.* His family's only three acres of good land had been lost by him, and they had no grain left at home.

In these circumstances, including himself, there were three mouths to feed.

The most crucial issue was to solve the food problem, *he couldn't have crossed over only to starve.*

*But to eat, without land or production means, the path of self-reliant farming was not feasible.*

The only viable paths now were business or labor.

On business, Chen Jie could choose to make glass, soap, refined salt, white sugar, and such things, but he quickly dismissed these ideas.

This was a world of martial arts.

According to the memories of the original owner, this world revered martial arts; even in the county, guilds could stand on equal footing with the government.

For instance, the two largest guilds in Mianshui County, the Fishing Guild & Guild Cao.

The Fishing Guild managed all the fisheries in Mianshui County's villages, as well as the sale of aquatic products in the city, among other industries.

Guild Cao managed the docks and transported goods, with some related industries in the city.

These two major guilds basically controlled the economic power of Mianshui County.

Even when the County Magistrate met the gang leaders of these two guilds, he had to be polite and respectful.

For the common people of Mianshui County to break away from their existing class, there was only one way: join a guild, and if they managed to make commendable achievements and become junior leaders, they would be considered influential figures in Mianshui County.

One might say that to live comfortably in Mianshui County, one had to become a guild member.

Just like in the past on Shanghai Beach, to rise quickly in society, one had to join the Green Guild.

As for taking the imperial exams to become officials, forget it. The Daqian Empire, founded after the Northern Mulan people defeated the Qian Song, issued a government mandate prohibiting the Han people from taking the imperial exams and becoming officials.

This essentially blocked the path of scholars, which was also why, even though Su Yunjin's father was a scholar, he had no status and was not valued.