Her phone rang. She picked it up and saw it was Tang Yu.
She hadn't seen Tang Yu for just two or three days, but it felt like an entire century had passed.
"Granny, why did it take you so long to answer?" Tang Yu asked with concern.
"I was just dealing with something. Did you need me for something?"
"Yeah, do you remember Xiao Beichen?" Tang Yu asked.
"Isn't that obvious? He still owes me meat, and I've got two cars sitting with him. What's up? Any news on him? Did the cars sell?"
Hearing that Granny was fixated on the goods rather than Xiao Beichen himself, Tang Yu's mood soared.
That guy Xiao Beichen—he treated him like a brother, yet he dared to try and get close to his Granny.
He'd been worried before that Xiao Beichen might try to charm her, which was why he hadn't let him add her on WeChat, saying he'd pass it along when the time was right.
After they left the prairie, Xiao Beichen had asked about it several times, but Tang Yu never picked up the thread.
Anyone wanting to add Granny's WeChat had to get past him first.
He had to keep a tight guard.
"The two cars have been sold. It comes to five hundred cattle and a thousand sheep. He's asking when you can free up space. Do you want them slaughtered and shipped over?"
"Right now works. Bringing everything at once is fine too," Shen Yunyun said quickly.
"Are you sure you have room?" Tang Yu's scalp began to tingle.
"Did you finish processing the last batch of beef and mutton?"
"Is that Liao Zhen really that impressive?"
Shen Yunyun was bombarded with questions and didn't know which to answer first.
"He's pretty impressive, but I handled the beef myself."
"How did you handle it? Don't tell me you hauled it all to Tang Family Village for filling?"
"Why is your focus so strange? Aren't we talking about when to deliver that batch of meat?"
Tang Yu was left speechless.
"Alright, I'll tell him to have the cattle and sheep slaughtered and then shipped over."
Shen Yunyun didn't object, though she thought Tang Yu's comment was redundant.
After they finished talking, Shen Yunyun realized that if the meat was slaughtered and shipped, that guy Liao Zhen would probably throw a fit.
Still, constantly acting as a middleman was too exhausting.
How could she cut down on her workload?
After mulling it over, Shen Yunyun felt they had to become self-sufficient.
They couldn't always rely on her, could they?
She'd eventually kick the bucket one day, even if she hated to admit it.
But that was an undeniable truth.
Do it yourself, and you'll have plenty.
The Great Li Dynasty was so poor, comparable to the early days of the nation.
They lacked everything in clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
If women could be freed from heavy household chores, they could actually farm and raise livestock too.
While some physical labor required male workers, it was true that women could hold up half the sky, as the great man said.
How could women be liberated from endless housework?
She remembered that their clothes and shoes were all handmade, time-consuming and labor-intensive.
She quickly thought of old-fashioned sewing machines, which didn't need electricity—just a foot pedal to operate.
So she searched online for old-fashioned sewing machines, but unexpectedly, many portable ones were recommended.
They were tiny machines, like small staplers, that could sew clothes with a simple squeeze of the hand. This was much faster than pure hand-sewing, and the stitches were even.
These little gadgets were compact and cheap—handing them out door to door wouldn't even hurt.
As for foot-pedal sewing machines, she could add a few as well.
She figured that if she gave these things to the Empress Dowager, she'd surely know how to use them.