Phoenix Revenge System-Chapter 107: PRS 10 Liona

While waiting for the corn and cassava to be ready for harvest, Lura made the seasoning and flavouring powder first because, according to Liona, these two ingredients took a little longer to prepare.

"Mum, let’s start with the ones that take longer first," said Laus as he helped his wife prepare the ingredients.

"Yes, sir. That way, when the corn is ready, the seasoning will be ready too," replied Lura with a nod.

To ensure she followed Liona’s recipe correctly, Lura brought Liona into the kitchen and placed her in the swing that had been used for generations, starting with her eldest brother Leo.

"Now, Liona can watch Mummy cook," said Lura as she carefully placed her baby in the swing. "If anything goes wrong, Liona can tell me."

This time, Lura was going to make powdered broth. The chicken, which her husband had just plucked, was immediately prepared with enthusiasm.

"Sir, is the chicken clean?" asked Lura as she prepared the knife.

"Yes, ma’am. This is a fat free-range chicken, so the result will definitely be good," replied Laus as he handed over the clean chicken.

Following the instructions Liona had heard yesterday, take the chicken breast meat and chop it until it is tender. Since there were no choppers in this era, and her house did not yet have electricity, everything was done manually with a knife.

"Oh, it’s tiring to chop this meat," complained Lura as she continued chopping. "But it’s okay, for the sake of good results."

After the chicken meat was painstakingly chopped, Lura cooked the other parts—the bones and skin—into soto for her family’s meal today so that nothing would go to waste.

"Wow, you’re making soup too, Mum. The kids will love it," said Laus with a smile.

"Yes, sir. Nothing should go to waste," replied Lura as she put the chicken bones into the pot.

Next, she finely ground the shallots and garlic with a mortar and pestle. She carefully chopped the spring onions into thin slices, grated the carrots until soft, then mixed all the ingredients with the finely chopped chicken.

"Add salt... vitsin... stir well..." muttered Lura as she followed the instructions she remembered from Liona’s chatter.

Everything was ready to be sautéed after adding salt and vitsin.

Using low heat, Lura stir-fried the minced chicken coated with seasoning until dry, stirring constantly so it wouldn’t burn.

"Be patient... low heat... don’t rush..." she said to herself.

Once dry, she immediately pounded the seasoned chicken she had just roasted until it was finely ground into powder, then roasted it again until the powder she had pounded was completely dry.

"Oh, pounding this is tiring," said Lura, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "But it has to be really fine."

The process was repeated twice so that the broth powder was completely smooth and dry, ensuring it would keep well when stored.

"Second round... come on, let’s go!" she said as she ground again.

For one chicken, Lura could make enough seasoning broth powder to fill a medium-sized jar. Liona felt that was enough as an initial supply for the first experiment.

Lura made a lot of chicken broth because in the village, every household kept chickens, so she didn’t need to buy raw materials to make this powdered chicken broth. They could use their own chickens.

"Lucky we have a lot of chickens, Mum," said Laus, peeking in from outside the kitchen. "So we don’t need to buy any."

"Yes, Sir. It saves a lot," replied Lura with a satisfied smile.

After the chicken stock powder was finished, while waiting for it to cool before putting it in jars, Lura fried thinly sliced shallots and garlic, which she coated with dry flour before frying so that the onions would be crispy and last longer.

"You should coat them with flour first before frying... right, Lio?" Lura muttered, glancing at Liona.

Next, Lura also roasted the peppercorns she had ground, dried chillies, and dried lime leaves.

Once dry, she added fried shallots and fried garlic, salt, sugar and vitsin. All the ingredients were finely ground with a large mortar and pestle, then roasted again until completely dry. Once finished, they were stored in a glass jar.

"Wow, it smells so good!" exclaimed Lura as she inhaled the aroma of the freshly made spices.

She took a small spoonful to taste.

"This is truly delicious!" Lura said, satisfied with the result after tasting it with sparkling eyes. "Oh my goodness, it’s so good! Savoury, a little spicy, and the aroma of fried onions is also strong!"

She never imagined that the dried spices she cooked could taste this good. If added to stir-fries or other dishes, they would certainly make them richer, more savoury and delicious.

"Sir! Mr Laus! Try this!" Lura called out to her husband excitedly.

Laus came in and tasted the seasoning. "It’s delicious, ma’am! I think you could sell this!"

Lura tried adding the powdered broth she had just made to the soto she was cooking. She stirred it and tasted it.

"Oh my..." she murmured with her eyes closed. "It tastes much better than just using salt and MSG. This... this is amazing!"

"Mum... Mum, I want to try it too!" Liona shouted in her heart, waving her hands excitedly. "I want to taste it! It smells so good!"

Lura, who heard Liona’s inner voice and saw Liona’s hand movements and facial expression, which now had saliva dripping from her mouth, chuckled softly.

"Oh dear, Liona is drooling," said Lura with a giggle. "Poor thing..."

"Babies aren’t allowed to eat yet, dear. Wait until you’re four months old, Mummy will give you some delicious soto porridge," said Lura comfortingly as she wiped the drool from the corner of Liona’s mouth.

Not allowed to taste it, Liona sulked in her heart. Her tiny lips pouted five centimetres forward with a cute expression of annoyance, making Lura unable to hold back her laughter.

"Hahaha... how cute! Her lips are pouting!" Lura laughed as she pointed at Liona.

Seeing her mother laugh made the baby girl even more upset, and in the end she closed her eyes tightly so she could enter her own dimension and divert her attention from the delicious food.

"Stupid mother! Laughing at me!" Liona grumbled to herself before falling asleep.

Seeing her daughter asleep with a frown on her face, Lura smiled amusedly. She immediately carried Liona into the room carefully. Then she went back outside to finish her work, which was almost done.

"Are we harvesting corn tomorrow, Mum?" asked Laus.

"Yes, Sir. We’ll start early tomorrow morning," replied Lura as she closed the spice jar.

The next day, early in the morning after dawn prayers, Laus harvested the corn in his field with great enthusiasm while his three children immediately peeled and cleaned the corn so that their mother could cook it that morning.

"Come on, kids! Keep up the good work!" shouted Laus from the field as he picked corn.

"Yes, sir!" replied Leo, Lan, and Lano in unison.

"Leo, I’ve peeled ten corn cobs!" exclaimed Lano proudly.

"Good! Keep it up, Lano!" praised Leo as he continued peeling. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Lura and Liona also started to get busy in the kitchen. The baby girl was like a supervisor, constantly giving orders and directions to her three older siblings and mother through her inner voice.

"Cut it into three pieces, then split it and cut it into six! Then wash it thoroughly before putting it in the pot!" said Liona in her heart as she pointed her index finger impatiently, like a fierce supervisor. "It must be clean! Don’t leave any hairs on it!"

One cob of corn was cut into three, then split into six, resulting in eighteen pieces. After being washed thoroughly, the corn pieces were boiled in salted coconut water until tender.

"Mum, the coconut water is boiling!" shouted Lan from the kitchen.

"Yes, now put the corn in slowly!" replied Lura while carrying Liona.

As for the grilled corn, since there was no margarine, Liona decided to replace it with cooking oil.

"Just use cooking oil, Mum! It’s okay! It tastes just as good!" Liona said to herself.

After applying the seasoning that had been prepared the day before, the corn was grilled over a wood stove, turning it over until it was evenly cooked with a very tempting aroma.

"The smell is everywhere!" said Leo, inhaling the aroma of the grilled corn.

Next, one piece of grilled corn that was cooked was also cut into eighteen pieces, just like what they did for the boiled corn.

Lano almost drooled when he smelled the aroma of the grilled corn that Lura had made. His eyes were now filled with images of the delicious-looking grilled corn.

"Mum... can I have one?" asked Lano with a pleading look on his face.

Seeing this, Lura immediately gave her three children the grilled corn that she had sprinkled with seasoning on a plate.

"Here, try it first and see how it tastes," said Lura with a smile. "You are the first to try it!"

The three of them immediately pounced on the plate their mother had handed them with excited faces and sparkling eyes.

"Hmm!" Lano bit into the corn. "It’s delicious, Mum! This is really good!"

"Yes!" Lan chimed in, chewing. "Crispy and a little spicy. But still edible! The seasoning has soaked in!"

Meanwhile, Leo and Laus, who were also picking at the corn on the plate, nodded their heads with their mouths full, agreeing with their children’s words without being able to comment because they were too busy savouring the deliciousness of the food they were enjoying for the first time.

"Mmmph... delicious..." murmured Laus, closing his eyes to enjoy it.

Curious, Lura also took a bite. As soon as the corn was in her mouth, her eyes lit up.

"Oh my God..." she whispered. "I never thought that with seasoning like this, grilled corn could be this delicious. This will sell like hotcakes!"

She was happy as she chewed slowly.

After the grilled corn was finished and packed in plastic, it was sealed using a candle flame—because there were no sealers at that time—so that her two children could easily take it to school.

"Be careful with the sealing, don’t use too much flame or the plastic will burn," warned Lura as she carefully sealed the plastic.

Each plastic bag contained five pieces of seasoned grilled corn. This morning, Lura made fifty bags as a market test.

"Fifty bags for now, children. If there is a lot of interest, I can make more tomorrow," said Lura as she counted the bags.

"Okay, Mum! We’re sure they’ll all sell!" exclaimed Leo confidently.

Once the boiled corn was cooked and drained, everyone began to taste it, and joy returned to the eyes of the family, who seemed to really enjoy the simple food, which turned out to be very tasty when cooked properly.

"The sweetness is just right! The coconut water also makes the corn savoury!" praised Lan while eating the boiled corn.

Since sweet condensed milk was very expensive in those days, they only spread it very thinly on the boiled corn, just enough to make it sweet and give it a glossy appearance.

Liona, who witnessed her family’s joy, could only swallow her saliva, which dripped several times because she couldn’t eat with them.

"It’s nice to be grown up..." Liona muttered sadly to herself. "When will I be grown up and able to eat delicious food like them? I also want to taste the results of my own work..."

Not wanting to make her baby sad, Lura took Liona for a short walk while sunbathing in front of the house while her three children and husband packed the boiled corn to sell that day.

"Come on, dear. Let’s sunbathe in front. The morning sun is good for babies," said Lura as she carried Liona outside.

***********

As Liona had predicted, the 50 packets of grilled corn and 50 packets of boiled corn that Leo and Lan brought to school sold out completely even before recess was over!

"Canteen lady! Do you have any more?!" shouted the children in the canteen.

"They’re all gone! Bring some more tomorrow, okay?" replied the canteen lady with a smile.

Because they were entrusted to the school canteen, they sold them for 30 rupiah so that the canteen lady could sell them for 50 rupiah—the standard price for snacks in the 80s—so that the two siblings could bring home 3,000 rupiah!

"Leo! That’s a lot of money!" whispered Lan with sparkling eyes as she held the envelope containing the money.

"Yes! This is the result of all our hard work!" replied Leo with a proud smile.

Leo and Lan, who earned so much in one day, were of course very happy. They calculated it in their heads with their fingers.

"If we get 3 thousand every day..." Leo calculated. "That’s 18 thousand a week because Sunday is a day off..."

"We can get 64 thousand a month, Mas!" Lan replied cheerfully.

The amount of money they would earn from selling corn made them both very excited, and they immediately ran home to give the proceeds from the corn sales to their mother.

"Mother! Mother! We sold everything!" they shouted from outside the house.

Lura received the 3,000 rupiah from Leo’s trembling hand. Her eyes were teary.

"Oh God... this is so much..." she whispered.

Until now, at most, their family would earn ten to twelve thousand rupiah a month from working hard in the fields.

Now, they could earn 3,000 rupiah in a single day! Hadn’t they earned in just four days what they usually had to work hard for an entire month to collect?

"Mum, why are you crying?" asked Lan worriedly.

"I’m happy, dear. Very happy..." replied Lura as she hugged her two children.

Realising that selling boiled and grilled corn was very profitable, the family became very enthusiastic and motivated.

"Let’s make more tomorrow, Mum!" suggested Leo.

"Yes! A hundred packets!" chimed in Lan.

Now, after changing clothes and having lunch, Leo and Lan no longer needed to help their father in the rice fields. They would focus on processing the corn so that they could sell more tomorrow and earn more money.

"Come on, children! Let’s get started again!" exclaimed Lura with burning enthusiasm.

"Ready, Mum!" replied all her children in unison, cheering happily.

The future of the Laus family began to change, thanks to the brilliant idea of their extraordinary little baby.