Phoenix Revenge System-Chapter 109: PRS 12 Liona

Laus returned home as dusk fell, taking the last bus to his village with a heavy sack of goods. The sky was turning orange-red, a sign that the sun was about to set.

"Father! You’re home!" shouted Lano, running to greet his father with sparkling eyes, hoping that the man would bring him something delicious to eat. His face was full of hope, like a child waiting for a gift.

"Yes, son. I brought a lot of things. Here, take them inside," said Laus as he handed over several plastic bags that he had put together in a large plastic container. His hands were shaking slightly from the fatigue of carrying heavy loads throughout the journey.

Smelling the aroma of food from one of the plastic bags, Lano immediately brought it into the house enthusiastically and gave it to his mother to put on a plate and serve.

"Mom! Mom! Dad brought delicious food!" he shouted happily as he ran towards the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Leo and Lan, seeing Laus struggling to carry so many things, immediately approached and helped carry some of the items to lighten their father’s load.

"Father must be very tired. Let us help," said Leo as he lifted a heavy sack.

"Yes, Father. There are so many things," added Lan as she helped lift several packages.

Liona, who had just smelled the delicious aroma of food from inside the room, immediately opened her eyes, her nose sniffing the unfamiliar but very delicious aroma, saliva dripping from her cheeks. Her eyes, which had been closed, were now wide open, as if her small body was responding to the presence of delicious food.

Lura, who had just cleaned the kitchen after the working mothers had left, immediately arranged the cakes her husband had bought and placed them carefully on the table.

"Wow, Mr. Laus is so kind. He bought so many cakes," she murmured with a smile. "The children will be delighted."

Next, she went to the room to wake up her beautiful baby because, according to myth, if a baby is asleep when maghrib time arrives, they must be woken up, carried, and have sholawat recited to them to avoid bad things coming from outside.

"Liona, dear, wake up. It’s already maghrib time. Mommy will carry you first," whispered Lura softly as she lifted her daughter.

Laus, who had just returned from a long journey, did not immediately enter the house but carried all the items he had bought to the kitchen via the side path. Sweat still dampened his forehead, but his face looked satisfied with today’s shopping.

"Thanks God, I found everything I was looking for," he muttered softly as he arranged the groceries.

After neatly placing all the items in the corner of the kitchen, Laus hurried to take a shower to clean herself because she did not know what dirty things she had brought in from outside that could be harmful to her baby. As the head of the family, she was very careful in protecting the health of her family members, especially Liona, who was still very young.

In this era, mystical beliefs were very strong and widely held by the community. The lack of electricity, the lush trees, and the fact that some residents still adhered to the beliefs of their ancestors, such as providing offerings in their homes on certain days and revering large trees such as banyans, which were considered to be the dwelling places of various supernatural beings, made many people believe in the superstition of ghosts outside.

Actually, what Laus did was not wrong because, according to medical science, after being outside, especially going to the market where there is a lot of contact with germs, either directly or indirectly, while a baby’s body is very fragile, small things that are harmless to adults may not necessarily be tolerated by their fragile bodies. Therefore, it is advisable to maintain personal hygiene and keep the living environment clean to prevent the newborn from falling ill.

The margarine that Laus brought from the central market, though not much, made the grilled corn she sold even more delicious. Its distinctive aroma tempted anyone who smelled it.

"Mom, is this margarine? It smells really good," said Lan curiously as she sniffed the margarine packet.

"Yes, dear. This is for spreading on our grilled corn. It will taste even better," replied Lura with a smile.

Because it was expensive and very rare, they only used a little so they could save on their supplies. Even though it was only a little, it had a significant effect, making it impossible for their competitors to copy them.

"Ma’am, use just a little. It’s expensive, we have to save it," Laus reminded his wife.

"Yes, sir. I know. Don’t worry," replied Lura understandingly.

In addition to buying good packaging plastic, Laus also bought tools to make his own stamps, as Liona had suggested through her inner voice, which somehow always felt clear in Laus’s mind.

"Dad, what is that?" asked Lan curiously, seeing the name Liona Snack appear after Laus dipped it into a red paint-like liquid on the plastic packaging. Her eyes widened in amazement at the neatly printed writing.

"Wow, that’s great, Dad! The writing is so clear!" exclaimed Leo, who had come closer.

"This is our business name stamp, like the ones you usually see on the cake wrappers you buy at school," replied Laus with a proud smile. "With this, our products look more professional."

After it dried, Laus told his second child to put the cassava chips in it while weighing them carefully so that there would be neither too little nor too much.

"Lan, help your father. The weight must be just right, not too little," instructed Laus.

"Yes, sir!" replied Lan enthusiastically.

"What is this, sir, it’s so good! This way, the cassava chips we sell are just like those produced by factories!" said Lan, clapping her hands happily. Her face beamed as she looked at the professional-looking packaging.

"Yes, Sir! This is much better than the ordinary plastic we used before!" added Leo, equally enthusiastic.

Lura, who saw the commotion caused by her two children, came out of the room carrying Liona, who also seemed to want to see her father’s work. The little baby stared with her clear, round eyes.

"Wow, Dad is really smart. He has the same idea as me. With a product brand, we can sell our crisps at a higher price. Besides, with this packaging, the cassava crisps look like there are more of them, so when we raise the price, consumers won’t complain," Liona said to herself with a satisfied smile as she looked at her father’s work.

Laus felt embarrassed to be praised by his youngest daughter even if only in his mind because all these ideas were Liona’s. He only did what his daughter suggested to him through a soft whisper that somehow always appeared in his mind.

"Thanks God, this idea worked. Hopefully, our business will run more smoothly," Laus muttered to himself.

Seeing the good results, Lan, who had been itching to stamp the plastic, was immediately excited after Laus gave her the job.

"Dad, can I do the stamping? I promise I’ll be careful!" Lan asked with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, but do it slowly. Don’t use too much or too little ink," said Laus as he handed over the stamp.

"Yes, sir!" replied Lan happily.

Leo and Lano, who didn’t want to fight with Lan even though they both wanted to try it, could only stare while helping to put the fried crisps into the plastic bags with a little jealousy.

"We want to try too, sir," Leo said softly.

"Later, Leo. Now Leo and Lano help put the chips in first. Tomorrow you guys can stamp," Laus consoled his two children, seeing their disappointed faces.

"Okay, sir," Leo and Lano replied in unison, though they still looked a little disappointed.

Because there were clips, the chips that had been put into the plastic bags could be closed immediately, and they would seal them with hot wax after all the chips that had been fried and cooled down had been packaged.

"Be careful with the wax, don’t let it touch your hands," Lura reminded them from the kitchen.

After all the packing was done and his two children had diligently finished their homework, everyone went to their respective rooms. The long and tiring day finally ended with a sense of satisfaction.

In his room, Laus gave his wife the money he had earned from shopping that day, along with the money from the canteen sales.

"Here’s the money, dear. Thank God, we made a decent profit today," said Laus as he handed over the envelope containing the money.

"Honey, if our business continues to run smoothly like this, we can build a more decent house for us to live in," said Lura thoughtfully as she carefully counted the money. "At least, we will have a brick house with cement floors so that it won’t leak when it rains. The children can also sleep more comfortably."

"Yes, ma’am. I’ve been thinking about that too. I feel sorry for the children when it rains like this, the floor gets muddy," Laus agreed.

Laus tried to calculate again how much he would need to spend to build a brick house for their small family. His fingers busily counted on a worn piece of paper.

"If we set aside this much money every day, how many months will it take, Mom?" asked Laus while scribbling on his paper.

"Try calculating it again. Don’t forget to set aside some for capital too," advised Lura wisely.

After careful calculations, if this venture continued to run smoothly, perhaps next month their family could build a comfortable brick house for Liona. When the time came for her to crawl and walk, she would not have to get dirty touching the ground like her three older siblings because he was very reluctant to let his beautiful daughter’s soft skin get stained and dirty.

Fortunately, thanks to Liona, their family’s economic condition had improved rapidly, so when she had such a selfish thought, it seemed reasonable because she had the funds to realize it, unlike in the past when she could only keep her desires in her heart.

"Finally. In the past, we could only dream, but now it has come true," said Lura emotionally.

"Yes, ma’am. This is all thanks to our hard work and the blessings of the Almighty," Laus replied, wiping his wife’s teary eyes.

After reaching an agreement in their brief discussion, the two went to sleep immediately because the next day would be busier than usual, as Lura wanted to try some new recipes after her husband successfully bought the ingredients he needed at the main market.

"Good evening, ma’am. Get some rest," whispered Laus.

"Good evening to you too, sir," replied Lura, closing her eyes.

Inside her mysterious dimensional space, Liona tried to mix recipes based on the ingredients available in this era, seeing if the results were worth selling or not. Her small hands moved nimbly in the air, as if she were really cooking.

"Can I make some of the rare ingredients in this room appear in the real world? If so, that would be even better," she muttered curiously as she stared at the various modern ingredients available in her dimensional space.

If she could, she might bring back many items that could support her family’s business, especially some rare ingredients that didn’t exist in that era, such as cheese, mayonnaise, oregano, and several other rare ingredients.

Liona, who was still curious, tried to wake up—in her mind—and try what she had been thinking about with determination.

"I have to do this! My family needs this," she thought firmly.

Several times she tried to focus her mind, pulling the cheese in her dimensional space so it would come out and be in her hands. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated fully.

One attempt failed. Undeterred, she tried again with the same result, prompting Liona to focus even harder and try switching her target to a lighter material.

"It’s okay, try again. I can do this," she encouraged herself.

Fortunately, the night was very quiet, so Liona’s concentration was not disturbed by anything. As soon as she concentrated harder, various kinds of powdered seasonings for chips of various flavors appeared beside her body, making her heart rejoice.

"I did it! I did it!" she exclaimed joyfully in her heart.

She then tried to take out several bottles of sauce after her attempt to take out the powdered seasonings was successful, but her attempt failed again, so she wisely changed her target.

"Hmm, why can’t I get liquids? Maybe because they’re too heavy," she analyzed.

When she tried to take mushroom powder and beef powder broth out of her dimensional space, she succeeded, leading Liona to conclude that only powdered ingredients could be taken out for now.

The fact that she couldn’t extract anything liquid or solid from the dimensional space made her even more determined to strengthen herself.

"I think I need to practice more so that my body becomes stronger and my concentration improves," she resolved. "One day, I will definitely be able to extract all the ingredients my family needs."

After saying that, Liona fell asleep soundly while hugging the various materials that would bring a major breakthrough to her family’s life. A faint smile was etched on her small face, a sign that a beautiful dream was approaching.