Chapter 35 Everything Is Ready

At Wen Ye’s home—

Mrs. Lin filled a basket with five pounds of white rice, twenty eggs, some oil, salt, and a set of pots and bowls, and carried it over to Wen Yu'er’s house.

Aunt Guihua was hanging up laundry. Seeing her, she smiled and said, "What brings you here? Didn't you say you were busy getting your little business started?"

Mrs. Lin handed her the basket: "When we first moved out, if it weren't for the help from you and your family, we would have starved in the wilderness. This is to pay you back."

Aunt Guihua grew anxious and quickly pushed it back: "Pay back what? It was just a few pounds of brown rice. Besides, Ye-ya helped Yu'er earn over nine taels of silver. If anyone should be thanking anyone, it’s us thanking you."

"No, no, one thing at a time. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare trouble you if something comes up next time."

Only then did Aunt Guihua smile and accept it: "Alright, alright."

"And the house," Mrs. Lin said, pulling out a handkerchief wrapped around some money.

"What are you doing!" Aunt Guihua quickly pressed her hand down, truly annoyed. "The house was just sitting empty anyway. You living there adds life to the place, and it’s not like it would collapse so easily. You’re doing us a favor. Just pay us back when you build your own house in the future."

Mrs. Lin nodded, moved: "In that case... I won't stand on ceremony with you. Thank you, Sister Guihua."

The two chatted for a while longer. After Mrs. Lin left, Aunt Guihua lifted the cloth covering the basket and was startled. She had given brown rice back then, but Mrs. Lin had returned an equal amount of white rice, and there were five extra eggs.

Aunt Guihua went to the vegetable cellar, packed two pounds of dried radishes, and had just stepped outside when she saw Wen Ye and Wen Yuan walking by with baskets.

"Ye-ya, where have you been?"

"Just playing up on the mountain!"

"Here are two pounds of dried radishes. Take them home to eat."

"Thank you, Aunt Guihua."

Back home, Wen Ye ate a piece of dried radish. It was crisp and refreshing, but lacked depth of flavor—the people of this era had not yet learned to use aromatic spices.

"Second Sister, are we making cold-tossed dishes?" Wen Yuan looked at her with anticipation.

"Yes, we are! Watch and learn!"

Wen Ye walked into the kitchen and began to tinker under the watchful eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Lin and her siblings.

For the first step, she rendered a pot of lard from fatty pork and poured it in three stages over a bowl of fried dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. The fragrance of the red chili oil was instantly released, filling the entire room with a mouth-watering aroma.

Mrs. Lin clicked her tongue in wonder: "Who knew oil could be used like this?"

Next, Wen Ye began to simmer soy sauce. The soy sauce of this era had a flat, overly salty taste. Wen Ye diluted it with water, added star anise, fennel, Sichuan peppercorns, and other spices, and let it simmer. After two quarters of an hour, she added a little sugar. After straining out the solids, she had created a savory, fragrant composite soy sauce.

Afterward, Wen Ye began kneading dough to make noodles.

***

In the evening, Wen Ye once again prepared cold-tossed cucumber and cold noodles. Unlike last time, the addition of red chili oil made the colors look even more vibrant.

"Wow, it smells so good." As soon as the dishes were placed on the table, Wen Yuan began to drool. Mr. and Mrs. Lin and Wen Lan were equally expectant; they had been looking forward to this ever since the chili oil was fried.

"Come, let’s eat together," Wen Ye said, picking up a piece of cucumber first.

Mrs. Lin and the others couldn't wait to try it, and their eyes lit up immediately.

"Delicious!" Wen Lan exclaimed excitedly. "What Little Sister made last time was already good, but now... it’s even more fragrant!"

"Hiss, it’s spicy! But so good!" Wen Yuan felt his taste buds had been completely awakened. Mrs. Lin and Old Man Wen kept heaping on the praise.

Wen Ye slurped a mouthful of noodles: "Finally, a decent meal. Though there's still room for improvement, it's not bad."

"Second Sister, are we going to set up our stall tomorrow?" Wen Yuan asked eagerly.

"Not yet, we still need to prepare the vegetables! Let’s go the day after tomorrow!"

...

After the meal, the sky had not yet fully darkened. Mrs. Lin took out the fabric she had bought today to cut it at the doorway: thirty feet of grey coarse cloth, and ten feet each of pale apricot and pale red cotton.

Wen Yuan was so excited he could have jumped: "Wow, are you making clothes? Mom, are you making these for us?"

Mrs. Lin nodded with a smile: "Yes, yes, you little rascal, sit down."

Wen Yuan sat up straight immediately, though his eyes couldn't bear to leave the fabric for even a second. Wen Lan felt the same.

Old Man Wen looked at the sparkling eyes of his children and couldn't help but smile, though the smile soon turned into a pang of guilt. His children had never worn new clothes; they had always worn hand-me-downs from the elder branches of the family.

"Ye-ya, you two sisters pick your colors," Mrs. Lin said.

Wen Ye scanned the fabric: "Is this cotton for my sister and me? Dad, Mom, you’re using the coarse cloth? Mom, have you forgotten I still have forty taels?"

"Even if we have money, we can't spend it recklessly," Mrs. Lin said. "You girls need to wear something brighter. We and Yuanbao will be fine in the coarse cloth." She patted Wen Yuan’s head: "Yuanbao is still growing. When you’re older and we’ve earned more money, we’ll buy you better fabric."

"Any fabric is fine as long as it's new," Wen Yuan said, hugging the coarse cloth and giggling. Everyone burst into laughter.

Wen Ye decided not to haggle over such small matters, feeling a warmth spread through her heart. In the end, she chose the pale red, and Wen Lan chose the pale apricot.

***

After everyone was measured, Mrs. Lin and Wen Lan began cutting the fabric. Before going to bed, they hung up the mosquito net they had bought that day, finally able to look forward to a good night's sleep.

...

The next day, Wen Ye went to Wen Yu'er’s vegetable garden, looking specifically for crisp vegetables. She found cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, and cilantro. After lunch, she made a special trip to town to buy two lotus roots.

After a busy day, the whole family was exhausted, making the evening meal taste even better.

"We’ve talked about it for so long, how much should we charge for the cold-tossed dishes?" Wen Lan asked.

Mrs. Lin and the others looked at Wen Ye. Wen Ye thought for a moment: "We can sell by portion. A small bowl like this," she picked up her small coarse porcelain soup bowl, "we'll sell for 3 wen."

She then pointed to the larger bowl used for steamed eggs: "A larger bowl like this will be 5 wen. If they want to buy more, we’ll sell by weight, 8 wen per pound."

Wen Lan asked: "8 wen a pound? Does that include the cold noodles too?"

Mrs. Lin said anxiously: "Wouldn't that be a loss? Vegetables are only a few wen a pound, but white flour is expensive—it costs 20 wen a pound."

Wen Ye replied: "A small bowl of cold noodles will be 8 wen, and a large bowl 13 wen. Buying the noodles alone by weight will be 20 wen a pound."

"Also, we only used pure white flour because we were eating it ourselves tonight. If we sell it, we'll mix in half black flour. Besides, one pound of flour can make a pound and a half of noodles; we won't lose money."

Wen Yuan added: "We paid 8 wen for a bowl of plain noodles last time, too!"

Wen Lan and Mrs. Lin nodded in agreement.

Old Man Wen didn't quite understand: "I... I hope it sells!"

"If it doesn't sell, we can eat it ourselves," Mrs. Lin said, worriedly. "Who is going tomorrow besides Ye-ya?"

"Me!" Wen Yuan raised his hand immediately.

"I’ll go too," Wen Lan said quickly.

"Pfft, I thought you were dying to marry your embroidery work. I didn't think you'd be willing to go out with us," Wen Ye teased.

The remark made Wen Lan’s face turn bright red. She gave Wen Ye a light pinch: "You bad girl... what marry, marry! I’ll hit you if you talk nonsense again."

The sisters’ playful bickering drew a round of laughter from Mr. and Mrs. Lin.

"Then it’s settled," Mrs. Lin said. "Tomorrow, I’ll go out with the three children. Husband, you stay home and keep an eye on things." There were forty taels of silver in the house; it couldn't be left unattended.

Old Man Wen quickly agreed.