Carefree Farmwife: Training the Husband, Raising the Bun - Chapter 51

But Shopkeeper Zeng hadn’t brought the full hundred taels of silver with him. He first paid fifty taels as a deposit, and Ying Su wrote down half of the candied fruit recipe for him. As for the rest, she would hand it over only after he brought the remaining fifty taels.

Shopkeeper Zeng was clearly no stranger to candied fruit. When Ying Su wrote down the method for making hawthorn preserves, he wasn’t surprised at all. Only when she spoke of the drying room did his curiosity stir, and he began asking questions carefully.

The drying room was something he had never heard of before, so he pressed Ying Su for more details. Ying Su, of course, did not reveal everything. Shopkeeper Zeng was a smart man, seeing that it was already late, he reluctantly said his goodbyes, bringing along his assistant. Before leaving, he reminded Ying Su to come to his shop in town the next day to collect the silver and finish handing over the recipe.

As soon as Shopkeeper Zeng left, Liu Chuncao couldn’t help blurting out, “Cuihua, why’d you sell the recipe? A hundred taels is a lot, sure, but it’s not like we can’t earn more just by selling the fruit preserves ourselves!”

If this had happened before, Liu Chuncao would never have said such a thing. Back then, a hundred taels was something she couldn’t even imagine. But ever since she’d started following Ying Su, whether it was using the wheelchair last time or making hawthorn preserves this time, she had gotten benefits with hardly any effort. A hundred taels no longer seemed quite so out of reach.

Li Dalang muttered, “I’ll go fetch the ox cart,” and walked off toward the farmer’s house where the cart was kept.

Li Jinfeng didn’t fully understand the situation. She only knew that Ying Su had just made a hundred taels in one stroke. Her admiration grew, and she was about to tease her sister-in-law when she noticed her eldest sister-in-law’s dark expression. She immediately held her tongue.

“We live just north of the Bian River. It’s not as bitterly cold as the far north, but it’s still the northern region. Fruit isn’t plentiful here. These sour hawthorns are so astringent that nobody else thought to turn them into something edible. That’s why we were able to seize the chance and earn this money. As for candied hawthorns on sticks, they sell well, yes, but the profit margin is small and the method is simple. It won’t be long before others start copying it.” Ying Su hadn’t wanted to explain, but still took the trouble.

“We don’t even have a shop. Setting up a street stall only works on temple fair days; otherwise, there’s little profit to be made. Besides, we’ve almost picked the mountains clean of sour fruit. If we want to make preserves again, we’ll have to wait until next season. Buying seasonal fruits to make preserves would cost too much, and I absolutely won’t do that.” Ying Su’s tone was calm.

By now Li Dalang had brought the ox cart over and had overheard her words. Thinking it over, he realized she was right. It was their own shortsightedness that made them think otherwise.

Seeing that Liu Chuncao still looked dissatisfied and ready to argue more, Li Dalang quickly tugged her arm and said firmly, “Let’s load everything onto the cart. It’s already dark, we need to get back quickly.”

On the way home, Liu Chuncao didn’t say anything more. Li Jinfeng stayed close to Ying Su, chattering excitedly the whole time, all her words full of praise.

Ying Su truly liked this lively girl. At this age, she ought to be so carefree and spirited. It was a pity that in her previous life and in the first half of this one, she had never enjoyed such freedom.

By the time they returned to the village, it was already too dark to see people’s faces clearly. At the village entrance, under the big tree, a faint light flickered. As the ox cart drew near, they saw it was Madam Li, holding an oil lamp and waiting with the two children.

As soon as the little bun spotted Ying Su, he shouted excitedly, “Mommy! Mommy! My mommy’s back!”

Dazhuang also cried out happily, “My father and mother are back too!”

Their shouts instantly made the village entrance lively. Ying Su jumped off the cart and scooped up the little bun, all the day’s exhaustion vanishing in that moment. Holding her son felt like holding her entire world, her heart steadied and content.

Dinner that night was especially lively. With so many people, and two adorable children to liven things up, the room was full of laughter. Living in Madam Li’s home, Ying Su always felt at ease at mealtimes. Even though it was nothing but coarse grains and wild vegetables, the warmth of everyone eating together was better than any delicacy.

In her past life, she had never experienced this simple happiness. In this life, she cherished it deeply.

After the meal, once everything was tidied up, everyone gathered in the main room, staring excitedly at the pile of money on the table. It was all broken silver and copper coins, stacked like a little hill. The little bun in particular was thrilled, his eyes shining as he stared at the pile.

Ying Su was the quickest at mental arithmetic, so everyone agreed she should do the counting. Under the expectant gazes of the whole family, she began.

“Five hundred eleven, five hundred twelve, five hundred thirteen…” As the last few coins were counted, everyone couldn’t resist joining in aloud. Ying Su smiled and said, “Altogether, it’s five taels, five qian, and thirteen wen.”

On the table were three stacks of one thousand coins each, plus a pile of broken silver. The silver added up to exactly two taels. Together with the five hundred thirteen coins just now, it totaled precisely five taels, five qian, and thirteen wen.

Everyone had thought such a big pile of money would take ages to count, but Ying Su finished in no time. Li Jinfeng gaped in amazement and laughed. “Cuihua, you have to teach me your mental math! I don’t expect to be as fast as you, half as fast would be enough.”

Ying Su laughed. “Of course. I’ll definitely teach you. Anyway, I’m planning to start teaching Huzi arithmetic these days. You can learn together.”

Li Jinfeng threw her arms around Ying Su’s arm, laughing. “Then it’s settled!”

“You really should learn,” Liu Chuncao teased from the side. “Jinfeng, you’ll be getting married soon. If you don’t learn now, how will you manage a household?”

Li Jinfeng flushed scarlet. “Mother, look, sister-in-law’s making fun of me again!”

Madam Li only smiled kindly and let them tease each other.

“This time from selling the hawthorns, I’ll take forty percent and you take sixty. Here, three taels, three qian, and eight wen are yours. Two taels, two hundred five wen are mine.” Ying Su neatly divided the silver, keeping her share.

Li Dalang quickly protested, “That’s not right! You’re the one who came up with the idea. How can we take the bigger share? You should take the three taels and three qian…”

But who ever complains about getting too much money? Liu Chuncao gave him a sharp nudge to shut him up. Smiling, she said, “Anyway, Cuihua already made a fortune selling the recipe. This bit of small change doesn’t mean much to her. Let’s not be so polite, we’ll take it.”

Ying Su only nodded indifferently. “Then I’ll take Huzi to bed first.”

She hurried off with her son to their room. The reason for her haste was because she had noticed the resentful, reluctant look in her little boy’s eyes as he stared at the silver in Liu Chuncao’s hands.

Once inside, she closed the door and looked down. The little bun’s cheeks were puffed up in an adorably sulky expression, like a steamed bun stuffed full of grievance.