Chapter 26: Like a Holiday

"Oh, Sister Caiping bought so much meat..."

Ye Bajin suddenly stopped talking and smiled awkwardly.

He originally wanted to say that Ye Caiping's family was extremely poor, so where did they get the money to buy rice and meat?

But on second thought, no matter where other people's money comes from, whether it's a lot or a little, it's none of his business. It's really rude to ask about other people's private affairs.

Ye Caiping was a little embarrassed and stuffed a bag of buns into his hand:

"I went up the mountain this morning and found some herbs, which I exchanged for a few taels of silver. Thinking that everyone at home was starving, I bought some meat to feed them. I didn't mean to not pay you back."

Ye Bajin then remembered that Ye Caiping's family still owed him five taels of silver. He looked embarrassed and said, "No, no... that's not what I meant..."

It seems like he is collecting debts.

Ye Caiping found it a little funny.

Isn’t this eight pounds too much? She, who owes money, has become the boss.

She said, "I'm going to set up a stall in town in a few days, and I'll need your help to carry the goods. I'll pay you back as soon as I make money."

Ye Bajin then took the bag with a smile: "Okay, just tell me and I can do whatever I want."

As he said this, he opened the bag and saw ten steamed dumplings inside.

"Ah, why buy so much?"

"I bought a cage, a small one, not much."

Ye Bajin has four older sisters, all of whom were married a long time ago.

He and his wife have only one child, Fubao. Together with the village head and his wife, there are exactly five people in the family. Two children per person is enough to go around.

Ye Bajin felt happy when he thought of his son's happy face when he ate the dumplings.

Soon, three women from Wangjia Village also came over.

Ye Bajin flicked the bull whip lightly, and the car slowly drove out of the town.

…

When we returned to the village, the sun had already set.

Ye Caiping had already put the big ingredients into the space.

Ye Bajin sent Ye Caiping directly to her doorstep and helped her move her things into the house.

"Oh, Bajin, why did you move so many things into my house?" Old Mrs. Ye looked surprised.

Ye Bajin put 30 kilograms of white rice on the ground and grinned: "This is what Sister Caiping bought. I'm going back first."

After saying that, he left.

Old Mrs. Ye looked at the bags of things on the ground, including rice and soy sauce, and was so shocked that her mouth could not close.

At this time, Old Man Ye and the first and second wives came over. Old Man Ye said, "Cai Ping, this, this..."

"This morning I dug a ginseng on the mountain and sold it for 10 taels of silver, so I bought some grain and oil."

Everyone in the Ye family was stunned. Mrs. Du widened her eyes:

"You dug up some ginseng? Wait, how much did you sell it for? 10 taels? Oh my god, you, you've lost a lot of money!"

"Little sister, have you been cheated?" Ye Daquan asked cautiously, "Many years ago, someone in Wangjia Village dug up a ginseng and sold it for 120 taels! You... sold it for 10 taels?"

Ye Caiping said, "The ginseng I dug was too young, only seven or eight years old, so it was only worth 10 taels. I sold it to Ping An Hall."

Everyone in the Ye family looked at each other.

Old Man Ye nodded. "Ginseng that is seven or eight years old is just beginning to take shape. It is indeed too young. The ones from Wangjia Village are thirty or forty years old. It is not surprising that they sell for more than a hundred taels. Besides, Ping An Tang is famous for its fairness. Ten taels is about right."

Old Mrs. Ye was both happy and worried, looking at the things on the ground one by one: "Money should be saved as a dowry, how can it be spent carelessly!"

Ye Caiping coughed dryly and said, "What's the point of marrying? She won't marry!"

"Buying food for your family is not considered wasted spending."

"Hey, there's meat! Such big chunks of fat!" Ye Peng turned over the things on the ground with a look of surprise, "There's also pork belly and ribs!"

"This is white rice!" Ye Jin'er also came over and looked up with a smile: "Mother, are we eating white rice tonight?"

"Yes, white rice tonight."

Ye Yinhua asked cautiously: "Can we eat it too?"

"Of course, we all eat together."

Old Mrs. Ye and Old Man Ye looked very distressed. This white rice was very precious and was not something that farmers like them should eat.

Old Mrs. Ye wanted to say, just buy the rice and keep it for Ye Caiping to eat.

The terrible thing is that once it is said out loud, the whole family will be in chaos again.

Besides, her daughter wanted to eat together, so she didn’t want to cause trouble.

Mrs. Du and Ye Jinhua's eyes lit up.

Although Mrs. Du was hungry for money, she knew very well that she couldn't take a single cent of the money from her sister-in-law.

What's more, this was the money she earned herself, so she had no right to touch it.

It’s already a surprise enough to be able to eat white rice and meat now.

She wished Ye Caiping could use the ten taels of silver to buy food so that she could at least have one more bite to eat.

As for Ye Caiping's previous words that she would compensate her when she made money, she never believed a word of it from beginning to end, and treated it as wind in her ears, so naturally she couldn't remember it.

Ye Caiping looked at the greedy look in Mrs. Du's eyes and couldn't help but sigh, this sister-in-law may be noisy, but she really knows what's going on!

"My little sister is so awesome." Ye Daquan said with a smile.

"My little sister is so good to us." Ye Erquan's mouth was almost grinning to his ears.

The two Fumeimos habitually turn on the dog-licking mode.

Ye Caiping was too lazy to pay attention to them and said to Ye Huan'er, "Go outside and pick some green peppers and two chili peppers. Oh, and pick a handful of green onions! Jin'er, help me in the kitchen."

"I'll do it, I'll do it." Old Lady Ye said happily, "Jin'er and Huan'er, go pick some vegetables! Come back with some cabbages and radishes later."

"Let's fry another plate of eggs." Ye Caiping called Ye Yinhua over again, gave her twenty cents, and asked her to see which store had eggs and buy ten.

After giving the instructions, Ye Caiping went into the kitchen to get busy.

Wei also came in to help.

Ye Caiping washed the rice, while Old Lady Ye and Mrs. Wei cut the pork belly and lard respectively.

"Caiping, we only need to cook one pound of pork belly." Old Mrs. Ye cut out a small piece of pork belly.

Ye Caiping smiled and said, "Mom, didn't you see that the eldest brother, the second brother and the other boys were so greedy? What can a pound of fat be divided? Each person gets two pieces and that's it. After the lard is boiled into oil, the residue can be kept for two more days."

Old Mrs. Ye still felt it was too luxurious, with pork liver, pork belly and pork ribs, and she would buy some eggs later. She had never eaten like this during the Chinese New Year.

Seeing that her daughter wanted to eat it this way, she couldn't object, so she had to cut the pork belly with a painful look on her face. Slice thinly.

After Ye Caiping washed the rice, she lit the fire.

After Ye Jin'er and her sister came back, she asked them to watch the stove.

"Second sister-in-law, let me cut the pork liver." Ye Caiping said.

This time, Wei had finished chopping the ribs, and Ye Caiping quickly took over her knife and cut the pork liver into thin slices.

Then wash out the blood and marinate it together with soy sauce, starch, ginger, salt and sugar.

Old Mrs. Ye was boiling lard on the side. She felt distressed when she saw that so many things were needed to pickle pork liver, not only salt but also sugar.

What kind of wasteful way is this?

Ye Yinhua came in with a basket of eggs: "I bought them from my uncle's house, 2 cents each, and my uncle gave me two extra eggs, and also gave me a bunch of leeks."

The 20 cents have just been used up.