Chapter 25 Returning to the Private School: The Price of Noodles

Ye Li only came to her senses after Jiang Ji's lips landed on hers.

His back was pressed tightly against the wooden door.

With his buttocks dangling in the air, Jiang Ji firmly supported his thighs with both arms.

He gripped Jiang Ji's shoulders with both hands.

This was the first time he had ever experienced this position in his two lifetimes.

At this moment, Jiang Ji simply licked his lips lightly with her tongue; it wasn't a passionate kiss.

He took a deep breath and punched Jiang Ji on the shoulder with one hand.

"Don't you like this?" Jiang Ji's lips moved slightly away as he asked softly.

"...I just think you're really good at it."

real.

Ye Lizhen never expected her husband to pull this stunt.

He tried shaking it a couple of times and saw that he was steady and showed no signs of falling, so he became bolder.

He reached out and cupped Jiang Ji's excessively handsome face, raising an eyebrow as he asked, "Good husband, where did you learn all this?"

Jiang Ji didn't answer but asked in return, "Are you satisfied?"

One sentence made Ye Li laugh.

With that kind of arm strength, how could he not be satisfied?

He smiled and leaned over to give Jiang Ji a quick kiss on the lips: "Next time we make love, shall we use this position?"

"..."

Jiang Ji's pupils contracted, and his throat tightened instantly.

He didn't expect Ye Li to say something like that.

At this moment, Ye Li's smile was sly and alluring; it was clear that Ye Li was deliberately seducing him.

He gritted his teeth and kissed Ye Li's lips deeply.

This time, he didn't just bite and rub Ye Li's lips like before. He used his tongue to pry open Ye Li's teeth and then attacked Ye Li's upper jaw.

This is Ye Li's sensitive spot.

Previously, whenever his tongue touched this spot, Ye Li would instinctively hug him tightly.

Now that he's focused on this one place, Ye Li squirmed in his arms, humming softly.

When he released Ye Li's lips, Ye Li was already panting heavily, her cheeks flushed.

His appearance only fueled his desire to carry him back to the kang (heated brick bed) and do what he did to him last night.

But in the end, he simply held the person in his arms and slowly calmed his breathing.

Ye Li had noticed the changes in Jiang Ji's body, and he himself was also reacting.

I've never actually done it before, so even if I had the urge, I'd just touch it myself and that would be it.

Now that he's experienced it, of course, it could also be because his body is that of a husband, and its structure is different from that of a real man. Anyway, he feels empty now.

My body feels empty.

I feel a little uncomfortable.

He dared not flirt any further, and simply held his cheap husband obediently, taking deep breaths slowly.

My cheap husband has been gone for ten days.

Sigh, how melancholy.

Once the discomfort subsided, he said, "Just focus on your studies, I'll take care of everything at home."

"I know. If you need anything, just come to me."

As Jiang Ji spoke, he hugged the person in his arms even tighter.

Ye Li nodded, not forgetting to remind him, "You must come back to collect the money on the tenth day."

Jiang Ji hummed in agreement.

He remembers.

Of course he remembers.

...

The two wanted to say a few more words, but since they weren't familiar with each other, they ran out of things to say after that.

But neither of them could bear to let go of the other. They held each other like that until they heard Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya talking outside. Then, as if by telepathy, they kissed again and reluctantly separated.

Jiang Ji pulled Ye Li into the east room, and despite Ye Li's objections, took out a pastry from his basket and insisted that Ye Li eat it.

"What you fry later is for later. You've been busy all day, how can you not have a taste?"

With one sentence, Ye Li was left speechless.

He smiled as he accepted the pastry, feeling a sweet warmth in his heart.

My husband is so considerate, and I'm willing to do anything for this family.

Just then, Jiang Ya's voice rang out from outside: "Big brother, brother! Sister Liu is here."

Upon hearing this, the two left the main room one after the other.

Jiang Liu was carrying a burlap sack filled with cornmeal. The food that the Jiang family ate was all delivered by Jiang Dahe's family.

Jiang Ji has been at home these past few days, and the flour has been going through really fast.

Jiang Liu carried thirty jin (25 kg) over on her back.

Moreover, Jiang Liu will be going to work starting tomorrow.

Ye Li and Jiang Ji greeted Jiang Liu. While talking, Ye Li broke the pasta in her hand into several pieces and distributed them to the people present.

Jiang Liu was eating noodles for the first time and found it quite novel.

However, she was immediately shocked when she learned that these pastries cost five coins each.

"So expensive?"

"Even so, we don't make much money. The cost of one pound is twenty-two coins."

Ye Li counted on her fingers as she explained the accounts to Jiang Liu.

Wheat flour costs seven coins per pound.

Malt syrup costs forty coins per pound. If you want the noodles to have a noticeable sweetness, you need to add at least four ounces of sugar to one pound of flour, which is sixteen coins.

There's also oil. You need to add oil when kneading the dough, and then you have to deep-fry it in oil at the end. About three ounces of oil are needed for one pound of flour.

One pound of soybean oil costs twenty-seven coins, and three ounces would cost eight coins.

He also cracked several eggs into it.

However, today I ate extra eggs to give Jiang Ji a treat.

If you were to sell it, one pound of flour plus one egg would suffice.

An egg, even the smallest one, costs a penny.

If the company grows bigger and stronger in the future, and the firewood collected by Jiangmai and Jiangya can no longer supply the market, then the cost of dry firewood will definitely need to be calculated.

Ye Li simply added it in, making it a piece.

Therefore, excluding labor costs, and only considering the cost of the five ingredients—flour, syrup, oil, eggs, and firewood—the cost of frying one pound of flour is thirty-three coins.

One pound of flour can yield about one and a half pounds of pasta.

Therefore, roughly speaking, the cost of one pound of dough cakes is about twenty-two coins.

One noodle weighs 1.6 ounces and costs 5 coins. Six noodles weigh less than a pound, but can be roughly counted as a pound. Therefore, the price of a pound is 30 coins.

After deducting the cost of 22 coins, he only made 8 coins per pound.

But we can't let Ye Liang and Liu Yi's efforts go to waste.

He offered a discount of three cents.

In the end, he earned five coins for every pound of noodles he sold, while Ye Liang and Liu Yi earned three coins.

This is definitely hard-earned money.

After hearing his explanation, Jiang Liu fell silent.

When you calculate it that way, it's indeed not expensive.

But she would have to push the stone mill for three days to afford even one pound...

She wants to find a man, but when will that be?

She took a deep breath, banishing the worries from her mind. Forget it, this wish of hers was like a dream; she'd stop thinking about it for now.

The group exchanged a few words in the courtyard, then Jiang Ji went back into the house, picked up his basket, and left.

The sun was about to set; if he left too late, he wouldn't be able to get into the city.

There will be morning reading sessions tomorrow.

He must leave today.

He slung the basket over his shoulder, suppressed his reluctance, waved to Ye Li, Jiang Mai, Jiang Ya, and Jiang Liu, then turned and strode forward.

Although Jiang Mai was reluctant, she was able to control the emotions on her face.

Jiang Ya pouted, her big eyes staring at her older brother who was walking further and further away, looking like she was about to cry.

Ye Li was also reluctant to look away.

But he wasn't a child. He took a deep breath, smiled, and patted Jiang Ya and Jiang Mai's heads, comforting them, "Your eldest brother will be back in ten days, very soon."

"Ya-ge'er, when your older brother comes back, you'll make gourd-shaped buns for him again, okay?"

The gourd-shaped bun that Jiang Ya made in the morning was eventually split in half between him and Jiang Ji.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ya twisted her little body and quickly threw herself into his arms, tears welling up in her eyes.

He bent down and picked up the little boy: "Good boy, let's go back and eat some hemp leaves, okay?"

Ye Li's hug immediately changed Jiang Ya's mind.

Because even Jiang Ji hadn't hugged him like this in a long time!

He's five years old, he's a big kid now!

Feeling a little embarrassed, Jiang Ya turned her face away and softly replied, "Okay."

Ye Li patted him on the back with a smile, and called Jiang Mai and Jiang Liu to follow him home to eat hemp leaves.

Jiang Liu shook her head and refused; it was almost evening, and she had to go home to cook.

She has to come over to grind the grain at midnight tomorrow, so she needs to go to bed early tonight.

Before they knew it, it was dark. Without Jiang Ji around, Ye Li, Jiang Mai, and Jiang Ya even lost their appetite for eating steamed buns.

After dinner, Ye Li and the two little ones went back to their respective rooms to sleep.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ji was suffering from insomnia.

The private school he attended was called Chenji Academy, located in the south of the city. When he arrived at the academy on foot, the sun had already set.

The school was a three-courtyard complex. The front courtyard was where the teachers worked, the main courtyard was the classroom, and the back courtyard was the dormitory and kitchen.

The dormitory conditions were harsh, with several people sharing a large kang (heated brick bed), so only students from outside the county town lived there.

My family is from the county town, and we all go home after school.

When Jiang Ji arrived at the dormitory, his other classmates were already there. He greeted them and then began to eat dinner.

He ate three steamed buns and an egg.

After finishing his meal, he brought out a basin of water and a toothbrush to wash up.

After a flurry of activity, by the time I finally lay down, it was already 7 PM, time to turn off the lights.

The room quickly fell into darkness, and he closed his eyes, but Zhou Gong did not come to find him as usual.

The kang (heated brick bed) beneath him was covered only with a straw mattress, which had become quite hard after lying on it for a long time.

The room was far from quiet; the men's snoring and teeth grinding were constant.

He let out a long breath and turned over.

He wants to go home tomorrow...

Time slipped away quietly, and before we knew it, it was time for the rooster to crow.

At Yezaopo, Jiang Dahe got up excitedly to take Jiang Liu to Ye Li's house for work.

It's not the busy farming season now, and the village is quiet at this time. Jiang Liu, a young girl, went out alone, and Jiang Dahe, fearing something might happen, specially brought her here.

Jiang Dahe didn't linger. He told Jiang Liu to do a good job and then left.

Ye Li led Jiang Liu into the mill.

As a grown man, he felt embarrassed to push all the work onto Jiang Liu, so he decided to do some light work:

Scoop soybeans into the millstone and clean the soybean residue and liquid from the groove.

If Jiang Liu can't hold on, then he's prepared to take over.

But to everyone's surprise, Jiang Liu said, "Brother Li, you go back to the main room and lie down. I can manage on my own."

"It's alright, we're already up." Ye Li shook her head with a smile.

Jiang Liu thought for a moment and changed her mind: "Okay."

That's true. It was her first day on the job, so it was necessary to let her employer, Brother Li, see for himself how well she was doing the work.

After a while, Li Ge felt comfortable letting her grind soybeans all by herself.

She picked up the grinding rod and started pushing it slowly and deliberately.

She wasn't as strong as Jiang Ji, so she couldn't rush things.

Her strength needs to be used sparingly and gradually.