Hearing Si Ni's words, Aunt Zhang's face darkened again, and she began to scold her.
"That's a recipe your sister Han came up with to sell for money. How could we possibly ask for it? That's unbecoming of a person..."
Hearing her mother's words, Sisi knew she had said the wrong thing and quickly lowered her head. Looking at the children, Aunt Zhang spoke earnestly.
“It’s not easy for your sister Han to raise two children on her own. She brings us fish, sells her medicinal herbs to buy some meat, and then brings us more meat. Now she’s figured out a recipe to sell for money. We can’t have such bad intentions…”
Aunt Zhang knew that her children were all of good character. After saying a few words to them and seeing that they knew they were wrong, she calmed down and stopped talking. She then told them to wash their hands and prepare to eat.
Old Mrs. Fan next door smelled the aroma of meat coming from Aunt Zhang's house and couldn't help but wonder. She thought to herself, "I didn't expect this poor family to be willing to buy meat to eat even though it's not a holiday." Turning her head, she saw the meat on her own table and chuckled.
"Hmph, I suppose even when buying meat, they're only willing to buy one or two ounces, unlike our family, who buys half a pound or a pound at a time..."
Thinking that all this meat was bought by her new daughter-in-law, and recalling how she used to go ten days or half a month without eating meat when her former daughter-in-law Han Yiyi was at home, she couldn't help but curse the original owner for being useless.
Han Yiyi couldn't hear Granny Fan cursing her. Of course, even if she did, she would have ignored her and ignored her. At this moment, she was enjoying the food she had made herself.
In the evening, Han Yiyi cooked a rice porridge and made a scallion pancake with Nian. Xiao Cong picked wild scallions from behind the thatched hut. After kneading the dough and letting it rest for a while, they rolled it out into a flatbread, sprinkled scallions, oil, and salt on it, and then rolled up the flatbread to divide it into small pieces. After pressing the small pieces into palm-sized pancakes, they were ready to be fried in a pan. The thin pancakes were fried until golden brown on both sides and then taken out of the pan.
Worried that they wouldn't be able to finish, Han Yiyi only made a few scallion pancakes, a bowl of braised pork intestines, a bowl of green vegetables, and a bowl of rice porridge, which became the dinner for the mother and her two children.
Because of the heat, Han Yiyi placed the food on the stone table in front of the house. Listening to the cicadas chirping and watching the two little ones eating with relish, Han Yiyi suddenly felt a sense of peace and tranquility. She thought to herself, "I must work hard to earn money so that I and the two little ones can live a life where we have no worries about food and drink."
There wasn't much entertainment here in the evenings. After dinner, we washed and dressed the two little ones and put them to bed. Nothing much happened that night.
The next morning, Han Yiyi had just gotten up and finished breakfast when she saw Da Niu carrying something and walking towards the thatched hut.
"Sister Yi, here is the bamboo mat you requested. I've already finished weaving it. My mother was worried you might need it urgently, so she asked me to bring it to you first..."
As he spoke, he leaned the rolled-up bamboo mat against the wall. After he leaned the mat against the wall, Han Yiyi noticed that he was holding something else in his hand. When she saw it, her eyes lit up, but before she could speak, Da Niu said somewhat embarrassedly.
"Sister Yi, can you help me check if this is the bamboo pillow you mentioned before...?"
Han Yiyi reached out and took it. She had to admit that Da Niu's knitting skills were really good. She had only given him a simple description, but he actually made it.
Looking at the handmade bamboo pillow in her hand, Han Yiyi couldn't help but touch it carefully. It was very smooth, without any bamboo splinters or rough edges, and she couldn't help but praise it.
“Yes, that’s right. Da Niu’s craftsmanship is really amazing. This is definitely worth selling in town…” he said, turning around and going back into the house, taking the bamboo pillow with him.
When she came out again, she had several copper coins in her hand. Since Han Yiyi didn't know the price of the bamboo pillow, she took thirty copper coins and stuffed them into Da Niu's hand, and then spoke.
“Da Niu, take these copper coins. And make me two smaller ones for Shi Tou and Daya…”
Da Niu hadn't noticed what Han Yiyi was putting in his hand at first, but when he saw that it was a copper coin, he quickly refused. Seeing that Han Yiyi was adamant, he simply put the copper coin on the stone table and strode away.
Looking at the copper coins on the stone table and the people who had already run away, Han Yi had no choice but to put them away again, thinking that since they didn't want money, he would help them in other ways in the future.
Today, Han Yiyi plans to go to town again to buy some large intestines. She will start selling them tomorrow. Since time is a bit tight and she needs to check the market, she doesn't plan to take the two little ones with her. She thinks she can ask Aunt Zhang to help look after the two children.
As soon as Da Niu got home, he told his mother that Han Yiyi wanted to give him money. So when he saw Han Yiyi leading two children to his door, before he could even speak, he heard Aunt Zhang say something with a hint of complaint.
"You silly girl, why are you becoming more and more distant with your aunt? If you keep doing this, your aunt will get angry..."
"Auntie, please don't be angry. I only thought that since Da Niu had worked so hard to make this, I'll just say, 'Okay, since that's the case, I won't give it to you. Not only will I not give it to you, but I also need to ask you for a favor..."
"That's right, just tell me what kind of help you need..."
"Well, I'm going to town to buy some things today, and it's inconvenient to bring two children with me, so I was thinking of asking you to look after them for me..."
Before Han Yiyi could finish speaking, Aunt Zhang readily agreed.
The reason why Aunt Zhang treated Han Yiyi this way was not only because she was kind-hearted, but also because she felt that Han Yiyi was like herself, both raising children alone. This is perhaps what people often say: because you have been through the rain, you want to hold an umbrella for others. Even though you are not doing well yourself, you still want to help if you can.
Han Yi looked at the thin bamboo strips, and soon they formed a pillow shape in Da Niu's hands. Then she spoke.
"I'm going to sell braised pork intestines tomorrow. Da Niu, take a few and weave some bamboo pillows with me to sell too..."
Hearing Han Yiyi's words, not only Da Niu's eyes lit up, but even Aunt Zhang's eyes lit up.
Da Niu's bamboo weaving skills were self-taught. In the past, he would weave some bamboo baskets and other similar items to sell in town. However, whether it was because Da Niu was dull or something else, he could not sell them most of the time. After a while, he stopped selling them and only occasionally wove some things to keep for his own family.
Aunt Zhang knew that Han Yiyi used to frequently go to town to sell handkerchiefs, so she was quite experienced. If she and Da Niu went together, they might actually be able to sell these bamboo pillows.
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