Jiaren chuckled and tapped his younger sister's nose. "Don't worry, your older brother will take the imperial examination and become the top scholar, then I'll send you off on a grand wedding."
Jiayin hugged her older brother's neck and pouted, "I won't marry him, I won't marry him, Fu Niu wants to stay at home."
"Alright, alright, stay home! If Fu Niu doesn't want to get married, stay home. Your big brother will take care of you for the rest of your life!"
Jiaren smiled and patted his younger sister. They walked all the way to the school gate before he reluctantly handed her over to his grandmother.
The old lady instructed, "The family shop will open tomorrow. Fu Niu'er and I can stay for another day. Don't worry about it, just focus on your studies."
Jiaren then entered the academy with peace of mind. Some of his classmates saw the old lady and Jiayin from afar and went up to them tentatively to ask, "Junior Brother Li, are these your family members?"
Jiaren replied with a smile, "Yes, my family is worried about me, so they opened a small shop nearby."
The student was somewhat surprised. The academy had a free academic atmosphere and rarely cared about family background, so the students came from diverse family backgrounds, including wealthy families and poor families.
Relatively speaking, there are still more poor and small families.
Jiaren thought the family's food and daily necessities were ordinary, but he didn't expect that they had the resources and dedication to open a shop on the commercial street so that he could take care of things nearby.
So he smiled and said, "After you finish studying, let's go back to the dormitory together. I brought a lantern."
“Okay.” Jiaren didn’t refuse his kindness, and they went to the school together, chatting and laughing.
On the way, he felt something uncomfortable in his arms. When he reached out and touched it, he was shocked to find that it was two five-tael silver ingots!
Thinking about it carefully, his feelings became even more complicated. His sister must have secretly slipped it in!
He thought he had hidden his thoughts well, but he didn't expect that this little girl would still find out.
In fact, he regretted entering the academy as soon as he entered. It wasn't just a simple matter of ten taels of silver a month for tuition. Food, writing brushes and ink, flutes, longswords—everything cost money.
There's still ink and brush to spare, and you can choose the cheapest meals, or even reduce your three meals a day to two.
But the flute cost two taels of silver, while the longsword cost eight taels. He wanted to back out and not learn anymore, but the teacher said no.
When he came to study, his family gave him more than five taels of change. He has spent more than one tael these days, and what is left is not enough to buy a longsword and a flute.
He's been worried these past few days, and even considered going to a bookstore to take on a job copying books, but that's a long shot and won't solve his immediate problem.
I don't want my family to suddenly open a shop here. I don't want to worry about food anymore, and I'll have relatives around, like having a strong support system.
Now my sister has given me money, which has solved the problem of buying the sword and the flute.
The things that once troubled him melted away instantly, like an iceberg meeting the sun.
He felt a mix of sadness and warmth in his heart, and took several deep breaths to suppress his sobs.
What reason does he have not to study hard?
Grandma Li carried her granddaughter back home, her smile gone, and she muttered to her granddaughter in a low voice.
“Fu Niu, is your older brother too tired from studying? Although he only says the good things, I can tell that he’s not doing well. What should I do? I don’t want to ask him, for fear of making him even more worried.”
Jiayin thought for a moment, then whispered something in her grandmother's ear. The old lady was stunned for a moment, then gently patted her granddaughter.
"You silly girl, you're treating silver like candy, just handing it out like that?"
Jiayin, however, smiled and said coquettishly, "Money is useful, give it to Big Brother, Big Brother can buy anything!"
The old lady sighed and kissed her granddaughter. "Grandma is getting senile and didn't think of so many things. It's true that money is useful. No matter what your eldest brother is worried about, money can solve it."
"Grandma isn't old! Grandma never went to school, of course she wouldn't know," Jiayin comforted the old lady, making her laugh.
“Okay, Grandma isn’t old. But remember, you can’t do that again. I’ll tell your third uncle that if your eldest brother needs money, he can take it from the shop.”
"Okay." Jiayin jumped down and ran straight to the backyard, afraid that her grandmother would catch her and start nagging again.
The next day, the family got up early. Li Laosan and Jia Huan went to the nearby market and bought a large piece of pork belly and some other simple items.
When the sun was high in the sky, the shop had already cooked a large pot of mung bean porridge and placed it under the eaves to cool.
Zhao Yuru prepared four side dishes: spinach with nuts, cowpeas with minced garlic, stir-fried minced meat with salted cucumber, and radish with vinegar.
Jia Huan prepared two kinds of fillings: a vegetarian filling of radish and dried shrimp, and a meat filling of pork and cabbage.
Once the dough was ready, the family gathered together to make dumplings.
Li Laosan placed a charcoal stove at the entrance of his shop, with a small iron pot on it and seven or eight layers of bamboo steamers stacked on top.
One steamer basket holds exactly eight steamed dumplings, along with a bowl of porridge and two small dishes of side dishes, which is just enough for one person to eat their fill.
The shop is newly opened today. A basket of vegetarian dumplings costs ten coins, and meat dumplings cost fifteen coins.
The mung bean porridge and side dishes are offered as complimentary items to attract customers.
Three days later, mung bean porridge and side dishes cost five coins, and the most expensive meal together was no more than twenty coins.
Students will surely be able to afford it, and it will also help retain repeat customers.
Finally, noon arrived, and the students took their lunch break. As usual, they went out the gate to "find food."
Suddenly, I saw a delicious aroma coming from the entrance of the usually quietest food stall. Steam was rising from the charcoal stove, and the white, plump, and piping hot steamed dumplings looked really appealing.
Some people, impatient with being squeezed in with others, came in.
The students felt more at ease after seeing that the new boss had taken over.
Soon, the first batch of steamed dumplings was served on the table, and the second batch was placed on the charcoal stove.
The students drank refreshing mung bean porridge and ate a bite of sweet and sour or salty side dishes, all of which soothed their hot stomachs.
Eating steamed dumplings again was a pleasant surprise. The vegetarian dumplings didn't have the spiciness of radish; instead, they had a hint of sweetness. The meat dumplings weren't greasy either, and the refreshing taste of cabbage was even more pronounced.
Before we knew it, the porridge was finished, the dumplings were gone, and even the side dishes were all cleaned up.
It only cost ten or fifteen coins per person, which is incredibly cheap.
Someone couldn't help but ask, "Boss, do you still sell dumplings here tonight?"
Li Laosan, who was in charge of greeting customers, said with a smile, "Young sir, we sell stir-fried meal sets here in the evening. A bowl of rice plus one meat dish and one vegetable dish is fifteen coins, guaranteed to fill you up and make you feel good. The most expensive set meal is two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, which is only thirty coins. My chef learned his skills from the descendants of the imperial chefs. If you don't like it, you don't have to pay."
The students listened with great interest and clamored to come back and try it that evening.
Jiaren was a little late because he went to find the teacher to pay the money.
I was worried that business wouldn't be good, but to my surprise, my third uncle was sweating profusely from being so busy, and he just stood at the door and laughed...
Leaving aside how busy the Li family was, let's talk about the Wang family courtyard in the south of Xindu City. After having lunch with his wife and children, Master Wang went to his study as usual.
Wang Fu brought tea and stepped forward to whisper, "Master, we've found Uncle Zhong, who used to serve the old master."
"Oh?" A complicated look flashed in Master Wang's eyes as he asked, "Is he alright?"
“Uncle Zhong is still quite healthy, but his family is not a very worry-free place,” Wang Fuying said. “His son became addicted to gambling, owed more than a hundred taels of gambling debts, and had his leg broken by someone.”
Master Wang frowned, thought for a moment, and gestured for Wang Fu to step forward, whispering a few instructions to him.
Wang Fu looked surprised and suspicious, and tentatively asked, "Master, is this really what we should do?"
Master Wang nodded. "You heard me right. Redeem the IOU that Uncle Zhong's son signed at the casino. Then you personally take Uncle Zhong to the small courtyard in the west of the city; I need to ask him some questions."
Here's the latest update! Have you all started your May Day holiday? I'm so envious! Please give me a five-star review and urge me to update more!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com