Sitting in Ye Yunniang's lap, Li Ping suddenly uttered a name, "Grandpa Tie Yi."
"No," Ye Yunniang refused, citing the generational difference.
Baise looked at Li Ping, "Little cutie, do you think Tie Yi is a good match for me?"
"Yes, it suits you." Li Ping nodded.
"Listen to my little darling." Baise looked at Ye Yunniang, "What's the relationship between Tie Yi and Tie Xiong? What do they do?"
"You really want to get to know Uncle Tie Yi?" Ye Yunniang truly admired these two; one dared to speak up, and the other dared to agree.
"Hmm, tell me about this Tie Yi," Baise urged.
Ye Yunniang told Baise what she knew about Tie Yi's situation.
Baise touched a handful of things and pondered, while Tie Yi thought it sounded good.
Where does he work?
Ye Yunniang told Tie Yi about his blacksmith shop, and finally advised Baise, "Take it easy."
"Don't worry, I love the elderly very much." Baise's words made Ye Yunniang even more uneasy.
Ye Yunniang, carrying the embroidery work she had taken on, took Li Ping's hand and left the Baise Embroidery Shop.
"Yunniang." Cai Xiaomei came out of Zhou's shop.
"Auntie."
"Auntie".
"Pingping, here's some candy." Cai Xiaomei handed two pieces of candy to Li Ping. "Yunniang, has your mother-in-law returned?"
"I received a letter a couple of days ago saying that I can come back next month." Ye Yunniang told Cai Xiaomei the agreed date.
"real?"
"certainly."
Cai Xiaomei wanted to say something, but seeing that the surroundings weren't suitable, she pulled Ye Yunniang into the backyard.
"Tell me the truth, where did your older sister go?"
“Going south to buy vegetables,” Ye Yunniang replied, but Cai Xiaomei didn’t believe her.
“Yunniang, don’t try to fool me. Eldest sister didn’t go south; she’s at the estate outside the city.” Cai Xiaomei stared intently at Ye Yunniang as she spoke.
Ye Yunniang was surprised at first, then laughed, "Auntie, what are you joking about? If Mother is coming back from out of town, she will definitely come home. Pan'er and I are waiting for her at home. She won't abandon us."
Cai Xiaomei thought about it and agreed, but...
"Didn't your mother say anything to you?"
"say what?"
"Remarry?" Cai Xiaomei said softly.
“Auntie, what nonsense are you talking about? My parents have such a good relationship, she won’t remarry,” Ye Yunniang said with absolute certainty.
"Could I have really seen wrong?" Cai Xiaomei wondered.
"Auntie, what did you see?" Ye Yunniang asked curiously.
"Just two days ago, I went to help someone out."
The Zhou family's general store doesn't require the whole family to be there. When she has time, Cai Xiaomei takes on odd jobs to supplement the family income.
Two days ago, she received a job dyeing eggs red for a wedding shop.
It is said that a high-ranking official in the prefectural government had a child. The official was so happy that he wanted to give red eggs to everyone in the prefectural government.
The quantity needed was so large that several wedding shops in the city had to work together to take on the job.
Cai Xiaomei was originally tasked with dyeing eggs red, but because the wedding shop was overwhelmed with work and short-handed, she was assigned to deliver red eggs to a villa outside the city using a donkey cart.
When reporting to the host, Cai Xiaomei caught a glimpse of a woman in confinement in the room who looked a bit like Cai Damei.
Then she thought it was impossible; her older sister had only left less than three months ago, how could she have given birth?
Then there's the male head of the household, who looks wealthy.
Her older sister didn't know anyone like that either.
Even if they knew each other, they might not be interested in a 40-year-old illiterate widow.
Despite trying to convince herself of this, when she got back, the more Cai Xiaomei thought about it, the more she felt that the person was Cai Damei.
"Auntie, you must be mistaken. My mother has only been gone for a few months, how could this be?" Ye Yunniang was shocked that Cai Xiaomei had discovered this, but she firmly denied it on the surface.
"Am I overthinking it?"
Ye Yunniang nodded vigorously. Yes, you're overthinking it.
"Oh dear, I haven't been able to eat or sleep well these past few days because of this." Cai Xiaomei was genuinely worried that something might have happened to Cai Damei.
“Auntie is worried about Mother. When Mother comes back, I will accompany her to Auntie’s house for a visit,” Ye Yunniang suggested.
"No need. Let me know when your mother comes back. I'll go see her."
"Okay," Ye Yunniang agreed.
After saying goodbye to Cai Xiaomei, Ye Yunniang took Li Ping's hand and went home.
Take out the recipe and prepare dinner for Cai Damei.
When I took her to Courtyard No. 3, I told Luo Xin about Cai Xiaomei.
At night, Ye Yunniang continued to learn to recognize and write characters with Li An.
Ang Lee, acting like a young teacher, instructs Ye Yunniang on how to write.
After writing ten large characters, Ye Yunniang's day of study came to an end. She returned to her room to rest.
In early February, Ye Yunniang took Li Ping to Xiaocaiji.
First, she checked every part of the shop for any uncleanliness. After confirming that it was clean and there were no problems, Ye Yunniang went to the counter to check the accounts for January.
Turning the pages one by one.
“Wrong.” Li Ping pointed to a page. “The numbers are incorrect.”
"What's wrong with it?"
"The price is wrong. 1 catty is 16 wen, so 3 catties and 8 liang should be 56 wen, not 50 wen."
"Pickled cabbage costs 8 coins per pound, so 9 pounds and 6 ounces should cost 75 coins, not 72 coins..." Li Ping pointed out several errors in succession.
"This is to round down the price for the customers," Zhang Yuan, who was keeping the accounts, explained. But the rounding was too much, and Ye Yunniang hadn't been informed beforehand.
Last month's inspection did not reveal these rounding-down methods.
Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Zhang Yuan told the truth.
He had something to do during the first month of the lunar calendar, so he asked his son to cover for him for half a month.
"I will definitely make up for it, please don't fire me, boss," Zhang Yuan pleaded.
Ye Yunniang looked at Li Ping.
"I'll give you one chance. If there are any more problems, you'll be fired." Li Ping made the decision.
"No, I won't do it again." Zhang Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was hard to imagine that a small child could have such a strong presence.
As they left the small restaurant, Ye Yunniang hugged Li Ping tightly, exclaiming, "Son, you're amazing! How did you spot the problem with the accounts?"
Ye Yunniang didn't notice anything at all.
“It’s very simple, you can tell at a glance.” Li Ping’s words made Ye Yunniang’s hands itch to try it.
"Wait, how do you know how to read?"
"Second brother will teach you; I'll learn just by listening from the side."
Every night, Li An would teach Ye Yunniang, and Li Ping would lie next to his mother and learn by listening and watching.
Ye Yunniang had only one thought in her mind: her son was a genius.
"Pingping, do you want to go to school with your two older brothers?"
"No." Li Ping didn't hesitate for a moment. He didn't want to study hard when he was old enough to lie down.
Ye Yunniang was not surprised at all by Li Ping's answer.
"Pingping, stay home and stay with your mother for a couple more years." Ye Yunniang was also reluctant to let Li Ping leave her.
"I will always be with my mother."
Li Ping replied, making Ye Yunniang happy as she hugged her son.
"Today, we're going out for a big meal."
Ye Yunniang brought Li Ping to the famous Huixianlou restaurant in Jiangcheng.
We ordered their signature dishes: Qunyinghui (a stew of various small fish) and Hexiangfen (steamed pork wrapped in lotus leaves with rice flour).
Two dishes, and the portions were very generous.
The mother and son buried themselves in their rice.
"Mother, Aunt Baise." Li Ping pointed in a direction.
Ye Yunniang followed her gaze and saw Baise and Tie Yi sitting together having a meal.
Judging from where they were sitting, they seemed to have a good relationship, perhaps even a slightly ambiguous one.
"Is Aunt Baise really going to marry Grandpa Tieyi?"
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