Zhang Qiaoya's mother-in-law, whom everyone around calls Aunt Fang, is from the Zhu family and also runs a noodle shop.
To attract customers, the Zhu family offered complimentary side dishes.
Aunt Fang's mother is very skilled at pickling vegetables. Many customers come to her house for noodles specifically for her pickled vegetables.
Aunt Fang's mother suddenly fell ill and passed away a while ago.
The old man didn't hide his pickling skills; he taught any family member who wanted to learn. However, the Zhu family's pickled vegetables didn't taste very good.
The side dishes offered at the noodle shop were subpar, and many customers who came specifically for the side dishes stopped going after a couple of visits.
The noodle shop business was not doing well, and the Zhu family was worried.
Coincidentally, Zhang Qiaoya wanted to eat the pickled vegetables made by Cai Damei.
Granny Zhang brought it over, and Aunt Fang curiously took a bite.
Hmm. The taste is just as good as her mother's cooking; I'll take some back to my parents' house.
The Zhu family tried it and found it quite delicious.
"The Zhu family wants to buy 10 jin of side dishes from you first, to try them out at the noodle shop. If they're good, they'll buy from you regularly."
Granny Zhang opened her money bag and took out two strings of coins. One string contained 100 coins, and the other contained 50 coins.
"In the market, vegetables usually cost 8 to 10 coins per pound. Yours tastes even better than what's sold outside. You mentioned before that you used a lot of good ingredients. I'll bargain down to 15 coins per pound. Do you think that's a good price?"
“That’s fine. My sister-in-law wants me to make money, so of course it’s fine. Wait here, I’ll go get it right away.” Cai Damei got up and went to the kitchen to carry a 15-jin (7.5 catties) jar.
Cai Damei didn't pickle it to the maximum extent; the amount of vegetables and water inside was estimated to be around 13.5 jin (6.75 kg).
Granny Zhang left carrying the jar.
Cai Damei put away the string of coins and went to the backyard to pick vegetables to prepare for pickling. They didn't have many vegetables left, and if they didn't pickle them soon, they wouldn't have anything to eat.
Ye Yunniang wanted to go to the backyard to do it together, but Cai Damei stopped her.
"I can handle this myself. Go next door and bring Pan'er back." I have to go out in the morning, so I'll leave Pan'er with the Xu family next door for them to look after.
"Okay." Ye Yunniang went to courtyard number 5 and knocked on the door.
Liang Maimiao carried Xu Sanmiao on her back and held a spatula in her hand.
"Sister-in-law Mai Miao, are you cooking?"
"Okay, just cook one more dish and it'll be fine. We'll eat here for lunch," Liang Maimiao said warmly.
"No, we've already cooked at home. I came to call Pan'er home for lunch. Sister-in-law, thank you for looking after Pan'er this morning," Ye Yunniang said.
“No trouble at all. Aunt Cai usually helps me look after Da Lei and Er Lei. The three of them are playing in the backyard.” Liang Maimiao said, calling out to the backyard, “Pan’er, your mother is here to pick you up. Da Lei, Er Lei, stop playing and wash your hands to get ready for dinner.”
"Okay, I understand."
"Oh dear, I'm so hungry."
"Mom, what delicious food are we making?"
Three voices responded, and soon three mud monkeys came running from the backyard.
The youngest of them shouted "Mother!" and rushed towards Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang reached out and pressed down on the little head that was about to pounce on her, "Pan'er?"
"Yes, Mom. I'm hungry."
Pan'er thrashed about, crying out for food, completely oblivious to his mother's disdain for him.
"I'm hungry, let's go home for dinner." Ye Yunniang wrapped Pan'er's little hand with a handkerchief and said goodbye to Liang Maimiao.
"Sister-in-law Mai Miao, we're leaving."
"Okay, let's play again." Liang Maimiao smiled and saw Ye Yunniang and Pan'er out the door.
Turning his head, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Da Lei, Er Lei, look at the state you're in! How many times have I told you? No playing in the mud! And here you are again..."
Back home, I could hear Da Lei and Er Lei's pleas for mercy and cries coming from the neighboring courtyard.
Ye Yunniang sighed. Luckily, she only had Pan'er in her family. If another one came along, who knows how much trouble they would cause.
Ye Yunniang first boiled a large pot of water to bathe Pan'er.
After washing in three basins of water, the mud monkey was cleaned and became a chubby little baby.
Wrap Pan'er in clean clothes and carry her to bed.
"Sit on the bed and wait for Mother to come back," Ye Yunniang instructed, then took the basin out to pour water.
Back in the room, Pan'er was struggling to dress herself.
When she got too small to tell the difference, she put her clothes on backwards. With her clothes tied to her body, she tripped over them. Pan'er ended up on her back, flapping her wings like a little turtle.
Ye Yunniang couldn't help but laugh, her mind flashing back to the image of Jiang Tingjun lying on his back during his first birthday celebration.
He walked over, took off Pan'er's clothes, put them on one by one, and finally put on her shoes.
Pan'er bounced twice on the ground, then grabbed Ye Yunniang's hand, "Mom, I'm hungry~"
"Pan'er, you're hungry. Mother will get you something to eat." Ye Yunniang went to the main room, opened the jujube cake she had bought, took out a piece and handed it to Pan'er. "Eat the jujube cake. Mother will comb your hair and then go cook. Mother will make you some meat, okay?"
"Okay, let's eat meat." Pan'er stuffed soft jujube cake into her mouth.
Ye Yunniang tied Pan'er's hair into two small pigtails pointing upwards, with long hair ties. Ye Yunniang skillfully braided the remaining hair tie into a small flower.
Cut a piece of pork belly to make braised pork, stir-fry some bean sprouts, cook a pot of rice, and drink the rice water as soup.
After the food was laid out, Ye Yunniang went to the backyard to call the busy Cai Damei to eat.
"Mom, dinner's ready."
"Oh." Cai Damei put down her work, took the cloth from Ye Yunniang to wipe her hands clean, and went back to the front hall to eat.
After the meal, Cai Damei was about to clear the dishes when Ye Yunniang stopped her.
"Mother, Pan'er is sleepy. Take him back to the room to rest. I'll clean up." Ye Yunniang said, stacking the bowls and plates together and carrying them to the washing station by the well.
To make it easier to wash vegetables and dishes, Cai Damei specially asked someone to build a stone platform next to the well.
A stone bench was placed next to the stone platform, so people could sit and wash vegetables and dishes, reducing the need to bend over.
After washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen, Ye Yunniang returned to her room and applied face cream to her hands.
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