Chapter 48: The King of Vegetables

"Brother, now that I have a name, can I not learn it anymore?"

Xiao Yuanzi's words successfully made his elder brother's face darken.

"It's only the first time to learn today, and you don't want to go?! Who was it that just kept praising the master? The master is so amazing, why don't you learn from him?"

Lian Yue's voice was a little loud, and Xiao Yuanzi was so scared that she shrank her neck and dared not say anything.

"Why don't you want to go?"

"Because, because, because the teacher is so amazing, I can't understand what he wrote..."

Lian Yue: “…”

Silly brother, you should learn only if you don’t understand.

"You will learn it after a few more studies. Just imagine that in the future, when Maomao and the others cannot read and you are the only one who can read, people will praise you when they talk about Feng Ge, saying how great Feng Ge is."

…………

"Okay, fine. I'll learn more."

Because Feng Ge is so powerful, he can hold on a little longer.

The two brothers returned home happily. Over there, the Yin family had almost finished their meal and started to divide the money.

Yin Huaixi went out alone to sell snail meat today, saving a few cents on round trip fare. The owner of the porridge shop tasted the benefits and accepted the goods as soon as they were taken.

"This time I'll pay you by the whole jar. Two jars are 120 coins. Next time I'll pay you by the kilogram."

Yin Huaixi counted out forty-three coins and gave them to his sister-in-law, which was half of his net earnings for the day.

Song Wenhui put the money in her arms like a treasure. Together with the money she earned last time, she had almost a hundred coins.

One hundred coins could buy nearly 20 kilograms of corn, which could be eaten at home for several days.

It feels so good to make money on your own.

"Little sister, can you take me with you when you go to deliver the snail meat tomorrow?"

Yin Huaixi uttered "Ah" (second tone) and looked at her in confusion. Her sister-in-law used to like staying in the backyard and didn't like to go out unless she had to when she came to the village. Now she actually took the initiative to ask her to go out.

It's a bit surprising.

Yin Huaishan didn't understand either.

"What are you going to do, Hui Niang? Sister Luorou can be taken out by herself. If you bring more people, you will have to pay an extra two cents for the boat fare."

"I want to go out with my little sister to get familiar with the road and see what's going on outside. What if a patient suddenly comes to see my little sister? Who will deliver the snail meat? You can't move, so are you going to let the two children go?"

That’s right, we can’t let the children go to send them off.

Yin Huaishan was convinced by his wife's reason. Yin Huaixi opened his mouth, thought for a while, and said nothing. It was a good thing that his sister-in-law wanted to go out and see the world.

No matter how sensible and capable my daughter is in my eyes, she is just a twelve-year-old girl here. There are still many things that adults have to do.

So it was settled.

"By the way, big brother, the village chief said he would come to discuss it with you tomorrow. Have you decided whether to take the dowry or the monthly salary?"

"This……"

Yin Huaishan was entangled.

He felt reluctant to accept the dowry or the monthly allowance. People in a small fishing village had little money and lived a tight life.

But if he doesn't take it, he can't work for nothing. After all, he has to make a living.

I can't always rely on my younger sister to support the family.

well……

I want to be noble, but I can't be.

"I will ask the village chief tomorrow to find out how much the monthly salary and the tuition are."

Yin Huaixi nodded without asking any more questions. After talking with her brother and sister-in-law for a while, she took the two children back to the small stone house.

Recently, the family bought oil lamps, and no one went to bed early anymore. The lights were on at home, Yin Huaixi was sorting out her own bottles and jars, and Jiang Wan was sitting next to her cousin, watching her embroider a handkerchief.

Originally, she did not recommend turning on lights to do embroidery at night because it would really hurt your eyes.

But there was only a little bit of embroidery left on my cousin's handkerchief, and she wanted to finish it before dawn so that the adults could take it to the city to have it priced. That's why she lit the lamp and worked hard.

Jiang Wan was sitting nearby and watching. The entire red carp on the handkerchief had been embroidered. It was playing among the lotus leaves, looking cute and lively.

Even though she knows nothing about embroidery, she can see that her cousin's embroidery is very delicate and she thinks it will fetch a good price.

"Cousin, do you have any idea about the price of this handkerchief? What is your price range?"

Yin Ning paused, and a lot of prices popped up in his mind, but she rejected them one by one. After a while, he tentatively said, "How do you think about twenty cents?"

Jiang Wan: ???

"What are you talking about, cousin? This handkerchief costs twenty cents? You only want so little money for such exquisite embroidery?"

"Twenty cents is a lot. It can buy three or four catties of corn and some meat."

Having learned a lot about prices recently, Yin Ning, the former eldest daughter, finally realized that her life in the past was really too extravagant.

In the past, she had to make one or two new sets of clothes a month, each set costing several dozen taels of silver. She also had to buy books, paintings, and writing brushes, which cost hundreds of taels of silver. The rewards she gave to her maids were at least a few taels of silver.

But here, Auntie has to sell snail meat several times to earn that much money.

The money here is spent penny by penny. My mother can earn more than 40 pennies from selling snail meat at home. If she can make 20 pennies by embroidering a handkerchief in two days, she will be content with earning 200 to 300 pennies a month.

"Cousin, you have to have confidence in your embroidery. We can be bolder."

Although the fishing village is full of poor people, there are many rich people in the city. She thinks it is worth talking about if such a handkerchief can be sold for hundreds of coins.

But then again, are my mother and aunt the kind of people who would bargain?

She still remembers the last time she sold fish. A-niang didn't have a chance to show her talent. My aunt doesn't look like someone who would bargain. I'm really worried.

Jiang Wan wanted to go along.

But if she went, she couldn't leave her cousin at home. It would cost eight cents more for a round trip, which was a bit painful, so she gave up.

Let's leave the selling to my mother and aunt. I hope they can bring back good news tomorrow.

The next morning, the whole family got up early and started working.

The snail meat is fresher when cooked now, and the juice needs to soak for a while to be flavorful.

Lian Yue sent a lot of conchs yesterday, so today there was more than half a jar of conch meat. Because I thought the old village chief would come soon, I didn't sell the half jar, but kept it for entertaining guests and eating at home.

I thought the first person to come to my house today would be the old village chief, but it turned out to be Xiao Manniang who came first.

She came to deliver vegetables and eggs, mainly to express her apology, because her second sister-in-law said a lot of bad things about Yin Huaixi in the village, which was quite unpleasant to hear.

Yin Huaixi didn't blame her, so she couldn't take the things back. In the end, she only returned the eggs after much tugging, leaving a small pile of okra lying alone on the ground.

Image source: Internet

Jiang Wan's eyes lit up.

Okra! The king of vegetables.

The reason why it is called the best is not because of its taste but its nutritional value. She doesn't remember exactly how good it is, but she only remembers that her mother particularly likes to buy it and eat it.

But okra secretes a lot of mucus, which is sticky like snot, and tastes slippery and weird. She has never really liked it, and it is mostly eaten by her mother.

My favorite is okra cooked with oyster sauce. Here...

Um?!

Oyster sauce!!

Oh my god, how could she forget the oyster sauce! !