Chapter 70: Rice Cake and Mung Bean Soup + Rice Cake Feeding
The joyful Zhang Qiaohua took Lin Shu to visit almost all the shops on the street. She was in a good mood and everything looked good to her. Even the shirtless, burly blacksmith in the blacksmith shop on the corner looked handsome in her eyes.
"We're still using a clay pot at home. Next time we go to the market, I'll replace it with a big iron pot!"
Lin Shu said, "If you want to buy it, Aunt San, why wait until next time? Buy it now and use it now. It's much more convenient to cook with this iron pot."
Zhang Qiaohua fell silent.
She was just being impulsive. An iron pot is very expensive. It would be better to save the money for Yu Shu to study.
Seeing her like this, Lin Shu asked hesitantly, "Aunt San, how much does a pot cost?"
She only knew from her mother that iron pots were expensive. The reason they were used at home was because Zhou Ye had brought a lot of iron lumps with him when he fled the famine. Those lumps of iron were inedible and heavy, so he carried them all the way with him, not letting anyone else get them for free. He kept them, along with himself.
Perhaps because he felt that his father and mother treated him well, when Zhou Ye came to the town to sell mountain products, he also used those iron lumps to make an iron pot, and then told his mother that it only cost him a small amount of money.
Lin Shu didn't know the exact price of a pot, but she knew iron was expensive these days, so she guessed it would be around three or four hundred wen. If it were cheap, not everyone in Tianshui Village would use a clay pot.
Unexpectedly, just as she was thinking this, her Third Aunt said, "It'll cost a hundred bucks to make an iron pot."
Lin Shu's eyes widened instantly.
How much? How much?
"I asked a long time ago," Zhang Qiaohua counted on her fingers. "I don't know about other places, but in Jingxi Town, a pound of pig iron alone costs 150 coins. A pot must weigh at least three or four pounds, and we have to add in the loss, so that's four or five pounds of pig iron. Then we have to pay the blacksmith, which is about 30% of the cost of the pig iron. If they're not honest, they'll even charge you for the firewood used to cast the iron. Ah Shu, do the math, isn't that a hundred yuan?"
Lin Shu: ...
An iron pot costs nearly one tael of silver. How can ordinary people afford it? In a poor family, such an iron pot can be regarded as a family heirloom!
Lin Shu didn't dare to persuade her aunt to buy an iron pot anymore. What's the difference between this and persuading others to spend a lot of money on luxury goods without any consideration?
As the two of them walked along the way, Lin Shu felt dry mouth and sweat on her forehead. The loose tea she drank the night before was no longer effective, and the bamboo tube of mountain spring water she brought with her was also finished early. She couldn't help but cast her eyes towards the drink stall on the street.
After going back and forth several times, Lin Shu had already remembered the shops in the town and what each shop sold.
There are no special drink shops in the town, but there are many small stalls selling drinks on the street, including tea, alcohol, and various soups.
Teahouses sell loose tea and tea cakes, but roadside stalls mostly sell herbal tea and medicinal tea.
As for wine, most of it is rice wine, which the locals call laozao.
There are many different types of soups. These soups are also called cold soups or boiled water. Mung bean soup is the most common and inexpensive. However, herbal soups, such as basil, bamboo leaves, and mint, are boiled in boiling water, sealed for a period of time, and then consumed.* These boiled water drinks, especially the basil drink, are much more expensive.
Then there is the flower soup, which is made with petals of osmanthus, plum blossoms and other flowers. It has an elegant aroma and is most loved by literati and poets.
After walking around for a while, Lin Shu only saw a shop selling herbal soup in the market.
And this drink stall actually sells perilla drink!
The perilla drink brewed by the stall owner did not look authentic, but he still priced it at fifteen cents a bowl.
You should know that the perilla drink in the capital is particularly famous. Her adoptive father and brother in the Marquis's Mansion always like this perilla drink the most. The authentic perilla drink is not only made with sugar and honey, but also chilled after it is made. A bowl can be sold at a high price of fifty cents!
Seeing her staring at the drinks at the drink stall, Zhang Qiaohua pulled her arm and tried to leave. "Those are herbal soups. They're very expensive. Only the rich people in town buy them."
Lin Shu smiled and said, "Aunt San, I'm just looking, not buying. Do you look like the kind of person who would spend money recklessly?"
Zhang Qiaohua thought to herself: You don't spend money recklessly, but you look like someone who would. Don't you see that the vendor is staring at us?
In the end, the two of them just found a small stall selling mung bean soup and each had a bowl of mung bean soup.
The cooled mung bean soup is refreshing and can relieve heat. If you drink it slowly, you can taste a hint of sweetness. It can be seen that sugar is added to it, but only a very small amount.
A bowl of mung bean soup costs only two cents, which is good value for money.
Lin Shu couldn't take the bowl of mung bean soup away, so she thought about it and asked the stall owner for another bowl. She poured the mung bean soup in the bowl into her own bamboo cup which had been empty for a long time.
"Ah Shu, what are you doing..."
Lin Shu said, "Aye's bamboo cup must be empty too. I'll bring him a bowl of mung bean soup."
Zhang Qiaohua smiled meaningfully after hearing this. "Ashu is a caring person, but Aye is not bad either. Without him, I wouldn't be able to have such a leisurely and happy time today."
Lin Shu coughed lightly and asked, "Auntie, would you like to bring a bowl back for cousin Yushu?"
Zhang Qiaohua's attention was diverted, and she immediately said, "I, as his mother, have already drunk a bowl, so how can I leave him out? Bring it to him! Wait, I didn't bring a bamboo tube, how can I take it back... Forget it, Yushu is unlucky, so he can just drink the water I brought. I brought plenty of water, so he won't be thirsty. If you hadn't hurriedly dragged me away, would Third Aunt have come back empty-handed with nothing?"
Lin Shu nodded, "That's right, it's all my fault that I was in a hurry to go to the teahouse to listen to the story, so I dragged Auntie along and ran away."
Zhang Qiaohua was amused by her.
After strolling around for a while, she didn't know how much time had passed, but the sun had set much further in the west, and Lin Shu estimated that it was almost 3 p.m.
When they returned to the shoe stall at the city gate, Lin Shu looked over and found that her cousin Yu Shu was nowhere to be found. Only Zhou Ye was left to watch the stall.
In front of the stall, a young woman was holding the woman's hand and buying shoes. To be more precise, it was the woman who was asking for the price, and the young woman would occasionally steal a glance at the man... Even if he was sitting on the ground, she could tell he was tall and strong.
Judging from the clothes these two people are wearing, they should be villagers from nearby villages who came to the market.
The middle-aged woman asked something with a smile, and Zhou Ye answered concisely. He was not cold, but his attitude was not warm either.
Before Lin Shu could say anything, Zhang Qiaohua's heart was already alarmed, and she pulled her and hurried to the shoe stall.
"Aye, thank you for helping Auntie take care of the shoe stall for so long. But Ah Shu and I are not just enjoying ourselves. Look at Ah Shu, she's thinking about your hard work and brought you a bowl of mung bean soup in her bamboo tube!"
After Zhang Qiaohua finished speaking, she gently pushed Lin Shu over.
Lin Shu: ...
No, Auntie, didn't you see that the woman was ready to pay? You'll lose a customer if you do this.
As expected, the woman who was smiling before turned her eyes to Lin Shu, and her smile faded. The young lady who was holding her arm changed her expression immediately.
"I suddenly remembered that I still have two pairs of straw sandals at home, so I won't buy them for now." The woman said hurriedly and left with the young lady.
Lin Shu didn't look at the two people who left, and handed the bamboo cup to Zhou Ye. "Here, I brought this for you. I put sugar in it. Drink it slowly and you can taste the sweetness."
Although Lin Shu didn't ask anything and her expression remained normal, Zhou Ye met Zhang Qiaohua's somewhat condemning look, as if he had done something wrong, and he instinctively felt that he should say something.
He pursed his chapped lips, took Lin Shu's bamboo cup, and poured the mung bean soup into his own. He took a few big gulps, then slowly savored it twice. It did have a subtle sweetness, which made him feel sweet inside.
Zhou Ye suddenly looked at Lin Shu and explained, "Those two people were from Dafu Village. They asked me for directions and who made my straw sandals and which village I was from. I answered what I could and didn't say anything else."
Lin Shu smiled and glanced at him. "Who asked you that? I saw that the pair of men's straw sandals are gone, and there's also one pair of women's shoes missing. Did you sell them?"
Zhou Ye felt strangely relieved. He hummed and said, "A vendor was packing up and leaving the city when I saw his straw sandals were torn. I asked him if he wanted to buy some, and he bought the big pair. I then casually mentioned that my sister-in-law would be happy that he had sold out his stock, and he hesitated for a moment before buying a pair of straw sandals with closed toes."
After saying this, Zhou Ye handed the seventy cents he earned from selling straw sandals to Zhang Qiaohua.
Zhang Qiaohua smiled and handed over seven copper coins. "I left in a hurry and didn't bring a single copper coin with me. Ah Shu paid for the tea and soup. It's seven copper coins in total. Please keep it for her."
Lin Shu quickly said, "Third Aunt, you are too polite. I can still afford a bowl of coarse tea and a bowl of mung bean soup."
Zhang Qiaohua insisted on giving it. "How can a younger person treat an elder? Next time, Third Aunt brings money to treat you. Just keep it. If I didn't know you have more, I would definitely not accept it. But just because you brought me good fortune today, Third Aunt will definitely give you a big red envelope!"
Seeing that she insisted, Lin Shu had no choice but to give up.
Zhou Ye then accepted the money, but he frowned slightly and asked, "Ah Shu, did you and Auntie San order some snacks when you were at the teahouse?"
"I only brought some small change. The snacks in the teahouse are ridiculously expensive, not worth it. Besides, I'm not hungry. By the way, Aye, do you want to know what the storyteller said?"
Zhou Ye looked at her for a moment, replied that he didn't want to, and then returned the shoe stall to Aunt San. "Aunt San, I asked Yu Shu to find a shady place to read. I'll go call him back."
Zhang Qiaohua was filled with gratitude when she heard this. "I thought he'd gone to the toilet, but I didn't expect... Ah Ye, Third Auntie will remember your kindness!"
Zhou Ye didn't think much of it. "It doesn't take two people to run a small stall like this."
After he left, Zhang Qiaohua said with emotion: "Aye is a great boy. Ah Shu, your blessings are all in the future!"
Lin Shu snorted, "Didn't Third Aunt say before that I was your lucky star? Since I am already a lucky star, why do I need others to give me blessings?"
Zhang Qiaohua heard this and said cheerfully, "You and Aye are both lucky stars!"
Zhou Ye returned quickly, not only bringing Lin Yushu with him, but also an oil-paper bag and two skewers of steamed buns. The reason they were called skewers was because two bamboo chopsticks each held three buns, each in his hand.
Lin Yushu followed behind him, holding a book in one hand and pinching two steamed buns in the other.
Zhou Ye handed a bunch of steamed buns to Zhang Qiaohua, "I bought some steamed buns, Aunt San, you can take two too."
Lin Yushu said with a helpless smile: "Mother, Brother Aye insisted on forcing me to have two children."
Zhang Qiaohua was upset that she was a step late. She had originally planned to wait for Lin Yushu to come back, so she took out some money and secretly went out to buy some food. But she never expected that A Ye, the younger generation, would get there first.
She quickly declined, "Forget about the two steamed buns you forced on Yushu. I don't want them. Third Aunt brought some dry food, so there's plenty left."
Zhou Ye then took the steamed bun back and explained, "Ashu and I had breakfast early."
After saying that, he handed the oil-paper bag he was holding to Lin Shu, "I bought two pieces of glutinous rice cakes. You can fill your stomach. If you don't have enough, I still have steamed buns here."
Lin Shu blinked and realized that her stomach had actually been empty for a long time, but she was used to the feeling of hunger in her previous life, so she didn't find it unbearable.
When the oil paper was opened, two pieces of golden fried rice cakes were revealed, sprinkled with a few sugar and sesame seeds. Just looking at them made one's appetite grow.
Lin Shu's eyes curved with laughter, and without asking Zhou Ye how much it cost, she picked up a piece and started eating.
The skin is crispy and the inside is soft and glutinous, delicious!
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The author has something to say: *The recipe for the fragrant medicinal soup comes from the Internet.
ps: Please give me some nutrient solution. If there is more, I might land and update more~
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