Liang Shuyan brought the children out and said in a low voice, "Mother has come up with a plan. Right now is the perfect time to sell cold noodles, but we don't have enough potatoes at home. So, I've decided to have every household in the village bring out their potatoes, wash them, slice them, and buy them for two coins per pound. Erniu, you're in charge of spreading this news!"
Sanwang blinked and said, "Mom, what should I make? Now that my older brother isn't here, are we still going to make steamed buns?"
"No need, you can go with your second brother and be in charge of purchasing potato chips!"
"Second son, you're in charge of grinding the ingredients and steaming it!"
"Eldest son, come with me to the mountains to get some wild game. When we get back, we'll make vegetable pancakes. After the mountains are gone, we won't make steamed buns anymore; we'll make vegetable pancakes instead!"
When Zhao learned that Liang Shuyan wanted to buy potato chips, she frowned and said, "This woman actually has money to buy this filthy stuff. Could it be that this shiny jelly is made from this stuff?"
Zhao had her own plan in mind. She said to Chunyan, "Chunyan, go to your aunt's house and take these dried potato slices there. But you have to find a way to keep them. No matter what, try to see how your aunt makes this jelly, understand?"
Chunyan was a little confused: "Mom, do you want me to be the bad guy? I, I won't go. What if Auntie finds out? She won't give me any good food anymore. I'm not going!"
Zhao slapped him across the face: "Oh dear, you blockhead! Why can't you see that? If our family could make jelly, we could set up a stall. With money, what kind of delicious food wouldn't we have?"
Chunyan was a chubby little girl who loved to eat and was the least popular among the children in the family. Zhao had always wanted to have a son, but unfortunately, her belly just wouldn't cooperate.
"Really? Mom, I'll go as long as you promise to buy me something delicious."
Overjoyed, Zhao took down some potato chips that were drying on her roof and handed them to Chunyan: "Go, do as I say, you must learn it. As long as we learn this skill, we can earn money like your aunt, and then our family will be rich!"
Zhao was lost in her daydreams when she saw Jin Wang come in. She said with a dark face, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and tidy up. See how many potatoes are in the cellar, dig them all up, wash them and dry them!"
Jin Wang, however, crossed his arms and said listlessly, "Stop dreaming. If it were really possible to make money, do you think that woman would give up such a good thing to everyone? It must be that the cold noodle business is out of ingredients, so she's just asking the whole village to help her find them. You stupid woman!"
Chunyan, carrying a bamboo basket and wearing a patched and tattered shirt, cautiously arrived at Liang Shuyan's door and squatted down to observe what was happening.
Sanwang returned carrying a hoe with a basket on it, filled with wild vegetables. He was curious about Chunyan when he saw her.
"Hey, Chunyan, what are you doing sneaking around my door?"
Startled, Chunyan stumbled and fell to the ground, spilling the potato chips from her basket.
"Oh, I see. You're here to sell potato chips? With just a few of these, less than a pound, how much can you make?"
Chunyan pouted and grabbed Sanwang's sleeve: "Brother Sanwang, please plead with the aunt and let me stay and help her!"
"Alright, stop playing dumb with me. You just see we have food at home now and want to come over for a free meal, right?"
Sanwang, of course, had no idea why Chunyan had come. His guess was just a wild guess based on his own feelings!
Li Lanfang put down her work and came out of the house.
"Chunyan, what brings you to my house?"
Chunyan looked up and saw that it was the old lady. The eldest uncle grabbed the old lady's legs and cried for the first time ever: "Grandma, please, let me stay and help Auntie. I really don't want to go back. My mother is going to sell me to that bachelor."
"You shameless whore, your mother is incompetent and can't even give birth to a son. Now she can't even tolerate these two girls. Get up and go back to get your father here!"
Chunyan thought to herself that if she earned money, she would have good food, so she continued to lie: "Grandma, my father can't control my mother, please, let Chunyan stay."
The old lady tapped her cane: "I can't make the decision on this matter yet. We'll talk about it when your aunt comes back."
As they were talking, Liang Shuyan and Zhang Shi entered one after the other!
Chunyan immediately stood up and walked towards Liang Shuyan. Without feeling any pain, she knelt down on the ground and said, "Auntie, please let me stay. My mother is going to sell me to a bachelor."
A thought suddenly occurred to Liang Shuyan: "This is not right. We just notified everyone to collect potato chips from each household, and in the blink of an eye, Chunyan has done this. Could it be that this woman is up to something? Oh well, since Zhao is so willing, why not grant her wish?"
“Chunyan, get up first and listen to me. We have quite a few people working in our family now, but I still need to think about your mother’s plan to sell you to a bachelor. Since you’re here, you have to do things according to my rules. First of all, you have to do all the hard work inside and outside our house. If you don’t finish the work, you won’t get any food, and you’ll have to sleep outside at night.”
Liang Shuyan just wanted to test Chunyan and see if these demands would scare her away!
"Auntie, Chunyan is willing! As long as you cook and take Chunyan with you!"
Upon hearing this, Liang Shuyan instantly sobered up: "Could it be that this second son's wife just wants to find a reason to make Chunyan learn how to make liangfen (cold mung bean jelly) from her?"
"Okay! You can stay if you want. From now on, you'll work as a laborer in my house for free for a month. If you can stick to it, I'll let you stay."
One day, Chunyan pouted and said, "Auntie? A month? Isn't that too long?"
"Okay, if you think it's taking too long, then go back. Anyway, we have plenty of people to help with the work."
Helpless, Chunyan had no choice but to agree first, and then find an opportunity to please the aunt, hoping that she might get a chance.
"Auntie, I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Zhang went back to the kitchen and whispered to Liu, "You know, Chunyan from Second Aunt's family rarely comes to our house, but this time she's staying. Isn't that strange?"
Liu clicked her tongue: "Oh dear, sister-in-law, why don't you think about this? Of all times, Chunyan has to stay in our house. It must be her mother who instigated her. Now that we're making money from cold noodles, she must be trying to steal our recipe!"
"Yes, how could I not have thought of something so important? No, I must tell Mother about this!"
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