She frantically tried to pick them up.
Uncle Lu swayed unsteadily, but his face was beaming. "Ah Mian, I've found you a great marriage!"
Lu Amian remained silent. There had been many misunderstandings between her and her father due to past events. The deepest reason was that during the days when her mother was ill, she wanted to take her mother to town for treatment, but her parents were unwilling to go. Naturally, they were afraid of losing both their mother and their money, and that if the mother was not cured, their family fortune would also be gone.
Her mother said she wouldn't go because she was considerate of the family; her father also said he wouldn't go, but Lu Amian couldn't get over this hurdle in her heart.
She slipped into the room and saw a familiar small open space with a stone millstone in front of her.
Originally, Amian's family was considered well-off in the village. They had built three large houses and even bought a donkey. She was only three years old at the time.
In my memory, my parents were still young then. They were down-to-earth and hardworking. My father was the most diligent farmer in the area, cultivating the family land very well and reclaiming wasteland in his spare time.
They would also place her at the bow of the boat, with a large straw hat on her head, as she swayed and fished in the small lake.
Her mother, on the other hand, was a family heirloom tofu seller, quite well-known in town. Every day before dawn, one could smell the faint beany aroma of ground soybeans.
Who could have imagined that such a thriving little family would fall apart in just ten years?
Lu Amian was definitely unwilling to be sold to a family whose background she knew nothing about.
Father Lu didn't think much of it. His daughter, A-Mian, had always been as gentle as tofu, and she had never talked back to him. He scratched his head, happily took his wine jug, and went to the village entrance to watch people play cards.
That night, he got drunk and couldn't find his way home, so he simply slept under a tree.
However, Ah Mian, who was home alone, did something big.
After dinner, Zhang Yixing quietly came over again and muttered through the wall, "A-Mian, that family has a bad reputation. Not only are they not harmonious, but the brothers also separated their households early on. That man is big, and I heard he almost beat someone to death before. If you really marry into that family, you'll suffer... He's probably a terrible husband!"
He straightened his collar and cleared his throat. "I mentioned it to my mother, but the adults think it was all a joke before. No matter how much I try to subtly hint at it, it's probably useless. Right now, I can only think of one way. Listen to it..."
There are always noises from the other side of the wall, like flowing water and pattering sounds.
Zhang Yixing let out a breath and finally blurted out all the words that had been pent up in his heart: "I think, if... if we make it a fait accompli, my family naturally won't be able to say anything! They'll definitely marry you! And Uncle Lu won't be able to stop it! Lu Amian, if you're willing, I will definitely take responsibility for you!"
He mustered his courage to finish speaking, his face burning hot, but he didn't hear a single reply.
Zhang Yixing simply stepped on the bricks and climbed to the top of the wall.
Looking down, he was furious – the yard was empty except for that stupid donkey with a cloth over its eyes, happily pulling the millstone!
He was extremely frustrated when he saw Ah Mian run out of the kitchen, carrying a wooden bucket for grinding pulp.
What kind of time is this to be making tofu here!
Lu Amian was busy as a bee, filling a bucket and then rushing to boil the soy milk. She liked to add some pine and cypress wood to the firewood for boiling the soy milk, so that the resulting tofu would not only have the aroma of soybeans but also a faint smoky flavor. Moreover, her family had a large pot that needed to be stirred constantly while boiling to prevent it from burning.
"Hey! What are you making tofu for now?"
When A-Mian heard this, she noticed Zhang Yixing, who was perched on the wall with his face as red as a monkey's bottom. Instead of answering, she asked, "What are you doing here? Don't you need to study?"
"I..." A young person only has one chance to "come and see how you are doing."
“It’s alright. My dad thinks he’ll make money by selling me, but I can actually make money selling tofu, so he’ll let me stay at home.” Lu Amian was as busy as a little bee.
"Huh? You...you're going to go to town alone, a girl, to sell tofu?!"
Lu Amian nodded, "Yes."
"Are you crazy! How can an unmarried girl like you go out and show your face in public! Besides, what do you know about doing business? You're just being naive and delusional!" Zhang Yixing was furious. He should have known better than to come and do this good deed. Lu Amian and her donkey were both incredibly stupid!
He was furious and determined to watch her suffer a major setback.
They might get robbed on the street!
Lu Amian ignored him. She used to think of him as a nice neighborly older brother, but now she felt that his family was untrustworthy. If it was really a joke, he shouldn't have secretly held her hand in the past.
On the other hand, she didn't quite understand the words he used and didn't know what "daydreaming" meant.
She focused intently on her work, and then it came to a crucial step—adding the paste.
Lu Amian brought out an old jar containing her family's ancestral brine, added it to the cooked soy milk, and gently stirred it evenly.
While waiting, she went to prepare the dipping sauce.
The scallions and ginger were readily available in the backyard vegetable garden, and she also picked a few dogwood berries from the backyard, crushed them, and poured the juice into a small bowl. Then she methodically added some salt and soy sauce, and poured a small spoonful of hot oil on top.
Zhang Yixing, who had already eaten dinner, sniffed hard and then quickly curled his lip in disdain.
"The tofu pudding is ready!" Ah Mian lifted the lid, and steam billowed out. She scooped out a large piece of white tofu pudding into a bowl, and then put the rest into several wooden frames, pressing them down with heavy wooden boards. This way, tofu could be made.
Aside from some fruit she picked from the tree, she hadn't had any proper food all day, and her stomach was growling loudly with hunger.
Refined rice and white flour—these were naturally unavailable in the house. However, Ah Mian still had a way of cooking them. She could cook a pot of sweet potato rice by cooking sweet potatoes and brown rice together.
Furthermore, they were very extravagant to cook dry rice.
She shoveled the bowl full—she was going to town to sell tofu the next day, and she needed to eat well before she could work all day. The tofu pudding was soft and fluffy, unlike the stiff, fully formed tofu. She picked up a piece and dipped it in the sauce, and immediately every pore was infused with flavor.
Ah Mian was in a hurry, and almost burned the tip of her tongue with her first bite, so she had to keep breathing to calm herself down.
Then she learned her lesson and, while blowing on the tofu, quickly picked up pieces of tofu pudding, eating it with sweet potato rice until her belly was round and her eyes were squinting with enjoyment.
"It's just a bowl of tofu pudding..." Zhang Yixing's eyes were envious. This stuff is obviously very cheap, costing only five or six coins a bowl outside.
Lu Amian couldn't hear his babbling, so she dipped the remaining tofu in the sauce, mixed it with the last mouthful of rice at the bottom of the bowl, and ate it all up.
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