Chapter 37 Yes, I can eat ten pieces
Xu Yu walked over and was about to take over, but Sang Zhixia glanced at him with disdain.
"Go wash your hands first."
It's so muddy that you can't eat it.
Xu Yu said calmly, "Leave it alone and let me handle it later."
Sang Zhixia didn't want to refuse anyway, so she nodded obediently: "Okay, then I'll go prepare something else first."
Xu Minghui didn't care about being bored, and said to the old man very naturally: "Grandpa, the amount burned today is a little more. I will watch over it tonight, and it will probably be collected at noon tomorrow."
The old man said nonchalantly, "It won't be a problem to collect it tomorrow. We'll weigh it once we've collected it and see how much we can earn in a day."
Aunt Xu immediately perked up when she mentioned this: "We weighed the firewood before we went into the charcoal pit. We burned a total of 400 kilograms of firewood today. When the time comes, we can dig it out and weigh the charcoal briquettes. We can roughly estimate the yield."
By roughly estimating the conversion rate of firewood and charcoal blocks, and then estimating the price at which they can be sold, you can get an approximate daily income.
Aunt Xu, thinking about how she could exchange black charcoal for shiny silver, couldn't contain her excitement and said, "I also paid close attention to the charcoal I burned yesterday. Although they were all burned together in the pit, the quality of the charcoal they burned was actually different because of the different woods."
She said eagerly, "Grandpa, I don't think we can sell all the charcoal in one bag. We could just separate the best charcoal and sort it into first, second, and third grades based on appearance. This would save us the trouble of sorting, but the final price would be different, so a little extra profit would be a good thing!"
After saying this, Sang Zhixia couldn't help but look at her, with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
The old man also looked thoughtful.
It’s worthy of the family tradition.
People who come from business families can also be one step ahead of others when it comes to running small businesses.
The old man thought for a moment and said, "What you said is quite right, but it will take more effort for the people at home to sort out the good and bad charcoal."
Second Aunt Xu said eagerly, "What's the big deal? I've already put in so much effort, so I don't care about such a small amount. As long as..."
"Have you said enough?"
A dissatisfied rebuke was heard in the harmonious and friendly negotiation atmosphere, and Aunt Xu was suddenly met with Uncle Xu's gloomy face.
She shrank her neck in dismay and dared not say another word.
Uncle Xu couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Look at you, you're obsessed with money!"
"Do you still think you're in your mother's family, stinking of money? You're willing to rack your brains for half a copper penny. Do you even look like the mistress of the second house?!"
Because Aunt Xu came from a merchant family, she could never hold her head up in front of Uncle Xu. Now, after finally finding something she was good at among countless insults, she was blocked by the person closest to her.
The joy on her face turned into frustration. Xu Minghui didn't want to offend his father, so he moved his lips but didn't say anything more.
The others seemed to be accustomed to this scene and were too lazy to interrupt, but Sang Zhixia couldn't stand it anymore.
What's wrong with making money?
When did making money to survive become shameful?
She touched Xu Mingyang's trembling body, frightened by his father's sudden roar, and said indifferently, "Second Uncle, what you said is true. Who wouldn't rack their brains to survive and make money?"
"Second Aunt has put so much thought into the family's livelihood, and all the credit and hard work goes to her. As the mistress of the second house, she has done her duty conscientiously and has never let anyone down."
If you don't have the ability to earn enough money to let your wife and children at home enjoy themselves, then don't enjoy the sweat of others. Instead, stand here and complain about their embarrassing way of making money.
What qualifications do you have to say this?
Aunt Xu didn't expect that she would speak up for her. She was stunned for a moment and her eyes turned red.
Xu Yu wiped the water off his hands and said calmly, "Second Aunt has been working hard lately."
"Speaking of which, Second Uncle also put in a lot of effort when he was chopping wood in the mountains. Second Aunt just wanted to get more compensation for your hard work so that your hard work wouldn't be in vain. Second Uncle doesn't appreciate it, so what's the point of saying such sarcastic things?"
The couple were the first to fire the first shot, and Aunt Xu San, who had been dissatisfied with Uncle Xu Er for a long time, could not help it.
She handed the clean handkerchief to her second sister-in-law, whom she had always disliked, and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Yes, if it weren't for your hard work and advice, a hundred pounds of firewood would only be worth five copper coins. My second brother would have spent a whole day in the mountains chopping wood, panting like an ox, and only earned a few copper coins. So who is more noble?"
Uncle Xu habitually vented his useless anger on his wife, whom he had belittled.
He never imagined that today's outburst would eventually make him the target of public criticism.
Seeing his face turning purple and about to say something even more outrageous, the old lady said with a dark face, "That's enough."
"Second brother, I think you are tired and confused. If you have nothing to do, go inside and rest. Stop yelling here."
The old man's silence was clearly a sign of his dissatisfaction with him. If the topic continued to ferment, this cunning man might even get a slap in the face.
Uncle Xu slammed the door in anger and walked into the west room. He looked at Xu Wenxiu, who had been afraid to interrupt, and walked to the side of his second brother's wife who was struggling to hold back tears.
She handed Aunt Xu a bowl of water and sighed, "I don't know much about business, but I think your idea just now is a good one."
"How about this? You teach me tomorrow, and I'll sort the coal while I'm home watching the kids. I'll make as much money as I can."
The old lady also said: "You have good intentions, just do as you say."
Second Aunt Xu had been married into the Xu family for many years and had been despised and disdained by everyone, and had only been treated with contempt and humiliation.
She had never imagined that one day she would be treated like this, so she choked back her tears and said with her head down, "Okay, I understand."
She was in a bad mood, and others didn't say much when they saw it.
After all, when a couple quarrels, you can't stand it if you say anything, and it will affect the harmony.
Sang Zhixia whispered to Xu Yu the steps of grinding the mill, then took a small stone mortar and began to grind the collected dried osmanthus flowers.
The osmanthus flowers that had been dried and curled by the sun were pounded into fine powder in the stone mortar. Xu Yu also started working by pulling the handle of the stone mill with one hand.
People with more strength can do it faster.
After a while, the large bowl at the mouth of the stone mill was filled with ground rice noodles, and Xu Yanran carefully took it over.
"Sister-in-law, do you think this is okay?"
Sang Zhixia looked up and said in surprise, "This is amazing."
Xu Yu relied on his strength to grind it twice more. The rice noodles in the bowl were so fine that they were no different from those made by a machine.
She smiled as she mixed two large bowls of rice noodles together. Xu Yu came over and asked curiously, "Aren't these two different?"
"One is glutinous rice flour and the other is rice flour, so of course they are different."
While talking, she successfully mixed the two kinds of rice flour evenly, estimated the amount and added some syrup she had prepared, and then carefully added water to the flour.
In the past, she would knead anything flour-related into a smooth dough, but today, after spending a long time kneading the rice flour in the basin, the texture was still very loose.
Xu Yu instinctively reached for a scoop of water: "Add some more?"
"That's enough."
Sang Zhixia used her hands to feel the state of the rice noodles most intuitively and said, "Yanran, help me get that small bamboo sieve."
Xu Yanran had already prepared what she wanted, and ran towards this side with her hands full.
"Sister-in-law gives it to you."
Sang Zhixia sat on the small stool brought by Xu Mingyang and began to perform operations that Xu Yu could not understand.
She put the kneaded rice flour back into the bamboo sieve and used her hands to sift the rice flour onto the gauze spread at the bottom.
All the small clumps in the sifted rice flour were crushed again, forming small peaks as white as snow.
Sang Zhixia took the washed and dried steamer, pulled the four corners of the gauze and put all the rice noodles in the steamer, then boiled water and went to the stove.
“Mission accomplished!”
Xu Mingxu, who was looking over, swallowed greedily and said expectantly, "Is the cake ready?"
Sang Zhixia smiled and said, "Yes, we'll be able to eat sweet osmanthus cake soon. How many pieces would you like, Xiao Mingxu?"
Xu Mingxu was a cautious man. He immediately raised his palm and said confidently, "Five dollars!"
"I can eat five!"
"You can't eat five pieces."
Xu Wenxiu pointed at his belly, feeling both amused and helpless, and jokingly said, "You've eaten too much and your belly is bloated. Can you eat a few less pieces?"
Xu Mingxu frowned in confusion, hugged Sang Zhixia's thigh and said eagerly, "Then I won't eat so much."
"But big brother can eat it!"
He pointed at Xu Yu and said proudly, "Big brother is an adult now. He can eat five...ten pieces!"
"Big brother can eat!"
Xu Jinxi probably understood the meaning of "can eat" and yelled at her eldest brother: "Big Pot Seven!"
Xu Yu was given such an important task without any warning. Looking at Sang Zhixia's mouth twitching from trying to hold back a laugh, he said expressionlessly, "Yes, I can eat ten pieces."
Come on, it’s better to bring the pot as well.
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