Most of the households in the village came to sell sweet potato flour, and Cheng Yue and her friends weighed it until dark before they were done.
Of course, the scale not working properly is also part of the reason.
The group thanked Cheng Yue repeatedly, took the money, and happily went down the mountain together, occasionally discussing the embarrassing incident that Zhao had made that day.
Cheng Yue was carrying the pile of sweet potato flour from the yard into the house.
The villagers eat sweet potato flour as their staple food. Each household can only sell a small amount, but the whole village has about 6,000 jin (3,000 kg) of it.
There's so much sweet potato flour, and we only have three rooms in the house, it definitely won't fit, unless we put it in a storage space.
But Chen Lin, Chen Tong, and Chen Ning were all watching, so she couldn't very well perform magic tricks under their noses.
After thinking about it, Cheng Yue decided that she could only put half of it into her space for now.
"Xiaolin, Xiaotong, Xiaoning, there's too much sweet potato flour. The kitchen definitely won't be able to hold it all. You take the small bags to your rooms, and I'll carry the rest."
Cheng Yue bought all the bags herself. Because she needed too many, she couldn't make them all at once, so she bought some of all sizes.
The large ones can hold fifty pounds, and the small ones can hold twenty or thirty pounds.
Nowadays, grain is stored in burlap sacks. Although they are not worth much, they are still considered family property. When someone sells grain, they certainly can't give away the sacks.
The three siblings looked at the pile of sweet potato flour in the yard, then at the kitchen, and without thinking twice, they got to work.
Chen Lin was a young boy, and he had been eating well these past few days, so he could easily carry a bag in each hand.
Although Chen Tong and Chen Ning are young, they are used to farm work and are quite strong, able to carry bags weighing twenty or thirty pounds with ease.
As soon as the three children left, Cheng Yue threw ten bags into her spatial storage, then ran to the room to pile them up.
Chen An, watching from the side, was used to it and remained calm.
Chen Lin and the others blinked, thinking they were seeing things. Had their mother moved things so quickly? How could so many things have disappeared all of a sudden?
When they came out after carrying the sweet potato flour into the house, they were dumbfounded. There were clearly several bags of it just now. "Mom, how come all the sweet potato flour is gone?"
Cheng Yue remained calm and composed. "Your mother is just like your maternal grandmother, very strong. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. You all rest for a while, and we'll prepare dinner in a bit."
After a busy afternoon, my stomach was so empty.
Chen Tong and Chen Ning also went into the kitchen to help, and Cheng Yue no longer chased them away.
She kept everything she needed for cooking in the stove and cabinets; there was nothing to hide.
Chen Tong washed the vegetables, Chen Ning tended the fire, and two children helped out. Cheng Yue only had to chop and stir-fry the vegetables, and in no time she had prepared two dishes and a soup.
A dish of stir-fried pickled vegetables with pork, a dish of stir-fried bok choy, a bowl of tomato and egg soup, and some leftover braised pork—that's enough for the whole family.
The main dish was white rice porridge, topped with several large steamed buns, all prepared at noon and ready to eat after being heated up.
Cheng Yue's family was enjoying their meal, while Zhao Shi and Li Manying were also eating, though their meal wasn't as harmonious.
"Look at what you've made!" Zhao frowned as she turned the dishes in front of her with her chopsticks, becoming increasingly displeased with Li Manying.
She came back today after spitting out her tongue, and Li Manying just pretended not to see it? She has to beg and plead three or four times to cook a meal, it's really outrageous.
She couldn't even cook properly; the food tasted bitter and was inedible. She even suspected that Li Manying had feces on her hands.
Otherwise, why is it that his cooking is not as good as his second son's wife's?
Li Manying took a bite of the coarse flour steamed bun and pouted, "This is just a small green vegetable, with no oil or fat. How can it be delicious?"
"If Mother wants something nice to eat, she should take out the money and buy some meat! Or, eggs will do."
The family's grain was locked in a cupboard in the bedroom by Zhao, and every time she cooked, she would give Li Manying a fixed amount of rice and flour.
Zhao kept a close watch on the eggs, wishing she could touch the chickens' rear ends every day, and secretly lock them away after collecting the eggs.
My family wasn't exactly poor, yet we couldn't even afford eggs. I was afraid people would laugh at me if I told them.
You're so stingy, yet you complain about her cooking?
Since Zhao wouldn't contribute any money, she wouldn't be a sucker to buy meat. At worst, they would eat coarse food together. In any case, she was determined not to suffer any loss.
"You think you can even dream of my silver and eggs? They're all meant for my two precious grandsons. You stupid thing, do you even deserve to be a mother? How dare you fight with your own son for things!"
"You and your second son's family are just as stupid as can be. You unfilial brat, you let outsiders make money but don't give any to your old mother. You really can't tell right from wrong!"
"Those two brats can't take care of them in their old age, what right do they have to wear new clothes? They'll just end up benefiting someone else anyway, and I'll be waiting for that idiot to have nowhere to cry!"
Zhao was initially cursing Li Manying, but as she continued cursing, she remembered the humiliation she had suffered at Chen An's place that day, so she turned her attention to cursing Chen An instead, and became more and more enraged as she cursed.
Compared to Li Manying, she was even angrier at Chen An, who had been related to his useless father since childhood and was nothing like her.
If I had known he would be so unfilial, I should have strangled him when he was born.
When they separated the family property, she told him not to give her any gifts, and he really didn't. She didn't get any new clothes, and she didn't even get a share of the grain she exchanged for money. It really made her furious!
Li Manying immediately grasped the key point and stopped arguing with Zhao Shi, asking, "Mother, you just said that the second son and the others gave money to outsiders, what's going on?"
Zhao let out a breath of stale air and said irritably, "I told you to go and find out, but you wouldn't. Now that I've found out, you're asking questions instead, just to show off how smart you are!"
Li Manying smiled obsequiously and said, "Oh, Mother, you know I'm stupid. What could I possibly find out? The old fox is the wisest; this is something only you can handle."
My mother-in-law came back today with her lips chapped and looking disheveled; she clearly suffered a loss. She was even glad she hadn't gone.
Now it seems there's more to the story. How did the second son's family give money to others? I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep at night until I find out.
Zhao glanced at Li Manying, who at least had some self-awareness, and snorted:
"What else could it be? The second son's family is a bunch of brainless fools. All they do after getting their share of the money is buy new clothes. They've almost squandered it all. While they still have some left, they should hurry and buy sweet potato flour all over the village!"
Li Manying found something amiss. The second son's family had received ten taels of silver; how could they have spent it all on a few bolts of cloth?
They even bought sweet potato flour all over the village. How many kilograms would that be if the whole village bought it? Who in their right mind would buy so much sweet potato flour to stock up on?
"The second son and his wife aren't stupid. Why would they buy so much sweet potato flour to eat for no reason? Who eats sweet potato flour every day?"
"Mother, are you sure you haven't found out the truth? This matter might not be that simple!"
Just as Zhao was about to lash out, she realized that Li Manying was right. Half the village had gone to the second son's house to sell sweet potato flour, which would probably amount to several thousand kilograms.
Why are they hoarding so much grain? Is something wrong?
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