Chapter 22 You Made This for Me
There are many people shopping for festival things today, and there is a long queue in front of the bun shop.
When the steamer on the stove was opened, steaming white mist filled the air before everyone's eyes, and people rushed to buy the soft buns.
When it was Chen Yao and Huang Dongsheng's turn, Qin Shi was quite impressed by them and took the opportunity to ask, "Do you still want two steamed buns today?"
She knew that the brother and sister set up a stall in the East Market and would occasionally come to her to buy lunch to fill their stomachs.
Before Chen Yao could reply, Huang Dongsheng spoke first: "No, I don't want steamed buns, I want meat buns. Give me thirteen meat buns."
Qin glanced at Chen Yao when she heard this. Seeing that she didn't object, she asked while picking up the buns, "Have you sold out of everything today?"
Huang Dongsheng stared at the steamed buns in the basket, nodding and saying, "Yeah, they're all sold out."
Qin was amused by him and handed the bun to him after wrapping it up. "Twenty-six cents, thank you for your patronage."
Huang Dongsheng handed over the money, picked up two hot oil-paper bags and stuffed them into the basket, then picked up the load and followed his cousin away.
"Cousin, let's go home quickly."
Huang Dongsheng wanted everyone in his family to eat hot meat buns.
"Buy some brown rice and meat. We've eaten up the five pounds of brown rice I bought from the buyer last time." Chen Yao was not worried about not having enough money this time, because she had already agreed on it in advance when signing the documents with the manager Ren of Zhiweilou.
Bean sprouts do not last long, so we will deliver ten kilograms every day, and three hundred kilograms a month, but the restaurant has to pay the full amount first.
As for bean curd sheets, they are durable and can be stored for as much as you need. You can just pay for them and receive the goods.
Chen Yao couldn't help but smile when she thought of her cooperation with Manager Ren.
Manager Ren wanted to buy out her recipes for making bean sprouts and Ruyi vegetables, but the two sides could not agree on the price, so he proposed that she should no longer provide bean sprouts to other restaurants, but she still refused.
After being humiliated twice, anyone else would have flipped the table and walked away.
However, Manager Ren did not agree. He was very optimistic that Chen Yao's Ruyi vegetables would sell well in winter, so he had to bite the bullet and give in. He drafted the documents according to Chen Yao's wishes, but if Chen Yao failed to deliver the goods every month, he would have to pay double compensation.
Chen Yao was not worried at all about not being able to deliver the goods, simply because poor farmers had the most soybeans.
Chen Yao bought fifty pounds of brown rice at the grain store, which cost five cents a pound. She also bought the fine salt she had been thinking about for a long time, even though a small jar cost twenty cents. She also bought five bags of crispy cakes as holiday gifts.
After buying these, I went to the pork shop and bought two pounds of lard.
Huang Dongsheng couldn't help but be amazed when he saw that his cousin had spent all the money she earned from Manager Ren.
But they can earn this money again in the future.
Xiahe Village.
Yang Wenying boiled two pots of soy milk at home in the morning and made twenty pieces of bean curd sheets. Just as she put them on the roof to dry, she saw Chen Yao and Huang Dongsheng.
"Uncle, aunt, A Yao and the others are back."
When Yang Wenying shouted, Huang Xing no longer had the energy to scrape the mud off the mushrooms. She quickly put down the bamboo knife in her hand and went out to meet him.
"Mom, let's talk inside." Since Chen Yao and Huang Dongsheng entered the village, many people surrounded them and asked them questions.
As soon as Huang Dongsheng entered the yard with the load on his shoulder, he closed the fence door and carried the load into the main house, blocking the view of people outside.
When fifty kilograms of rice and two kilograms of lard were taken out, the three people in the room were all stunned.
"Ayao, why did you buy all this food?" Huang Xing, encouraged by her daughter, has been learning literacy and math with Wenying these days.
With the help of her husband, she carefully calculated the food she had picked to sell in the city today and realized that even if she sold it all, she still couldn't buy back all of it.
Chen Yao signaled Huang Dongsheng to continue taking out the money, while she told everyone about her cooperation with Manager Ren.
Huang Xing looked at the document, which was written in black and white with her name, A Yao, on it. The more she touched it, the happier she became.
"Mom, we haven't even eaten yet. Look, I earned this money and bought lard. You can make dry rice and fried fish for us at noon." Chen Yao handed the heavy purse to Huang Xing.
Huang Xing pushed it back to her without accepting it, "Mom will go and boil the oil and fry the fish for you."
Huang Dongsheng stopped his aunt and took out the meat buns: "Cousin, you don't want to eat my meat buns?"
"I want to eat rice with lard and fried fish." Chen Yao followed Huang Xing with a smile, carrying two kilograms of lard.
Huang Dongsheng looked at his uncle with a bitter face, hoping that his uncle would make the decision for him.
"Dongsheng, take this to your father to eat."
"But I made some money today, and I promised to treat everyone to meat buns, one for each person, and my cousin has two." Huang Dongsheng felt aggrieved, but he had to say it, otherwise no one would know.
Yang Wenying and Shen Yao were chased out of the kitchen by Huang Xing to pack the packages they were going to take with them, and they just happened to hear his words outside the door.
"Cousin, let's have lard mixed rice for lunch, and then we'll all have meat buns together in the evening."
Two pounds of lard were boiled with yellow apricots to produce one pound of oil and a bowl full of oil residue. The fragrance spread for miles and made the children in the village cry.
Chen Yao and the other two ate their fill at home, and even outside the village they could still hear the children clamoring for oil residue even when they were beaten by their parents.
The mountain road was rugged, and Huang Dongsheng tripped over a rock. He was so scared that he asked, "Cousin, did the things in my backpack fall out?"
Chen Yao looked at the full backpack and shook her head: "No."
Huang Dongsheng then walked forward with confidence. It was no wonder that he was so careful, because there were really a lot of things in the backpack.
There were two pairs of rabbit-skin palm guards made by my mother and aunt, ten pairs of coarse cloth gloves for replacement, three packages of crispy biscuits bought by my cousin, a large bag of dried mulberries, meat buns and fried fish bought by him, two large bowls of fried mushrooms and cold-mixed bean curd sheets, and a pot of thick porridge.
Chen Yao felt the backpack was heavy when she carried it, but her parents and cousin still felt it was not enough.
Even Yang Wenying tried to stop it, but he still installed it. It can be seen that the family was very worried about him.
"Brother, brother, A Yao and the others are here." Tian Baozhu ran out of Grandma Goudan's house first, took her cousin's hand and went into the house to talk.
The old people also followed Tian Baolai out of the house to greet him.
Soon, someone came to bring water, move stools, give Chen Yao fresh mulberries, and ask questions. Chen Yao answered them one by one.
Goudan's grandmother couldn't see, she just held Chen Yao's hand tightly and rubbed it: "Good children, you have worked hard. You have to make another trip today. If you can see anyone from our village, give these to them."
Chen Yao looked at the gloves of different sizes and a bag of dried mulberries, and secretly gave her cousin a thumbs up.
She had previously instructed her cousin to send some linen to the elderly and teach them how to make five-finger gloves. On the one hand, this was to thank them for the fresh mulberries they brought every day, and on the other hand, it was to allow the elderly and their families in the quarry to remember each other.
Chen Yao drank some water, left two packets of pastries, and said goodbye to everyone before heading to the East Suburbs Quarry.
Tian Baolai and Tian Baozhu helped the elderly people in the village pick mulberry leaves, feed silkworms, collect silkworm feces, and wait for their cousins to return home together.
The sun gradually set, and the group arrived at the quarry, which was a familiar route. Chen Yao found a policeman, gave him two cents, and asked him to take them to find the manager.
The thatched house was extremely dim and filled with an indescribable sour and stench. Just when Shen Yao couldn't stand it anymore, Coach Xing, who was sitting in the dark, finally spoke.
"It's not impossible to redeem the person. Just pay the four stone of rent and two taels and ten coins of tax owed by your two families." Instructor Xing tapped the table with his fingers and looked at the three people in front of him.
Chen Yao frowned slightly. The taxes mentioned by the criminal instructor were different from what she had learned from Zhao Lizheng. It was obvious that Yang Jizong's population tax was also counted on her.
Yang Wenying also calculated the difference in taxes. After understanding it, she looked at Chen Yao's face cautiously, feeling a little uneasy.
Huang Dongsheng was still trying to do mental arithmetic while carrying a backpack. Before he could figure it out, he heard his cousin ask the head criminal instructor, "Two years of corvée labor?"
When Coach Xing heard her question, he felt that he had thought too much. He had thought that the small tenant farmer would be able to give him some pastries as a gift, and that they could redeem the person right away. It turned out that he didn't even understand these things.
"Well, do you have anything else to do?" Coach Xing stood up from his chair and stood in the light.
Chen Yao pulled Yang Wenying back quickly to the side, and only then could she see clearly what the man in front of her looked like. He had a full beard and looked like Zhang Fei.
"Today is the Reunion Festival. I would like to ask the coach to be kind enough to let us meet. My family brought some food." Chen Yao's eyes drifted to the bag of pastries on the table.
The criminal instructor did not make things difficult for her. He called the officer he had just introduced and led them into the quarry.
They met outside last time, but now they were inside, and the three of them looked at the half of the hillside that had been excavated.
One by one, the laborers carried huge stones and piled them onto the wooden cart. Those who could not carry them were whipped by the officers. Chen Yao and the other two saw this and their eyes widened, their mouths dry, and their noses sore.
Turning around the shady hillside, I saw many people picking sand by the river.
"Yang Jizong, Huang Songbai, come here!" the officer shouted to the crowd by the river.
Just as Shen Yao and the others were still looking for the two people in the crowd, they saw two people who were as thin as sticks walking towards them.
"father."
"elder brother."
The officer took two cents from Chen Yao and was quite easy to talk to. He allowed them to go back to the shack and rest for half an hour.
The group returned to the shack under the envious gazes of everyone.
Huang Dongsheng took off his backpack without Chen Yao's instructions, took out all the food he brought, and placed it in front of the two of them.
"Dad, these are the meat buns I bought with my money. Please have some."
"Brother, this is the bean curd sheets I made, try it!"
Yang Jizong looked at Chen Yao.
Chen Yao blinked, not understanding what he meant, but picked up the meat bun and put it in his hand, urging the two to eat quickly.
While they were eating, everyone learned from Yang Jizong that there were only eight households left alive in Wanhe Township.
The atmosphere was too heavy, and Chen Yao had to change the subject. "You can take these gloves to them. They were made by their relatives."
Yang Jizong put down his bowl and chopsticks and took the strange-looking gloves.
"Here, these are for you." Chen Yao handed over the rabbit skin palm guards and five other pairs of gloves, but Yang Jizong did not take them.
So Chen Yao grabbed his hand again and forced him to try on the gloves.
Yang Wenying on the side lowered her head and pretended not to see it.
Chen Yao discovered that Yang Jizong had obviously cleaned up by the river today. His nails were very clean, his fingers were as slender as bamboo joints, and he put on linen gloves and covered them with rabbit leather palm guards. Well, it looked very good.
Chen Yao was very satisfied, and it was worth her mother's hard work to make it.
"These are all made according to your size. If you don't wear them, no one else can. Just take whatever is given to you. Don't make excuses or say whether it fits or not. I don't like it." Chen Yao withdrew her hand and then pushed the dried mulberries over with a very tough attitude.
"One pack for you and your uncle, and one pack for the people in Wanhe Township."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yao could feel Yang Jizong's eyes move from his hands to her face. When their eyes met, the feeling of sadness that this man originally gave her suddenly became extremely oppressive.
"Did you do this?" Yang Jizong's pale face turned a little red, his heart pounding uncontrollably, and he tried his best to hide the emotions that wanted to overflow.
Chen Yao uttered an "ah," but didn't notice anything was wrong with him. She said dryly, "No, my mother made it for you. She said you're half his son, so you have to wear it well when it's cold. If you come home later and get frostbite on your hands, hmph!"
Yang Jizong took off his gloves and kept them close to his body. He had been trapped in the darkness for too long and had not felt such sincere care for a long time.
It was so warm that he wanted to hold on to it shamelessly.
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