Bringing Good Luck to your Husband in the '70s
Synopsis
Su Yue's lifelong hobby and career was to study food, but she did not expect to be selected by a Good Luck System after her accidental death.
Her task was to travel to the 1970s and marry an unlucky soldier so she could help him live his life smoothly. At least the rewards given by the system could be bought with food!
From then on, Su Yue started the life of bringing good luck to her husband in the 70's with delicious food.
Little Chef Girl VS Big Brother Male Lead
author: This a sweet slice of life farming book. The heroine will not hang on to the sky, nor will she be OP, let alone a Mary Sue. The good days of the hero and heroine depend on struggling by themselves, Mary Sue fans please proceed with caution.
Drifting aimlessly in the darkness for an unknown amount of time, a white light suddenly flashed. The curled eyelashes of the person lying in bed trembled briefly before slowly lifting.
Su Yue blinked, making sure she had truly woken up, before scanning everything around her calmly and cautiously.
A bumpy ground and a cracked mud wall, with a picture of (1) hanging on it. Under the picture was a table with a lame leg. Next to the table was an old, black wardrobe.
Other than that, there was nothing.
It could only be described as… broken.
Su Yue sighed secretly in her heart, digesting the reality before her, while softly asking, "System, are you there?"
As soon as the voice fell, there was another in her head, indistinguishable between male and female. "Host, congratulations on your successful journey, and welcome to the '70s."
She had actually crossed. It turns out that this was really not a fantasy, she really encountered the matter of crossing after death, and also got herself a system.
Just like in the novels.
Even if she didn't want to believe it, the facts were before her. Su Yue clearly remembered being hit by a derailed truck, so big and fast she had simply no chance of surviving. Her fate was to die on the spot. Her soul had quickly drifted away from her body, and she watched in mid-air as a group of people called the police and ambulance, just so the doctor could shake his head, cover her with a white cloth, and announce the end of her short life.
Then, her soul suddenly became weak, as if something was quickly absorbing her vitality to the point where she would completely disappear in a matter of seconds.
Su Yue knew then those were her last moments.
But just as she had accepted her fate, a white light flashed before her followed by a cold voice in her mind: "Are you willing to accept the Good Luck System and return to the '70s to complete the task in exchange for another life?"
Su Yue didn't know to whom the voice in her mind belonged. She just instinctively leaped at that last chance out of fear of losing what little vitality she had left.
She only had time to say "Yes" before being completely plunged into darkness.
After waking up again, this was the situation she found herself in.
She really passed through.
Su Yue's mind couldn't avoid being a mess at the moment, so she first asked a key question: "Who am I now?"
System: "Host, your current body is also called Su Yue. You are an educated youth from Hanjia Village. You have just arrived here for a few days. From now on, you will be her and live in this world in her place. I will give you the original owner's memory."
Immediately afterward, Su Yue felt something cold flowing into her brain, and soon memory fragments whirled around in her mind, allowing her to clearly see the life of the original owner.
After seeing these, she immediately understood everything about the original owner.
The original Su Yue is from S City. There are five people in her family and both her parents are workers. Su Yue is the second child and only girl. Although her older brother was supposed to go to the countryside, neither her father or mother were willing to let him endure hardship. Because of their patriarchal thinking, they deceived the original owner into going in his place.
Therefore, the original owner was very depressed and after arriving at the village she couldn't stand the land's barrenness and hard work. Disappointed in this world, the original owner had no hope left and ended up taking her own life.
Su Yue raised her thin arms and looked at them. The white and tender skin full of little scars, all caused by labor in the fields.
The system said at this time: "The original owner voluntarily gave up her life, and her wish before death was to have another person to live for her, hence why this body was chosen for you."
Listening to the system, Su Yue understood her situation, but couldn't help feeling it was a pity. How could the original end her life so easily? Life is so precious, even if it is full of hardship, it shouldn't be so easy to just give it up, as there is always hope for things to get better.
Even if she found the original's choice regrettable, Su Yue didn't struggle for long and turned to the next important question: "System, you said something about a task before I crossed, what was that? What did I come here for?"
"Yes, host, you have a mission here. Your mission is to use the Good Luck System to save Han Aiguo, marry him, help him survive his bad luck, and live his life smoothly."
Good Luck System? Married?
Su Yue's eyebrows jumped. She didn't expect that the task the system would ask her to do was to marry a man whom she had never met before, and also wanted to ——
Are you crazy?!
Although Su Yue lived for twenty-six years in her previous life, she had been single from birth to death. In all her life, she had never pulled herself out of the team of single dogs, let alone get married, and now this system comes out of nowhere asking her to marry an unknown man? Forgive her for finding that a bit unacceptable.
"My dear system, why do I need to marry this man? Why choose me?" In fact, she is really curious about the reason behind the system's choice. She was quite ordinary and never thought she had any sort of fate with being the Chosen One.
System: "Because Han Aiguo is your destined lover, and only you can save him."
"Huh?!" Su Yue's heartbeat soared.
The system did not have any emotional fluctuations and still explained without any waves: "You and Han Aiguo have been lovers for several lifetimes. Originally, you will get married in every life, but something went wrong. In a certain life, due to the influence of a transmigrator, your destiny was rewritten to the point where you would have been completely obliterated. It was Han Aiguo who used all his vital energy to save your life.
You succeeded in surviving that life, but since then, both of you can't be together again, and his luck in every life is so thin he will be miserable and struggle to reach old age. In this life, it's even worse. There is so little left it will extinguish by the time he dies, causing him to completely part with the Heavenly Law. If nothing is done, there will be no next life."
"What?" Su Yue opened her mouth blankly, unable to digest these words for a moment.
Had it been before, she would definitely feel that the other party was making up a fantasy story, but after everything that happened, she knew the system had no need to lie to her. If the system said it, it was true.
In other words, this Han Aiguo was her destined lover, but because he had saved her, he has been haunted by bad luck since then, making every life miserable and in the end even ceasing to exist!
Her heart sped up again, and Su Yue asked subconsciously: "Then what should I do?"
System: "Because Han Aiguo has been a soldier throughout his life, he has been honorable, defending his family and the country by saving and guarding countless lives, which can be said to be worth infinite merit. His contribution to the Heavenly Law is enormous, and such a person should not end this way. The Heavenly Law has its own justice, and will not watch someone with great merit disappear like this, so you were chosen to save him from this destiny, and turn your two fates back to what it once was."
"So it's like this..." Su Yue murmured.
Such a good man gave up his luck in order to save her past self. He should have loved her very much, right?
Although she had never been in love, that did not mean she had no beautiful vision of love. She has always dreamed about finding the kind of man who would pick her amongst three thousand others, who would hold her hand and grow old with her. It was precisely because of this kind of wish that she was very careful when it comes to love. Now she discovers that such a person had sacrificed so much for her past self, how could she not be touched?
She suddenly wanted to meet this man named Han Aiguo.
At this moment, she had already lost the sense of rejection in her heart. If the system asked her to marry a stranger casually and dig her heart out for the other person, she would indeed have resistance, even if it meant losing this life, but after listening to the system's explanation, those resistances strangely disappeared. On the contrary, she was very willing to help this man because he was such a good man to "her", even though she didn't remember any of it.
Su Yue immediately asked: "System, what should I do next, and how can I help him?"
Su Yue's positivity pleased the system, "Your next task is to find a way to contact Han Aiguo, make him like you, and marry you so that you can help in the coming days."
"Then is he in this place now? Does he know me?"
System: "Han Aiguo has been suffering from bad luck since childhood. This time, he was seriously injured during a mission and his legs were broken. With the current level of medical technology, he cannot be cured at all. He was sent back by the army after they made sure he would never be able to walk again."
Su Yue was shocked by these words. She sat up from the bed, and hurriedly said, "How can this be! No, it can't be like this, what should I do?"
System: "If you don't appear, Han Aiguo's ending will be like this, but if you appear, the ending can be rewritten. Your mission is to save him. So, after you approach him, I will help you cure Han Aiguo."
Su Yue finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the system's words.
Even if Han Aiguo had no connection with her, she didn't want such a good hero to end like this.
The hero should have a happy ending.
Therefore, her next task was meaningful.
Although she had already figured out her current situation, Su Yue was still a little worried: "System, if I replace the original owner now, won't I be discovered? After all, my personality is different from the original. I can't pretend to be like her."
The original owner's personality wasn't extroverted to begin with, not to mention she had been in a terrible mood after arriving at the settlement. She didn't talk to other people very much and would go back to the room and close the door as soon as she came back from work. She was quite isolated from the world.
Although Su Yue's character was not exuberant, she was still extroverted. Wanting her to pretend to be as reclusive as the original owner would only get her exposed in a matter of days.
The system consoled her: "It's okay host, the original Su Yue has only been here for a month, and because of her personality she hasn't made any friends yet. Not even the other educated youths who live together are familiar with her, so you don't need to worry about suddenly changing personalities. If anyone finds it strange, you can explain it as trying to open up after deciding to live here well."
"So it's like that. Then no one should doubt me." Su Yue breathed a sigh of relief, and then remembered that although she had the memory of the original owner, she still hadn't seen what her body looked like now. Seeing a plastic mirror on the table, she got out of the bed and walked over to pick it up, but was a bit surprised with her looks.
From memory, she knew the original owner was a beauty, but she didn't expect her to be this beautiful.
Her complexion was snow-white, and the pores on the delicate skin were hard to see. The small palm-sized face had delicate facial features, and her big watery eyes were so expressive they seemed to be able to speak.
A real no-makeup goddess!
Please excuse Su Yue, who even as a woman felt her heart race just by looking at this face.
This is too dazzling! She is more beautiful than the female stars on TV in her previous life. If she had this face then it could be estimated that the entertainment circle would have another little star among them.
Thinking of having this kind of face value, Su Yue was so excited she wanted to scream! No woman does not love beauty. Her previous face was rather common, even with makeup on she could only be regarded as pretty, not even close to half the beauty of the original owner. Now this face has become hers, how could she not be thrilled?
Su Yue didn't even need to think about it. If she had these looks, it would be much easier to contact Han Aiguo and make him like her.
The system simply gave her a big treasure.
Just as Su Yue happily admired the face in the mirror, there was a knock on the door, followed by a female voice: "Su Yue, are you awake?"
Su Yue, startled, quickly put down the mirror and walked over, took a deep breath, and slowly opened the door.
The girl standing outside the door was 18 to 19 years old, with a beautiful face and two braids resting on her chest. The shallow bangs on the forehead added a modern touch to her looks. Li Xiaoqing was an educated youth who lived in the same yard as the original owner.
Li Xiaoqing asked, "Su Yue, are you all right?"
Su Yue smiled at her, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."
Li Xiaoqing was stunned. She probably didn't expect Su Yue to smile at her, because no one had seen her smile since she had come to the youth settlement. After only keeping a placid face all day long, everyone began to call her a cold beauty in private.
Li Xiaoqing was only stunned for a few seconds before coming back to her senses. Thinking of the message the captain had asked her to relay, she couldn't tell if she felt envy or something else: "Since you are all right, then go to work in the afternoon. This morning, the Captain asked about your situation."
"Oh, okay, I'll go to work in the afternoon. I've troubled you." Anyway, she was fine. It's not good to stay in the house lazing around. In this era, the people in the villages relied on work points for food. Not working would mean starving to death, and now that she came here she had to think about her stomach.
Besides, her task was to get close to Han Aiguo. Only when she goes out can she get a chance to do so.
"Then you remember to go to work in the afternoon, I'll leave first." Li Xiaoqing was not familiar with Su Yue to begin with, and there was nothing left to say after passing the message. In the end, she glanced at Su Yue's bright face and turned away.
Su Yue felt that Li Xiaoqing's eyes looked a bit deep, but as she couldn't tell what she meant, she didn't think too much about it.
In the afternoon, Su Yue followed the educated youths going to the field. Looking around, there were large golden rice fields in front of her. It was the season when the rice was ripe, and all the villagers were busy harvesting it in full swing.
As someone who had lived in the city since they were born and had never been to the countryside or worked in farming, Su Yue looked at all of it calmly, both marveling at the scene in her heart, and feeling deeply worried about her future.
She had only watched peasants work on TV before, but she herself had never been to the countryside. She didn't expect that one day she would come here in person to work in the fields. As a complete waste agricultural-wise, Su Yue was well aware she was worse than the original owner. For her, it was an arduous task she didn't know if she could do.
Just when Su Yue looked at the farmland with despair, a strong male voice interrupted her thoughts, "Su Yue, are you well?"
Su Yue looked at the source of the sound and saw a tall man only in his twenties standing beside her, with concern in his eyes.
Su Yue immediately knew from the memory of the original that this person was Han Qingsong, the captain of Hanjia Village, and that the work of the educated youths was arranged by him. She was also under his management.
The immediate boss couldn't be neglected. Su Yue hurriedly nodded to Han Qingsong and said: "Captain, I am in good health and able to work."
Upon hearing this, Han Qingsong smiled a little, "That's good, then you will be responsible for tying the rice this afternoon."
"OK, captain." She would do whatever the captain arranged for her. Anyway, the original owner used to tie the rice, so she should have no problem doing it according to her memories.
Su Yue didn't think there was any problem with this arrangement, but other people thought differently. Especially the other educated youths working with Su Yue.
There were many steps to harvesting rice, including cutting, tying, transporting, and so on. Among them, bundling rice was the easiest. You didn't even need a knife. Just take the rope to tie the cut rice together and wait for the person responsible for transporting it to come.
It can be said that tying rice was the work that everyone wanted to do. Generally, this was the kind of work that would be done by younger children, but among the educated youths, many women were vying for it.
Now, Su Yue had been directly arranged for such an easy job, how could this not let other people have ideas?
Several female educated youths were unhappy at the moment. One of them, with short hair, stood up and said to Han Qingsong: "Captain, why can Su Yue be able to do such an easy job after a morning break? A total of three people are needed to bundle rice. In the morning, all three of us did it. Now that she comes to do this job, what about the rest of us? Should we just give her the job? Captain, isn't it unfair to arrange our work like this?"
Han Qingsong, being publicly questioned about fairness, frowned, and looked at the person who was speaking unhappily: "Comrade Zhao Fang, teaches us to help each other. Comrade Su Yue is unwell, and other tasks may be temporarily unfit for her. That's why I let her do this. When she gets better, she will naturally do other tasks. In the future, whoever is unwell will also have the same arrangement. What is wrong with organizing things like this? Or is it that you have opinions about 's teachings of mutual help and assistance?"
Han Qingsong could be elected as the captain of Hanjia Village at a young age, so there was no doubt about his own ability. The people in the village respected himvery much, so his words naturally held a lot of weight and most people would not deliberately offend him. The educated youths who came to Hanjia Village couldn't wait to have a good relationship with him, which was why at this moment no one would speak up for Zhao Fang.
"I am not, I..." Zhao Fang also realized that her words had offended Han Qingsong. Thinking that she would still have to discuss life matters with him in the future, she couldn't help regretting talking just because she was jealous of Su Yue. What would she do if her life became difficult because of this?
Now she couldn't care about anything else, so Zhao Fang quickly remedied: "Captain, you should say it earlier. I didn't know that Su Yue was unwell. If I knew, I wouldn't say anything. Since she is unwell, let her tie the rice bundles, I will give my place to her and do something else."
Han Qingsong glanced at her deeply but did not say anything else. He turned to look at Su Yue who was standing aside still a little confused, but his words were directed to all the educated youths: "Okay, let's work, hurry up."
Under the order, the educated youths picked up their own tools and started to work. Su Yue quickly picked up the rice rope next to Han Qingsong and said, "Thank you, Captain Han, I'm going to work too."
Before Han Qingsong could say anything, Su Yue turned around and left that awkward atmosphere, quietly exhaling in a place where no one could see.
Don't know if it was her illusion, but she always felt that Captain Han seemed to be interested in her.
Judging from his speech and behavior, he was a serious and upright person. He treats the educated youths with iron-fisted righteousness, and his eyes are even a little cold, but when facing her there was a bit of kindness in them, and he also spoke softer. From the memory of the original owner, Su Yue knew he had helped her a number of times, but this could be considered mutual help among comrades, right?
But then again, if Captain Han really liked her, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, the original owner's appearance is there. Even a woman like her will be tempted, let alone a man in a place where women are usually very rough. It is estimated that her current face makes her a proper village flower here, so it was inevitable to attract men.
But this was just her guess. It would be better if the captain didn't like her. If he really felt something then she could only pretend to be unaware. After all, it was impossible for them. Her mission here was to help Han Aiguo, the one she wants to marry was also Han Aiguo. She didn't want any other peach blossoms.
While thinking about this, Su Yue learned how to tie the rice tightly with a rope as the original owner remembered and set it aside.
She was relieved to have such an easy job. At least she didn't have to worry about getting overwhelmed by farm work as soon as she came, but the facts told her that she was too naive.
Who said this job was easy?
After bending and binding for a whole afternoon, Su Yue felt that her waist was no longer hers.
Hello, hello~
We have an editor! (ﾉヮ)ﾉ: ･ﾟ
But they are very busy so I'll just post the unedited chapters first (twice a week, if the planets align). I'm not native to an english speaking country so if my sentences sound awkward, that is probably why. For those who mind, I'll mark the edited chapters at the beginning so you don't have to scroll forever to find out. For those who don't, if you find any mistakes just give me a heads up and I'll correct it as soon as I see it.
Btw, I have two questions. 1. How do you feel about small amounts of pinyin and 2. Would you like pictures of the food Su Yue makes at the end of the chapters?
As the sun set, the day's work was finally over.
Su Yue stretched her sore waist. It was the first time she had experienced the hardships of farmers.
It turned out that bending over to work was such a painful thing. Even if the work did not require much effort, just bending and getting up again and again was enough to make you feel like being ran over by a car.
Dragging her feet back to her house like an old cow, Su Yue finally collapsed on the bed. She was going to fall apart.
The pain wasn't only in her back, legs, and feet. Her whole body was not well.
As a post '90s generation who had never worked hard since infancy, she had never felt so sore.
Would it be so painful every day from now on?
Su Yue suddenly understood why the original owner was so resistant to living here. The original had also never done any heavy work in her life and then, all of a sudden, she was sent to the countryside and had to do farm work every day.
Had Su Yue encountered such a situation, although she would not think of giving up her life, she would definitely also feel depressed.
Su Yue was very worried about being unable to persist. It was really too painful to do farm work, but if she didn't do it, then what about eating?
Educated youths came here alone. There was no family around. If they wanted to eat, they had to earn money on their own, as no work meant no food. Moreover, even if they had food to eat, the brigade couldn't allow them to be lazy because the purpose of coming to the countryside in the first place was to work.
That is, unless you could find someone willing to support you, and the only way was by marrying. Only then could you not go to work and rely on the other people in your family to earn work points.
This was the case in the village. After coming, many educated youths had no hope of returning to the city and couldn't stand the hard work day after day, so they simply married people here and settled down.
Thinking of marrying someone, Su Yue couldn't help but think of Han Aiguo.
She suddenly discovered that it was simply impossible to see Han Aiguo in the place where she worked.
According to the system, Han Aiguo was in bed with serious injuries in his legs. It was naturally impossible for a person who can't even walk to work.
Therefore, there was no way for her to contact Han Aiguo while she was working.
But how could she contact him?
While Su Yue was thinking hard, there was a knock at the door. It was Li Xiaoqing again.
"Su Yue, the meal is done. If you don't come out, the porridge will turn cold."
"Oh, I'm coming." Su Yue hurriedly got up from the bed, and only then did she feel her stomach growling like it was about to eat itself.
Forget it. You have to fill your stomach first, only then can you have the strength to take the next step.
Following Li Xiaoqing to the kitchen, there was a table inside with three people sitting by it, already halfway through their meals. The three did not wait for them, but there were another two bowls of porridge with wotou [1] left by the side.
There were a total of five educated youths living in this yard, all of them female. Each house had two people and only her lived in a house alone.
Except for Li Xiaoqing, none of the other three had a very good attitude towards her. They didn't say hello when they saw her coming and could not even be bothered to look at her, as if she didn't exist.
Su Yue also didn't think about trying to please anyone. Since they ignored her, she wouldn't take the initiative to say anything. She just sat by the table, picked up her own bowl of porridge and drank.
However, after a mouthful, she almost spat it out.
This porridge was too coarse!
The porridge was made with big corn kernels [2, but they were too hard, hurting the throat when you swallowed.
The only wotou was also rough, eating just a bite more than the porridge almost choked her to death.
Su Yue felt suffocated to tears.
But even if she didn't want to, she had to eat. If she didn't, she could only go hungry. It was hopeless to want to eat something good. This was the case in this era with scarce supplies and lack of clothing and food in rural areas. It was already good enough to be able to fill one's stomach. Naturally, it was impossible to think about eating well.
"Ai..." sighing softly, Su Yue lamented her future life.
As a person, her main interest and concern is food. Food has become something absolutely indispensable for her. If there is no food, there is no meaning.
But the system dropped her here.
It seemed that going forward she had to not only think about the task, but also about how to make good food.
However, she didn't have any ingredients in her hands, and she had not quite figured out the situation here. If she wanted to eat well, she needed to plan carefully.
Moreover, the next few days would be the busiest period of rice harvesting. Everyone was going all out to harvest rice. They came and went in a hurry and there was no time at all to care about food. It was even more unlikely that she would be able to take time off to find ingredients and make something edible. Her food scheme would have to wait until the rice harvesting was over.
Thinking about this, Su Yue had to accept the predicament in front of her, clench her jaw and drink the bowl of throat-scratching porridge and throat-grating wotou. Even so, she could barely fill her stomach. At least there was no need to go to bed hungry.
Towards the end of the meal, one of the female educated youths named Wei Jia said to Su Yue in an unpleasant tone: "Su Yue, you will be responsible for cooking tomorrow, so I hope you can get up early. Don't let us not even have breakfast. If you don't make it, we all have to go to work hungry."
When she said this, everyone else also looked at her unhappily, with obvious dissatisfaction in their eyes.
Su Yue was stunned, but then she remembered what was going on.
After the original owner came here, because of depression, she lived everyday in a daze. When it was her turn to cook, she couldn't get up in the morning. Not only that, she was not used to the earthen stove, making it very difficult to cook. This resulted in delays on breakfast several times, causing everyone to go work on an empty stomach.
Everyone was very dissatisfied with her, but after talking to the original owner a few times and being ignored, they gradually also started ignoring her. Except for Li Xiaoqing who was a little better to the original owner, the other three collectively disdained her.
Su Yue felt that this was indeed the original's fault. No wonder everyone had this attitude towards her.
With a sigh in her heart, Su Yue nodded and said, "Okay, I know. I will get up early to make breakfast tomorrow morning, don't worry."
Hearing this, everyone was stunned, expecting her ignore them as if she hadn't heard anything like before.
This made the other people somewhat confused about what to say.
The scene was suddenly a bit embarrassing. Li Xiaoqing took the lead, standing up and saying: "Well, we are all tired today. Let's boil water to wash and go to bed. We will be busy again tomorrow."
Then everyone moved and started to do their own things.
Su Yue didn't compete with the others either. After everyone had washed up, she went to the kitchen to boil hot water, then entered her room holding a basin and barely gave herself a bath.
Although this way of bathing made her very heartbroken, it was better than not washing at all. Su Yue could only put on a fake smile to face her hardships, as this could also be regarded as experiencing human suffering.
After washing, Su Yue laid back on the bed. Originally, she wanted to think about what to do next, however, as soon as her body touched the bed she fell asleep before she could even blink.
When Su Yue woke up the next day, the sun had just come out, and there was a sound of rooster crowing not far away.
She didn't know what time it was. Listening carefully to the movement outside, she found that it was very quiet. The others hadn't gotten up yet.
Su Yue remembered that it was her turn to cook today, and didn't dare to delay. She simply got up and went to the kitchen to wash up, and then hurriedly started making breakfast.
The original owner was no good at using earthen stoves, but she could use them smoothly. The key issue was the ingredients. The only ingredients they had here were corn and cornmeal. The corn was used to make porridge or stew, and the cornmeal was used to steam wotou or fry pancakes. Not only that, the amount of rice was so pitiful it could hardly be used to do anything worthwhile.
Now she truly understood what hardship was.
What was that saying? Even a clever woman can't cook without rice. Her current situation should be a true portrayal of this sentence.
In her previous life she was so good her private kitchen reservation had a waiting line of two years, but how could she make anything out of thin air?
Su Yue pulled her hair in distress, almost balding herself.
Seeing it was already late, Su Yue was afraid of delaying everyone's breakfast and decided to make do with what she had.
She washed the corn, put it in the pot with the right amount of water and started cooking the porridge.
She could only use her own experience to make the porridge softer and the pancakes edible.
After thinking about it, Su Yue started to mix the cornmeal and knead it into dough, then pressed them into oval shapes. After the porridge was cooked, she served it to cool. The pan was heated again and brushed with some oil very carefully. Of course, just a little bit, barely enough to make the pancake not stick to the pan.
No way, just a tiny little bit of oil. If she used it up all at once others would probably want her head.
With oil in the pot, Su Yue glued the pancakes on the borders, then took out the only condiments from the cupboard and quickly mixed a bowl of her own sauce, adding it to the pot. When it was almost ready, she slowly brushed the sauce onto the pancakes, then, after absorbed, put out the fire in the stove and used the remaining heat to fry the pancakes to the right degree [3].
The pancakes at this time tasted the best, and also had the strongest fragrance.
Su Yue took a few sniffs and smiled satisfactorily.
Although the corn pancakes were not usually delicious, she could guarantee that the ones made by herself should be considered a delicacy here, or at the very least they wouldn't make people hurt their throats just from swallowing.
[1] Wotou (窝窝头) - Steamed corn bread.
[2] Dazhuzi (大碴子) - Large corn kernels used to make a ton of foods in the Northeast. You need to soak them first and then boil them for a long time before they can be eaten without choking someone to death, so let's pretend Su Yue thought ahead and left them to soak overnight.
[3] If you throw 面饼子贴在锅 (~pasted pancakes) on youtube you get a lot of One Pot Stew recipes, so the "sauce" can be whatever you want. The picture below is like a SSS version while Su Yue's is more of a E. Also, usually they're made from wheat flour? I think the cornmeal ones should be drier, but I have no evidence
It smells so good. Su Yue, what did you do?" At this moment, Li Xiaoqing came in from the open door, and couldn't help sniffing again as soon as she smelled the scent in the kitchen.
Su Yue smiled and said: "I just made porridge and fried a few pancakes. I think you all have to work hard today so it's better to eat something solid."
Li Xiaoqing nodded approvingly and walked over to look at the pancakes in the pan, "Now that we're so tired from working every day, we really do need something more substantial, otherwise even an iron man wouldn't be able to stand it. But when we made pancakes yesterday morning, why didn't they smell so good? Su Yue, did you really only make pancakes?"
Su Yue lifted the lid of the pot to show her, "Look, if not pancakes, can it be meat?"
Li Xiaoqing looked intently, widened her eyes slightly, and curiously asked: "Su Yue, why aren't your pancakes black? The color is so golden and beautiful, how did you do it?"
Su Yue did not keep it a secret and taught her: "As long as you master the amount of water and strength when kneading the dough, the dough will turn soft and fragrant, not dark at all. As for the scent, I adjusted the sauce and brushed it over them. If you want to learn, I'll teach you when it's your turn to cook."
"Really?" Li Xiaoqing didn't expect Su Yue to teach her so generously. She was so pleasantly surprised that she quickly said: "Thank you Su Yue. If I can make something as delicious as you, then everyone can eat better in the future."
Su Yue suddenly felt fonder of Li Xiaoqing. She was like a confidant big sister, very caring about others. Even with the strange temper of the original owner, she still took care of her without isolating her like the others. Have to say that such a person was a truly good person.
The two were talking as the other three also entered the kitchen. They smelled a tempting fragrance as soon as they came in, and got closer to look at the contents of the pot.
"This is pancake? Why is it so fragrant?"
Su Yue suddenly felt that she had just thought wrong. The pancakes she made here were not just edible, they were probably very delicious.
During the formal meal, the reactions of Li Xiaoqing and the other three indeed confirmed the deliciousness of Su Yue's pancakes.
Li Xiaoqing first gave Su Yue a thumbs up, "Su Yue, your craftsmanship is superb. This porridge does not make the throat hurt at all. It has a similar taste to millet porridge, but it is obviously cooked from the same corn. How did you do it?"
Another female educated youth named Wu Xiaoxiao also nodded hurriedly, completely forgetting her dislike for the original owner. "Also, this pancake is really delicious. This is the first time I have eaten it. Su Yue, I'm really seeing you in a new light now, your craftsmanship is too good."
Seeing that they liked it so much, Su Yue couldn't help but feel happy. For a cook, what could be better than others praising the food cooked by them?
Su Yue couldn't help a smile and said: "How can it be this exaggerated. As long as there are ingredients, making better food is not a problem."
Others were attracted by this better food of hers, and even Wei Jia, who disdained Su Yue the most, didn't say anything bad and only ate faster.
After a rare harmonious meal everyone was in a good mood, and even thinking of the work afterward didn't feel so distressing.
Usually, the four people went together and never brought the original owner, but after breakfast Wu Xiaoxiao took the initiative to pull Su Yue to work together with them, asking expectantly, "Su Yue, what will we eat for lunch? Hmm? Can we still eat pancakes?"
Now was the busy farming season and the three daily meals were officially allowed, which meant they could go back to eat at noon.
Before Su Yue could answer, Li Xiaoqing laughed at Wu Xiaoxiao, "We just finished breakfast and you're already thinking about lunch! Are you a pig?"
Wu Xiaoxiao pouted at her, "You are the pig. I'm just asking ah. Don't tell me you don't want to know."
Li Xiaoqing laughed and nodded honestly, "Actually, I do want to know if lunch can be as good as breakfast."
Su Yue really sympathized with these educated youths. To tell the truth, the breakfast she made in the morning was very shabby and she could barely eat it, but they thought it was delicious and ate so happily.
So easy to satisfy.
If there were enough ingredients she would definitely make them something truly mouthwatering to open her eyes.
While talking, they arrived at the place of work. It was still the same as yesterday. Harvesting rice.
Yesterday Su Yue did the easiest job of tying rice, but that was because she was unwell. She couldn't continue to use this reason today. The captain also seemed to know that doing this was no good, and finally arranged for her to harvest rice.
This was the first time Su Yue has used a sickle to cut rice in her two lifetimes. She then learned that cutting rice was indeed much more unfortunate than tying it. Cutting rice not only required bending over all the time but also carefully controlling the sickle so as not to cut yourself. Even so, she would still scratch her face and neck from time to time with all the straw around her.
Su Yue couldn't do it. Her head was dizzy, her waist felt like it could never straighten again and her palms also had blisters. She didn't remember ever feeling so painful.
By the time she finished her work in the morning and could go back to eat, Su Yue was already dizzy and weak.
The situation of the others was similar. Everyone went back to their rooms to rest. Only Li Xiaoqing stayed, poured some water for Su Yue, and said, "I think your complexion is not good. You should rest first and cook after you feel better."
Su Yue gratefully thanked her.
Li Xiaoqing had been here for a long time and was more adaptable to life in the country than others. She did not suffer as much as Su Yue when doing farm work. After turning around to pick some vegetables from their back garden, she started to wash them.
Su Yue saw her come back with vegetables in a daze, and subconsciously asked, "Where did the vegetables come from?"
Li Xiaoqing said amusedly: "Of course we planted it in our own backyard, otherwise could we have stolen it?"
Su Yue slapped her forehead. Only then did she remember that every household could grow some vegetables to eat on their own. Although there were few varieties and not a lot of them, they always had some vegetables to eat.
That was fortunate. She was still thinking about what to do with only corn and cornmeal, but she didn't expect to also have vegetables available. Now they didn't have to continue eating pancakes at noon.
Su Yue couldn't help but become happy. A cook was not only fond of food but also all the different ingredients that went into it. She was much happier to see them here.
Li Xiaoqing couldn't help being amused when she looked at a few cucumbers and tomatoes with her eyes shining brightly, "You look at them as if they were a lover. These things are not even meat."
Su Yue laughed, "I'm just happy there is food, now we can also eat something delicious at noon."
Li Xiaoqing put the ugly cucumbers and tomatoes on the stove, shook her head and said: "Cucumbers and tomatoes do taste good, but it's a pity that our vegetable garden only has these things."
Su Yue was done resting, already standing up and walking to the stove, "It's okay, it's better than nothing. By the way, do we have eggs? If so, I want to do tomato scrambled eggs at noon."
Li Xiaoqing nodded, "Yes, there should be a few left in the cupboard, I'll get them for you."
Su Yue felt suffocated having to use cornmeal for every meal, so she smashed the cucumber into pieces and made a cucumber cold salad. It was refreshing in this weather. When Li Xiaoqing brought the eggs, she quickly fried the tomato with them. Everything only took 20 minutes.
When everyone gathered in the kitchen for lunch, they ate plain cucumber salad with tomato scrambled eggs, but it clearly tasted different than usual.
Wu Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "Su Yue, how did you make this? Why is what we make so much different from yours? This is too delicious."
Su Yue could only say: "I like cooking, so I have to worry about troublesome details. Maybe the dishes I make are more delicious because of that?"
In fact, cooking was something that really needed talent. The same dish, even with the same seasonings and steps would not necessarily taste good when made by some people, yet in another's hands it may end up as a delicacy.
Su Yue belonged to the kind of people with excellent talent. She never worshipped a master and had always relied on self-study, but the things she made were so delicious her private kitchen always had many celebrity bosses making appointments to come to eat her food.
Others didn't feel that Su Yue was hiding a secret method after hearing this, after all, there was no secret recipe for such a simple dish. This was really a test of personal cooking skills.
Wu Xiaoxiao was satisfied with his meal and gave Su Yue a thumbs up, "Su Yue, I really want you to cook every day. After eating your cooking, I feel that what I cook is pig food."
Even Wei Jia laughed at this, but Su Yue was surprised.
It seemed that food was really a tool for communication.
The busy day was completely over when she laid down on the bed after eating dinner. Su Yue's whole body was like being crushed by a car. Even her bones hurt.
Counting that there were still three to four days of rice harvesting, Su Yue wailed and rolled on the bed.
What day, what hour, what second will this end~
——Host, congratulations on earning four points!
what?
Su Yue was stunned by the voice in her head and stopped rolling. She hurriedly asked: "System, is that you? What did you say?"
The voice of the system sounded again: "Congratulations to the host for earning four points with the food cooked by herself."
Su Yue was surprised, "System, you mean I earned points for the food I cooked?"
System: "Yes, the host can earn points by cooking. After reaching a certain point, she can use them to redeem goods from the system mall."
Exchange goods?
Su Yue was so surprised that she wanted to jump up. She had also read a lot of novels. Those who have the system are always powerful, with spiritual springs and pill prescriptions. Whatever you thought of, after the protagonist has it, it would definitely help him reach the pinnacle of life.
Unexpectedly, she had such good luck! God bless!
As if knowing what Su Yue was excited about, the system's voice faintly sounded: "Host, this system is different from what you are thinking. There are no such magical things, and the ones available in the system store all need to be exchanged for a substantial amount of points. It is not so easy to get them."
Substantial… Amount……
It seemed that she was thinking too much.
Su Yue was pulled back from the excitement by the system, and tentatively asked: "System, what is there in the mall?"
System: "The host needs to explore it by herself, but that cannot be done for the time being. The host needs to reach a certain number of points to be eligible to enter the mall."
"Ah, so it's like that." Su Yue's enthusiasm burst like a balloon in an instant, "then how many points do I need to enter the mall?"
System: "The host must reach 20 points to enter the mall."
Su Yue looked at the points panel in her mind, where a big number "4" could be seen, and couldn't help asking: "Then how are my points calculated? Why do I have four points now?"
The system explained: "This is judged based on how tasty is the food the host cooks. Food is divided into eight levels, from level S, to level A until level G. Among them, level S is the top level and can earn you one hundred points per meal. Level G is the worst, and only one point can be earned.
The host's breakfast this morning won unanimous praise from everyone. According to the system's food judging criteria, it belongs to G-level and earns one point. The host's lunch at noon belongs to F-level and earns two points. Dinner was also G-level. One point, so a total of four points were earned today."
Su Yue suddenly understood how the system operated.
But she still had a very important question: "System, besides earning points by cooking, can I get it through other means?"
The system denied: "No. The only way for this system to earn points is through food, and the host can only earn points by cooking various kinds of food herself."
How did she feel that this was not a Good Luck System [1, but a Gourmet System?
Although she earned only four points after working hard for the day's meals and it was still the worst grade, Su Yue didn't feel so frustrated because she knew it was not a problem with her craftsmanship. It was really the case of a clever woman who could not cook without rice. If there was nothing to work with, she had no way of making top-quality dishes.
It seemed that in the future, she had to work hard to find opportunities to cook and strive to earn those 20 points as soon as possible, so she could enter the mall and see if there were any good things.
With such good expectations, Su Yue fell asleep in a daze.
However, when she slept up to the middle of the night, there was a sudden burst of pain in her stomach. Su Yue woke up from the stomachache and felt it carefully. It was not really in her stomach, but lower.
Lower belly?!
Su Yue remembered something and patted carefully underneath her, and sure enough, there was something warm coming out from below.
It was her eldest aunt who came, and so unexpectedly!
What made her even more distressed was that the original owner's body had dysmenorrhea, and the pain was too severe. She had never hurt like this in her previous life, and didn't expect it to change after crossing.
Su Yue had cold sweat from the cramp, but she gritted her teeth and got out of bed. She found clean underwear to put on, took out the crude version of the "toilet" prepared by the original and replaced them. Only after changing the sheets did she lay down again.
Her lower abdomen was still hurting. Su Yue felt so painful she couldn't sleep. Curling up on the bed, she didn't know how much time passed up until she heard the movements of other people in the yard after the sun came up.
After a while, Li Xiaoqing came to her room and knocked on the door, "Su Yue, why are you not up yet? Come have breakfast."
Su Yue endured the pain and got up from the bed to open the door. Before she even spoke, Li Xiaoqing said in surprise: "Su Yue, why are you so pale? Are you unwell?"
Su Yue clutched her stomach and said: "Sister Xiaoqing, my aunt is here, my stomach hurts so much that I can't walk."
Li Xiaoqing was also a woman, and when it came to this issue she also felt a lot of pain, so she understood her very well. She hurriedly said: "Then you can't do today's work. You won't have any strength like this. You can rest at home and I will help you ask for leave."
Su Yue quickly thanked her.
Li Xiaoqing waved her hand to let her lie down and left.
Su Yue returned to the bed and continued to lie down for a while, but her stomach was so painful that she couldn't sleep. She had no choice but to get up, planning to make a brown sugar egg soup to drink. This would help relieve her pain.
As a result, when she opened the cabinet, there were only two eggs in it.
Su Yue thought for a while, took out the egg to make the brown sugar egg soup, drank it, then went to bed and covered herself. After a while, the throbbing really improved.
Feeling less painful, Su Yue took out a handkerchief from the bag she was carrying and opened it. It contained the only possessions of the original owner, twenty yuan in total.
After taking five yuan and putting it in her pocket, Su Yue took a basket, turned around, and left the house.
She wanted to exchange some eggs with the villagers. Anyway, at the moment eggs were considered nutritious things that could not be easily touched. She could use them to replenish the body and relieve hunger.
In addition, Su Yue had another very important purpose.
Su Yue asked the system in her heart as she walked: "System, do you know where Han Aiguo is?"
The system understood Su Yue's plan and asked: "Are you planning on exchanging eggs with him?"
Su Yue: "Bingo!"
The system immediately pointed Su Yue the way, so she quickly found the Han family according to the system's instructions. The door of the Han family was closed but unlatched, showing that there were people in the house.
Su Yue stepped forward to peek in from the door crack, but nothing could be seen, so she had to knock.
A strong male voice came from inside the door: "Who is it?"
Su Yue was excited from hearing this voice and her heart throbbed, thinking that this should be Han Aiguo.
Forcing herself to stay calm, Su Yue replied: "Hello, I am an educated youth here, can I exchange some eggs with your family?"
In this era, ordinary farmers were reluctant to eat chickens that laid eggs. They usually exchanged eggs for firewood, rice, oil, salt, or something else. If someone wanted to use money, they had to sell it secretly, so Su Yue thought there should be nothing wrong when she said to exchange it.
The person inside heard the words but didn't speak for a long time. When Su Yue was about to say something, the male voice sounded again, "come in."
Su Yue paused, then stretched out her hand to adjust her clothes and smooth out her hair again. Feeling that it should be okay, she then opened the door and walked in.
As soon as she entered, she saw a man sitting under the eaves of the courtyard. He was weaving a bamboo basket, and had many more already done at his feet.
What caught Su Yue's attention most was that the man had a crutch by his side.
There was no doubt that this man was Han Aiguo.
At this time, Han Aiguo raised his head, and Su Yue saw his appearance clearly.
Wheat-colored skin and a heroic face. His facial features were not anything special, but the combination had a strange tough-guy flavor. That, together with the tall figure and the protruding muscles that couldn't be disguised by loose clothes, made him seem like an upright man at first glance, giving people a great sense of security. The most special were his eyes. Deep and sharp as if they could see through people's hearts.
This man was not the beautiful and exquisite type, but Su Yue still smiled in her heart. His temperament and appearance were completely in line with the types she liked.
She liked strong guys and especially liked the tough-soldier-big-brother kind.
He was both.
Su Yue couldn't help but think of a sentence in her heart: I like everything about you.
At this moment, Su Yue was also relieved of the last trace of uncertainty about this mission. Since she came to this world for him, since the reason for her being here was him, and since he also met all of her expectations, then why not forget about the mission, and just like a young girl, aim for a good relationship and experience what love is?
While Su Yue was looking at Han Aiguo, Han Aiguo was also looking at Su Yue.
He was surprised that there would be such a beautiful girl in their village. This reminded him of when his sister-in-law and his mother had discussed the topic of the educated youths from the village. They said that there was a female educated youth in the village several times more beautiful than Ru Fang, the youngest girl from the third Han household in the village. Many young boys in the village had taken a fancy to her.
At that time, he just listened casually and didn't care. When he saw someone coming, he suddenly felt that this girl must be the one his sister-in-law and mother talked about. It seemed she was called Yue?
Sure enough, the next second, he heard the other party saying: "Hello, big brother, my name is Su Yue."
Su Yue's voice was sweet, and her smile even sweeter. The soft golden sunlight cast on her body made her skin more translucent. The beauty of the whole person was inconceivable.
Han Aiguo lowered his eyes, looking at the ground in front of Su Yue, and asked, "Are you going to change eggs?"
Su Yue nodded sweetly, "Yes, big brother, we don't have eggs or chickens at home. Can I use money to exchange for a little of yours?"
Fearing he would doubt her, Su Yue added: "Because everyone has gone to work, I went to several houses but I haven't found anyone. Only your door was unlocked, so I took the liberty to come and disturb you."
Han Aiguo nodded when he heard the words and told her to wait. He then stood up, picked up the walking stick leaning against the wall, put it under his armpit, and limped towards the house.
Su Yue stared at his legs and found that white gauze could still be faintly seen on his right leg. So that was the injured leg. It seemed to be very difficult for him to walk. Thinking about it, from being injured, to treatment, to discharge, and finally retiring in his hometown, at least two or three months had passed. Even after so long, his leg was still like this. He must have hurt it really badly.
Medical technology in this era was still underdeveloped, so it was understandable that such a serious injury would be poorly treated. No wonder his original ending was so tragic.
But it didn't matter. Now that she was here, he would definitely not become lame again.
After a while, Han Aiguo walked back again with his crutch, carrying a basket of eggs on his other hand, looking very full.
Su Yue was afraid that he could not lift it properly with the crutch and would let it fall down, so she put down her basket and rushed in front of him to help him carry it, "Big brother, give it to me, I will help you carry it."
Han Aiguo shook his head, avoiding her hand, "No need, I'll do it."
However, without meaning to, the hands of two people touched each other accidentally.
Han Aiguo avoided subconsciously, his body freezing, and he dared not even look at Su Yue.
Su Yue also discovered that this person's ears had gotten red without a sound.
Su Yue did not mind it so much. On the contrary, she found it funny to think that he had such a big reaction, like an innocent boy. He looked like he was well into his twenties, almost thirty, right? Could he be so innocent?
But thinking about it, people in this era were not so open when it came to getting along with the opposite sex. Han Aiguo had been a soldier in the army for so many years, a place full of big men, where females were rarely seen. Naturally there would be less contact with women, so it was normal to be more innocent.
Moreover, she didn't think there was anything wrong with innocence, on the contrary — it was great.
[1] I forgot to make a note about this. The system is actually a wangfu (旺夫) system which is... untranslatable. Wangfu, in very simple terms, is a combination of facial structures that people believed when present in females, could bring good luck to their husbands (the actual title of the novel is more like Life of a Wangfu in the '70s), so it's not just a generic good luck system, but I think we were already clear on that.
It took a long time until the red on Han Aiguo's ears faded. He finally opened his mouth to ask Su Yue, "How many eggs do you want?"
Su Yue didn't dare to be too enthusiastic, so she pretended that nothing happened, replying, "Give me thirty."
Han Aiguo nodded and asked Su Yue to bring her basket over so she could take them.
His hands were very big, with distinct joints and especially long fingers. He could hold three eggs at a time as if they were a single one.
Su Yue stared at his hands until he finished taking the eggs, and then asked: "Big brother, how much is the total?"
Although Han Aiguo had been in the army all year round, he still knew the price. An egg could reach seven cents if sold well, but most of them could only sell for six cents. He couldn't push such a high price on Su Yue, so he told her six cents.
Su Yue did not rush to pay him, but continued: "Big brother, I want to trouble you with something, I don't know if it will work."
Han Aiguo looked up at her, "Say it."
"Big brother, I want to borrow some flour from your family. I originally wanted to buy it at the market when I went to the commune, but the farming these days is so busy there is no way to go. Because there's no flour at all at home, I want to borrow some first for an emergency. I'll buy it in a few days and then return it to your house, would that work?"
The reason why Su Yue didn't say to buy it directly was that at this time, every household had limited flour, which was not enough to casually eat. Generally, it would only be taken out for a special occasion, so they had no habit of selling it.
After listening, Han Aiguo thought about it and said, "Okay, wait a minute."
He turned around and limped to the kitchen. After a while, he took out a cloth bag and handed it to Su Yue, "This is two catties of flour, there is no more."
Su Yue took it with gratitude, and at the same time did not forget to thank him, "Two catties are enough. Thank you, big brother, you are really nice."
In this era, people's speeches were simple and straightforward. Where would they say "you are so nice" to someone's face? Han Aiguo felt uncomfortable listening, and the roots of his ears quietly got red again.
Su Yue secretly smiled in her heart.
Having bought the eggs and borrowed the flour, there was nothing else to be said between the two. Su Yue wanted to talk to him more, but after all, it was their first meeting. They weren't even acquaintances. If she lingered here talking about random things he might think she was the kind of girl who had no purpose, and whatever good impression he had of her would be lost.
For her good image, Su Yue lifted the basket, smiled, and waved at him: "Thank you, big brother, I'm going back."
Han Aiguo nodded slightly without saying anything.
Su Yue found out that he not only had a cold face but was also not talkative. He definitely wouldn't talk if he had nothing to say, and if he had, not an extra word would be used.
It seemed that if she wanted to get acquainted with him, she had to take the initiative.
When she got home, Su Yue returned the two eggs she had used in the morning, and then put all the rest back in her room and locked them up.
The reason why she bought eggs and borrowed flour was because she wanted to make sponge cakes. One reason was to relieve her greed, and the other was to see if she could sell them when she went to the market next time. If she could sell them then she would be able to buy more ingredients and increase her options when cooking.
However, the two next days would still be too busy with the harvest, and no one could take time off to go to the market. She could only wait for the end of the busy farming period when most of the villagers would go to the market to buy things.
The next day, Su Yue's belly was much better. She didn't ask for leave anymore and went with the others to work. Although these next few days were still very painful, she somehow managed to get through by gritting her teeth. Then, at last, the autumn harvest was finally over.
Not only Su Yue, but everyone else also breathed a sigh of relief, showing a long-lost smile.
Immediately after the autumn harvest was done, everyone gathered in the yard. Before Su Yue could propose going to the market, Wu Xiaoxiao said first: "I'm about to suffocate to death. I want to go to the market and buy some things. Will anyone go with me?"
Li Xiaoqing raised her hand, "I'll go, there are not a lot of things left, I need to buy some more."
Another educated youth, Mao Lin, also said that she would go. In the end, everyone except Wei Jia would go.
So the group of four decided to go to the commune and then the market together.
On the night before, Su Yue took the eggs and flour she had bought into the kitchen.
When Li Xiaoqing saw she had brought out so many good things, her eyes were slightly rounded, "Su Yue, what are you doing?"
Su Yue simply explained to her while breaking the eggs into the bowl: "I wanted to make some sponge cakes to eat but I also want to see if I can trade them tomorrow, either for money or something else. "
Li Xiaoqing was not surprised when Su Yue said that she wanted to sell sponge cakes, because now ordinary people were allowed to trade a small portion of their own provisions and vegetables in the market, and there were also many who would secretly make food to sell. Although this kind of thing was done quite a lot in secret, everyone knew about it in their hearts.
But Li Xiaoqing was surprised by what Su Yue wanted to cook. She had grown this big but still had never eaten sponge cakes, only the common mung bean cakes and red bean cakes.
Li Xiaoqing didn't want to return to the room anymore, and asked, "Su Yue, can I stay and have a look? Don't worry, I'll just watch you. I don't have the ability to learn it secretly."
Su Yue stirred the eggs, "It's nothing, you can stay if you want."
Li Xiaoqing was very happy. She rolled up her sleeves and said, "Is there anything I can help you with? How about I deal with the fire?"
Su Yue's thoughts moved when she heard this. She could ask Li Xiaoqing to help her. If her plan worked out in the future, she wouldn't be able to do it alone, otherwise, she would waste most of her time just controlling the fire, which would delay the cooking.
But first, she had to see if the sponge cakes could be sold.
So Su Yue asked Li Xiaoqing to set a fire for her while she concentrated on the stove, carefully making the first pastry since she came here.
An hour later, Su Yue told Li Xiaoqing to put out the fire, and the first batch of sponge cakes was freshly baked.
Li Xiaoqing couldn't wait to get away from the stove and rush over to take a good sniff from it"Su Yue, this is too fragrant, how can it smell better than mung bean cake and red bean cake! I'm almost drooling."
Su Yue laughed when she heard her. She took the sponge cake out of the pan to cool and at the same time picked a piece up, handing it to Li Xiaoqing, "Sister Xiaoqing, try it and see how it tastes."
Li Xiaoqing really wanted to eat it, but she waved her hand and said: "No, no, this is a good thing. It cost so many eggs, sugar and flour, it would be a waste for me to eat it. You just sell it at the market."
Su Yue grabbed her hand and forced the cake on her, "Eat it, didn't you help me with the fire for so long just to eat a bite? Don't say anything, just try it."
"Then I won't be polite." Li Xiaoqing was really hooked by the smell, feeling that the greedy worms in her belly would come out if she didn't eat it.
Gently taking one bite, the cake was soft and sweet, melting in the mouth, making even her nose full of sweetness.
Li Xiaoqing's eyes narrowed, and she kept chewing while giving Su Yue a thumbs up, "My goddess Su Yue, you are a chef. It's too delicious. I used to think mung bean cakes and red bean cakes were the best, but now that I have eaten your sponge cakes they simply can't compare. This is the best pastry I have ever eaten!"
At this moment, the voice of the system sounded: "Congratulations to the host, the sponge cake is rated C-level. You got ten points."
Su Yue looked at the points panel in her mind, and the number on it had changed from four to fourteen.
Su Yue smiled happily.
Li Xiaoqing asked again at this time: "Su Yue, how much do you plan to sell it for?"
Su Yue thought about the current prices and said, "For now, 15 cents a piece."
Li Xiaoqing was stunned, thinking that the price is a bit expensive. At this time, even a catty of rice wouldn't reach 15 cents. Could this piece of sponge cake be worth more than rice?
"Su Yue, would anyone be willing to buy this?"
Su Yue also knew that in this era 15 cents meant a lot. Many people would only buy meat twice a year because they couldn't bear to pay 60 cents on a catty. If they spent 15 cents buying one piece of sponge cake then wouldn't they be considered crazy?
However, if there are poor people, then there must also be rich people. For those who are not short of money the main problem should be getting good food. Such people wouldn't care about spending money as long as the food was worth the price.
Su Yue planned on selling sponge cakes precisely to these people who didn't lack money.
Listening to Su Yue's explanation, Li Xiaoqing suddenly slapped her head, "Look at my brain, it's not as good as yours. Although we may be reluctant to buy it, those who have double income or work in government agencies are not short of money at home. Your cake is so delicious, they must be willing to buy it."
"I hope so, I have to try it tomorrow." Su Yue took out two more pieces of cake as she spoke, then divided them with a knife turning it into four pieces, and gave three of them to Li Xiaoqing. "Sister Xiaoqing, can you help me send these to the other three? I'll put the rest in the basket and take it to the commune to sell it tomorrow."
Li Xiaoqing looked at the three pieces of pastry with heartache, but she had to endure the pain and send it away, otherwise, with everyone living under the same roof, if she didn't share the good things then she really wouldn't be able to explain herself.
Su Yue looked at her feeling more distressed than herself and laughed.
Going to the market was a trait of this era. Before it dawned the next day, the four educated youths got up and left.
Because there were no buses or tricycles for transporting people, when the villagers went to the commune to go to the market, they all had to rely on their two legs to walk.
It took an hour to walk from Hanjia Village to the commune. Su Yue and the others set off before dawn, and when they arrived it was already bright.
Su Yue's feet were numb. She was almost crawling like a dog from exhaustion.
On the other hand, the other three people were much better. They just needed a short break and the little bit of sweat would be gone, it was nowhere nearly as exaggerated as Su Yue.
Wu Xiaoxiao shook her head and said to Su Yue: "Your body is too squeamish. You can't go on like this."
Su Yue was also very helpless. Although the body belonged to the original owner, the tolerance level was her own, and she was not as good as the original. Her biggest hobby in the past was to hole herself up in the kitchen to cook. She wouldn't exercise, wouldn't walk, wouldn't even go out shopping. On the rare occasion that she did go out, it was mostly by car. When did she ever walk this kind of long road? And it was still such a rough and uneven one.
So troublesome.
imagines what it would be like for Aiguo's ears to get redloudly*
T/N: Btw, both Su Yue and the Han family members call Han Aiguodage(Su Yue uses "Han dage" after their first meeting) but I'll leave it as "big brother" for Su Yue and "elder brother" for family members.
Food/N: I first thought Su Yue made the traditional steamed cake that opens in the middle, like this one:
However, later they're described as golden, so Su Yue's cake should be more like... a malnourished castella (no milk or butter available).
I used that recipe once and while it isverysoft it also smells alotlike eggs. Now digging around for pics and info on egg cakes, apparently you need to either use old eggs or a ton of butter to get rid of the smell, but I suppose Su Yue's innate talent should be able to do it too.
Su Yue saw some people passing by riding a bicycle and she couldn't help envying them. She also wanted one so that she wouldn't have to rely only on her legs anymore.
But in this era bicycles were very expensive. Even if you had more than two hundred yuan, you still needed a coupon which was really hard to get, hence why very few people had bicycles.
What's more, all she had now was ten something yuan. There was no way she could afford one.
This was probably the poorest period of her life.
Wu Xiaoxiao and Mao Lin were going to the supply station to look at fabrics, and Li Xiaoqing also planned to buy some personal items. Su Yue was afraid of delaying them, so she told them to go first.
After they left, Su Yue remained where she was and rested. After she recovered most of her strength, she stood up with her basket and walked to the supply station.
She didn't plan to sell at the market as this method was still too dangerous. She planned to go directly to the supply station and quietly look for customers.
Su Yue stood not far from the entrance and observed. After a long time of observation, she saw a stylishly dressed woman in her thirties coming out holding a tin can and something wrapped in an oil paper bag in her hand, most likely food.
At first glance, this woman was not short of money.
Su Yue's eyes lit up. Without hesitating, she walked straight up and stopped in front of the woman.
Earning herself a suspicious look, Su Yue smiled slightly and asked in a low voice, "Big sister, do you want to buy some sponge cakes? The cakes I make are very delicious."
The woman was originally impatient thinking she had been stopped by someone trying to sell their own stuff again. She was just about to wave her hand and leave immediately when she heard "sponge cake".
She hasn't heard of those yet.
Out of curiosity, the woman did not leave, but asked: "What sponge cake?"
Seeing that there was a chance, Su Yue immediately opened a corner of her basket revealing the golden cake inside, "Big sister, look, this is my own sponge cake. It's very tasty, you will know if you try it."
Su Yue didn't say anything else and handed over a piece for this big sister. The sweet fragrance was so enticing the woman didn't hesitate at all, eager to see if the taste was as good as it seemed.
After taking a bite, the woman was taken aback. She didn't expect it to be so delicious. The smell was good, but the taste was even better! She had never eaten such a delicious cake.
Now the woman didn't stall and asked directly: "Meizi, how much is this sponge cake?"
Su Yue knew that this business was a done deal and quietly said, "Big sister, there are many people here. Let's go to the alley over there and talk."
The woman nodded clearly, following Su Yue over and introducing herself as she walked, "My name is Jiang, you can just call me Sister Jiang."
Su Yue called Sister Jiang in a friendly manner. When she saw there was no one else in the alley, she completely opened the basket's cover and said, "Sister Jiang, these were all made by ourselves. You can't buy them anywhere else. You already tasted it, so I won't waste your time. They are 15 cents a piece. How many do you want?"
"15 cents?" Sister Jiang was slightly surprised. She wanted to say that was too much, but when she thought of the taste, she felt that it wasn't really that expensive. It was much better than the pastries sold by the supply station, both delicious and beautiful, not to mention you couldn't buy it anywhere else. The piece was not small either, so it was better to buy this as a gift than the stuff in the supply station.
It just so happened that her family had to prepare gifts. All the things in her hands were bought for that reason.
Sister Jiang peeked inside Su Yue's basket and said, "Meizi, I want all of your sponge cakes, but you have to give me a cheaper price."
Su Yue was pleasantly surprised. She thought this sister would take three or four pieces at most, but she didn't expect that she would pack it all at once. It was really great. She immediately packed up the cakes, "Okay. Sister Jiang, why don't I give you all the little scraps left?"
Sister Jiang was also very happy that Su Yue was so straightforward. One paid the money, the other delivered the cakes, and business was done.
When Sister Jiang was leaving, she said to Su Yue: "Dameizi, I live in the family building behind the textile factory. Next time you make something delicious, bring it to me, I still want more. "
Su Yue happily agreed without delay.
Touching the money in her pocket, Su Yue almost wanted to sing. This basket was sold for three yuan and a half, and the cost to make the cake was less than fifty cents. In other words, she made almost three yuan all at once.
Although three yuan may not even be enough to buy a popsicle in modern times, in the '70s it was a lot of money. Everyone envied factory workers' income of nearly 40 yuan a month, which meant about one yuan a day, yet her three yuan was comparable to three days' wages of a factory worker.
Su Yue's heart was so happy it couldn't compare to when she made ten million a month in modern times.
After making money, Su Yue wanted to buy a lot of things right away.
She went to the market and bought five catties of rice and flour from local farmers without coupons. Seeing that there were locally grown beans, she then also bought some mung beans and red beans.
Finally, she went to the supply station again and bought the spices and oil that were essential for cooking.
After a lot of buying, all the money on her body was spent and the coupons were gone. It could be said that there was not a penny in her whole body.
But seeing her hands full of things, she didn't feel heartache. Anyway, even if she had no money she could still make more.
When Li Xiaoqing and the others came back, they were shocked by the amount of things in front of Su Yue. In the end, each helped her carry a little, and the four of them finally succeeded in transporting her things back to the village.
In the village, the first thing Su Yue did was to weigh out two catties of flour, and then wrap the two pieces of sponge cake she had left behind in oil paper. She took both and walked towards Han Aiguo's house.
She was going to return it.
This time when she arrived at the entrance of Han Aiguo's house the gate was not closed, but wide open. She could vaguely hear someone in the yard shouting loudly.
Su Yue got closer and heard a woman's angry voice: "The Wang family is simply a black-hearted family! Snobbish and heartless. I was really blind before when I saw their daughter. If I had known their family was so shameless, even if you kill me, I wouldn't dare to look down on them. They really think their daughter is a fairy. As if! At the beginning, who was the one begging to come to my family and become relatives? Oh, now that they see my family's Aiguo hurt and feel that there is no future, they want to break off the engagement and find another match. How could it work like that!"
There was a younger female voice admonishing, "Mother, don't be angry. It's not worth it to be angry for such a family. Consider this as clearly seeing their Wang family's character. We will definitely not interact with them in the future."
"I have never seen such a snobbish family. Back then, they came everyday to beg me. I thought their family was sincere and agreed to this marriage. Now it's like this. They see my Aiguo returning home injured and want to go back on their word. Do they still want face! I want to see what kind of character they can match to their daughter in the end!"
Su Yue stood outside the courtyard of the Han family and listened for a while, and she probably understood what was going on. It should be that the person who had been engaged to Han Aiguo saw that he was injured and thought there would be no future with him, regretted the promise and came over to break off the engagement.
No wonder the old lady was so angry.
However, she was quite happy. If Han Aiguo had a betrothed, how could she approach him?
She couldn't do such things as being a mistress.
Seeing that the old lady's scolding quieted down, Su Yue sorted out her clothes, walked forward and knocked on the door, shouting, "Is anyone home?"
All the voices in the yard stopped. Everyone looked at the door and saw Su Yue standing there with surprised expressions.
The old lady Han asked aloud, "You are Su Zhiqing [2] who lives in the east settlement, right?"
Su Yue nodded: "That's me, auntie. Is it convenient for you now?"
Old lady Han hurriedly reduced the anger on her face and greeted her, "Come in, come in. Girl, what did you come over for?"
Su Yue showed the flour in the basket to the old lady, "Auntie, I came once a few days ago but you were not at home at that time. Big brother was the only one at home, so I borrowed some flour from him. This time I went to the market and bought it, then came over to return it to you."
The old lady Han of course knew who was the "big brother" she mentioned. A few days ago, Aiguo told her that an educated youth had come to buy eggs and borrowed two catties of flour. She didn't think much about it, but she knew it was a female educated youth, and a very eye-catching one.
This girl was the most beautiful girl in the whole Hanjia Village... No, no, in the whole commune.
Such a beautiful girl bought eggs and borrowed flour from her eldest. Did the two talk a lot?
Why didn't this brat tell her clearly!
The old lady Han thought about the possibility of these two people. When she came back to her senses, she remembered that laoda [3] was no longer what he used to be. With that appearance now, what was she thinking? Even the girl of the Wang family disliked him. Her family's laoda had no chance with such a dazzling girl.
Ai, she couldn't be so confused in the future.
Thinking about this, the old lady's eyes dimmed. She smiled and stretched out her hand to take the flour that Su Yue handed over, and said politely: "Good child, come in and drink some water. Next time you need something just come to auntie's house to borrow it. "
Su Yue looked around without a trace but didn't see the man's figure, and suppressed the disappointment in her heart. She took out the oil paper bag and handed it to the old lady Han, "Auntie, this the sponge cake I made. I brought you two pieces as a thank you for lending me the flour."
Although the old lady Han had never heard of a sponge cake, she knew it was a pastry. Pastries were a rare thing, so she subconsciously rejected it, "Good child, this is a good thing. You take it back quickly. You just borrowed some flour, no need to thank me."
But Su Yue stubbornly stuffed the oil paper bag into the old lady's hand, "Auntie, I made this by myself. You just taste it. If you don't accept it then I will be too embarrassed to come trouble you if I lack anything in the future. Hurry and take it."
When the old lady Han saw her like this, she stopped being polite, "Alright, alright, auntie will accept it. You quickly follow auntie inside for water."
Su Yue waved her hand, "I can't, auntie. I have to go back and wash the clothes. I won't drink it today. Auntie, I'm leaving."
Su Yue turned around and left after speaking, not planning to go in for water.
Han Aiguo didn't come out so she couldn't see him even after drinking it, so let's talk about it next time.
[1]Dameizi(大妹子) is a friendly way for women around 30 in the north to call unfamiliar younger women (I'm not so sure if the addition ofdais meant as an upgrade frommeizi). It's not intimate enough to be translated as younger sister, so I just left it.
[2] Zhiqing (知青) - Educated youth (left because Educated Youth Su is a mouthful).
[3] Laoda (老大) - Eldest son.
T/N: I like knowing my weights, so here: Catty = Jin (斤) = 0,5 Kg = 1 Pounds.
Also, I know the coupon/ticket thing is understandable by context, but here's a little bit from wiki:
The grain rationing system in China was imposed by the People's Republic of China in the 1950s to control the production of food and to boost industrialization. People were given grain coupons with which they could buy a certain amount of grain at a low, state-imposed price, which varied somewhat with age, profession and location. Any quantity exceeding the coupon quota would have to be purchased at market price. With this system, urban households were able to buy grain at a cheaper price, and at the same time rural areas, once they fulfilled the state-imposed quotas, were allowed to sell the excess supply at market price.
Old lady Han looked at Su Yue's back as she left and exclaimed, "This girl is too good. How can someone be this eye-catching?"
Everyone in the family knew that old lady Han liked good looking girls, so they all smiled in agreement. The second wife said: "Yes, this Su Zhiqing is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I don't know what kind of man can enter her eyes in the future."
The third wife didn't care. She glanced at the cakes in the hands of old lady Han and said: "Other people's affairs have nothing to do with us, what are you worrying about? Mother, quickly look at what pastry Su Zhiqing brought you. I never heard about sponge cakes."
The old lady Han rolled her eyes, "You only know how to eat! What? People give this old lady two pieces of pastry for her to try and you still want a share?"
The third wife swallowed and said, "Mother, I'm just curious. How can I have the face to eat your cakes? But the children have never eaten these sponge cakes, mother, please give a little for them to try."
The old lady Han scowled and scolded: "I am a grandmother. Don't I know to give it to my own grandchildren? Do I need you to remind me?"
The third wife was completely silent.
Old lady Han said to the second wife, "Go call the children back and give them the cake."
The second wife was overjoyed and hurriedly went outside to call the children.
Hearing there was something delicious to eat, the children rushed back. As soon as they entered the door, they surrounded the old lady Han screaming: "Grandma, grandma, I want to eat sponge cake! I want to eat sponge cake!"
There were a total of four children in the Han family. The second son had three, and the third son currently only had one. Neither the eldest nor the fourth had a family yet. If they got married, there would only be more children.
But at the moment just four were enough to cause headaches.
"Don't make noise, don't make noise! I'll give it to you, everyone gets one." The old lady Han took out one of the cakes that Su Yue had brought and used a knife to cut it apart for the children to eat.
As soon as the cake was taken out of the oil paper bag, a sweet smell filled the air immediately, attracting the children one after another. "Wow--", they shouted, already drooling, eager to grab it and run away. If it wasn't for old lady Han to be guarded, the cakes would really have been snatched away.
Even the third wife, an adult, kept swallowing. Her eyes were glued to the cake, unable to part from it, "My dear, this smells too fragrant."
The old lady Han also nodded and said, "This old lady has never seen such a sweet-smelling pastry at such an old age. Su Zhiqing is not only beautiful, but also very skilled."
The old lady said that as she divided the cake into small pieces and gave it to the children, one for each. After the children took it, they couldn't wait a moment before stuffing it in their mouth, making their little mouths so full they were reluctant to swallow it.
The old lady Han was helpless, "You really are starving ghosts reborn, no manners at all!"
The second son's only son swallowed first. With a memorable expression on his face, he asked "Grandma, it's really delicious, can you give me another piece?"
He saw that there was another piece that she hadn't taken out.
The other children stared at the remaining piece with longing.
The old lady Han had a stern face and stretched out her hand to put away the remaining piece, "This piece is not for you to eat, you are not allowed to have any ideas."
The children were so disappointed that they watched eagerly until the old lady Han left with the cake.
The third wife curled her lips and whispered to the second wife, "Second sister-in-law, mother is so biased. Whenever there is something even a little bit tastier she will send it to elder brother. Look, the cake must be reserved for elder brother to eat."
The second wife looked at Han Aiguo's room and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Elder brother is injured and mother feels distressed."
The third wife was not convinced: "He can't work and stays at home all day. What does he even do to eat so well? If there are good things, second brother and my man should be the ones to eat them, anyway, they are the ones who have to work hard."
The second wife's eyes flashed, "Stop talking. If mother hears you, you can't bear the consequences."
The third wife was still very afraid of the old lady, so she didn't dare to say more at the moment, but her heart became even more unbalanced. When she went to bed at night, she was still mumbling about the old lady's bias.
The third son frowned before she could finish speaking and reprimanded her: "What do you know, don't talk nonsense! Big brother is injured, not lazy. He has been in the army for so many years, and all his money was always sent back to support our family. Our father left early. Mother alone had limited ability to raise us brothers, it was the elder brother who went to the army early so the family could build a house. The money for my second brother and I to get married was also earned by my elder brother. He did the most for this family, and he is injured now. What's wrong with my mother taking care of him? Don't you dare to mess around here."
The third wife had no face left, picking up the bedding and whispering, "But the hospital said that elder brother's leg could not be cured, so he won't be able to go back to the army. He will stay at home in the future, but if he can't work then won't we have to eat plain rice later on?"
Third brother was silent for a while before he said, "Even if elder brother can't work anymore, it's not our turn to say anything. Don't go around speaking nonsense. Be careful or mother will cut you off."
Seeing that this man was not on her side, the third wife was so angry she pushed him and turned away with a huff.
At the same time, the old lady Han, with a bowl in her hand, opened the door and walked into Han Aiguo's room.
Han Aiguo was reading a book, but seeing his mother come in he put the book aside and greeted her.
The old lady Han put the bowl on the table, revealing the cake inside, "Mother brought you a cake, you try it."
Han Aiguo already knew that the cake was given by Su Yue, because the children at home were discussing the cake during dinner.
"Mother, what kind of cake should someone like me eat? Share it with the children."
The old lady Han said, "Su Zhiqing sent two pieces. I have already divided a large piece for the children, so you can eat the rest. This is sent by Su Zhiqing to thank our family for lending her our flour. You were the one who let her borrow it, then is she not thanking you? You should eat this cake."
Seeing that Han Aiguo was about to refuse again, the old lady Han kept going: "If mother asks you to eat, just eat. You were so badly injured this time you should have eaten something more nutritional, but the family is not rich right now, and there is no way to buy delicious food to supplement your health. I heard that there are a lot of eggs in this cake, so they should be very nutritious."
Han Aiguo knew that his mother was always worrying about his legs and couldn't bear to make her sad, so he stopped rejecting. He took the cake from the bowl, divided it into two, and handed half of it to the old lady Han, "Mother, there is no reason for a son to eat while the mother looks on. We will share it together."
The old lady Han knew that her eldest was the most filial of her four children. She couldn't help but smile, and did not reject his filial piety. She took a bite and said with emotion, "It's really delicious, so fragrant and sweet. It's also so soft it won't make people choke, very good for old people's teeth. The craft of this Su Zhiqing is too skillful."
Han Aiguo looked at the cake in his hand for a moment, paused, then opened his mouth to eat. A sweet scent slipped into his throat, as if the sweetness travelled from his tongue to his heart.
Even if he had never liked sweets, he had to admit that this cake was delicious.
She had really good craftsmanship.
After waiting for Han Aiguo to finish the cake, old lady Han tentatively asked, "Laoda, you heard everything when the Wang family visited today, right?"
Han Aiguo nodded, and said without emotion, "I heard it."
The old lady Han observed him to figure out what he thought about this matter, but unfortunately she couldn't see anything from his expressionless face. "My son, don't be sad. Mother is not good, she didn't keep her eyes open and found you such black hearted people."
Han Aiguo looked at the old lady Han and said calmly: "Mother, I am not sad. I only saw her a few times, there are no feelings to talk about. If she wants to break off, just break off. No need to be angry."
"How can I not be angry!" The old lady Han was so furious when she said this, she had to pat her chest to appease herself. "Blame mother for being blind and picking a black hearted girl. She saw you had a future in the army and rushed to marry you, but now she sees you injured and ran over to separate. This family is not afraid of people talking behind their backs!"
Han Aiguo patted the old lady on the back, and comforted: "Mother, in fact, we can't blame others. The doctor said my leg could not be cured, and there is no hope of returning to the army. I will not be able to do farm work in the future, so I'm not any different from a waste. The woman who marries me will suffer for a lifetime. It's excusable for them to back off from the engagement."
"What's excusable!" The old lady hurriedly said, "It was their family who came to me and told me that their daughter likes you! Even if you couldn't come back from the army, she was willing to wait for you, and wouldn't care about you not being home all the time, willing to take care of everything at home by herself. I was moved by these words at the beginning, thinking that girl had a heart for you, but okay, it's all fake! They are too shameless!"
Han Aiguo: "Alright, mother, if it's over then it's over. Don't be angry about it anymore. Let's not talk about it."
The old lady tried to calm herself down, remembering that her son's leg was hurt. The saddest thing was that he was right, but she still wanted her son to comfort her, which was a bit unreasonable. She restrained the fire in her belly and said, "Okay, I'm not angry. It's not worth it to be angry with such a person. Don't worry, mother will work hard to find you a better one."
Seeing his mother refusing to give up, Han Aiguo was very helpless, "Mother, don't worry about my affairs. I will be like this from now on. Whoever marries me will be dragged down, so don't ruin other people's good girls. Mother, as long as you don't dislike your son, your son will live with you in the future. Nevermind getting married."
"Nonsense!" Unexpectedly, these words seemed to touch the old lady's reverse scale. The old lady was awfully disturbed, "Why won't you get married! You went out to serve as a soldier at the age of sixteen, and did your duty for this family for more than ten years! Only you haven't settled until now. Even your younger brothers' children can buy soy sauce, but you are still single. You don't know how uncomfortable your mother's heart is. Mother's greatest wish is to see you married with children, living your life well. Don't say anything about not marrying. Don't worry, mother will find you a good girl who doesn't dislike you, and in time you will give me a fat grandson."
Han Aiguo rubbed his forehead. His mother had been stimulated by today's separation and wouldn't listen to him anymore. But it's fine, he had time to slowly persuade her later.
The next day, rumors about Han Aiguo's broken engagement spread throughout the village. Everyone was talking about it while working.
A woman not far from Su Yue was chatting with a few people as she worked, "I heard there was a lot of noise in the Han family yesterday. The old lady of the Han family almost got into a fight with the old lady of the Wang family."
Another woman next to her said: "No, old lady Han was at a disadvantage but still had to fight them with all her might. But we can't blame her, the Wang family is too much. As soon as they saw the groom had hurt his leg they backed out from the engagement. They are not afraid of people talking about them."
Someone said: "You should think from the perspective of the Wang family. They are also thinking for their daughter. Han Aiguo used to be a good target with his high allowance from the army, but now things are different. I heard that he saw many doctors in the provincial capital and they all said that he can't be cured. It may sound unpleasant, but he will be disabled in the future. Who is willing to marry their girl to a disabled man? Isn't this pushing the girl into the fire pit?"
Several people echoed this statement, "It's true. If it's my daughter, I wouldn't want her to marry such a person."
"Who would? Although the Wang family is not kind, Han Aiguo can only blame his bad luck. A good man becoming disabled... His bright future is ruined."
"I see, when the eldest of the Han family wants to get married, it will be hard. He is already in his twenties, and now with his crippled legs he won't be able to make money to support his family. No girl would dare to marry him."
"Yeah, yeah. You know, in the future, he can only count on the old lady Han to support him, but I don't know if her other three sons won't have any opinions."
"There will definitely be opinions. Even if the three Han brothers have no opinion, their wives must have it. Who can stand their uncle eating plain rice at home."
"Heh, It won't be long before we see this Han family separate."
Su Yue's brows gradually wrinkled as she heard everyone talking like this. She was originally happy about Han Aiguo's broken engagement, but now with so many people talking about him as a useless crippled man, she became angry. That man was a hero. He came back from the battlefield with an injury, this shouldn't be the result.
The more Su Yue thought about it, the more unhappy she became. She called the system in her mind: "System, can Han Aiguo's legs really be cured?"
System: "Yes. There is a cure for this kind of leg injury in the system mall. After long-term use, it will slowly recover. The host need not worry."
"How many points do I have to exchange for it?"
System: "The host must find out by herself when she visits the mall."
Su Yue sighed helplessly, thinking about her current 14 points. She didn't even have the qualifications to enter the system mall, let alone get the prescription for treating his legs. She estimated that such an important prescription would require at least several hundred points. Her current "financial resources" were just a drop in the bucket.
No, she had to work hard to earn points and enter the mall as soon as possible. Then save enough points to buy the prescription.
After she got off work, Su Yue couldn't wait to get into the kitchen. She planned on making some mooncakes.
The Mid-Autumn Festival was coming soon, and all families, poor or rich, would bring home some mooncakes to taste. Although they were sold in the supply station, the price was too high and flavors too few, not to mention they didn't necessarily taste good.
But the ones made by her were different. They were definitely miles away from the mooncakes of the supply station in terms of taste.
She bought a lot of flour and red beans from the market last time, and there were still sesame seeds at home. She could make red bean mooncakes and black sesame mooncakes.
Before doing it, Su Yue approached Li Xiaoqing and told her about her plan.
Li Xiaoqing knew the steamed cake made by Su Yue had earned money last time, and was very confident about her craftsmanship. She just told her to be careful when selling it, after all, the situation was not very clear right now.
Su Yue said: "Sister Xiaoqing, don't worry. I only sell them in private. Even if someone sees it I'll just explain it's something I made to a friend for the holidays. No one can say anything."
Li Xiaoqing thought about it, and said: "Then I will support you and help you with the fire."
Su Yue grabbed her hand, explaining why she came looking for her today, "Sister Xiaoqing, I want you to help me in the future. I will give you 20% of the profit."
"Twenty percent? No way, no way. I don't know anything, I can only make a fire for you, how can I ask for your money."
Li Xiaoqing refused, but Su Yue said, "Sister Xiaoqing, you have also seen that I can't do anything by myself. I can't do anything without you but I feel bad asking for your help every time. That's why I want us to cooperate, so don't be silly and accept it. I'll be embarrassed to ask you to work if you don't accept it."
Li Xiaoqing thought for a while, finally laughed, and nodded: "Thank you Su Yue, I will definitely help you. Just tell me what you want me to do."
Li Xiaoqing had been struggling without any money left, so she knew that Su Yue was helping her. Feeling more grateful in her heart, she vowed to help her as best she could.
The two reached an agreement and Su Yue started to cook. First she put the already soaked red beans in a pot to boil them. After they were soft, she smashed them, added oil and brown sugar and then put the mixture in the pot to cook on low heat. After done, let it cool for later use.
After the red bean filling was prepared, Su Yue took out the sesame seeds and prepared a large pot of sesame filling according to her own method.
After the fillings were prepared, Su Yue began to knead the dough and make the mooncakes.
Making mooncakes was harder than making pastries. Su Yue and Li Xiaoqing were busy in the kitchen for most of the day. It wasn't until the moon reached the middle of the sky that they were finally done.
The other three people knew that Su Yue's food was unique, so they purposefully didn't go watch. It was not for lack of curiosity, but that they were afraid of offending Su Yue and ending up without anything delicious to eat. Anyway, they were self-aware. Even if they put Su Yue's whole process under a microscope, they still wouldn't have the ability to make such delicious things. Why bother watching it?
Now they all knew that Su Yue's craftsmanship was good and she was very generous. Every time she made something good they could get a bite, so life was very good these days. What everyone looked forward to the most was Su Yue going to the kitchen. Therefore, everyone wanted to have a good relationship with Su Yue. Even Wei Jia, who hated the original owner the most, didn't want to get on her bad side.
That's why even if Su Yue was in the kitchen, no one would come bother her. She was very satisfied with this situation.
Su Yue also lived up to everyone's expectations. On the breakfast table the next day, a plate of brightly colored and attractive mooncakes was waiting.
Everyone's eyes looked straight at it, one after another exclaiming in amazement.
Su Yue assigned one to each person, and they started eating as soon as they got it. After the first bite, Su Yue was showered in countless thumbs up to express their admiration.
At this time, the system's voice sounded again unexpectedly: "Congratulations to the host, the mooncakes were rated as C-level by the system. Ten points acquired."
With the sound of the system, the number of points in Su Yue's mind changed again, from 14 to 24.
Su Yue's eyes widened in surprise, overjoyed.
Twenty four! Her points finally exceeded twenty! She could enter the mall!
The system promptly asked: "Will the host enter the mall now?"
Su Yue calmed down a bit and shook her head, "Not now, I'm going to work soon. I'll see it at night."
The mall wouldn't run anyway.
System: "Okay."
After breakfast, everyone went to work together.
Li Xiaoqing found an excuse to be a step behind walking with Su Yue, and said to Su Yue with a sad look: "Su Yue, I was thinking about it, and although we can make things, selling them is a problem. As educated youths we have to go to work every day, how can we run to town whenever we feel like it? If you always ask for leave, the captain and party secretary will not approve it, but now that the weather is hot, if we stall for too long the food will rot."
Su Yue had thought about this a long time ago. It would definitely not work if they relied only on two educated youths. They have to go to work every day to earn work points, which neither of them could do without. For things like collecting ingredients and delivering food, they were simply too busy.
Therefore, they really had to find someone to help.
And this person could not be an educated youth. It was better to be a local.
Li Xiaoqing wrinkled her face, sad, "But we are not familiar with the people here, who can we ask? Will they even be willing to help?"
"I will also share the profit with the person who helps, so finding someone shouldn't be a problem. The key is to find someone reliable." Otherwise, it wouldn't be finding help, but digging a pit for themselves.
"Then who do you want to ask?"
Su Yue pondered, and said: "Sister Xiaoqing, I'll say I'm sick later, then go back and think of a way."
Li Xiaoqing agreed.
Su Yue took a leave of absence due to physical discomfort, went home, grabbed a few mooncakes, and sneaked to Han Aiguo's house.
At this point, all the adults had gone to work, and the children had also gone out to play. Han Aiguo should be alone at home.
Su Yue looked in from the gate. This time she didn't see Han Aiguo weaving bamboo baskets in the yard. Everything was quiet.
Su Yue raised her foot and walked in, standing in the yard and shouting, "Is anyone home?"
"Who is it?" Han Aiguo opened the window and saw the slim girl standing in the courtyard at a glance.
Su Yue smiled sweetly at him, "Big brother Han, it's me."
Han Aiguo paused for a moment, then came out of the room with the crutch knocking on the ground, making a "dongdongdong" sound.
He walked in front of her and asked in a flat voice: "What's the matter?"
Su Yue didn't care about his cold face, still smiling brightly, "Big brother Han, I want to ask you for a favor, are you free now?"
Han Aiguo paused and nodded.
Su Yue took out the mooncake and said, "Look, big brother Han, this is the mooncake I made. You try it."
Two small snow-white palms, with two crystal clear mooncakes in the middle. He didn't know which one looked better.
Han Aiguo looked away and shook his head, "Just say it, I'll help if I can help. No need to bring anything. You already brought the steamed cake last time."
It was the first time she had heard him say so much. Su Yue was happy in her heart, tilted her head with a smile and asked, "Then big brother Han, was the cake I made delicious?"
Han Aiguo was very uncomfortable. He lowered his gaze without looking at her. After a long while, he nodded and said honestly: "It was delicious."
Su Yue held the moon cake in her hand a little closer, "Big brother Han, in fact, the reason why I asked you for help is related to this mooncake. I made mooncakes and wanted to go to town to sell them for some money, but I have to work. There is no time at all, and I take too long walking back and forth, so it's not convenient to do anything. That's why I wanted to find someone to help me and share the profit with them, but I don't know the people here. So I wanted to ask, could you recommend someone reliable? You must be familiar with the people in the village."
Han Aiguo quietly listened to her until she finished talking, then looked at her in the eyes with doubt, "Why are you asking me?"
Privately selling was usually done in secrecy. It was better to not let anyone know, let alone an outsider. Wasn't she afraid of being reported? Why would she take the initiative to tell him she wanted to sell something?
Su Yue raised her head, lashes fluttering, "Because big brother Han is a good person. I believe you."
Han Aiguo's heart thumped heavily in his chest, not knowing what to say for a while.
Seeing him look as if frightened by her words, Su Yue smiled secretly in her heart, continuing to say sternly: "Big brother Han, believing you is one reason. The other is that I think maybe one of your brothers can do it. I know that whoever you name is someone I can trust."
In fact, Su Yue wanted Han Aiguo's help so that the Han family would remember his good deeds when they earned money, and be kind to him instead of disliking him for eating plain rice at home.
But she didn't know if the people in the Han family were competent, after all, she didn't know the other three brothers.
Han Aiguo really didn't know what to say about Su Yue. How could a girl trust him this much? Just because last time he let her borrow their flour? But even if she went to another house, they would also lend it to her.
She believes in people so easily, can she really do business?
Su Yue didn't know about Han Aiguo's concern for her. She directly stuffed the mooncake in her hands into his and retreated with ease, "Big brother Han, you help me think about it. I'll come to see you tonight."
Han Aiguo wanted to stop her, but she disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the mooncake with her lingering warmth in his hands.
Looking at the mooncake, Han Aiguo thought for a while and decided to take it back to his room. It wasn't as if he was reluctant to give it to his family, but that it was really impossible to explain the source of this mooncake. They would definitely wonder why she had come to him. Moreover, too many people knowing about her plans could end up harming her.
As for her request about introducing someone to do business, Han Aiguo already had someone in mind, but he still had to wait for his mother to come back and talk to her first. After all, if this business worked out, it couldn't be hidden from his mother.
At noon, while others had not yet started work, old lady Han came back early to cook lunch.
Han Aiguo called his mother to his room.
"What's wrong, laoda?"
Han Aiguo quietly took out the mooncake and showed them to his mother.
Old lady Han was surprised, "Laoda, where did you get the mooncakes?"
Han Aiguo told her about Su Yue's visit.
The old lady Han was really surprised. She studied Han Aiguo's face a few times, but his expression was the same as usual. She had a little hunch in her heart but for some reason she didn't dare to talk nonsense. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she started talking business: "Then what do you think? It isn't easy for a girl to ask for your help. You can't ignore her."
Han Aiguo: "Mother, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I have a candidate in mind. What do you think about fourth brother?"
"You mean the fourth child?" Old lady Han was taken aback, "but the fourth child is only twelve years old."
Han Aiguo nodded, "Mother, I think the fourth child is very suitable since he can't do a lot of farm work. If other people in the family did this, we wouldn't be able to earn enough work points. Another, the fourth child is clever but not slippery. He's always running back and forth between the village and the commune, he can do this well."
Old lady Han began to ponder, and after a while clapped her hands and said, "I think it can work. I wouldn't dare to vouch for other people, but I dare to say that the fourth child of our family will never cheat on Su Zhiqing, nor will he be lazy. He can be lent to Su Zhiqing."
The old lady stood up hurriedly and said, "I'll go talk to the fourth child."
That night, while Su Yue and the others were having dinner, old lady Han came to her home.
Su Yue didn't expect the old lady Han to come in person, and quickly invited her into her room to speak.
The old lady Han carefully sized up Su Yue's house, and after finishing she took Su Yue's hand with emotion and said, "Good girl, the living conditions here are too bad. You are wronged."
Su Yue shook her head and said with a smile: "I'm not wronged. All educated youths live like this."
The old lady Han looked at Su Yue's face carefully again. The more she looked, the prettier Su Yue seemed to be. She couldn't help but like her more and more, rubbing the tender hand in a daze. When she came back to herself, she felt too embarrassed to look at Su Yue. Old lady Han was shocked by her own behavior this time. Afraid of scaring others, she quickly laughed and started talking business: "Xiao Su [1, I know what you said to my Aiguo. My Aiguo has found someone for you, you see if it works."
Su Yue became serious: "Who?"
Old lady Han said: "It's my fourth son, twelve years old this year. Don't look at his age, he is very clever. Sometimes our family can't make money to buy things in the commune and most of the eggs in the house will be sold by the fourth child. The kid has never made a mistake."
Su Yue blinked. She thought that Han Aiguo would recommend the second or the third son of the Han family. How could she expect it would be the fourth, a child.
But listening to what the auntie said, it seemed that the fourth child was indeed suitable. A child could only earn a few work points in the village. If he didn't work at home and had nothing to do, it would be just right for this.
At this time, the old lady Han continued to say: "Xiao Su, auntie did not recommend her fourth son because she was greedy for your money, and my Aiguo is also not this kind of person. You see, we didn't let my second and third sons do it. We recommended the fourth because he is capable, but there is also another reason. This isn't a mother boasting, but my fourth child is just like his eldest brother in character. Smart but not slippery or lazy. He is responsible and serious when doing things, and will never entrap you or hold you back. If you think it's okay, I'll let my fourth son give it a try."
Su Yue hurriedly said: "Auntie, you are too polite. You are willing to let the fourth child help me run errands, I should be thanking you. If you and big brother Han said that the fourth child is OK, then he is absolutely fine. I can trust you."
After hearing this, the old lady Han was as happy as a dog with two tails [2, and the unspeakable thought in her heart was almost blurted out. However, she still kept it to herself and didn't rush to say it. She wanted to observe some more, so she just said, "That's okay, Xiao Su, I will ask my fourth child to sell your mooncakes tomorrow morning. I already told him all about it. He doesn't talk nonsense, don't worry."
Su Yue: "Auntie, please trouble the fourth child to come to me tomorrow morning. There's a place I want him to go."
Old lady Han readily agreed, stood up and said: "Auntie will not delay your meal, hurry and go eat, auntie will also go home to eat."
Su Yue sent her to the door and waited until she couldn't see her anymore to go back to dinner.
When the others asked why old lady Han had come, she explained it was to thank her for the cake she had sent last time, so no one doubted anything.
Only Li Xiaoqing had a guess as to what Su Yue and old lady Han were discussing.
The person was found, and Su Yue sighed with relief. After washing, she laid on the bed and finally had time to think about the mall.
Now that she had reached 24 points she could finally enter it.
She was really looking forward to it.
Su Yue called the system: "System, I want to enter the mall."
The system immediately replied: "OK host, now you have the authority to open the mall."
In the next second, a door appeared in Su Yue's mind. When she thought about opening the door, the door opened automatically and her consciousness went through it.
The world inside it was the system mall.
The space here seemed to be infinite, with many display stands floating in the air, each one carrying a different product. On the front panel of the display stand was the name of the product and a brief introduction.
Su Yue looked over one by one and found that the products here were really dazzling. There were all kinds of things with all kinds of uses. It felt a bit like discovering a treasure from a previous life, all of it seemed very familiar.
There are so many things Su Yue would take a long time browsing through all of them, but now was not the time. She had something very important in her heart that came before anything else.
"System, I want to see the prescription that can treat Han Aiguo's leg."
As soon as Su Yue finished speaking, a display stand appeared in front of her. On it was a piece of antique rice paper with many words written on it like floating clouds and flowing water [3, but unfortunately, she couldn't see what the words were.
The system reminded her at this moment: "This is a prescription for treating leg injuries specially researched by a genius doctor in ancient times. It can be used to treat Han Aiguo's leg, but it has been lost in the river of time. At present, the host cannot see the content of the recipe. Only after spending points to redeem the recipe will the host be able to see clearly."
Su Yue hurried to check the number of points needed on the panel.
Unexpectedly, this look caused her to inhale sharply.
Eight hundred points!
A whole eight hundred points!
Su Yue confirmed it back and forth three times, and it was indeed eight hundred points.
Su Yue felt that her heart couldn't bear it. To think she had earned 24 points after so many days of hard work, but this recipe alone cost 800 points. When would she earn enough points for this recipe?
It's so far away~
Su Yue, wanting to cry but having no tears, asked the system, "System, are you kidding me with this price?"
System: "Host, the products in the mall are all assigned points based on their corresponding value. This prescription is able to heal leg injuries that cannot be treated by the medicine in this era. It is of great value to you and Han Aiguo, thus it takes 800 points to exchange it. Host, there is no free lunch in this world. The system hopes you continue to work hard."
Su Yue sighed deeply, running a hand through her hair. There was a long way to go.
She could only hope to save 800 points sooner.
[1] Xiao Su - Little Su.
[2] As happy as a dog with two tails - Unusually happy (usually I would remove the idiom and keep the meaning, but this one was simply too cute to remove).
[3] Floating clouds and flowing water - Freely flowing style of writing.
Before dawn the next day, the fourth son of the Han family came to Su Yue.
Han Aimin was only twelve years old this year [1]. He reached only to her shoulders when standing in front of Su Yue and was very thin. From Su Yue's perspective, he was just a child.
Su Yue felt guilty from using child labor.
Han Aimin didn't feel he was being used as a child laborer. On the contrary, he had been pleasantly surprised. Yesterday his mother had told him that he would run errands for Su Zhiqing to sell things in the commune and get 20% of the profit. He thought he had heard it wrong at first, but after making sure he had not, the happiness was so great he wanted to jump.
He didn't like going to work the most. It was not that he was afraid of being tired, but that he was too young. The brigade only assigned the work of mowing grass and picking up cow dung for children. It wasn't fun at all and the number of work points was too low, not even enough for him to eat, but if he didn't go the second and third sisters-in-law would think he was an idler and there would be no peace at home.
In fact, his favorite work was helping his mother sell eggs in the commune. It was very interesting. Even if it took more than two hours to walk back and forth, he didn't feel tired at all. Unfortunately, they would only send him to sell things in the commune to subsidize the family occasionally, which made him very regretful.
That's why he was 100% willing to help Su Zhiqing sell things, not to mention he would also make money along with it. Last night he ate the mooncakes given to his eldest brother by Su Zhiqing. He had never seen or eaten them before, but they were so delicious it made people want to swallow their tongues. It was simply absurd to think no one would buy such mooncakes.
He was convinced that this mooncake would sell well.
Because of the deliciousness of mooncakes, Han Aimin admired Su Yue very much, scratching his head while boasting to her: "Sister Su Yue, the mooncakes you make are so tasty. I have never eaten such delicious mooncakes."
Su Yue laughed, taking out two mooncakes from the basket and handing them out to him, "Take these with you to eat, they are your breakfast. Coming out so early in the morning, you must have not eaten anything yet. You can't walk with a hungry belly."
Han Aimin shook his head quickly and took out two wotou from his small shoulder bag to show her, "Sister Su Yue, mother gave me hot wotou in the morning, so I have breakfast to eat. This mooncake is too good to be wasted, keep them for making money."
Unexpectedly, he was so sensible. Su Yue liked this kid more and more. After thinking about it, she said: "Alright. Then you sell it first. If it can't be sold, when you return we will eat it ourselves."
Han Aimin immediately disagreed and said, "Why won't it be sold! Don't worry, Sister Su Yue, such delicious mooncakes will definitely be smoothly sold out."
Seeing him so confident, Su Yue rubbed his head, "Alright, When you return after selling them out there will be a reward for you. Sister will make you something good to eat."
Han Aimin's eyes brightened. He secretly swallowed, forcing down his greed, and asked, "Sister Su Yue, how do we sell these mooncakes? How much for one?"
There was only one kind of mooncake on the market now. The filling was green and red silk with rock candy [2, and there were also some melon seeds and peanuts. No matter what people here thought, Su Yue felt that both the visual and the taste of this filling couldn't be explained in a few words. Even if you gave her one, she couldn't eat it.
Even like this, mooncakes were still a rarity. Generally, you couldn't buy them because having money was not enough. You also needed coupons, otherwise they wouldn't be sold.
It wasn't that she was boasting, but the mooncakes made by her were definitely miles better than the ones sold at the supply station, not to mention they could be bought without tickets. That's why she wanted them to be a bit more expensive than the ones available here.
Su Yue asked Han Aimin, "Aimin, do you know how much is a common mooncake?"
This Han Aimin was really clear about prices in the commune. "Nowadays, you can buy four mooncakes with one coupon, but each mooncake needs an extra 10 cents. Those who don't want tickets when selling it privately generally add five cents."
Well, if there was no need for a ticket, each mooncake would cost about 15 cents, which was quite expensive.
So Su Yue decided: "Aimin, then our mooncakes will cost 20 cents each, and no tickets are required. Of course, if they offer one you can accept it, be it an oil ticket or food ticket. You keep your eyes open when people hand you the money, ok?"
Han Aimin nodded sharply, "No problem, Sister Su Yue, you can leave it to me. It's not too early now, I have to hurry and go."
Su Yue saw that he was more anxious than her and laughed. She then hurriedly stopped him from leaving and gave him sister Jiang's address who had bought the cakes last time, asking him to go there first.
Last time Sister Jiang had asked to remember her if she made something delicious.
After Han Aimin remembered the address, he ran away carrying the basket. Su Yue was stunned seeing his speed, feeling she was far worse than a child.
This kid was too intense.
Han Aimin didn't come back until evening. As soon as he came back, he ran to look for Su Yue without even returning home. The whole face was flushed, and his eyes were particularly bright. It was a very refreshing sight.
Su Yue estimated it had sold well.
Sure enough, before Su Yue could ask, Han Aimin took the initiative to whisper in excitement: "Sister Su Yue, all mooncakes were sold! Look!"
With this, he dug out a large lump of money with all kinds of tickets mixed in, including food tickets, postage stamps, and also many non-staple food tickets.
"Oh, we earned so much." When Su Yue saw the money she was fine, but seeing those tickets really made her thrilled. The main reason was that the number of tickets was very limited now. You could have money in your hands and be unable to buy anything, but with a ticket anything could be bought. The last time she went to the commune she ran out of the few tickets she had, but now she suddenly has so many more. How could she be unhappy?
Han Aimin: "The first place I went to was the address you gave me. I asked their family to try it first, and everyone said it was delicious and immediately bought it for eight yuan. Later, they didn't let me go. Well, Sister Jiang told me not to sell it elsewhere. She said she would help me ask if there was anyone else in the factory who wanted to buy it, and then several people wanted to buy it after they tasted it. All the mooncakes in the basket were sold out just there. I didn't even have time to go sell it elsewhere."
Han Aimin got more excited as he said, "Sister Su Yue, there are still several families in the textile factory compound that were late and couldn't buy them. They asked me if there were any more, and asked me if I could go to their factory to sell them tomorrow."
"Well, that's great." Su Yue didn't expect moon cakes to be so popular. She thought that the price would be too high to sell.
Su Yue went into the house right then and took out all the mooncakes she had just made that day, "Aimin, I made another batch today, you sell it there tomorrow. By the way, ask each household if there are any relatives who want to buy. You can reserve the quantity and deliver them the next day."
Han Aimin took the basket excitedly, as if he had seen a huge pile of money waving at him.
Su Yue counted the money and tickets in her hand. There were twelve tickets, plus five yuan and thirty cents. She took out three tickets together with one yuan and handed them to Han Aimin, saying: "You're losing money."
Han Aimin naturally knew how much he had earned today, so he immediately shook his head, took out a ticket and 20 cents and returned it to Su Yue, saying, "Sister Su Yue, the oil, flour and sugar to make mooncakes use a lot of money. You should buy them first and only give me the money after. How can you give me so much? You are the losing one."
Su Yue had not deducted the cost, but directly given a share of 20% based on the total income. She did not expect this child to be so upright. Were anyone else they would have accepted it happily.
Su Yue couldn't help liking this little kid even more. His character was really good. Such people were also good partners.
Su Yue was not polite, accepting the tickets and money he returned. Instead she took out a bag of food wrapped in oil paper and gave it to him, "Then you take this. This is what Sister Su Yue made today to reward you. You can't refuse it."
Even though it was wrapped in oil paper, the scent still relentlessly came out of it. Han Aimin took in a deep breath, his mouth already watering. He smiled, took the oil paper and said, "Sister Su Yue, then I won't be polite to you. Thank you, sister."
"Okay, don't thank me. Go home, there are steamed rolls in the oil paper bag, eat it after you warm it up."
"Oh, got it." Han Aimin ran away carrying the basket with joy.
When Han Aimin got home, everyone was already eating. His mother saw him come back and said hurriedly: "Why did you come back so late? Quickly, sit down and eat."
Before Han Aimin sat down, the third wife hurriedly asked, "How was it, fourth, did you sell anything today? How much did you make? Did Su Zhiqing give you any money?"
The old lady Han's face became stern, and she scolded: "It's none of your business! What are you so energetic for? This is the hard work of the fourth child, and the money is earned by himself. Is it possible that you want to ask for it?"
The third wife mumbled: "We are all family. All money must be handed over to mother. Isn't the fourth child's income earned to aid the family?"
The old lady Han was too lazy to take care of her, so she quickly let Han Aimin eat first. Running around all day long, this child definitely didn't eat at noon. He must be starving.
Han Aimin was indeed starving, but he didn't rush to eat. Instead, he took out the oil paper bag that Su Yue had just given and handed it over to the old lady Han, "Mother, this is the food that Sister Su Yue just gave me, saying it's a reward for me. You warm it up to everyone, let's eat together."
As soon as this was said, the eyes of the people at the table were all staring at the oil paper bag. Especially the children, whose eyes lit up.
"This Xiao Su is too polite, also giving you food." The old lady Han cheerfully opened the oil paper bag, revealing three white twisted buns inside, with folds of red fillings on top making it look like a flower, beautiful and neat.
Han Aimin explained: "Mother, Sister Su Yue said this is called red bean paste steamed roll."
The second wife smiled and praised: "Mother, this steamed roll is so good-looking, just like a flower. Su Zhiqing's hands are really clever."
The old lady Han glanced at the silent Han Aiguo and said with a deep, genuine smile: "How can this be. This Xiao Su is really a wonderful person ah. I have never seen such a capable girl. I don't know who can be blessed to marry such a good girl in the future."
The third wife, however, didn't care whether Su Yue married this one or that one. She couldn't wait anymore: "Mother, hurry and warm it up to give us a taste. It's so fragrant."
Old lady Han gave her a white look, "You only know how to eat. I haven't seen you so energetic in your work."
The third wife didn't care about being scolded. She would smile as long as she had something to eat.
The old lady Han went to the kitchen to heat up the steamed rolls and divided it into several portions, so that each family member could have a taste.
"Mother, this steamed roll is so sweet, it tastes better than those big white steamed buns [3]!" The third wife ate hers and wanted to swallow her tongue.
Even the second and third brothers, who had never spoken much, were satisfied and praised it.
As for the children, it was needless to say. They were so busy gobbling it up they couldn't even speak, wolfing it down as if they had not eaten in eight lifetimes.
The old lady Han looked at Han Aiguo and asked with a smile: "Aiguo, what do you think it tastes like?"
[1] Twelve is actually Aimin's nominal age. You start at one year old the first year you're born and change every Chinese New Year, so Han Aimin should be 10~11 (if I'm getting this right).
[2] Green red silk with rock candy is this:
That's dyed orange peel. Apparently, this filling wasn't so popular because the dye (although natural) made people feel disgusted. The orange was later changed to radish, wax gourd and other not so tasty stuff which obviously tasted bad and made this poor mooncake filling even more unpopular. It seems to be acollective nightmare. Also I wasn't sure if the melon seeds and peanuts mentioned were sold apart or part of the filling, but from the pictures it seems like they just chunk everything available in this filling... No wonder it's so unpopular.
[3] The big white steamed bun is a mantou: