Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12007

Sixi nodded: "Hong, didn't you say before that after the New Year, your father-in-law and uncle would switch jobs, with your uncle going to be the manager of a restaurant in town and your father-in-law taking over the hundred or so acres of land belonging to your third uncle's family?"

Xiu Hong glanced at Sixi and said, "Yes, I originally planned for us to go and curry favor with my father, help him manage the crops, and earn some money to eat and wear."

"But later I heard my father and my uncle calculating the profits and kickbacks in this business. Even though my third uncle's family is generous, the profits from farming are never very high. If we get involved, we'll only be able to make ends meet. Besides, my family has a younger brother to support. So, it's not feasible for us to try to get on my father's good side and share in his profits!"

Si Xi frowned slightly, and after thinking hard for a while, he agreed with Xiu Hong's words.

"You're right. As a man, I should earn money to support you. If people find out I'm trying to climb up to my father-in-law, they'll laugh at me!"

"Whether people laugh at me or not is secondary. The main thing is that my dad is no longer the manager. There's no future in clinging to him, you understand?"

"I understand!" Sixi nodded vigorously. "Then what do you think we should do after the New Year? If all else fails, I'll go to the city docks to help unload cargo. I'm strong enough!"

Without a second thought, Xiu Hong shook her head and rejected Sixi's suggestion.

“No, unloading cargo at the dock is hard physical work. It will damage your health in the future. When my third uncle was young, he unloaded cargo at the county dock for half a year and developed back and shoulder injuries. As he got older, he was in pain all over whenever it was windy or rainy. I can’t let you follow in his footsteps!”

Si Xi felt a warm glow in her heart, and her eyes welled up with tears.

Throughout his life, although he had both parents, he received less care and attention than Xiu Hong ever did.

"But as a man, it's my duty to support my wife," Sixi said.

Xiu Hong smiled gently and reached out to touch Sixi's face.

From childhood to adulthood, especially after Si Xi was beaten by her a few times, and gradually went from being a little villain who didn't get along with her to becoming her little follower, she liked to pinch Si Xi's face like an older sister pinches her younger brother's face. She just didn't expect that as she pinched him, her younger brother would grow up and marry her.

“Let’s start a business, a small one, together, just like my great-aunt and uncle, enough to support ourselves,” Xiu Hong said.

Si Xi was stunned for a moment. The aunt and uncle who ran a small business, as Xiu Honggan mentioned, were Yang Huamei and Xu Yuanming. They had set up a small shop in Washi, Qingshui Town, to sell roast duck.

"Do we... also sell roast duck?" Sixi asked.

Xiu Hong shook her head. "How could that be? Not to mention we still have to learn how to make roast duck, even if we do learn it, there are already several businesses in town doing this. If we just follow behind, we'll be copying others and won't make any money."

"That's true," Sixi thought for a moment, "So what should we buy and sell?"

Xiu Hong said, "Eggs, let's sell eggs!"

"Huh?" Sixi thought he had misheard. "No, eggs don't sell for much money!"

In rural areas, almost every household raises chickens. The chickens lay eggs to feed the whole family, and any extra eggs are saved up and taken to the market to exchange for money to buy oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

And so, he and Xiu Hong tried to sell eggs, but no one bought them!
Xiu Hong noticed Sixi's doubts. She smiled mysteriously and pointed to the eye-catching and festive red "double happiness" characters pasted on the walls, chests, and cabinets in the room. She said to Sixi, "Look at all these things. Aren't they very festive and auspicious with these 'double happiness' characters pasted on them?"

Si Xi naturally nodded: "Everyone likes celebration and peace."

"But what does this have to do with us selling eggs?"

Xiu Hong said, "We can package the eggs and sell them as wedding eggs!"

"Lucky egg? What's a lucky egg? I only know about balut," Si Xi said.

Balut is a half-incubated egg. It is boiled, peeled, and eaten. The yolk inside has basically hatched into a chick, but the egg white and other parts are still there. Many people like to eat balut, boiled and dipped in chili powder, salt and pepper, etc., as a snack with alcohol. It is said to be very nutritious.

“No, balut is balut, and celebratory egg is celebratory egg. We’re selling celebratory eggs,” Xiu Hong corrected.

"Auspicious eggs are just chicken eggs. Let's decorate them nicely. For example, we can put red 'double happiness' characters on them, put them in a beautiful wooden box, and put more effort into the outside of the box."

"Who will buy these lucky eggs?" Sixi asked.

Xiu Hong said, "We can sell them to anyone. They can be used as gifts, return gifts, or as celebratory eggs. We can give celebratory eggs to anyone who has a baby."

"You can give lucky eggs when visiting relatives and friends or paying New Year's greetings."

"Compared to those generic gifts that are useless, these celebratory eggs are so practical for giving as gifts and visiting relatives. They are also beautifully and festively packaged, giving a high-end and sophisticated look. Both the giver and the receiver will feel good about themselves and the gift itself. How wonderful!"

Xiu Hong's words made Sixi's eyes flicker repeatedly.

“Although I don’t know anything about business, I trust you, my wife. You’re smarter than me. If you say it’s okay, then it definitely will!” Sixi said.

"By the way, where do our eggs come from? Are we going to ask the villagers to buy them?" Sixi asked again.

To sell things, you need a source of goods.

Xiu Hong said, "I can buy from the villagers in the surrounding villages, but I've thought about the big part. I'll tell my parents that I want to buy from Uncle Zhou Wang in Zhoujia Village."

“My great-aunt and uncle sell roast duck, and their raw ducks come from Zhoujia Village. We can do it too.”

Si Xi's eyes lit up. "Wife, you're so smart! I think it's a good idea!"

Xiu Hong smiled with a hint of pride, then launched into a long explanation of her future plans: "Initially, we'll mainly focus on selling wedding eggs. After a while, we'll gradually expand our business, selling things like mountain products and fresh produce from the mountains—whatever makes money, we'll sell!"

"I think it's a good idea!" Sixi nodded again, his eyes shining with fighting spirit.

"Wife, I'm strong. If anyone wants to buy celebratory eggs, just say the word and I'll deliver them to their door. The customers won't even have to lift a finger to carry them!" Sixi said.

“Okay, we can deliver to your door, which definitely gives us an advantage over other stores,” Xiu Hong said.

“I have dowry money, so I can find a shop in town,” she added.

“Okay, when the shop is busy, I’ll stay and help you out,” Sixi continued. “When business is slow, you can stay and watch the shop while I go out and find some manual labor to do to supplement our income. It’s not good for two grown men to be running a small shop all by ourselves!”

Xiu Hong smiled, leaned forward, and pinched Sixi's cheek again: "It's fine, we'll talk about that later. In short, our first step is to find a shop. After we find a shop and negotiate the rent, our next step is to go to Zhoujia Village to discuss the purchase of goods."

The two of them dreamed and planned, then dreamed again, sitting on the edge of their new bed in their new house, hand in hand, snuggling together. By the end of their conversation, they were both very excited, and as the sun gradually set outside, the light inside the house dimmed.

"It's getting dark, let's close all the windows and open them to let in some fresh air tomorrow morning," Xiu Hong suggested.

"Okay, I'll go close them. Hong, you sit here and rest." Si Xi said, quickly getting up and walking over to close the front and back windows of the east room first. Then she went to the main room, the west room, and the kitchen.

Xiu Hong walked around in the east room, looking at everything. Her fingers gently stroked her dowry and dressing table as she imagined her new life that was about to begin. She imagined that they would go to town to do business during the day, just like Uncle Kang and Aunt Jin Chuan, going early and returning late.

At night, I would return to my home in the village, light a fire, cook, and tally up the money I had earned that day. Just thinking about it made me feel wonderful.

When we have a baby, we'll send the baby to my mother's house so she can help take care of the baby during the day, and we'll pick the baby up from my mother's house when we get back at night.

If the child sometimes insists on going to town, then send him to his older sister's house in town so that she can help take care of him occasionally.

“Hong, all the doors and windows are closed. Shall we go back?” Sixi asked.

The smile on Sixi's face froze at the mention of going back. "I really don't want to go back, sigh!"

Si Xi scratched his head awkwardly, "I don't want to go back either, but there's nothing I can do. We'll get through these few days before the New Year and then we can move into our new house soon."

Xiu Hong nodded, took a deep breath to prepare herself mentally, then went to Si Xi and put her arms around Si Xi's neck: "Before we go back, let's do something."

"What is it? Tell me, I'll do it, you can rest."

Xiu Hong chuckled, "No, we both need to put in the effort. It won't be done if you do it all by yourself."

Si Xi's eyes lit up as if he had thought of something, his breathing became rapid, and his chest heaved. The vigorous spirit of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy was instantly awakened.

He wrapped his arms around Xiu Hong's shapely and soft waist, leaned down, and began to kiss her.

Xiu Hong froze, pressing her hands against his chest. "What are you doing? I wanted you to help me lift that box over there. I saw a 'double happiness' character fall down and get stuck in the gap between the boxes, and I can't reach it..."

So that's what it means for two people to work together? Sixi blushed deeply and was about to let go to lift the box when Xiuhong pulled him back.

"It's better to avoid trouble. Since we're already here, let's continue." As soon as she finished speaking, Xiu Hong tiptoed and leaned in to kiss Sixi.

……

The two young people whispered sweet nothings to each other in the bridal chamber, but stopped at the last step.

"I'll treat you properly once we officially move in," Xiu Hong said, gently stroking Sixi's burning face and soothingly.

Si Xi nodded, "Okay, it'll be ready soon."

The two straightened their clothes and hair, checked the doors and windows one last time, and then left the courtyard hand in hand towards the old house of Sixi.

Although they had experienced some unpleasant things before, a visit to this courtyard felt like a re-injection of strength and courage, enabling them to face the storms of life with greater bravery.

At dusk in the Luo family home, Linglan and the others were busily preparing dinner in the backyard, while Yang Ruoqing had just returned from her parents' house next door.

Tomorrow, Yang Huazhong's family has invited Yang Huazhou and the Sun family to make tofu together for the New Year.

The craft of making tofu was brought into the world by Yang Ruoqing more than 20 years ago.

After seven or eight years of dissemination, the entire surrounding villages learned it, and then it continued to spread, with people teaching each other. Many newcomers even surpassed the old methods, further processing the soybean products on this basis.

So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now, making tofu for the Lunar New Year has become a tradition in the Mianniu Mountain area.

After investigating and analyzing the reasons, Yang Ruoqing concluded that there were several main points: soybeans are a raw material that farmers can grow themselves, so the raw material costs almost nothing.

In addition, tofu is a food that both adults and children like to eat, and it is suitable for everyone.

It can be cooked in a variety of ways: stir-fry, braise, boil, blanch, pan-fry, or make a cold dish.

It pairs well with other ingredients; vegetable and tofu soup is good for your health, as are braised tofu with pork, tofu balls, stinky tofu, and fermented tofu...

In short, as long as you have soybeans at home, making tofu in the twelfth lunar month is a must for the Chinese New Year.

Furthermore, while making tofu, you can also drink soy milk and tofu pudding. The tofu residue is stir-fried with pickled mustard greens, which is especially delicious.

Some people even say that bathing in the water from pressed tofu is good for the skin, making it smooth and cool in the summer and less prone to heat rash and sores.

Therefore, the villagers in the Mianniu Mountain area, no matter how busy they are, will set aside a day in the twelfth lunar month to make tofu.

To save everyone's time and effort, several close neighbors or relatives might team up to make tofu.

And so, the collaboration between Yang Huazhong, Yang Huazhou, and the Sun family came about.

Yang Ruoqing quickly sent over about ten catties of soybeans, hoping to take advantage of their help. She mainly wanted to make spicy strips for the children, not tofu. She just wanted to use their initial processing steps and labor. She would have to personally oversee the process later, as the steps for making spicy strips and tofu are somewhat different.

"Qing'er, have you delivered the beans?" Luo Fengtang walked towards her, her steps quick, her eyes filled with a smile.

"Yes, let's send it over first and have my parents help soak it," Yang Ruoqing said.

"So, should we go over and keep an eye on things tomorrow too?" Luo Fengtang asked again.

"I don't need to go over when grinding and filtering the pulp. My parents will help me look after it. I'll go over when it's time to boil the pulp and form a film."

Luo Fengtang laughed again, "That sounds very interesting. I'll go with you then, and I'll learn from you."

"Haha, no need to learn from me secretly. I'll teach you openly and honestly when the time comes."

When she delivered the beans, Madam Sun, Madam Da Sun, and Bao Suyun all became interested when they heard that she wasn't making tofu but a kind of edible snack. So when she personally takes the plunge tomorrow, there will definitely be many people watching and learning.

“Okay,” Luo Fengtang nodded, then took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Yang Ruoqing: “The carrier pigeon from Changhuaizhou just arrived recently.”