Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12100

A barbecue stall?

Liu and Yang Huaming, who entered the house one after the other behind Tan, exchanged a glance and both saw the same doubt in each other's eyes.

"Mei'er, what kind of barbecue stall is it?" Madam Tan suddenly asked.

He then turned to Old Yang and asked, "Have you ever heard of a barbecue stand?"

Old Yang shook his head, his face full of confusion.

"Father-in-law, mother-in-law, fourth brother, fourth sister-in-law, please come in and sit down. Let's sit down and talk slowly." Xu Yuanming also came over with Sijin by the hand, his face full of smiles.

"Don't just stand there at the door, come and sit down." Old Yang waved his hand.

Soon, everyone sat down around the square table.

Old Yang and Yang Huaming were over there talking to Xu Yuanming about the barbecue stall.

Xu Yuanming and Yang Huamei had been instructed by Yang Huamei beforehand to only say that it was an idea they had come up with unintentionally, without mentioning Yang Ruoqing, to avoid unnecessary trouble.

As for Mr. Tan, after only a brief glimpse of what barbecue was, he lost interest.

At this moment, she handed all the baskets she brought to Yang Huamei. After playing with her three grandsons for a while, Madam Tan chose to hold the most obedient Sanjin on her lap.

Sijin and Wujin couldn't stay inside, so Guihua and Sister Hua took them to play in the yard.

Tan held Sanjin in her lap, gently supporting the child's back with both hands, but her gaze swept between the bowls and plates on the table, her brows furrowing repeatedly.

Four adults and three children, and this is all they eat for breakfast?
All of that combined isn't even as much as the large rice ball that Liu's pig ate earlier!
Tan muttered to herself, but did not make a scene on the spot. She planned to ask Yang Huamei privately later.

“Old Xu, this barbecue doesn’t sound difficult. Isn’t it just putting the ingredients on charcoal and turning them over and over to cook them? Or frying them on a hot plate? I can do that too!” Liu said, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

Xu Yuanming smiled and nodded: "It's not difficult."

But there's a trick to making this dish taste good and attracting customers to buy it.

But he won't share his secrets.

Liu asked Xu Yuanming, "Why haven't you opened your shop at Washi yet at this hour? When we came from Washi earlier, almost all the people buying vegetables had left!"

Liu's words surprised everyone else present.

Generally speaking, whether they sell roast duck or barbecue, well, barbecue can be sold all day long, but nobody likes to get up early in the morning and have that kind of heavy-flavored barbecue.

But, don't you have to get up early to sell roast duck? Everyone can buy groceries in the morning and take a roast duck home with them.

In the past, it seemed that Mei'er and Xu Yuanming would arrive at the shop before dawn, and by the time the first batch of customers came to Washi to buy vegetables, the first batch of tea oil roasted ducks would already be freshly baked, just in time to start business...

"Oh, don't even mention it. I don't know what happened to the kids last night, they were making a ruckus all night long. One was crying and then another was crying. We adults took turns taking care of them and didn't get much sleep. That's why we got up late today. We might as well have breakfast first and then go. At worst, we'll just sell a few less roast ducks today."

In the past, Yang Huamei would not have been very confident in saying this, but things are different now. In the past year, they have gained a foothold in Qingshui Town with their roast duck business.

There are three to five shops selling braised dishes and roast duck in Qingshui Town, but after a fierce competition, Xu's roast duck became the top seller.

Even if they are delayed by something and only open in the afternoon, their regular customers who love roast duck will still come to patronize them.

In addition to roast duck, they have now added barbecue to their business.

The barbecue business is different from roast duck. Roast duck is bought to be eaten as a main dish, while barbecue is eaten as a snack or to accompany drinks.

Around sunset, the barbecue business is booming. As the vendors in Washi pack up, many people buy three or five skewers to take home, either for their children to enjoy or to keep a couple for themselves to have with drinks later in the night. It's not expensive anyway; two vegetarian skewers cost one penny, and you can choose any kind you like.

Meat skewers cost one coin each, while crucian carp and similar items are priced separately.

Therefore, even if Yang Huamei and Xu Yuanming didn't open for business this morning, they were still confident that they would still make money today. They could just go after they had a full breakfast.

After hearing Yang Huamei and Xu Yuanming's explanation, Old Yang and his companions felt both relieved and worried.

I was relieved to learn that nothing serious had happened to them; they had just slept poorly and woke up late, which caused them to miss setting up their stall.

My worry stems from the commotion the children caused last night.

"Why are you making such a fuss? Have you found the reason?" Tan asked Yang Huamei.

Yang Huamei shook her head: "I don't know, she just cried for no reason. Later, Sister Hua said that she might have been frightened while playing near the well and pavilion during the day."

Mrs. Tan frowned, "When I came here earlier, I saw that there were many children playing in the pavilion, and there were a lot of people there. Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case..."

Yang Huamei smiled wryly: "Who knows? Maybe she was frightened somewhere else. Later, Sister Guihua burned two pieces of paper at the stove god's altar, and gradually she stopped crying so much."

Mrs. Tan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, this approach is correct. We owe this to Guihua for her experience."

Old Yang then chimed in, "The children are growing up day by day. This yard is too crowded and noisy. The kids are restless and run around in the front and back yards. If an adult isn't watching them, they might get glared at by some adult and get scared, but they can't tell you. That's a possibility."

Yang Huaming also agreed with what Old Yang said.

He enjoyed doing similar things when he was young and reckless. When other mischievous kids from the village came to his doorstep, he liked to glare at them mischievously, scaring them into crying. He felt a twisted pleasure from this...

Now that I'm a grandfather, looking back on those ridiculous things I did, I just want to spit on myself. I was so idle!

Xu Yuanming took Old Yang's words to heart. He lowered his eyes, looking ashamed, but deep in thought.

Yang Huamei, who was clearing the table of dishes, gave a dry laugh and didn't respond to Old Yang's comment.

They live in this courtyard every day, don't they know how noisy it is and how complicated the relationships between the people are?
Despite being eight households from different surrounding villages, they actually split into different cliques after moving into this compound. Bullying each other and stealing things were common occurrences.

Those people didn't know who Yang Huamei's family was, but they didn't dare to provoke her. Several groups of her father, brothers, and nephews had visited, each time with different faces, indicating her family had many members. Furthermore, when Yang Huamei's relatives came, they used either horse-drawn carriages or mule carts—equivalent to driving a Santana or riding a motorcycle to visit relatives in the 90s—which also made the other residents in the courtyard somewhat wary.

Thirdly, Yang Huamei and her husband were busy with their business, so they hired Sister Hua and Guihua to take care of their child.

Sister Hua has a fiery personality and never suffers a loss in the compound. Yang Huamei is not someone to be trifled with either. With these two capable women working together, no other woman can bully them!
Even if others couldn't bully them, the women's veiled insults and sarcastic remarks were unavoidable, making Yang Huamei and the others living in this noisy courtyard equally irritable. They were constantly being watched by a bunch of eyes whenever they went in and out, which was incredibly annoying.

“Dad, I’d like to go to the shop with Lao Xu later and lend a hand. We just happened to be here today.” Yang Huaming changed the subject to the shop, because he could tell that Xu Yuanming and Yang Huamei didn’t really want to explore the living environment.

Old Yang snapped out of his daze and nodded: "Okay, I'll go take a look with you guys too."

"I'm going too! I want to see how they do barbecue!" Liu excitedly raised her hands.

I thought I was coming here today to get some Peking duck, but I didn't expect to get some barbecue too. It was definitely worth the trip!

"And you, old woman, what do you say? Do you want to go check the barbecue grill?" Old Yang turned to ask Tan Shi.

Without a second thought, Mrs. Tan shook her head and said, "I have no interest in business. I came to see my three grandsons."

"Alright then, you stay." Old Yang had already guessed that Madam Tan wouldn't go.

"Mei'er, since we have enough manpower today, you should stay home and not go out. Prepare a few more hearty dishes for lunch, and I'll have a couple of drinks with your father-in-law and your fourth brother," Xu Yuanming instructed Yang Huamei.

Yang Huamei had the same idea.

Liu quickly added from the side, "Don't spend any extra money. Just use what's available at home. Your fourth brother loves your family's roast duck!"

Yang Huaming glared at Liu Shi. This woman was craving roast duck herself, but she used me as a pretext.
"Hehe, Mei'er, your family's roast duck is the best in Qingshui Town. Your fourth brother has really been craving it!"

Well, since this woman is my wife, I might as well go with the flow!
Anyway, it's not a bad thing.

Madam Tan glared at the couple with annoyance, but this time, surprisingly, she didn't argue with them.

The reason is that Sanjin is still in her arms. If she raises her voice and Liu shouts again, Sanjin will be startled.

Endure it! For my precious granddaughter!
Yang Huamei smiled and said, "Oh my, Fourth Brother, it's rare that you're thinking about our roast duck. Don't worry, when you come to our house, I can't guarantee anything else, but you'll definitely get your fill of roast duck!"

"Mei'er, you're so generous! It's so nice to have relatives visiting your home!" Liu was already drooling.

"Alright, alright, enough nonsense, go do what you're supposed to do! Don't delay us." Madam Tan was already impatiently shooing them away.

Everyone then got busy with their own tasks.

Xu Yuanming led Old Yang, Yang Huaming, and Liu Shi to the shop.

Guihua and Sister Hua were playing in the yard with four and five catties of catties.

Yang Huamei went into the small kitchen next door to clean up the dishes, while Tan followed her into the kitchen carrying Sanjin. The mother and daughter closed the door and talked for a while.

"Mom, I saw the two baskets you brought, one of them is full of eggs. Why did you bring me so many eggs?"

"This is for three children; it's definitely not enough for them to always eat porridge and noodles!"

"Mom, I often buy them eggs to eat, it's not like what you're saying..."

“You bought what you bought, and I gave what I gave away. There are 20 green-shelled eggs in this batch. You can give them to the children to eat later to help them get nourished!” Mrs. Tan said, while gently rubbing Sanjin’s little face with her palm.

This little granddaughter is growing more and more like Mei'er when she was little. Every time Tan sees this child, she can't help but think of Yang Huamei when she was little. Tan's eyes, her heart and the movements of her hands are all soft.

"When spring comes and your third sister-in-law's chickens start laying eggs, I'm going to get a lot of those first-laid eggs. They're very nutritious, and I'll give them all to my little Sanjin. I won't give any to anyone else!"

Sanjin understood a few words, tilted his head back and giggled at Madam Tan, repeating two words at a time: "Sanjin, eat."

Yang Huamei originally wanted to say something, but seeing this heartwarming scene, she smiled too.

"Okay, then I'll do whatever Mother says."

After cleaning up the dishes, Yang Huamei did not rest, but instead began preparing lunch.

"Mom, at noon I'll chop up the biggest roast duck in tea oil, heat up two braised dishes, stir-fry two vegetables, and make an egg drop soup. Do you think that's acceptable?"

The roast duck was leftover from yesterday, the braised dishes were ready-made, and the stir-fried vegetables were bought by Sister Hua from Washi this morning.

“It looks beautiful!” said Mrs. Tan.

"However... I'm afraid it won't be enough to eat, after all, your fourth sister-in-law's stomach is a bottomless pit!"

The words "bottomless pit" made Yang Huamei laugh.

“That’s true. Fourth Sister-in-law eats a little more than the average person. If there’s not enough food, she might not be happy.” Yang Huamei said, her gaze sweeping over the wooden bucket next to the water vat. “I’ve got it! Yesterday, Sister Hua went to the market and bought several crucian carp to keep here. She was thinking of stewing them into fish soup for the children when she had time. Well, we’ve braised them now, so we can have another dish!”

As Yang Huamei spoke, she picked up the wooden bucket containing the fish and showed it to Madam Tan.

Tan peeked out and, sure enough, four large crucian carp were swimming around in the water, wagging their tails.

"They came empty-handed. It's such a waste to add such good crucian carp to their dishes. Please get them another one!"

It would be so good to keep this fish and slowly make soup for the kids!
“Mom, it’s not worth it. Crucian carp isn’t anything special. We can just buy more when we’re done eating them!” Yang Huamei said. “Besides, even if Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law came empty-handed, at least they acted as your coachmen. Just for the kindness of them bringing you here, you deserve a good meal here.”

Madam Tan snorted, her face full of disdain, and said, "Your father already repaid the favor of giving it away!"

Previously, Liu's rice ball was so big that it cost the old man 30 copper coins for breakfast!
Having lived most of her life, this was the first time Tan had ever eaten such an exorbitantly priced breakfast. She felt she couldn't possibly live like this anymore!

"Stop talking about the kindness of giving someone away! Every time you mention giving someone away, I get angry!" Madam Tan gritted her teeth again, because she remembered the incident where Madam Liu and Yang Huaming had acted first and asked for permission to take the carriage halfway... She was inexplicably furious, feeling a sense of being played!

"Mother, don't be angry, don't be angry. In the end, they are all your own son and daughter-in-law. It's just a little thing about food and drink, don't take it to heart." Yang Huamei smiled and comforted Tan Shi for a few words, then began to sharpen her knife to prepare to kill the fish.