Top Scholar

Chapter 101 The family should be all together.
After entering the house, the old man invited the proprietress to sit at the head of the table above the fire pit, served her the best Mengding Mountain tea in the house, and also laid out four kinds of tea snacks, showing his sincerity.

Once the old man makes up his mind, his execution is top-notch!

The proprietress was even more impressive; after taking a couple of sips of tea, she presented eight carefully prepared birthday gifts.

Locally, birthday gifts typically consist of eight items, known as "Eight Immortals Celebrating Longevity," which is considered the most grand birthday gift.

The first item was a set of dark blue cotton clothes from Songjiang, which was perfect for the old man to wear in the autumn.

"Wow, it even has a hidden floral pattern!" Su Daji volunteered to speak for the proprietress, saying, "Such fine Songjiang fabric, even Sixth Brother didn't wear it when he was a centurion, did he?"

"Never worn it." The old man played along, unlike his usual sharp-tongued self, not saying anything like "show-off"...

The second item was a pair of satin shoes with cloud patterns on the soles, decorated with ruyi-shaped ornaments on the toes and ruyi-shaped clouds on the heels.

"Wow, these shoes are really high-class. Only someone like you who used to be an official could wear them. They're not suitable for us ordinary people," Su Daji immediately praised.

"Never worn it..." the old man said.

The third item is a mahogany walking stick carved with pine and crane patterns.

This naturally drew admiring glances from Su Daji: "Is this dragon-taming wood? Let me try it? The weight is just right, and it's neither too light nor too heavy. It's neither too cold nor too hot to hold. It truly deserves to be the best walking stick! Wear this and take a stroll with this stick, and even the old men of Erlangtan will envy you!"

"Never worn it..." The old man realized his mistake after saying that and glared at his seventh brother.
"Don't make a fuss, you look so ignorant!"

"I've never seen it before..." Su Daji chuckled awkwardly. His most important job right now was to appease the landlady and make sure she wouldn't return to the Cheng family. For this, he'd do anything, from playing the straight man to flattering her.

So the remaining five gifts—one pound of donkey-hide gelatin from Shandong, two pounds of Mengding Mountain tea, two packets of osmanthus shortbread, one brass hand warmer, and one packet of amla fruit from Yunnan—still received the utmost praise from Master Su.

Of course, it wasn't just Su Daji's exaggerated praise; the gift truly touched the old man's heart. Especially the packet of dried and sliced ​​amla berries, which he had been craving for a long time. On the spot, he couldn't resist pairing them with some dogwood and wrapping them in betel leaves.

It's so addictive, you get hooked after just one bite, and the more you chew, the more addictive it becomes...

"Alright, alright, my dear, you've gone to so much trouble. I'll accept your kind gesture this time. Just come empty-handed next time, don't bring anything." The old man squinted, looking completely smug, whether from the tuft of leaves or from the landlady's coaxing, it was hard to tell.

“No way. I didn’t have any money before, so I couldn’t afford to support my father. Now that I’m finally a little better off, I have to make up for what I missed.” The proprietress is so eloquent, and she’s also willing to spend money.

Then he presented gifts to the old lady, the eldest uncle, the eldest sister-in-law, Chun-ge, and Jin-bao, all of which were very thoughtful and charming, making the women feel completely smitten.

Without an inside traitor, it would never have been delivered so perfectly...

It was still early, and seeing the family all happy and harmonious, Su Daji felt relieved and took his leave. The distillery was bustling with activity, and he couldn't possibly spend the whole afternoon there.

"Come early for drinks tonight." The old man saw him to the stairwell.

"It's hard to say on other days, but I'll definitely be here early tonight." Su Daji laughed and walked away with his hands behind his back. He was now certain that even if Cheng Xiucai intervened, he wouldn't be able to persuade the landlady to come back.

~~
With no outsiders in the house, the proprietress smiled and said, "There's something important I haven't mentioned yet. Our Sweet Water Restaurant has been open for half a year now, and the business is doing quite well. I've brought the dividends home."

"Didn't we agree to split the profits at the end of the year? It's only been half a year, what's the rush?" the uncle said insincerely.

"Rules are made by people, and we still give the monthly share to Commander Ma, don't we?" the proprietress laughed. "My family isn't well-off, but the money is just lying in the account doing nothing. How can I bear to see that?"

Su Youcai also said, "Brother, the landlady has her own arrangements, we just need to listen to them."

"Alright, then I won't be polite." The uncle rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"New goods were available every month during the first half of the year, so sales were consistently strong, and by the end of June, we had made a total profit of one hundred and fifty taels." The proprietress showed the account books to the shareholders and continued:
"Of this, Commander Ma should receive thirty taels, and his family should receive twenty-four taels. However, Commander Ma also has an extra allowance, which will be given to whoever becomes commander, and will be gone once he steps down. I will pay for it, so you don't need to worry about it."

This was all agreed upon beforehand, so naturally no one had any objections.

"In addition, we need to sell Erlang wine in the second half of the year, which will require a fee. So let's give the family twenty taels this time." With that, the godmother handed a heavy bundle of silver to her eldest aunt.

Auntie hadn't touched so much silver in at least ten years. Her hands trembled with excitement, and her voice trembled as she exclaimed, "They only opened in February, and they've already made this much in just five months? They'll get forty or fifty taels a year! Hahahaha..."

"There won't be as many kinds of fruit in the second half of the year, so sales will definitely decline," the proprietress said with a smile. "However, if our Erlang wine can successfully open up the market, then the year-end bonus will only be more, not less."

"Oh dear, sister. We haven't done anything, how can we accept so much money?" The aunt, though simple-minded, had no ill intentions whatsoever. "Why don't you take half back? Otherwise, it's too much of a rip-off for you..."

"Sister-in-law, you don't know, but I'm all alone. My business was started entirely thanks to my second brother, eldest brother, and two good sons." The godmother shook her head and took Su Lu's hand, saying, "Even now, Qiu-ge'er still has to make all the decisions for me. If we're talking about who's getting the better deal, I'm the one who's really getting the better deal."

"We're all family, there's no such thing as taking advantage," Su Youcai said with a smile, waving his hand. Actually, the landlady still paid him a monthly wage...

"Absolutely, absolutely, Second Brother is absolutely right." The proprietress nodded hurriedly and said, "In the end, doesn't all the money we earn still belong to our children?"

“Yes, yes, we’re family. From now on, you’re my little sister!” Aunt nodded vigorously, excitedly stuffing the silver into Uncle’s hand, tying on her apron and saying, “Little sister, wait for me, I’ll go make you something delicious.”

The old man rolled his eyes. "Who the hell has a birthday?" But that's just how his aunt is, so he didn't bother arguing with her.

The old lady, who had been all smiles and hadn't heard anything, suddenly said, "Eldest daughter-in-law, can we eat less sorghum flour from now on?"

"Don't worry, Mother, we'll switch to eating rice and noodles from now on!" Auntie waved her hand and said boldly.

Two-grain flour is a type of mixed grain flour, which can be combined in various ways. You can use bean flour with sorghum flour, or millet flour with... Sorghum flour is certainly not as good as pure wheat flour and rice, but in terms of both taste and nutrition, it is superior to single sorghum flour, buckwheat flour and other whole grains.

The key is that it helps with fertilization...

"Sister-in-law, let me help you." Seeing that her aunt was going to cook, the godmother also volunteered.

"No need, no need, you can just sit and have some tea." Auntie waved her hand and said, "I don't like people making things difficult when I'm cooking, I can finish faster without you..."

"Ah..." The godmother was taken aback, thinking to herself, "Why is she insulting me like this?"

"Your sister-in-law just talks nonsense, you'll get used to it," the uncle explained with a wry smile.

“But Auntie has a good heart,” Su Lu added, helping to explain.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing." Godmother quickly smiled and said, "A straightforward temper is a good thing. That's just the kind of person I am. People like us don't have bad intentions."

~~
My aunt originally planned to have six dishes and a soup tonight. But in her excitement, she upgraded it to ten dishes and two soups!
And it didn't delay the start of the banquet at all.

In addition, the ingredients for this meal were all sourced by my uncle from the town...

As dusk fell, the main room was brightly lit, and an eight-immortal table was set up, laden with large plates and bowls!
The birthday celebrant put on a brand-new Songjiang-style robe with a dark floral pattern and the character for longevity. Looking at the sumptuous meal on the table, he was filled with emotion.

Over the years, the family has fallen on hard times. When he and his mother celebrate their birthdays, they have a bowl of longevity noodles with eggs, a stir-fried pickled radish with cured meat, and two river fish caught by Xia Ge'er. That is considered a very lavish meal.

On this day last year, Qiu Ge'er was carried back home. No one in the family was in the mood to eat. His daughter-in-law finally made him a bowl of noodles in the middle of the night, and he managed to eat a couple of bites to celebrate his birthday.

Let's see what happens this year!

In the center of the octagonal table sits a large bowl of Dongpo pork, with neat, square pieces of three-layered pork belly, glistening with tempting oil!
On the long plate next to it is a whole steamed mandarin fish. The fish has been scored with beautiful cuts, sprinkled with shredded ginger, drizzled with hot oil, and finally drizzled with soy sauce. It looks so appealing!
Surrounding the two main dishes were the braised pig's trotters that the old lady had been longing for, the eight-treasure duck brought by the proprietress, a large plate of salt and pepper river shrimp, and fragrant celery stir-fried with shredded pork...

Even the vegetarian dishes have been upgraded. The usual simple stir-fried bok choy is now being stir-fried with soaked shiitake mushrooms. And the stir-fried tofu with scallions has been transformed into shrimp and tofu!
At this moment, Chun Ge'er and Xia Ge'er have both returned from work, and the old clan chief and Su Daji have also come to celebrate the old brother's birthday.

But the old man kept staring at the door, and as time went by, he became more and more restless.

He only showed a genuine smile when his uncle and aunt appeared at the door, looking travel-worn.

"Auntie!" Little Jinbao, who had been drooling over the food on the table, suddenly leaped into the air.

"Auntie." Su Lu and Su Tai also quickly stood up. They hadn't seen their aunt who raised them for half a year, so they naturally missed her terribly.

The aunt hugged the three children excitedly, saying that nowhere is as good as home!

Seeing that none of the children greeted him, the uncle awkwardly approached the elders, first paying his respects to the old clan chief and his seventh uncle, and then presenting his father with a birthday gift.

The old man then turned stern and said, "Why are you two only getting back now?!"

"Old man," the uncle immediately complained, "the Chishui River isn't even open for navigation yet. My sister and I set off early yesterday morning, and the donkey was exhausted, let alone us!"

"If it's hard to walk, then don't come back," the old man said with heartache.

"How could I possibly miss it? It's Dad's birthday, I can't be absent even if it means going through fire and water!" the uncle quickly patted his chest and said.

"Hmph, sweet talk, hurry up and wash up, let's start the feast." The old man patted his youngest son's cheek and said.

"Hey." The younger uncle quickly went out to wash up and change into clean clothes.

(End of this chapter)