Zhao Daqing and his little cousins were very fond of their little cousin, Zhao Zhitong. They thought she looked so chubby and cheerful, and most importantly, she was kind and always shared her food with them.
Today, they feasted on delicious candy with their little cousin.
An idea seed to flash in Zhao Daqing’s mind, and he suddenly suggested, "Mom and Dad, since you’re going to Aunt Sun i’s house this afternoon anyway, why don’t my brothers, sisters, and I go to their house to play first?"
This suggestion was t with a swift rejection from his Aunt Liu, "No, that won’t work. After your Aunt Sun i and cousin return, they have to go to school. If you all go, there will be no one to play with you, and you will just cause trouble for your Uncle Zhao Dong."
Sun Kang, who had been standing under the eaves deep in thought, couldn’t help but ask, "So the young girl goes to school?"
Aunt Liu had already learned about this on the way to pick lotus leaves. So, before Sun i and Zhao Dong could respond, she hurriedly answered, "Yes, Father, you don’t know how smart Tongtong is. Scholar ng at the school personally recomnded her to attend. In a few days, she will beco his disciple and start school."
Upon hearing this news, both Sun Kang and Zhao Guifen were pleasantly surprised, "Really? That’s great news!"
Uncle Sun Youli proudly chid in, "Hahaha, isn’t it? As the saying goes, a niece takes after her uncle. Just look at whose niece she is!"
Everyone looked skeptical. Are you sure?
At this, Sun Youcai joked, "Well, Tongtong is in real danger then. Fortunately, Tongtong takes after , her Younger Uncle. If she took after you, Big Brother, she would be in trouble."
Sun Youli exclaid, "Sun Youcai! You’re asking for it!"
Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at the banter.
Zhao Guifen then urged, "Alright, alright, don’t just stand around chatting. It’s getting late, and we don’t want to keep the students from their als. If you’re leaving, hurry up."
With that, she placed a bundle on the wooden cart.
Sun i quickly tried to stop her, "Mom, you don’t need to give us anything. We didn’t bring much when we ca, and you’re still giving us things to take back."
Zhao Guifen put the parcel down, urged Zhao Dong to push the cart out, then patted her daughter’s hand, saying, "It’s nothing valuable, just a new set of clothes and shoes that your two elder sisters-in-law and I made for Tongtong."
Having said that, she escorted the family of three to the door.
Zhao Zhitong sat in the cart, waving her small hand, bidding farewell to her maternal grandfather and grandmother.
After bidding farewell to her maternal grandfather’s family, the three of them, pushing the wooden cart, slowly departed.
「—」
Not long after lunch, Eldest Aunt Miss Zhao and Aunt Liu, along with Uncles Sun Youli and Sun Youcai, arrived with a crowd of young children.
Eldest Uncle didn’t co because he still had to collect dicinal herbs.
By the ti they arrived, Zhao Dong and Sun i had just finished their lunch.
Upon entering the courtyard and seeing all the tools for making tofu, everyone was quite intrigued.
Sun Youcai, examining a tofu basket, asked, "Sister, is this where the tofu is made?"
Sun i nodded and cheerfully explained to everyone, "This is for shaping, this is for filtering the soy milk..."
Eldest Aunt Miss Zhao, looking at these molds and listening to Sun i’s explanation of the complicated steps, was dumbfounded, "You actually have to grind the beans into liquid first? This food is so much more work than I thought! I’m clumsy with my hands; I don’t know if I can do it well."
Sun i laughed, "Elder Sister-in-law, don’t worry. It’s actually not difficult; it’s very simple. When we start, I’ll teach you, and I guarantee you’ll learn it right away."
Aunt Liu, an efficient and decisive person, imdiately slapped her thigh and said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started!"
As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeves and pointed to the tofu baskets and wooden buckets, asking, "Little Sister, do all these molds and wooden buckets need to be washed?"
Seeing Sun i nod, she energetically began scrubbing everything.
Seeing Aunt Liu already at work, Miss Zhao quickly rolled up her sleeves, not wanting to be left behind.
Even the children joined in to help.
Second Uncle Sun Youli took up the task of fetching water.
Zhao Dong and Sun i felt bad that their relatives had started working without even having a drink of water.
Sun Youli, however, didn’t mind at all. He picked up the carrying pole and said nonchalantly, "Listen to you two! We ca here to work, didn’t we?"
With that, he had already walked out of the courtyard gate.
Since there were more people, Zhao Dong thought of building another stove in the courtyard to improve efficiency, allowing two pots to cook simultaneously.
The suggestion was t with unanimous approval.
Thus, Zhao Dong and Sun Youcai first worked together to take the soybeans to the Water Mill, then imdiately returned to move stones and mix mud to build the new stove.
The little ones also ran back and forth, helping to carry stones and bring mud.
No one rested for a mont.
Soon, the first pot of soy milk was ready. Sun i didn’t imdiately add the plaster water. Instead, she called the children in and served each of them a bowl of soy milk with white sugar as a reward for their hard work that day.
"Thank you, Auntie!"
The little ones were overjoyed. Holding their bowls of soy milk, they happily ran out of the kitchen, leaned on the table in the courtyard, and began to drink.
The sweet soy milk flowed into their stomachs and, it seed, into their hearts. They felt that today was their sweetest day ever.
By the ti Zhao Dong and the others finished building the stove, the last batch of tofu Sun i was making was already setting in the molds.
Just then, there was a knock on the front door, accompanied by the sound of villagers chatting and laughing from outside.
It was the villagers coming to wholesale tofu.
As soon as Aunt Liu heard the commotion outside, she sprang forward, closed the kitchen door, bolted it from the inside, and said with a vigilant expression, "Don’t let anyone find out! Let’s finish this and then go out."
anwhile, Zhao Dong, in the courtyard, had already opened the main gate, ready for business.
"Brother Dong! Is the tofu ready? We’ve co to get the tofu!" several people called out cheerfully as soon as they entered.
Zhao Dong also laughed and said, "Nearly, nearly, it’ll be ready very soon."
The n weren’t in a hurry. "No rush, no rush," they said, waving their hands. "First, take a look at the soybeans we brought."
They had brought soybeans with them this ti, which they had acquired while selling tofu that morning.
Zhang Qiang, smiling honestly, said, "Brother Dong, look at mine first. I got these this morning when I was selling tofu. They’re all good soybeans."
Zhao Dong opened the sack, glanced inside, and said with a smile, "Not bad. How much did you pay for them?"
Zhang Qiang, being an honest man, laughed and replied truthfully, "I was afraid so villagers wouldn’t trust individual buyers like us, so I offered one coin more than the market price—ninety-nine coins per stone. When they heard that, they were all happy to sell to ."
Zhao Dong nodded; he understood. After he and Sun Youli weighed the beans, Zhao Dong bought them at the agreed-upon price of one hundred coins per stone.
Sun Youcai, who could recognize a few characters, took on the responsibility of keeping accounts. Of course, without paper or pen, he resorted to the most primitive thod: using charcoal to write on a piece of stone.
Seeing the business growing, Zhao Dong decided that when he went to the marketplace tomorrow, he would also need to buy so paper and pens for himself.
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