“We can move into town.”
Luo Mingchen was stunned when he heard Huo Yan’s words. “You want to buy a house in Peach Blossom Town?”
Huo Yan said, “If you want to, we can.”
“Of course I want to live in a big house. It’s just that buying a house here should be pretty expensive. We’d have to sell the house and farmland in the village, and we’d also need to transfer our household registration. Sounds like a lot of trouble.”
Although there wasn’t any rule here preventing merchants from taking the imperial examinations, farming households still held a slightly better status than merchant households.
Besides…
“Isn’t Xishui Village the place where you grew up?”
“The house and farmland in the village don’t have to be sold. We can still go back whenever we want.”
After hearing that, Luo Mingchen made up his mind.
“Then let’s buy a house in town. When winter comes, Xiaohui and Xiaoxiang won’t have to get up so early to go to school, and they can even come home for lunch. But I just planted those vegetables a few days ago. Can we wait until after the harvest before moving?”
“Alright.”
After reaching an agreement, the two of them turned the ox cart around and headed back into town to see whether there were any houses in a suitable location.
Since they were buying one anyway, they might as well buy a larger place. Huo Yan still had several thousand taels of silver. If they bought a small house now and had to upgrade later, it would be too troublesome.
After arriving in town, Huo Yan went to a real estate agency and viewed several properties before finally choosing a large residence with three successive courtyards.
The previous owner had reportedly moved to the county seat, and all the land deeds, property deeds, and authorization papers for the sale were in order.
After inspecting the place and finding no issues other than its neglected appearance, the family went to the county yamen in Yuelan County to complete the paperwork.
After leaving the yamen, Luo Mingchen tucked away the documents. Seeing how familiar Huo Yan was with the process, he suddenly thought of something and asked as they walked,
“You’ve wanted to move out of the village for a long time, haven’t you?”
“I did have that idea. But you seemed to enjoy farming, so I never brought it up.”
Originally, after returning home, he had planned to move into town and start some sort of business.
Unexpectedly, Luo Mingchen had immediately tilled the few mu of land in front of their house and planted crops at astonishing speed, so Huo Yan never mentioned it again.
Luo Mingchen felt a little conflicted.
“Then what else did you want to do?”
“Sell wine. My grandfather built his fortune through wine-making. Later, among his three children, only my eldest uncle and my mother inherited the brewing skills. My mother taught me when I was young. After my uncle’s family was killed by mountain bandits, the family declined completely.”
After hearing that, Luo Mingchen asked, “Was your family rich before?”
Huo Yan replied, “We did fairly well.”
“Then we can continue selling wine. In the future, we can even open a grand restaurant. My cooking combined with your wine—we’ll definitely become the richest people around.”
Seeing Luo Mingchen’s bright smile, Huo Yan was deeply moved and smiled faintly as well.
“Alright.”
Huo Xinyue, who was wrapped around Luo Mingchen’s neck, blinked in confusion. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she smiled along with them anyway.
Luo Mingchen rubbed his cheek against her soft little face and said happily,
“We’re going to live in a big house in the future. Are you happy?”
“Happy?”
Luo Mingchen slowly repeated, “Happy.”
Huo Xinyue followed along, “Happy!”
“Good girl.”
The house wasn’t too far from Baiye Academy. Since there wasn’t much usable furniture inside and the flowers, plants, and landscaping all needed to be replanted, it was being sold rather cheaply.
That worked out perfectly. They could spend the time waiting for the vegetables to mature repairing the residence, and move in just in time for winter.
After running around all day, they ended up arriving a little late to pick up the two boys from school.
Once everyone was seated on the cart, Huo Yuhui looked around and asked curiously,
“Dad, this doesn’t seem like the road out of town.”
Luo Mingchen smiled.
“We bought a big house in town today. We’re taking you to see it so you can learn the way. Once it’s fixed up, we’ll be able to move in.”
“A big house?”
Huo Yuhui stared at him in surprise.
“Little Daddy, why did you suddenly want to buy a house in town?”
Luo Mingchen smiled and said,
“It’s more convenient to do business in town, and it’ll make school easier for you two.”
Huo Xiang looked full of anticipation.
“Little Daddy, how big is the house?”
“It’s a three-courtyard residence. Pretty big.”
“Wow…”
Raising an eyebrow, Luo Mingchen asked,
“Do you even know how big that is?”
Huo Xiang shook his head.
“No.”
“…Then why are you saying wow?”
“Hehe. It’s definitely bigger than our house.”
Luo Mingchen laughed and rubbed his little head.
“That’s true.”
The ox cart didn’t travel far before arriving at their destination.
Although Luo Mingchen had said it was close, they had never imagined it would be this close.
Huo Xiang exclaimed happily,
“Brother! In winter, our feet won’t freeze on the way to school anymore!”
Huo Yuhui was happy too, but he was more worried.
“It’s so close to the academy and near the main street too. It must have been very expensive, right?”
“It’s fine. Your dad has money, and we’re earning money too. We’re not just sitting around spending our savings. Money that should be spent should be spent.”
As Luo Mingchen said this, Huo Yan had already opened the front gate.
“Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
The brothers eagerly ran inside.
The place was unbelievably large. The only downside was that the pond smelled a little bad, there were fallen leaves everywhere, and both the main hall and the rooms were rather messy.
After walking around the residence, Huo Xiang tugged on Luo Mingchen’s sleeve and asked in disbelief,
“Little Daddy, is this really going to be our home?”
“Yes. The paperwork has already been completed. Once we clean everything up, we can move in.”
Hearing that, both brothers were overjoyed.
Being able to buy such a large residence meant there was still money left over. In the future, they wouldn’t have to go hungry anymore.
Having enough food and warm clothes while being able to attend school—wasn’t that exactly the wonderful life Huo Yuhui dreamed about?
But because such a life had come with great difficulty, Huo Yuhui naturally intended to cherish it. He would also work hard to make something of himself so he wouldn’t disappoint the efforts of his two fathers.
After another tour of the residence, the whole family finally returned home in a relaxed and cheerful mood.
Although the soft tofu business was doing very well, Luo Mingchen hadn’t forgotten about bowl pudding.
There were two kinds of bowl pudding: crystal bowl pudding and traditional bowl pudding.
The one Luo Mingchen planned to make was the traditional version—a brown sugar bowl pudding made from indica rice, with a few red beans added inside.
It could also be made with japonica rice, which produced a slightly different texture.
However, indica rice had a lighter, fresher texture, and Luo Mingchen preferred it.
The preparation method was relatively simple among desserts.
First, prepare an appropriate amount of indica rice, wash it thoroughly, and soak it.
Once the rice had softened, grind it into rice slurry. The finer and smoother the slurry, the better. However, the temperature had to be watched carefully. It couldn’t be ground in a place that was too hot, otherwise the summer sun could partially cook the slurry.
Next, prepare two pieces of thick cloth.
Pour the rice slurry into the cloth and twist and knead it repeatedly.
Once all the moisture had been squeezed out, what remained was a bowl of rice flour.
Pour the flour into a large bowl and loosen it with a wooden spoon. Then gradually add water in small amounts.
The exact amount of water depended on the quantity of rice flour, but it couldn’t be excessive. Stir until it reached a batter consistency that was neither too thick nor too thin.
After that, pour brown sugar powder into a pot, add water, and cook until the sugar dissolves.
Once it comes to a boil, pour it into the batter.
Before steaming, place small bowls into the steamer and steam them briefly first. Then add a few prepared red beans into each bowl, pour in the batter, and steam over medium heat for about fifteen minutes.
And just like that, a batch of brown sugar bowl pudding was finished.