Lin Yuhe’s remark about knowing how to make candy had stuck with Uncle Lin. Today, he deliberately skipped selling in other villages, mainly because Lin Yuhe said making the kind of candy he sold required ingredients.
Lin Yuhe slept until she woke naturally. The whole family had already finished their meal, leaving hers warming in the pot.
Uncle Lin had been waiting for her for a while. Not wanting to disturb her while she was still recovering, he helped Grandma Lin tidy the yard. Now he was organizing his own livelihood tools.
As an itinerant peddler, Uncle Lin used to carry his goods on a shoulder pole, traveling from village to village until his shoulders were rubbed raw by the end of the day. Later, Grandpa Lin had a village carpenter make him a wheelbarrow.
When Lin Yuhe got up, she saw Uncle Lin arranging the goods on the wheelbarrow—from small items like needles and thread to larger ones like embroidery patterns. The selection was quite varied.
“Uncle, how many copper coins do you sell this pattern for?” she asked, picking up a pattern that looked like it was for women’s embroidery.
“Oh, the small ones cost one coin to buy, and I sell two for three coins. The larger ones cost two coins to buy, and I sell them for four coins. These are new stock I bought in town yesterday. If you want to do embroidery, pick the ones you like. Once you finish embroidering, I’ll sell them for you as your private savings.”
Hearing Uncle Lin suggest she take up embroidery, Lin Yuhe shook her head repeatedly. Embroidery was not her forte—in her previous life, she only knew how to sew on buttons. However, drawing patterns was a piece of cake for her; she had even won awards for self-studied art in college.
“Uncle, do we have sugar at home? What about flour, peanuts, or melon seeds? Making candy requires these.”
Lin Yuhe had thought it over—she could make a kind of nut candy, as well as the expensive candy Uncle Lin had mentioned.
“Yuhe, come and eat your meal, then take your medicine. Try to talk less today. The doctor said after one more day of medicine, your throat will be fully healed.”
Mother Lin brought the meal she had kept warm in the pot to the small table. There was still an egg, and she had already set out chopsticks.
“Mother, please don’t boil eggs for me anymore. Save them to sell for silver,” Lin Yuhe said, feeling guilty about eating eggs at every meal, especially since she was the only one in the family who had them.
“The eggs Third Uncle’s Wife brought will last one more day tomorrow. I’ll boil them all for you to eat. Since you’re sick, the family doesn’t have the silver to buy meat for you.”
Mother Lin seemed to think about how she and her husband lacked any special skills, only able to scrape a living from the land, unable to even provide their children with good food. Tears welled up in her eyes again.
“Mother, in the future, I’ll earn lots of silver, and we’ll have delicious food every day,” Lin Yuhe said. Mother Lin smiled gently and nodded repeatedly.
Lin Yuhe remembered that sugar nowadays was somewhat yellowish, not the white sugar from before. Sugar syrup could also be used, but she wasn’t sure how many copper coins it cost per pound.
“Yuhe, let me know what else you need to make the candy. I’ll go to town now and buy everything at once,” Uncle Lin said, slinging a basket over his back.
When Grandma Lin heard her son was going to town to buy something as precious as sugar, she worried he might not have enough copper coins. Hurriedly, she counted out fifty coins from the main room.
“Second Son, take another fifty coins with you, just in case it’s not enough. Don’t buy too much the first time.” Grandma Lin wasn’t sure if her granddaughter could actually make candy and didn’t dare let him spend too many coins.
Uncle Lin indeed didn’t have quite enough coins on hand and had planned to buy only what he could afford. Now, with Grandma Lin giving him another fifty coins, he felt more at ease.
"Mother, fifty wen is too much, just give me twenty. I still have a bit on hand, and I'll pay you back after I sell the sugar," Uncle Lin had never considered that all the copper coins he earned went into the common family fund.
Uncle Lin went to town. In Lin Yuhe's memory, she seemed to have been there once, but she couldn't recall what it looked like. She only remembered it was quite far from home—perhaps because she was too young back then, it felt like she could never reach the end.
"Grandma, is our home far from town?" If she didn't know, she might as well ask. She also thought that once she had money, she would go see for herself.
"Our Yuhe wants to go to town. When things aren't so busy in a while, I'll have your mother take you. You can take an ox cart from the main road outside the village. Walking would take two hours."
Grandma Lin added, "Riding the ox cart costs one copper coin per person. There are families along the main road who specialize in transportation services. Old Man Li from the west end of our village does this kind of livelihood."
Two hours—no wonder it felt so far in her memory. It really was far. Since the family wasn't well-off, they always tried to save every coin they could, relying on their own two feet to get around.
"Grandma, once I earn some silver, I'll buy an ox cart first and take you and Mother for a spin around town." She hadn't even earned a single copper coin yet, but she was already planning to buy an ox cart.
This grand promise delighted Grandma Lin. "Good, good. Grandma will just wait to enjoy the blessings from our girl."
"Grandma, do we have peanuts, sesame seeds, or melon seeds at home?" Lin Yuhe thought that since they were making sugar, they might as well make a few varieties. Even if Uncle Lin went to sell them, it would give people more choices.
"We have peanuts. Your mother planted a few sesame plants in the vegetable garden, but we didn't harvest much. I'll ask your mother where she stored them. As for melon seeds, we don't have any."
Grandma Lin didn't ask her what she specifically needed these things for.
"Haitang, Haitang!"
Mother Lin came out from the kitchen. "Mother, what do you need? I was scrubbing the stove!"
"Oh, just leave it for now. I'll scrub it later. I remember you planted a few sesame plants last year and harvested about half a bowl. Where did you put them?"
Grandma Lin felt her granddaughter's matters were important. Scrubbing the stove could wait for another day.
"Mother, it's hanging in the kitchen. There's not much of it, and I didn't know how to eat it. Do you want me to bring it over?"
Whoever stored something knew where it was. Others wouldn't recognize it even if it was right under their noses.
"Go get it down. It's not for me—it's for your daughter." Grandma Lin went into the kitchen and took the scrub brush from Mother Lin to clean the stove.
A small black cloth bag contained about half a bowl of plump white sesame seeds. The tidy Mother Lin had stored the sesame seeds well, with no leaves or impurities inside.
After putting away the sesame seeds and finishing the stove, Grandma Lin brought out half a basket of peanuts from the main room where she and her husband lived.
"Haitang, shell these peanuts. Your daughter wants them too." Though Grandma Lin told her daughter-in-law to shell the peanuts, she herself pulled over a small stool and started shelling them.
"Grandma, let me help you both." Watching Grandma Lin and Mother Lin work while she sat idly by made her feel she was being inconsiderate.
"Go on, we don't need you. You're everywhere! With just this little bit of peanuts, the two of us can finish shelling them in no time. You sit and rest for a while!"
Grandma Lin was the typical type—sharp-tongued but soft-hearted.
"Ah, we only harvested this little bit last year. We were hoping to take it to town to sell when the price went up and exchange it for some grain. Who knew the price wouldn't rise this year and even dropped instead?"
Grandma Lin said, what on earth is happening with the times? Life is hard for the villagers. When the lean season between harvests arrives, half of the households in the village have no food to eat.
"Haitang, if things don't work out, you and I can lend a hand with the farm work, and let Lin Hai go out to find some work." Grandma Lin knew that working outside meant enduring others' disdain, eating poorly, and sleeping restlessly.
Mother Lin's eyes darkened. "Mother, I'll talk to the child's father about it later."
The main reason was that last year, Father Lin went out to work for two months and came back looking emaciated, barely recognizable. He said the employer only gave him one proper meal a day, and he still had to do heavy labor. It wasn't until now, from last year to this year, that he had regained a little of his health.