With money in hand and no rationing applying on the economy, Elena easily bought two kilograms of fine flour for 2.88 Luni, which was a steal as it usually cost 1.50 Luni per kilogram.
Of course she had haggled and as she had decided to buy cornmeal and coarse grain from the same shop worth 31 cents.
It wasn’t much but it could buy enough for her tomorrow’s batch and the house also had ample reserves so it was fine.
Now the problem was the filling made of eggs and chives.
She had already used the reserves so what would she use to fill it with tomorrow?
But that didn’t stump her for long.
As soon as she returned home, she saw Sarah carrying wild mushrooms on her back with Emma carrying some chives.
"I’ll make mushroom eggs and chives!" She declared to herself and went about her day.
She managed to scarf down the coarsemeal made by Mary with water as she didn’t have much choice in the matter.
The family was really poor.
When she went home with 2 kilogram of fine flour and a bit of coarse grain and cornmeal, the whole family was stunned.
She had actually sold out?
So soon?
And she earned money and went to the town to buy fine flour and even grains?
They found it all unbelievable.
Surely, business wasn’t this easy, right?
Or everyone would be hopping on about it.
But the reforms had just relaxed in the 1980s and before that, it was considered speculation and profiteering and many went to prision for it.
Thankfully, with the reforms and opening up, everything was just fine.
Unbeknownst to Elena, Mary and Sarah had decided to help her in the morning and before she woke up, the two were ready in the kitchen, having prepared the mushrooms and picked up the eggs from the two hens and took out the rest stored at home.
For Mary, it was her daughter towards whom she would probably feel guilt for the rest of her life so she was willing to help in any ways possible.
Sarah simply didn’t want to be left behind as she too wanted to do her share of the chores for the family and was afraid they’d disdain her about not getting pregnant so she just agreed to whatever Mary said.
Seeing the two of them up even earlier than her, Elena felt embarrassed but she hid it well.
Of course her skin was fair as she was raised in the city while rural folk had a more wheatish or tanned appearance due to working long in the sun.
But that didn’t mean they were ugly or anything.
In fact Mary used to be the village belle in her days.
Thomas wasn’t the best looking but had great muscles from working in the farm.
Sarah was also visually pleasing.
Needless to say, Emma was cute.
Little sisters are cute, after all.
And what to say about Elena, she was stunning in this rural village and was even considered to be the school belle back in her high school.
Of course, she knew she wasn’t the prettiest in the world or anything but she wasn’t ugly or anything.
So the genetics in the family were strong.
"Come, come, let us help you too," Mary said, breaking the silence, urging Elena to come and cook.
She wanted to lighten the burden on her daughter as much as possible.
Elena usually didn’t like others in the kitchen but when it was her humble and honest mother, how could she bear to say no?
It wasn’t like the recipe was some trade secret. Many people in the city could cook like this. So it was fine.
With that, Elena began kneading the dough using boiled and cooled water to prevent any infections and cleaned the kitchentop twice before placing the flour on it.
Her meticulousness stunned the other two who never thought much about it.
The next instant, Elena used a wet muslin cloth to cover the dough and went to prepare the filling.
She diced the mushrooms into small pieces, added scallions, leeks, ginger, garlic, and the remaining chives, mixing it with the eggs.
Then cooked it a little and filled it into the doughballs and steamed it for twenty minutes.
Then she left with Mary to sell the buns.
Today she had made 44 buns as the filling had finished but the dough was left.
She decided to make noodles when she returned home for breakfast.
Mary went to introduce her and tell everyone that this was her daughter.
Right as they arrived on time, some villagers saw Elena and immediately crowded around.
Some for the scene and some for the food.
But the 44 buns sold out quite fast and only then did they notice and recognise Mary from their Happy village.
"You... Aren’t you the wife of Second Bennet son?"
One aunty squinted as she asked, trying to see.
"Yes, yes, I’m Mary," said Mary, finally getting some attention from others.
She pulled Elena close and introduced her, "This... This here is my daughter, Elena."
"Huh? I didn’t hear you had such a beautiful daughter?"
"Yeah, wasn’t your daughter named Lily?" Another well-informed aunty spoke up.
"Uhm, this... They were switched at birth and Lily is not my daughter, this girl, Elena, is."
Mary didn’t hesitate and directly revealed the truth lest they think something wrong.
It wouldn’t take long for the news to spread throughout the village and even get embellished.
Anyways, she knew their gossipy nature and couldn’t change it.
So she decided to just let them be.
Finally her gaze fell upon her duaghter who was holding 473 cents or 4.73 Luni in her hands.
She had still given one bun free today to the first buyer because it was necessary to build goodwill and make others come earlier tomorrow.
Now that they knew she was the Bennet family’s daughter, the villagers felt at ease buying from her and eating her food.
Of course, it wasn’t trust but more like because they knew where to find her if something went wrong.
Thus, the stunned Mary was pulled away by Elena who took her to the town to again buy 2 kilograms of fine flour and then buy cornmeal and coarsegrain, again from the same seller.
She bought 373 cents worth, leaving her with 1 Luni.
She chose to buy eggs from the villagers using this as they would be free ranch and surely the villagers would be willing to exchange for money. It was scarce after all.
All in all, the second day of business was booming for Elena but that’s because she came earlier with Mary and Sarah’s help.
Thus, she missed her competitors today but surely they’ll meet tomorrow...