“Of course I bought them so we can study. We’ll learn together. If we’re doing business, we can’t exactly be unable to read or do math, can we?” Qin Suian spread the tattered books out one by one, carefully wiping the dust off them with a damp cloth. After cleaning them, she laid them in the sunlight to dry.
“Oh… then I’ll read them when I have time, I guess,” Xiaojuan replied casually, not taking it too seriously.
Back when she attended school, she had been fairly diligent, but nowhere near as hardworking or devoted as her older sister.
She simply knew that the chance to study had been hard to come by and shouldn’t be wasted. But if you asked whether she truly loved studying, the answer was no.
She secretly glanced at Xiaomei.
She knew her sister had always been the one who most wanted to continue studying.
Back when Grandma had refused to let Xiaomei attend middle school, Xiaojuan had secretly seen her crying under the blankets many times.
Xiaomei lowered her head and carefully flipped through a middle school Chinese textbook, lost in thoughts no one else could see.
She had thought that in this lifetime, she would never touch textbooks again.
Once, she had secretly looked through Wang Yaowu’s middle school textbooks. When he found out, he immediately tattled to Wang Fuyuan.
He accused her of stealing his books.
Without even asking what happened, Wang Fuyuan slapped her first and forbade her from ever touching Wang Yaowu’s belongings again.
Never before had Xiaomei hated so deeply.
She hated being born a girl.
And even more, she hated being Wang Fuyuan’s daughter.
Qin Suian looked at Xiaomei too, and in her heart she knew she had made the right decision buying those books.
At four-thirty in the afternoon, Qin Suian once again carried her shoulder pole out to continue selling pickles.
They were busy almost nonstop throughout the day, but every time she watched Xiaojuan counting the money, all the exhaustion disappeared.
“Mom! Sis! We made ten yuan and fifty cents today!” Xiaojuan announced excitedly after counting the money and subtracting the change reserve.
“We’ll probably make even more tomorrow. Tomorrow, we’re eating meat,” Qin Suian declared while simmering sauce in the kitchen.
Ever since being reborn, she still hadn’t properly enjoyed a hearty meat meal.
Recently they had been adding eggs to every meal and had bought meat twice, but only small amounts stir-fried with vegetables.
Xiaomei needed better nourishment too. Tomorrow she planned to ask Xie Kaihua whether she had any young chickens for sale.
“I want pig trotters,” Xiaojuan said eagerly, already drooling at the thought.
She had never eaten pig trotters before.
Her memories of eating meat were pitifully few.
Aside from tasting a little meat during the village’s annual pig slaughter celebrations, the only other times she’d eaten any were at one or two banquet meals her mother had taken them to.
As for eating an entire pig trotter? She had never even dreamed of it.
“Alright. Xiaomei, what do you want to eat?” Qin Suian asked.
After thinking for a moment, Xiaomei replied, “I want fish.”
“Good! Then tomorrow we’ll feast on meat and fish!” Qin Suian declared grandly.
They certainly couldn’t afford to eat like that every day, but once in a while was still possible.
The next morning, when Xie Kaihua delivered vegetables, Qin Suian mentioned wanting to buy a few half-grown chickens.
“I’ve got some at home. How many should I bring tomorrow?” Xie Kaihua agreed immediately.
“Sounds good. Today’s vegetables are really fresh—they still have dew on them,” Qin Suian said as she examined the cucumbers and celtuce. They had obviously just been harvested.
Much fresher than the produce at the market.
Some market vegetables had been transported from far away and already looked slightly wilted.
Xie Kaihua’s cucumbers were not only evenly sized, but their prickles were still sharp enough to poke your hands.
“Of course. I collected them from the village and brought them over right away,” Xie Kaihua said proudly.
She still hadn’t publicly announced vegetable purchasing in the village yet. She had only spoken to her cousin and third aunt about it.
Both women were thrilled.
Especially her cousin, whose vegetables were famously the best in the village.
When she heard that Xie Kaihua wanted to buy her produce outright instead of merely helping her sell it, she was even happier.
After all, she no longer had to worry about whether the vegetables would sell. She would make a guaranteed profit.
She agreed immediately.
That morning, before five o’clock, she had already gotten up to harvest vegetables.
Xie Kaihua had even borrowed a scale and brought it along, weighing everything for Qin Suian on the spot: fifty jin of celtuce, fifty jin of cucumbers, plus five jin of chili peppers and ten jin of garlic.
Without needing to make a trip to the farmers’ market, Qin Suian finished breakfast and headed straight to the market stall with Xiaojuan.
Since they arrived earlier today, there were noticeably more customers buying breakfast compared to the previous days.
“Do you have the extra spicy ones today?” a returning customer asked.
“Yes! I pickled two jars yesterday. One is spicy celtuce, and the other is extra-spicy cucumber,” Qin Suian replied.
“Then give me one bowl of regular cucumber, one bowl of spicy celtuce, and one bowl of extra-spicy cucumber,” the customer said.
She herself didn’t particularly love spicy food, but her family certainly did.
She had bought pickles for two consecutive days now, and they had always been the first dish completely finished at home.
More accurately, everyone fought over them.
Her son and daughter were both growing teenagers with huge appetites, and this appetizing side dish was practically a treasure to them.
She and her husband were both employed workers with decent incomes, so they could certainly afford some pickles.
“Alright, I’ll pack them up for you now,” Qin Suian said as she opened the jars and began serving the pickles.
After that customer left, another elderly woman arrived—it was Qin Suian’s very first customer.
“Big sister, you came back again? How many bowls today?” Qin Suian recognized her immediately.
“I heard you’ve got spicy ones now. Give me one bowl of spicy cucumber and one regular bowl,” the woman said, handing over her lunchbox.
“Coming right up,” Qin Suian replied briskly as she filled it.
“I have no idea what you put in these pickles, but my old man actually asked me to buy more,” the woman chatted while waiting.
“The main thing is that I’m willing to use lots of seasonings. Most families wouldn’t prepare that many spices at home, right?” Qin Suian replied.
“That’s true enough,” the woman admitted.
At home they usually only had oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, plus things like chili peppers, garlic, and scallions.
Those fragrant spices were usually only bought during holidays or special occasions for elaborate dishes. Most of the time they sat unused until their aroma faded away.
After the woman left, customers continued arriving steadily.
Many were returning customers, while quite a few specifically came for the spicy pickles.
The six jars they had brought in the morning sold out even faster than the day before, and the spicy versions disappeared first.
Clearly, everyone accepted the stronger flavors very well. She could increase the spicy selection even more.
After the morning rush slowed down, Qin Suian left Xiaojuan to watch the stall while she went shopping.
She wandered through the market and bought two pig trotters and one fish. Since she had no meat coupons or fish coupons, she had to pay higher prices.
Before heading out for the afternoon stall, Qin Suian first taught Xiaomei how to cook the pig trotters and fish.
The pig trotters were first singed over fire to burn away stray hairs, then scraped clean and chopped into pieces. Afterward, they were blanched in cold water together with ginger slices and cooking wine.
She also taught Xiaomei how to caramelize sugar for coloring and how long to braise the meat.
She had also bought a grass carp weighing over a jin and carefully demonstrated how to steam it properly.
Only after confirming Xiaomei had learned everything did she leave for the market.
When they returned home that evening, both dishes were already finished.
After simmering for two full hours, the pig trotters had become meltingly tender and deeply flavorful. Their glossy reddish-brown color glistened with rich sauce, and the aroma of braised spices filled the air irresistibly.
The steamed grass carp, topped with thin strips of scallion and ginger, looked fresh and delicate.
Xiaojuan, who had never eaten pig trotters before, stared fixedly at the tender braised meat, unable to tear her eyes away.