When Xu Anyan had set the price at ten copper coins per jin, she had worried that it might be too expensive. But if she priced it any lower, the business simply wouldn’t be worth it.
Then she thought about it again. The county town wasn’t short of wealthy people. Most parents would be willing to spend a few coins to buy a jin or so for their children.
“Grandma, I want some! Buy me some!” a five- or six-year-old boy said, tugging at his grandmother’s sleeve.
Unable to resist her beloved grandson’s pleading, the old woman immediately bought a jin.
Xu Anyan took the money and deftly weighed out a jin of sugar-coated hawthorns, wrapped them in oil paper, and handed them over.
She had bought the scale at the general store yesterday and had even asked the shopkeeper to teach her how to use it.
With that grandmother taking the lead, several more people bought either a jin or a few liang. One or two people thought the price was too high and left without buying.
But Xu Anyan wasn’t discouraged.
She believed that everyone would soon accept this new snack.
After that, more customers arrived one after another. Most didn’t buy much, but by a quarter past noon, everything had sold out.
After returning the table and stool to the tea stall owner, Xu Anyan specially wrapped a small portion of sugar-coated hawthorns for both the tea stall owner and the vegetable vendor.
She had always believed in one principle: wherever you go, make friends and build goodwill.
The tea stall owner warmly gave each of the two little boys a hot steamed bun, while the old vegetable vendor gave Xu Anyan a large cabbage.
“Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? Mother will take you.”
It was already past noon, and she still hadn’t fed the two little ones. The poor little food lovers had really suffered.
Dabao patted his belly.
“We just ate the buns that Uncle from the tea stall gave us. My little tummy isn’t hungry.”
Xiaobao pouted.
“Mother, my little tummy is still hungry.”
“And what does your little tummy want to eat?”
“My little tummy says it wants meat.”
“Alright, then let’s go get you some meat.”
As they passed a carpenter’s shop, Xu Anyan went inside and ordered two chairs and a table. After paying, she pointed out her stall’s location and asked the shopkeeper to deliver them there directly.
Passing by the general store, she also bought another six jin of malt sugar, planning to make even more sugar-coated hawthorns when she got home.
Only then did she take the two children to a small restaurant.
She ordered one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, a bowl of thick porridge for each child, and a bowl of rice for herself.
The meal cost a total of ninety copper coins.
After the three of them had eaten and drunk their fill, they leisurely headed back to Wenliu Alley.
…
Xu Anyan first soaked the hawthorns. After coaxing the two little ones to sleep, she immediately spread the berries onto bamboo trays to dry.
The weather was perfect. By the time she had melted the sugar, the hawthorns had already dried.
With the experience from the previous attempt, making the sugar-coated hawthorns this time went much more smoothly.
She made more than forty jin of them, but by the end she was once again exhausted and panting.
An hour later, everything was cleaned up. It was already the Shen hour—around three in the afternoon.
Xu Anyan planned to make some steamed buns and stuffed buns.
She knew how to stir-fry simple home-cooked dishes, but she didn’t know how to steam buns. The original owner of this body knew even less.
She was just about to go ask Aunt Wu for help when she heard the voices of the two little boys coming from the room.
“Mother… I want to get down.”
“Mother… where are you?”
The moment she heard them, she knew the boys wanted to get off the kang bed and needed her to carry them down.
She sighed inwardly and turned back toward the main room.
The incident with Dabao holding in his urine had left a deep impression on her. That was why she had specially ordered a small staircase for the children from the carpenter’s shop. It was sturdy and had only three steps.
They had had it for two days already, yet her sons still couldn’t remember to use it.
After carrying them down from the kang, Xu Anyan reminded them again to use the little stairs next time.
“Okay,” Dabao replied readily.
Then she seriously instructed them,
“You two stay at home and behave. Mother is going to Grandma Wu’s house and will be back in a little while.”
Seeing both boys nod obediently, she finally felt reassured and went out.
Xu Anyan sat beside the stove tending the fire while Zheng Yu kneaded the dough.
Aunt Wu wasn’t home, so Zheng Yu had come in her place.
Looking at the white flour in her hands, she secretly clicked her tongue in amazement. There was so much fine flour and not a trace of coarse flour mixed in. It made her heart ache just looking at it.
As she kneaded, she asked,
“Sister Xu, what filling are you planning to use for the buns?”
“Sister Zheng, I have some bits of meat and a large cabbage. Will that do?”
“Of course. Wash the cabbage and chop it up first. I’ll season the filling in a moment.”
“Alright.”
Xu Anyan rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
Meanwhile, the two little boys and Little Hu were eating cloud cakes and preserved fruits in the courtyard, enjoying themselves immensely.
There was no yeast here, and Xu Anyan didn’t have any old dough starter either. In the end, she used some of Zheng Yu’s fermented dough starter.
Later, they would each keep a piece of the starter for future use.
They worked the entire afternoon and steamed half the buns and stuffed buns.
When Zheng Yu was about to leave, Xu Anyan packed three steamed buns and three meat buns for her.
Zheng Yu repeatedly refused.
In the county town, a white-flour steamed bun cost one copper coin, and a meat bun cost three.
This was worth more than ten copper coins altogether.
The two women went back and forth for a while. In the end, Zheng Yu couldn’t win against Xu Anyan’s insistence and accepted them.
She thought that in the future, she would simply send more food over in return.
Before Xu Anyan had even rested for a moment, she started making dinner again.
She wanted to sigh.
Her entire day had revolved around the stove.
As she cooked, she calculated the day’s earnings.
She had made three hundred copper coins.
Ninety had been spent on food.
One hundred and twenty had gone toward sugar.
The table and chairs had cost forty.
That left her with only fifty copper coins in profit.
After working so hard all day, she had earned only fifty coins.
She felt like banging her head against a wall.
At this rate, when will I ever save enough money to buy a house and retire peacefully?
She sighed deeply.
“The road ahead is long and far; I shall search high and low.”
The next day.
Xu Anyan got up early and arrived at her stall by the Si hour. The furniture she had ordered yesterday had already been delivered and placed in the designated spot.
The two little boys still stuck close by her side.
The children were simply too clingy, and there was nothing she could do about it.
In the end, they just lacked a sense of security.
Thanks to yesterday’s successful start, Xu Anyan wasn’t worried at all today.
After setting everything up, she found herself with nothing to do and no customers yet, so she decided to teach the boys multiplication tables in preparation for next year’s schooling.
She could hardly wait to send them to school.
A quarter of an hour later, Xu Anyan was stunned.
Although she had only taught them the multiplication tables from one to three, they had memorized them all.
More importantly, she had only recited them twice.
Her heart raced with excitement.
Geniuses! They practically have photographic memories. Did I strike gold?
Seeing their mother staring at them without blinking, Dabao asked curiously,
“Mother, are we still reciting?”
Xu Anyan came back to her senses and coughed lightly.
“That’s enough for today. Mother will teach you counting instead.”
Xiaobao immediately raised his hand.
“Mother, I can count to one hundred.”
“So can I,” Dabao added.
Xu Anyan was dumbfounded.
“Who taught you?”
The two boys answered in unison.
“Father taught us.”
Xu Anyan was puzzled.
“When did he teach you?”
According to her memories, Jiang Huan was always so busy that his feet barely touched the ground. She had never even seen him take a day off. When had he found the time to teach the children?
“At bedtime,” Dabao answered. “Father taught us then.”
Only then did Xu Anyan understand.
The two boys had probably slept in another room with Jiang Huan before.
Memories flashed through her mind, leaving her speechless.
The original owner had thought the children were troublesome and would disturb her rest.
Only when Jiang Huan wasn’t home did the boys sleep with their mother.
“Then Mother will teach you addition and subtraction.”
Xu Anyan refused to give up.
Dabao looked confused.
“Mother, what’s addition and subtraction?”
Before she could answer, Xiaobao’s little face fell.
“Mother, can we study later?”
“Why?”
Xu Anyan and Dabao both looked at him.
Xiaobao answered matter-of-factly,
“I want to play for a while. If I study too much, my head will hurt.”
Xu Anyan widened her eyes and was rendered speechless.
Is that really something a three-year-old child would say? He’s only three, and he’s already thinking about skipping school—and he even came up with a perfectly airtight excuse for it!