CH 86

The next day, they saw Zhao’er carefully carrying something over as soon as they arrived at the storefront. Mo Yan asked, “Zhao’er, what are you carrying?”

He didn’t dare let his eyes stray from the small white bag he was holding, and replied, “My mum steamed these buns, they’re still hot!”

She offered to give them noodle soup yesterday afternoon, and sent them steamed buns first thing in the morning. They never knew Ms. Hua was that caring before, but it might be because her living conditions have improved. Recently, not only has she seemed in better shape, even the clothes she was wearing were cleaner.

After guessing when Mr. Cao had already had breakfast and seeing that no patients had gone in, Mo Yan went to talk to him.

“Mr. Cao, have you recovered from your illness?”

He was standing in front of the medicine cabinet, and turned around after hearing Mo Yan’s voice, “It was just a cold, I recovered long ago.”

“I want to talk to you about my mother’s cough. She coughs a lot during the winter, and she’s unwilling to cure it. I want to see if I can use a few medicinal herbs to make a herbal tea for her to drink, so she can take the medicine long-term.”

Mr. Cao still wore his ever-present smile, “I know about your mother’s cough. Hers is a persistent illness, and recovery will require long-term medicine usage. As she thought it was inconvenient and expensive, she stopped coming for treatment.”

So it wasn’t incurable, she just wasn’t willing to cure it. [1]

“Then do you have any ways to help?”

“If you’re ill, take medicine; there aren’t any shortcuts. When I return to the village, I’ll take her pulse and then prescribe her something. If simmering medicine every day is too inconvenient, it can be taken in the form of a pill or an ointment. It just has to be taken persistently.”

Mo Yan gripped the piece of paper in her hand tightly, “Please prescribe medicine for my mother. I’ll pay for everything, don’t tell her how much it costs.”

Mr. Cao repeatedly praised her for being a filial daughter.

After that, she went to the Luo family to pick up the baskets she ordered yesterday. As soon as she entered the door, the old basket weaver stood up and smiled, “Your order’s done.”

Next to him were two stacks of bamboo baskets, bound together with rope.

“You’ve made them all already? You’re really skilled!”

“This is nothing much, even my granddaughter can make these. Everyone in my family can make baskets like these with just a bit of time.”

“We might need a lot of these baskets come the New Year, as well as baskets for gift bundles. Are you able to make those?”

The old man laughed, “As long as I have a reference. It’s not anything difficult.”

“Then I’ll draw one and send it to you. Can you weave a few baskets for me once you get it?”

Mo Yan paid for the baskets and was about to leave when he told her, “When you get back, put them in saltwater so they’re harder to crack, then use a scraper to scrape off any splinters.”

After taking the baskets to Ms. Hua’s courtyard, she wanted to fetch water from the well to put the baskets in. Ms. Hua stopped her, “Why are you here doing this kind of work? If you lose your footing, you might end up falling into the well!”

She fetched a large basin of water. Then, Mo Yan added some salt and put the baskets inside.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen such small baskets!”

“It’s to display the dried fruits, and we’ll sell them in the storefront. What do you think?”

“That’s good!”

Mo Yan then realised Ms. Hua was wearing new clothes, “Did you buy new clothes?”

She lowered her head and said embarrassedly, “No, I bought some material to make new clothes with.”

“You know how to make clothes?”

“I can tailor somewhat, and I make do.”

She went over to take a look, and the threading on the clothes wasn’t bad! However, the material was nothing special, and Mo Yan instantly thought of the silks they imported over from the Upper Valley. Ms. Zhao’s Jiaolan Courtyard just had a name right now, and Mo Yan hadn’t thought about how to get people over.

“Do you know many of the aunties and grandmas in this city?”

“I know a few of them. When I was selling tofu with my husband in the past, I could easily tell who was from here and who wasn’t.”

“So you used to do business!”

“I’m not as smart as you.”

Ms. Hua didn’t look bad after cleaning herself well and changing her clothes. It was a far cry from the dirty woman who was picking up vegetable leaves from the streets.

Although she wasn’t really intelligent, she still knew the people around town. Having connections would make doing business much easier.

“I want to sell the dried fruit on the streets the next market day. Are you willing to help me?”

“Sure, I’m idling at home anyways. There’s just a lot of goods in my courtyard, and I can’t leave them unattended.”

“I’ll find someone to look after them.”

The baskets still had to soak in the salt water for a while longer, so Mo Yan left Ms. Hua to watch over it and went to the storefront.

On such a cold day, passersby will be attracted to the smoke coming from their storefront and come over, so their business wasn’t bad. However, everyone who bought a wrap said, “If only you sold hot soup as well.”

“Sis, how about we sell some millet congee tomorrow! It’ll definitely do well.”

“But that’s hard to carry!”

“On such a cold day, the people will get cold easily, so they’ll stop here to drink the congee. The warm congee will warm their body, and our storefront will be remembered by more people, so they’ll be more likely to buy food from us again.”

“The storefront’s too small, how about we make the congee in the courtyard?”

Mo Yan had increasingly found that the storefront was irrelevant. If it wasn’t there, they could just tear down one of the courtyard walls to make a larger store. They just needed an eye-catching plaque, and they’d definitely attract more business than now. [2]

If they made a back door for the storefront, it’d be easier for them to go out to fetch water and the like. However, that’d mean there’d be even less space inside.

“Let’s make a window in the back! It’ll be easier to receive things from there, so we won’t have to manoeuvre more,” Mo Yan said.

Mo Ling replied, “Then go ask if Ms. Hua’s fine with it. If she is, we’ll ask Zhong Cheng to help us make the window.”

Mo Yan smiled, “Are you asking him for help so easily now? How do you know he’ll be willing to help you without even asking?”

Mo Ling rolled her eyes at her, “I can do this without his help. The walls are thin.”

The next day, they brought some millet to the city and used Ms. Hua’s stove to make some congee. Then, they stored it in a clay pot and took it to the storefront, putting it next to the stove where they fried their eggs.

When passersby came over to buy from them, Mo Ling asked, “We have hot millet congee now, would you like a bowl?”

A bowl of congee cost two dollars, so most people would take her up on that offer. Most people who left home often had a bamboo container for water, and they’d store the congee in it for the road.

Disposable cups didn’t exist then, so the bamboo containers were the cheapest alternative. If they made some at home and sold them cheaply, they’d attract even more customers due to the convenience.

The baskets they had put in salt water yesterday had dried, and Ms. Hua helped with removing the splinters. Mo Yan went to the back to grab the dried fruits, and put them in the baskets to display in the storefront.

In such cold weather, their customers said they felt warm after drinking their millet congee. Most of them would buy some additional dried fruits or salted eggs to express their appreciation and help their business out.

Ever since they added the millet congee to their list of goods, business has been booming. Mo Ling’s drive to run her business well had increased.

Post-translation notes: It’s just been one day, but the author’s been talking about it like they’d been selling millet congee for a few weeks now. I don’t know, time in this story is weird. And as always, thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day.

[1] That sounds like Mrs. Liang; excessively miserly.

[2] Is this foreshadowing for extensive renovations?