CH 27

Bonus chapter for my birthday. Enjoy!

After renting the shop, Qiao Yuan started thinking about what would be good to sell in it.

Firstly, there must be the shop’s signature flower buns. Complex designs needed custom orders, while simpler 7-8 inch cake-like designs could be sold daily. But they would definitely need to constantly introduce new designs to keep things fresh and exciting, ideally leaving customers dazzled by the variety.

Next were snacks. He knew quite a lot of Western pastries, but there were no electric mixers here, so they weren’t very suitable to mass produce. He only planned to make one kind of old-fashioned sponge cake. Then the person he’ll hire could beat the eggs and push the cart to go sell vegetable pancakes at the docks, killing two birds with one stone.

For snacks, he would sell sweet ones like crispy rice candy and dried sweet potatoes, and salty ones like meat floss cake, crispy rice crackers and mixed flavored peanuts.

Qiao Yuan decided to temporarily settle on these, and adjust them later according to the actual situation.

“Then you have to make me a baking pan for making egg cakes. For the size, go back to the shop and measure the size of the oven. And then you have to make a manual egg beater.” Qiao Yuan roughly sketched these two items for Yu Dameng.

Yu Da Meng always understood things about ironware very quickly, so Qiao Yuan didn’t need to explain much.

The candlelight flickered, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, while Yu Dameng continued to concentrate on practicing the flower buns.

Qiao Yuan rested his chin on his hand and looked at him, his heart becoming softer and softer. Suddenly, he said, “What do you think of naming my shop ‘Yu Qiao Ji1鱼乔记 (yú qiáo jì) – Yu from Yu Dameng, Qiao from Qiao Yuan, Ji suggests that the shop is a place where people can come to share their stories and memories.’?”

Yu Dameng’s hand that was kneading the flower-shaped bread suddenly stopped, and his face gradually turned red.

Qiao Yuan swiftly cleared away the small table on the bed, then snatched the dough from Yu Dameng’s hands. He pushed him down and acted the rogue, “It’s late, we need to do some things that only the two of us know about.”

…..

The next day, Qiao Yuan proposed buying dates from the village.

Old Man Yu and Lin Cuifen enthusiastically agreed, “It’s not easy for people in our village to make a living from farming. If there is another source of income, whether it’s a lot or a little, it will make people happy and it’s better to save some money for the New Year.”

Qiao Yuan said, “When the shop opens, we will need a lot of dried dates. For now, we will only buy a hundred jin.”

The villages around Xianhe all had date trees in nearly every household, and many lined the roadsides too. Dates were sweet. They were either kept for offerings during ancestral worship for the family, or carried to the county town to sell for money. But the downside was, with so many growing dates in this area, very few households in Xianhe could sell them in the town for any money.

Yu Shanwu heard it on the side and ran over to Qiao Yuan, saying, “Brother Yuan, Brother Yuan, can we buy from An Ge’er’s family?”

Qiao Yuan didn’t know who this An Ge’er was, so Lin Cuifen explained it to him, “An Ge’er’s father served his corvee duty together with Dameng that year, though he was just a laborer. I heard he died while building a bridge. His few uncles don’t care for him at all. Now he only relies on his mother to get by with her washing clothes and sewing for other people. Those two are so pitiful.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yuan inevitably worried for Yu Dameng in retrospect. He immediately decided they would buy from An Ge’er’s family.

Yu Shanwu happily ran out of the door like crazy to tell An Ge’er the good news.

When An Ge’er’s mother heard, she cried. What use were relatives? Uncles as cold-hearted as hers were worse than useless. It was better to have none. On the other hand, the completely unrelated villagers could think of them.

She wiped her tears and said, “You can just take however many you think is fair”

Qiao Yuan washed two dates and ate one himself, then stuffed another into Yu Dameng’s mouth, commenting, “These dates are so sweet.”

And they were also very big. He could tell that she had specially picked them out. Qiao Yuan gave her some more, and bought them at two wen per jin. Before leaving, he also said to her, “Sister-in-law, my shop also needs some vegetables on a regular basis. You can plant more, and bring them to my house early in the morning. We will take them directly to the county.”

An Ge’er’s mother nodded her head happily. This two hundred wen was enough for her and An Ge’er to live well for a while.

After leaving An Ge’er’s home, Qiao Yuan sighed deeply, “Such is life.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Dameng hesitated then asked, “Did you…did you used to live like this before?”

“Before?” As Qiao Yuan thought back, he felt that everything was all a blur. His parents didn’t love him, his relatives looked down on him, the days of being eyed coldly seemed like they were from another lifetime already.

Life now was great. He didn’t want to recall the past anymore, so he grabbed Yu Dameng’s hand and deliberately acted difficult, “Why do you keep bringing up the past? Are you trying to upset me on purpose?”

Yu Dameng panicked, his accent coming out again, “I…I just wanted to know…”

He wisely shut up, but he had no idea how to deal with the situation of making his little husband angry.

Unexpectedly, the next second his little husband dove into his arms, whimpering, “I used to have a really tough time.”

The little husband looked up at him with bright, shining eyes still brimming with laughter. “So, you have to pamper me well now.”

Yu Dameng’s mind was already unable to think. He unconsciously responded in a low voice, “Mm, I’ll…I’ll make up for everything.”

“Big dummy.” Qiao Yuan snorted twice, then quietly leaned against Yu Dameng’s chest, feeling there was no better moment than now.

After a moment of tenderness, the two of them resumed discussing business. “We still need some baskets in the shop. I plan to buy some bamboo ones directly from Aunt Wu’s house. Also, I want to ask her to send some meat and fish to grandma every few days to supplement her diet.”

In his original body’s past, he had lived next door to the Wu family so he was quite familiar with them. This family had many members and were skilled at weaving baskets. Moreover, Wu Erping and Wu Sanping had a good relationship with Yu Dameng and often helped him out. Naturally, they would prioritize giving work to those who had helped them in the past.

As for Qiao Wangshi, he had truly been too busy handling business matters lately. Coupled with Xu Xiuhua being disgusting, Qiao Yuan hadn’t gone to see her recently. On regular days he just had the twins run errands to deliver lots of nice things over. Now that he had more money on hand, he wanted to take better care of Qiao Wangshi.

Yu Dameng said, “I’ll listen to you.”

He would always let Yuan Ge’er make decisions for his family.

The two of them put the dates back home and went to Wu’s house again. Aunt Wu was overjoyed when she heard their intention. She said confidently, “Yuan Ge’er, just tell me what style you want, and I can make it for you!”

Qiao Yuan briefly described the shape of the baskets he wanted. Aunt Wu listened carefully, then decided, “I’ll weave one of each first, then take them to your home for you to see if you’re satisfied or not. If not, I’ll modify them. If you’re satisfied, I’ll weave according to that.”

“Aunt is as thoughtful as expected,” Qiao Yuan complimented. Then he said, “Actually I have another request to ask of aunt today.”

Aunt Wu laughed, “Yuan Ge’er, no need to be so polite with aunt. I watched you grow up too. Just say what you need.”

Qiao Yuan said, “I want to ask aunt to help me send some meat and fish to my grandma. Once every three days is fine. On weekdays, just stew more bone soup for her. I’ll pay for the food and the meat. Besides, I’ll give aunt fifty wen a month for labor.”

Aunt Wu was shocked when she heard this. She could make fifty wen a month just by cooking, and it wouldn’t delay her work. She waved her hands repeatedly, “This can’t be done, Yuan Ge’er. Fifty wen is too much.”

Qiao Yuan shook his head, “It’s not much. Oil and salt cost money too. And I’ll have to trouble aunt to make sure granny finishes eating every time. I’m afraid she won’t bear to keep it all for herself…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but Aunt Wu understood. If it were her, she would vomit at the thought of her filial piety ending up in someone else’s stomach, especially a family like Xu Xiuhua’s. She immediately said, “Yuan Ge’er, don’t worry. Leave this to me. I’ll do it well for you and make sure your grandma eats well every meal.”

She had a difficult childbirth when she gave birth to her eldest son years ago and it was Qiao Wangshi who helped her. She always remembered it in her heart, and she took care of her whenever she could. Besides, she could go to Xu Xiuhua’s house every day to annoy her. Why not? Anyway, Xu Xiuhua wouldn’t dare to kick her out. She was going on Qiao Yuan’s behalf to fulfill his filial duties. If Xu Xiuhua dared to stop her, she could forget about her reputation!

With this matter settled, Qiao Yuan also felt relieved, hoping that the Qiao Wangshi could live out her remaining years in peace.

When the two of them came out of Wu’s house, they passed through a small alley. Qiao Yuan happened to see the girl in the pink clothes, Ding Yanhe, from last time. Her eyes still carried a hint of tenderness and shyness when she looked at Yu Dameng.

Qiao Yuan rubbed his chin and suddenly said to Yu Dameng, “My shoes are dirty.”

Yu Dameng looked down and quickly squatted down to dust off the dirt on his shoes.

Qiao Yuan glanced at Ding Yanhe, and she seemed to have just realized what was happening. She panicked and ran away while holding her skirt.

He hoped she could let go. Why hang herself on one tree, especially when the tree only belongs to him2“一棵树上吊死” (yī kē shù shàng diào sǐ) is a metaphorical expression that means to be fixated on one thing and unable to move on. It literally translates to “hang oneself on one tree.”?

Tonight we had dinner at our old house again, and after the meal, as usual, the whole family practiced making flower buns.

They had dinner at the old house again today. After the meal, the family practiced making flower buns as usual.

After these days of diligent practice, Yu Dameng and Yu Shanwu could now shape them properly.

Lin Cuifen had finished making the raincoat for them. Qiao Yuan had only seen it in TV dramas before, so he shouted to try it on. Lin Cuifen helped him tie the straps and even gave him a bamboo hat to wear, teasing him, “Alright, are you satisfied now?”

Qiao Yuan chuckled and felt very cool. If he had a sword around his waist, he would be a mysterious and chivalrous swordsman in the martial arts world.

Yu Shanwu asked, “What’s a chivalrous swordsman?”

Qiao Yuan leaned over to Lin Cuifen and complained, “Mom, let’s send Xiao Wu back to school for some re-education.” He looked at Yu Shanwen and then said, “Shanwen3善 means “kindness, goodness, benevolence”, 文 means “literature, culture, writings”, So together, 善文 connotes someone who is kind/virtuous and literary/cultured. should go too, otherwise he would disgrace his name.”

Yu Shanwen quickly said, “I know what chivalrous swordsman means!”

Yu Shanwu was shocked!

Lin Cuifen got a headache just thinking about sending the bear twins to school. “It’s just a waste of money sending them there! After a year, they still don’t know as many characters as I do!”

Qiao Yuan thought for a moment and said seriously, “I think Xiao Si and Xiao Wu are interested in things like bows, crossbows, and slingshots. Why not find a martial arts master to learn from?”

“If we get to learn under a martial arts master, we’ll definitely study hard!” The twins eagerly agreed in unison.

Old Man Yu and Lin Cuifen were somewhat moved. Qiao Yuan went on, “They’re still young, it’s no good to just run wild at home like this. Why not first learn some skills in case they come in useful in the future?”

Yu Dameng said, “What Yuan Ge’er said makes sense. Tomorrow I will inquire about the martial arts master in the county town.”

As he spoke, he straightened out the slightly crooked raincoat for Qiao Yuan. Qiao Yuan felt sweet in his heart and smiled at him.

Old Man Yu and Lin Cuifen thought about it and agreed since it seemed a way out.

Of course, when Yu Shanwen and Yu Shanwu got to the martial arts master’s and found out they still had to read and write, it’d be too late for regrets!

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you want to show your support, you can buy me a coffee. It would make my day! For every five coffees I get, I will release a bonus chapter.