Chapter 61: Chapter 061: Seeing Hope
Translator: 549690339
Zhuang Yonghe quickly agreed, saying that the first batch of thirty duck eggs could be delivered by evening.
Once the deal was made, Zhuang Qingning headed home to prepare for lunch.
Mrs. He intended to stay for lunch, but her homemade sweet potato noodles, accompanied only by dried sesame leaves from before, weren’t exactly a feast, so she had to drop the idea.
Before leaving, she handed Zhuang Qingning a bunch of garlic sprouts.
Zhuang Qingning had bought pork belly for lunch, planning to cook twice-cooked pork belly. Now that she had garlic sprouts, it was perfect to make a side dish. After boiling the pork belly, she took it out, sliced it, and stir-fried it.
Steamed cornbread, twice-cooked pork belly with garlic sprouts, sauteed shredded potato, and a vegetable soup.
By evening, when the sisters woke up, Zhuang Qingning started cooking dinner while Zhuang Qingsui hurried to water the vegetable plots in the courtyard before sunset.
The diverse variety of vegetables was growing robustly. The vine vegetables like cucumber, wax gourd, and pumpkin have developed strong vines, climbing up the bamboo poles or fences around their courtyards.
The courtyard’s garlic sprouts, chives, tomatoes, green peppers, and so on, were growing well with plump, bright green leaves, glistening under the afterglow of the setting sun.
“The vegetables are growing really well.” Zhuang Qingsui commented while watering the plants.
After listening to Zhuang Qingning’s constant chatter about how fertile the soil in the courtyard was, Zhuang Qingsui eventually came to believe that it was the rich soil that made the vegetables thrive so well, and had no more doubts about it.
Zhuang Qingning, seeing Zhuang Qingsui’s doubts had disappeared, felt much relieved. She laughed and said, “Your diligent care is what made this all possible.”
“By the way, let’s cut some chives and stir-fry them with egg.”
“All right.” Zhuang Qingsui agreed cheerfully.
The chives in their yard were transplanted from Mrs. He’s field. In just a few days, tender green buds had sprouted from the roots, making it the perfect time to enjoy fresh chives, which would not taste too tough.
Once the sisters finished cooking, Zhuang Yonghe paid them a visit.
To deliver the collected beans and duck eggs.
“Thank you, Uncle He for your hard work.” Zhuang Qingning hurriedly took the items.
“Well, isn’t that what I should do?” Zhuang Yonghe wiped the sweat off his brow after hurriedly walking.
Indeed, since Zhuang Qingning called him uncle, she was his niece, and she never let him work for nothing. Therefore, in every sense, Zhuang Yonghe felt he should do his part and more.
“The beans are heavy, I’ll take them directly to the tofu shop for you, and save you from moving them back and forth.” Zhuang Yonghe left the duck eggs behind, shouldered the beans, and headed off to the tofu shop, ignoring Zhuang Qingning’s offer for him to stay for dinner.
Once the duck eggs were delivered, Zhuang Qingning didn’t waste any more time. After quickly finishing their meal, she pickled the duck eggs and sealed them in jars.
When the time was right, she and Zhuang Qingsui went to the tofu shop to make tofu.
The tofu business was booming day by day.
As the clientele became more and more stable, many restaurants, bun shops, chive dumpling stands in the town, and even cooks who prepared banquet dishes, purchased tofu from Zhuang Qingning. Zhuang Yonghe’s business on his side was also very good. Many people had gradually started to buy tofu from them directly.
Even rainy days seemed to have minimal impact on Zhuang Qingning’s business now.
Zhuang Qingning had gradually increased the production of tofu, including the supply to Zhuang Yonghe, which had been increased from the original forty jin to sixty jin.
Zhuang Yonghe and Mrs. He grinned from ear to ear because of this.
Sixty jin of tofu a day could earn them about ten wen. In addition to Zhuang Mingliang’s wages, Zhuang Yonghe’s wages for collecting beans and duck eggs, they could earn more than half a tael of silver in a month, that is, six or seven taels of silver in a year.
For a family, the total expenditure on food, clothing, and the medical expenses for Xiaosi amounted to no more than three or four taels of silver in a year. This meant they could live more comfortably in the future and even save some money.
If this could go on and on, they might gradually be able to save enough money for the children’s future housing and marriage costs.
Zhuang Yonghe and Mrs. He felt that they had seen the hope of life.
Even the meals of the family had improved somewhat in recent days.
In the past, their table was full of seasonal vegetables from the field, with pickled vegetables, and they ate steamed cornbread made of sweet potato or cornmeal as much as possible. But lately, they could occasionally enjoy cornmeal pancakes, and they could even stir fry eggs for the family to boost morale.
Today, in particular, they made stir-fried chives with eggs at home, and Zhuang Minghao couldn’t help but remark, “Mother really cares for us. She knows we’ve been busy lately and is letting us replenish our strength.”
“Lately, your elder brother has been working at the tofu shop, your father has to sell tofu early in the morning while also helping to collect beans and duck eggs, and can’t take care of the work in the field or at home. You two have worked hard, ploughing the fields and helping me out.” Mrs. He said with a smile.
“Isn’t this what we should do?” Zhuang Minghao scratched his ear bashfully at the praise, “We’re already grown-ups.”
“That’s right.” The younger two chimed in.
Their children were thoughtful and understanding, which made Mrs. He squinted with joy.
Zhuang Yonghe cleared his throat and said, “Our family has always lived on a tight budget. Your mother and I knew you were working hard, but we just couldn’t afford anything better. We wanted to give you better food, but we just couldn’t. Now we can afford such treats; we owe it to Mingliang, who can work at the tofu shop, and to the success of my tofu business.”
“All in all, if our family is living better now, it’s mostly thanks to Miss Ning. In the future, you should also be more diligent and help her out with her work.”
“Don’t worry, Dad, we understand.” Zhuang Mingliang replied confidently.
Lately, apart from grinding tofu at the tofu shop, during his free time, he had voluntarily helped Zhuang Qingning to keep the water tank at home filled. This saved Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui from having to do this laborious task.
“And also…”
Zhuang Yonghe paused, his tone growing solemn, “You must also remember one thing: Miss Ning has always taken special care of our family, showing great trust in us. She probably does so because when her family had just set up a new household, your mother sent over some cornmeal. She has been thinking of us ever since.”
“So, in the future, you must remember one thing: always be kind to other people. When you can afford to help others, try to help as much as you can. Doing more good deeds, more acts of kindness will always bring benefits in the end..”
