Chapter 41: Listening to Mother’s Advice
“What are you thinking?” Bai Zhuye nudged him with her elbow.
Indeed.
Bai Midou sighed inwardly with some regret, lowered his head, and sighed repeatedly in his heart.
Pork is so expensive, costing five or six wen per jin. It’s not easy to earn money at home. Being able to eat once a month is already a blessing. Where would one dare to think of eating like this every day?
“In the future, we really can’t afford to eat such mixed sauce noodles every day.”
Su Mulan watched the movements of the twins and chuckled, “There’s so little meat sauce, the taste isn’t good, and it’s mixed noodles. Nothing about it is good. If you’re hoping for something, it should be for a hearty, smooth mixed sauce white noodle dish with plenty of meat and thick sauce.”
Bai Midou scratched his ear.
He wasn’t opposed to eating such mixed sauce noodles either, but a mixed sauce noodle dish with little meat was already quite rare. Where would he dare to hope for another dish with plenty of meat?
Su Mulan saw through his thoughts, rolled up her sleeves, and started clearing the bowls and chopsticks on the table. “Mother will work hard to earn money for you all. From now on, I guarantee you’ll get tired of eating mixed sauce white noodles.”
“Yes, we’ll listen to mother and eat mixed sauce noodles from now on,” Bai Shuiliu immediately responded.
She couldn’t explain why, but ever since they started selling dried sweet potatoes in town today, she had a strong feeling that Su Mulan could lead them to a better life.
“Yes, Big Sister is right. We’ll listen to mother and follow her lead,” Bai Lixia and the others also agreed.
This agreement seemed to come more sincerely from the heart than their compliance before dinner.
It appeared that Su Mulan’s authority within this small group was gradually being established, which would make many things easier in the future.
Su Mulan pursed her lips. “If you’re willing to trust me, that’s all I need.”
“Hurry up and tidy up here. It’ll be a bit hard this noon. Besides Shuiliu, the three of you shouldn’t take a break either. Steam the sweet potatoes later, and let’s quickly dry some more sweet potato slices so we can sell them at the market in a couple of days without delay.”
Drying sweet potato slices could fetch money in town, and with that money, they could buy meat and enjoy delicious mixed sauce noodles. So, drying sweet potato slices was equivalent to having mixed sauce noodles.
In the past, they never took a break at noon and even worked in the fields under the scorching sun. Now, helping out at home to make sweet potato slices didn’t seem hard at all.
The three little radishes nodded eagerly and pitched in to tidy up the bowls, chopsticks, and table. They took them to wash, then started bringing sweet potatoes from inside the house, cleaning the skins, steaming them, peeling them, and slicing them for drying.
Bai Lixia was in charge of making the fire, Su Mulan sliced the sweet potatoes, Bai Zhuye peeled them, and Bai Midou was responsible for drying.
Bai Shuiliu refused to rest inside the house. Su Mulan couldn’t persuade her, so she allowed her to sit and help peel the sweet potatoes.
The family of five began bustling around in the midday heat like this.
With the experience from drying sweet potato slices last time, they found it much easier this time around, and their efficiency greatly improved.
By the time the sun had slightly shifted westward, the three large pots of dried sweet potato slices were all laid out in the courtyard.
Su Mulan wiped the sweat from her forehead, took a palm-leaf fan, and vigorously fanned herself under the jujube tree in the yard, letting the sweat drip down.
After resting for a short while and realizing it wasn’t early anymore, Su Mulan left Bai Zhuye at home to watch over the dried sweet potato slices and Bai Shuiliu. She took Bai Lixia and Bai Midou to continue clearing the piece of wasteland they had their eyes on.