Translator: Flying Lines

  “This is for you, Baoshan.” After all the other men had been served, Ye Xiaoxian gave Xiao Baoshan a bowl of cold jelly as well.

  “Thank you,” said Xiao Baoshan politely.

  Some asked Xiaobaoshan, “Baoshan, who are these two? Mother and young sister?”


  And the other teased him, “She doesn’t look like his sister. Is this Baoshan’s young bride?”


  “Such a sweet bride.”


  “.……”


  Xiao Baoshan didn’t reply and others just took it as “yes”.

  “Baoshen, when did you get married? Why didn’t you invite us to your wedding ceremony?”


  “Daliang village is not that far. You just need to give us a shout and we’ll surly go and check,” said others.

  Xiao Baoshan, however, said seriously, “Everyone, hurry up and drink your cold jelly. We still have work to do!”


  Seeing Xiao Baoshan being serious, they stopped joking and handed the empty bowls to Li Hongmei and Ye Xiaoxian after they finished.

  Surprisingly, all of them paid for it politely and didn’t forget to praise the cold jelly, saying that they would come the next day to buy it again.

  In the afternoon, the street was packed and their business went better again. They sold all the cold jelly before the sun set.

  Li Hongmei was so excited and she had all the money in a big bag held in her hand, making a pleasant clanking noise.

  “Little Ye, your business idea is brilliant. If our business goes smoothly like this everyday, we’ll be better-off in the near future, won’t we?”


  Ye Xiaoxian smiled. “Upon my word, we’ll do much better day by day. Ma, let’s buy some food first. Aren’t we in short of rice already? Let’s buy thirty jin of rice and some dried fish as well so we can have a nice dinner.”


  “Yeah!” Li Hongmei consented right away, “Baozhu and Baofeng will be awfully happy when we go back. They crave for dried fish the most.”


  “Let’s hurry up then, and our brown sugar is running out as well. We have to buy more and we’ll make two more buckets of cold jelly tomorrow.” Ye Xiaoxian smiled……

  “Ma, sister-in-law, you are back? Is it that you didn’t sell any cold jelly?”


  Baozhu had been stayed at the gate of their house for an hour. Seeing that they came home with heavy buckets, Baozhu thought that the cold jelly didn’t get sold.

  Li Hongmei shushed her and whispered, “Go inside first.”


  On the other side of the brick and tile house, Wang Mudan saw that they had come back with heavy buckets. Wang Mudan couldn’t help spitting on the ground. “Bah! Those things daydream all day and want to do business to make a fortune. Dream the hell on! Sooner or later, they will starve to death. Don’t ask to join us for dinner again by then. Our family won’t support these idle people! ”


  Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei carried the bucket inside of the house, and then lifted the wooden board lid to let Baozhu and Baofeng see what was inside.

  When Baozhu and Baofeng saw the stuff inside, their jaws were nearly popping out.

  “Ma, this is……rice!” Baozhu covered her mouth to control herself not to cry. Thirty jin of rice was sufficient for their family to eat for a month.

  Baofeng lowered his voice as well. “And dried fish!”


  “And brown sugar……and peanut oil!” asked baozhu, “So, you’ve sold out all the cold jelly?”


  “How would we buy dried fish if we didn’t sell out the cold jelly?” Li Hongmei smiled and then she asked Baozhu to make a fire and get ready to cook dinner.

  Li Hongmei’s original intention was to let Baozhu and Baofeng cook. After all, she and Ye Xiaoxian had been busy in the town for a day, and they were nearly exhausted just by taking the burden back.

  But Ye Xiaoxian said, “It’s okay that Baozhu just make a fire and cook the rice. I’ll cook the dishes. Ma, go and take a rest.”


  “Xiaoxian, don’t you want to take a rest for a while?”


  “I’m not tired. Besides, I’m good at cooking. I’m sure I can make the dried fish delicious.” Ye Xiaoxian said with a smile, and then went back to work.