Translator: Flying Lines

  Xiao Baoshan went to buy a millstone and Ye Xiaoxian went to buy soy beans. She began grinding the soy beans once she got home.

  Li Hongmei thought she was going to make tofu but it turned out that Ye Xiaoxian made half of bucket of douhua. After the douhua was ready to eat Ye Xiaoxian served some melted brown sugar together and let Li Hongmei and others taste it.

  “Ah, little Ye, this douhua……it tastes better than any other that I’ve eaten before. How come you are so skillful? You actually can do everything.” Li Hongmei was joyfully surprised.

  Xiao Baoshan had a few spoonfuls and also praised Ye Xiaoxian. “Soft and silky, so delicious.”


  Xiao Baozhu and Xiao Baofeng could not even stop eating and continued to eat two or three bowls.

  “Little Ye, a lot of our customers were snatched by them, so do you plan to sell douhua instead and stop selling cold jelly?”


  Ye Xiaoxian smiled. “Of course not. We are selling both douhua and cold jelly. I’ll teach anyone who tries to undercut our business a lesson!”
……

  The next day, in town.

  Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei took a jug of douhua and a bucket of cold jelly to town and opened up their stand.

  Wong Zhu and Lan also arrived a short time later. Although Wong Zhu and Lan had sold a lot of cold jelly yesterday, they sold them one bowl for one coin and two for one, so they had made no profit. When they calculated the money they had made it was not even enough to cover the sugary water. They thought that Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei would not show up today but they had actually already come. What was more, Ye Xiaoxian’s cold jelly was free today!

  Li Hongmei began touting the moment they opened up. “Tasty douhua, hot and spicy douhua! Two coins for one bowl of douhua. Buy one bowl of douhua and get a bowl of cold jelly for free!”


  “Cold jelly is free! Cold jelly is free! Buy one bowl of douhua, get one bowl of free cold jelly.”


  “Chubby manager, this is our new produce, douhua. I guarantee that once you taste it you won’t stop eating. Buying one bowl is too cheap to be cheated so why don’t you have a try.”


  “.……”


  Chubby manager was the leader of all the foodies in this street. As long as he found something tasty others nearby would think it was worth giving it a try.

  Seeing the soft and silky douhua made by Ye Xiaoxian, chubby manager could not resist and came over to buy one bowl, and Ye Xiaoxian served another bowl of cold jelly to go with it right away. Chubby manager ate the douhua first.

  There were peddlers passing by who sold douhua from time to time and chubby manager had tried several, but it was the first time that he had tried such a silky and smooth one. He could not help but gave Ye Xiaoxian a thumbs up, then stroked his protruding belly and left satisfied.

  Meanwhile, others nearby saw chubby manager eating with great satisfaction so they also followed suit and bought one bowl each. Besides, buying one bowl of douhua got one bowl of free cold jelly. what a great deal……

  Wong Zhu and Lan opposite them witnessed that Ye Xiaoxian’s business had done well again while they had only sold ten or so bowls of cold jelly at the price of one coin per bowl, two for one.

  Lan was enraged again. She wanted to fight them but she was afraid so she could only let out her anger on Wong Zhu. “Look at them, look at them. They have so many tricks. No wonder they’ve been able to sell cold jelly for such a long time in town. Wong Zhu, you can’t possibly beat them.”


  Wong Zhu said, “They have only added some douhua, haven’t they? I’ll make it as well tomorrow!”


  “You don’t even know how to grind tofu and you dare to think about making douhua? Even if you make it, can yours compete to theirs? Don’t you hear what they say about their douhua? Everyone says it’s so tasty.”


  Wong Zhu said, “Then I’ll let my sister have a close look at how they make douhua and maybe I can make some as tasty as theirs.”


  “Forget it. That little slut seem to be very good with her hands. You learn how to make douhua tomorrow and they’d sell rice noodles instead. Can you beat her? Good-for-nothing, you’re bound only to dig out food from the ground!”


  “What is wrong with digging out food from the ground?” Wong Zhu found working in the field quite promising.

  “You dare to retort? I’m leaving. I can’t stand such insults anymore, but you’re staying. Either you sell the cold jelly or give it away for free, you can’t take it back home. I shouldn’t have gone out with you in the first place. Why did I not just sew cloth soles for shoes peacefully back home? I could have made some money out of that!” Lan went home miserable.

  Wong Zhu stayed but he was in very low spirits. Li Hongmei in contrast opposite him was energetic and cheerful while he bowed his head in sorrow. He at last had to sell five bowls for one coin and then managed to sell some. However, it was barely enough for covering the money he paid for the sugar.

  Wong Zhu was really depressed today and he swore that from tomorrow onwards he would never come to town again, ever. Even if he should starve to death he would not come to town to do business at all……

  Ye Xiaoxian continued to sell douhua. Although Wong Zhu did not return anymore she did not raise the price back but continued to sell one bowl of douhua with free a bowl of cold jelly.

  It was nearly autumn anyhow and as it got colder, there would not be many customers coming for douhua.

  Other than selling douhua and cold jelly she also went to cook for Liu Qianqian everyday.

  Liu Qianqian suffered from anorexia in the beginning but now she had dishes cooked by Ye Xiaoxian every single day and always ate them happily, together with snacks and cakes. She had already gained back her weight and was no longer the fragile young lady from before……

  Even if Ye Xiaoxian did not cook for her, Liu Qianqian would also eat normally but she preferred Ye Xiaoxian’s cooking.

  On this day, as Ye Xiaoxian walked out from Lord Liu’s, passing by the town’s main street, she spotted a restaurant that was to let. The restaurant was in a good location and there were many people around this street. In this instance, if a restaurant did not have much business there were only two reasons: the first was that their food were not tasty and the second, that their manager was badly in need of money.

  Ye Xiaoxian went in and saw that there were seven or eight tables inside but only two tables were occupied and all of the customers were from out-of-town.

  ‘So sluggish, it must be that their food is bad.’


  “Miss, are you here to have some food?” A middle-aged man came to serve her.

  “Well, I saw a ‘to let’ notice outside, so I came here to ask if this restaurant is up for rent?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.

  The middle-aged man’s eyes were glittered. “That’s right. It is. This restaurant is in a good location and we have so many customers. If I weren’t so badly in need of money, I would never give it up.”


  ‘Nonsense, there are so few customers!’


  Ye Xiaoxian did not expose his lies but simply asked, “So how much is it?”


  The middle-aged man said, “Ten taels of silver.”


  “Ten taels? That much?” Ye Xiaoxian was taken aback.

  “Miss, you can see yourself. Our tables and chairs are all brand new and look at the street outside, so many people are out there. Our location is top notch, so ten taels is worth it. We’ve had several people inquiring in the morning so you have to be quick if you really want it, or I’ll have to give it to others.”


  The middle-aged man sized up Ye Xiaoxian while he was talking. He saw that Ye Xiaoxian wore very plain clothes so he suspected that she may have just felt bored and came in to ask randomly, so his attitude became colder.

  Ye Xiaoxian then said, “I don’t have the final say. I have to ask my husband back home.”


  “Fine, hurry back and ask him.” The middle-aged man was not bothered about dealing with Ye Xiaoxian and thought she must not have the money to rent it.

  Ye Xiaoxian was thinking while she left the store, ‘No wonder the business is so sluggish. The owner was such a snob, so how can his business go well?’