Chapter 64: Chapter 62: If He Dares, So Do I

Yang Liying nodded, took the tofu-making frame to the backyard, drew water into the stone basin, and placed the frame inside to soak.

“Lin Lan, I’m going to make tofu and tofu pudding. What’s a good price to sell them for per pound?”

“Go to the market and see how much the state food store sells tofu pudding for per pound. We don’t require ration tickets, so we should sell ours for a bit more.”

Yang Liying smiled. “With a ticket, tofu pudding is five cents, and tofu is seven cents.”

Lin Lan considered that they had neither plastic bags nor food containers back then. ’It’s not convenient to bring a scale to the Eucalyptus Forest,’ she thought. “I’ve seen the vegetable sellers bundle their produce and sell it by the bunch.

Let’s do this: sell the tofu pudding for eight cents a pound. Use a slightly larger bowl, weigh it once it’s full—pack it a little over a pound per bowl and sell it for ten cents a bowl. For the tofu, cut it into blocks, weigh them, and sell them for ten cents a piece.”

Yang Liying nodded repeatedly after hearing the plan. “That’s a great idea. I’ll go home, soak the soybeans, and come back this afternoon to grind them.”

Lin Lan thought for a moment before reminding her, “Okay, you should start making it around two o’clock. You’ll need to head to the Eucalyptus Forest by three-thirty.”

“Right! I’ll go back and soak the soybeans in hot water. They should have expanded by this afternoon.” Yang Liying gathered the vegetables and set them on the small square table. “I need to hurry back and get those beans soaking.”

Lin Lan nodded. “Alright. I have to go to work now, too.” She had been delayed this morning and still hadn’t cut enough fodder for the day.

The two sisters-in-law left the house and went their separate ways.

Yang Liying hurried home. She sat down and tried to recall the measurements her father used to use when he made tofu. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a bamboo tube, and went to the main hall. From a large wicker basket, she scooped out four pounds of soybeans and soaked them in hot water.

She then went out to the supply and marketing co-op to buy a pound of gypsum. On the way, she stopped by Yang Lirong’s house in the second production team to relay Lin Lan’s message.

Seeing Yang Lirong purse her lips and mutter in dissatisfaction, she couldn’t be bothered to say more and headed home with her gypsum.

Zhao Dehai returned from their private plot with a hoe in hand. Seeing the basin of soaking soybeans, he grinned. “Planning to make some tofu pudding? I think the kind made with fresh soybeans tastes better.”

Yang Liying shot him a look. “All you think about all day is eating!”

“Hah!” Zhao Dehai said with a cheeky grin. “Life’s all about food and clothes. If we’re not living to eat, what’s the point?”

Yang Liying laughed and pinched the soft flesh on his waist. “You were born in the year of the rat, so of course you’re a glutton.”

“Ow, ow!” Zhao Dehai grabbed Yang Liying’s hand. “I have hands too, you know. Don’t think I can’t fight back!”

Yang Liying gave him an annoyed but fond look. “Oh, stop pretending! I didn’t even pinch you that hard.”

Zhao Dehai put on a pained expression. “You little tiger, you’re always pinching my waist. If you break it, you’ll be the one out of luck!”

Yang Liying spat playfully in his direction. “Pah! You’re shameless!”

“Sigh!” Zhao Dehai waggled his eyebrows at her and began to sing in a strange, exaggerated tone, “Other men’s wives are like wives, but my wife is like the King of Hell…”

Yang Liying turned her head and rolled her eyes. “Go on, keep singing! The next line is the best part!” With that, she walked towards the kitchen.

“Wait for me, my Queen of Hell!” Zhao Dehai followed her with a mischievous grin.

Yang Liying placed the gypsum in the cupboard, then pulled Zhao Dehai down to sit at the small square table. “Lin Lan is really running a small business in the Eucalyptus Forest. She’s selling those spiced fava beans and bean cakes we ate!”

Zhao Dehai could hardly believe his ears. He stared at her in shock. “Lin Lan is that bold?”

Yang Liying nodded. “A few days ago, I overheard Old Xu and his wife next door muttering that they’d seen Lin Lan in the Eucalyptus Forest. I just thought her mom had given her some money and she’d gone there to buy snacks again.”

Zhao Dehai pursed his lips. “I bet Xu Ergou was afraid we’d reveal that they’re running their own little business at the cave entrance, so he let you overhear on purpose.”

“Who has the energy to meddle in his business!” Yang Liying said, then looked at him smugly. “Lin Lan saw the situation at the Eucalyptus Forest and gave me an idea. She said I should make and sell tofu and tofu pudding…”

Zhao Dehai looked at her worriedly. “Aren’t you afraid of getting caught and punished for capitalist speculation?”

He remembered those people in the past who were dragged to the brigade headquarters during every festival. They’d be forced to stand on a stage with heavy wooden placards hanging from their necks, heads bowed, while people threw dirt clods and rocks at them. The memory still made him shudder.

Yang Liying shot him a sidelong glance. “The old saying goes, ’Fortune favors the bold, while the timid starve.’ Aren’t you envious of Xu Ergou’s family? They’re eating meat while we can’t even get a taste of the broth! Look at what his two daughters wear. In our family, Little Li just wears Little Yun’s hand-me-downs…”

As Yang Liying spoke, her throat tightened, and her eyes reddened.

Zhao Dehai looked at her tear-rimmed eyes and thought about the aromas of twice-cooked pork, braised pork, and fish that drifted from next door every few days. Xu Ergou even wore a watch now—a Shanghai brand, he’d heard.

His own family had only had a real feast when Lin Lan brought over those pork intestines the other day. A bitter feeling rose in his heart.

He thought about how he and Xu Ergou had grown up together and split from their family households in the same year. Back then, Xu Ergou’s family was worse off than his. But now… ’If Xu Ergou dares to do it, then I, Zhao Dehai, dare to do it too!’

He looked up at Yang Liying. “You stay home and I’ll go. If anything… happens, you stay here and take good care of our two little girls.”

A warmth spread through Yang Liying’s heart. She gave him a light, fond smack. “You can just help me grind the beans. I already asked Lin Lan, and she said they’re not cracking down so hard right now. Besides, Lin Lan is taking me. It would be inconvenient for you to go.”

“That’s true!” Zhao Dehai reached out and took Yang Liying’s hand. “Liying, let’s give it a try. I’m not asking to earn much. If we can make a few dimes or a yuan a day, I’ll be satisfied.”

“A yuan a day isn’t a small amount! Ding Bang only makes a little over forty a month, even with his subsidy.” Yang Liying looked at him, her eyes full of smiles. “Go reinforce the carrying basket and add a divider. I’ll find some homespun cloth to sew a bag for filtering the dregs and wrapping the tofu.”

She felt that while Zhao Dehai wasn’t a man of great means, he was hardworking, diligent, and good to her and the children. In their dozen or so years of marriage, they had never once raised a hand to each other. Xu Ergou, on the other hand, might be capable, but he was also known for viciously beating his wife.

“Okay!” Zhao Dehai agreed, grabbing a machete and heading out to cut some bamboo.

Yang Liying found a piece of homespun cloth in a storage chest. It had been woven from hemp thread by her older sister. It looked coarse, but it wasn’t rough to the touch at all. ’It’s good to give this a try,’ she thought. ’If we can really make money, I can ask my sister to make some dried tofu and tofu puffs to sell, too. She could earn some pocket money.’

****

Lin Lan deliberately took her carrying pole to the foot of the mountain. Braving the hot sun, she managed to cut her daily quota of fodder in less than an hour. She saw that water celery was growing luxuriantly along the ditch, so she straddled it and cut a large amount, tossing it onto the bank.

Walking further, she discovered that zongzi leaves grew all over the base of the back mountain and along the edge of the bamboo forest. ’The Dragon Boat Festival is coming,’ she thought. ’I should cut some to take back and make zongzi.’

After she had finished cutting all the water celery in one section of the ditch, she went back, gathered the fodder, placed it on her carrying pole, and delivered it to the drying field in a single trip.

Then she returned to the foot of the mountain to carry the water celery home. She picked out a basketful of the tender inner stalks, took some to the backyard for the chicks, and grabbed another handful to feed the pigs.

Just as she was pouring water to wash her face, Zhou Xiaohong arrived. Dahuang, who was lying in a shady spot in the courtyard, lifted his head to look at her. Seeing it was a familiar face, he closed his eyes again.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep