Chapter 21
Li Mingwei estimated how much money she would need for carriage and horse fees to get back from Qingshan Village to the town, and set aside some money for meals and lodging along the way for Yun Sister, carefully putting it away to give to her later when there was a chance.
With the rest, she thought about buying something for Xiao Lei and the others. The money she had earned from the previous batches of embroidery work, she had split with Wang Chunhua, half each. Now her finances were still quite comfortable, so from time to time she could buy some nice things for the children.
Just then, as she was passing the snack shop, Chen Jie, who ran the shop, greeted her very warmly, so she went in.
Chen Jie had come with Mrs. Wu before to apologize to her, and Chen Fangyuan had been studying under her for a while, so the two of them were quite familiar now.
"Sister Mingwei, buying something?"
Li Mingwei looked at the snacks in his shop, they were about the same as what they had brought last time, just some red bean cakes, green bean cakes, yellow bean cakes and so on, plus some types of buns she had never seen before.
The ones she had liked to eat in the capital, there wasn't a single one here.
She tentatively asked, "Did you sell out of everything else because business was good today?"
Chen Jie was quite smart, and understood what she meant right away. In fact, everyone in town knew in their hearts that Sister Mingwei's family must not have been lacking in the past, otherwise how could she be raised so fair and delicate, and recognize so many words even as a female worker.
He tentatively replied, "What kinds of snacks were you looking for, Sister Mingwei? Let me see if my mother knows how to make them."
Alright, no need to ask anymore. What was laid out was all there was.
Li Mingwei asked about prices and bought some of each of the little buns she hadn't seen before, and also some red bean cakes — she remembered Wang Chunhua saying last time that she liked those.
As Chen Jie was packing everything up for her, Li Mingwei suddenly caught sight of the paper and writing brush on his counter.
"Brother Chen, may I use that paper and brush?"
Chen Jie didn't understand: "Sure, you need it?"
Li Mingwei went behind the counter, ground some ink, and wrote down several snack recipes for him. "These are some snack recipes I remember. Please take a look and see if your mother can try making them."
"Sister Mingwei, are you saying our selection of snacks here is too small?!" Chen Jie laughed. He looked carefully at all the ingredients listed in the recipes, circled two, and said, "Maybe we can try these two, but not the others."
"Why not?"
"Sister Mingwei, you're not an outsider, so I'll be blunt with you. Aside from these two, the ingredients for the other recipes are too expensive. Do you know how much an ounce of tuckahoe costs? With the cost of ingredients and labor, how much would we have to sell them for just to break even?"
"That's not a price ordinary families in this town could afford."
And things like the milk cakes, among the few hundred households in this town, only two or three even own horses. And those with money have moved to the county seat to live. We never see them around here day-to-day.
Where would I buy mare's milk, and who would I sell the cakes to after making them?
Li Mingwei smiled. Alright, she had not thought it through. She smiled apologetically — she shouldn't have assumed. "Then, Brother Chen, try those two kinds first."
"Sure." Chen Jie nodded, put away the recipes, and saw her out the door. "If we can actually use these recipes, I'll come discuss payment with you."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I didn't do this for money. I just suddenly felt like eating some snacks I like, that's all. And I can make them myself anyway."
In fact, she did know how to make them herself. But the Dong family didn't have the tools for making snacks. To make some for herself, she'd have to buy the tools and ingredients — too much trouble for just some snacks. It was best if she could buy ready made ones.
She had just taken a few steps out the door when she ran into Mrs. Wu coming to bring Chen Jie his lunch. Mrs. Wu still felt rather awkward when she saw Li Mingwei now, but she couldn't avoid her, so she just hardened herself and kept walking forward.
Seeing that Mrs. Wu was just shy of writing "awkward" on her own face, Li Mingwei took the initiative to say, "Sister-in-law Wu, bringing lunch for Brother Chen?"
"Yes." Mrs. Wu gave a slight nod, and happened to glance down at the paper package in her hand, knowing she had just bought something from their shop. Her smile also held some real warmth now: "Sister Mingwei, where are you headed?"
"I just bought some things from your place. I'm going back now."
"I see. Safe travels."
"Thanks."
As they were passing each other, Mrs. Wu suddenly said in a low voice, "There's something I never told you. Last time when the matchmaker came to the Dong family for you and Wu Dong — she actually didn't want to do it. Wu Dong gave her a lot of money before she went."
Li Mingwei was stunned. That had happened so long ago she had nearly forgotten about it. Also, "How do you know, Sister-in-law?"
"The matchmaker lives next door to me. When she didn't succeed in matching you with Wu Dong, he went to ask her for the money back. I overheard." Mrs. Wu muttered, "Who knows where Wu Dong got so much money, I hope he's not doing something shady again."
Li Mingwei had no idea. After Dong Shan had returned, Wu Dong and the others hadn't come around to bother her again, and she hadn't run into them for a good long while now.
So what Mrs. Wu told her didn't make much of an impression on her.
At that moment, Wang Chunhua was also making dinner. Li Mingwei gave the snacks to Dong Lei, then sneaked stealthily into the kitchen. She tiptoed up behind Wang Chunhua and put her arms around her waist.
"Ah!"
Wang Chunhua got such a fright she nearly jumped. She whirled around to find Li Mingwei there. "You little scoundrel, sneaking around!"
Li Mingwei giggled. She waited for Wang Chunhua to turn back to the wok to stir the dishes, then took out the rest of the money from her pocket and tucked it into Wang Chunhua's clothes.
Wang Chunhua held the ladle, stirring continuously, and felt the movement at her waist. With raised brows, she said, "What's this, your wages from today?"
"Mm-hmm. I kept some for myself, bought some snacks on the way back. The rest is yours."
"Bought snacks again?"
Wang Chunhua's brows knitted. She had always been thrifty and disapproved of Li Mingwei buying snacks. "How many times do I have to tell you, don't spend all your hard earned money on us and the children as soon as you get paid? You making a little money isn't easy either. Don't spend every penny you get."
Li Mingwei pressed her lips shut, not daring to answer back. Wang Chunhua ladled the dishes quickly into a bowl and glared at her, pretending to behave, before taking the food out to the main room.
She noted the quantity of snacks on the table and, seeing Dong Lei's noisy eating, made a quick estimate of the cost in her head. Even more angry now, she turned her ire towards Dong Shan, just returning from the mountains and in the middle of changing out of his shoes and socks.
"You're supposed to keep an eye on him! His mouth costs five coppers every time he opens it!"
Dong Shan froze. He had only just gotten back, hadn't even warmed the bench yet, and didn't even know what had happened.
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