"It’s all managed by my dad and mom, I don’t know about the money-making part. I heard my dad telling my mom that it’s not important whether we make money or not, what’s important is that our neighbors can earn some handiwork money to help support their families. That’s worth all the hustle," said Lian Manman.

"Fourth Brother Lian and his wife, they are truly decent folks. I didn’t see it at first, but now I see that they are capable people," someone chimed in, and they smiled at Lian Manman and Xiao Qi. Lian Manman recognized the person’s face—it seemed that someone from his family worked at the Pickled Vegetable Workshop—so she smiled back.

"Auntie Jiang, that person just now wasn’t from our village, right?" Lian Manman asked Jiang San’s Wife.

"No, there’s no one like that in our village. These past few days, the lady boss has made a fortune. A customer like that is equal to the sales of two or three regular days," someone said with a laugh before Jiang San’s Wife could respond.

"It’s not that miraculous," Jiang San’s Wife gave the person an unimpressed look, then put the funnel and wooden spoon away and handed the soy sauce jar to Lian Manman.

"Hold it carefully, don’t spill it on the way."

Lian Manman and Xiao Qi left the grocery store, walked down two streets, and arrived home.

"Quick, take the soy sauce to our grandma, she was just asking for it," Lian Zhizhi said, standing at the door of the West Wing Room when she saw Lian Manman and Xiao Qi returning.

"Okay," Lian Manman intended to go inside to put down her basket first.

Lian Zhizhi took the basket from her, glanced toward the Upper Room, and then whispered into Lian Manman’s ear.

"Deliver the soy sauce first, don’t go inside, to save grandma from worrying."

"Is she going to think I’m going to steal two ounces of her soy sauce?" Lian Manman retorted sharply and, indeed, without even stepping over the threshold, she carried the soy sauce jar to the Upper Room.

"Why did it take you so long? The day lilies are going cold," Lady Zhou said sternly.

"The child is running errands for you, and you don’t have a single kind word to say," Old Master Lian, sitting on the kang bed, glared at Lady Zhou and then smiled and beckoned at Lian Manman, "Manman, is it cold outside? Come on up to the kang and warm yourself for a bit."

Lady Zhou took the soy sauce bottle and, after opening the lid to inspect it carefully, eventually passed the bottle to Lady Zhao.

"Add a spoonful to the dish," Lady Zhou instructed Lady Zhao, "Don’t put in too much; we never have enough of the good stuff."

Lady Zhao meekly acknowledged and left with the soy sauce bottle to cook.

"Grandpa, it’s not cold outside. I’ll go back and help my mom with the cooking, and come talk to you later," Lian Manman said to Old Master Lian.

"Good child, go on," Old Master Lian smiled and replied.

Lian Manman returned to the West Wing Room, where the family was listening to Xiao Qi talk, while examining the items they had bought.

"The minced meat is already chopped; that saves trouble," Lady Zhang noticed the prepared minced meat first.

"Uncle Zhang was free, so he chopped it up for us," Lian Manman explained.

"Why did you buy roast chicken too?" Lian Shouxin asked as Lian Zhizhi took out the paper-wrapped package.

"Dad said the roast chicken from Cai’s in town is delicious, and since we had enough money with us, we bought some," Lian Manman replied with a giggle.

"It’s Xiao Qi’s birthday, all of us get to have a feast," Wu Lang laughed heartily.

"You’re always the one to spend money," although Lady Zhang said this, she didn’t mean it as a reprimand. In fact, in some ways, Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin were quite indulgent with their children.

Lian Zhizhi brought half a basin of warm water for Lian Manman and Xiao Qi to wash their hands, then had them sit on the kang bed.

"Manman, let’s use half of the bones to make soup for the noodles later," Lady Zhang discussed with Lian Manman, "And for the remaining half, how about we make radish soup and have dumplings tonight?"

"Sure," Lian Manman nodded with a smile. Another good quality of Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin was that they didn’t just make decisions because they were parents; on the contrary, they preferred to seek their children’s opinions. Even for things like meal planning, they were open to discussion. This was a big reason why Manman had integrated so well into the family.

Sitting on the kang bed, Lian Manman talked about running into Wu Yugui in town and the plans to repair the temple in Xiao Shen Tun.

"That’s good news," Lian Shouxin commented briefly, obviously feeling that this matter had nothing to do with their lives and thus didn’t care much about it.

"In a few days, the families will start picking their pickled vegetables, and the agreement we made with Shopkeeper Wu will be due; our Pickled Vegetable Workshop will have to stop," Lady Zhang mentioned while kneading dough.

"Indeed, the money we’ve made these days is enough," Lian Shouxin said.

Lady Zhang seemed somewhat reluctant, but nodded as well. The couple shared a common trait – they were not greedy and easily contented.

"The money we’ve made these days should last us till this time next year. When we didn’t split the family up in the previous years, even without counting my elder brother’s side, we wouldn’t spend this much," Lian Shouxin said.

"I know," Lady Zhang replied, "I’m just worried we might not get used to having free time once we’re not busy."

"Mom, why don’t we sell bean sprouts?" Lian Manman suggested.

"Bean sprouts?" Lady Zhang thought about it, "We sell pickled vegetables because there’s a shortage, but there’s no shortage of bean sprouts, they’re sold every day in town."

"You’re right, Mom, but people still buy bean sprouts," Lian Manman said, "Even just our village, with hundreds of households, sells around ten jin every day."

"That is true," Lady Zhang agreed.

On the way back from town, Lian Manman had already calculated the cost and profit of growing bean sprouts in her mind.

Bean sprouts cost Three Wen Money per jin, while soybeans cost Nine Wen Money per jin in the market. A jin of good-quality soybeans can produce five to eight jin of bean sprouts, though this depends on the bean sprouting technique and the number of days. Generally, it takes six to seven days to grow good bean sprouts.

"Mom, your bean sprouting skills are so good, let’s base it on seven jin. For every jin of soybeans, we could earn Twelve Wen Money," she said.

**********

It’s the end of the month, craving some pink love. Looking up, I wonder if there’s any hope of hitting the pink charts. Cross my fingers, if there is, I’ll add many more Chapters. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)