Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

When they arrived in the town and got off the ox cart, the first thing the father and daughter did was to deliver the goods to the policeman.

There were three officers there. In addition to the one named Li from yesterday and the one who ordered twenty bowls, there was also a sturdy officer with a full beard.

"Sir, we are here to deliver the sweet soup." Song Lao Er put down his burden and stepped forward.

The bearded man laughed loudly, "Speak of the devil, we are all hungry." Then he took the pole from Song Lao Er and opened the winnowing basket, "Which one is the meatball?"

"Double-knotted ones." Song Lao Er hurriedly took out ten bowls from the bamboo basket on the right. The bearded man took a bowl and tore it open, just about to drink. "This is really good-looking. What is this purple paste?"

"This purple one is taro paste with mulberry jam added in it," Song Lao Er replied quickly.

Sanniang also helped to take out the double skin milk on the left.

Li Chaye and the other man also came over to look at the bearded man's syrup. "It was white yesterday, why is it so different today?" Li Chaye asked curiously.

"It was my daughter's idea. She said it would look good this way." Song Lao Er said happily.

"It looks great. I'm going to take it back to my wife." Hu Lianshun, who booked twenty bowls for everyone yesterday, is a wife slave. He thought that his wife would definitely be very happy to see this.

"Hey, give me my wife," the bearded man joked sarcastically, and then said to himself, "If I don't have a wife, I can eat two bowls by myself."

"Come on, let's divide it among ourselves, don't let others laugh at us here," Li Chaye interrupted seriously. He took out the money bag from his pocket, counted out 158 ​​coins and handed them to Song Lao Er.

"I'll give you the money, minus the booth fee. Your booth will still be where it was yesterday. Go ahead."

Song Laoer took the money and said "Thank you, sir," then picked up the shoulder pole and walked towards the stall with Sanniang.

Song Laoer and his daughter had just set up their stall when yesterday's customer arrived. When he saw the new taro mochi balls on display, he originally wanted to buy two bowls, but suddenly he ordered four bowls. The stall was immediately surrounded by customers, and Sanniang had no choice but to accept the money.

He Yunfei, the purchasing agent of the He Mansion, was attracted by the lively atmosphere. His servant squeezed out a seat for him. He squeezed in and took a look. Wow, if this thing was given to the young ladies, he would be rewarded hugely.

He waved his hand and took down twenty bowls of taro mochi balls and twenty bowls of double-skin milk. You know, the masters would not only eat themselves, but also give some to the subordinates who served them well. Each of them got a share, which was actually not much.

He threw down half a tael of silver and said, "Don't worry about the change. From now on, if you have any fresh desserts at home, you can send them to the He Mansion. When you get there, just say you are looking for He Cai to buy them." After that, he left, fanning himself, leaving the servant here to fill the sweet soup.

"Young man, do you want us to take you home and teach you the way?" Sanniang said as she helped.

"No, no, we have a carriage, and this little stuff is not even as heavy as a pig's head. I see you don't come to town often, do you?

Our He Mansion is the He Mansion of three outstanding people. When you leave the market and walk along the main road, the largest mansion you see is our He Mansion. "The young man was kind enough to show Sanniang the way.

"Thank you, brother," Sanniang hurriedly thanked him.

After everyone left, Sanniang asked Song Laoer, "Dad, do you know this He Mansion?"

"I know. I used to come to the town to do work from time to time. The highest-ranking official that came out of the He Mansion was the Prime Minister. The current old man was also a retired Minister of Personnel, and the eldest master is still a high-ranking official in the capital.

Why do you think we are so peaceful here?" Song Lao Er told everything he knew like pouring out beans.

"I didn't expect that the He family would be interested in our things. We are really lucky." Song Laoer was very happy, and Song Sanniang was also very excited when she heard it.

"Dad, give me some money so I can buy some fruit." Sanniang couldn't suppress her restless heart.

Song Laoer took out ten cents from his change and asked, "Is that enough?" In fact, his heart ached the moment he took out the money. Ten cents could buy three kilograms of brown rice, which was enough for the family to eat for a long time.

But now that the family can make money, his dignity as a father does not allow him to be stingy with his daughter. And his daughter is well-behaved and obedient.

"That's enough, that's enough. If it's not enough, I'll come back for more." After saying that, Sanniang was like a fish that fell into the water, swimming freely in the market. She felt that her eyes were not enough.

The market not only sells various foods, fruits, vegetables, and handicrafts, but also flowers, herbs, small animals, and so on.

"The jelly that clears away heat and detoxifies, the tender and delicate tofu pudding, come and try it"

Jelly!!!

Sanniang followed the sound to the stall and saw a white-haired old lady guarding two wooden barrels, one filled with tofu pudding and the other filled with pitch-black jelly.

"Grandma, how much is a serving of jelly?"

"Tofu pudding and jelly are each one cent a portion, and adding sugar is two cents." Sanniang saw that she was still using a large bamboo tube to hold the sugar water, and if the customer wanted it, she would scoop a spoonful and add it to the bowl.

"Grandma, give me a bowl of jelly with sugar water." Sanniang took out two cents.

Although the old lady was old, she was very skillful. She scooped out the jelly, cut it into pieces with a small bamboo spatula, poured sugar water on it, and handed it to Sanniang.

Sanniang couldn't wait to take a bite. The slightly bitter, cool and smooth taste of the jelly instantly satisfied her taste buds.

The sugar water is not very sweet, but it is the best way to eat a bowl without getting sick of it. Sanniang had a new idea in her mind.

When she had spent her ten cents, she returned home with a full load.

"Why did you buy so much fruit?"

Song Laoer had already sold all the sweet soup. He took Sanniang's backpack and looked inside. He saw that the basket was filled with peaches, oranges, pears, bananas and other fruits.

"You'll know when the time comes." Sanniang was mysterious.

Song Lao Er put on his backpack, stacked two bamboo baskets together, held the bamboo basket in one hand and the shoulder pole in the other.

"Let's go buy some meat."

The father and daughter came to the pork stall. The butcher was picking the meat off the bones. He saw the father and daughter and greeted them, "What do you want to order?"

"How much are the pork belly and pork fat?" asked Song Lao Er.

"Pork belly and pork fat are both 21 cents a pound, ribs and lean meat are 15 cents a pound, soup bones are 12 cents a pound, and other pork offal, pig ears and pig trotters are all 10 cents a pound." The pork seller quoted all the prices in one breath.

"Then give me half a pound of pork belly and two pounds of pork fat." Song Laoer did the math and took out fifty cents.

"How much is a pound of pig skin?" Sanniang asked.

"Pork skin is three cents a pound. Otherwise, I'll give you the bones as well." The pork seller pointed to the two large bones from which he had just picked the meat, and then looked at Song Laoer.

"Boss, give me two kilograms of pork skin." Sanniang didn't care that the pork seller ignored her.

Song Lao Er took out another six coins.

"Boss, do you have anything to pack the pork? Our bamboo baskets are used to hold sugar water and must not get them dirty." At this time, the pork was not packed in plastic bags but tied with straw and carried back.

The butcher took a bamboo basket from under his feet, padded the basket with leaves, and then put everything in it.

"Return the baskets tomorrow. I recognize you. You are the most popular seller of sugar water."

"Then I'll return it to you tomorrow." Song Laoer put the basket into the bamboo basket, and he and Sanniang returned with a full load. They could only walk back, but this weight was not worth mentioning to Song Laoer.

When the father and daughter returned home, Mrs. Song had prepared dinner and was waiting for them. The father and daughter put down their food and quickly washed their hands and ate. They were starving after being busy all morning.

Song Ersao and her friends had already eaten and were sorting out the things the father and daughter bought. The fourth and fifth niangs were watching them eagerly, and when they saw the fruits, they were so envious that they could not move.

"You only earned a little money, but you bought so many things. You're such a spendthrift!" Mrs. Song has always been frugal, and she couldn't help feeling distressed when she saw the father and daughter buying so many things.

"Mom, look how thin you are. You should make more soup to nourish your body. When you are fat, you can give me a younger brother." Sanniang said while eating.

"You kid, you just talk nonsense." Song Ersao's face turned red when she heard this, but in her heart she also longed to give birth to a boy for Song Laoer.

After all, in the countryside, those without a boy are looked down upon and bullied. So before the family split up, she was always looked down upon by her mother-in-law and bullied by her eldest sister-in-law. No matter how much money she made, it would all be given to her eldest sister-in-law's family.

At this time, Song Ersao also had the fighting spirit in her heart. For the sake of the child, since Sanniang would have the support of her family in the future, she also had to strengthen her body and give birth to a younger brother for her.

"I'm going to prepare some soup. Did you buy this pig skin to make pig skin jelly?" Mrs. Song asked when she saw the pig skin.

"Mom, please help me remove the pig hair. I want to use the pig skin to make jelly and put fruits in it. Did you see the fruits I bought?"

After thinking about it for a while, Mrs. Song roughly knew what to do. She didn't say much and went to the kitchen to get busy.

Wash the pork bones, light a fire and put the bones in to boil, then cut the pork fat and pork belly. While boiling the pork fat, Sanniang will process the pig skin.

By the time Sanniang had finished her meal and cleaned up, the pig skin had been processed. Song Ersao removed the pot where lard was boiled and gave it to Sanniang.

Sanniang boiled the pig skin with water, ginger, onion, ginger and yellow wine for about ten minutes, then took it out, scraped off the fat on the skin, cut it into strips, chopped it until it was velvety, put it in a grinding bowl, added water and ground it into a paste, then filtered it with gauze.

The resulting pig skin paste is boiled in a pot over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent the bottom from getting sticky. When the water is reduced to half, take it out and let it cool. It will become pig skin jelly by the evening.

This pork skin jelly is different from the pork skin jelly we eat. This one is pig gelatin and can be used instead of gelatin sheets.

The fruits had been taken out by Song Ersao and placed on the dustpan. Sanniang picked up an orange and broke it open to share with Siniang and Wuniang, and she also started to eat.

"Mom, look, this orange can be used to make orange meatballs, and this peach can be used to make pink meatballs. Oh, we're still missing a green one."

"The green ones will be picked later, some green vegetables or mugwort." Song Ersao replied.

"Yeah, my mom is so smart, haha."

"You girl, you're itching for trouble," said Mrs. Song with a smile.

Si Niang finished eating the orange in her hand and whispered in Wu Niang's ear, "I want to eat peaches. Let's ask my sister for some."

Wu Niang was still slowly eating the orange in her hand and replied, "But I haven't finished my oranges yet." Si Niang had no choice but to wait for Wu Niang to finish eating.

Song Sanniang had seen everything. She took out two peaches, washed them, peeled them, and gave them to them, making them so happy that they almost jumped up.

After a while, Song Sanniang felt that she could not open her eyes. "Mom, I am so sleepy. I need to go and rest for a while."

"Go quickly." Song Ersao and Song Laoer were counting the money they earned today.

I spent fifty cents on pork, gave ten cents to Sanniang, deducted sixteen cents from Song Zuen, and two cents for the stall fee.

The purchase price of He's house was 320 coins, but he paid half a liang, which is 500 coins.

So today I earned a total of 896 coins.

Song Lao Er took out a hundred coins and pushed the rest in front of Song Ersao.

"Hey, wife, give us the household allowance so that we can build a house soon."

"Yes, we haven't used up the five taels we got from the family division. If we can earn that much every day, we can build a better house in a few months.

I think we should build a four-room house and dig a well so that you don’t have to fetch water every day when you are so tired.”

"I have plenty of energy and I'm not tired. Let's save up for a few more months and then buy some land and build a house."

Sanniang fell asleep while listening to the couple chattering about their plans outside. Siniang and Wuniang were eating peaches beside their parents, competing with each other to see who could eat the most cleanly.