My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Si Xingzhi didn't have any money on hand, but he didn't fail to understand basic etiquette. After listening to Si Muyan's words, he nodded, took the money and left.

The younger sister's face froze. She happily returned with the money, but spent most of it immediately. After deducting the initial investment, their hard work today hadn't even earned enough to cover their expenses. Was making money so difficult and slow?

She can't wait.

Aunt Jin had a different idea. She was wondering how much flour she could buy with the remaining 160 coins. Five catties meant that the family could only make this many pumpkin cakes to sell before the next market. Would there be enough oil and sugar? If not, it would be even more troublesome.

Thinking of this, she hurried to the kitchen to check and breathed a sigh of relief. There was only a pound of flour left, not much sugar, but plenty of oil. Since she didn't need the sugar for daily meals, she could save it. It would still be enough for daily meals, and the rice and brown rice would be enough for the family to eat until the autumn harvest, so...

Qiushou? The second young master is gone, what will Qiushou and the others do?

Si Muyan looked at the money on the table and said, "Little sister, go pack twenty more pumpkin cakes from yesterday and come with me to Mrs. Zhu's house."

The younger sister was stunned and asked, "Mrs. Zhu? She...she doesn't like me. Why don't you let me go?"

"Let's go together. Just don't talk too much when we get there."

Thinking of Mrs. Zhu's sarcastic and mean face, my younger sister felt a headache coming on. She had just exchanged a few words with Ershuan from the village, and Mrs. Zhu had glared at her and criticized her for several days, saying that she was not decent and that Ershuan was already engaged, yet she was still trying to flirt with him.

It's so depressing.

But her elder sister insisted that she go, and she had no choice but to help her elder sister go to Mrs. Zhu's side.

The Si family lived at the end of the village, closest to the foot of the mountain, while Granny Zhu lived at the entrance, closest to the main road. Granny Zhu lost her husband early in life and raised her four sons alone, each of whom married and had children. However, she had an eccentric personality and didn't get along well with her daughters-in-law. She now lived with her youngest son's family. The other sons and their daughters-in-law sent her rice and flour, and if they were too busy, they would send their children to her for help in caring.

When the Si Muyan sisters went over, Mrs. Zhu was in the yard cutting radishes to make dried or pickled radishes for easy storage and to eat in winter, while her two little grandsons were playing nearby.

"Mrs. Zhu."

The older grandson was about four years old. When he saw someone coming, he came over and opened the yard door.

Mrs. Zhu looked up and saw them, with a hint of disdain in her eyes. But perhaps because of the pumpkin pie yesterday, she didn't say anything harsh: "What are you doing here?"

Si Muyan asked her younger sister to bring the pumpkin pie over.

Mrs. Zhu threw her knife onto the chopping board with a thud. "I usually give Xiao An a couple of bites to eat because I see how pitiful he is without anyone to supervise him. It doesn't mean I want anything to do with your family. Yesterday's pancakes were Xiao An's gift to me as a favor from me. I accepted them, but I won't give them to you today."

However, the two little grandsons of the Zhu family had eaten pumpkin pie yesterday, and when they saw the pumpkin pie in the hands of the third sister of the Si family, they couldn't help but drool.

"Grandma, I want to eat..."

"Shut up, you greedy thing!" Mrs. Zhu's face darkened and she glared at her grandson. The grandson felt aggrieved and dared not say a word.

Si Muyan wasn't angry either. She took two pumpkin cakes from the big bowl and stuffed one into each child's mouth. "This thing won't keep well. If you don't finish it today, it'll go bad tomorrow. I understand what Mrs. Zhu means, and I don't have any inappropriate thoughts. It's just that our family is in a difficult situation right now, and I wanted to ask Mrs. Zhu for a small favor."

"I knew it! You can't have any good intentions by offering something on your own initiative!" Mrs. Zhu raised her eyebrows and sneered at the two girls, "Go ahead."

This further confirmed Si Muyan's guess. She knew that Mrs. Zhu was not as strong as she looked on the outside. Generally speaking, she was a soft-hearted person. Otherwise, she should have drawn a clear line yesterday and refused to accept the bowl of pumpkin pie from her younger brother.

She said, "After my second brother passed away, our family was in dire straits. We were thinking of doing something to make a living. We tried pumpkin pie at the market today and they sold quite well. We plan to make it a long-term business. We're running low on flour, and if we go to the county town now, we might not be able to get back in time by evening. So I wanted to ask Mrs. Zhu if she has any here and if she could sell me three pounds."

"Flour? You... buy flour?" Mrs. Zhu couldn't believe her ears.

In her opinion, the eldest daughter of the Si family actually hit her father and brother, and she was not a good woman at all. The two younger ones were even more shameless. One ran away with a man, and the other was flirting with men in the village. Therefore, she looked down on the girls of the Si family. If it weren't for the fact that Erlang of the Si family was a good person, she wouldn't even let them set foot in the door.

I didn't expect that they went through all this trouble just to buy some flour?

Si Muyan nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Zhu, I know that flour is 32 wen per jin now, and 3 jin is 96 wen. I brought money with me. If Mrs. Zhu doesn't want money, I can go to the county town to buy some and return it tomorrow. That's fine too."

Mrs. Zhu pursed her lips and went back to the kitchen to weigh two pounds of flour. "Only two pounds left, sixty-four coins."

The younger sister quickly counted the money for her and took the flour.

"Thank you very much. It must be hard work. Mrs. Zhu went to the county town to buy it herself. This pumpkin cake can be regarded as hard work fee."

Si Muyan gave her younger sister a look, and she went forward to find an empty bowl and poured the pumpkin pie into it. This time, Mrs. Zhu didn't say anything, but just looked at the backs of the two of them in surprise.

When we got home, my younger sister asked, "Sister, there are still ten days until the next meeting. If you want to buy flour, you can go to the county town tomorrow. Why did you come here?"

Si Muyan said, "Pumpkin pie is very simple. There are many people growing pumpkins right now. If we wait ten days, I'm afraid someone will come up with a new way to make it. By then, what will we do? We have to strike while the iron is hot. We won't be as crowded tomorrow when we sell it on the street as today, but people in the county town who have some money will definitely be happy to buy it."

"Yes, we're sold out today, and there are still many people asking for more." The younger brother said happily, "Then how many should we make tomorrow?"

Si Muyan said, "Two pounds. If you go tomorrow, little sister, check the market to see if anyone has already made pumpkin pie. Then decide the quantity to make the day after tomorrow and buy the flour and sugar. My second brother's funeral is tomorrow, so you should come back early."

Thinking about the second brother's funeral, the three of them were in a bad mood.

Si Muyan said: "The person has passed away, but the living people need to live stronger."

The younger sister responded softly, "Okay."