Crossing Over to Yamada Love

As Mo Lan watched the departing figures of Liu Erdan and his wife, she thought to herself: Their appearance is actually a good thing. After their commotion, everyone has recognized the Mo family's steamed buns as the best. Even if someone else comes to sell steamed buns in the future, they won't be able to shake our family's position.

After selling the steamed buns, Mo Lan and her two companions returned to the backyard. As soon as they entered, they heard a burst of exaggerated laughter. She looked over and exclaimed, "Huh? Isn't that Liu Hu's mother?" Last time she went to her house to buy goose eggs, Liu Hu's mother looked down on her family. Why is she here today?

"Uncle Quan, Meimei, Lanlan are back! How did the steamed buns sell? I heard they were selling really well. Are they sold out again?" As soon as Liu Huniang saw them return, she quickly stood up with a smile and greeted them.

Mo Quan nodded and responded before going inside. He wasn't good at striking up a conversation with a woman who was also a junior.

"What brings you here, Auntie? Please don't mind the mess around here," Mo Lan said with a smile.

"Of course! Look how grand your house is! Apart from the houses of scholars, yours is the most impressive. I've really seen something new today, madam. It's truly magnificent!" Liu Hongniang exclaimed, giving a thumbs up.

Mo Lan smiled, feeling that her words were too much, but she couldn't bring herself to argue with her; that was just her personality.

After washing her hands, Mo Lan looked at the food on the table and sat down.

"Tiger's mother, come and have something to eat." When Madam Wang saw that Mo Lan was sitting down, she knew that her granddaughter was hungry. She sent someone to call Mo Quan out to prepare for the meal, while she herself politely greeted Liu Hu Niang.

"No, no, Auntie, please eat. I've already eaten. We can talk after you finish eating. I can just sit here," Liu Huniang said with a smile.

"What's the matter, Auntie?" Mo Lan looked at her attitude and knew that she must have something to ask of her family, otherwise she wouldn't be so polite.

"Hehe, Lanlan asked, so let me tell you something. You see, your family runs a shop, right? I heard you bought a lot of eggs. My family sells eggs too. Why do you still go to town to buy them? It costs money for the bus, and the eggs are easy to break. It's not cost-effective. From now on, just buy from my shop. The price is reasonable, and it saves you the trouble of making the trip. Isn't that more suitable?" As soon as Molan asked her, Liu Huniang immediately explained her purpose.

"Oh," Mo Lan said, and then fell silent.

Seeing that Mo Lan remained silent, Liu Hu became anxious. She had spoken with Wang Shi and the others for a long time, but Wang Shi wouldn't budge, saying they would discuss it when Mo Lan returned. Now that Mo Lan had finally come back, all she did was say "oh." What was going on?

"Lanlan, last time you bought goose eggs, I gave you a discount, and you said you remembered my kindness. How could you forget me?" Liu Huniang brought up the matter from last time because she was anxious.

Mo Lan secretly curled her lip. Last time they looked down on them, but this time they're eager to come to her house to sell their eggs. The difference between them is really huge.

"Oh, Lanlan always remembers your kindness, Auntie. Lanlan can't make this decision, you should ask my grandma." Molan deflected the question.

"I've been talking to Auntie for ages, and she said she'll wait until you get back to discuss it. Auntie, please give me an answer, otherwise Lanlan won't agree." Liu Huniang was anxious, and she was also puzzled as to why a young girl was being given the decision.

"Girl, do we have enough eggs?" Wang asked. She didn't know if Mo Lan was planning to ask for more eggs. Although Mo Lan had told her about the thing she made with eggs last time, she wasn't sure. So it was better to ask.

Mo Lan pondered for a while, looked at Liu Hu's mother's anxious face, and thought to herself: Fine, for the sake of Liu Hu, I'll use his family's eggs from now on.

“Auntie, buying your eggs is fine, but I have something to make clear first.” Mo Lan nodded.

"Okay, what do you want to say?" Liu Huniang was very happy to hear that they were buying her eggs and urged Molan to speak.

"We want chicken eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs. We want as many chicken eggs as you can get. Once you've collected a hundred, deliver them to us. You can name your price. Let me make it clear first: if you ask for too much, don't bother, we won't buy them. If you think it's reasonable, then the deal is done." Mo Lan made her requirements clear so that they could deliver to her door, saving her a lot of trouble.

Liu Huniang was overjoyed when she heard this. She wanted them all! From now on, she wouldn't have to worry about anything and could just wait to collect the money. But what price should she ask for? She couldn't quote too high, or the little girl wouldn't buy them, and she would suffer a huge loss.

"How about five coins a pound?" Liu Huniang steeled herself and offered the lowest price.

Mo Lan didn't make things difficult for her. Everyone has their struggles. Her price was already low, and she even delivered the goods. Besides, her eggs were quite good. After thinking it over, she nodded.

"Okay, Auntie will bring the eggs over in a bit. You all go ahead and eat." Liu Huniang slapped her thigh and stood up to leave.

"Wait a minute." Mo Lan seemed to remember something and hurriedly called out to her.

"What? Lanlan changed her mind?" Liu Huniang's smile froze after hearing these two words.

"No, I was just asking if Auntie has any potatoes. If you can't finish them, you can bring them over to sell to my family. We'll take two pounds for one coin. If you don't have many, you can spread the word around the village and see who's willing to sell. Just bring them over." Mo Lan didn't dash Liu Hu Niang's hopes and started talking about buying potatoes.

"Oh, you scared me half to death! I thought you weren't going to buy eggs. We have potatoes at home, I'll go talk to them in the village later. But why did you buy so many potatoes?" Liu Hu's mother asked curiously.

Mo Lan smiled but didn't say anything, and the Wang family members also just smiled.

"Don't ask, don't ask. You all eat, I'm leaving now. I'll bring you the eggs later." Liu Huniang wisely stopped asking questions and hurriedly left.

In this way, the Mo family collected a lot of eggs, duck eggs, and potatoes. Everyone in the village was talking about it, but no one could guess what they were going to do with them.

The next morning, while everyone was busy, Wang sighed as she looked at the pile of potatoes in the yard.

"What's wrong, Mother? You're perfectly fine, why are you sighing?" Qiu asked while working, and Liu also turned her gaze over.

"It's nothing, I just remembered a dish I used to eat, and realized I haven't had it in so many years, so I sighed." Wang said, while her hands kept stirring the filling of the buns.

"What dishes are they? It's been so long since Mother remembered them. Tell us so we can broaden our horizons." Because of their good relationship, Qiu asked directly.

"That dish isn't anything special. It's called 'Guobaorou' (sweet and sour pork), which is made with lean meat and a kind of flour. This flour is hard to come by; it's made from sweet potatoes and potatoes. I couldn't help but sigh when I saw this pile of potatoes just now," Wang said frankly.

"What's so difficult about that? We have plenty of potatoes here. We'll just cook some for Mother tomorrow." Qiu's thinking was rather simplistic.

"It's not that easy. Making those rice flour cakes is quite troublesome. I only heard about it from someone before. I don't even know if I can make them." Wang seemed a little melancholy.

Mo Lan couldn't help but laugh to herself. She had secretly told Wang Shi about the sweet and sour pork last night, asking her to mention it to everyone today to make a good impression. And now it seemed that her grandmother was putting on quite a good show.

“Mother wants to eat it, why don’t we give it a try? Let’s see if it works?” Liu said after a moment’s thought.

"Isn't this too much trouble?" Wang hesitated.

"What's the trouble? We'll try it this afternoon. Mother will tell us what to do then." Qiu agreed with Liu's suggestion.

"Let's try that this afternoon," Wang agreed with her two daughters-in-law, a smile appearing in her eyes.

In the afternoon, everyone got busy. First, they washed the potatoes one basin at a time and put them in baskets to drain. Then they went to the stone mill, which Wang had arranged when the house was being built, to prepare for making vermicelli later.

There was a wooden pouch on the millstone, thick at the top and thin at the bottom. Mo Quan stood on a stool, poured a basin of potatoes into it, picked up something, and started working with the potatoes. Mo Lan didn't recognize the thing; it had a wooden handle and a large iron plate at the bottom with a very sharp edge. When someone lifted it and hammered it down, the potato would split in two. As the person kept hammering, the potato would break into small pieces, which would then be exposed onto the graphite through the holes in the wooden pouch.

Once the liquid had been sufficiently exposed, the Qiu family began pushing the graphite, which creaked and groaned as a white liquid flowed out. A wooden bucket was used to collect the liquid, and when it was about full, Mo Quan carried it to a large vat in the courtyard.

The vats here are different from modern vats. The vats here are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with the bottom part buried in the soil.

In one afternoon, the Mo family members still hadn't filled the large vat completely; they had only filled it about halfway.

Looking at the white liquid in the vat, Mo Lan sighed. There was no ready-made starch here, so she had to make it herself. It was really troublesome to make, but it was precisely because she didn't have any that she could make money in the future.

The next day, I used a ladle to scoop out the liquid on top of the vat, and then took out the lumps of powdery substance from the vat to dry in the sun. After they were almost dry, I added water to dilute them.

By this time, a large shovel had been set up in the courtyard. The shovel was made of cotton cloth, square in shape, with thick hemp rope tied to each corner. It was suspended in mid-air, and then diluted powdery substances were poured into the shovel. A person stood there and kept swinging the shovel, and water kept dripping from it.

After you've finished cleaning all the bags, the contents will be relatively dry. At this point, you can stop shaking them and let them air dry on their own. It should be ready in about an hour.

The next day, I took the lumpy object out of my pocket and put it into a clean jar. I added water to dilute it and left it there to thaw. Then I scooped out the water, added more water to dilute it, and basically cleaned up all the dirt inside.

Finally, filter it again by shaking it in a strainer. The resulting powder should be dried in the sun. Once dried, it can be easily broken into powder by hand. This is clean starch.