Shuiqing said to Old Li and Lin Changyou, "Uncles, why don’t you have lunch here with ?"
Lin Changyou smiled and shook his head. "No, thanks. Little Lan asked to pick up our in-laws and go back to Lexing for lunch. We’ll take the bus back from across the departnt store."
He Li glanced at the wall clock. "Uncle Li, Uncle Lin, it’s almost twelve. You should head back for lunch."
She had brought a packed lunch and would just heat it up at Shuiqing’s house.
Old Li nodded. "Alright, we’ll co back after lunch."
Old Li and Lin Changyou waited for the bus, got off at the vehicle factory stop, and had just reached the Eucalyptus Forest when they saw Lin Lan riding toward them on her bicycle.
Lin Changyou chuckled. "Look, Little Lan couldn’t wait and ca to get us."
Old Li nodded and waved to Lin Lan. "You go on ahead. We’ll walk back slowly."
"Let’s walk together." Lin Lan stopped her bike and waited for the two n to catch up before walking back with them. "Mom stead a pork trotter, stir-fried so salt-fried pork, and made a cold side dish. There’s also a bottle of liquor at ho, so you two can have a drink later."
Old Li waved his hand dismissively. "No drinking for . I have to go watch the shop after lunch."
Lin Lan said, "You two can rest at ho this afternoon. I’ll go watch the shop."
Lin Changyou told Lin Lan about the hooligans who had co to the shop to cause trouble. "Running a business isn’t easy. Shuiqing said so hooligans ate and left without paying."
Old Li said with a laugh, "Xiangyang expected this. He prepared a few clubs and put them by the counter. He even asked Ding Bang and Xiuyun to swing by the shop after work. Who knew that so hooligans would show up right after he left?"
Lin Lan cursed, "Those pests! Sooner or later, they’ll all be arrested and thrown in jail."
’Let them run wild for another couple of years. We’ll see if they still dare to co out and collect protection money or cause trouble everywhere then.’
The three of them talked as they walked ho. When Wu Shufen saw them arrive, she quickly brought the dishes to the table.
After lunch, Old Li gave Lin Changyou a ride to the shop on his bicycle. The hooligans didn’t co back.
Lin Lan and Qiaohui went to the Eucalyptus Forest together. After setting up their stall, she went to see Hou Gui. "Brother Hou, do you have any butter or marshmallows?"
Hou Gui smiled. "I have marshmallows. Not many people ask for butter, but if you want so, I can buy it for you."
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Great. Could you buy a hundred jin of butter for first? And have two hundred jin of marshmallows delivered to my house, along with peanuts and black sesa seeds."
Hou Gui happily took out a notebook to write it down. "Sister Zhou stopped running her stall after she opened her shop. Your family has a shop now too, so why are you still running a stall?"
Lin Lan laughed. "I still prefer my old trade. I’ll let Xiangyang manage the shop."
Li Wu chid in from the side, "Little Lin, once the busy season is over, we’ll co to your place to buy New Year’s goods. You have to give us a good discount!"
Lin Lan readily nodded. "Don’t worry, I’ll give you all a huge discount."
A crowd gathered, all saying they would go to Lin Lan’s place to buy new clothes for the New Year once the rush was over.
Before leaving, Lin Lan went to Li Wu’s stall and bought glutinous rice, fine flour, milk powder, and raisins. She asked him to deliver them to Lexing so she could prepare to make sachima and puffed rice candy.
Back ho, she went to find Li Guizhi to buy a few dozen jin of corn, and while she was at it, she urged her to deliver the maltose quickly.
Li Guizhi nodded repeatedly and pulled Lin Lan down to sit. "Little Lin, Brother Zhang and I want to ask you for a favor."
Seeing the couple’s embarrassed expressions, Lin Lan assud they wanted to borrow money. Thinking that they were decent people, she smiled and said, "Alright, tell what’s on your mind."
Zhang Rongqing said, "Little Lin, to be honest, thanks to your help this year, we not only paid off all our family’s debts but also saved over two hundred yuan."
"Guizhi and I saw how well your business is doing, and we got an idea ourselves, so we shalessly ca to you. We think the idea you gave us is great, but we just have too little capital."
"We thought about it for a long ti and want to learn how to make fried potatoes from you, so we can sell them over by the glass factory. We won’t learn for free. We’ll pay you a tuition fee and buy all the seasonings from you."
Li Guizhi added, "We won’t go near the silk factory and compete with ihua. We don’t want to put you in a difficult position." After they finished speaking, the couple looked at her anxiously.
Lin Lan thought for a mont. She figured the skill required for fried potatoes wasn’t very high—anyone with a keen eye could figure it out after watching a couple of tis and trying it at ho. So, she nodded and agreed.
Li Guizhi and her husband were so happy they rubbed their hands together. "Little Lin, thank you so much! I’ll go get the tuition money for you," she said gratefully.
"Sister Li, don’t bother getting the fee. I won’t accept it even if you bring it."
Lin Lan stopped her and looked at the couple sincerely. "As the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. Besides, you’ve taken such good care of and Douzi."
"Making fried potatoes is very simple. I’ll tell you the thod, and you’ll get the hang of it after trying it at ho a couple of tis."
"Little Lin, you’re truly our family’s benefactor..." Li Guizhi and Zhang Rongqing looked at Lin Lan, so grateful they didn’t know what to say.
Lin Lan quickly said, "Sister Li, Brother Zhang, I can’t accept being called a benefactor. We’re next-door neighbors who get along well, so we should look out for each other."
Li Guizhi pulled Zhang Rongqing along to bow to her. "Thank you, Little Lin. We haven’t helped you with much. In the past, I even gossiped about you behind your back with Zhang Yazhen. But later, when I ca to you about selling fava beans, you didn’t hold a grudge and even let us collect the beans..."
"Sister Li, please don’t say that," Lin Lan quickly interrupted. "Just get a pen and paper, and I’ll teach you how to make them."
"Okay." Zhang Rongqing happily went to get a pen and paper and wrote down everything Lin Lan told them, word for word.
Lin Lan said, "You already have soybeans and Sichuan peppercorns. For any of the bigger spices you don’t have, you can just buy them from my place."
"Okay, thank you, thank you." The couple happily saw Lin Lan out and then delivered the corn to her house.
Lin Lan ground the corn finely and let it settle overnight. She then extracted the cornstarch, poured it into a winnowing basket, and let it air-dry briefly on top of the oven. After rolling it out with a rolling pin, she spread it back in the basket to dry completely on the oven.
「The next morning.」
Wu Shuqin left Tong Xinglan behind and departed for ho.
Lin Lan checked the cornstarch on the oven and, seeing it was dry, gathered Lin Yuezhen and the others. They sifted the flour, then added baking powder, milk powder, whole eggs, and a few extra egg yolks, mixing everything until well combined.
They kneaded it into a dough, covered it with a porcelain basin, and let it rest for half an hour. Then, they took the dough out, rolled it into a thin sheet with a rolling pin, cut the sheet into strips, and stacked the strips to slice them into fine noodles.
They sprinkled so cornstarch over the noodles and tossed them to prevent sticking, then poured them into a sieve to shake off the excess starch.
They poured oil into a wok and heated it until small bubbles, the size of shrimp eyes, began to form. Then they added the noodles and fried them until golden brown, before scooping them out with a slotted spoon into a basin to drain the oil.
They had already lined a baking pan with parchnt paper. Into a cool wok, they added honey, water, and maltose, simring it over low heat until it thickened. Then, they poured in the fried noodles and tossed them until evenly coated.
They transferred the coated noodles into the prepared baking pan, sprinkled in black sesa seeds and raisins, and mixed them in before pressing everything down firmly with a wooden spatula.
Finally, they placed another sheet of parchnt paper on top and used a rolling pin to press it flat and shape it. After cutting it into small blocks, the sachima—golden, fluffy yet soft, and deliciously sweet—was ready.
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