Lin Lan finished packing the kidney bean rolls for her and asked with a smile, "Ma’am, my sister-in-law made so tofu and silken tofu. Would you like to take a look?"
"Oh, you have silken tofu?" The woman glanced at Yang Liying before asking, "How much is it?"
Lin Lan lifted the cloth covering the wooden bucket, picked up an enal bowl, and said with a smile, "One bowl like this is ten cents."
Seeing it was a good-sized bowl, the woman nodded. "Ten cents for a bowl this size isn’t expensive. I’ll bring a porcelain bowl tomorrow to buy so and try it. Now, let see your tofu."
Just then, another custor arrived for Lin Lan. Blushing, Yang Liying smiled and picked up a block of tofu to show the woman. "A block of tofu is ten cents. Our tofu is pressed firm, so one block is a little over a pound."
The woman looked at the smooth, white tofu and nodded. "It looks firr than what they sell at the vegetable company. I wonder if it tastes any good."
Yang Liying was very confident in the flavor of her family’s tofu. She smiled. "Don’t you worry, Comrade. My parents used to make tofu, so I guarantee it’s delicious."
The woman handed Yang Liying ten cents. "I’ll take a block!"
"You got it!" Yang Liying happily picked up a large, sturdy vegetable leaf, placed it under the tofu, and set it in the woman’s basket. "Don’t worry, Comrade, all the leaves are washed clean."
The woman nodded in satisfaction. "People will only buy what’s clean and hygienic." She felt much more comfortable shopping here. You could pick your own items, and you didn’t have to deal with the sour expressions of the workers at the vegetable company and the food station.
Yang Liying clutched the ten-cent coin and happily turned to look at Lin Lan. She was busy packing kidney bean rolls for another custor. ’Her business is doing so well,’ Yang Liying thought. ’If only mine could be this good soday.’
Lin Lan noticed more people were buying kidney bean rolls than orchid beans today. ’In a couple of days, I should find ti to go back to my parents’ house,’ she thought. ’I’ll ask my big brother and the others to help gather more white beans and mung beans.’
After finishing with a custor, she turned and saw Yang Liying standing there in a daze. She smiled and said, "Third Sister, uncover the tofu and try calling out to custors!"
Yang Liying looked at her, her face turning red. "What should I say?"
Lin Lan thought for a mont, recalling the old peddlers who used to carry tofu on shoulder poles through the streets, hawking their wares. She lowered her voice and demonstrated for the people passing by: "Tofu, silken tofu... Get your tofu and silken tofu..."
Sure enough, two people carrying shopping baskets heard her and walked over. After asking the price, one bought a block of tofu, and the other said they’d go ho to get a deep bowl for so silken tofu.
Yang Liying saw that calling out a few tis was actually effective. She opened her mouth, but no sound ca out. She turned to Lin Lan. "I can’t do it."
Lin Lan laughed and said in a low voice, "Third Sister, the first step is always the hardest. You’ve already made your first sale, so you’re past the most difficult part. You just have to keep one thought in your mind: ’I need to turn all this food into money.’ If you think like that, you won’t feel so shy.
"Whenever soone walks by, just call out confidently. Let people know what you’re selling! Once you get the first shout out, the rest will co easily."
"Okay!" Yang Liying mustered her courage and let out a call, but it was so quiet only she and Lin Lan could hear it. Looking at Lin Lan’s encouraging gaze, she finally raised her voice and belted it out. This ti, it was so loud that everyone turned to look at her.
Zhou Xiaohong gave her a kind smile. "Don’t be scared, Little Sis. It’s always like that the first ti!"
"Thank you, Big Sis!"
Yang Liying blushed, smiled, and nodded, suddenly feeling it wasn’t so difficult after all. From then on, whenever she saw soone approaching with a shopping basket, she would call out. She sold several blocks of tofu one after another.
A little while later, a few children ca with enal basins to buy silken tofu. Yang Liying filled her serving bowl to the brim for each of them before pouring it into their basins.
After Lin Lan sold all of her goods, she saw that Yang Liying still had one block of tofu and a little less than half a bucket of silken tofu left.
"Third Sister, let’s wait a little longer. Soone is bound to co for the rest of the silken tofu."
Yang Liying was already thrilled with her results. She looked at Lin Lan, beaming. "It’s okay. We can just take whatever’s left ho to eat."
"I bet you can sell the rest of the tofu," Lin Lan said, pointing toward Li Xiangyang. "You wait here. I’m going to go talk to him."
Yang Liying turned to look at Li Xiangyang. "Hey, doesn’t that young man look like one of Ding Bang’s good friends?"
Lin Lan nodded. "That’s right. After Zhang Yazhen reported , my great-aunt asked him to help watch my stall for a couple of days."
"I rember his father is a butcher. People like them are certainly bold," Yang Liying sighed.
Lin Lan recalled the old woman saying the Li family had been running stalls in several black markets for years. She couldn’t help but admire them. "They are. They’ve got real guts."
She took the remaining two bags of orchid beans and one bag of kidney bean rolls over to where Li Xiangyang was squatting. "Master Li, I have two bags of orchid beans left. You can take them ho as a snack with drinks. Please take the kidney bean rolls back for Uncle Li."
Li Xiangyang accepted them with a smile. "Thanks! No need to prepare any kidney bean rolls for the old man tomorrow. We’ll ask you for more in a few days."
Lin Lan smiled and nodded. "Alright!"
Li Xiangyang lowered his voice. "Stay sharp tonight. I’ll bring the coal over to you at ten o’clock."
"That’s too much trouble for you. Let bring so people to co get it," Lin Lan said quietly.
Li Xiangyang shook his head. "Don’t. It’ll be too conspicuous if you bring people."
Lin Lan could only nod in agreent.
Zhou Xiaohong walked over with her carrying basket on her back. "Little Lin, is that your sister-in-law over there? How’s the tofu business?"
"She’s my husband’s third sister." Lin Lan turned and saw soone buying the last of the tofu from Yang Liying. "She’s all sold out of tofu."
Zhou Xiaohong was reminded of when she’d asked her own older sister to start a small business. Her brother-in-law, that stubborn mule, had said she had low political consciousness and that he’d rather eat sweet potato porridge for every al than go out and earn money that way.
"Looks like your sister-in-law has ’low consciousness’ just like the rest of us, huh!"
Lin Lan laughed. "With an empty stomach and empty pockets, what’s the use of having ’high consciousness’? You can’t spend it like money."
Li Wu peeked over and chuckled. "Little Lin’s right. For us common folk, filling our bellies is the most important thing."
"Oh, get out of here!" Zhou Xiaohong said with a laugh, giving him a sidelong glance. "Hurry ho and take care of your eighty-year-old mother!"
Li Wu laughed. "Big Sister, Little Lin might not know the story, but you certainly do!"
"I know, I know!" Zhou Xiaohong rolled her eyes at him. "It’s been so many years, and you still can’t co up with a new excuse."
"Sigh." Li Wu put on a pained expression. "When I get nervous, my brain just freezes up. It’s the only excuse I can ever rember."
Li Xiangyang laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Next ti, just keep your mouth shut and put on a sour face. That’ll be enough."
The two brothers, Hou Bing and Hou Gui, also walked over laughing. The group chatted and joked for a few more minutes before they all packed up to head ho.
Yang Liying sold two more bowls of silken tofu. With about two or three pounds of it left in the bucket, she decided to pack up as well.
On the way ho, she excitedly told Lin Lan, "It takes over two pounds of soybeans to make a slab of tofu, but just over one pound to make a bucket of silken tofu. I cut the slab of tofu into twelve blocks and sold them for one yuan and twenty cents total. I sold seven bowls of silken tofu and still have so left. The silken tofu is definitely more profitable."
Seeing how happy she was, Lin Lan was happy for her too. "Of course. Soft silken tofu has a lot more water in it."
Yang Liying did so quick ntal math and said excitedly, "Lin Lan, after subtracting my costs, I earned over a yuan today! If I do this for a month, it’ll be as much as Ding Bang’s entire salary."
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