Elder Qin and Qin San Lang, seeing that the Gu Family was now out of trouble, also went back to their work.
Third Grandma asked Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, those people said they would co again tomorrow, how will you reply to them? Are you really going to sell all the tofu to them?"
Third Grandma knew that tofu was in short supply and the more they sold, the more they earned. But their families could only make so much tofu each day with so many people; if they sold it to the people from Lianghe Village, what would they do about their own tofu stall? They would have no tofu to sell at the stall.
Gu Jinli said, "Third Grandma, don’t worry, we’ll talk about this tonight."
With no other choice, Third Grandma no longer asked and entered the yard with the others.
With a creak, Mrs. Cui opened the large doors of the main house and walked out with Gu Jinxiu and Brother Cheng.
Mrs. Cui and Gu Jinxiu still had fright on their faces, Gu Jinxiu even held a firewood knife in her hand.
Seeing this, Gu Jinli was quite satisfied; being able to pick up a knife and defend oneself in dangerous tis was much better than passively getting beaten.
However, Brother Cheng, just a small boy, was completely calm, without the slightest fear, still holding a carrying pole and said to Gu Jinli, "Second Sister, I will protect Mom and Big Sister."
Gu Jinli smiled and said, "Mhm, Brother Cheng is very capable."
She continued, "However, when the opponent is too strong, you shouldn’t confront them head-on, run away first, and then find an opportunity to give them a good thrashing later on."
"Mhm, I’ll rember that," Brother Cheng assured her. "Second Sister, don’t worry, I definitely won’t let myself get beaten by others."
Mrs. Cui felt that Gu Jinli should not teach Brother Cheng this way, but thinking about the incidents they encountered on the road when fleeing the famine, she suppressed the words that ca to her lips, instead asking about Gu Jin’an, "How’s Good Brother An doing? Did Scholar Shang take him in?"
Gu Dashan said with a smile, "He did, he did, from today on, our Good Brother An will be Scholar Shang’s student and will start studying with him."
Mrs. Cui was very happy, her eyes welling up with tears: "That’s great, that’s great, our Good Brother An can finally go to school."
Seeing her react this way, Gu Dashan’s eyes also beca teary.
Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui had always felt very guilty towards Good Brother An; because Granny Gu detested them, their children were also mistreated by Granny Gu, and Good Brother An was bullied to a terrible extent.
Good Brother An was smart and liked studying very much; when he was little and saw Gu Youwen and his son studying, he followed along and tried to learn, but was chased away by Gu Youwen and his son.
Good Brother An was very sad and hid away to cry by himself.
Mrs. Cui, feeling sorry for her son, secretly taught Good Brother An how to recognize characters. He learned quickly, but one day, while Good Brother An was writing characters on the ground with a stick, Granny Gu saw him. She struck his hand with her walking stick, causing it to swell up imdiately. If Good Brother An hadn’t run away quickly, his hand might have been crippled by Granny Gu’s beating.
Granny Gu warned the couple that if she ever saw Good Brother An writing characters again, she would break his hands and then sell him.
The reason Granny Gu was so enraged by this was simple: she couldn’t stand the thought of Good Brother An achieving success.
Being intelligent, Good Brother An then only practiced writing quietly inside the house and was never discovered by Granny Gu again.
But this incident had been deeply rembered by Mrs. Cui and Gu Dashan for half their lifetis, leaving them with unbearable guilt. Now that Good Brother An could finally go to school openly and the master he was studying under was a scholar, the couple were so moved that they cried.
Third Grandma looked at the couple whose eyes brimd with hot tears, a mix of exasperation and amusent on her face: "You two, wipe your tears off. This is a joyous occasion, what are you crying for?"
"Eh, no more crying." Mrs. Cui dried her tears and said to Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, make crystal sweet and sour pork tonight. Your brother loves this dish. It’s his big day today; let’s celebrate it properly."
Last ti when Scholar Shang’s Family ca over for a al, she heard the head of the family ntion, Good Brother An ate quite a bit of the crystal sweet and sour pork. It seed he fancied sweet and sour flavors, so she decided to make crystal sweet and sour pork for Good Brother An today and let him eat his fill.
"Alright." Gu Jinli agreed briskly, and the family of three got busy with household chores.
Today, Gu Jinli did not press oil but took out cardamom and fennel, two kinds of spices, and crushed them with a hamr before grinding them with Gu Jinxiu and Third Grandma.
They had just finished grinding a pound of spices when Third Grandpa and his troupe ca back from packing up their stall.
Third Grandpa didn’t look too good. After placing down his carrying pole, he sat in the courtyard sighing.
Seeing this, Third Grandma hurriedly asked, "Old man, what’s wrong with you?"
After so thought, Third Grandpa told them about what happened in town today: "Those two eateries at the front and back streets, as well as Fugui Building on the main street, are all selling our Fried Five-Spice Tofu. The flavor is exactly the sa as ours."
"What? There’s soone in the town selling Fried Five-Spice Tofu?" Angered, Third Grandma stood up and cursed, "This damned bunch, how shaless can they be, to copy what Xiao Yu ca up with!"
After cursing, she anxiously asked Third Grandpa, "What do we do now? If they’re selling Fried Five-Spice Tofu, aren’t they going to take away our custors?"
Gu Jinli had already anticipated that others would follow suit and sell Fried Five-Spice Tofu, but she wasn’t worried at all. Hearing Third Grandma’s words, she asked Third Grandpa, "Third Grandpa, how was our business today? Isn’t it still as booming as before?"
Third Grandpa nodded, "Indeed, it’s just the sa as before. It’s just that the plain tofu sells out too quickly. We barely arrived at the town and it was snatched up. Da Gui’s wife forcefully reserved two portions of plain tofu, which allowed us to set up our stall today."
Third Grandma was confused, "Aren’t there people selling Fried Five-Spice Tofu now? Why is our business still so good?"
Gu Jinli laughed and said, "Third Grandma, where do they get their tofu from? They buy it from us. So regardless of whether they make Fried Five-Spice Tofu or not, it doesn’t affect us much. We have the plain tofu and spices in our control."
"With these two things, we don’t need to fear them. If they want to make Fried Five-Spice Tofu, they must spend money to buy plain tofu and spices from us. The more plain tofu and spices they buy, the more we earn. It’s no different from them working for us."
She looked up at Third Grandma and gave a sly smile, "If our inco decreases, we can even raise the price of the plain tofu."
After hearing Gu Jinli’s words, Third Grandpa and Third Grandma were stupefied for a mont but quickly caught on. Third Grandma laughed and said, "Oh, Xiao Yu is really smart. Well then, let them sell the Fried Five-Spice Tofu if they want." After all, the more they sell, the more they are helping us make money.
Third Grandpa and Third Grandma stopped worrying about it and got busy again.
Third Grandma also told Third Grandpa about the villagers of Lianghe Village coming to buy plain tofu, and how they were almost mistaken for evil people and almost got beaten.
"Xiao Yu said, we need to discuss this matter among a few families before we can respond to them."
Having heard this, Third Grandpa who initially wanted to ask Gu Jinli for her plans, decided to let it be and waited patiently to discuss it when they divided the money in the evening.
It had not been long since Third Grandpa and the others returned when Gu Jin’an also ca back from Scholar Shang’s house after school, but just as he reached the edge of the village, he was stopped by Gu Dexing.
User Comments
0 comments from readers