Jiang Mai really had every reason to worry.

After Ye Liang left yesterday afternoon, Ye Li fried all the remaining tofu into puffed tofu.

He sent a pound to the Jiang family, leaving three pounds at home.

Today’s tofu wouldn’t sell out either, and unsold tofu would have to be fried into puffed tofu.

If the puffed tofu didn’t sell, they’d truly be losing money hand over fist!

Jiang Mai stepped out of the kitchen and saw Ye Liang already in the courtyard. He hurried over to him.

Over the past few years, Ye Liang often came to Yezaopo to help the Jiang family with farm work.

He and Ye Liang were quite familiar with each other.

Running alongside him, he asked, “Brother Liang, did you sell the puffed tofu?”

Ye Liang smiled at the question. “We sold it all!”

“They flew off the shelves—sold out in less than half an hour! Uncle Liu even sold thirty extra pancakes because of them.”

He handed the small burlap bag he was carrying to Jiang Mai, who had caught up to him. “Your brother Yí asked me to bring three pancakes for you and Ya-ger to try.”

Jiang Mai’s eyes lit up instantly upon hearing the answer he’d hoped for, all his worries vanishing.

Wonderful!

Ye Li hadn’t worked for nothing. He and Ya-ger could keep earning their wages.

Heaven knew how anxious he’d been earlier. He’d genuinely feared that if the tofu business failed, Ye Li might revert to his old vicious ways!

He reached out his small hand to take the bag, a huge smile lighting up his little face. “Brother Liang,” he asked, “have you eaten? Come inside quickly, we’re having our meal.”

Just then, Ye Li emerged from the kitchen. He beckoned Ye Liang to join them. “Brother,” he said, “while you’re at it, tell us how Brother Yi sells his pancakes and skewers.”

Ye Liang had eaten a Liu family pancake and several spinach steamed buns on his way over.

But the twenty-plus-mile trek from Darong Village to Yezaopo Village had already burned off most of those pancakes and buns.

Entering the kitchen, he spotted several corn-bean-residue cakes in the bread basket. Without hesitation, he grabbed one and began eating.

When recounting the tofu puffs’ sales process, the usually taciturn man became quite talkative.

It had gone remarkably smoothly.

His first hawking call sold four pancake-stuffed skewers, and the second call sold several more.

No sooner had he finished his third hawking call than Zhu Xing, who had already walked far away, turned back.

He wanted his family to try the fresh goods too, so he bought three more in one go.

Selling them off in small batches like this, he sold out in less than half an hour.

After selling out, Liu Yi returned home, then went out to find him. He asked Ye Liang to come to Yezaopo to settle the money with Ye Li and bring home tomorrow’s tofu puffs and large skewers.

“Li-ger, fry as many as you can today. They’ll definitely sell out.” He said cheerfully to Ye Li.

Relying solely on local customers, the two and a half pounds of tofu puffs, large skewers, and two pounds of spinach sold out in less than half an hour.

With at least twenty large and small boats docking in Baxian Town daily, the thought of adding out-of-town customers was almost too good to be true!

His eyes, once dulled by life’s pressures, now gleamed with renewed vigor.

After living for over twenty years, he felt for the first time that things might truly start looking up.

“Alright. I’ll start frying after lunch.”

Ye Li nodded with a satisfied smile.

It was just as he’d guessed.

The carb-heavy, spicy skewers were irresistible just by their appearance alone.

“Do we have enough firewood? If not, I’ll go gather some,” Ye Liang asked.

“We have enough. You’ve walked so far—rest a while,” Ye Li replied.

“Brother Liang, Ya-ger, and I gather dry wood every day. We have plenty at home.”

Jiang Mai spoke, holding a flatbread.

“That’s right. Xiao Mai and Ya-ger are so diligent and well-behaved.”

Ye Li offered a compliment.

Hearing this, Jiang Mai’s dark eyes flicked toward Ye Li.

But he said nothing.

Truthfully, such praise had become a daily occurrence lately.

At first, he suspected this man harbored ulterior motives—like a weasel paying New Year’s calls to chickens.

But now he couldn’t quite figure it out.

He didn’t know whether to be wary or pleased, so in the end, he pretended not to hear.

Beside him, Jiang Ya munched on his flatbread, puffing out his small chest proudly, his little face beaming with delight.

That’s right, he and his second brother were exceptionally capable.

This time, Ye Liang was genuinely surprised.

When he’d come yesterday, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya had gone out to gather firewood and weren’t home.

But he knew his third brother deeply disliked Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya.

Yet now, his third brother was praising the two little ones?

After his initial surprise, he felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Now Jiang Ji could focus on his studies without worry.

He and his father, his father’s father, could all rest easy.

After lunch, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya took a hemp rope to gather firewood on the mountain. Ye Liang fed the pigs and chickens, then went into the kitchen to stoke the fire for Ye Li.

Seventeen pounds of tofu remained today.

He set aside one pound for dinner. The remaining sixteen pounds, Ye Li fried entirely.

When he delivered the fried tofu puffs to Jiang Dahe yesterday evening, the old man had been quite pleased.

Learning that Jiang Dahe was low on soybean oil, Jiang Dahe had pulled a cart loaded with a large sack of beans to the county town early this morning and traded it for ten pounds of soybean oil.

Thus, he now had no shortage of soybean oil.

However, he was now in debt to Jiang Dahe once more.

After over an hour of work, the sixteen pounds of firm tofu transformed into tofu puffs and large orchid-shaped strings.

Each pound of tofu yielded half a pound of product. The sixteen pounds produced eight pounds of tofu puffs and eight pounds of large orchid strings.

Adding the three pounds fried yesterday afternoon after Ye Liang left, the total came to eleven pounds.

Priced at eleven cash per pound, eleven pounds amounted to one hundred and twenty-one cash.

Separately, before Ye Liang arrived yesterday, he had fried three jin to take to the county town to sell to restaurants. Half a jin of this was given to the Ye family for tasting, and the remaining two and a half jin were sold this morning.

The silver for these two and a half jin must also be accounted for, totaling twenty-seven wen and five li.

Ye Li generously rounded down the five li.

In the end, Ye Liang gave him one hundred forty-eight wen.

After settling the accounts for these two days, Ye Liang gave a few more instructions before shouldering his basket and heading back to Darong Village.

After seeing Ye Liang off, Ye Li returned to the kitchen. He first picked up several copper coins, weighing them in his hand, then placed them with a look of deep emotion into the special money basket.

Blood, sweat, and tears.

Blood, sweat, and tears earned by rising at three in the morning to grind soybeans!

The cost of tofu puffs and large skewers was five wen and three li per jin. Over these two days, he sold Ye Liang thirteen and a half jin of tofu puffs and large skewers, totaling seventy-one wen and five li in costs.

All told, his two days of hard work netted him seventy-six wen and five li.

As for the money earned from selling tofu, that was even harder-earned money. It took selling three jin of tofu to earn just two wen and five li.

Over these two days of selling tofu, he earned a total of twenty wen.

To be honest, he still blamed his original self.

Had he not been in such dire straits and penniless, he never would have chosen this line of work.

He carried the winnowing basket back to the west room, then collapsed onto the kang, staring blankly at the ceiling beams.

If the pancake-stuffed-skewer business took off, he could count on a steady sixty or seventy wen daily.

But grinding grain in the mornings was exhausting.

Hmm… Maybe he’ll just hire someone to turn the millstone?

Actually, aside from that, the other tasks were pretty easy. Just as he was pondering, he heard Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya outside.

The two little ones had returned from gathering firewood. The brothers were talking about his cheap husband, and even Jiang Mai’s voice carried a hint of laughter.

He calculated the time—it was almost the end of the month. In three or four days, his cheap husband would be back.

Thinking of his cheap husband’s handsome face, he pulled his gaze away from the beam and instinctively rolled onto the kang.

Well, that face really was to his taste.

But last time, his cheap husband and the original owner had a huge fight and parted on bad terms.

His cheap husband wouldn’t be in a good mood when he returned.

━━━━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━━━━

Oh well. Once his cheap husband went back to the private school, he’d hire someone to operate the mill.

He’d just work hard these next few days, then use his calloused palms to play the victim with his cheap husband.

His cheap husband had a good face—definitely a promising prospect.

And now he was the man’s legally wedded husband.

With both timing and circumstances in his favor, he absolutely had to try to build something with him.

If their personalities clashed, then he’d just focus on making money and seek a divorce.

Compared to Ye Li’s listlessness, the Ye family was brimming with energy.

Selling a pound of tofu puffs earned five wen.

Ye Liang brought back eleven pounds today. If he sold them all, he could earn fifty-five wen.

Add in the spinach, and they could earn seventy or eighty wen in a single day!

The next morning, Ye Liang and Liu Yi rose at the first crow of the rooster.

The spinach had sold well the previous morning, so that afternoon Liu Yi had dug up over ten jin from their family garden. After sorting and washing it, it was ready to be boiled shortly.

The spinach needed its own clay pot.

The eleven pounds of tofu puffs and the large string of orchids also had to be packed separately, as the large clay pots at home weren’t sufficient.

Three clay pots held the three food items.

After a simple breakfast, Ye Liang and Liu Yi, husband and wife, set off under the starry sky, walking toward the town.

By the time they reached the Liu family’s pancake stall, the deep night had faded, and light began to spread across the land, though the sun had yet to rise.

Nevertheless, the town entrance was already bustling.

Baxian Town boasted a complete array of shops, functioning as a permanent marketplace where villagers from nearby hamlets gathered daily.

Stalls of all kinds had already set up shop.

Father Liu and Mother Liu were busy kneading dough and baking pancakes, working nonstop.

Customers were already waiting at the stall.

It was Zhu Xing, the oil mill owner from yesterday.

Liu Yi’s face lit up with a smile. Another great start to the day!