After the Scholar Rejected Me, I Married the Rogue and Got Rich - Chapter 21

At this moment, Song Jinhua came out of the house and immediately saw the bowl of plump white dumplings. Remembering the recent rumors in the village about Old Master Lin’s family making money in business, a sour feeling welled up inside her. She said sarcastically, “Oh my, this is a rare treat! Dumplings with white flour and meat filling! It seems some people have really struck it rich; their food, clothing, and daily necessities are so different now! They’ve made so much money, and they only offer such a small bowl to their elders? They don’t even know how to help their own brothers; they only care about enjoying themselves!”

Upon hearing this, Grandma Lin’s face darkened, and she slammed the rag in her hand into the basin: “Song! Shut up! Can’t you shut up even if there’s food to eat? Sang’er is thoughtful, remembering us two old folks, that’s better than anything! Don’t you know what good things your own daughter has done? And you still have the nerve to talk about it here? I think you’re itching for a beating!”

Just then, Lin Fu, the eldest uncle of the Lin family, came in from outside and overheard these words.

He already felt guilty and ashamed towards his second brother’s family because his daughter had stolen his niece’s marriage. Now, seeing his wife making a fool of herself here, he flew into a rage and roared at Song Jinhua: “You spendthrift woman! All you do is gossip! Don’t you know what kind of situation we’re in? If you’re so capable, go and earn some money yourself! If you dare to talk nonsense again, I’ll beat you up!”

Hearing her parents arguing from inside the house, Lin Jiao’er ran out and tugged at her father’s sleeve, looking aggrieved: “Dad! Why are you yelling at Mom! It’s true, they…”

“How dare you say that!” Lin Fu was furious. He shook off his daughter’s hand, pointed at her, and yelled, “This is all your doing! You’ve disgraced the Lin family! If you don’t repent, you’ll regret it later!”

Seeing him venting his anger on their daughter, Song Jinhua put her hands on her hips and yelled at Lin Fu, “Lin Fu! Why are you taking your anger out on the child! If you’ve got the guts, come at me! What’s wrong with Jiao’er? Huh? What’s wrong with her! She’s a scholar’s wife now! She’ll be an official’s wife in the future! How can you be so disrespectful to her!”

Lin Fuqi went up to hit her, but Grandpa Lin slammed his hand on the table and shouted, “What’s all this commotion? What kind of behavior is this? Get back inside and stop embarrassing yourselves outside!”

After a chaotic scene, Lin Song finally seized the opportunity and ran home in a flash. His uncle’s house was really too noisy.

———

When we got home, steaming dumplings were already on the table. The whole family sat around the table and ate with great relish and satisfaction.

After the meal, Lin Sang stopped everyone and started talking about what he had seen and heard at the dock that day, including how Zhou Han helped his father and the suggestion he had made about the dock’s food business.

Upon hearing Zhou Han’s name, Wang frowned: “Zhou Han? What’s he doing at the docks? Does he still have feelings for you? Let me tell you…”

Helpless, Lin Sang interrupted her mother: “Mom! I’m talking about something serious now! Brother Zhou isn’t an ordinary worker at the dock; he’s a small foreman who can manage things. It was Brother Zhou who helped Dad get transferred to the team, which made things much easier for him. Otherwise, with Dad’s honest nature, he would have suffered a lot at the dock.”

Upon hearing this, Wang was stunned.

Can manage people? In her simple understanding, those who can manage people are all extraordinary “officials”. She thought to herself: This Zhou Han is a bit reckless, but he is quite capable? He can manage people at such a young age… But it is a fact that his family covets Sang Sang, which makes her feel uneasy.

Seeing that her mother was getting sidetracked again, Lin Sang quickly steered the conversation back on track: “Mother! The key issue now is our business in winter! If we just sit around and do nothing, we’ll still be short of money next year. Today, Brother Zhou suggested that the docks are bustling with people and would be a good place to sell food, but I haven’t decided on a specific thing yet. Let’s all think together about what can be sold at the docks that’s quick, hot, and attractive in the cold weather?”

Lin Song was the first to raise his hand: “Sister! Your dumplings are delicious! Sell dumplings! They’re piping hot right out of the pot, so warming to eat.”

Lin Sang shook her head: “Making dumplings is too time-consuming. It’s cold, and kneading the dough and filling makes your hands freeze. Plus, it’s inconvenient for passersby to take them to eat. We have to prepare tables and chairs, so it’s not worth it.”

Lin Bai thought for a moment and said, “Then… sell roasted sweet potatoes? They’re hot, you can just hold them in your hand and eat them, and they’ll warm your hands too.”

Lin Sang still shook her head: “Roasted sweet potatoes smell good, but they don’t fill you up. They’re not very filling for people who do manual labor, and they don’t fetch a high price.”

Kobayashi said softly, “Selling…selling sweet soup?”

Everyone laughed, and Lin Sang patted her head: “Miaomiao, sugar water doesn’t quench your thirst or keep you full, it won’t work.”

Everyone chimed in with their ideas, but Lin Sang rejected them all with various practical reasons. Finally, Wang, who had been silently pondering, spoke up, her eyes filled with reminiscence: “When I was young, I went to town one winter and saw someone set up a big pot and sold hot mutton offal soup with crispy baked flatbread. The soup was always boiling, and the aroma could be smelled from far away. There were so many people gathered in front of the stall, all queuing up! After drinking a bowl, the hot soup warmed them up from head to toe, and the flatbread was filling. I thought… this would be good.”

As Lin Sang listened to her mother’s words, her eyes grew brighter and brighter. The cost of mutton offal was low, the soup could be prepared in advance and kept heated, and the flatbread could also be prepared in advance. It was quick, hot, and filling, and easy to carry. People could even stand up and eat it while holding the bowl!

“Mom! That’s a great idea!” Lin Sang clapped her hands excitedly. “I think it’s a good idea! Let’s sell mutton offal soup with baked flatbread!”

Having decided on a new business, Lin Sang began to work with his mother, Wang Shi, to figure out how to use the limited tools and equipment in the house.

“Mom, this mutton offal soup sounds delicious, but when you think about it, there are a lot of troubles.” Lin Sang frowned and counted on her fingers, “First of all, we don’t have enough pots. We only have one big iron pot at home. We need to use it to make the soup, and we also need to keep the soup warm when we set up the stall. What about the flatbread? We can’t use the same pot for it, can we?”

Wang was indeed experienced. She walked around the stove and made a decision: “The pot for making soup is easy. I think we should use our biggest earthenware pot. Although it’s slower, the soup will be richer in flavor. When we set up the stall, we can put the soup in the big iron pot and let it simmer on the fire. The aroma will be strong.”

“What about the pan for making pancakes?” Lin Sang pressed. “We don’t have any extra iron pans at home. Those things are expensive.”

“I’ve thought about it,” Wang said, clearly having a plan. “I’ll go to your Uncle Chen’s house tomorrow. He’s a carpenter and has an old, discarded iron pot with a crack on the side. It’s no good for making pancakes, but I think if we grind it down, it could be used as a flat griddle. We can put it on the fire to bake pancakes, which is faster and easier than using a pot. I’ll bring some eggs to trade with him, and he’ll definitely be happy to do so.”

With the pot problem solved, Lin Sang then thought about noodles. “Kneading dough is also a big deal. It’s so cold, the dough rises slowly. If we knead and cook it right away, we won’t have enough time. Besides, we need a lot of dough every day, and kneading it all by hand is too tiring.”

Wang nodded, her gaze falling on the large earthenware basin, about half a person’s height, in the room: “Use this basin to knead the dough. Knead it the night before, wrap it tightly with a thick quilt, and place it by the stove. With the residual heat, it will rise overnight. The next morning, I’ll get up early with you to make pancakes. As for being tired…” She looked at her daughter, then at Lin Bai, who was eager to try, “Isn’t there also Bai-ge’er? He’s a boy, he eats a lot, and he’s strong. From now on, he can handle the heavy work of kneading dough at home!”

Lin Bai immediately puffed out his chest and assured her in a deep voice, “Mother, eldest sister, don’t worry! I have plenty of strength!”

“And tools,” Lin Sang continued, “We definitely don’t have enough bowls and chopsticks. We can’t expect people to drink soup with their hands, can we? I’ll go to town tomorrow to see if I can buy some more. We can’t borrow these things; I don’t think anyone has any extras.”

Wang nodded: “These things are easy to arrange, they’re not expensive, and we can use them ourselves.”

“Also, we still have some scallions and cilantro in our vegetable garden. I’ll go pick them tomorrow, wash them, and chop them. You also need to buy salt and pepper tomorrow; these are basic seasonings that we can’t skimp on,” Wang thought to herself. “We also need to prepare enough firewood; there’s nowhere to collect firewood at the docks.”

Lin Bai chimed in again, “Mother, leave the firewood to me! I’ll go up the mountain first thing tomorrow morning and chop back plenty of strong, durable wood!”

“Then I’ll go check out the place that sells offal tomorrow. I remember there are stalls in town that specialize in selling offal, which is much cheaper than meat. It’s just that we don’t know how to process it, and we don’t buy much at home,” Lin Sang recalled.

“You just go ahead and buy it, negotiate the price, and leave the rest to me. Once it’s back, I’ll do all the chores and make sure it’s spotless and odorless.”

“Okay.”

The family members talked amongst themselves, laying out all the problems they could think of and working together to find solutions.

After all the conceivable problems were solved, Wang took a deep breath, her eyes filled with fighting spirit: “Okay, let’s do it! Starting tomorrow, we’ll split up and prepare! Once everything is ready, we’ll try making it at home first, taste it ourselves, and if it’s good, then we’ll go to the dock!”

Everyone was excited and eager to try.