Zhang Qiaoya’s mother-in-law, known to everyone as Aunt Fang, was originally from the Zhu family, who also ran a noodle shop.
To attract more customers, the Zhu family offered complimentary side dishes with their noodles.
Aunt Fang’s mother was especially skilled at pickling vegetables. Many customers came to their shop just for her pickles.
Not long ago, Aunt Fang’s mother fell seriously ill and passed away.
She never kept her pickling secrets to herself; she taught her family how to make the pickles. But when the Zhu family tried, their pickles tasted rather ordinary.
With the shop’s side dishes lacking their former charm, many customers who came for the pickles stopped returning after just a couple of visits.
Business at the noodle shop took a downturn, leaving the Zhu family anxious.
By coincidence, Zhang Qiaoya wanted to try the pickles made by Cai Damei.
Granny Zhang brought some over, and Aunt Fang curiously took a bite.
“Hmm. The flavor isn’t any worse than my mother’s,” she said, deciding to take some back to her own home.
When the Zhu family tasted it, they agreed—it was quite good.
“The Zhu family wants to buy 10 jin of your pickles to try out at the noodle shop. If they’re good, we’ll buy regularly,” Granny Zhang said.
She opened her money pouch and pulled out two strings of coins—one with 100 wen, the other with 50 wen.
“Usually, pickles sell for about 8 to 10 wen per jin in the market. Yours taste better than anything else out there. You mentioned you used a lot of quality ingredients. I’ll offer you 15 wen per jin. Does that price work for you?”
“That’s fine. Sister-in-law wants me to make a profit, so I’m happy with it. Wait here—I’ll get it right away.” Cai Damei got up and went to the kitchen to fetch a 15-jin jar.
She hadn’t filled it completely; including the vegetables and brine, it weighed about 13 and a half jin.
Granny Zhang carried the jar away.
Cai Damei put the coin strings away and went to the backyard to pick vegetables for the next batch of pickles. Their own supply was running low, and if she didn’t pickle more soon, they’d have none left to eat.
Ye Yunniang wanted to help in the backyard, but Cai Damei stopped her.
“I can handle this small task myself. You go next door and bring Pan’er back. He was left with the neighbors this morning when we had to go out.”
“All right.” Ye Yunniang headed to courtyard number five and knocked on the door.
Liang Maimiao was cooking, carrying Xu Sanmiao on her back and holding a spatula in her hand.
“Sister Maimiao, cooking lunch,” she said warmly.
“Mm, just one more dish to stir-fry. We’ll eat here at noon.”
“No, thank you. We’re cooking at home too. I came to get Pan’er for lunch. Sister, thank you for looking after him this morning.”
“No trouble at all. Aunt Cai often helps me watch over Da Lei and Er Lei. The three boys are playing in the backyard now,” Liang Maimiao said, then called out towards the yard, “Pan’er, your mother’s here to get you. Da Lei, Er Lei, stop playing and wash your hands for lunch.”
“All right, got it.”
“Oh, I’m so hungry!”
“Mom, what’s good to eat today?”
Three voices answered, and before long, three little rascals came running out from the backyard.
The smallest one shouted “Mom!” as he ran straight into Ye Yunniang’s arms.
Ye Yunniang reached out to steady the little head rushing at her. “Pan’er?”
“Mm, Mom. I’m hungry.”
Pan’er flailed his tiny arms and legs, crying out for food, completely oblivious to the slight annoyance his mother felt.
“Hungry? Let’s go home and eat,” Ye Yunniang said, wrapping Pan’er’s little hands in her handkerchief and bidding farewell to Liang Maimiao.
“Sister Maimiao, we’re leaving now.”
“All right, come back and play again,” Liang Maimiao smiled as she saw Ye Yunniang and Pan’er out the door.
Turning around, she grit her teeth and shouted angrily, “Da Lei, Er Lei, what do you two think you’re doing? How many times have I told you? No playing in the mud. And yet, here you are, covered in it again…”
Back at home, she could hear the sounds of Da Lei and Er Lei pleading and crying from the neighboring courtyard.
Ye Yunniang sighed in relief. Thankfully, she only had Pan’er. If there were more children, she wondered how much more chaos there would be.
Ye Yunniang first boiled a large pot of water to bathe Pan’er.
After washing him with three basins of water, the little mud monkey was finally clean, transformed into a chubby little boy.
She wrapped Pan’er in fresh clothes and carried him to the bed.
“Sit on the bed and wait for me to come back,” Ye Yunniang instructed, then took the basin outside to pour out the dirty water.
Returning to the room, she saw Pan’er struggling to dress himself.
Being so young, he couldn’t tell front from back, and had put his clothes on inside out. The tied garment tripped him up, and Pan’er fell flat on his back, flapping his arms and legs like a little turtle.
Ye Yunniang couldn’t help but laugh, her mind flashing back to the image of Jiang Tingjun during his “grasping ceremony,” lying on his back just like this.
She walked over, carefully untied Pan’er’s clothes, and dressed him properly, one piece at a time, finishing with his shoes.
Pan’er bounced on the floor a couple of times, then grabbed Ye Yunniang’s hand. “Mama, I’m hungry~”
“Pan’er is hungry. Mama will get you something to eat,” Ye Yunniang said, going to the main room. She unwrapped the jujube cake she had bought and handed a piece to Pan’er. “Eat this first. Mama will comb your hair, then make dinner. How about some meat?”
“Okay, meat!” Pan’er stuffed the soft jujube cake into his mouth eagerly.
Ye Yunniang tied Pan’er’s hair into two little pigtails sticking up, using long hair ties. With skillful hands, she braided the remaining hair ties into a small flower.
She cut a piece of pork belly to make braised pork, stir-fried some bean sprouts, cooked a pot of rice, and prepared some rice soup for broth.
Once the food was laid out, Ye Yunniang called Cai Damei from the busy backyard to come eat.
“Mama, it’s time to eat.”
“Oh.” Cai Damei put down her work, took the cloth Ye Yunniang handed her to wipe her hands clean, and went to the front courtyard to eat.
After the meal, Cai Damei was about to clear the dishes, but Ye Yunniang stopped her.
“Pan’er is sleepy. You go rest with him in the room. I’ll take care of the cleaning,” Ye Yunniang said as she stacked the bowls and plates, carrying them to the washing area by the well.
To make washing vegetables and dishes easier, Cai Damei had specially arranged for someone to build a stone platform next to the well.
A stone stool was placed beside the platform, so she could sit while washing, reducing the need to bend over.
After washing the dishes and tidying the kitchen, Ye Yunniang returned to the side room and applied some face powder to her hands.
She opened her sewing pouch, took out some fabric, cut it into handkerchiefs, and thoughtfully planned what patterns to embroider.
With her design clear in mind, Ye Yunniang began to stitch.
After a while, Pan’er’s crying came from the main room.
Setting her needle and thread down, Ye Yunniang went into the main room.
“Mama, my little flower is gone,” Pan’er cried, clutching a hair tie.
“It’s gone? Mama will make you another one. Don’t cry,” Ye Yunniang said, taking the hair ties and quickly braiding another little flower.
“Little flower, little flower,” Pan’er stopped crying, happily jumping and grabbing the flower braid.
He clung to Ye Yunniang, asking her to make more little flowers. He wanted to give them to his friends.
Ye Yunniang agreed.
Cai Damei said, “You stay home and look after Pan'er, I’ll go buy some jars.”
There were only two jars at home for pickling vegetables. Granny Zhang took one, so they needed to buy new ones.
“Mother, how many jars do you want to buy? It might be hard to carry. I’ll go with you,” Ye Yunniang stood up and followed Cai Damei out of the house.
“I’ll buy three jars and be back soon,” Cai Damei said, picking up the woven basket hanging on the wall.
“That’s not enough. You should buy more,” Ye Yunniang thought it wouldn’t suffice.
“That’s too many. No need to buy so many,” Cai Damei said, feeling it unnecessary.
“Mother, I believe the Zhu Family will keep buying the pickles you make,” Ye Yunniang trusted Cai Damei’s skill and was confident she could win over the customers.
“Even so, it won’t be that much. People come there to eat noodles, they won’t treat pickles as their main dish. Four jars are enough,” Cai Damei calculated.
“Mother, I think we could start a business selling pickles separately,” Ye Yunniang shared her idea.
Back at the Jiang Mansion, Jin Huifang always enjoyed the pickles Ye Yunniang brought. Since returning, many neighbors had come by to trade for some.
Ye Yunniang believed Cai Damei’s craftsmanship was excellent.
Why not make this the family’s livelihood?
Once they earned some money, they could buy a shop and open a specialty store selling all kinds of pickled vegetables.
