General, Madam Called You To Farm - Chapter 51

Chapter 51 – Earn money (1)

The ten chestnut cakes were already put into the scholar’s own pocket before they could see the prosperous market.

-Chinese chestnuts

-Chestnut Cakes

Su Xiaoxiao kept her promise and gave him one more.

The question arose again, which flavor should he choose?

Meigan cai was good. It was oily but not greasy, it was crispy but not thin, it was salty and also had a sweet taste in the mouth, so it was especially satisfying to eat it.

-Meigan Cai with pork meat filling

-A bundle of Meigan Cai (梅干菜)
A type of dry pickled chinese mustard. The pickle consists of a whole head of various varieties of chinese mustards and cabbages that has undergone an elaborate process consisting of drying, steaming, and salting. The vegetables are harvested, trimmed before the Qingming Festival, and sun-dried until limp. It is then salted or brined, kneaded until the juices are exuded, and left to ferment in large clay urns for 15 to 20 days. The vegetable is then repeatedly steamed and dried until reddish brown in color and highly fragrant.

But the red bean filling and mung bean filling were not bad either.

-Red Bean filling

-Mung Bean filling.

After he contemplated for a while, the scholar took out another 20 copper coins so that he would be able to get all three flavors.

Su Xiaoxiao handed him the wrapped cakes and said, “When I saw you yesterday, you pretty much seemed like you didn’t want to eat my cakes?”

The scholar muttered, “I… I… I just want to eat it today, can’t I ?”

Su Xiaoxiao smiled slightly: “You can.”

The little fat girl was quite cute when she smiled.

The scholar cleared his throat while pretending as if he were a flower at the top of a tall mountain1, and said, “Then, will you come here again tomorrow? Will you be late again? Will you change the places?”

1Flower at the top of a tall mountain (idiom) : it is used as a metaphor for something that can only be seen from a distance but cannot be touched, something that can only be longed for but is out of reach for oneself.

Su Xiaoxiao, who was repeatedly asked by the scholar, “.…..”

Due to many uncontrollable factors, the place for the stall was very random, and Su Xiaoxiao could not make a guarantee to him.

The scholar suggested, “Hey, how about this, why don’t you sell it at the gate of our academy? There are also many people from our academy who come all the way to Jinji to buy the snacks.”

The words he said seemed ordinary, but in fact, he gave Su Xiaoxiao a very high evaluation. He just didn’t say it directly, that her wife’s cake was the high-end substitute for Jinji’s snacks.

-Wife cakes / Lao Po Bing (老婆饼)

In ancient times, although there were poor students who could enter the academy, there were also many children from rich families.

This made Su Xiaoxiao think more about this suggestion.

Su Xiaoxiao thought for a while and asked, “But, will we be allowed to set up a stall at the gate of the Academy?”

The scholar hurriedly said, “Yes, they will allow it!”

Su Ergou on the side looked at him strangely and said, “How do you know? Is the academy run by your family?”

The scholar: “That’s right!”

Su Ergou: “……”

The scholar’s name is Shen Chuan, and his courtesy name2 is Qinghe. He is really the son of the dean of Wutong Academy.

2Courtesy name : also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one’s given name. A courtesy name is a name traditionally given to Chinese men at the age of 20, marking their coming of age. It was sometimes given to women, usually upon marriage. This practice is no longer common in modern Chinese society. According to the Book of Rites, after a man reached adulthood, it was disrespectful for others of the same generation to address him by his given name. Thus, the given name was reserved for oneself and one’s elders, whereas the courtesy name would be used by adults of the same generation to refer to one another on formal occasions or in writing.

Xinghua Town was not big, there was only one academy in the town. It was not located in the town center, but it was not too far away. It took about three or four miles away from here to walk on foot.

Shen Chuan sighed and said, “I have asked Jinji to set up a stall there before. But it’s a pity that they don’t want to, as they looked down on it.”

It was normal for Jinji to look down on it, after all it didn’t lack the customers.

Su Xiaoxiao said, “I will think about it.”

It was not far from the Jinji to the Academy, but if you counted the distance from the village to the town, it was a full ten miles.

On the one hand, the distance was far. On the other hand, the main source of customers there were students. If she couldn’t sell all the wife cakes before the morning class, there was a high probability that she would have to wait until the students finished the class at noon.

As a result, the time cost would be high.

Shen Chuan wanted to say a few more words to persuade her a little more, but another customer came over.

That customer was a generous auntie.

The auntie was carrying a basket and pushed Shen Chuan aside. She smiled and said to Su Xiaoxiao, “Girl, you are here! I have passed by several times, and I even thought that you would not come to sell the cakes today!”

Su Xiaoxiao said politely, “I’m a bit late today, what flavor do you want? Or is it the same as yesterday, two pieces of meigan cai and one piece of red bean?”