Chapter 74 - Collaboration (1/2)

When Yu Hang noticed that his little sister continued to glance at his clothing, his eyes flickered evasively, and he squeezed out a smile, “That uh...when I was moving timber around, I accidentally caught my coat on a branch…”

“If a branch poked a hole into your coat, it should leave a triangle sized hole, right? How did it become little strips?” Little Shitou asked doubtfully. He liked to climb trees and occasionally his clothing would also get caught on the branches.

Yu Hang coughed fakely and said, “If I said a branch grazed my clothing, then it was a branch! Little children shouldn’t have too much to say! ...Younger Sister, how’s Father’s leg injury right now?”

“Father’s injury is mostly healed, and he can even walk with crutches right now. Older Brother, our family has already split and we also revamped the old residence. If you don’t feel happy staying here, then come home with us! Now we don’t have to deal with Grandmother constantly scolding us or Eldest Aunt’s sour comments!”

Yu Xiaocao could tell that the marks left on his clothing seemed to have been caused by a whip. In addition, every time she came over to see him, her older brother always seemed to have new injuries on him. Thus, she wanted to bring Yu Hang home.

When Yu Hang found out that their branch had finally separated from the others, a true smile finally appeared on his face. However, when he remembered Shopkeeper Zhang’s ruthless personality, he knew that the man wouldn’t let him leave easily. He recalled that the last time one of the apprentices’ family members came to take him home, they were told they had to give up twenty taels to take him out. He couldn’t help but frown at that memory.

When they separated from the family, his stingy grandmother would definitely not give their branch a lot of money. In addition, they had to rebuild the house, buy furniture and purchase household wares. He was sure that his family had to take on some debt. As the oldest son of the family, he wasn’t in a position to help them with their issues, thus, he definitely couldn’t add to their troubles!

With great difficulty, Yu Hang tampered down his desire to leave and slowly shook his head, “The master at the shop treats me pretty well, and he already taught me a lot of carpentry skills. I want to stay here a little longer and it won’t be too late to go home after I master this trade.

Yu Xiaocao tried again to convince him but Yu Hang stubbornly insisted on staying, so there was nothing more she could do. She stuffed a meat bun that she brought over into his hands and gave him fifty copper coins. Only after she did that did she silently leave.

As he watched the slowly disappearing figures of his younger brother and sister, Yu Hang did his best to hold back his tears. He hoped that he could endure long enough to see his siblings again in the future...

“Older Sister, where should we go now?” Little Shitou felt somewhat down as even he could sense something was off.

Xiaocao pondered the question and then said, “It’s still early right now, we should go to Zhenxiu Restaurant and see if Third Young Master Zhou is there.”

When they got to Zhenxiu Restaurant, the manager told them that the Young Master had gone to the capital to oversee the details surrounding the opening of a branch restaurant. He was so busy that he couldn’t even spare time for the condiment factory and could only have Steward Zhou watch it.

After leaving Zhenxiu Restaurant, Yu Xiaocao thought for a bit and then took her little brother to look at the food market.

Since they were growing vegetables at home, it was necessary to explore the food market. The market at Tanggu was on the most remote road in the town and was named ‘North Market’. At noon, the market didn’t have much going on. Only a couple of stalls were open, and they were selling radishes and Chinese cabbages that didn’t look very fresh. It was obvious that they had been stored in the cellar for a whole winter.

Yu Xiaocao pulled her younger brother into a pickled vegetable stand and found that there wasn’t much variety. There was a black colored thick paste that faintly smelled of mold, a form of dried radish that had been salted, and a watery-looking salted Chinese cabbage...compared to her previous life’s supermarkets, which had more than twenty varieties of pickled and salted vegetables, this was quite a let down.

Xiaocao rubbed her nose and started to plan. Should she pickle some salted vegetables and leave them here to sell? However, even if she wanted to make some, she wouldn’t be able to do so this year. The family stores of radish and Chinese cabbage were low. She wasn’t even sure if there was enough left to pickle for her own family to eat.

“Little girl, do you want to buy some salted vegetables?” The stall’s shopkeeper was a sixteen to seventeen year old young man. He greeted them with a friendly demeanor despite their shabby looking clothes.

Yu Xiaocao sheepishly replied, “I was just looking if you had any pickled cucumbers…”

“Pickled cucumbers? Is that also a type of pickled vegetable? You can pickle cucumbers?” The young man asked humbly as his voice carried an undercurrent of excitement.

This pickled vegetable stand was opened by his mother when she was still alive. At that time, his mother was very skilled in pickling and salting vegetables. People from far-flung villages would come and buy a jar from her. His mother later fell ill and passed away, and he had only learned a few pickling methods. In addition, the taste of his pickles could not even come close to how tasty his mother’s were. Gradually, the business in his stall declined. Jiang Yu felt anxious and angry as he watched his mother’s life’s work slowly declining in his own hands.

“Ah...when cucumbers are in season, I’ll make some pickled cucumbers and bring them over for you to taste. If you think they taste good, I was planning on placing them in your stall to sell…” Yu Xiaocao smiled winsomely.

Jiang Yu sighed heavily and said, “I’m afraid that my stall won’t be able to last until then…”

Yu Xiaocao thought for a bit and then said, “Ah, older brother…”

“I’m called Jiang Yu, just call me by my name!” Jiang Yu smiled somewhat bashfully.