Chapter 211 - A Transformation (1/2)
The raging demand for the Yu Family’s starch jelly was more than they could supply. Even the passengers on the ships would also come over to join in on the fun and buy a bowl of takeout to taste. Naturally, one bowl was not enough to satisfy the desires of a whole family. Thus, they would send their servants to buy some more. However, the Yu Family’s starch jelly was too popular. Oftentimes, by the time the servants arrived for the second portion, they had to go back empty handed. There were even some people who waited in line for a long time in order to just have a taste of the starch jelly!
The few baskets of red algae that Yu Xiaocao had brought over had very quickly been simmered away into starch jelly, and there were still people clamoring for more. Furthermore, starch jelly was not the type of food that filled people up, so after eating one bowl the person would soon get hungry again. Thus, the dockworkers all came back during their next break to consume another bowl to satisfy their desires and cool themselves down.
Xiaocao’s cold noodles were also quite popular, especially during the time when one pot of starch jelly was sold out and the other was still simmering on the stove. The workers who couldn’t wait could only settle for the other option and order a bowl of cold noodles to eat. However, they didn’t expect the cold noodles to also be incredibly delicious, so they were all pleasantly surprised. All of the remaining flour in the noodle stand, whether it was made of coarse grains or wheat, had all been used up by the time evening arrived.
By the time it was suppertime, the Yu Family’s stand had nothing left to sell to the workers who came by. After sending off the groups of disappointed workers, Xiaocao and her family cleaned up the stand in preparation to go home.
At this time, a tanned youth who wasn’t very tall but was very muscular stopped by quickly. He flashed a smile that revealed a row of white teeth, “Second Uncle, Xiaocao, are you guys cleaning up already? Do you need my help with anything?”
It took Xiaocao a moment before she recognized the brawny and tan young man in front of her. Apparently it was her paternal cousin, who she technically didn't have blood relations with, Heizi. Although Yu Hai had pretty much stopped having any encounter with the main branch, he was still quite friendly to Heizi, who had little to do with their complicated relationship, “Heizi ah! You must be hungry right? There’s still some starch jelly in the bucket that your younger sister, Xiaocao, left for me. Take some to eat!”
It could be said that Yu Heizi had undergone an astounding transformation in these past few months. Not only did he manage to endure through backbreaking hard labor, but he also officially became a regular worker under Brother Six. Regular workers received a monthly salary. In addition, they also got two days of paid leave every month and bonuses when they did well. Becoming part of the regular staff meant that one no longer had to fear not having a job to feed oneself.
Heizi, who had worked hard the past few months, had long transformed his body full of fat into a ball of muscle. Although he was on the shorter side, he now looked a lot more brawny and strong. In fact, within his group of coworkers, there were a few who had inquired whether he had already married or had a fiancée yet. If not, they wanted to introduce their own daughters to see if they could be matched with this competent and slick young fellow. Heizi carefully inspected a few families and ended up choosing a girl who had average looks but was kind and hardworking. Then, he had his parents propose the marriage to the girl’s family.
Originally, Madam Li had wanted to match her son with a girl whose family had decent circumstances in town. The first person that came to mind was her maternal niece. Her second older brother had a general goods store in town. Right after her niece was born, her second brother had an unexpected accident and harmed his core, so he was unable to father any more children. Although he technically adopted a son from his elder brother’s family to carry on the line, at least half of her second brother’s fat inheritance had to be given to her niece. Madam Li was planning on using marriage ties to get wealth!
However, Heizi knew what his older female cousin, who was older than him by a year, was truly like. Everyone said that nieces resembled their maternal aunts, and it was true for his cousin. She was just like his mother: happy to partake but not prepared to do any work. In addition, she was as fat as a plump pig. Her face was so fat that it resembled a corpse’s face that had been swollen from sitting out for several days. Furthermore, his older cousin had been spoiled by his second uncle to the skies. She had an arrogant and willful temper beyond imagination. In fact, she even dared to shout at and order her own father around.
If Heizi had not changed, then it was likely that he would have listened to his mother’s plans and obediently agreed to this marriage for the sake of getting his hands on his second uncle’s assets. However, the few months he spent at the docks not only toughened his body but also changed his values. The kind and honest dock workers had morphed Heizi’s way of thinking.
Now, he had the ability to make a living. Although he was currently a lowly regular worker, his monthly salary was decent, a tael. One tael was more than enough to sustain a family of four without any issues. In the future, if he continued to work hard and do well, he might be promoted and earn two taels a month. If Brother Six appreciated his work even more, he could then be promoted to a foreman. The monthly salary for a foreman was five taels. Currently, he had already saved up five to six taels in his private purse after working for a few months. What was the point in sacrificing his future happiness for the sake of money now?
Heizi had revamped his thinking in these past few months. He needed to marry a wife who was like his second paternal aunt, a woman who was kind and capable. She needed to be able to manage both the inner courtyard and outside matters. In fact, he had looked closely at his second paternal uncle’s family. They had all become rich through their own efforts and were doing better every day. As for his own family, his father wasn’t very competent and his mother was a lazy bum who was of no use. Furthermore, his grandmother held all of the money tightly within her own hands. Thus, the whole family was unable to eat their fill on even coarse grain.
Therefore, when he was considering his colleague’s daughters, he chose a maiden whose family was the poorest out of all of them. This young woman’s mother had died from an illness two years ago, and the family had sold their few plots of land in an effort to raise money to treat her before she passed. Now, the entire household was reliant on Heizi’s colleague’s salary to survive.
This girl was the oldest in the family. After her mother passed away, she became the person in charge of farming and taking care of her four younger siblings. It was obvious that this girl was very hard working as she was able to manage the household very well even as a young preteen. Her younger siblings always wore clean clothing that were patched perfectly. At a glance, he could tell that this girl knew how to live her life well! He naturally had to choose a wife like her!
In the beginning, Madam Li didn’t want to go along with his choice. However, Heizi said something that made her change her mind: “Mother, I’m marrying a wife, not an uppity lady! You know Older Cousin too. Do you think you can order her around to do work? Do you think she’ll take care of you when you get old? She even dares to verbally abuse Second Maternal Uncle and Second Maternal Aunt, do you think you’ll be able to endure her bad temper?”