Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 105: Zhang Ruo’s New Grandson

Chapter 99

Zhang Ruo’s New Grandson

The next morning, Xiaolin woke up feeling refreshed and cheerful. She sang while watering the vegetables, her body wiggling and her bottom shaking in a happy dance. Hui Song, who had just returned from fetching water, could only stand and watch his granddaughter’s antics with a bemused expression, relieved that his wife wasn’t around to witness it.

Zhang Ruo had often complained about wanting to teach their granddaughter proper ladylike manners, given that she was no longer the daughter of poor villagers but now part of a trading family who met many different people. It was important for her to learn how to conduct herself properly.

"Xiaolin is happy, wiggle wiggle, shake it and shake it, wiggle wiggle," the chubby child said, setting down the water ladle to dance some more, much to Hui Song’s headache. Why did his granddaughter love shaking her bottom so much?

"You’re going to shake your waist loose," Hui Song remarked. Xiaolin turned to see her grandfather’s exasperated face and laughed heartil

"I’m just in a good mood," she said, picking up the ladle again to water the vegetables.

"Why are you so happy? You’ve been dancing since morning, and it’s almost time for breakfast," Hui Song sighed, pouring the water from his bucket into a large jar.

"Hehe, it’s because of Young Master Long from yesterday. He came to see the dried squid and mussels. If he’s interested and buys them to sell, we’ll become rich merchants, Grandpa!"

"Is it that big a deal?" Hui Song raised an eyebrow at his plump granddaughter, contemplating the face of the person she mentioned.

"Yes! He’s a noble from the capital with a shop selling grains and dried foods there," Xiaolin nodded, her cheeks wobbling.

"Oh! And what did he say?" Hearing this, Hui Song squatted down, eager to listen to his granddaughter’s story.

"He said I should cook some dishes using the dried seafood for him to taste. So, I told him to come at noon,"

"In that case, go tell your grandmother to prepare everything quickly. If he runs a shop in the capital, he must have substantial purchasing power. Our shop currently sells to traders from other towns, with the largest order being a hundred jin,"

Hui Song seemed more excited than his granddaughter. He hurriedly grabbed the chubby child and walked quickly back, shouting for his wife so loudly that Zhang Ruo came out of the kitchen, holding her granddaughter’s pestle. Seeing this, Hui Song gulped nervously.

"Why are you shouting? Our house is small," Zhang Ruo said, looking at her husband with exasperation.

"It’s because of your chubby granddaughter,"

"What did Xiaolin do now?" Zhang Ruo looked down at her granddaughter, who was being held tightly by her husband, nestled against his side.

"She said that yesterday a young master from the capital came to see our dried squid and asked if we could make dishes with our dried products for him to taste. This chubby girl scheduled him to come at noon today. I thought I’d let you know so you can prepare dishes with dried squid and mussels."

"Make dried squid soup and dried fish soup with seaweed too, Grandma,"

"Is that true, my dear?" Zhang Ruo asked excitedly. Seeing her granddaughter nodding vigorously, she hurried into the kitchen to start preparations, leaving Huan Qingqing to handle breakfast.

After breakfast, Xiaolin let her grandmother handle the preparations for lunch. As for Xiaoling herself, she grabbed a small basket and led the three Huan brothers and the children to gather wild green onions.

Despite harvesting them daily for pickling, they were never enough. Besides being bought by the villagers as food and provisions, some large households sent their servants to buy several jars at a time. Therefore, Xiaolin had to hire children all day and increased their wages to fifteen brass coins per day.

Though she said all day, she didn’t make the children work non-stop. Besides giving them a lunch break, she also let them take a nap for an hour and finish work two hours earlier than the adults.

Today, her grandfather stayed home to gather villagers to dig up sweet potatoes from the fifteen mu of land they had planted. This year, they didn’t plant as much as last year because they planted two rounds, and many other families also planted sweet potatoes.

Most of the second round of sweet potatoes would be kept as provisions and to make flour. Xiaolin had workers in the factory use sweet potato flour to make glass noodles, which turned out to be grayish but chewy.

However, she planned to sell them next year because this year, both restaurants would close during the winter when fishing was impossible. Thus, the main ingredients for the restaurants would be unavailable. However, if Uncle Mustache kept slaughtering pigs throughout the winter, she would adjust the menu to fit the available ingredients.

"You can make us work all day, Xiaolin. You pay us fifteen brass coins, and we don’t need to take a nap," one of the boys suggested. Xiaolin looked at him, noticing his cheeks had started to fill out, unlike before when he was skinny.

"No, children need to nap. Otherwise, you won’t grow," Xiaolin insisted. The children, hearing this, didn’t argue further for fear they wouldn’t grow up.

Xiaolin led the children to pull up wild green onions near the large tree behind the house, where Xiao Zhong often lazed. During hot days, the children could rest in the shade, just like the three Huan brothers, who were lounging against Xiao Zhong, comfortably munching on fried bean curd snacks. Xiaolin couldn’t help but feel a bit envious seeing them so relaxed.

Seeing his chubby sister looking at him, Ching Long got up and walked over to where she was sitting on the grass, pulling up wild green onions. He quickly finished his snack and started helping her.

"Father said he’ll send me to study in the capital when I turn twelve," Ching Long said softly. If he went to the capital, he wouldn’t be able to see her until he finished his studies. Even though the academy had breaks, he would likely spend that time with his family and help his father with business.

"Next year then? Well, study hard so you can help your uncle with his business once you graduate," Xiaolin replied without looking up, focused on pulling up the green onions.

"If I have a long break, I’ll come visit you," Ching Long said, looking sadly at her round face.

"Of course. I’ll still be here in the village. There’s so much for me to do,"

Determined to visit her whenever he could, Ching Long continued to pull up green onions. As noon approached, Zhang Ruo called out to the children resting under the large tree. Although it was close to winter, some days were still sunny. Some children were napping, while others played with the lively Xiao Bai, who enjoyed running around with them.

Xiaolin led the group of children back to the house. Each child received a bowl of rice with pickled vegetables, salted pork, and a fried egg, along with a small bowl of dried squid soup. Xiaolin smiled when she saw the Zhou brothers and her potential big customer sitting on the porch. Today, they were dressed casually, ready to help her.

"I’ve come to taste your food," Long Licheng said, watching the rosy-cheeked girl approach.

"Grandmother is probably still preparing everything," Xiaolin said. "Would you like to see my factory? Besides dried seafood, I also make dried noodles."

"Dried noodles?" Long Licheng raised an eyebrow as he looked at the round-faced girl, who nodded vigorously, making her cheeks and the two buns on her head shake.

"Yes, dried noodles can be stored for several months. Before cooking, you just need to soak them to rehydrate,"

"Can you show me?"

"Of course,"

Xiaolin led the tall young man, who, although not as tall as her father and grandfather, still made her crane her neck to look up at him. The remaining boys stayed behind, enticed by the delicious smells coming from the kitchen.

Long Licheng followed Xiaolin to the back of the house, where a small factory was bustling with villagers working diligently. Alongside the factory were rows of drying racks filled with various types of noodles, ranging from thin strands to thicker ones. There were also clear, translucent noodles and even egg noodles.

"Right now, we make noodles from rice flour, mung bean flour, sweet potato flour, and wheat flour. But we mainly sell the first three types, while the wheat flour is used to make fresh egg noodles that aren’t dried for sale yet,"

"Noodles made from sweet potato and mung bean flour?" Long Licheng asked, intrigued, as he had never heard of such noodles before.

"Yes, these flours make chewy noodles, different from the softer texture of rice and wheat noodles. Grandmother might be making some dishes with them for you to try. If not, I’ll cook some for you this evening,"

"And these noodles made from the three flours are sold at your restaurant?"

"Right now, we only sell the rice and mung bean noodles. The sweet potato noodles are still being tested at the restaurant. If they become popular, we’ll sell them next year,"

"How long can they be stored?" Long Licheng asked, watching the villagers wash the noodles in cold water before setting them out to dry.

"They can be stored for several months as long as they are kept dry to prevent mold. But during the winter, when snow falls for months, the noodles probably won’t need to be stored that long," Xiaolin said, reminiscing about the previous winter when she and her uncle made and ate a lot of noodles.

"That’s true. In winter, if we’re not making soup, we’re making noodles. Your noodles should sell well,"

"They do sell well. Before selling them, I tried cooking with them at the restaurant first. Most customers learned about them from the restaurant. It might be because they are new and different,"

"Then I’ll try them first, and we can discuss business afterward," Long Licheng said, looking down at Xiaolin’s delighted face and laughing. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Absolutely!" Xiaolin beamed, confident that her family’s products would sell successfully.

For lunch, Zhang Ruo prepared a feast to impress the young master from the capital. The meal included Pad Thai with lots of bean sprouts because Xiaolin loved it, salted egg stir-fried squid, seafood salad with glass noodles, stir-fried crispy squid with holy basil, mussels stir-fried with basil, dried squid soup, stir-fried mixed vegetables with sweet potato noodles, and dried fish soup with seaweed and tofu.

The hungry group looked at the spread and swallowed hard. Zhang Ruo, feeling proud, served rice to everyone, especially to the handsome young master Long Licheng, whom she wanted to impress for potential business dealings with her chubby granddaughter.

"Eat plenty, young master. I hope you like the village food," Zhang Ruo said, placing a bowl of rice before Long Licheng. He nodded politely.

"The food from the Tang family is always delicious, Grandma Zhang," Zhou Minghuang said, his companions nodding in agreement like chickens pecking at rice. Xiaolin laughed at the sight.

"Grandma’s cooking is the best!" Ching Long, the little glutton, exclaimed with sparkling eyes.

"Absolutely," Huan Luwen agreed, nodding.

"Auntie, don’t mind these little gluttons," Huan Qingqing said, covering her mouth as she laughed at her son’s and nephews’ antics.

"Alright, everyone, let’s eat. Please, Young Master Long, help yourself," Hui Song said, starting to serve Xiaolin.

Xiaolin’s eyes sparkled as her grandfather placed a piece of crispy squid on her plate. Her chubby hand quickly grabbed it and she chewed happily. Watching her contentedly swaying side to side, Long Licheng decided to try the crispy squid in the basil stir-fry. The crispy texture and slight spiciness pleasantly surprised him. He raised an eyebrow, impressed that such a simple dish could taste so good.

"Try the soup. The smell might be strong for those who haven’t had it before, but it tastes really good," Xiaolin said, kneeling to ladle some soup into a small bowl and handing it to him.

"Thank you," Long Licheng accepted the bowl from her chubby hand, glancing at her wide smile. He almost choked when he noticed a piece of vegetable stuck in her teeth, quickly coughing to hide his laughter.

"Xiaolin, serve me some soup too, please," Ching Long, with cheeks full of food, requested. His mother gave him a stern look, causing him to quickly look down and eat quietly.

Feeling sorry for him, Xiaolin ladled soup into his bowl. Seeing the pleading eyes of the other boys, she sighed and served them all. Zhang Ruo chuckled at the scene, thinking her chubby granddaughter seemed popular with the boys. She wondered how many more would surround her when she grew up.

Several dishes were soon emptied, now residing in the bellies of the gluttonous group lounging on the porch. Hui Song was among them, and Zhang Ruo had a headache watching her husband compete with the children for the last piece of squid.

Xiaolin could only watch the bloated group with blinking eyes, while Long Licheng stood beside her, looking as neat as ever since he had not gorged himself like the others.

"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious," Long Licheng bowed to Zhang Ruo and Huan Qingqing. Zhang Ruo smiled widely at his politeness.

"Thank you for appreciating our simple food. I was worried you might not like it,"

"Please don’t worry about me. I’m just a young man. Speak to me as you would to Xiaolin," Long Licheng replied.

"Alright, kid," Zhang Ruo said, her smile broadening. She looked at the polite and humble young master with satisfaction, her mind racing with thoughts.

Xiaolin looked between the two, blinking in confusion. Why was her grandmother smiling so broadly? The chubby girl scratched her head in confusion.

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