The happy little days of the Ye family

"Xiuxiu, Qingqing, are you at home?"

Early in the morning, my second aunt Li came over carrying a basket of rice cakes.

Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing, who were doing embroidery in the house, came out quickly when they heard Li's voice.

"Hello, second aunt."

"Second sister-in-law, why did you bring so many pastries here again?"

Ms. Li scolded: "It's not because that brat Lin is so careless."

"I couldn't hold a pastry firmly. I dropped the pastry on the table and it was all broken."

"These pastries don't look good if they are broken, and they are not easy to sell on the dock, so I brought some over."

Ye Mu took the cake from Li's hand and asked Ye Qingqing to make a bowl of honey water for Li.

Ye Qingqing made three bowls of honey water in a short while.

Mrs. Li saw Ye Qingqing soaking in honey water and said with a smile: "You are not an outsider, why are you so polite? This is a lot of honey water."

"It's free to raise bees at home." Ye's mother lives close by and has always had a good relationship with her second aunt.

Ms. Li drank the sweet honey water, but it couldn't wash away the anxiety in her heart.

Mrs. Li frowned and complained to Ye Mu worriedly, "There are very few people on the pier recently, and we can't sell many cakes and tea every day."

Mother Ye asked anxiously: "Are there still a lot of leftover teas and cakes sold at the tea stalls every day?"

The pastries can be stored for a few more days. If they are not sold out today, they can be sold tomorrow. However, the tea cannot be left overnight, and the sugar and other ingredients used will also cost a lot.

Ye Qingqing saw that Ye's mother and Mrs. Li were chatting enthusiastically, and she couldn't get in here, so she sneaked away.

In fact, since Ye Qingqing was not here, the two of them chatted more animatedly.

The second aunt sighed and continued: "Yes, I used to make pastries once a day, but now I only make them once every two days, and they can't be sold out."

"Besides, a lot of tea is sold every day. The ingredients in this tea also cost a lot of money. Sugar is so expensive."

Ye's mother knew that at the beginning of the new year, her parents' family used their money to buy hills and wasteland for reclamation.

During the summer harvest, the harvest was not good, and most of the honeysuckle on the slopes was knocked down by heavy rains.

The first half of the year was either busy with spring plowing and summer harvest, or there was heavy rain, and the tea stalls on the pier were not open very often.

In the past six months, my parents' family has mainly relied on the money from Li and Wang Yueya's embroidery work to support the family.

Now Wang Lin and Wang Yueya are engaged, and they will get married in two or three years. People will have to spend a lot of money then, so it’s no wonder that Mr. Li is frowning.

Mother Ye suggested: "My family sold cakes at the market a few years ago, and the business was pretty good, wasn't it? Why don't we make some cakes and cheap tea and sell them at the market?"

"I heard that the price of food in the town is still high. Is there anyone buying the pastries?"

The cakes on the dock cannot be sold because the price of food has doubled, and the price of cakes has also doubled.

Those merchants are all from other places, unlike Weihai County where the food crop was short due to heavy rains.

The price of food over there is not that high, so everyone thinks the pastries are too expensive.

In the good years before, the Wang family's more than ten acres of fertile land had surplus besides food for themselves, and the pastries they usually sold were made with the family's grain.

But the harvests last year and the first half of the year were not good. In addition to paying grain taxes, the Wang family ate the rest.

To make pastries, you can only go to a grain store to buy white flour at a high price, and the cost of pastries is much higher.

"I remember that in the first half of the year, the wasteland at home was planted with corn, and a lot of sweet potatoes were planted. We have plenty of both, and we would use them to make cakes."

Mrs. Li patted her thigh and said with a smile: "You still have an idea. Food is expensive now, and everyone can't afford pastries made of white flour."

"It's good to use sweet potatoes and corn. I'll go back and talk to my mother about what pastries to make."

After saying that, he hurried back and didn't even have time to finish the honey water.

In the afternoon, Grandma Ye came to the door with a basket of cakes.

"Mom, you are moving too fast. You just said this in the morning and you made the pastry so quickly."

Grandma Ye handed the basket of cakes to Mother Ye and said cheerfully:

"What's the point? I make this pastry every day. Could it be that I can't make it if I change the ingredients?"

Hearing Grandma Ye's voice, Ye Qingqing quickly put down the needle and thread in his hand and trotted out.

"It smells so good, grandma, what delicious food did you bring here?"

Grandma Ye touched Ye Qingqing's little head and said with a smile, "You'll know if you take a look."

"Corn steamed buns, corn and red date steamed cakes, and corn and osmanthus cakes are all pastries made from cornmeal."

Grandma Ye nodded, "Your mother has more ideas. I used to buy the white flour for making pastries at the food store."

"Now that the price of food has doubled in the entire county, who can afford white flour?"

"Fortunately, a lot of corn was planted in the wasteland at home in the first half of the year. We have a lot of cornmeal, which is perfect for making cakes."

"Try these pastries made of cornmeal." Grandma Ye quickly called Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing to come over and try the pastries.

Ye Qingqing tasted all the pastries, "The taste is still good, but the texture is indeed worse than those made with white flour."

Ye Mu thinks it’s pretty good and she can try it on a large collection.

"This is sold in the town, so it's pretty good. Not many people in the town can afford white flour."

Grandma Ye nodded, having similar thoughts to Mother Ye.

"Tomorrow is the big market. I will make another batch of pastries when I go back later and try them at the big market tomorrow."

Mother Ye suggested again: "Mom, I think you can make more, and let Mr. Lin take some to try on the dock."

"Pastries made from white flour are too expensive, but this corn pastry is more affordable. I think I can give it a try."

"I think so too. White flour is really too expensive. This cornmeal is grown at home and the cost is low. The price of the pastries can be sold at a lower price."

The two of them were indeed mother and daughter, and they both wanted to go together.

Ye Qingqing thought that there was a big market tomorrow and wanted to go shopping. She held Ye Mu's hand and said coquettishly:

"Mom, it's been a long time since we went to the town to catch the big market. Let's go to the town to catch the big market tomorrow."

Ye Mu might not have been to a big market for a long time, so she also wanted to go shopping, so she agreed without much thought.

"Okay, mother, Qingqing and I will go to the big market tomorrow, and then we will go over and help you."

Grandma Ye waved her hand, "No, I will go with your second brother tomorrow. You and Qingqing will go early and come back early. Come back quickly to do embroidery."

"I haven't touched embroidery in Xia Shu some time ago. If I don't practice quickly, my skills will become rusty."

Ye Qingqing was not convinced, "Grandma, I have been doing embroidery every day recently."

"You little lazy boy, there's no harm in doing more. You didn't learn from your mother."

"Mom, please save some face for me, and my embroidery skills have improved a lot now."

Seeing that Mrs. Ye was not at home, Grandma Ye asked again: "Where is Qingqing's milk? Didn't you make hairbands and hair ties at home today?"

"Grandma, before you came here, the Autumn Harvest Lady just came here. She said there was something big going on in the village, and she took me to watch the fun."

Before Mrs. Ye went out, she even packed and returned a few handfuls of melon seeds.