Struggle in Ancient Times

Wen Xiuer comforted him from the side, “Why don’t you read it a few times. I’ll listen, brother-in-law wrote it well. You can memorize it, close your eyes and shout loudly, anyway there was no one around here. It’s good if you can say it smoothly.”

Big brother Liao thought it was good idea, he looked around then mustered courage to shouted, “Don’t miss it when walk by, it’s only three wens. Come, come! Don’t miss it.”

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In the evening, mother Deng looked outside from time to time and said, “Why haven’t they come back yet?”

Not long after she said this, the couple really came back. The smiles on their faces were uncontrollable, mother Deng knew the sale must be good.

“Quick, sit down and eat. Tell me, how was it?” mother Deng said.

Big brother Liao took the money bag from his pocket and put them on the table. The bag was bulging, mother Deng took it and counted the money they earned today. Big brother Liao and Wen Xiuer ate with proud face.

“It’s 1.683 wens.” Mother Deng was surprised, “We actually made profit...”

“1.569 wens.” Liao Ming said in one go.

“My dear, there are so many.” Mother Deng smiled with joy.

“Father, you forgot to count our family’s sugar and other things. Those things should be 200 wens.” Liao Tingyu said when his father didn’t count the ingredients.

“Well yes, counting those things, how much can we make now?” Liao Ming asked.

“The eggs are ours, but there isn’t much rice flour left.” Wen Xiuer replied.

“If we don’t have it, then buy. For the egg, I’ll go to our villagers to buy.” Mother Deng touched the money in a good mood. She was worried they wouldn’t be able to sell, but now it was good!

“It’s all thanks to my er-di. As soon as I said those things, people come over; I gave them the tester and they were willing to buy. I never thought it was this easy to do business.” Big brother Liao laughed.

“That’s because our stuff is new, we can still sell them for half a month. Our cake is simple, if someone curious about it, they could figure it out in a while.” Liao Tingyu poured the cold water on them.

“This is something we made; how could they do this?” big brother Liao couldn’t believe it.

“Why can’t other people do it? Now, we just need to sell more before others figure it out. You two work harder, your mother and I will help you once we done with our fields.” Liao Ming understood the life in the town wasn’t easy.

“Let’s eat.”

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After the meal, Liao Tingyu sat on the table and said, “I don’t want this money, it was earned by da-ge.”

“No, this is your recipe, although it couldn’t that can last. But this cake could make money, the money will be split in half. You share each other between brothers.” Liao Ming said seriously, “Da-ye, what do you think?”

“Yes, I agree.” Big brother Liao replied, the mill at home was bought by er-di so this was the right way.

“How do you pay for the ingredients?”  Liao Tingyu accepted the payment method with his big brother, in this era, small recipe was very precious.

“Take it from the profit, their lunch should come from this too. It will be thirteen wens, don’t eat too badly when you work hard.” Liao Ming thought for a while and spoke.

Mother Deng also thought it was fine, thirteen was a lot; a bowl of plain noodle was three wens. The money will be taken from the profit, mother Deng was much more generous than ever.

As Liao Tingyu said, someone really imitated their family’s cakes. From the day on, their sale went down but there was still enough profit. Liao Ming didn’t want to stop until the corn was considered too old to use. Liao Tingyu was busy with his own affairs and he was supervised by mother Deng to prepare his examination.

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When the exam almost arrived, it was late autumn and the busy farming season. Big brother Liao didn’t do business, he came back to help with farm works. Although the family has less land, their people was limited.

A few days before the exam, sister-in-law and mother Deng were so busy to clean up the crops and prepared his clothes for the exam. At this season, the day was fine but it was cold at night.