W Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Thank You, Husband

Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Thank You, Husband

People’s feelings are mutual. If someone treats him well, he will treat them well in return.

Ling Xing waited until most people had left before pulling Shen Chengshan and Xu Youfang aside, saying, “Father and Mother, I was only able to start my business because of the money the family gave me. From now on, I will give the family 50% of my monthly income for public use. You must accept this money, Father and Mother, or I won’t feel at ease living here.”

The reason he didn’t say this in front of the whole family was that he was afraid of putting pressure on Shen Hui and Shen Gui and their wives.

Having to turn over a portion was due to his unique circumstances. He couldn’t leverage his situation to impose upon others.

Shen Chengshan and his wife knew that Ling Xing was determined. After some thought, Shen Chengshan suggested, “Your skills are the foundation of the business, 50% is too much. Besides, that money came from Second Son. If you really want to give something, give 10% to Second Son, and the rest isn’t necessary, or Father and Mother won’t feel at ease either.”

Ling Xing thought about it. “Then I’ll give 20% to the family, I need to use things from the household, and accounting would be a real hassle. It’s easier to just give it directly and save myself the trouble.”

After much back and forth, they finally settled on giving 10% to Shen Hui and 10% to the household.

Now that Ling Xing had given the money, he felt at peace. Shen Chengshan and Xu Youfang hadn’t taken too much advantage of their child, and they felt comfortable as well.

The pottery workshop said it would take ten days to make the clay stove. In the meantime, Shen Hui used his free time to make steaming racks.

The price of firewood dropped again on the fifth day, to six copper coins per bundle.

Even so, the Shen family still made two trips to the mountain every day.

Even a little bit of money was still money. The family was so poor they could barely keep the pot boiling, so they couldn’t afford to be picky.

It was just a bit hard and tiring, just do it and that’s it.

This day, Ling Xing was helping Xu Youfang hang out clothes to dry when he noticed that one of the garments on the clothesline was almost dry.

It was Shen Hui’s.

He usually washed his own clothes.

Ling Xing had asked Xu Youfang about it, but Xu Youfang couldn’t say when Shen Hui had started washing his own clothes. She hadn’t washed Shen Hui’s clothes in many years.

After hanging out the clothes, Ling Xing saw that the collar and cuffs of Shen Hui’s clothes had been mended. The stitching wasn’t very strong, and with a little wear, the threads could cause the fabric to fray.

Seeing that the clothes were almost dry, he took them down and went to the west room to find the sewing basket.

At noon, the Shen family returned from selling firewood, and the whole family sat together to eat bean rice.

During the meal, Shen Lai once again pressed his head against Ling Xing’s chest, “Big Husband, when will you make steamed buns and mantou again?”

He’d asked Ling Xing about this eight hundred times a day lately. Ever since he’d eaten something good, he’d been craving it like crazy.

He knew that his family was so poor that they couldn’t always eat such good food. Tofu was a luxury in his family, let alone steamed buns and mantou.

But he couldn’t control himself and always hoped to eat them again. As soon as he thought about it, he would ask Ling Xing.

He even said he didn’t want longevity noodles for his birthday, just a tofu steamed bun.

The pottery stove hadn’t been made yet, but the steaming racks were in the final stages of completion.

Ling Xing, calculating the days until he could set up his stall, said to Shen Lai, “In four more days. When the time comes, you help me chop the tofu filling, and I’ll give you a steamed bun and a mantou, how about that?”

Shen Lai’s eyes lit up, like a little puppy, “Okay! I promise I’ll chop the tofu filling beautifully!”

Since he’d spoken to Shen Lai, he couldn’t leave out Shen Xiaochun and Shen Xiaxia, “Xiaochun, Xiaxia, would you like to help Great Husband earn steamed buns and mantou to eat?”

Ling Xing didn’t say what specific help they could provide. In Ling Xing’s eyes, they were still children, and what they could do was limited.

He was only speaking to give the two children a sense of participation, to make them feel like they were part of the Shen family and not being excluded. Originally, they were so careful about even breathing in the Shen family, afraid of disturbing people.

Cao Manyue, as their mother, also knew that the two children lived cautiously. There were reasons, including her own. However, there was nothing she could do about it.

Now that Great Husband had taken the initiative to speak, wanting to help the two children, Cao Manyue was grateful. Under the children’s timid, hesitant, but also extremely longing gazes, she nodded with a smile, “Hurry up and thank Great Husband.”

Shen Xiaochun and Shen Xiaxia opened their mouths softly, “Thank you, Great Husband.”

After saying that, they were a little excited, their faces red, and they lowered their heads in embarrassment.

Ling Xing smiled and didn’t continue to say anything.

After eating bean rice, Cao Manyue couldn’t wait any longer and went to chop firewood.

Her father-in-law said that the money from selling firewood would be used by Great Husband as start-up capital for his business. The more she chopped, the more capital Great Husband would have.

Those steamed buns and mantou all cost money. She couldn’t let Great Husband pay for them for free.

With the steaming rack nearing completion, Shen Hui was thinking of finishing it all today.

Passing by the clothesline, he realized he had forgotten to take in his clothes, so he reached out to grab them.

Only when he had them in his hand did he notice that the damaged collar and cuffs had been re-stitched.

The stitches weren’t as loose as the ones he’d sewn himself, nor as delicate as his mother’s.

But they were well-stitched, and very sturdy.

Shen Hui held the clothes, his gaze landing precisely on Ling Xing, who was not far away, arranging Shen Lai’s hair.

At this moment, Ling Xing happened to look up. Seeing Shen Hui hanging the clothes he had mended on his arm, staring at him expressionlessly, Ling Xing smiled a little shyly.

After Ling Xing tidied up his hair, Shen Lai ran off, unable to stay in one place.

Only Shen Hui and Ling Xing were in the yard. Ling Xing quietly approached Shen Hui.

“I’m sorry, I took the liberty of touching your clothes. But if I didn’t re-stitch them, the collar and cuffs would fall apart soon, and then you wouldn’t be able to sew them at all.”

Shen Hui’s calloused fingertips brushed the mended parts of his sleeves, and he lowered his head to look at Ling Xing, “Thank you, Husband.”

Ling Xing smiled and waved his hand, “It’s nothing. You can bring me anything you need mending in the future, and I can fix it quickly.”

Ling Xing was sincerely grateful that Shen Hui had sold his hair to help him raise money. It was an easy thing to do, and he was happy to do it for Shen Hui.

Shen Hui didn’t answer immediately, but after a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, “Then I will trouble Husband.”

The two of them didn’t say anything more. Shen Hui had to hurry to make the steaming rack. He put the clothes back in the house and came out to work.

Ling Xing watched in the yard for a while. There was nothing he could do, so he went back to help Xu Youfang clean the house.

“Star Lad, after you go out to set up your stall, Mother is thinking of having Second Son go with you.”

Ling Xing held the worn-out broom in his hand, mentally calculating the days, “Won’t the family be plowing the fields then? Second Brother is strong, isn’t it better for him to stay home?”

Xu Youfang sighed, “That’s exactly why we want Second Son to go with you, because he’s strong and tall.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s chaotic outside. A Ge’er like you with no man by your side, who knows how many people will bully you and cause you trouble. Second Son looks fierce. Your father and mother are even afraid of him when they look at him. If we have him with you, helping you keep the peace, those punks won’t dare to get close to you.”

After Xu Youfang said all that, Ling Xing understood.

This wasn’t a law-abiding society, and he didn’t dare to presume he didn’t need protection.

“I’ll listen to Mother’s arrangements.”

On the agreed-upon day, when Shen Chengshan went to town to sell firewood, he detoured to the pottery workshop to pick up the custom-made clay stove.

He also bought ten pounds of good flour from the grain store in town, spending another two hundred copper coins.

The clay stove was heavy, and Shen Hui carried it all the way back.

Shen Gui carried the ten pounds of flour behind him, complaining of tiredness after a while, asking his father to switch with him.

When they got home, Ling Xing made another batch of steamed buns and mantou to test the steaming rack and clay stove.

The old dough starter had to be made from scratch, so it wasn’t ready until noon the next day.

In the meantime, Ling Xing asked Shen Chengshan to buy a clay pot to use on the clay stove, and he also bought some linen to make steaming cloths.

After everything was bought, it cost another one hundred and fifty-one copper coins.

The clay pot was sturdy and durable, costing seventy-five copper coins.

At this time of year, a bolt of linen cost three hundred copper coins. It was four zhang long and two chi and two cun wide. In the summer, it was two hundred copper coins per bolt.

Shen Chengshan bought ten chi of linen, costing seventy-six copper coins.

Ling Xing washed the linen and then cut it into circles according to the size of the steaming rack to line the rack. He only cut ten pieces; he had five steaming racks, so he kept the extra to use as replacements.

Xu Youfang gathered up the scraps to use for mending clothes later.

When wrapping the steamed buns, Ling Xing used all five steaming racks.

Each rack could hold ten, but he didn’t fill them completely.

He only put two or three in each rack, using a total of one pound of flour and one pound of tofu.

When steaming, he had to pay attention to the heat at all times, watching the state of the steamed buns and mantou in the clay stove and steaming rack, keeping track of the time.

He also needed to rotate the order of the steaming racks back and forth to ensure that each layer was properly steamed.

His skills were good enough, and he had accumulated a lot of experience before, so he succeeded this time.

The Shen family ate another meal of tofu steamed buns.

Previously, Ling Xing didn’t know much about the local prices, thinking that five hundred copper coins would be enough. The original owner was born into a wealthy family, so he didn’t have any price references for the lower classes in his mind.

As a result, in the end, the eight hundred copper coins that Shen Hui had earned by selling his hair weren’t enough.

The Shen family made up for all the subsequent deficits, which Ling Xing remembered in his heart.

Because there wasn’t enough money, he postponed making meat buns, which he had originally planned, and instead made tofu steamed buns and mantou to sell first.

Ling Xing estimated that one pound of flour could make about fifteen large steamed buns, or twenty smaller ones.

As for mantou, he could make seven or eight larger ones, or twelve or thirteen smaller ones.

Large steamed buns had a visual impact, but the price would definitely be higher. Although smaller steamed buns could be cheaper, there was no way to make them very cheap.

Making breakfast was hard-earned money, getting up early and being very busy.

If the price was too high, the customers wouldn’t buy it.

After much deliberation, Ling Xing decided to make larger ones. Fifteen tofu steamed buns would cost about twenty-five copper coins to make.

If he sold each one for three copper coins, adding in labor and charcoal, he really wouldn’t make much.

But this price was already the highest he could set in town. He could charge a bit more in the county seat, but the journey was too far, and the wasted time and effort wouldn’t be worth it.

Mantou would be four copper coins each. He made them relatively large, and they were made with good flour, so someone would buy them.

But overall, Ling Xing decided to make more steamed buns and fewer mantou.

Now that he was going to set up his stall, he needed to save some of the dough he had made with the old dough starter each day, so he wouldn’t have to re-mix it with alkali water.

When he wanted to use it, he had to soak it in water for a few hours. When the water bubbled and the dough softened, and it could be stretched into a honeycomb, it was ready.

Ling Xing asked Shen Lai for help, asking him to soak the dough in water after he woke up, promising to give him steamed buns to eat.

This way, when he got home from the stall, he could check the fermentation and knead the dough directly if it was ready.

Shen Lai patted his thin chest, guaranteeing that he would definitely not make a mistake.

Everything was ready, waiting only for the next day to go to town to set up the stall.