W Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Mung Bean Cake and Snake Repellent

When Shen Hui woke up, the first thing he saw was Ling Xing.

He was smiling and talking.

Focusing on his lip movements, Shen Hui realized that Ling Xing was talking to someone.

When his vision finally cleared completely, Shen Hui also saw the person facing Ling Xing.

Xie Qingya had received the cold noodles yesterday and, following Ling Xing’s instructions, mixed them with seasoning and ate them. He immediately fell in love with the taste.

After finishing his work in the afternoon, he came to find Ling Xing, wanting to ask if he could buy some of the cold noodles next time they were made.

Learning that Ling Xing was planning to make them to sell in town, Xie Qingya immediately said, “My husband also loves to eat them. When you make them, sell some to me first.”

Ling Xing nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll save some for you when I make them, six copper coins a pound. You can buy half a pound at a time. How much do you want?”

One pound of mung beans can make two pounds of cold noodles, mainly because the mung bean starch is used to form the noodles, and the amount of starch determines the amount of cold noodles.

If he sold them too expensive, he probably wouldn’t be able to sell them. Six copper coins a pound was an acceptable price in town.

Xie Qingya made tofu, so he knew that cold noodles didn’t make much profit. Like tofu, it was just earning a hard-earned living.

He said he wanted a pound, enough for him and his husband to eat two meals.

“Okay, I’ll cut them up tomorrow and save them for you. Just come to the house to pick them up.”

Ling Xing left early in the morning, so he couldn’t wait for Xie Qingya. Anyway, there was always someone at home, so it was convenient to have someone come and pick them up.

Xie Qingya agreed, gave the copper coins, and chatted with Ling Xing for a while about what was happening in the village, who was arguing with whom, and who was getting married.

They didn’t chat for long. Xie Qingya had to go back to work, so he waved goodbye to Ling Xing and left the Shen family.

Chatting with Xie Qingya for a while made Ling Xing feel much better.

He really liked Xie Qingya’s personality: outgoing, enthusiastic, and a bit gossipy, but not the kind to spread rumors and speak ill of others behind their backs.

He would just tell you whatever he heard and listen to it with Ling Xing.

“You’re awake? How was your sleep?”

Ling Xing saw Xie Qingya off and finally turned his attention to Shen Hui.

“Yes, I’m going to the mountains tomorrow to pick banana leaves. How many do you need, Ge’er?”

It was too late the day he set the traps, so Shen Hui didn’t have time to pick them. He was going to the mountains tomorrow to check if there was anything in the traps and pick up some leaves on the way back.

Ling Xing said that enough for three days would be enough.

Shen Hui understood. He washed his face to wake himself up and prepared to go to the fields.

Ling Xing saw that there was already a lot of mung bean paste. It couldn’t be kept for long, so he decided to make something to eat.

He put today’s remaining mung bean paste with yesterday’s and prepared to make mung bean cake.

“Little Five, go to the village chief’s house and get some more malt sugar.”

Hearing that he was going to get malt sugar, Shen Lai ran over happily. Ling Xing gave him ten copper coins.

After Shen Lai left, Shen Hui shouldered his hoe and went to the fields.

Shen Lai ran fast and met Fang Baogen and his group on the way.

They were playing with sandbags on the road in front of Fang’s house. Shen Lai had to pass Fang’s house to go to the village chief’s house.

After what happened last time, they didn’t dare to touch Shen Lai again.

Zhao Erbao and Zhao Sancai didn’t even dare to look at Shen Lai, afraid that he would shout that he would report them to the authorities again.

Shen Lai snorted and walked past with his head held high. The group was very quiet and didn’t even play with the sandbags anymore.

After buying the malt sugar and going out again, the group was no longer on the road. He didn’t know where they had gone.

Running all the way home, Shen Lai was panting, his eyes shining.

He gave the malt sugar to Ling Xing and, like a victorious general, told Ling Xing, Little Chun, and Little Xia about how Fang Baogen and the others didn’t dare to provoke him anymore.

Ling Xing smiled and patted Shen Lai’s head after hearing this, praising him for being brave.

Shen Lai’s little face turned red. “Oh, I was only a little bit brave~”

The malt sugar was placed in a pottery bowl. Water was boiled in a pottery pot, and a bamboo sieve was placed on top. The sugar was heated with steam to melt it.

The hot water in the pottery pot was also good to drink.

After the melted sugar was added to the mung bean paste and stirred, the loose mung bean paste became much thicker because of the syrup.

Without a mold to shape it, Ling Xing found some small wooden pieces and squeezed the mung bean paste into a rectangular shape. The malt sugar had a binding effect, making the cake less likely to fall apart.

After it was made, a hemp cloth was laid on the bamboo sieve and steamed in the pot for a while. The fragrance of mung beans and the sweetness of sugar mixed together and quickly spread throughout the kitchen with the hot steam.

“It smells so good, Ge’er!”

Shen Lai had been guarding the side, wishing that the contents of the pot would be cooked immediately.

When Shen Hai was still alive, he had told Ling Xing about the Shen family.

The youngest brother in the family was the only one who hadn’t eaten anything good. He was born when the family was at its most difficult.

At that time, the family’s savings had been spent, basically all used to treat Shen Hai’s illness.

Ling Xing could feel Shen Hai’s guilt and self-blame when he said these things.

The cake was quickly steamed. Ling Xing opened the lid and gave the first piece to Shen Lai.

“Let it cool down a bit before you eat it. Don’t burn yourself.”

Looking at the pottery bowl in his hand, smelling the sweet aroma of the cake, Shen Lai was overwhelmed with gratitude.

He was the first to have mung bean cake!

Ling Xing didn’t forget the two little radish heads, Little Chun and Little Xia. After giving some to Shen Lai, he immediately gave each of the two children a piece.

Afraid that they would burn themselves, he also put them in pottery bowls.

“You guys stay home and watch the house. I’m going to Wang Fulang’s house.”

Ling Xing picked out four pieces of mung bean cake, let them cool slightly, wrapped them in oil paper, and took them out.

He had only made twenty pieces in total. The rest of the cakes were placed on a pottery plate and put in the wooden cabinet by Ling Xing.

They were all left for the children to eat. If they ate one piece every day, they could eat them for four days.

Children were growing and needed nutrition. They were too young, and malnutrition would have very serious consequences for them.

They were young and not fully developed, and their bodies couldn’t resist the damage caused by malnutrition.

So they couldn’t just eat those things that filled their stomachs like adults did all day long.

He took care of them more, hoping that the children could grow up safely and that no one would leave again.

Xie Qingya was soaking beans when he saw Ling Xing coming and quickly invited him into the yard.

The two had just met, and Xie Qingya thought that Ling Xing was bored after finishing his work and came to talk to him.

He didn’t expect Ling Xing to take out an oil paper bag. “This is mung bean cake that I made at home. It’s not as good as the ones in the pastry shop, but you can still taste the sweetness.”

A small piece of mung bean cake in a pastry shop cost six copper coins. It was really expensive.

Xie Qingya would only buy some pastries from the pastry shop during festivals to satisfy his sweet tooth.

He was curious about what Ling Xing’s mung bean cake looked like and was happy that Ling Xing would think of him when he had something good to eat.

Having lived in the village for so many years, this was the only year he had met someone he could talk to.

Opening the oil paper bag, four square mung bean cakes were emitting a bean fragrance, smelling sweet.

Xie Qingya smiled and inhaled the fragrance. “Oh, Ling Ge’er, you made this really well. You could use a mold to press it and sell it at a stall.”

“It’s not as good as you say.” Ling Xing was a little embarrassed by the praise. After a quiet rebuttal, he asked Xie Qingya, “I came to ask you, do you still have your family’s snake repellent?”

Xie Qingya nodded. “Yes, are you going into the mountains?”

“I’m not going into the mountains. My second brother is going to pick banana leaves. Mother said there are many snakes there. You have a family snake repellent, so I wanted to buy some for my second brother to take with him.”

Xie Qingya waved his hand, holding the cake up higher. “You gave me cake to eat, why would I want your money? I made it myself. I’m happy to give it to you to use.”

Now that he had said that, it would hurt their feelings to talk about money again.

Ling Xing smiled slightly. “Then I’ll bring you some to try next time I make something delicious.”

“Ling Ge’er, you’re really a great person, generous. When your family comes to buy tofu, I’ll give you half off. If you run out of snake repellent, just come to me.”

Ling Xing nodded, smiling and agreeing.

Xie Qingya took the cake to the room on the west side of the main room. “Husband, come and try this. My good friend Ling Ge’er specially sent it over.”

The room was not big, but both walls were bookshelves, filled with books. There were even many books and book boxes piled on the floor.

A window was opened on the other wall, not small in area, for light and ventilation.

Wang Juan was reading a book, coughing softly from time to time. When he saw Xie Qingya coming in, he immediately put down the book and looked at him with a smile.

Seeing the smile on Xie Qingya’s face when he mentioned Ling Xing, he knew that his husband truly liked the other person.

Wang Juan’s voice was gentle. “It’s rare to see you smile so happily. Since you like him, spend more time with him in the future. I can take care of myself at home, so don’t worry about me.”

“I know, try the cake. It smells so good.”

Putting the cake on the desk, Xie Qingya went to find the snake repellent.

Wang Juan’s fingertips were pale, and he put a piece of mung bean cake in his mouth. He bit off a small piece, and the mung bean paste was soft and slightly sweet. It wasn’t as delicate, with a slight granular texture, but the mung bean fragrance was very strong.

“Very delicious.”

Xie Qingya held two paper packets of snake repellent in his hand. The paper used to wrap them was rough paper that Wang Juan had discarded after writing on it. “If you like it, eat more.”

Wang Juan nodded and looked at the packets of medicine powder in Xie Qingya’s hand. “Is that Ge’er going into the mountains?”

“No, it’s for Shen Erlang.”

“Shen Er? He’s never used this snake repellent before when he goes into the mountains.”

Xie Qingya exclaimed, “Oh yeah, I forgot. But Ling Ge’er wants it, so I’ll give it to him. I’ll remind him later that Shen Er doesn’t use this.”

Afraid of keeping Ling Xing waiting, Xie Qingya finished speaking in a hurry and ran out.

“Here’s the snake repellent. After you go into the mountains, you can sprinkle it around your feet when you rest. You can also sprinkle it on your body when you walk to prevent insects and snakes.”

Xie Qingya gave the snake repellent to Ling Xing, not forgetting to remind him, “Shen Er has never used this stuff before when he goes into the mountains. If he doesn’t want it, just keep it for yourself. It’s hot, so sprinkle some in the house. Your house is at the foot of the mountain, so snakes can easily get in.”

Ling Xing took the two packets of snake repellent. “Okay, I’ll go back first, Xie Ge’er.”

In the evening, when the Shen family returned, they knew that Ling Xing had made mung bean cake for the children. Xu Youfang gave Ling Xing the money to buy malt sugar.

“It’s not that Mother wants to settle accounts with you, it’s just that Little Five has a hard life and has never enjoyed any blessings. His older brothers and sisters have all eaten good things, and he was ten years old before he had a bite of mung bean cake. Mother can’t afford cake, but Mother can afford malt sugar. You take it so Mother can feel better.”

Ling Xing held the ten copper coins. He also felt a little depressed in his heart, feeling that the family was very difficult.

However, he quickly regained his composure. He now had income every day, and his business was slowly getting on the right track.

Sooner or later, he could let himself and the Shen family eat whatever they wanted and buy it directly, without having to consider the price.

Outside, Shen Gui was squatting at the base of the wall, pulling Little Chun and Little Xia, brainwashing the two children, telling them to each leave half of their mung bean cake for tomorrow for him to eat.

His parents always said that he had eaten delicacies from the mountains and seas when he was a child, but he had no memory of it.

If he didn’t have any memory of it, did that count as eating it?

Xu Youfang happened to catch him in the act and picked up the broom next to her to beat Shen Gui.

“Look at you, a father, how can you be so shameless as to ask your children for food?”

Seeing Grandma hitting Daddy, Little Chun and Little XiaStopwent up and hugged Xu Youfang’s legs, their eyes filled with tears, begging Ah Milk not to hit him in a low voice.

Xu Youfang didn’t really want to hit him, she was just angry that Shen Gui wasn’t growing up and was unreliable. She put down the broom and touched the heads of the two children. “Okay, Ah Milk won’t hit you. Good children, don’t cry, come with Ah Milk to eat.”

Because the two children pleaded for him, Shen Gui avoided a beating.

But he was still thinking about the mung bean cake in his heart, thinking about coaxing the two children to leave some for him when he went to sleep at night, while his mother wasn’t around.

Who knew that after eating, Little Chun and Little Xia would mysteriously pull Shen Gui into the room.

They took out a whole piece of mung bean cake that had been flattened from under the pillow. “Daddy, this is what we left for you and Mother. You each eat half.”

Shen Gui was greatly moved, hugging the two little radish heads and shouting, “Good daughters, good Ge’ers, you have to love Daddy for the rest of your lives.”

Then he swallowed most of the mung bean cake in one bite.

If he hadn’t been thinking that Cao Manyue hadn’t eaten any, he would have swallowed it all in one bite, desperately saving out half a piece from his mouth.

After a day of hard work, the family finished eating, washed up, and went back to sleep.

Ling Xing was thinking of going to the kitchen to see how the cold noodles were setting, and then remembered that he had forgotten to give the snake repellent to Shen Hui, so he put two packets of snake repellent into his pocket and went to the kitchen.

Shen Hui’s hearing was very good. From the time Ling Xing entered the kitchen, he had been paying attention to the movements outside.

The other person moved very lightly, accidentally kicking a stool, and then opened the wooden cabinet, probably to check the cold noodles.

Soon the door of the wooden cabinet was closed, and the old wooden door made a creaking sound.

And the footsteps were getting closer and closer, finally stopping behind the door curtain.

Shen Hui used the moonlight to look at the bottom of the door curtain, familiar black cloth shoes.

“Second Brother, can you come out for a moment?”

Shen Hui retracted his gaze, put on his clothes, and got out of bed.

He opened the door curtain and looked down at Ling Xing. “What’s wrong?”

The man’s tall figure was very oppressive. Ling Xing had to look up to see Shen Hui’s face. He raised his hand and handed over the two paper packets. “You’re going to pick banana leaves tomorrow, here’s the snake repellent for you.”

Shen Hui was surprised for a moment. “I don’t need this.”

“Mother said that Second Brother is very powerful and can fight snakes and avoid snakes. But having snake repellent will give you more protection.”

There were many snakes in the mountains, and countless poisonous snakes.

There was no antivenom here, and a bite would be fatal.

No matter how powerful a person was, it was impossible to be foolproof. Ling Xing knew Shen Hui’s strength, but he also hoped that he would have more safety.

Shen Hui listened to what Ling Xing said, his eyes falling on the snake repellent, looking at it for a long time.

Finally, Ling Xing called out, “Second Brother,” before Shen Hui reacted and reached out to take the two packets of medicine powder. “Thank you, Ge’er.”