W Chapter 32

Chapter 32 “Open your mouth, let me see if you hurt your teeth…”

Chapter 32 “Open your mouth, let me see if you hurt your teeth…”

Clean paper with strong and forceful characters, seemingly able to penetrate the back of the paper.

“Powerful strokes, like dragons soaring, what fine characters!”

Tu Hai unfolded the paper with the word “Hai” (Also) written on it, holding it up to carefully appreciate it, savoring the charm and flow of each stroke. The more he examined it, the more he felt the characters were excellent.

“You do have real talent; no wonder you dared to test me, Eighth Master. What’s your name?”

The lack of flattery in his words showed the other person’s attitude.

Tu Hai knew what the other person was thinking: nothing more than probing where his bottom line and tolerance lay.

He didn’t take it to heart; it was harmless, and he genuinely liked the calligraphy.

Tu Hai considered himself a lover of talent, and for the sake of these good characters, he didn’t plan to dwell on it.

Shen Hui observed Tu Hai’s subtle changes, knowing that he hadn’t taken it to heart, and then said, “Shen Hui.”

“A good name.”

Tu Hai said casually, actually not knowing what was good about the name.

His mind was entirely on the piece of paper, staring at the characters for a while, then asking Shen Hui, “How did you come to write this character?”

The characters written by a person in this kind of situation usually have some special meaning.

Tu Hai couldn’t see anything special about the character “Hai,” so he asked.

The meaning of “Hai” is various.

Return home, return something, restore, repay, revenge…

For Shen Hui, this character had another meaning.

Elder brother, Shen Hai.

Shen Hui lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, “It’s the name of my deceased elder brother. My calligraphy, my elder brother taught me a lot. When I write, I can’t help but think of him.”

Tu Hai understood, and didn’t pursue it further, feeling regret in his heart.

He had missed the chance to see even better calligraphy.

…

The meal at Yunxia Restaurant cost Ling Xing one tael of silver.

Tu Hai didn’t focus on gourmet food, or perhaps he had eaten so many good things that the dishes at Yunxia Restaurant weren’t good enough to please him.

The town was small, and there were few good things.

According to the dishes Ling Xing had eaten in his previous life, the dishes at Yunxia Restaurant were indeed not up to par.

But that didn’t stop it from being expensive.

One tael of silver would take him more than ten days of getting up early and working late to earn by selling buns.

Before leaving, Tu Hai gave Ling Xing a definite answer, saying that he would arrange for his men to help find someone when he returned.

Ling Xing described Ling Yue’s appearance, and Tu Hai took it down on paper before leaving with his men.

The dishes on the table were basically untouched. Ling Xing was embarrassed to eat more. Although his body was quite greedy, he could only endure it during the meal, not wanting to show weakness.

Later, all the dishes were taken back by Xu Qi. Since he had helped to invite people, he didn’t mind that the dishes had been touched, so Ling Xing gave them all to Xu Qi.

He couldn’t make cold noodles anymore, but Ling Xing didn’t plan to reduce his income.

He planned to add steamed rice cake to his bun stall.

Making steamed rice cake required sugar, but not too much. Adding some would be enough to bring out a slight sweetness.

White sugar was expensive, sixteen copper coins for one tael, and one hundred and sixty copper coins for one jin.

Brown sugar was six copper coins cheaper per tael than white sugar, costing ten coins.

The price of honey varied with the season and different flower honeys. In the spring, summer, and autumn, the cheapest flower honey was eight copper coins per tael, even cheaper than brown sugar by two coins.

But in winter, even the cheapest honey was the same price as white sugar.

Wealthy families loved honey more than brown sugar, and this stuff sold well all year round.

As for the expensive honey, some sold for one tael of silver, which was completely beyond Ling Xing’s consideration.

If he used maltose to make steamed rice cake, the sweetness wouldn’t be enough.

He had to use honey or sugar.

There was a large sugar shop on Sugar Workshop Street, which had all kinds of sugar. At the end of the street was the only sugar workshop in Yunxia Town.

That’s why this street was called Sugar Workshop Street.

After leaving the restaurant, Ling Xing went to the sugar shop to buy sugar.

After deliberating between brown sugar and white sugar, he bought two taels of white sugar.

Brown sugar steamed rice cake was also very good, but it required too much sugar. For the same size of steamed rice cake, brown sugar required two taels of sugar, while white sugar only required one-third.

From the perspective of the cost of making steamed rice cake, white sugar was actually cheaper than brown sugar.

After buying the sugar, Ling Xing went to the dried goods shop and bought three taels of dried red dates.

White sugar plus dried red dates cost a total of forty-two copper coins.

It was already afternoon when he returned home.

The soil in the fields was almost turned over, and the Shen family was all at home today.

Shen Chengshan and his son Shen Gui were turning over the small vegetable plot in the yard, Cao Manyue was cleaning the house with the children, and Xu Youfang was doing embroidery work.

Ling Xing first prepared the flour for tomorrow, and then began to make the batter for the steamed rice cake.

He first made a smaller one to practice, using half a tael of white sugar.

The batter for the steamed rice cake was not difficult to make, and the steps were similar to those for making noodles. It was just that the final state was different, and the batter for the steamed rice cake was more viscous and moist.

Ling Xing estimated that the state was right, so he first covered it with a bamboo lid to let it ferment.

While he had time, he had to wash the steamer.

When he carried the steamer to the well, he found that water had already been drawn in the wooden basin.

Thinking that someone in the family had drawn it for use, he turned to ask.

Shen Gui happened to come over with a sweaty forehead, “Brother-in-law, use it. Second brother drew the water for you. By the way, Dad asked me to ask brother-in-law if there are any vegetables you want to eat, and see if you want to turn over more land to plant.”

Ling Xing knew that Shen Hui had drawn the water for him, so he squatted down directly to wash the steamer, while asking Shen Gui, “What do you usually plant at home?”

“Depending on the season, we plant green onions, ginger, garlic, cabbage, water spinach, cabbage, loofah, bottle gourd, pumpkin, and the like.”

Ling Xing recalled the memories of the original owner. During the previous dynasty, there was trade to the west and the other side of the sea, bringing back many seeds.

The Yu Dynasty was established for a short time, and the internal situation was still unstable, so the trade was put on hold and not reopened.

However, most of the fruits and vegetables that should have been available in his previous life were basically available here.

It was just that the prices were different.

The seed prices for the vegetables Shen Gui mentioned were all cheap.

Ling Xing wanted to eat tomatoes and cucumbers. In the summer, it would also be delicious to have cucumber shreds in the cold noodles.

As for tomatoes, cutting them up and sprinkling them with white sugar was even more sweet and sour.

When he was a child in his previous life, he also liked to drink the remaining soup, which was sweet and delicious.

Grandpa knew that he liked to drink it, so he would leave it for him every time.

Thinking of the past, Ling Xing’s emotions were briefly depressed, but he quickly took a deep breath and adjusted.

“Tomatoes and cucumbers.”

Shen Gui grinned, “Mom also said that she wants to plant some this year, and she also said that she wants to plant eggplants. Our family really doesn’t lack vegetables to eat this year.”

The seed prices for these two things were expensive. According to the previous conditions of his family, even if it was only one copper coin more expensive, they wouldn’t buy it.

Ling Xing wasn’t afraid of having too many vegetables. He had been setting up a stall in the town for a while, and he knew a little about the town.

“If there are more, you can take them to town to sell for money. Everything in town has to be bought. There are only not enough fruits and vegetables to sell, and none that can’t be sold.”

Hearing that he could sell them for money, Shen Gui’s face lit up with joy.

He was still worried about how to save money before, but with this reminder, his mind turned around.

He thought about opening up more land, and then asking his parents to borrow some money. When the land produced vegetables, he would take them to town to sell.

This wasn’t weaker than finding odd jobs.

Shen Gui ran away impatiently to discuss with Shen Chengshan about opening up more land this year.

The yard was definitely not enough, so it had to be at the foot of the mountain.

The land outside the yard was large, but it was necessary to guard against wild beasts and snakes, which was not an easy task.

However, seeing that his fourth son finally looked like a father and husband, knowing how to use his brain to earn money to support his family, instead of following behind his wife and children, acting spoiled and wanting pampering and food,

Shen Chengshan was very gratified, and with a wave of his hand, he said that he would help to dig the land.

Shen Gui couldn’t close his mouth with joy.

…

The steamed rice cake batter had fermented well for the first time, and Ling Xing washed some red dates, first cutting off the large date meat on both sides and leaving it for later use.

He cut the date meat on both sides of the date pit into date pieces and mixed them into the batter.

After stirring well, he carried out the second proofing.

This time, the time was much shorter than the first time.

After the proofing was completed, Ling Xing placed the previously cut date meat on the surface of the batter.

Shen Lai was coaxed by Ling Xing to light the fire, promising that the first steamed rice cake belonged to him.

He put the large pottery pot directly on the bamboo sieve, covered it with the lid, and started steaming.

After a while, the steamed rice cake was steamed, and its sweetness wafted out with the steam.

Shen Lai’s nose was the most sensitive. He smelled the aroma with his nose, and his eyes were fixed on the pot.

“Brother-in-law, it smells so good!”

Ling Xing also thought the smell was good, and he slightly lifted the lid to see the state of the steamed rice cake. At this time, the steamed rice cake had already protruded out of the pottery pot as a whole, and it had expanded very well.

“Little Fifth, you can slowly remove the fire.”

“Okay!”

Shen Lai gradually reduced the fire, and after the stove was completely extinguished, Ling Xing didn’t rush to open the lid, but simmered it for a while.

Finally, when he waited to lift the lid, Shen Lai leaned forward to look into the pot.

Just as he leaned forward a little, he smelled the aroma of dates and a faint sweetness.

Shen Lai smacked his lips, wanting to eat.

The steamed rice cake was white and chubby, and the top expanded out of the pottery pot. The date meat on the surface was neatly arranged, red and white interspersed, making people couldn’t help but want to pick off the red dates on it to eat.

Shen Lai’s hands itched, and he couldn’t wait to pick off all the dates on it.

But he just thought about it, and didn’t dare to actually reach out and pick it.

Ling Xing always kept his word. After the steamed rice cake cooled down a little, he poured it out, and cut the first piece for Shen Lai.

The cut steamed rice cake had a honeycomb shape inside, emitting a richer sweet aroma.

Shen Lai couldn’t wait to pick off the red date meat from his piece of steamed rice cake. The date meat, which had been steamed at a high temperature, was more delicate and sweet.

He took a bite of the soft steamed rice cake, with a faint sweetness, mixed with some date flavor, the taste was rich and the taste was excellent.

“Everything that brother-in-law makes is so delicious!”

Shen Lai’s eyes lit up as he ate, his cheeks bulging.

Ling Xing smiled and told him to eat slowly, and cut some for Xiao Chun and Xiao Xia.

Ling Xing took advantage of the heat to cut the rest into equal pieces and sent them to the Shen family one by one to taste.

He also left some, which he planned to give to Xie Qingya.

The newly made steamed rice cake was obviously loved by the Shen family. People who rarely could eat sugar couldn’t refuse sweet things at all.

The steamed rice cake was not only soft, but also obviously could taste the sweetness, and it wasn’t greasy.

Cao Manyue had never eaten such delicious things. She was reluctant to swallow it, and said that it was more delicious than the pastries sold in the shop.

Although she hadn’t eaten the pastries in the shop, it didn’t prevent her from thinking that the steamed rice cake was extremely delicious.

It was delicious and filling, and she couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

She would subconsciously save the delicious things to share with her children and Shen Gui. Seeing his wife feeding him, Shen Gui opened his mouth to take it, regardless of whether Ling Xing was watching beside him.

Ling Xing scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and quickly turned and left.

He sent one and a half pieces to Shen Hui. Ling Xing gave half of his piece to Shen Hui.

He only needed to eat half a piece to taste how it tasted.

“Second brother, eat quickly, you didn’t eat much at noon.”

Everyone didn’t eat much at noon. Compared with Shen Hui, Ling Xing consumed less physical strength, so it didn’t matter if he ate half a piece less.

Shen Hui consumed a lot of energy carrying the flour and other things back.

Although that extra half piece of steamed rice cake wouldn’t help much, Ling Xing just wanted to give it to Shen Hui.

Let him eat more.

Shen Hui looked at the steamed rice cake in his hand, and his eyes quickly swept over Ling Xing.

“Brother-in-law, it’s good for me to eat the same amount as my family.”

Ling Xing was eager to send the steamed rice cake to Xie Qingya. Taking advantage of Shen Hui being busy digging the ground and not paying attention to him, he casually replied, “It’s the same amount.”

After speaking, he carried the pottery bowl and walked towards Xie Qingya’s house.

Shen Hui stood there, looking at the half piece of steamed rice cake that only he had extra, his eyes darkened and deepened.

In the end, he still raised his hand and stuffed the extra half piece into his mouth, chewing slowly.

…

Xie Qingya ate the steamed rice cake, squinting his eyes and savoring the sweet taste.

“Ling, no, I should call you Xing-ge’er in the future, so close. Xing-ge’er, your craftsmanship is really good, and you have many ideas. The things you make are things that I have never eaten.”

Ling Xing was also happy that the things he made were recognized.

“Eat more if it’s delicious.”

Thinking that Xie Qingya had just mentioned the address, he asked, “Then can I call you Ya-ge’er?”

Hearing this, Xie Qingya pressed down the smile on the corner of his mouth and waved his hands again and again, “The Ge’ers of the same generation in my family all end with the word ‘Ya’. Just call me Qing-ge’er, otherwise, when I hear Ya-ge’er, my mind is full of the appearance of my brothers in the clan.”

“Okay, Qing-ge’er.” Ling Xing said again after calling him again, “If you like to eat it, I’ll save a little for you and your husband every day.”

Xie Qingya said, “Are you doing this for sale? Can you be too busy?”

There were buns and steamed buns, cold noodles, and now there was a steamed rice cake.

Xie Qingya was afraid that Ling Xing and Shen Hui would both be exhausted.

“The cold noodles are not for sale. If you are making them for eating at home, I will save them for you separately.”

“Not for sale? What’s wrong?” Xie Qingya asked with some worry.

Ling Xing knew that he had misunderstood, and he was afraid that he would worry, so he quickly explained.

Hearing that he had given up the recipe in order to find his younger brother, and that he wasn’t forced to hand over the recipe, Xie Qingya breathed a sigh of relief.

“You scared me to death.”

After thinking about it, Xie Qingya asked again, “What does your younger brother look like? What are his appearance characteristics? Seventh Brother is familiar with the shopkeeper of the bookstore, and he can ask people to keep an eye on Moon Bay Town and the county.”

“That’s great! Thank you Qing-ge’er!”

Ling Xing was so excited that he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure whether Ling Yue was sold in Yunxia Town or Moon Bay Town.

If someone in Moon Bay Town could help keep an eye on it, even if the hope was slim, there was still hope.

Xie Qingya pretended to be displeased, “You really are, you didn’t say a word to me about this kind of thing. If you had said it earlier, wouldn’t it have been possible to ask someone to help earlier?”

“I definitely won’t do it again next time.”

Ling Xing said sincerely and seriously, and Xie Qingya couldn’t pretend to be angry with him anymore.

“Okay, okay, I forgive you this time. It just so happens that I’m going to the bookstore to deliver books tomorrow, and the time is just right.”

Xie Qingya said and pulled Ling Xing into the house, “Seventh Brother can draw, you go and tell him what your younger brother looks like and ask him to draw it, it’s more convenient to find by looking at the portrait.”

This was the first time Ling Xing had entered Xie Qingya’s house. The walls and floors were covered with books, which made Ling Xing dazzled.

Books in the Yu Dynasty were valuable, and there was no way that ordinary people in the village could own so many books.

Ling Xing also didn’t hear that Wang Juan was going to participate in the imperial examination, and he wasn’t a student.

Where did so many books come from?

A curious thought flashed through Ling Xing’s mind, but he didn’t delve into it.

Xie Qingya brought him in because of trust, not to let him ask about other people’s family background.

While Ling Xing was dazed by a pile of books, Xie Qingya had already explained his intentions to Wang Juan.

With Xie Qingya speaking, Wang Juan nodded directly in agreement. He found a piece of white paper and asked Ling Xing to describe it.

According to his memory, Ling Xing described Ling Yue’s appearance.

Wang Juan really had drawing skills, and they were very good.

The child’s appearance on the paper was eight points similar to what Ling Xing remembered. If some shadows and colors were added, it would be even more realistic.

After Ling Xing confirmed that it was correct, Xie Qingya said that he would take it to the bookstore tomorrow to show it to the shopkeeper.

Ling Xing asked, “Can you help me draw two more pictures? I’ll send it to Tu Eighth Master.”

Without the permission of the government, people were not allowed to draw portraits on a large scale, or post anything.

If they did, they would be arrested and beaten, and even imprisoned.

This move was mainly to prevent people from using these means to incite the people and create unstable factors.

But it didn’t matter if there were only a few, and if they didn’t post them.

Wang Juan nodded in agreement, and soon traced five copies according to the first one.

He gave three to Ling Xing, and left the others. He wanted to give them to the shopkeeper of the bookstore and ask him to take them to the bookstores in Moon Bay Town and the county.

It was more intuitive to find them by comparing the portraits than by words.

When he returned home, Ling Xing first put the portrait away, and he would send it to Tu Eighth Master tomorrow.

For dinner, they ate bean rice. The family still ate bean rice and batter alternately. Ling Xing was thinking that next month, he would buy some other staple foods that he could eat.

Three meals a day, these two things were recycled every day, and Ling Xing felt that he was almost eating bean rice and batter.

After dinner, Xu Youfang took advantage of the fact that people were almost gone and beckoned to Ling Xing.

After waiting for people to pass by, he whispered to him, “Xing-ge’er, tomorrow afternoon, Mom will boil water for the younger ones to take a bath. Are you taking a bath?”

Ling Xing didn’t react all of a sudden, and after hearing the contents clearly, he was a little embarrassed.

“I’m taking a bath.”

It was very troublesome to take a bath here. He needed to specially boil water and pour it into the wooden barrel one by one.

Rich people didn’t care about these procedures. Common people didn’t have servants, and they needed to do everything themselves. It took a lot of time to take a bath.

Ling Xing only remembered taking one bath before marriage. After that, he wiped himself in the room, shivering with cold.

“That’s it. Tomorrow, your fourth sister-in-law and I will give the children a bath first, and I’ll save the water for you. Later, I’ll ask Little Fifth to help you watch the door.”

It’s good to be able to take a bath. Ling Xing fully followed the arrangement and nodded repeatedly.

…

The next day, the diners who came to the bun stall to buy cold noodles didn’t get their favorite cold noodles.

The stall owner didn’t sell them anymore.

Many diners asked the reason, and Ling Xing couldn’t say it too clearly, so he could only say that the recipe had been sold, and someone else would sell cold noodles in the town later.

Hearing that there were still some for sale later, everyone felt sorry for a while, but didn’t say anything else.

At least they could still buy them and eat them.

Today, there were new products, and Ling Xing still did a taste test.

Those who didn’t buy cold noodles were also willing to try the newly released steamed rice cake.

They thought it was similar to steamed buns, but they didn’t expect it to be so sweet and soft.

The common people lacked meat and oil, and they also lacked sugar.

That thing was very expensive, a jin was hundreds of coins, and people without any family background really didn’t dare to buy it.

It was just something to eat for taste, it couldn’t fill their stomachs, and it wasn’t necessary to eat, so naturally they could save as much as they could.

But now the steamed rice cake they ate was sweet and filling.

They didn’t feel any loss at all when they ate it into their stomachs.

“How are these steamed rice cakes sold?” Some diners were very interested and took the initiative to ask the price.

Ling Xing had previously calculated the cost, and the total cost of four jins of steamed rice cake was one hundred and twenty-two coins.

He weighed and sold it by the tael, five coins a tael.

If he sold all of them, the pure profit would be seventy-eight coins. The profit wasn’t very high, but the price couldn’t be higher.

If it was higher, no one would buy it.

The size of one tael of steamed rice cake was slightly smaller than a steamed bun, but it was also very solid.

This was also red dates, good noodles, and sugar. It wasn’t impossible to be one coin more expensive than steamed buns.

The main reason was that the ingredients were good, and the size was also suitable, so many people bought it.

Basically, they all bought one tael to taste the taste, and there were also people who didn’t lack money and bought three or four taels to eat a full meal.

The speed at which steamed rice cake sold wasn’t as fast as cold noodles, mainly because of the price.

But its taste was good enough, and the taste was also good, at least after two hours, when it was time to close the stall, it was all sold out.

According to the purchasing power of the people around Sugar Workshop Street, Ling Xing estimated that four jins of steamed rice cake could be sold out completely every day.

Later, he would buy raw materials according to this amount.

After packing up the stall and going back, Ling Xing and Shen Hui first went to the gambling house, gave the portrait to the burly man guarding the door, and explained the reason.

The other party took a look and checked to confirm that there was no problem, and told the two to wait. One of them took the portrait in.

It wasn’t long before they came out and replied that Eighth Master knew.

On the way back, Ling Xing was obviously very happy.

The search for Ling Yue had taken a few steps forward.

The original owner’s emotions towards Ling Yue didn’t seem to have completely disappeared. Because the probability of finding him had increased a little, Ling Xing’s steps were much lighter.

As a result, because he didn’t look carefully at the road when he was happy, he was tripped over by the small tree root that protruded slightly from the ground.

Shen Hui reacted quickly, pulled the branch, and pulled the person towards himself, at least so that he wouldn’t fall face down.

Ling Xing bumped into Shen Hui.

“Hiss…”

A suppressed groan escaped from his lips.

Ling Xing was still celebrating that he didn’t touch the ground in the previous second, and in the next second, his head was buzzing with pain. He covered his mouth and nose and squatted down directly, and tears were coming out of his eyes.

He bumped too hard, and Shen Hui also felt pain in his chest. It seemed that Ling Xing had bumped not lightly.

He squatted down and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ling Xing was in so much pain that he couldn’t answer.

Because his tongue was bitten by his teeth.

Big drops of tears fell, and Shen Hui looked at the tears, afraid that Ling Xing had broken his teeth.

If he broke them, they wouldn’t grow back later.

Because of worry, he couldn’t care about anything else, and Shen Hui could only reach out and pull Ling Xing’s wrist.

“Open your mouth, let me see if your teeth are hurt.”

Ling Xing felt that his mouth was numb, with a faint bloody smell. His lips felt swollen, his tongue tip was stinging, and saliva was uncontrollably secreted.

Although his teeth had a dull pain, he could completely bear this pain compared to others.

But he was also afraid that something would happen to his teeth. There was no dental filling here.

Without a mirror, Ling Xing couldn’t see the injuries inside and outside his mouth, so he could only do as Shen Hui said and let Shen Hui check.

Ling Xing obediently opened his mouth.

His eyelashes were wet with tears, and his eyes were red from crying.

His lips trembled slightly, Ling Xing said incoherently, with a crying voice, “Second brother, is my mouth broken inside? Are my teeth okay?”

As he spoke, Ling Xing moved his tongue slightly to make it easier for Shen Hui to see where he was injured.

His tongue tip was slightly raised, but in the next instant, half of Ling Xing’s face was suddenly covered by a big hand.

“Mmm.”

Ling Xing was a little confused for a moment, and looked at Shen Hui with a pair of moist eyes.

He felt that Shen Hui’s hand covering his mouth seemed to be shaking.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask Shen Hui why he was covering his mouth, in a flash, Ling Xing suddenly thought that he had a pregnancy mole under his tongue.