Chapter 26 – A Booming Business

Xia Tian heard someone shouting at the door. She opened it and saw it was Sister Yao.

“Sister, are you looking for me?”

“The clothes are ready, I brought them for you.”

“So soon?” Xia Tian asked in disbelief.

Sister Yao brushed her hair back and cheerfully replied, “My mother-in-law helped sew them, take a look, how are they?”

As she spoke, Sister Yao handed the clothes to Xia Tian.

Xia Tian eagerly grabbed the clothes and pulled Sister Yao’s arm, “Come on, Sister, let’s go inside and talk.”

Once they were inside, Xia Tian couldn’t wait to try the clothes on. She held them up against herself and examined the stitching. The stitches were fine and tight, not worse than machine-sewn clothes.

“Sister, you did such a good job!” Xia Tian exclaimed joyfully, thanking Sister Yao.

She finally had new clothes to wear, and they were handmade!

It had been almost two months since she came here, and she had been wearing the two patched-up clothes of the original owner.

They were worn out after repeated washing.

This time, Sister Yao had sewn three pieces of clothing for her. One of them was the outfit Sister Yao had made for Shen Nian last time, which Xia Tian had kept aside since she didn’t have the sewing materials.

Sister Yao was happy too—such a small effort could earn her a few dozen coins. How great!

“I’m glad you like them! Try them on, see if they fit.”

“Of course they fit. Your skills are impeccable, Sister,” Xia Tian said as she took off her outerwear and put on the wine-red one, spreading her arms for Sister Yao to see.

“Wow, it fits perfectly. Wearing this, you look much better,” Sister Yao laughed, teasing her.

But she noticed that Xia Tian had indeed become much fairer and stronger than when they first met. She wasn’t the fragile girl who looked like she’d fall over with the slightest breeze.

“Of course! But it’s your craftsmanship that’s impressive, hehe.”

“Wait a moment, Sister, I’ll take this to Shen Nian for him to try.”

Xia Tian took the clothes to the upper room to let Shen Nian try them on. They all fit perfectly.

She gave Sister Yao thirty coins as payment.

“Sister, thank you so much!”

“What are you saying? I’m also benefiting from this. I should thank you—whenever there’s an opportunity to earn, you’re always thinking of me.”

They chatted a bit more about her street stall business before Sister Yao left.

Afterward, Xia Tian took the clothes and went to the river to wash them.

Once the clothes were drying, she went into the kitchen to check on the pork intestines simmering in the pot. They were almost done, so she lowered the heat to let them continue cooking.

The kitchen only had two stoves, one of which was taken up by the braised food.

She decided to make noodles for dinner.

The meat stall owner had given her a large bone, so Xia Tian cleaned it, then used a knife to break it into two pieces. She lit a small stove and started simmering the bone broth.

Quickly, she kneaded some dough and set it aside to rest, planning to make oil-splashed noodles later.

Since the broth needed more time, Xia Tian went out to the backyard garden to pick some greens. She chopped them finely, mixed them with cornmeal, and put the mixture into a chicken feeder. After adding some water, she dripped a few drops of the spiritual spring water into it.

This was after she had noticed that two chickens seemed sick and sluggish. After feeding them some diluted spiritual spring water, they quickly perked up, fully recovered. It turned out that the spiritual spring water worked on animals too.

Since then, she had regularly added a few drops of spiritual spring water to the chickens’ drinking water, and they never got sick again.

It had been over a month since she had brought the chickens home. They were already halfway grown and, in about two months, they would start laying eggs.

After feeding the chickens, she pulled some weeds from the garden.

The eggplant, chili, and tomato plants were already as tall as her knees. The beans, cucumbers, and loofah vines had grown past her chest, so Xia Tian set up bamboo trellises for them.

Looking at the thriving crops, she estimated that fresh vegetables would be available soon.

When she saw it was almost time, Xia Tian plucked a few green onions and returned to the kitchen to continue cooking.

Shen Nian had come out and was standing under the apricot tree in the yard, seemingly lost in thought.

Xia Tian took out two pieces of tofu and stir-fried them with the leftover pork belly from lunch. She also stir-fried some shredded potatoes.

She boiled water, rolled out the dough, and cut it into palm-width strips. After pinching both ends, she pulled the noodles to the right width and dropped them into the boiling water. In no time, two large bowls of hand-pulled noodles were ready.

She placed minced garlic, chili powder, and green onions into bowls and ladled the broth from the stove over them, drizzling some hot oil from the small stove on top with a sizzle. The aroma immediately filled the air.

Xia Tian carried the vegetables and noodles outside to the table in the yard, then went back to the kitchen to fetch a big bowl of bone broth, sprinkled it with green onions, and began to eat.

Shen Nian had never tasted noodles like this before. Following Xia Tian’s example, he mixed them together and took a bite. His eyes brightened.

“Delicious!”

Xia Tian grabbed a clean pair of chopsticks, picked up some shredded potatoes, and placed them in Shen Nian’s bowl. She smiled and said, “Shen Dage, mix the vegetables in your bowl, it’ll taste even better.”

Shen Nian tried it and nodded, “Hmm, not bad.”

Neither of them had time to chat as they dug into their meal!

The next morning, Xia Tian got up early, and Shen Nian had already risen too.

After having breakfast together, she packed up the items she needed into two baskets, then picked up the shoulder pole and headed toward the town.

As she approached the area near her stall, she noticed a crowd gathered around it.

“Could something be wrong?” Xia Tian wondered, quickening her pace.

As she got closer, someone spotted her.

“The boss is here!”

“Boss, why are you so late? I’ve been waiting for half the day.”

“Hey, move aside, let the boss through.”

…

With all the chatter, Xia Tian quickly understood—they were all waiting for her.

She let out a sigh of relief. No trouble, that’s good!

Xia Tian set down the shoulder pole, and everyone quickly helped her set up the table.

She hurriedly took out her items, just in time to see the first man who had bought her braised food the day before, pushing his way to the front. He held up a copper coin and said, “Give me ten coins’ worth.”

“I want some too!” someone else called.

“I want five coins’ worth!”

“I want three coins’ worth.”

Everyone held out their money, pushing forward to buy.

Xia Tian hurriedly took the coins, her hands nimble as she wrapped the braised intestines in oil paper. “Don’t rush, everyone, there’s enough for everyone.”

“I’m first, pack mine first!” someone who had bought from her yesterday pushed forward, “I wanted to come back and buy more yesterday, but you already closed up. I can’t miss out today.”

“Thank you for the support, it’ll be ready soon!” Xia Tian was delighted. It seemed her business was doing well.

She had thought that since today wasn’t a market day, it would take longer to sell everything!

But in less than half an hour, everything was sold out.

Those who hadn’t bought the pig intestines bought tofu instead, and when they tasted it, they found it was also delicious.

Salty, spicy, and savory—just as good as the meat.

Three sets of pig intestines and ten pounds of tofu were sold out.

Several people who were still in line and hadn’t bought anything yet stopped her to ask when she would be back tomorrow.

She quickly assured them that she would prepare more tomorrow and that they should come at the same time. Everyone agreed and let her go.

Once the crowd dispersed, Xia Tian wiped the sweat off her forehead. It had been busy!

She hadn’t stopped for a single moment.

The lady selling wontons next to her stall saw that Xia Tian finally had a break and enviously said, “Girl, your business is really good.”

The lady lived in the town and there were quite a few people eating wontons, so Xia Tian smiled and replied, “Auntie, your wontons are selling well too. Look, that table hasn’t been empty.”

“This is a family recipe. I’ve been selling here for many years, and all my customers are regulars,” the lady said with a smile of pride.

“Then your skills must be amazing. I’ll definitely try them next time.”

Xia Tian chatted with the lady for a while, then packed up the tubs and bowls and loaded them into the baskets. Since the government officials hadn’t come to collect the management fee yet, she waited at her stall.

After chatting a little more, Xia Tian saw the officials approaching. She handed over the five coins for the management fee and took out the braised intestines and tofu she had already prepared to give them.

“Thank you for your hard work, this bag of braised food is for you to enjoy with your drink!” Xia Tian said with a smile.

The official who came to collect the fee was the same one who had taken her to the stall the other day.

He received the package and smiled kindly, “Thank you, boss.” Noticing that Xia Tian had finished selling so quickly, he asked curiously, “You sold out so fast?”

“Yeah, thanks to everyone’s support. I didn’t prepare much today,” Xia Tian answered with a smile.

The official, seeing how young Xia Tian was but still very polite, secretly decided to look out for her in the future.

After exchanging a few words, the official continued to collect the management fees.

She waved goodbye to the lady, then picked up her baskets and went to buy the supplies for tomorrow.