Chapter 55: Milk Green Bean Cake

◎ Why is it this woman again? ◎

The next morning, after Jiang Che woke up, he rubbed his head.

Wei Xuan handed him a glass of honey water. “Drink some to ease the hangover.”

After drinking the water, Jiang Che finally felt a little better.

“Now you feel uncomfortable, huh? Serves you right, who told you to drink so much?”

Jiang Che took a moment to recover and said, “Wife, is there anything to eat? I’m hungry.”

“You go wash your face in the yard first, I’ll go get something for you.” Wei Xuan got up and went to the kitchen, bringing him a bowl of plain congee and two small dishes.

“Here, drink some congee to cleanse your stomach.”

Jiang Che didn’t mind, blowing on it a bit before drinking a few sips, feeling less empty in his stomach. Then he was ready to talk to Wei Xuan.

Noticing Wei Xuan sitting there, he knew she wanted to know what he and Cheng Shao talked about last night.

So, he didn’t tease her and straightforwardly repeated what Cheng Shao had said to him.

“How is it? Are you at ease now?”

Wei Xuan smiled. “At ease, at ease. Drink some more congee to get rid of the smell of alcohol.”

Jiang Che put the bowl down, raised his head proudly, and looked at her. “I’ve helped you with such a big matter, and you’re just giving me plain congee as thanks?”

“In the morning, do you expect a full feast? Fine, I’ll make you something delicious tonight, how about that?”

“That’s better. I’ll be waiting.” Jiang Che said, then quickly drank down a couple more mouthfuls before standing up and wiping his mouth. “It’s getting late, I need to go to work. You and our daughter stay home and be good.”

On the other side, Cheng Shao also woke up late for a rare time. Bian Qianqian was playing with the child in the yard, and as soon as she saw him come out, she said, “There’s some leftover corn porridge in the kitchen, go drink some.”

Cheng Shao nodded, walked to the well to fetch a bucket of cold water to wash his face, feeling a little more refreshed, and then went to the kitchen to eat.

Bian Qianqian saw him enter the kitchen, holding her mischievous son who wanted to get into trouble with the water. She followed him and sat down across from Cheng Shao, asking, “What did Jiang Che want with you last night?”

Cheng Shao glanced at her. “Jiang Che is older than us, don’t just call his name like that.”

Bian Qianqian didn’t mind. “Well, I’m classmates with Wei Xuan, should I call him brother-in-law too? That would be awkward. You call yours, I’ll call mine, and we don’t need to be formal.”

Cheng Shao didn’t insist that she change it, just said it casually. When he saw her reasoning, he didn’t bring it up again.

Bian Qianqian noticed that he had stopped talking, so she hurriedly said, “You haven’t answered my question yet. What did Jiang Che say last night? He got you so drunk.”

Cheng Shao still had a bit of a headache and didn’t want to talk much, but when he saw that his wife really wanted to know, he put down the bowl and told her everything in a calm manner.

To his surprise, as soon as Bian Qianqian heard the first sentence, she exclaimed, “Isn’t that competing with you for business?”

Cheng Shao frowned. “Lower your voice, you’re scaring the child.”

Bian Qianqian realized she had overreacted, quickly calmed down her son, and then continued, “I’m not wrong though. They know you’re in this business and still want to do the same thing—how is that not competing?”

“What do you mean competing with me? Even if Wei Xuan’s brother wasn’t involved, there’d still be others. Besides, it’s because we’re friends that we won’t compete. When it comes to my familiar territory, Wei Xuan’s brother will definitely avoid stepping on my toes. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t care about my interests, they’d just do whatever’s convenient.”

Bian Qianqian knew what he was saying made sense, but she still felt uneasy. It had been hard enough for her man to find a way to make money, and now someone else was coming for the same business—it didn’t sit right with her.

Seeing that she hadn’t fully understood, Cheng Shao decided to explain further: “Let’s not talk about the help Jiang Che gave us before. Just look at this situation—he didn’t hide anything from us. He invited me to dinner and gave me a heads-up beforehand, that’s already good enough. I’d rather be more open about it. Friends don’t rush things, and it’s through daily interactions that our relationship improves. In the future, when we’re in the capital, we’ll have someone to rely on, right? You know, it’s hard for a country guy like me to establish myself here in the capital, everything has to be done on my own. But from my time spent with Jiang Che, I really think he’s a good guy—smart and loyal. That’s why I really want to be friends with him.”

Then, he made a promise: “I know you have concerns about this matter, but trust me, I’ll do it well and won’t make you suffer again. Your husband will definitely be able to give you a better life in the future.”

With Cheng Shao saying this, Bian Qianqian couldn’t say much more. Besides, she wasn’t unreasonable. Wei Xuan and Jiang Che had indeed helped them a lot.

By mid-July, Wei Xuan’s three older brothers finally brought the first batch of grain to the capital.

Since this was their first time doing such a thing, the three of them were a little nervous, so they decided to stick together and check things out, just in case anything happened, they’d have each other’s backs.

Wei Xuan only provided them with a place to stay, and didn’t intervene in the rest. She let them handle things on their own.

As the days passed, Wei Xuan could see that the smiles on the brothers’ faces grew larger every day, and the family’s grain reserves were steadily dwindling, so she knew their business was going well.

Sure enough, that evening, during dinner, Wei Xuan’s eldest and second brothers said they had to go back.

“It’s not good staying here all the time. We’ve gotten familiar with the area around here, so we can leave the youngest to handle things. We’ve already shipped most of the grain back, so we need to hurry back to collect more. If we wait too long, we won’t have time to gather the rest of the grain.”

“Right, what the second brother said is true. And our parents at home must be worrying. It’s better we go back and put their minds at ease.”

Since both Wei Xuan’s eldest and second brothers said so, Wei Xuan didn’t insist on keeping them.

She only asked, “Have you figured out how to bring the grain next time?”

This time, their excuse was that the new harvest had arrived at home, and they wanted to send some to Wei Xuan’s family to try. Using that excuse again next time wouldn’t work, after all, no matter how many people were in Wei Xuan’s family, they couldn’t eat that much grain in a short time.

Wei Xuan’s second brother put down his chopsticks, glanced at his older and younger brothers, and said, “We’ve discussed it. We can’t keep taking the bus, so we’ll borrow a bullock cart from the team. We’ll set off at midnight, deliver the grain, and return. The bullock cart can carry enough grain for us to sell for a long time. After that, we’ll have to use a more labor-intensive method. We’ll take turns hauling a little bit each time, so hopefully no one will notice. Besides, didn’t you say that this won’t last long? As long as we get through this time, it’ll be fine.”

Jiang Che chimed in, “Right, don’t worry about these troublesome things. Since both brothers are going back tomorrow, how about we drink a toast tonight?”

Wei Xuan gave him an annoyed look. How did he suddenly develop a love for drinking?

But despite her reluctance, she moved quickly and went to get a bottle of wine.

“This is the only bottle, once it’s finished, there won’t be any more.” She still remembered the last time he drank too much.

Jiang Che grinned and promised, “Just this one bottle!”

After Wei Xuan’s brothers returned, the yard returned to its peaceful state.

When she had some free time, Wei Xuan remembered that she hadn’t made any new dishes in a long while. Since she didn’t have much to do recently, she thought it would be a good time to experiment.

In summer, besides the nine-layer cake, green bean cake is the most refreshing treat.

Also, green bean cake is simple to make. The night before, soak the green beans, and by the next morning, the soaked beans can easily be rubbed to remove their skins.

Then, cook the cleaned beans until soft and mash them into a paste. That’s half the work done.

Early in the morning, as Jiang Che was mashing the green beans, he mumbled:

“Wife, is breakfast ready? I’m hungry, and the smell of green beans is making me even hungrier.”

Wei Xuan, while taking the steamed buns out of the pot, reassured him: “Almost done, don’t rush.”

Seeing that she wasn’t paying attention, Jiang Che quickly dipped his hand into the basin, grabbed some of the green bean paste, and popped it into his mouth. “Hmm, delicious!”

But Wei Xuan, who had turned around just in time, caught him. She helplessly said: “Is it done? Come eat now.”

Jiang Che, feeling guilty, said: “It’s done, it’s done.”

Wei Xuan checked the green bean paste he had mashed and felt it was fine enough, so she began the next step.

First, pour a little oil into the pot, then add the green bean paste and cook on low heat, slowly stir-frying to evaporate the moisture.

Halfway through, Wei Xuan suddenly remembered something and asked Jiang Che to go next door to fetch the milk powder that Cheng Shao had given them last time.

“Wife, what do you need the milk powder for?”

Yuan Yuan didn’t need milk powder right now, so the box hadn’t been opened.

Wei Xuan opened it, scooped two spoonfuls into a bowl, added a little hot water to dissolve it, and then poured it into the pot.

She covered the milk powder and finally answered Jiang Che’s earlier question: “This will probably make it taste better.”

Lastly, she added a bit of sugar, allowing the milk and sugar to fully blend with the green bean paste. Then, it was almost ready to be taken off the heat.

She took out the mold she had asked Jiang Che to get from the carpenter earlier and packed the green bean paste into the mold to shape it.

“Remember to ask Brother Wu’s people to hang the green bean cakes in the well. If we don’t sell them today, they won’t be able to be sold tomorrow. Let the brothers eat them tonight if there are any left.”

“Got it, I’m off now. You should eat. If Yuan Yuan wakes up later, you won’t have time to eat.”

Jiang Che, excited with the newly made green bean cakes, went to Wu Yun’s place. However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw the woman, Zhong Yulan, again.

Why was she here again? Since the last time he told Brother Wu that it was inconvenient for her to stay here alone, he hadn’t seen her again. He thought that Brother Wu had understood and wouldn’t let her stay anymore, but now, here she was.

Unlike Jiang Che’s frustration, Zhong Yulan was very happy to see him. She cheerfully said: “Brother Jiang, I saw you so happy just now. Is there some good news? Can you tell me about it?”

Jiang Che ignored her and instead asked a nearby younger brother: “Is your boss here?”

“He is. He’s inside. Brother Jiang, you can go in directly,” the younger brother replied tactfully.

Jiang Che nodded and walked straight inside.