Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 470: Chapter 246: Sticky Rice Lotus Root (Part 2)

Liu Xiaomei thought it over and had to agree, finally cheering up.

Juhua wanted to go in the spring. She yearned to see the charm of a riverside town shrouded in a silky spring drizzle. ’Wouldn’t it be brimming with an ancient, timeless beauty?’

The two began to imagine what would be for sale at the Xiatang Market come spring. They weren’t talking about goods in the established shops, but what the villagers themselves might bring to sell.

Juhua laughed. "It would be great if someone was selling fruit tree saplings—it’d be cheap to buy some to plant back home. Say, do you think anyone will be selling sheep? I’d love to raise one."

Liu Xiaomei chuckled. "Don’t go looking for more trouble! Your family has enough to deal with already. If you start raising a sheep, won’t you be even busier?" Juhua had to admit she was being a bit greedy.

Laughing and chatting, they waited for Yang Family to return. Then, they washed a large batch of lotus roots, breaking them into sections. For each piece, they cut off the knot at one end, stuffed glutinous rice into the hollow channels, and used chopsticks to pack it in firmly before placing everything in a large pot to cook.

By the time the lotus roots were cooked and scooped out, they had turned a pale, dusky pink. The glutinous rice had swollen, peeking out from the holes and releasing a tantalizingly fresh aroma.

They sliced the root into small rounds. Each cross-section, with its pattern of small circles, resembled a lotus seed pod. But where a seed pod is green, with green seeds inside, the lotus root slices were a dusky pink, filled with silvery-white rice. And when a piece was cut, long, silky threads remained, stretching further and further as the sections were pulled apart—a perfect demonstration of the saying, "the root may break, but its fibers remain connected."

Juhua and Mei eagerly picked up a piece each and began to nibble, their mouths quickly filling with the fine, clinging threads. Meanwhile, Yang Family smiled and picked out several good sections, placing them in a small wicker basket. She asked Juhua to take them over to He, saying that Zhang Yang would be getting out of school soon and should have a taste.

The rest of the lotus root was left in the pot for the helpers to eat after they returned, with each of them to take some home afterward.

The men who had been working the fishpond returned, carrying large and small buckets of fish and shoulder poles laden with lotus roots, all of them laughing and chattering. Shorty Zhou called out to Zheng Changhe, "Hurry and weigh them! Let’s see how many fish we got. I’d guess over a hundred pounds, and that’s after we left so many in the pond! Raising your own fish really is different. You take good care of them, and they grow up big and healthy."

Zhao San laughed. "Of course they are. You all know Juhua isn’t stingy with the feed."

Amid the laughter, Yang Family brought out a large basin of steaming ginger soup. Everyone drank a bowl to ward off the chill before rushing over to watch Qingmu and Zhang Huai weigh the fish.

Juhua and Liu Xiaomei watched intently from the side. They saw Qingmu and Zhang Huai lift a bucket full of fish while sliding the large counterweight along the beam of a steelyard scale. Liu Sanshun stood nearby with a bucket of crucian carp at his feet; his job was to add smaller fish to round out the weight.

"Sanshun, add another two pounds," Qingmu said to Liu Sanshun. "The bucket itself weighs a few pounds, so we have to subtract that!"

Liu Sanshun bent down, grabbed three carp, and tossed them into the bucket. "Okay, that’s fifty pounds!" Zhang Huai called out. "Let’s call it forty-five. This bucket’s heavy as sin, so we’ll knock off five pounds for it." He and Qingmu then lowered the pole, poured the fish into a large vat, and added fresh water before moving on to the next bucket.

Juhua, estimating based on how heavy the buckets usually felt when she carried them, quickly interjected, "The bucket isn’t that heavy! It’s probably only three or four pounds."

Seeing her calculate things so precisely, Zhang Huai was momentarily taken aback, then broke into a soft chuckle. A gentle light filled his eyes as he looked at her. Qingmu, also amused, looked at his sister and said with a sigh, "We’re just getting a rough total right now so we have an idea. We’re not selling the fish yet. That’s when you have to be precise down to the last ounce."

Juhua felt rather embarrassed. Seeing Zhang Huai’s face brimming with amusement, she shot him a glare. Liu Xiaomei squeezed her hand and stifled a giggle.

Liu Sanshun kindly explained to Juhua, "When you actually sell the fish, you use a smaller scale. You hook them right through the gills, so you’re only weighing the fish itself—pure net weight."

Li Changxing laughed. "That’s for selling them one by one. Uncle Zheng’s family has harvested so many fish, and big ones at that. They’ll definitely be selling in bulk to the big households and restaurants at the market—they buy a lot more. They’ll only sell the leftovers individually."

At Yang Family’s invitation, the others had already started eating the glutinous rice lotus root.

Zheng Changhe, holding a piece of the stuffed lotus root, said to Juhua between bites, "Don’t you worry, my girl. When your dad goes to sell these fish, that Lanzi and the buckets will all be weighed separately. We’ll get an exact weight, not just a rough guess like Huai Zi. I promise we won’t lose out." He thought she was worried they’d lose money by miscalculating the weight of the buckets, and was trying to reassure her.

This time, Juhua couldn’t help but laugh. She looked at her father, thinking, ’He’s so endearing.’

Liu Sanshun chimed in again. "Uncle Zheng, when you go to sell the fish, you should really take Aunt Zheng’s nephew with you—the one named Laixi. Man! I tell you, that kid is sharp. He’s got a real talent for business and a silver tongue. People walk into his shop with no intention of buying a thing, but after listening to him for a bit, they walk out with something, happy as can be."

Seeing that Li Changxing and the others were listening intently, he went on, "Now, don’t get the wrong idea and think he’s just a fast-talker who tricks people. I’m telling you, it’s nothing like that! He’s always telling customers things like, ’This isn’t practical for a farming family, you’d be wasting your money,’ or, ’That one’s nice, but it’s pricey. If you’re on a tight budget, you’d be better off with something else.’ Once, a fellow I know wanted to buy one of the fine mats my second brother weaves. Laixi knew him and rushed over to talk him out of it. He said it wasn’t a cost-effective purchase for a farmer and then added, ’Besides, don’t you know how to weave your own straw mats? Why throw away good money?’ Sure enough, the man didn’t buy the mat. He did buy something else, though, and it didn’t even cost him much." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)