Chapter 324 - 320: Sweet Smell_1

“Yuying has gone to school, she hasn’t finished yet.”

Jiang Yunniang invited Zhang Xiaolang inside, and asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

Zhang Xiaolang shook his head.

Jiang Yunniang sighed, led him to the kitchen in the backyard, and made him a bowl of noodles topped with two poached eggs.

Zhang Xiaolang finished eating quickly, and even took the initiative to wash his own bowl and chopsticks clean.

Jiang Yunniang didn’t say much, seeing his messy hair and dirty clothes, she picked up the comb and combed his hair for him, asking, “You are five years old this year, didn’t your father let you go to school?”

Zhang Xiaolang shook his head: “Dad is sick and lies in bed all day, my stepmother and sister-in-law don’t like me, they told me to get lost and not to come back anymore.”

Jiang Yunniang was silent for a while, and said, “Well, you can stay here with Yuying for a while.”

Zhang Jia hasn’t been doing well lately. He was addicted to taking Five-Stone Powder and became thin. Last time, she saw him in the vegetable market and he couldn’t even get up.

While Jiang Yunniang despised him, she also felt a little sorry for him.

So she asked a man with a handcart to take him home, and she gave the cart driver ten copper coins for carriage fare.

“Thank you, mom!” There was a look of joy on Zhang Xiaolang’s face, he hurried to fetch some water to wash his hands and face.

Then, he looked up and asked, “Can mom give me some work to do? I can do anything.”

Jiang Yunniang pondered, “Not today, but in a few days when the golden mushrooms are mature in the bamboo shed, you can help your cousin harvest the mushrooms.”

Zhang Xiaolang nodded, “Yeah!”

At this time, Yingbao came over and handed two books, two brushes, and two ink sticks to Zhang Xiaolang: “It’s time for you to start learning, wait till Yuying comes back, you can learn to write with him.”

She also brought gifts for Yuying and Hong Xiao. The two books, Thousand-Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames, were taken out from the cave dwelling, which can be used for Zhang Xiaolang’s enlightenment.

Zhang Xiaolang took the books and ink, looking a bit overwhelmed, and hurriedly thanked her, “Thank you Sister Yingbao.”

“No need to thank me, just study hard in the future, there might be hope for you when you grow up.”

With his current family background, if the boy does not study, he can only become a small trader, or do odd jobs for other shops.

If there are no older people to arrange for him, it’s not possible to even get a job as an apprentice in a pharmaceutical store.

Zhang Xiaolang hugged his books and ink tightly, nodding again and again, “Yeah! I will study hard!”

Then Yingbao went to check the mushroom shed in the yard.

The mushroom shed was set up by his cousin, and there were more than five hundred golden mushrooms planted inside, which are almost ripe now.

But these golden mushrooms are not growing well and they do not look very lively.

Perhaps it is because this summer has been extremely hot, which might have affected the growth of these mushrooms.

Er Nini, the maid, ran over and said to Yingbao, “Yingbao, you don’t know, Chu Man also came to town. Her parents rented a house for her nearby so that she could have more time with her scholar husband, hoping that she could get pregnant early.”

Yingbao:

Upon seeing that Er Nini couldn’t keep a secret, and was telling everything she knew, Jiang Yunniang reprimanded, “What do you, a little girl, know about mature matters? Stop talking, or you’re going to corrupt yourself.”

Er Nini was indifferent, her eyes wide open, “It was Mrs. Wang who told my mother, what’s wrong with that? It doesn’t corrupt at all. Before, when Yingbao and I went to the teahouse to listen to stories, the storyteller’s erotic stories were the ones that corrupt.”

Yingbao had an innocent look.

In her heart she screamed: Good for you Er Nini, you betrayed me?

And besides, if the storyteller didn’t add some erotic episodes, who would be so interested to sit in the teahouse all day listening to the sequences?

Even if they were telling stories about ancient heroes, the audience loved to hear the romantic parts between heroes and beauties the most.

As expected, Jiang Yunniang turned her gaze to Yingbao, “When did you and Er Nini start to listen to the stories? The teahouse is full of men, how could you two young girls run to such a place? You really don’t know what’s appropriate behavior.”

Before Yingbao could explain, she heard Er Nini say, “We went years ago. It wasn’t just the two of us, our brother was also there······”

“What? You went with Erquan?” Jiang Yunniang tweaked Er Nini’s forehead, “You really dare to listen!”

Er Nini cringed, grabbed Yingbao and ran to the shop.

In the afternoon, Hong Xiao and Zhang Yuying came back from school, and saw that a big table of good food had been laid out in the living room.

Jiang Yunniang slaughtered two of her own small roosters, and bought some beef and pork from the braised meat shop to welcome Yingbao home.

Jiang Cheng also brought his wife and six or seven-months-old son over, and the family sat down happily for the meal.

Yingbao took out a silver necklace from her bag. A silver lock was hanging on the necklace, which was given as a gift to the son of her eldest cousin.

The eldest sister-in-law was not pregnant when she left home, so this was the first time she saw this chubby baby.

The chubby baby was sitting near the dining table held by his mother, staring straight at the food on the table, saliva dripping down his chin.

No matter how many times his mother called him, he finally turned his gaze to Yingbao, revealed a toothless smile, waving his small hands on the table, screaming non-stop.

Yingbao pinched his little face and teased him a bit, then continued to eat and talked to everyone about her experiences while she was out.

Jiang Cheng suddenly said, “Yingbao, don’t run around anymore after you come back. Lately, people have been giving our shop a hard time. They bought things and then returned them, saying that our prices are too high and the goods are not fresh.”

While eating the braised beef, Yingbao asked, “Did any other place also open a specialty shop?”

Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said uncertainly, “Maybe, but I don’t know where.”

Chou Rong said, “I will ask my father tomorrow, he must know.” Even if he didn’t know, her father had a wide social network so he could get clear information by asking around.

“Oh dear, what if someone else also opens a shop like ours? What should we do?” Jiang Yunniang said worriedly.

Yingbao: “Don’t worry about that, we have golden mushrooms and snow mushrooms. Do they have those too?”

Their shop has always been popular, so it’s not surprising that some people might be jealous.

Especially other shops, they must have tried to make an identical one.

But they don’t have golden mushrooms or snow mushrooms. It might be difficult to create an identical one unless someone finds the supply channel for golden mushrooms.

Jiang Cheng remained silent while eating.

“Even if they have mushrooms, it doesn’t matter. We mustn’t lower the prices.” Yingbao said to her eldest cousin: “If business is slow, don’t order those cakes. The weather is also getting hot. If they can’t be sold in a few days, they’ll go bad. It’s not worth it.”

“I know that.” Jiang Cheng said, “I’ve even stopped ordering cakes from my father-in-law a few days ago, fearing they won’t be sold and go bad.”

Yingbao nodded, “That’s how it should be, after all, we still sell fresh fruits and there aren’t any others.”

Her eldest cousin told her that her second cousin had gone back to the village to transport fruits. There were many lychees on the lychee trees at home, and the longan and papaya were almost ripe. These fruits were rare in the city.

As soon as the fruits came, they were often sold out quickly.