In the early morning, before dawn, Qi Yuan woke up to a squeaking sound.
With a sweep of his consciousness, he discovered the place where the sound came from.
It turned out that the pockmarked woman had gotten up early and was hard at work pushing the stone mill to grind the soaked soybean slices into soy milk.
It was obviously very difficult for a woman to push such a heavy stone mill. The only person in the family who could help her was her elderly father-in-law.
Of course, the old man couldn't push the stone mill, so he could only do some lighter work within his ability, and was responsible for adding soybeans and water.
The sky gradually brightened, and a ray of morning sun shone through the window into their mill.
The little boy named Bao'er had also gotten up. Seeing that his mother was having a hard time, he ran over to help.
The woman stopped to take a breath, stretched out her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, and said gently: "Bao'er, good boy, you are still young and can't push this stone mill. Go and help grandpa get something, don't let grandpa get tired."
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Bao'er tried again without giving up, and found that the stone was not moving at all, and he was immediately dejected.
But when he saw his mother's hard work, he quickly cheered up and said, "The child will grow up quickly, and then he will be able to help his mother with things."
When the woman heard this, she smiled happily, touched her son's head and said, "Bao'er is so good, go quickly."
Bao'er agreed and ran to help his grandfather get something.
The woman smiled slightly and continued to push the stone mill.
It was difficult for her to push this thing alone. At first, her back was so tired every day, but after more than a year, she has become accustomed to this kind of work.
By the time the tofu is ready, morning has passed.
The woman went outside and opened the shop door. After a while, some neighbors came to exchange for tofu.
Although coins appeared at this time, for these ordinary families, most of them still used barter.
Most of these neighbors would take some grain, soybeans, corn, etc., and exchange them for some tofu at the store.
This small business is obviously not very profitable, but the woman is still very happy. After all, relying on these things can provide enough food for their family.
Plus the customers who come to eat every day, we can still make some money.
I just have to make medicine for my mother-in-law every day, but the money is always beyond my means.
After being busy for a while, the woman cooked for the family, took a few bites, took out all the money from the cupboard, and took the medicine according to the prescription given by the doctor yesterday.
Qi Yuan got up and went out of the room. He saw the owner of the guesthouse busy in the yard, so he asked him about the woman next door.
The owner of this guest house is also quite talkative. When Qi Yuan asked about the pockmarked woman next door, he immediately gave a thumbs up and praised him: "You said Chen Zhang's, that woman has nothing to say, the neighbor
None of the neighbors knew that she treated her parents-in-law with utmost purity and filial piety.
Her husband died on the battlefield last year, her mother-in-law is seriously ill, her father-in-law is old, and she basically relies on her to take care of everything outside the home. Without her, the family would have been in trouble."
With the other party's introduction, Qi Yuan gradually understood some things about the woman.
Chen Zhang has a good reputation among the neighbors nearby.
The ancients valued filial piety, but Chen Zhang's reputation for being filial to his parents-in-law is different from someone who deliberately guided people to portray themselves as a sage when they were in Chaoge. Their reputation has been accumulated bit by bit over the years.
, there is nothing false about it.
Especially after her husband died in battle and her mother-in-law became seriously ill, she didn't complain at all.
He served his mother-in-law with all his heart every day. Even when her mother-in-law felt that she was a burden on the family and couldn't think about it, she even tried to enlighten her. Only then did her mother-in-law stop seeking death.
Qi Yuan sighed in his heart, thought about it, and walked towards the tofu shop next door.
There was no one in the store because Mrs. Chen Zhang had just boiled medicine for her mother-in-law in the backyard.
Chen Zhang's mother-in-law coughed and sighed: "How many times have I told you not to spend this unnecessary money? My illness can't be cured, so why should I take medicine? It will only burden the family."
"As my mother-in-law said, of course you need to take medicine when you are sick. Maybe you will be cured in the future?"
Mrs. Chen Zhang blew the decoction, gently brought it to her mother-in-law, and served her to drink it.
"Oh, it's really a pain for you."
The mother-in-law sighed.
Although she is old and not confused, she naturally knows how much hardship her daughter-in-law has endured these days.
It's a pity that my body is useless, not only can't help, but also drags down the whole family to suffer along with it.
Mrs. Chen Zhang smiled and said: "My daughter-in-law is not a bitter person. Just take good care of her."
With that said, she packed up the medicine bowl and went out to do the things ahead.
After all, there are a lot of things to do every day when opening a store and doing business, and there is not much free time.
"Hey, why are you here so early, sir?"
When Mrs. Chen Zhang saw Qi Yuan in the store, she couldn't help but be startled. It's not even meal time yet!
Ordinary families usually have two meals a day. Except for the neighbors who exchange tofu, few people come to her shop to eat at this time.
"I'm not here to eat."
Qi Yuan organized his speech and then said: "You didn't control the heat when cooking. Let me teach you how to cook a dish?"
In fact, when he said this, he felt embarrassed in his heart. It was unheard of for him to come to a woman and teach her how to cook.
"ah?"
Mrs. Chen Zhang was also a little surprised: "Sir, you want to teach me how to cook?"
"What, you don't believe I can cook?"
"That's not true."
Mrs. Chen Zhang quickly shook her head: "Since the White-browed Sage taught cooking in Xiqi, most of the people who learned cooking skills were men. I guess you also learned cooking from the White-browed Sage, right?"
"Uh...not bad."
Qi Yuan nodded sternly, it seemed that his previous name was more useful here.
Mrs. Chen Zhang said with emotion: "Back then, my husband went to Xiqi to learn cooking skills from a sage for a period of time. If it weren't for the sage, our family wouldn't even be able to make a living now.
It's a pity that the wise man later traveled around the world, and I don't know where he went, otherwise I would have to thank him in person."
Then Mrs. Chen Zhang asked strangely: "But, why do you want to teach me cooking skills?"
Qi Yuan chuckled: "I'm teaching you because I heard about your filial piety to your parents-in-law, so I want to help you. Besides, I only plan to teach you one dish, so it won't take much effort.
I think the dish I taught you will be enough for you to support your family."
“Can one dish feed a family?”
Mrs. Chen Zhang was a little confused.
Although her cooking skills are not very good, she has heard that some of the more profitable restaurants have many kinds of dishes to support their appearance.
Qi Yuan chuckled softly: "You don't understand, there is a saying that you can eat it all over the world. If you learn this dish, it will be of great use to you in the future."
"Well, thank you sir."
Mrs. Chen Zhang bowed gratefully: "I wonder what kind of dishes you are going to teach me, sir?"
A strange look appeared on Qi Yuan's face: "The dish I want to teach you is called... Mapo Tofu!"