Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 39 - 39: 37: Money is meant to be spent!

Translator: 549690339

“Boss, give us four bowls of vegetarian noodles!”

As he spoke, Di Yelei shouted to the busy stall owner without stopping.

“Alright! Four bowls of vegetarian noodles!” The stall owner repeated loudly, picking up the noodles skillfully.

Having been busy all morning, Liu Sisi was now tired and naturally sat down on a small stool.

“Mom—”

Di Ying, who was originally held by Di Yelei, looked at the busy owner with hopeful eyes and couldn’t help but put her little finger in her mouth…

“Don’t put your hand in your mouth, it’s dirty. Our Di Ying knows better, eating your hand will cause your stomach to hurt, do you understand?” Liu Sisi quickly pulled Di Ying’s little hand away.

“Hehe, Mom, YingEr wants a hug!” Di Ying said as she tried to break free from Di Yelei’s arms.

“Don’t move! Be careful not to get burned by the noodle soup.”

At this moment, the stall owner had already brought over a bowl of vegetarian noodles, and Di Yelei quickly pulled Di Ying’s little body aside to avoid getting burnt.

Di Ying shyly stuck out her little tongue.

“Here, customer, the vegetarian noodles are cooked! The other three bowls will be served shortly. Please take your time.” The boss quickly left.

Di Yelei pushed the first bowl of noodles forward: “Sisi, you eat first.”

Liu Sisi glanced at Di Ying and Di Xuan, who were obviously very hungry: “Let YingEr eat first, it’s just a short wait, I can wait a little longer.”

Di Yelei thought about it, and that made sense. So, he picked up the chopsticks and carefully blew on two strands of noodles to cool them before putting them into Di Ying’s mouth.

The bowl of vegetarian noodles was really just plain noodles, a bunch of wild vegetables placed at the bottom of the bowl, and the thoroughly cooked noodles were then swirled in the middle of the bowl. Chopped green onions and chili sauce were sprinkled on top, and a large bowl of vegetarian noodles was ready!

While Liu Sisi was looking, the remaining three bowls of vegetarian noodles were also served.

By this time, Di Yelei had already fed half a bowl of noodles to Di Ying!

Di Xuan, sitting next to them, was sensible and picked up his chopsticks to eat quickly. Although he was only a seven-year-old boy, he was very well-behaved, and his eating posture was quite elegant, showing that he had been well trained.

Looking at the large bowl of noodles in front of her, Liu Sisi couldn’t help but add more than half of it to Di Yelei’s bowl, and finally awkwardly stuck out her tongue, “There’s too much noodles, I can’t finish it.”

What she said was true. Her appetite was small, and she could only eat half a bowl of rice before feeling full!

“You need to eat more! Look at how thin you are.”

Di Yelei frowned and said, “With such a small frame, how can she endure my demands?”

It seemed he needed to work hard to strengthen her body more, so she wouldn’t faint when things got intense – that would be a total mood killer!

“There is already a lot, look, I still have a big bowl of noodles here.”

Liu Sisi naturally didn’t understand the lewd thoughts running through Yelei’s mind and stirred the noodles in her bowl with her bamboo chopsticks.

The taste of the vegetarian noodles was nothing like she had imagined. Instead, they were hand-made and had a strong, chewy texture. The slight numbness and rich spicy flavor rushed into her mouth, stimulating her saliva immediately.

She hadn’t eaten such delicious food in a long time!

Liu Sisi originally thought there were no seasoning spices like pepper and star anise here since she didn’t see them at Di’s home. It wasn’t until she tasted the food that she realized they were not absent—they just didn’t have them at Di’s home!

The increasingly hungry Liu Sisi struggled to finish her bowl of vegetarian noodles. By the time she was full, there were still almost half a bowl of noodles left, and she just couldn’t eat anymore.

“I, I’m full. YingEr, let me feed you, you eat the noodles first.”

She can’t be blamed for this; it’s all the fault of the stall owner. Why would he put so much in a bowl? No matter how hard she tries, she can’t finish it!

“Alright then.”

Di Yelei looked up and saw that Liu Sisi still had a small portion of noodles left in her bowl, so he put Di Ying on the small stool beside her, picked up Liu Sisi’s remaining noodles, and started eating hungrily.

Liu Sisi couldn’t help but open her mouth wide: “Those noodles…” were the ones I’ve eaten from!

Seeing the noodles in the bowl quickly being slurped up by Di Yelei, Liu Sisi swallowed the rest of her sentence. Her face flushed in waves, she quickly lowered her head to use feeding Di Ying noodles as a cover.

Di Ying was eating happily, grinning at Liu Sisi with squinted eyes, making Liu Sisi’s embarrassment disappear a bit.

After everyone was full, Di Yelei finally settled the bill and left.

Four bowls of vegetarian noodles actually cost 24 copper coins, causing Liu Sisi’s heart to ache! This wild pheasant cost only 40 copper coins, and yet the vegetarian noodles without any meat cost 24 coins, which were so hard earned and used up so quickly!

With their bellies full, Di Ying’s spirits were lifted.

“Mom – look over there!”

Following Di Ying’s pointing, Liu Sisi saw a stall selling various small ornaments.

“YingEr, do you want that hair flower? Let’s go take a look.”

Girls should be pampered, and Liu Sisi was also willing to spoil YingEr as she grew up.

Di Ying’s eyes suddenly lit up! She looked up at her brother, then at her dad, quickly lowered her head and clenched her lips, and dared not speak.

Their earnings today were good, and Di Yelei looked at his little wife’s moist, big eyes, then back at YingEr’s hopeful gaze. He couldn’t refuse in the end, “Let’s go and take a look.”

“Great! Dad, you’re the best!” Di Ying said with a happy face.

“So Mom isn’t good? YingEr, you’re biased.” Liu Sisi playfully teased her.

Di Ying’s face was all smiles, “Dad is good, Mom is good, and brother is good too.” While speaking, she didn’t forget to include her big brother.

Liu Sisi rummaged through the stall for a while and picked out a pair of delicate silk flowers suitable for a little girl to wear, then tried to put them on YingEr.

“My, our YingEr really knows how to talk! Here, take a look at this silk flower. Do you like it, YingEr?”

“I like it, thank you, Mom.” Naturally, Di Ying was happy to wear silk flowers for the first time in her life.

Seeing that YingEr liked it, Liu Sisi haggled for a while, and finally bought the pair of silk flowers for 8 copper coins. She secretly marveled at the price; the silk flowers used only a small amount of cloth, yet they cost 8 coins, which was too expensive!

Only then did Di Yelei lead everyone into the rice and grain shop.

Initially, when the Di family separated, Di Yelei didn’t get any land. For him, the biggest expense throughout the year was the money spent on buying grain.

As soon as they entered, Di Yelei said to the rice and grain store owner, “Boss, give me a bushel of rice, a bushel of white flour, and a bushel of coarse grains. Also, weigh some table salt, and…”

Here, one bushel is equivalent to 30 catties in modern terms. Rice and white flour cost 250 copper coins per bushel, and coarse grains cost 150 copper coins per bushel. One pint of salt costs ten copper coins. Liu Sisi glanced around the shop and also asked Di Yelei to buy a bushel of soybeans and some chili, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seasonings to take back.

The various grains filled up the empty basket, and the total cost was 1 tael and 193 copper coins. Although it caused Liu Sisi’s heart to ache, she felt incredibly satisfied.

Women were born to love spending money, especially on these indispensable costs, so they should naturally be spent!

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