Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 86 - 0 Setting Up a Stall

Several families were incredulous upon hearing the result.

Third Grandma said: "Has the Mo Family gone mad? Letting He Dacai off so easily, won’t he trouble them later?"

"Exactly." Mrs. Chen, while grinding cinnamon with a stone mortar, added: "It was just twenty lashes, given by He Family Members themselves, how hard could they have hit? Probably didn’t even break the skin, just lie down for a few days and he’ll be fine."

Having said that, she looked up at Gu Yumei, who was crushing bay leaves, and spoke: "You were complaining about being bored at home and wanted to go to the village to make friends with the girls there, to help out the family. Are you still going? This village isn’t like our old home, it’s very dangerous."

They had only arrived about ten days ago and weren’t familiar with the people in the village. Making acquaintances was something that should be left to the adults; there was no need for a grown girl like Gu Yumei.

Gu Yumei did not respond, her face grim as she pounded the bay leaves in the wooden bowl, as if wanting to smash a hole through the bowl.

Damn Gu Jinli, why should she be the one to crush bay leaves? He also insisted it be ground into powder, not too coarse, otherwise, it wouldn’t taste good when sprinkled into tofu. She had been pounding for two days, her hands were blistered and she still had to continue, it was infuriating.

Gu Yumei didn’t want to do this task, but since they were setting up a tofu business, in these days, several families gathered at Gu Jinli’s house, preparing everything. There was no one at her home during the day and she was also afraid of the local idlers; she didn’t dare stay at home alone, so she had to come and work.

But she felt uncomfortable in her heart; if it were still in their old home, why would she need to do such work?

Seeing her displeasure, Mrs. Chen muttered discontentedly and said no more.

Upon hearing Mrs. Chen’s mutter, Gu Yumei fiercely pounded the bay leaves in the bowl a dozen more times, then got up and went to Gu Jinli’s side, intending to dump the crushed bay leaves into a cloth bag, but Gu Jinli stopped her: "This won’t do. We need bay leaf powder; yours is still too coarse."

"Just make do with it," Gu Yumei spread her right hand in front of Gu Jinli, resentfully saying: "Open your eyes and look, my hands are blistered, I can’t pound anymore."

Her eyes reddened, she looked very wronged.

Unfortunately, Gu Jinli was not swayed.

Gu Jinli handed over the cardamom he was halfway done pounding to Gu Yumei: "Then you pound this."

Bay leaves were the easiest among all the spices to be ground into powder; he had already given the easiest task to Gu Yumei, but she was still picky, so let her do a more difficult task.

Gu Yumei, seeing the cardamom pieces as hard as tree bark, dared not complain further, held the wooden bowl and went back to pounding the bay leaves.

Several women and a few teenagers were busy until evening before they finished pounding all the spices, but these were still not enough. Gu Jinli said: "Third Grandpa, in three days it will be the tenth, Xuanhu Fang should be open, please go to town and buy some more spices."

Most of these spices were gathered by her while fleeing from famine, but the amount collected was not ample. As they wanted to do business, they needed a lot of spices and had to buy more from the pharmacy.

Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan were making tables and chairs, hearing this, replied: "Alright, think it over these next two days, if there’s anything else needed, we’ll go to town on the tenth."

"Okay," Gu Jinli replied and packed the ground spices into a cloth bag, tying it with a rope.

Third Grandma asked: "Xiao Yu, aren’t these spices enough?" They had been pounding and grinding for two days and had already produced about ten pounds of spices.

Gu Jinli replied: "It’s not enough. These spices are not only for making Fried Five-Spice Tofu, but when selling plain tofu, we can also sell them to customers to add a bit to their tofu or dishes for flavoring; the required amount is large. We better prepare more so we won’t suddenly run out of stock."

Mrs. Chen and her family were just about to head home when they heard this and stopped in their tracks to ask, "Xiao Yu, can these spices still be sold for money?"

Gu Jinli nodded and said, "Yes, they can."

"Oh my, how come Xiao Yu is so clever? Everything she makes can be sold for money." Mrs. Chen was overjoyed and asked Gu Jinli again, "Xiao Yu, about the money from selling the spices..."

Gu Jinli knew what she wanted to ask and said, "We’ll divide it according to what Third Grandpa agreed on."

Hearing this, Mrs. Chen was so happy she couldn’t close her mouth, she said a few good words, took her children, and returned home. The others also went back to their respective homes.

On the tenth day, Third Grandpa, along with Gu Dashan, and the Luo father and son, went to the town. Following Gu Jinli’s instructions, they bought more medicinal herbs that could be used as spices and also ordered two iron plates at the blacksmith’s, each one chi wide and half a meter long.

"Those two iron plates aren’t hard to make; they can be fetched tomorrow, costing four taels of silver," said Third Grandpa.

As for those four taels of silver, they would be accounted for in the cost, and when the tofu was sold, the silver would be deducted.

The next day, everyone began grinding spices again, while Gu Jinli mixed the spices in specific proportions and, along with a few younger kids, packed them in yellow paper, preparing like this for a while until the fifteenth day of the first month arrived.

On the day of the Lantern Festival, their several families got up before dawn and after bustling about for more than an hour, Third Grandpa along with Father Luo, Ms. Chu, Uncle Tian, Aunt Tian, Gu Damu, Ms. Yan, Gu Dagui, Mrs. Chen, Qin San Lang, Gu Jin’an, Luo Huiniang, and Gu Jinli headed to the town.

They had a lot to carry, and almost everyone going to the town to set up a stall had to carry something.

Father Luo had to carry two iron plates and two heavy clay stoves, Uncle Tian, Aunt Tian, and Gu Damu, Ms. Yan were carrying four loads of tofu, while Gu Dagui and Mrs. Chen were carrying two loads of bean dregs, as they were also selling bean dreg cakes this time.

Third Grandpa, Ms. Chu, Qin San Lang, and Gu Jin’an were carrying four loads of chopped firewood; they didn’t have money for charcoal and were selling food that needed to be cooked on the spot, so they could only carry firewood to the town.

Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang were carrying pots, pans, ladles, chopsticks, and also oil, salt, and spices.

A group of people hurried and slowly made their way until they finally reached the town by midday.

Tonight was the Lantern Festival, and the town had a lantern fair, a rare day without curfew. Many families came out to set up stalls for business. By the time they arrived, all the available stall spaces were already taken.

However, Doctor Du had already asked an attendant from Xuanhu Fang to reserve a good five-meter-square spot for them and also helped them obtain a stall sign from the town clerk’s Si Li Square, securing their spot for the evening stall setup.

In ancient towns, there was no mayor, but there was a Si Li Square, which had two clerks and six government officials responsible for handling the affairs of the town. To set up a stall, one needed to go to Si Li Square to pay and get a sign. Only with a sign could one set up a stall.

The cost of the signs varied; food stalls were more expensive. During big festivals like Lantern Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, food stalls had to pay one hundred copper coins for a day, which was the equivalent of half a month’s rent for a regular stall, but agricultural goods stalls only cost ten copper coins a day, and half a day cost only five copper coins.

The attendant named Cangzhu, seeing Third Grandpa, immediately waved him over saying, "Elder Gu, over here, this way."

Third Grandpa hurriedly led them, carrying the goods, and upon seeing such a good spot, was extremely delighted, "This spot is great, close to the main street. Thank you, young brother Cangzhu."

The lantern fair was on the main street, and by now, a row of pillars had been erected along the main street, with thick ropes hanging between them. In the evening, the ropes would be laden with various types of lanterns, and the light from the lanterns would illuminate the entire main street.