Chapter 266 - Selling Malatang
Chapter 266: Selling Malatang
“Could it be that the people in the village can’t live better? Don’t worry, Auntie Liang. We have our own way of raising our babies.”
These words were said rather bluntly, and there was no room for rebuttal.
Auntie Liang didn’t say anything else. She pouted and left.
Ye Lulu didn’t take the unrelated seriously. She took the newly bought apples into the house, skinned them, and mashed them with a spoon to feed the babies.
The three babies loved it! They were overjoyed from eating. Their beautiful eyes lit up and their mouths curled up in surprise.
Their pink tongues chased after the spoon to eat apple mash!
Of course, this was the first time the babies had eaten fresh apples! The naturally unpolluted fresh apples from ancient times were sweet and fragrant. The babies could not help but lick their tongues!
Ye Lulu also secretly took a bite. It was sandy and sweet. It was indeed very delicious!
When the three babies ate the sweet apple mash, they were so happy that they started dancing. Even the youngest son, who had a cold personality, opened his eyes completely. His eyes were bright as he chased after the fresh and sweet apple mash.
After feeding the three babies apple mash, it became their favorite food. They had to chase after Ye Lulu for her to feed it to them almost every day.
The triplets were still very smart. Their current understanding and reaction speed could be said to have improved rapidly every day.
The babies had learned how to turn over five months ago. They learned it at the same time and turned over within a day.
After that, the babies kept changing and their bodies became stronger.
Now, the three babies were always trying to stand up… They always seemed to want to stand up straight and try their best to stand up with their feet.
Apart from that, the babies had changed a lot. Their language skills were improving. Lately, they often opened their mouths and shouted nonsense. In fact, they were learning to talk.
They were in various stages of learning to imitate and speak.
For example, they could utter words similar to what adults had just said. And just like that day, when they were anxious, they would shout out words such as ‘cold’.
Over the past two days, the babies had been imitating more words. From time to time, they would say things like ‘cold’, ‘fruit’, and ‘again’.
Ye Lulu knew that they were in the midst of accelerating their learning and might speak soon.
This made Ye Lulu even more excited and thoughtful.
Ye Lulu also shared the apples with the other children from the Guan family. After the children from the Guan family ate the apples, they started to talk about their business agenda.
The Yuan River would start voyages the next day and the market at the docks would open as well. They had to prepare for business right away.
The men from the Guan family worked together to make a wooden cart for Ye Lulu. As per Ye Lulu’s request, it was different from Mother Rong’s cart. This wooden cart had two stoves of similar sizes. After putting in two large pots, one would be boiled with the soup base and the other would be for dipping the ingredients.
The table was wide and flat. All kinds of ingredients would be placed on it.
There were two shelves under the wooden cart with wooden basins. When the time comes, Ye Lulu would sell Malatang while Xu Huang would wash the vegetables and the like.
This wooden cart was grand and had a convenient design. Ye Lulu simply loved it. Mother Rong also exclaimed repeatedly.
Ye Lulu went to Old Aunt Xu’s house and plucked a basket of various vegetables from the vegetable field. She asked Old Aunt Xu to help her wash the vegetables. Of course, Mother Rong also went over to help.
As for Ye Lulu, she took Xu Huang to the side and instilled some concepts of what he would do when the stall was open…
Soon, it was the morning of the second day.
Today was the day the Yuan River opened. In fact, the Yuan River had already opened in the middle of the night. As soon as they reached the docks, it would be the liveliest scene.
Around four in the morning, Ye Lulu had already gotten up. There was no other reason. It was the first day to start the business. She had to occupy a space early, or else there would be many vendors.
The sky was still dark. After Ye Lulu got up, the babies opened their eyes one after another. They had never woken up so early, so they woke up with Ye Lulu.
Even the youngest child opened his eyes and glanced at Ye Lulu weakly before closing them again.
“Cold!”
In his semi-conscious state, the second son in the middle let out a clear sound. It was actually quite clear. The second son was the fastest to wake up. He waved his hands and feet energetically and pounced on Ye Lulu.
Ye Lulu caught the baby’s soft body and hugged him to her chest. She smiled and lowered her head to kiss the baby. “What are you doing? Mother is going out. Let Old Aunt Xu take care of you today.”
That’s right. Old Aunt Xu had one more thing to do. That was to come over to the Guan family and help take care of the three babies!
After Ye Lulu went out to do business, there would be fewer people to take care of the babies. Father Guan was left at home. A man might not be able to take care of the babies well.
Coincidentally, Xu Huang had gone out with Ye Lulu. There was no one at home to take care of Old Aunt Xu, so she might as well come to the Guan family and eat and drink with them. She was an experienced old woman and could also take care of the three babies.
It was perfect, so they agreed.
Ye Lulu picked up her second son and kissed him on the forehead. She smiled gently. “Mother will be back tonight. The babies have to be obedient at home and listen to Grandma Xu, okay?”
The second son did not understand. He was just exceptionally lively and loved it when Ye Lulu hugged him. He laughed loudly and pounced forward to press Ye Lulu’s shoulder. He opened his mouth and shouted, “Mother!”
“Oh!”
Ye Lulu was shocked. That was incredible. The word her second son had shouted was very accurate!
Her second son already knew how to call her mother!
Ye Lulu was overjoyed and hugged her second son tightly. “Wow, my second son is so amazing! As expected, the first person the baby called out was his Mother. Oh? Mother’s second son is so amazing! Chi Chi is the first to call Mother. Good baby!”
Ye Lulu was overjoyed. This was a good sign. The first morning she was prepared to set up her stall, the baby called her ‘Mother’!
The second son spun two rounds in Ye Lulu’s arms and smiled even more happily. His little hands pressed tightly onto Ye Lulu’s shoulders and he cried out excitedly.
Just as Ye Lulu finished praising her second son.
The eldest son, who was lying on the bed, suddenly opened his large eyes and glanced at Ye Lulu. The emotions on his face did not change. He opened his pink lips and said briefly,
“Mother!”
It turned out that the eldest son also knew how to call her ‘Mother’!
The youngest child opened his eyes and looked at her. He did not show any reaction. Then, he turned his head and was too lazy to reply.
Ye Lulu was surprised. So the other two babies actually knew how to call her ‘Mother’? It was just that they didn’t say anything?
Then, she had praised her second son just now…
That was why the eldest son suddenly opened his mouth and called her ‘Mother’. Was he proving that he knew how to call her that as well?!
Were the babies fighting for a favor?
Hahaha…
Ye Lulu put down her second son and first praised the eldest son. “So the eldest son knows how to call his mother as well!” Then, she turned around and walked toward the youngest son.
She reached out a fair finger and poked the youngest son’s snow-white face. She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “The youngest son should call me that as well, hmm? Let me hear you call your mother as well. You definitely know how to!”
Ye Lulu teased her youngest son.
The youngest child turned his head away and tilted his head even more. He raised his little hand and grabbed Ye Lulu’s finger with his soft little fingers, pushing her away. His little mouth did not move and he did not make a single sound. His face was weary.
Ye Lulu was speechless.
You can do it.
Forget about the fact that the youngest son was arrogant and cold. He even made people wonder if he was stupid.
“Cold!” The second son was extremely active. He shouted at the side again. Ye Lulu went over and patted his buttocks and kissed him. She interacted with the three babies for a while in the morning before changing her clothes and preparing to go down the mountain to the docks.
Ye Lulu was actually very excited because this was the first time she was going down the mountain after transmigrating to the Shang dynasty.
Forget about going to do business. This was her first time going out to the city to take a look! It was simply too exciting.
Therefore, Ye Lulu was not sleepy at all. She left the house full of energy. Almost everyone in the Guan family had already woken up. Today, the entire Guan family was mobilized for the two stalls.
They were going to bring the new wooden cart down the mountain today, so the brothers from the Guan family helped Ye Lulu push the cart out first.
After leaving the Guan family’s door, Xu Huang was already waiting at the door. As soon as he saw Ye Lulu, he followed behind her. It was not yet daybreak outside, but a group of people had already left the mountain.
It was not only to occupy space but also to avoid letting the villagers see them.
After all, no one in the village knew about their family’s business.
It was the same today. The surroundings were still dark, and their group had already stepped onto the mountain path.
After walking for more than two hours, they went down the mountain at a relatively fast speed.
Although she was tired, Ye Lulu still felt very excited the moment she stepped off the mountain!
They followed the path at the foot of the mountain and soon entered the city. After entering the city, they did not enter the streets of the city but turned straight to the docks.
Today was the most exciting day.
Ye Lulu estimated that it was not even six in the morning yet. Forget about the frequent ships on the Yuan River, there were already many vendors at the market!
The area ahead was bustling with noise.
When Ye Lulu saw this, she quickly moved forward. The brothers from the Guan family pushed the wooden cart for Ye Lulu today, so they followed her.
The spot where Mother Rong and the rest originally set up their stall was at a place near the market at the docks. There were many people there, so it was considered a good area.
There were usually many people around.
Ye Lulu looked around and thought about it before walking deeper into the docks. Since Mother Rong was outside, she naturally had to walk deeper inside.
She avoided Mother Rong’s crowd and went to snatch the crowd on the other side. Ye Lulu walked in. The brothers from the Guan family followed her. When they saw that she was walking deeper inside, they could not help but look at her.
However, Ye Lulu did not stop. The more she walked in, the denser the crowd became. It was almost impossible for her to move. When she looked at the vendors again, they were almost full. There was no space at all…
The brothers from the Guan family could not help but be puzzled. Where was Ye Lulu going? They were already close to the river. As it was cold and most people wanted to go down after getting off the boat, not many vendors set up their stalls near the river.
Ye Lulu looked around and her eyebrows suddenly moved.
There was a place in front that was a little close to the river. It was also a little colder and windier than inside. Furthermore, at the side of the densest crowd, no one was setting up their stall there for the time being because of this. There was a small empty spot, but it was just nice enough to push the wooden cart over.
Ye Lulu’s gaze changed and she immediately said, “Ahead… stop over there.”
This spot might be despised by other vendors, but Ye Lulu liked it! This was because the wind by the river happened to be blowing towards the center of the crowd at the docks. Then, wouldn’t it be a huge advantage for her to sell things like Malatang here?
It was simply superb!
As for whether it was colder than the inside, that was not a big problem. When it came to selling Malatang, her entire body felt warm. What did it mean by not feeling cold? She might even feel more energized…
Ye Lulu almost immediately decided to set up the stall there!
Eldest Brother Guan and the rest pushed the wooden cart to the place Ye Lulu had mentioned. A wooden cart came over, looking like a huge monster. Many people looked over.
Ye Lulu asked Eldest Brother Guan and the rest to stop. After deciding on the location of the stall, Eldest Brother Guan and the rest wanted to go over to Mother Rong’s side to help. This was because there were many types of food there and they needed people.
However, among the brothers from the Guan family, Guan Chixi stayed behind. Not everyone left. Eldest Brother Guan and Second Brother Guan went over to Mother Rong’s side.
After settling down, Ye Lulu instructed Xu Huang to start the fire and heat the pot.
That was right. Because she had capital this time, the pot Ye Lulu used was an authentic big iron pot that cost her two taels of silver! Ye Lulu was usually more daring to spend money, so she asked Guan Chibei to specially go out to the city and buy a big iron pot.
Guan Chixi helped out and took out the bamboo tubes and wooden bowls from the shelf under the table.
Ye Lulu placed the first batch of washed ingredients on the table. There were fresh and juicy vegetables and different types of meat…
The pot was hot. Ye Lulu picked up the seasonings and started to stir-fry the soup base for Malatang.
Originally, the base for Malatang could be stir-fried at home beforehand. It was convenient and could even be brought out.
However, on the first day that Ye Lulu set up her stall, she specially came here to start stir-frying the base for Malatang. She did so to maximize the fragrance and spread it out to attract the crowd!
The rapeseed oil was heated and various kinds of chili, pepper, star anise, and the rest were added. There was also a large amount of homemade chili sauce. When these ingredients were stir-fried together, they were extremely fragrant.