dwimmered path

  Chapter 56 “This place is built pretty well; it really looks like something. And look at all these pots, bowls and the stove—every single one brand new.” Liu Xianglan made three rounds around the tea stall, inside and out. She glanced at Xu He, then glanced again. Finally, Zhang Shiyue came over to greet her. “Madam Xu, you're here. Please, have a seat.” “All right.” Liu Xianglan finally withdrew her gaze, unceremoniously sat down in the tea stall, poured herself some tea, and began questioning Xu He about everything—how much it cost to build the stall, whether business was good, and so on.  Xu He shook his head. He knew his mother's nature well enough. “Why are you asking all this, Mother? Thinking of giving us a subsidy?” “Our household is still struggling. How could we have money to give you? With both the meat stall and this tea stall, you must be rolling in it, no?”  “Mother, business isn't that easy.” “Save it. Starting to cry poor to me already? I'm not asking ...

  Chapter 55 In the afternoon, Zhang Fangyuan returned rather early. He had left with an empty cart and came back with a full load of pork. The tea stall had only a couple of people resting after the lunch rush. Xu He, being free, went to see how the livestock Zhang Fangyuan had bought this time turned out. “Unload half of it. It's still early, I'll set up a small stall here and hang up a few pieces of pork. If anyone passing by sees it and wants to buy, we can sell some.” Xu He noticed the pork was on the leaner side. But there were no major festivals or busy farming seasons coming up, and farm households in the village didn't buy much meat. Their main customers were in town, and leaner meat actually sold better there. He thought Zhang Fangyuan's suggestion was quite good and immediately helped set things up, also fetching some palm leaves from inside to twist into strings for threading the meat. Zhang Fangyuan said, “I brought back half the pig's blood this time. ...