Chapter Forty-Four: Tofu Brain

  "Xi Mei, don't be silly, hurry up and call people for dinner." Xi Mei tapped her on the head to remind her.

  "Hit me on the head again and I'll become stupid." Xi Mei muttered.

  "What's going on?" Xi Mei asked, seeing her own sister muttering to herself with her head down.

  "It's okay, it's okay, I'll go right away, right away." He smiled foolishly and walked out with a sign.

  "Dad, Big Uncle, Second Uncle, it's time for us to eat!" He ran into the courtyard and shouted loudly, scaring away many small birds from the trees.

  "Oh, dinner's ready, dinner's ready!" A group of kids burst out of the house like a bunch of radishes. The He family members also followed them out and saw Xi Mei still pretending to say: "Wow, you guys really did it? I thought you'd be crying and asking for our help!"

  Opening her big, clear eyes wide with feigned surprise, she said: "Doesn't Big Aunt know? Just now I put the fish in the courtyard and asked Guanyin for help..." She didn't say anything more.

  "What's wrong? You'd better say it." Xue also asked in coordination.

  "It's really amazing, Guanyin Bodhisattva actually heard what I said and helped us deal with the fish." Jumping to Zhao's side, "Mother, no wonder you go to worship Buddha from time to time, it turns out that Buddha is really so effective!"

  After hearing Xiaoyao finish speaking, He Shi was so anxious that she almost vomited blood. What Bodhisattva? They didn't even have time to bother with you, and in the end, it was they who helped do it? Alas, good reputation can't be gained by oneself, it's really like lifting a stone to hit one's own foot.

  Xue saw that her sister-in-law's face didn't look good, so she pulled on her clothes. The three of them had already lost face once, how could they lose it again? She pushed her and they went to the kitchen.

  Upon entering the kitchen, I found that several dishes were already prepared. Since there were too many people to fit around one table, they had been split into two tables. Several men were already seated at one table, while several children were waiting at the other table for the women.

  "It's finally time to eat, I'm starving!" Chen Ruifeng from the second house cheered and picked up his bowl, running quickly to the table. He looked at the variety of dishes on the table and didn't know where to start with his chopsticks.

  Xue said, "You talk a lot, just now you were always shouting that you're hungry, why don't you hurry up and eat?"

  When the men had all started eating, the women finally picked up their chopsticks and began to eat. The children were not to be managed, several boys ate hastily, without any reserve at all. What's more ridiculous is that Rui Xiang held meat in both hands, chewed with his mouth open and loudly said "That one is mine, don't snatch it from me."

  Xihe glanced at Rui Xiang, who had a mouthful of greasy food, and laughed, "Brother, you'd better not talk anymore. You don't waste time talking, do you? With this effort, my second brother has already eaten several pieces of fish."

  Rui Xiang thought for a moment, and indeed, he didn't say anything else, focusing on his hands and mouth movements instead. Zhao pointed at Xi He's forehead, "You little girl, still scheming against your brother, be careful or he'll come after you to settle the score."

  Xi He covered her own head and said with grievance: "Isn't what others said right? Mother, you always wrong me." Although she said so with her mouth, her eyes were full of smile.

  Xi Mei shook her head. Don't look at how young San Jie is, but she's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Fortunately, she hugged the other person's leg in time, or else she would have been fooled for sure.

  Hey, didn't you see Rui Xiang who was enjoying his food and still busy exchanging glances with Zhao Shi, indicating that he agreed with what Xi He said?

  Zhao's family saw this and had no choice but to shut up. Xi Mei looked at her third sister, and the two of them laughed together.

  "Xi Mei, aren't you starving? Why don't you eat faster, or else there won't be anything left on the table." Xue Shi carefully picked up a piece of braised chicken and put it in Xi Mei's bowl.

  Looking at the chopsticks flying all over the table in front of me, several women didn't stop them. Each family can hardly eat a few meat dishes throughout the year, and it's rare for everyone to gather together. If they love to eat, just let them eat, no big deal if I eat less myself.

  In a mother's eyes, her child is always the most important, even if she has to go hungry herself, she wouldn't want her child to suffer.

  But looking at the "hot and lively" scene on the table, I really didn't have an appetite to eat. However, seeing Second Aunt being so considerate of me made me feel very touched.

  She picked up a piece of braised pork with a reddish-brown color, rich and fragrant, from the plate, and placed it in Xue's bowl. She also picked up a few pieces and put them in her grandmother's, great aunt's, and big aunt's bowls.

  "Tiantian said: "Grandma, Auntie, Big Aunt, Second Aunt, you all eat too. Eating this will make you beautiful."

  Look at this big-mouthed girl, who can look pretty after eating pork knuckle? Zhao's family was laughing so hard that tears were about to come out when she pretended to be sad and said, "Xi Mei, why don't you invite your mother to eat? Your mother is heartbroken."

  "Who would have thought that little girl waved her hand impatiently and said: "Oh, we're so familiar with each other, you still speak so politely, it's really..."

  As soon as the words were spoken, several people laughed even louder, Chen Xuejiao and He Shi being particularly exaggerated, laughing so hard they couldn't catch their breath. Seeing this, Xi Mei helplessly shrugged her shoulders. Alas, women are really easy to satisfy. If she told a few more jokes that would be known throughout the streets of the capital in later generations, wouldn't they laugh until they fainted?

  Xī Jiě twisted her body and slid down from the seat to walk towards Chen Tian's side, still laughing uncontrollably.

  When she reached her father's side, the little girl pouted and coquettishly said "Daddy, I want to be with you."

  Chen Tianfa picked up his happy little sister and sat her on his lap, teasing her "What brings you to Dad's place?"

  "I'm going to feed Dad, Dad come and try the saliva chicken I made." She instructed her father to pick up a piece of chicken and fed it to him carefully.

  "Really delicious, but did you make it? You're still shorter than the stove." Chen Tianfa bluntly exposed her.

  "Heh heh, it's almost done, I taught my aunt to make it. It's basically what I made too. But my aunts' dishes are really delicious, they can be sold together with ours." Chen Tianfa heard this response and didn't know what to say to this shameless girl.

  Xi Mei secretly looked at that table, her aunt didn't have any reaction and was chatting happily with Zhao Shi, but Xue Shi was different, with a thoughtful expression.

  Seeing her task completed, Xi Mei was at ease and began ordering her father around, "Dad, I want to eat that."

  "Oh no, not that one, this one! Father, you're so silly."

  Chen Tianfa continued to work hard as a laborer, without paying attention to the two older brothers' expressions of watching the excitement.

  Finally, in the lively atmosphere, the Chen family finished their long meal. When the men returned to the house to chat, Mrs. Xue also chased away several maids who were helping with the cleanup.

  Xi Mei looked at several sisters who didn't notice her, and she quietly slipped back, sticking her ear to the window sill to listen for any movement.

  "Little brother, little sister, I want to discuss something with you, but I don't know if you'll be willing to listen. If you have this idea, then just listen for now; if not, then let's just forget I said anything." Xue Shi asked tentatively.

  "What's going on? Can't we few people discuss what can or cannot be discussed, without outsiders?"

  Zhao pretended to be unhappy and replied to her.

  "Well, in that case, I'll say it. Don't be unhappy." Xue Shi paused for a moment, looking at the two sisters-in-law who both had anxious expressions before hesitantly speaking out.

  "Look, our family is struggling financially now. The kids are growing up and will need to get married in a couple of years, build houses... Dad's illness has been ongoing with medication, but it can't be cured without money, isn't that the case?"

  At this time, Zhao also knew what to say, just about to speak when Xue interrupted, "I know what you want to say, but everything has a sequence."

  "What are you talking about? I don't understand at all." Mrs. He said anxiously on the side.

  Ignoring her, Xue continued: "You see, we two don't have much to do, if not, the two of us can lend you a hand?"

  As soon as Zhao heard this, he became anxious and said, "Aren't you slapping me in the face by saying that? What's with 'taking turns' and 'doing it together'? Before anything happened, I had already discussed it with Xi Mei's father. We're too busy to handle it ourselves, and I was thinking of waiting until we have some spare money to send those two brothers to school."

  He paused for a moment, "Later, something else came up and I didn't have time to mention it to you. Don't say anything about helping out again, isn't that just slapping me in the face? Let's just leave it at that, we three families will work together."

  At this time, He Shi with rough lines finally knew what they were talking about, "No way, how can we snatch the business from your family."

  "What's with you and my family, this isn't something that only one of our families can handle. You guys didn't have to tell me, we could've just split the profits ourselves. It's not like your craftsmanship is inferior to mine. Come on, we're all family, no need to speak in riddles."

  Xidi's sister is nodding vigorously outside. Yes, yes, her mother said it right, can't let this matter leave a knot in the hearts of the whole family.

  Bravo! Mother is really impressive!

  Three women in the house quarreled for half a day, and finally Xue Shi and He Shi agreed to work together, but each of their families only accounted for 20%, while Zhao Shi accounted for 60%.

  Looking at the two with a firm attitude, Zhao could only nod. However, what kind of partnership is this? Are they still selling cooked food?

  After all, it won't be hot for long, and when it gets cold, there will probably be fewer people rushing to get somewhere, so they won't sell as much. The three of them were in a dilemma again.

  Xi Mei, who was eavesdropping outside, suddenly became anxious and said, "We can sell the early rice now. In the past, we didn't have enough money and manpower, so we couldn't rent a house in the town, but it's different now. Three families are better than one family."

  Three people in the house were thinking hard, while Xi Mei outside was anxious and scratching her ears, finally unable to bear it anymore, she pushed open the door and shouted loudly.

  "We can sell tofu brain and fried dough sticks as breakfast!"

  After finishing this sentence with a majestic tone, the room fell silent in an instant.