Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 103 Zhong Cuilan

"The daughter of Scholar Zhong?" Mrs. Zou frowned discontentedly, "Didn’t I ask you to find daughters from poor families? Why have you found a Scholar’s daughter? They are to sign an indenture when entering our mansion. A Scholar is a person of academic title, considered a scholar, could he allow his own daughter to become a maid in our household?"

She would be serving as a concubine maid to the Old Master.

"Madam, do not worry, that girl is not Scholar Zhong’s biological daughter, she was merely a foundling picked up along the way," Mrs. Hong explained with a smile: "Scholar Zhong’s family fled from famine, and their household is not as well-off as before. This adopted daughter is also not favored by his family. Hence, to avoid causing Scholar Zhong any trouble, she sold herself into servitude to become a maid in our mansion."

In fact, Mrs. Hong had held back some information.

Zhong Cuilan had an ambiguous relationship with Scholar Zhong’s second son, and when his wife found out, she threatened with death and demanded Zhong Cuilan be driven out. With no alternative, Zhong Cuilan sold herself into slavery.

Mrs. Zou, reassured by these words, said: "That’s better. Remember, they must sell themselves willingly, we must not force them, lest we bring calamity upon ourselves."

"Madam, rest assured, this old servant understands," replied Mrs. Hong, and the very next day, she brought those eight girls into the Zou Mansion to be divided among the study and the main rooms to serve County Magistrate Zou.

The Zhong Cuilan they spoke of was actually Ma Cuilan who had fled from famine.

Ma Cuilan initially wanted to take advantage of Scholar Zhong’s reputation to marry into a good family. But it was only after arriving at Tianfu County that she realized Scholar Zhong’s title meant nothing. Even though he held a title, since they were famine refugees, they were still looked down upon by the locals, and those willing to marry into their family were merely slightly better-off peasants.

Ma Cuilan knew the hardships of tilling the land, and she was determined not to toil in the soil for food in this lifetime. Therefore, upon hearing that Mrs. Hong was looking for girls to enter the County Governor Mansion, she sold herself to become a maid.

She had heard that many concubines started off as maids, and her goal was to become a concubine.

Once she became a concubine, she would be kin to officials, a master in the mansion, a person of high status, able to tread upon all the peasants who dug for food in the earth, and then no one would dare look down on her ever again.

...

The families of Gu, Qin, and Luo from Da Feng Village were unaware that Ma Cuilan had changed her name to Zhong Cuilan and had become a maid in the Zou Mansion.

They were busy running their stalls to earn money.

After the incident with County Captain Jiang arresting Lu Laosan, their tofu stall became even more famous, with business rivaling that of the Lantern Festival. Mrs. Chen was so busy she could hardly touch the ground, frying tofu and bean dregs cakes with Ms.Yan.

Seeing them overwhelmed, Gu Jinli and Qin San Lang borrowed clay stoves from Xuanhu Fang to fry tofu with an iron pot.

"Here are your six servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and ten golden bean pancakes, all wrapped up," Gu Dagui wrapped the Fried Five-Spice Tofu and bean dregs cakes in yellow paper, handing them to the customer.

"Shopkeep, I’d like three servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and six golden bean pancakes," another customer approached to buy tofu and bean cakes just as one left.

"Eh, please wait a moment, I’ll get them ready for you shortly."

"Shopkeep, I need thirty pounds of Bai Cai tofu and sixty packets of seasoning spices," three customers with baskets in hand stood in front of their stall and said.

These three customers were peasants who had come to the market from the countryside, and it was not easy for them to make the trip to town, so they always bought a lot at once.

Third Grandpa, hearing this, told them, "Tofu can last a maximum of five days, you must finish it within that time, or it will spoil."

Now it’s the fifth day of February. Although it’s still very cold, such cold weather cannot prevent tofu from spoiling, so whenever a customer buys too much white tofu, they would always remind him.

"Rest assured, elder, we are buying for the villagers, we have plenty of mouths to feed, and there’s hardly enough." The tofu from the Gu Family, whether fried or stewed, is very tasty when seasoned with some spices, and everyone loves it. Moreover, theirs is the only stall in town selling it. If you arrive late, you might not get any, so every time someone from the village comes to town, they buy it by the dozens of pounds.

Third Grandpa heard this and cheerfully asked Qin San Lang to fetch the tofu for them.

Qin San Lang sold them thirty pounds of white tofu and sixty packs of seasoning spices, collecting four hundred and fifty copper coins, which he handed over to Third Grandpa.

Mrs. Chen saw the big earnings and was very happy. Her movements of frying tofu and bean dregs cakes sped up, full of energy.

After a short while, another customer carrying a pole came over to the stall and said, "Shopkeeper, give us twenty pounds of white tofu and twenty packs of seasoning spices." freewēbnoveℓ.com

Qin San Lang went to get the tofu for them. The customers who were buying the Fried Five-Spice Tofu hurriedly said, "Young man, you can’t sell all the white tofu. If you sell out, where will we buy our Fried Five-Spice Tofu?"

Fried Five-Spice Tofu is made from white tofu. If all the white tofu sells out, there would be none left for Fried Five-Spice Tofu.

"No good, add another six servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and ten golden bean pancakes for me."

"I’ll add another three servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu."

"And I will add another six golden bean pancakes."

The waiting customers said one after another, fearing that they would miss out if they were too late.

"Eh, eh, coming right up, coming right up, I’m making them for you right now." Mrs. Chen was so happy she could almost float away; the business was so good it could make her wake up laughing from a dream.

Gu Jinli and the others were busy for about two hours; by not even midday, they had sold all their tofu and bean dregs cakes. The customers who didn’t manage to buy any were very disappointed and complained to them, "Gu Family, why didn’t you prepare more tofu? We didn’t manage to buy any."

Mrs. Chen’s face was all smiles as she ate a bean dregs cake and replied, "Rest easy, rest easy. We will prepare more tofu tomorrow so everyone will be able to get some."

A middle-aged woman, carrying a vegetable basket, glanced at Mrs. Chen discontentedly, "You said the same thing last time, and what happened? My family still couldn’t buy any today. No good, you must reserve six servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and ten golden bean pancakes for my family tomorrow. My children love those golden bean pancakes."

Golden bean pancakes were even more popular than tofu, and often they would sell out while there was still tofu left.

Mrs. Chen said, "Sure, sure, Sister-in-law Xu, don’t worry, I’ll definitely reserve them for you tomorrow."

Hearing this, the other customers who didn’t get to buy started to place their orders as well. One family requested a reservation for a few servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu, another for several golden bean pancakes, and in just a moment, dozens of servings of Fried Five-Spice Tofu and over a hundred bean dregs cakes were reserved.

After dealing with this wave of customers placing reservations, they packed up their things and stored them in the Xuanhu Fang. Then they rushed to the sundries shop, bought two pounds of wine, two packets of caramel, and some groceries, and then to the grain store for five pounds of white rice and white flour. They also went to the meat stall to buy several pounds of meat, as well as eggs, live chickens, and some white cabbage and radish, before hurrying back to Da Feng Village.

They purchased these items because Scholar Shang had sent a formal invitation, stating he would bring his wife and daughter to visit the Gu Family home tomorrow.

Scholar Shang had made it quite formal, and they didn’t dare be negligent, so they bought provisions to prepare a feast and to host Scholar Shang and his family properly tomorrow.