Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 101: Xiao Hui’s Confession

Chapter 95

Xiao Hui’s Confession

The chubby Xiaolin sat by a basin of water, washing ginger with the help of the young men from the Huan family. The task of slicing the ginger fell to her reluctant big friend, who would have preferred to laze around but had been threatened by the chubby girl that she wouldn’t cook for him if he didn’t help. So, he grudgingly sat and sliced the old ginger to prepare it for drying.

In addition to the ginger, Xiaolin planned to collect kaffir lime leaves, holy basil leaves, lemongrass, and galangal to dry. She also needed to gather old coconuts to store at home. Some vegetables in her garden could also be dried, especially radish leaves. The radishes themselves would be pickled to serve as a side dish with meals. She wanted to make preserved turnips but wasn’t sure how.

"Kook Koo, Kook Koo, the cockroach wants snacks, stuffing its cheeks with candy until they’re chubby~" Xiaolin, silent for a while, suddenly started singing, causing the two boys to look at her in confusion.

"The female buffalo gives birth to a female calf~"

“What’s a buffalo, Xiaolin?” Ching Long asked, curious. Xiaolin looked up and explained.

“A buffalo is similar to a cow but bigger and black.”

“Sounds scary,” Ching Long made a face, and Xiaolin giggled.

“What do you want for lunch, dear?” Zhang Ruo came over to ask her granddaughter. She had just finished handling over two hundred duck eggs. Since she had to be gentle and there were so many eggs, it took a long time.

“The big brothers want grilled chicken, but I want stuffed squid soup,”

“Stuffed squid?” Zhang Ruo looked at her chubby granddaughter, who nodded enthusiastically, making her cheeks jiggle. Xiaolin then chirped away, explaining to her grandmother what she had in mind.

"Mix minced pork with glass noodles, season it with soy sauce and oyster sauce, add finely pounded garlic and pepper, then stuff it into the squid,"

"That sounds delicious. I’ll give it a try. Uncle Zhong just brought some squid and shrimp this morning. Is there anything else you’d like to eat?"

"Hmm, I’d like to have garlic fried shrimp too. I’ll come and help you in the kitchen, Grandma,"

"I want basil squid, please, Grandma Zhang," Huan Luwen chimed in, raising his hand high and speaking clearly. Zhang Ruo laughed and nodded.

"Alright, I’ll make that too,"

Xiaolin stood up and wiped her hands on her clothes before taking her grandmother’s hand and heading to the kitchen. The chubby girl began peeling the shrimp while her grandmother prepared the squid. Once the shrimp were cleaned and deveined, Xiaolin pounded garlic, pepper, and coriander roots together, as she loved the fragrance of coriander roots. She made a generous amount so that it could be used in other dishes as well.

Her chubby hands sprinkled a little flour over the shrimp, followed by the garlic, pepper, and coriander root mixture she had pounded, then seasoned and mixed everything together. Since they didn’t have crispy frying flour, she used regular flour, hoping it would make the shrimp crispy enough.

Xiaolin grabbed a wooden basin and mixed in the garlic, pepper, and coriander root paste she had prepared. She added the seasonings and thoroughly mixed everything together before taking it out to her big friend, who was marinating the chicken for the grilled chicken they wanted to eat. When she went outside, she saw Huan Tan setting up the stove to boil water for scalding the chicken. She handed him the basin and then returned to the kitchen.

“I’ve chopped the pork and prepared the squid. You season it for me, and I’ll make the basil squid,” Zhang Ruo said, handing a bowl of minced pork mixed with soaked glass noodles to her granddaughter. There were also several whole squids ready to be stuffed.

“Alright, Grandma,”

Xiaolin took the garlic, pepper, and coriander root mixture and added it to the minced pork, seasoning it to her liking before mixing it thoroughly. She then stuffed the squid with the seasoned pork mixture. Her grandmother had prepared quite a few squids, and there was plenty of pork stuffing. Even though there were only four gluttons left, she couldn’t underestimate their seemingly bottomless appetites.

More than twenty fully-stuffed squids were neatly arranged on a wooden tray. Xiaolin borrowed some charcoal to set up a small stove, placed a pan on it, and added water along with the garlic mixture. She then waited for the water to boil then added the squid into the pan, waiting for it to cook before seasoning it. Now, there was only fried shrimp with garlic. Xiaolin told her grandmother to fry the garlic until golden before taking it out and frying the shrimp until it was mildly cooked. The final step was to just take it all out.

               Xiaolin remembered that she liked garlic fried shrimp with a bit of sauce to pour over rice, so she added a little oil to the cleaned pan, fried the garlic mixture, and seasoned it to taste. She then tossed the shrimp back into the pan, coating them with the sauce, and finally garnished the dish with the crispy fried garlic. Xiaolin looked at the three simple yet aromatic dishes, stuffed squid soup, basil squid, and garlic fried shrimp. They filled the kitchen with their enticing scents, causing her little stomach to growl in protest.

Xiaolin’s little chubby fingers carried the plate of garlic fried shrimp. She then walked out to the backyard. The aroma of the grilling chicken on the hot coals wafted through the air. She placed the dish on the bamboo platform in the backyard and went to check on the grilled chicken. The sight of the golden-brown chicken, its skin glistening with juices and dripping onto the hot coals with a sizzle, made her mouth water. It had been a while since she had eaten grilled chicken, and she was eagerly anticipating the meal.

"Are they almost done? I’ve finished cooking," Xiaolin asked her big friend, who was grilling three chickens, while the three younger boys sat around watching, slacking off.

"They’ll be done in a little while,"

Hearing this, Xiaolin went back to the kitchen to help her grandmother carry out the food and tableware. She saw that her grandmother was still cooking more dishes, so she took out the plate of basil squid first, then went back to prepare bowls of rice and chopsticks. She left the large, hot bowl of stuffed squid soup for her grandmother to carry, as it was too heavy and hot for her to handle alone without risking spilling it.

“Ning, come out to eat! And where’s your wife, Tian?” Zhang Ruo called out as she carried the bowl of stuffed squid soup, then asked about Huan Qingqing’s whereabouts.

“She went to check on the factory. A’Long is fetching her now,”

Zhang Ruo served rice to everyone. Just then, Hui Ning walked in with the mother and child from the Huan family. Little Tianyu was fast asleep after a big meal, allowing Hui Ning to join the meal comfortably. If he were awake, he wouldn’t leave his mother’s side except when playing with his older sister.

"There’s pork inside the squid!" Ching Long exclaimed excitedly as he took a bite and discovered the minced pork and glass noodles stuffed inside the chubby squid.

"It’s stuffed squid with minced pork," Xiaolin explained while chewing on some shrimp.

“I didn’t know you could combine squid and pork in one dish,” Huan Qingqing said to Zhang Ruo, who smiled and replied.

"It’s this chubby kid’s skill. You can also use the stuffing in a salad, or in tom yum noodles with pork, squid, shrimp, and mussels. This kid is always coming up with new, delicious recipes," Zhang Ruo said, patting the head of the round-cheeked child who was munching on a big piece of squid. Huan Qingqing laughed at the sight.

“Earlier, she said that Xiao Zhong taught her everything, from cooking to planting sweet potatoes. But in reality, she says she remembers it from her dreams,” Hui Ning added.

The little girl probably feared others would dismiss her dreams as nonsense, so she credited Xiao Zhong, the strange-looking cow. She didn’t realize that claiming a cow as her source wasn’t much more believable.

“The long-haired cow, right?” Huan Qingqing asked, and when Hui Ning nodded, she laughed, covering her mouth. Xiaolin looked up at her aunt with wide eyes, her cheeks full of food.

Huan Tan glanced at his little friend, who was eating without a care in the world, and thought about how hard it must have been for her to reach this point. It was fortunate that her family believed in her and followed her ideas, transforming from a poor family to the wealthiest one in the village within just a year. If her family had been as old-fashioned as some of the stubborn relatives he knew in the future, her life would have been much harder.

"At that time, I secretly consulted with my husband. But he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to try out her suggestions because we were really struggling. He couldn’t catch any fish, and besides, he noticed that every time this little one led us into the forest, we always got lucky. So when she proposed something, we decided to give it a try.” Hui Ning smiled broadly. Back then, if her husband didn’t choose to follow his daughter’s instructions, who knew what would have happened to them all.

"That’s wonderful! This chubby-cheeked child truly brought good fortune to the family,"

Xiaolin listened to the adults talking while her little mouth didn’t stop chewing. Her fair hands kept picking up food and putting it into her mouth. By the time she put down her chopsticks, the food was all gone. Seeing that she was still not full, her grandmother broke off a drumstick that was saved for dinner and gave it to her.

The chubby child munched on the drumstick while walking around to check on various tasks. She had hired some of the workers’ children to gather wild green onions because, with winter approaching, her family’s pickled vegetables were selling better than ever. At her shop, she sold only pickled green onions, keeping the pickled napa cabbage for the family since she hadn’t planted much of it.

Zhang Ruo took over the ginger slicing herself and shooed the children away to play, as she had nothing else to do and the pickling brine was already prepared, waiting for the wild green onions the children would bring.

Huan Qingqing also sat down to help, sending her husband off to rest since he could barely keep his eyes open. Xiaolin stood watching the group of children intently pulling up wild green onions, while the three Huan boys went off to play with Xiao Zhong and Xiao Bai.

"Aren’t you going to nap with Xiaoyu?" Xiaolin asked, looking down at the fluffy, chubby cat weaving around her legs and rubbing against her.

Meow~

The fat cat sat down and lifted its front paw to clean itself. Ever since it decided to follow the chubby little girl, it had become the most comfortable cat around, no longer needing to hunt for small animals to survive.

Every morning, Xiao Hui the cat found a meal waiting for him, usually rice mixed with grilled fish or, on some days, steamed fish. Occasionally, he was treated to the fragrant taste of grilled mackerel, as his chubby little owner worried that too much sea fish might make him ill. But if asked which fish he liked best, it would undoubtedly be mackerel!

“You usually don’t come outside much. What’s on your mind today?” Xiaolin sat down and scratched the chubby cat’s chin. Xiao Hui sniffed around and eyed the chicken drumstick in his owner’s hand before meowing again.

“You greedy cat,”

Xiaolin tore off a piece of chicken and gave it to him. Xiao Hui ate it eagerly and meowed for more. She gave him another piece but stopped after that, despite his repeated meowing for more.

Xiaolin watched as the fluffy cat, denied more chicken, leapt to nibble on some leaves, rolling around in the dirt and grass. Seeing his increasingly dirty fur, she worried that he might bring dirt and dust close to her little brother, causing him to develop a rash or breathing issues. She asked the cat,

“Do you want a bath? You haven’t had one since that time, and you’re getting quite dirty. You can’t sleep next to Xiaoyu like this.” Before she could finish, the fluffy cat darted off quickly. Xiaolin sighed deeply but resolved to give him a bath before winter arrived.

“Xiaolin, will you still hire us after winter?” One of the children asked.

Since working for Xiaolin, even though they earned less than the adults, it was better than playing around aimlessly. Plus, now they had their own savings. They hoped that if they continued, they would become as wealthy as Xiaolin one day.

Xiaolin didn’t know what they were thinking. She simply nodded and stood still, pondering that they had been working for her for several months now. She decided to give them a small jar of pickled vegetables to take home, as they had never had the chance to eat them despite working for her for so long. The pickled vegetables sold at her shop were too expensive for the local villagers to afford.

The villagers were often hesitant to disturb the Tang household. As her family’s wealth and their large shop grew, villagers became more respectful and wary, especially since many prominent people frequently visited their home. Consequently, it was rare for villagers to come by to buy vegetables or sweet potatoes.

"I’m still hiring you all because, even though these wild green onions can be found everywhere, they sell very well. They sell so well that I can’t keep up with the demand. Today, I’ll also give each of you a jar to take home."

Xiaolin looked at the children who used to be thin and frail but now appeared healthier. Besides their parents having jobs and money, her family often shared their lunch with them. Eating well had improved their health, and they now looked happier and more vibrant, no longer burdened by the worries of the past.

"Really?"

"Yes, really! And if you want to buy more to take home, you can come and buy it. I’ll sell it to you at a reasonable price."

"Thank you, Xiaolin!"

The children beamed with joy. They quickly harvested the wild green onions, eager to run back and tell their mothers working in the factory that they would be bringing home pickled green onions. They had only seen Xiaolin’s grandmother make them before. Despite the scary red color, Xiaolin had assured them it wasn’t spicy before, and they wanted to try it. They had heard from other villagers that the pickled green onions sold at the shop in town were expensive, so their parents had never bought them. After trying them, if they liked them, they planned to save money to buy more for the winter.

"Do any of you have older siblings?"

Xiaolin asked, thinking of hiring them to shuck oysters. Previously, she and her uncle had to shuck them and bring them to her grandmother to prepare. Sometimes her uncles helped too, but she thought of selling them during the winter when they could be preserved longer due to the cold weather.

"I do, I do! I have a sister who is fourteen," one boy raised his hand.

"I have a brother who is sixteen. He usually works at the market in the early morning, but he’s free in the afternoons," another boy chimed in. Two more children then mentioned their older siblings as well.

"Then have them come to see me at my house tomorrow afternoon. I have work for them."

"Got it!"

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