With their father Xu Qinghe's support, the siblings kneaded the mung bean jelly with even more effort.
Ji Ying sighed softly and quietly asked Xu Qinghe, "Can we sell things ourselves now?"
"I think you can." Xu Qinghe replied while working on a wooden barrel, "Last time I was working, I passed through the county and saw a lot of people selling things. Since these two want to do it, let them try."
"Either way, we won't lose anything," Xu Qinghe said. "I can't do much else, but these two water buckets I can make. If it doesn't work out, we can just use them at home."
Now, this was an old house, the family lacked everything, and Xu Qinghe could only take advantage of coming home from work and use his evenings to make things.
"Just let them mess around for now. When they hit a wall, they'll learn."
Ji Ying truly didn't have any hope for selling mung bean jelly.
"Is this about two buckets now?"
No electric lights, just faint moonlight—barely able to see how this well water was getting thicker and stickier.
"Let's knead a bit more."
Xu Nianhua hadn't done this before either, her hands were soft from kneading, but she was afraid the first batch wouldn't turn out well, and then they wouldn't be able to sell tomorrow, so she'd rather take some extra time and knead it longer.
"Alright."
The siblings each took a basin; Xu Nian'an was a boy, stronger, and kneaded faster. In the end, it was still Xu Nian'an who helped finish off Nianhua's basin.
It wasn't until she lay down in bed that Xu Nianhua realized making mung bean jelly was truly tough work!
Her hands were horribly sore, and there were blisters from chopping wood. Luckily her left hand hadn't blistered; otherwise, kneading the jelly would probably have worn the blisters away.
Early morning, just at dawn, Xu Nianhua slept deeply. Hearing noises outside, she struggled to get up, and her hands felt sore and weak at every movement.
"Dad, why are you already making buckets so early?" Xu Nianhua saw Xu Qinghe shaping the buckets, and the fresh wood made them look especially beautiful.
"Dad, your craftsmanship is really good."
Xu Nianhua praised him—the two water buckets were especially well made.
"Now that the buckets are done, you can use them today." Xu Qinghe grinned warmly. "I can't do much else."
"Thank you, Dad."
Xu Nianhua said sweetly. Ji Ying headed to the side of the house to clear some land for vegetables; she grabbed some rice to make porridge, while second brother Xu Nian'an had gone up the mountain early for firewood—there was never enough in the house.
"Wow, the mung bean jelly we made is really good."
Xu Nianhua got up early and saw the jelly in the basins soaking in cold water, crystal clear like transparent jello—looked fantastic.
She found half a pound of brown sugar and melted it, then poured it into a lidded jar and set it in the well water, so the sugar syrup would cool too.
After lunch.
"Tired?"
Xu Nian'an carried the two new buckets. One was filled with mung bean jelly, the other with some bowls and half a bucket of well water.
Xu Nianhua, carrying a cloth bag with the brown sugar syrup, set out lightly. Even so, under the blazing sun, she ended up covered in sweat.
"I'm not tired, second brother—you're the one who's tired." Xu Nianhua thought longingly of modern cars; if they had a tricycle, they wouldn't need to work so hard.
"By the way, how do you think we should sell this mung bean jelly?"
Xu Nian'an had thought about it all the way but still didn't know what price to ask.
"Twenty cents a bowl," Xu Nianhua replied.
Xu Nian'an paused, glanced at Xu Nianhua, and said, "Isn't that a bit expensive?"