TATLC Chapter 43 — Treating Everyone to Tangyuan

TLN: 汤圆 (tāng yuán) – boiled or deep-fried balls of glutinous rice flour, usually eaten during Lantern Festival

Chen Xiaomi held the clay jar and counted the money inside. He found that the silver had grown to one hundred eighty taels and seven hundred sixty-two wen without him noticing.

He loved counting money the most, but lately he felt a bit numb to it and didn’t count as often.

When he saw Lu Lin come in, Chen Xiaomi lifted the clay jar and handed it to Lu Lin. “Here, take this.”

Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiaomi with confusion. “All of it?”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “You keep it safe. There’s too much, and I’m worried about keeping it here.”

Lately, he had been looking for places to hide the silver, but their home was small, and nowhere felt secure enough.

A faint smile tugged at Lu Lin’s lips. Chen Xiaomi was actually quite guarded, so if he was willing to let Lu Lin keep the silver, he must trust him now.

Over a hundred taels of silver was definitely a fortune in the village. They sometimes had to go to town, and Xiaocai and Xiaomai were still young. If someone broke in and stole the silver, the loss would be devastating.

Lu Lin reached out, and with a single thought, the jar vanished.

Chen Xiaomi had seen this many times before, but he still found it magical.

“This jam business is really profitable!” Chen Xiaomi said.

Lu Lin chuckled. “You could say that.”

For him, with his convenience store, it was pretty profitable. But for other people, that would be hard to say.

Sugar was expensive here, and wild berries spoiled quickly. Sugar was also a kind of preservative. The jam made from wild berries could be stored for a while because of the added sugar, but this place had limited preservation methods. If they made too much and couldn’t sell it all, it would just rot.

Lu Lin turned to Chen Xiaocai. “The wild berries in the forest are almost gone!”

Chen Xiaocai nodded. “Yeah! We can probably pick one more time and that’ll be about it.”

Lu Lin smiled. “Alright then. After we finish picking next time, let’s invite everyone over for a meal at home.”

Chen Xiaocai frowned. “Do we have to? They might not even want to come. Besides, we already paid them.” They already gave them money, so why treat them to a meal too? And if he invited people over, he didn’t know what the villagers might think.

Lu Lin blinked. “One meal won’t cost much.”

“Next time we pick berries, we’ll just ask them to stay at the end. Those who don’t want to come don’t have to force themselves,” Lu Lin said.

Chen Xiaocai gave him a hesitant look but finally relented. “…Fine.”

…

Chen Xiaomi came out and asked, “What are you going to make for those kids to eat?”

“Tangyuan.”

Chen Xiaomi’s mouth watered at the mention. “Tangyuan? But that needs glutinous rice.”

He scratched his head. Glutinous rice cost more than twice as much as coarse rice, and it was quite troublesome to prepare too.

Lu Lin nodded. “We can make more.” If they couldn’t finish eating them, he could just store them in the convenience store.

“Why give those little brats good food!” It was better to keep the good stuff for themselves.

Lu Lin chuckled. “They’ve been helping for so long.” He wanted to give the villagers the impression that being on good terms with him meant earning money and eating good food. When people take advantage of your generosity, they think twice before speaking badly of you later.

“We already paid them.” Chen Xiaomi’s thoughts were similar to Chen Xiaocai’s.

Lu Lin smiled. “But Xiaocai will need to marry someday, right? We should help him build a good reputation.”

Chen Xiaomi shot him a glare. Xiaocai was still young, so Lu Lin’s planning ahead was really too early. “We have money now,” he grumbled. Having money meant they could just buy him a wife.

Lu Lin smiled. “It’s not much trouble anyway.”

Chen Xiaomi gave him a sidelong glance. “Fine. If you don’t mind the hassle, do whatever you want.”

…

Zhang Dahu followed beside Chen Xiaocai, his eyes bright. “Xiaocai, you’re going to treat us to food?”

Chen Xiaocai nodded. “Yeah!”

Recently, many people had been playing with him, but Chen Xiaocai could still feel the distance between these people and himself. He originally thought that when he said he wanted to treat these kids to a meal, they would refuse. He didn’t expect everyone to be very interested.

However, there were still a few companions who seemed worried because their families had probably warned them about something. They said they could take the money and go home to eat instead. Chen Xiaocai didn’t force them.

Zhang Dahu, however, was thrilled. When the kids delivered wild berries to Lu Lin’s place, they could often smell the delicious food. The kids had been longing for the Chen family’s cooking for a while but were too embarrassed to ask. Now, Chen Xiaocai’s offer was a dream come true.

The kids carried their baskets to the Chen house. Lu Lin came out and smiled. “Thank you all for your hard work.”

When the kids entered the house, they saw several large bowls on the table, all covered with lids.

Lu Lin lifted the lids, and all the kids saw the white, plump tangyuan in the bowls.

Almost instantly, the sound of swallowed saliva filled the room. The few kids who had originally said they would leave suddenly couldn’t move their feet when they saw these tangyuan.

“I prepared some food. If everyone likes it, you can have some.”

Zhang Dahu rushed forward first, grabbed a bowl, and used a big spoon to scoop up several tangyuan to eat.

The other kids were immediately motivated and all rushed toward the table, afraid they’d miss out if they were too late.

Chen Xiaocai watched the kids act like hungry wolves and rolled his eyes, They said they wouldn’t eat before, but not a single one ran away.

Growing boys could eat their parents into poverty. Lu Lin had prepared quite a lot of tangyuan, but the children still managed to clean out every bowl. By the end, the kids almost got into a fight over the last few.

Zhang Dahu and the others ate to their satisfaction and became much friendlier toward Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai.

Chen Xiaomi came out from the inner room, eyeing the empty bowls with disdain. “A bunch of gluttons.”

He’d been home the whole time, but he was aware what kind of reputation he had, so he didn’t show himself.

Lu Lin tilted his head. “They sure can eat.”