Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Seeing Yang Lao Da's excited reaction, Yang Lao Er quickly picked up his own bowl and took a big gulp.

The cool, sweet and sour taste slid down his throat, instantly dispelling the heat throughout his body. His eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "This tastes amazing! It's so sweet and sour. Hawthorn on its own is incredibly sour, but mixed with jelly, it's a perfect match. It's so delicious!"

The youngest, Peach Blossom, finished the small bowl of brown sugar water in one gulp, wiped the water from her lips with her sleeve, ran to Tang Susu, and tugged at her sleeve, pleading, "Third Aunt, is there any more? I want more!"

Old Mrs. Yang glanced at Peach Blossom, a hint of displeasure flashing in her eyes, and coldly rebuked, "You ill-mannered brat! This is your third aunt's livelihood, not something you can just eat whenever you want. With this taste, it'd cost at least a copper coin a bowl. If you want some, you have to pay!"

Tang Susu was just wondering how to raise the price when Old Mrs. Yang's words came to her rescue.

She smiled and asked, "Mother is right. I plan to sell this jelly on the street for two copper coins a bowl. What do you think of that price?"

Upon hearing this, Shen was startled and thought to herself: Has Tang Susu gone mad with greed? Two copper coins can buy a steamed bun to fill your stomach, and this jelly won't satisfy your hunger. Who would waste money on this?

But she had no intention of offering any advice. Instead, she put on a smile and deliberately flattered him, saying, "Third sister-in-law's cold noodles are a rare delicacy, unique to Yangqu Village and Dongtai Town. And they taste so good! I think they should cost at least three copper coins a serving!"

Tang Susu knew perfectly well that she had originally intended to order a bowl for three copper coins.

But then she thought, with the current famine, every household has little savings, and three copper coins are too expensive; probably not many people would be willing to buy them. A price of two copper coins would be more affordable and easier for the public to accept, allowing her to make a considerable profit.

She observed the expressions of everyone after they ate it and found that most people preferred the pure brown sugar flavor, while a few who could tolerate sourness especially liked the version with hawthorn.

After everyone put down their bowls, Tang Susu smiled and made the decision: "Let's sell them for two copper coins each for now. It'll be more affordable, and more people will buy them."

She said she had to get up early the next day to prepare for going out, then, carrying an empty bamboo basket, she said goodbye to everyone and turned to go home.

As Tang Susu arrived at her doorstep, she saw Yang Dafu and Yang Erfu sitting on the threshold, clutching their round bellies and sighing.

"This jelly is so refreshing! In the summer, it's like being in a giant oven, and you feel so hot and restless that you can't shake it off. Eating this jelly makes your whole body feel cool and refreshed, like suddenly jumping from the desert into an ice cellar. It's incredibly comfortable!"

Tang Susu chuckled helplessly, pointing to the bowl of jelly made from wheat starch in the yard and said, "You two carry this bowl of jelly back to the old house, let everyone eat as much as they want."

This bowl of jelly is slow to set, and its texture is not as smooth as tapioca starch. It also doesn't look very appealing, so it's not suitable for sale. It would be a waste to throw it away, so I'd rather give it to Old Yang's family as a favor.

Upon hearing this, Yang Dafu and Yang Erfu's eyes lit up. As if they had found a treasure, they got up from the ground, picked up the wooden basin one after the other, and ran away, afraid that Tang Susu would change her mind.

When Old Mrs. Yang saw the two men carrying back a large basin of cold noodles, she was stunned and raised her hand to scold them: "You two little rascals, you have no manners! This is your third aunt's livelihood, how dare you touch it? Hurry up and take it back!"

"We didn't steal it!" Yang Dafu hurriedly explained. "My third aunt told us to bring it back herself, saying we could eat as much as we wanted today, because we wouldn't have any more later!"

Old Mrs. Yang then put down her hand and stopped stopping them, but she instructed, "Each person can have at most one more small bowl, don't waste food. Save what you don't finish for tomorrow. You children, all you know how to do is waste food all day long."

Peach Blossom had been craving it for ages, and upon hearing this, she pounced on the bowl of jelly, her drool almost falling into it.

Old Mrs. Yang slowly entered the house and sat down, smiling as she said to Old Mr. Yang, who was smoking a pipe, "My youngest daughter-in-law has become much more generous lately, no longer the stingy person she used to be."

Grandpa Yang took a puff of his pipe and slowly replied, "She was so focused on saving money for her cousin's education that she had no interest in this family. Now that she's fallen out with the Tang family, she's finally matured. I just don't know if she can actually make any money from this cold noodle business."

Old Mrs. Yang shook her head: "We've spent our whole lives dealing with the soil, we don't know anything about business. It's like a duck trying to climb a tree, we don't have the ability to teach her, we can only let her figure it out herself."

On the other side, Tang Susu sat in the main room, calculating accounts by the light of an oil lamp.

One pound of lantern fruit can make two large bowls of jelly. She harvested a total of forty pounds of lantern fruit, and if she made all of it into jelly, she could cut at least one hundred and sixty bowls.

Each bowl sells for two copper coins, so one hundred and sixty bowls can sell for three hundred and twenty copper coins.

No, she recalculated. Oh, one hundred and sixty bowls, two copper coins per bowl, that's three hundred and twenty copper coins.

Wait a minute, forty pounds of lantern fruit, one pound makes two large basins, how many bowls can one basin hold?

Oh, I was thinking that 40 catties could yield at least 160 bowls. 160 bowls multiplied by two copper coins would be 320 copper coins.

No, no, she miscalculated. Let's start over: 160 bowls, 2 copper coins per bowl, so it should be 320 copper coins.

Wait a minute, the user profile says "can earn 1,600 copper coins (one tael and six mace of silver)".

Oh right, according to the outline, 160 bowls can earn 1,600 copper coins, which means 10 coins per bowl?

No, the outline clearly states that "each bowl sells for two copper coins, and with the remaining five catties of lantern fruit seeds at home, selling them all will bring in 1,600 copper coins (one tael and six mace of silver)."

Oh, maybe it's made from forty catties of lantern fruit plus more than five catties of seeds, totaling eight hundred bowls? Never mind, let's follow the original outline.

She recalculated: one pound of lantern fruit can make two large bowls of jelly, and a total of forty pounds of lantern fruit can be cut into at least one hundred and sixty bowls;

Adding the remaining five catties of lantern fruit seeds at home, selling them all would bring in 1,600 copper coins, which is equivalent to one tael and six mace of silver. After deducting the costs of brown sugar and starch, making a net profit of one tael and three mace would be no problem.

Tang Susu became more and more delighted as she calculated.

She knew that in ancient times, an ordinary farmer's annual income, barring any disasters or hardships, was only a little over one or two taels of silver. If she could sell all the cold noodles this time, she would become incredibly wealthy.

Of course, this is all on the premise that the product can be sold successfully.

She immediately stood up and instructed Miao Yulan and Tang Lifu: "Take out another four ounces of lantern fruit seeds and make them into jelly. Add that to what we didn't finish before, and make a total of 160 bowls. Tomorrow, we'll test the waters on the street and see how it sells before deciding what to do next."

That night, Tang Susu's family went to bed much later than usual, and the whole family gathered around the stove, busy preparing the cold noodles they would sell the next day.

Meanwhile, people from the neighboring village of Ma'an quietly made their way to the vicinity of Yangqu Village at noon today.

They witnessed firsthand the continuous flow of water in the ditches of Yangqu Village, and the scene of the parched rice paddies being nourished by spring water, which made the whole village green with envy.

After careful consideration, Ma'an Village decided to follow the example of Yangqu Village and organize all villagers to dig ditches to bring water from the mountains into the village.

The proposal was initially met with unanimous agreement, and no one objected.

However, when it came time to determine the specific workers to be selected, the villagers of Ma'an Village immediately erupted into a fierce debate.

"My family's fields are closest to the gully and mountain, making irrigation the most convenient, so we should have one less person working there!"

"My husband is tall and capable; he can do the work of two people. Only one person from our family can contribute!"

Ma'an Village was so angry that he was blowing his beard and glaring. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Shut up, all of you! Don't you realize that Gou Tuo Mountain is Yangqu Village's territory, which is much farther away from our Ma'an Village!"

"Yangqu Village mobilized over 500 strong laborers to dig the ditch; our village will need at least 700 people to finish in two or three days! This is a matter of life and death for the entire village; it's time for everyone to contribute, and no one can shirk their responsibilities!"

But the villagers still held their own opinions and no one was willing to give in.

"My fields are at the foot of the mountain, why should I have to contribute the same amount of manpower as families who live far away? Why should we have to put in more effort?"

"We're all from the same village, we see each other all the time, why be so calculating and hurt our relationship?"

"We can't afford to hurt feelings! Those who live far from the mountains need to contribute more manpower; if we don't have enough adults, we'll send the children. We absolutely cannot let anyone suffer a loss!"

The two sides argued fiercely, their faces flushed, and they almost came to blows.

That night in Ma'an Village, chaos reigned as villagers discussed the matter all night but failed to come up with a unified solution.

The next morning, as dawn broke through the silent night sky, a few crisp rooster crows awakened the sleeping Yangqu Village, and the sky gradually turned a pale white.

Tang Susu immediately got up, washed up quickly, and prepared to go to the kitchen to get busy.

Yang Xiaobao and Yang Gousheng, who were sleeping in the same bed with her, were also awakened by the noise and sat up, rubbing their sleepy eyes.

Yang Xiaobao, still a little dazed, climbed off the bed, ran to Tang Susu's side, and hugged her leg, pleading, "Mom, I want to go to the street with you too."

Yang Gousheng chimed in, "Mom, I'll go too. I can do math, so I can help you collect the money and watch the stall. I'll definitely be of help."

Tang Susu looked at the two children with expectant faces and felt a little moved.

She thought that among the four boys in the family, only Tang Lifu had the experience of carrying firewood to the street to sell a few times. Yang Gousheng, Tang Liqiang, and Yang Xiaobao had never been to the street since they were young, and they didn't even know what the street looked like.

But then she thought, she'll only take 160 bowls of cold noodles to sell today, so she won't have to go to too many people.

Moreover, when I come back, I'll probably need to buy some daily necessities like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, needles, thread, and fabric, so I'll definitely need someone to help carry them.

After considering for a moment, Tang Susu said frankly, "Today we're going to sell cold noodles on the street, so we don't need to go with too many people. But we need to bring back some daily necessities, so we'll need someone to help carry them. Just me, Lifu, and Liqiang will go together."