414 Spinning in Circles
Xue Sifu laughed, “There’s no more. All the liangpi sold out. Let’s eat the rice noodles. Fortunately, we brought a lot of rice noodles today. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any left. Look at the long line. We might end up selling everything soon!”
“Okay then, go and prepare three bowls of rice noodles.” Xue Erfu laughed.
“Alright,” Xue Sifu quickly gave the three small rice noodle bowls.
“I’m not hungry yet,” Jiang Yue said.
“Eat some even if you’re not hungry.” Xue Sifu laughed.
Jiang Yue had no choice but to eat her fill as well.
There were still three bowls of iced sour plum juice left. Xue Sifu and the others couldn’t bear to sell them, so they left one bowl for each of the three youngest children in their family.
Xue Wufu squatted there with them, eating the rice noodles and sour plum juice happily.
Jiang Yue and Xue Xiao were not very hungry, so they only ate a little. Then, they gave the rest to Sifu.
When their brothers were done eating, they switched places with their other two brothers, Sanfu and Erfu. It was Wufu and Sifu’s turn to break the ice while the other two ate.
They all had cold rice noodles.
“Is there no more sour plum juice?” Someone asked.
“Unfortunately now,” Xue Sifu immediately replied with a smile. “There’s still crushed ice, would you like a bowl?”
“Alright, then give me a bowl. And a bowl of rice noodles.” That person replied. It just so happened that someone had finished eating and left, and another seat appeared, so that person went to sit at the same spot.
“Alright!” Xue Sifu immediately agreed.
Xue Yan was busy preparing the rice noodles while Jiang Yue sat on the small bench, scooping crushed ice into the bowl with a wooden spoon. Then, she drizzled sweet red beans on the crushed ice, and the two of them delivered the dishes to the customer.
“Give me a kilogram worth of dried rice noodles too.” Someone finished eating and wiped his mouth. He walked over and took out his money bag to pay as he spoke.
“Alright,” Jiang Yue agreed.
Xue Yan quickly weighed the dry rice noodles, wrapped them in a paper bag, and tied them up with a thin rope before giving them to the customer.
That person paid the total amount, including the dry rice noodles, before taking the packed rice noodles and leaving.
After the man left, Xue Yan and Jiang Yue glanced at the wicker basket beside them. Fortunately, he had brought enough dry rice noodles today. There was still a basket of dry rice noodles left.
Someone had been waiting in line for a long time, but was still not able to get a seat, so he gave up and walked over, saying, “Forget it, I’m not eating ice here. Do you have popsicles? I’ll buy two.”
“There are.” Xue Yan took out two popsicles from a small wooden box and gave them to the man, “Six coins.”
“Here.” The man paid and left with the popsicle.
After Xue Erfu and Xue Sanfu finished their rice noodles, they started to chisel and smash the ice. Xue Wufu carried a small wooden box of popsicles and went around to sell them while Xue Sifu stood in front of the rice noodles counter and asked Jiang Yue and Xue Yan to rest.
It seemed like Jiang Yue and Xue Yan were replaced, but they would help whenever they needed help.
They washed the dishes, helped to scoop ice and pour red beans, brought the rice noodles and ice to the table for the guests to eat, helped weigh the dry rice noodles, and when someone finished eating, they would immediately go up and clean up the bowls, chopsticks, spoons, and other things so that the next person could sit.
The two children had helped out a lot. They busily ran around to help as much as they could around the store. Xue Erfu felt his heart ache as he watched them. He watched them for a while, and he couldn’t help but whisper to Xue Sifu, “It’s only the first day of selling ice and we’re already filled with work. We adults don’t have much to do. Don’t tire out the two precious children. They’ll definitely have more things to do in the future. Why don’t we hire a few people now first?”