Chapter 188 Joyful Times_1
Actually, Lin Yue, at fourteen, was considered mature for a girl in ancient times. By that age, others would have already developed well. Lin Yue’s previous frailty was mainly due to malnutrition and being sick twice in a row, along with exhaustion. Thanks to Jiang Ziqi’s care and Zhao Erhu’s attentive nurturing, she naturally blossomed. Lin Yue herself didn’t feel much different, but it delighted Zhao Erhu immensely. He was thinking, the sooner his little wife grew up, the sooner he could "eat meat."
The Dragon Boat Festival was only about ten days away. Originally, Lin Yue planned to make zongzi as holiday gifts, but then she thought of it as an opportunity to make money. Nowadays, apart from delivering ingredients to the Government Office every other day, Zhao Erhu also went to the market to sell food on market days. Lin Yue accompanied Zhao Erhu twice, and everyone recognized him, knowing that the craftsmanship was Lin Yue’s. The business was thriving just as well as before, with several taels of silver earned each day. The Government Office now settled their accounts monthly, paying them seventy to eighty taels at a time.
Lin Yue knew that due to past reasons, Zhao Erhu always had some unspoken anxieties and was overly cautious with her. It was less that he didn’t trust her and more that he didn’t trust himself. Lin Yue didn’t feel the need to manage this—she kept the silver in Zhao Erhu’s hands anyway. Besides, she could embroider, and the money she earned from one piece of embroidery after another was not insignificant. However, she would absolutely never hand this money over to Zhao Erhu; she kept it tightly in her own control.
No matter when, relying on others is never as solid as relying on oneself. Besides, Zhao Erhu had not yet been completely "domesticated" by her. Confronted with shameless people like Zhao Yunxiang, he could become soft-hearted and suffer a loss. After all, they were blood relatives, and who could remain entirely indifferent? If that was really the case, Lin Yue would be more worried about whether Zhao Erhu was heartless and cold-blooded, and how he would treat her then.
Since Lin Yue planned to sell zongzi, she had to make some in advance to sell or give away as a promotion. Otherwise, who would know how delicious their homemade zongzi were?
Lin Yue came up with an idea. Whenever Zhao Erhu sold food at the market, he would give away a zongzi for free if a customer spent more than twenty coins. However, these zongzi were made quite small, which made them appear refined and delicate. In the end, they were a freebie, and they were tasty, so everyone happily accepted them.
At that time, there weren’t many varieties of zongzi. They were simply sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. The zongzi Lin Yue made contained various fillings, sweet and savory, red bean paste, "eight treasures," fresh meat, egg yolk, and so on. Since they were for giving away, Lin Yue did not specifically sort them; whichever one people got was the luck of the draw. They all enjoyed them, and Lin Yue’s zongzi quickly gained a good reputation.
The zongzi made in the first two days were all giveaways. Some people even bought extra items just to qualify for the free zongzi, effectively making the promotion a success. Lin Yue and her business didn’t lose out since they had anticipated this situation and prepared extra food for Zhao Erhu to sell at the market. The cost of the ingredients used for the zongzi was recouped from these additional sales.