Chapter 35: Pockmarked Sister

  Tea eggs can't be eaten immediately after they're done, they need to be soaked for a few hours to absorb the flavor. ...Ever since brother saw dad turn off the kitchen fire, he's been like a nail on his butt, unable to sit still for a moment, running back and forth between the kitchen and Qiu Ye's house, asking every now and then "Has sister arrived yet?"

  "Can sister eat now?"

  Qiu Ye was annoyed to death by it all along.

  It was finally two hours, Qiu Feng jumped into the kitchen with a big stretch, reached out and took out two tea eggs from the pot, and couldn't wait to start peeling them in the kitchen. Two mouthfuls of an egg, less than two clocks, he ate both tea eggs into his belly.

  Qiu Feng finished eating and smacked his lips, saying: "I ate too fast, didn't get to savor the flavor."

  Qiu Ye almost fainted, this isn't Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit - don't you know what it tastes like?!

  Seeing her brother still staring at the bowl of tea leaf eggs, it meant he wasn't full yet and wanted to eat more, but Qiu Ye was adamant. They had just agreed that each person only had a quota of two tea leaf eggs, and the rest would be taken out to sell tonight.

  But looking at her brother's pitiful appearance, Qiu Ye still felt some heartache. Her brother really hadn't eaten anything good for a while. She said: "Brother, if you go with me to sell the rice balls later, I'll give you one of my tea eggs for dinner, how about that?"

  "Really? Little sister? Are you really going to give me some?" Qiu Feng stared at his little sister with wide eyes, afraid that she would shake her head.

  Qiu Ye Dalie nodded and said: "Really, as long as you go with me from now on, I'll give you a tea egg and a boiled egg every day, how about that?"

  Qiu Ye had thought it through, if she started selling tea eggs herself, her family would have eggs every day and they would definitely eat them every day. Eggs are a good thing, very nutritious, containing large amounts of vitamins and minerals, and the yolks also contain lecithin, which is great for physical development, and eating them often can even improve brain function and intelligence. However, only boiled eggs allow for complete absorption of nutrients, so she thought that every day her family members should eat a boiled egg, and give her brother an extra tea egg to satisfy his hunger.

  "Okay, but can we change the boiled egg to a tea egg instead? Two tea eggs a day would be fine." Qiu Feng happily agreed, but compared to boiled eggs, he preferred eating flavorful tea eggs.

  "No, you can swap the tea egg for a boiled egg. Two boiled eggs a day is fine, but two tea eggs are not." Qiu Ye didn't bother explaining about nutrient absorption to her brother, he wouldn't understand anyway, it's just easier to say no directly.

  Qiu Feng felt a bit down after hearing that, feeling sad that he couldn't eat two tea eggs every day. However, he soon thought to himself that in the past, he couldn't even get one egg per day, and now having two eggs at once was already quite good, so he became happy again. A child's emotions come and go quickly, and before long, Qiu Feng started teasing his little sister again.

  It was after 4 pm, Qiu Ye started to prepare for closing the stall. This time, there were more things to carry, so her brother couldn't carry them all by himself, and Qiu Ye also had to hold a basin.

  Qiu Ye held a basin of steamed buns in both hands, her heart resentful and her arms sore. She thought to herself, "When I get back, I'll persuade Dad to hurry up and weld two pushcarts, one for Mom and one for myself. If not, it'll be exhausting in the future, and relying solely on manpower will also hinder my career development." She didn't think at all that her brother did this every day, walking back and forth with a basin for several rounds.

  However, she also thought that the welding cart couldn't be so fast, and these days she had to think of a way to reduce the burden. She thought for a moment, and could only change the basin holder to a bucket holder. There were still several large iron buckets in the warehouse at home that her mother hadn't used yet. Now she was considering whether to act first and report later or ask her mother first? In the end, she decided to act first and report later.

  The glutinous rice balls and tea eggs sold well in the afternoon. Qiu Ye and others had just arranged their goods, when Pockmark Sister arrived.

  Pimple sister Zhao Jie is a student in the English department of Normal University, and she's only a freshman. Since Qiu Ye had the sauce meatballs here, she comes to buy them every day.

  Qiu Ye thought that the scholarship was quite sufficient for her to eat like this, otherwise she might not be able to come to report every day. The normal university major originally had a national subsidy every month, and Oil City was also a relatively special city, which would also give students of Normal University a certain subsidy every month. With two subsidies added together, although it was not as high as Qiu's father's salary, it was close enough, and definitely higher than Qiu's mother's salary. So this money was enough for students to eat at school, and most students couldn't spend it all, and they could even save a part every month.

  Qiu Ye saw Zhao Jie, who arrived on time to report for work, and smiled: "Sister Zhao, you're still the same as ever! Today we have tea eggs here, they're really delicious, would you like to try one too?"

  Pimple sister comes every time will want two mao's fragrant ball, according to her own words, Qiu Ye sells the ball can be used as a meal and can also be used as a dish, sometimes she directly eats the ball as a meal.

  "Is that it? The color is pretty good, are these tea eggs? How much do they cost each?" asked Pockmark Sister with interest as she looked at the bowl of tea eggs.

  "Sister, this is a specialty snack from my father's hometown. When it's cooked, many ingredients are added, so that's why it smells so good. Two yuan and fifty cents each, sister, if you buy four, I'll give you one free for five yuan." Qiu Ye was talking nonsense, anyway she didn't even know where her own father was from, but she was playing the discount card, believing that Sister Chui would definitely be tempted.

  As expected, when Pimple Sister heard that this was someone's specialty dish and should be delicious, she was moved by the fact that it was cheap for kids.

  "That's it, give me five, I'll take them back to my dormitory mates to try. If they're good, I'll bring them here to buy more tomorrow." After that, she took out 1 yuan and 2 mao from her pocket and handed it over to Qiu Ye.

  Qiu Ye put away the money and used a ladle from home to scoop 5 large-cracked tea eggs from the basin for her sister, saying: "Sister, I picked the large-cracked ones for you, they have more flavor." Just then, Qiu Feng had already quickly put the fermented bean paste balls into her lunchbox.

  "Then thank you little sister, and I'll see you again tomorrow." said Pockmarked Sister as she turned around and left.

  The first deal was made, and it seemed to foreshadow the smoothness of today. Maybe it was because I didn't leave my stall at noon. Anyway, Qiu Ye deliberately made a few dozen more glutinous rice balls today, totaling over 400, plus 46 tea eggs, which were all sold out in about an hour.

  Qiu Ye's white shirt pocket was bulging with the day's earnings, and her entire sales process had been a smiling affair. She couldn't wait to hurry home and count how much money she had made today, which was definitely more than usual.