Chapter 657: Cousin and Cousin

Seventh Cousin's timing was just right. Since it was cold today, the soybeans had already expanded after soaking for only a few hours, rippling with a tender luster in the water basin—

Slurp.

Even for a cook who lacked nothing, Seventh Cousin couldn't help but think of the pigs on the back mountain when he saw this.

If those trotters were braised with these soybeans later, how fragrant would that be!

Then he thought about the soybeans in the warehouse—even though they were only interplanted in five mu of the chestnut orchard, the yield was truly quite good. Although the group of gluttons at home consumed a lot, plus what was used today, there were still over a thousand jin left!

Calculating the consumption, it was more than enough to last until the New Year.

In the morning, he and Song Tan discussed it, and they had actually used 400 jin of soybeans!

If Song Tan hadn't promised to lend a hand, how could he have ordered Zhang Yanping, who could no longer lift his arms, to wash and soak the soybeans bit by bit?

After lunch, just as Aunt Lianhua had finished tidying up the kitchen, leaving the three large pots spotless, Seventh Cousin came over with a smile to call people again:

"Yanping, get those beans boiling!"

Until Wu Lan calmly accepted the gratitude. At this moment, guarding behind the stove, in the slightly cold temperature where the free air-conditioning of the kitchen intertwined with the flames, she sent another piece of firewood inside.

He wore an expression of "I'm doing this for your own good, young man," appearing exceptionally sincere.

"When the cafeteria on the mountain is built later, you two mother and daughter can still eat with us. Our family's food tastes better!"

Song Tan thought, he really is a close cousin, but he can't be exploited like this! Didn't Wang Xiaoshun say? Tomorrow they'll start making watermelon sauce on the mountain too.

There were several more leaning against the wall next to them.

Not to mention anything else, even if the old couple turned out their coffin savings, they wouldn't have saved enough money in a lifetime!

Ah, this.

Sigh, what a pity, there's still one cousin who hasn't reported for duty.

Looking further ahead, Song Tan and Song Sancheng hadn't reached their driving practice time yet; the two of them were currently working together to lift a large winnowing basket and were wiping it there.

Ah, this.

Song Tan was still pondering: "Tomorrow, once this straw mat is finished, I'll ask Dad to weave us a few more winnowing baskets, sieves, and such."

He didn't understand!

Moving the beans required Song Tan's help, but the boiling of the beans... that had to be guarded by Zhang Yanping alone!

At this moment, his eyes were teary: "Tantan..."

Why were there no more tips?

Looking back at Qiao Qiao's past livestreaming history, he discovered that as long as the frequency of "hypnosis," "so sleepy," and "fell asleep" was high, the tips were all very high. The top three fans on the leaderboard were basically all related to sleep.

He pondered this and that in his heart. At this moment, he stretched, checked the time, and walked downstairs leisurely.

If Zhang Yanping really took on this job too, and went up the mountain tomorrow to dry beans for Master Qian, then she wouldn't have the heart to do it, would she?

If he had had this ability to stir water when he was a child, he definitely wouldn't have gone to a 211 university, but to the Shaolin Martial Arts School!

What could be tiring about boiling beans? With air conditioning, it wasn't hot; he just had to watch the fire and stir the beans every now and then.

If calculated that way, Aunt Lianhua could earn seven thousand yuan a month. Actually, for Lianhua, doing so much work a month, a raise would be about the same.

However, Lianhua was clearly very open-minded—the work of weaving straw mats only lasted a few months a year, but with this job, she could even bring her mother-in-law along; where else could she find that?

Song Tan thought for a moment, but still gave a bottom line in advance:

Tantan also helped carry two large bags.

She immediately said: "Oh my, Brother Yanping, I didn't even notice you were so tired... Rest quickly! I'll boil the beans at noon!"

"Really?!" Aunt Lianhua's eyes lit up.

But even if it was just simple washing, and he hadn't picked out many good or bad beans, his Tai Chi water tank skill was almost complete!

Zhang Yanping was on the verge of tears: "Seventh Cousin, Doctor Guo said I need to exercise, but she didn't tell me to exercise myself to death! Do these hundreds of jin of beans really have to be boiled all today?"

But Zhang Yanping was even more unhappy—couldn't he just do one hundred jin today? The way he was dragging and pulling these seven hundred jin of soybeans was truly pathetic!

Zhang Yanping had studied for a month at home for the essay exam. At this moment, he was completely unaware of his cousin's malice. He had happily taken a nap, and only then did he feel he had recovered his spirit.

As for other patterns... the elderly in the village might not recognize many big characters, but when it came to the craftsmanship of things here, it was truly not bad.

Song Tan was deeply grateful.

"What else can we do?"

"That's not all! My mother-in-law only lost time during the years she was paralyzed; she was originally famous for being clever and dexterous—Old Song said my patterns were woven well, 120 per bed, and I could weave eight beds a week!"

"Okay." Song Sancheng nodded: "His straw mats have been selling for two months, I reckon he's earned about a hundred thousand... the two of them are very happy!"

She thought: How silly... ah no, how innocent!

"I see! Next year, I must ask Tantan to plant more cogon grass... Wait until winter, the straw mats should be finished by winter, and there won't be much work, so I'll go cut some bamboo and ask Dad to make us more."

He really didn't realize his cousin hadn't noticed he was using too much effort.

All in all, it wasn't that she was exploiting her relatives too much, it was just that her cousin wasn't very ambitious!

Little did she know, Lianhua was smiling even brighter than her:

She did the math: "Oh my! Lianhua! Your mother-in-law earns two thousand yuan a month weaving straw mats!"

Of course, Tantan earned even more, probably a few hundred thousand.

Seventh Cousin was also very helpless: "The beans are already soaking. If you don't finish boiling them today, they'll sprout tomorrow, and won't you have to keep moving beans?"

Even though it was only dragging them from the warehouse to the pool in the courtyard.

While at it, he could also make it look like he had done a few more hours of work.

Song Tan nodded: "You can see Lianhua's mother-in-law can do this work, 70 yuan per bed, and our tea dregs and herbal tea are also sent over there..."

While at it, she also dutifully helped Qiao Qiao check the livestream backend—Xin Jun slept for half an hour in the afternoon. During that half hour, the number of viewers in the livestream room dropped, but the tips...

Because her own strength was so great, it was just like a top student not understanding the bitterness of a struggling student. Those with great strength probably didn't know how tiring it was for those with little strength to work, right?

Looking at the other person's slightly dark skin and the bean-sized sweat beads on his face, Zhang Yanping clicked his tongue and shook his head: It's truly hard to be a diligent person!

Cousin will use him well tomorrow.

How could it be? He couldn't even grasp the ecology of livestreaming as a contemporary netizen now?

At this moment, he lifted his two white and sturdy arms, which were trembling constantly. Clearly, today's labor had been squeezed to the limit.

Qiao Qiao was taking a class with Xin Jun, and Professor Song and his apprentices were said to be revising their thesis. As for Aunt Lianhua, she had sent her mother-in-law to help weave straw mats, so she didn't need to worry about that side. At noon, being free, she took out a new roll of plastic sheeting to wipe it carefully and spread it out in the courtyard to dry. ===== CHAPTER 658 =====