Chapter 43: Fancy Some Tang Yuan, Kids?

Chen Xiao Mi counted their saving again, it was 180 taels and 762 cents!

Chen Xiao Mi took pleasure in counting money, but he became less thrilled about it as they had more and more money.

Chen Xiao Mi handed the saving pot to Lu Lin as Lu Lin walked in, "Can you keep it for us?"

Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiao Mi with surprise, "Are you asking me to keep the money for us?"

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "Yes, please. I can't think of a good place to store it."

It was true, Chen Xiao Mi couldn't find a safe place to store the money at home.

Lu Lin smiled, he now knew his partner was trusting him 100%.

180 taels and 762 cents was a stupendous sum. Chen Xiao Mi would worry about the money whenever he and Lu Lin went to town, Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai were just kids, he dreaded to think what if some thief broke in and took the money.

Lu Lin held the saving pot in cupped hands, then he closed his eyes, and just like that the saving pot had disappeared.

"This jam business is so profitable." Said Chen Xiao Mi with a broad smile.

Lu Lin also smiled, he just felt so glad he could keep all the jam in his shop where time didn't exist thus he could store as much as he wished, and the jam wouldn't go bad.

Sugar was a type of preservative, but it was too expensive in that time and space. The jam that Lu Lin made could only be stored for 7 days in room temperature, that was why Lu Lin gave them to Manager Wang the jam batch by batch in case they went bad.

"Cai, the wild berry season is about to finish, right?" asked Lu Lin.

Chen Xiao Cai nodded, "Yeah, I think we can only make one more round."

Lu Lin smiled, "Why not ask your little friends to have dinner at ours next time after you pick the berries?"

Chen Xiao Cai frowned, "That's not necessary, we've already paid them, and I don't think they will come. I'm worried about the villagers too, I'm sure they will have something to say if we treat the kids."

Lu Lin tilted his head, "That's okay, just a simple meal, nothing fancy. Just bring this up when you see them next time, they can decide whether they wanna come themselves."

Chen Xiao Cai hesitated for a while and nodded, "Okay then."

Chen Xiao Mi asked curiously, "What are you going to make for the kids?"

"Tang Yuan." (T/N: Tang Yuan is a Chinese dessert that is a ball of glutinous rice flour and water that has been either boiled and served in a hot broth or syrup or else deep-fried)

Chen Xiao Mi drooled, "Tang Yuan? We need glutinous rice then."

Glutinous rice was twice as expensive as rice, and it was hard to deal with.

Lu Lin nodded, "Yeah, I will make a big batch and save the rest in the shop for ourselves."

"Why do you want to treat those kids? We can just have them all to ourselves."

"Haha, they have been working hard for us. I want to send a message to the villagers, we are reasonable people, you are nice to me, I will be nicer to you. Hopefully they will watch their mouth in the future."

"But we've paid them good money already." Chen Xiao Mi just repeated what Chen Xiao Cai just said.

Lu Lin smiled, "That's true, but I think it's time that we get along with the villages, I really want to look for a good partner for our Cai in the future."

Chen Xiao Mi frowned, "Isn't it too early to talk about that? Plus we have money now, we can just buy Cai a wife."

"Mi, it's okay, it's not too much trouble."

"Okay, if you insist."

Zhang Da Hu's eyes sparkled when Chen Xiao Cai invited him for a dinner, "Really? Really? Really?"

Chen Xiao Cai nodded.

The other kids soon surrounded Chen Xiao Cai and they were all excited about this invitation.

Chen Xiao Cai didn't see that coming, he had no idea the kids were interested in spending time with him apart from 'work'.

There were some kids looked hesitant, the truth was they liked Chen Xiao Cai more and more, but their parents had warned them that they shouldn't hang out with Chen Xiao Cai too much.

As a matter of fact, Zhang Da Hu and kids could always smell the aroma of great food when they walked past Chen Xiao Mi's house, so they were more than happy that Chen Xiao Cai invited them for dinner.

Lu Lin greeted the kids when they handed the baskets to him, "Kids, good job, hope you are hungry, dinner is ready."

With that the kids walked into the room where they saw a line of bowls sitting on the table.

"Come on over."

Lu Lin heard them swallowing and he smiled.

The kids who said they couldn't make it suddenly changed their mins on seeing the snow white and round Tang Yuan balls.

"Can we stay, Cai?"

"Is it too late to change our mind, Cai?"

Chen Xiao Cai and Lu Lin both said they could stay.

"Make yourselves at home, kids, enjoy."

With that Zhang Da Hu grabbed a bowl and a spoon, he gulped down one with relish.

The other kids followed suit, they ran towards the table like they were afraid the other kids would steal from them.

Chen Xiao Cai rolled his eyes on seeing the kids who said they were not interested gulping down the Tang Yuan.

Lu Lin prepared a whole pot of Tang Yuan for the kids, but the kids loved them so much that they not only had finished the pot, but they almost made a scene on fighting for the last ones.

The kids became closer to Chen Xiao Cai after this dinner, they said goodbye to Chen Xiao Cai and Lu Lin reluctantly after dinner.

Chen Xiao Mi didn't show up when the kids were here in case he scared them away, he was surprised they had finished the whole pot.

So was Lu Lin, "Tut tut tut, these kids... ..."