Chapter 6 - Sponge Cake

It took a long time until the red on Han Aiguo's ears faded. He finally opened his mouth to ask Su Yue, "How many eggs do you want?"

Su Yue didn't dare to be too enthusiastic, so she pretended that nothing happened, replying, "Give me thirty."

Han Aiguo nodded and asked Su Yue to bring her basket over so she could take them.

His hands were very big, with distinct joints and especially long fingers. He could hold three eggs at a time as if they were a single one.

Su Yue stared at his hands until he finished taking the eggs, and then asked: "Big brother, how much is the total?"

Although Han Aiguo had been in the army all year round, he still knew the price. An egg could reach seven cents if sold well, but most of them could only sell for six cents. He couldn’t push such a high price on Su Yue, so he told her six cents.

Su Yue did not rush to pay him, but continued: "Big brother, I want to trouble you with something, I don't know if it will work."

Han Aiguo looked up at her, "Say it."

"Big brother, I want to borrow some flour from your family. I originally wanted to buy it at the market when I went to the commune, but the farming these days is so busy there is no way to go. Because there’s no flour at all at home, I want to borrow some first for an emergency. I'll buy it in a few days and then return it to your house, would that work?"

The reason why Su Yue didn't say to buy it directly was that at this time, every household had limited flour, which was not enough to casually eat. Generally, it would only be taken out for a special occasion, so they had no habit of selling it.

After listening, Han Aiguo thought about it and said, "Okay, wait a minute."

He turned around and limped to the kitchen. After a while, he took out a cloth bag and handed it to Su Yue, "This is two catties of flour, there is no more."

Su Yue took it with gratitude, and at the same time did not forget to thank him, "Two catties are enough. Thank you, big brother, you are really nice."

In this era, people's speeches were simple and straightforward. Where would they say "you are so nice" to someone’s face? Han Aiguo felt uncomfortable listening, and the roots of his ears quietly got red again.

Su Yue secretly smiled in her heart.

Having bought the eggs and borrowed the flour, there was nothing else to be said between the two. Su Yue wanted to talk to him more, but after all, it was their first meeting. They weren’t even acquaintances. If she lingered here talking about random things he might think she was the kind of girl who had no purpose, and whatever good impression he had of her would be lost.

For her good image, Su Yue lifted the basket, smiled, and waved at him: "Thank you, big brother, I'm going back."

Han Aiguo nodded slightly without saying anything.

Su Yue found out that he not only had a cold face but was also not talkative. He definitely wouldn't talk if he had nothing to say, and if he had, not an extra word would be used.

It seemed that if she wanted to get acquainted with him, she had to take the initiative.

When she got home, Su Yue returned the two eggs she had used in the morning, and then put all the rest back in her room and locked them up.

The reason why she bought eggs and borrowed flour was because she wanted to make sponge cakes. One reason was to relieve her greed, and the other was to see if she could sell them when she went to the market next time. If she could sell them then she would be able to buy more ingredients and increase her options when cooking.

However, the two next days would still be too busy with the harvest, and no one could take time off to go to the market. She could only wait for the end of the busy farming period when most of the villagers would go to the market to buy things.

The next day, Su Yue’s belly was much better. She didn’t ask for leave anymore and went with the others to work. Although these next few days were still very painful, she somehow managed to get through by gritting her teeth. Then, at last, the autumn harvest was finally over.

Not only Su Yue, but everyone else also breathed a sigh of relief, showing a long-lost smile.

Immediately after the autumn harvest was done, everyone gathered in the yard. Before Su Yue could propose going to the market, Wu Xiaoxiao said first: "I'm about to suffocate to death. I want to go to the market and buy some things. Will anyone go with me?"

Li Xiaoqing raised her hand, "I'll go, there are not a lot of things left, I need to buy some more."

Another educated youth, Mao Lin, also said that she would go. In the end, everyone except Wei Jia would go.

So the group of four decided to go to the commune and then the market together.

On the night before, Su Yue took the eggs and flour she had bought into the kitchen.

When Li Xiaoqing saw she had brought out so many good things, her eyes were slightly rounded, "Su Yue, what are you doing?"

Su Yue simply explained to her while breaking the eggs into the bowl: "I wanted to make some sponge cakes to eat but I also want to see if I can trade them tomorrow, either for money or something else. "

Li Xiaoqing was not surprised when Su Yue said that she wanted to sell sponge cakes, because now ordinary people were allowed to trade a small portion of their own provisions and vegetables in the market, and there were also many who would secretly make food to sell. Although this kind of thing was done quite a lot in secret, everyone knew about it in their hearts.

But Li Xiaoqing was surprised by what Su Yue wanted to cook. She had grown this big but still had never eaten sponge cakes, only the common mung bean cakes and red bean cakes.

Li Xiaoqing didn't want to return to the room anymore, and asked, "Su Yue, can I stay and have a look? Don't worry, I’ll just watch you. I don't have the ability to learn it secretly."

Su Yue stirred the eggs, "It's nothing, you can stay if you want."

Li Xiaoqing was very happy. She rolled up her sleeves and said, "Is there anything I can help you with? How about I deal with the fire?"

Su Yue's thoughts moved when she heard this. She could ask Li Xiaoqing to help her. If her plan worked out in the future, she wouldn't be able to do it alone, otherwise, she would waste most of her time just controlling the fire, which would delay the cooking.

But first, she had to see if the sponge cakes could be sold.

So Su Yue asked Li Xiaoqing to set a fire for her while she concentrated on the stove, carefully making the first pastry since she came here.

An hour later, Su Yue told Li Xiaoqing to put out the fire, and the first batch of sponge cakes was freshly baked.

Li Xiaoqing couldn't wait to get away from the stove and rush over to take a good sniff from it "Su Yue, this is too fragrant, how can it smell better than mung bean cake and red bean cake! I’m almost drooling."

Su Yue laughed when she heard her. She took the sponge cake out of the pan to cool and at the same time picked a piece up, handing it to Li Xiaoqing, "Sister Xiaoqing, try it and see how it tastes."

Li Xiaoqing really wanted to eat it, but she waved her hand and said: "No, no, this is a good thing. It cost so many eggs, sugar and flour, it would be a waste for me to eat it. You just sell it at the market."

Su Yue grabbed her hand and forced the cake on her, "Eat it, didn't you help me with the fire for so long just to eat a bite? Don't say anything, just try it."

"Then I won't be polite." Li Xiaoqing was really hooked by the smell, feeling that the greedy worms in her belly would come out if she didn’t eat it.

Gently taking one bite, the cake was soft and sweet, melting in the mouth, making even her nose full of sweetness.

Li Xiaoqing's eyes narrowed, and she kept chewing while giving Su Yue a thumbs up, "My goddess Su Yue, you are a chef. It's too delicious. I used to think mung bean cakes and red bean cakes were the best, but now that I have eaten your sponge cakes they simply can’t compare. This is the best pastry I have ever eaten!"

At this moment, the voice of the system sounded: “Congratulations to the host, the sponge cake is rated C-level. You got ten points.”

Su Yue looked at the points panel in her mind, and the number on it had changed from four to fourteen.

Su Yue smiled happily.

Li Xiaoqing asked again at this time: "Su Yue, how much do you plan to sell it for?"

Su Yue thought about the current prices and said, "For now, 15 cents a piece."

Li Xiaoqing was stunned, thinking that the price is a bit expensive. At this time, even a catty of rice wouldn’t reach 15 cents. Could this piece of sponge cake be worth more than rice?

"Su Yue, would anyone be willing to buy this?"

Su Yue also knew that in this era 15 cents meant a lot. Many people would only buy meat twice a year because they couldn’t bear to pay 60 cents on a catty. If they spent 15 cents buying one piece of sponge cake then wouldn’t they be considered crazy?

However, if there are poor people, then there must also be rich people. For those who are not short of money the main problem should be getting good food. Such people wouldn’t care about spending money as long as the food was worth the price.

Su Yue planned on selling sponge cakes precisely to these people who didn’t lack money.

Listening to Su Yue's explanation, Li Xiaoqing suddenly slapped her head, "Look at my brain, it's not as good as yours. Although we may be reluctant to buy it, those who have double income or work in government agencies are not short of money at home. Your cake is so delicious, they must be willing to buy it."

"I hope so, I have to try it tomorrow." Su Yue took out two more pieces of cake as she spoke, then divided them with a knife turning it into four pieces, and gave three of them to Li Xiaoqing. "Sister Xiaoqing, can you help me send these to the other three? I'll put the rest in the basket and take it to the commune to sell it tomorrow."

Li Xiaoqing looked at the three pieces of pastry with heartache, but she had to endure the pain and send it away, otherwise, with everyone living under the same roof, if she didn’t share the good things then she really wouldn’t be able to explain herself.

Su Yue looked at her feeling more distressed than herself and laughed.

Going to the market was a trait of this era. Before it dawned the next day, the four educated youths got up and left.

Because there were no buses or tricycles for transporting people, when the villagers went to the commune to go to the market, they all had to rely on their two legs to walk.

It took an hour to walk from Hanjia Village to the commune. Su Yue and the others set off before dawn, and when they arrived it was already bright.

Su Yue’s feet were numb. She was almost crawling like a dog from exhaustion.

On the other hand, the other three people were much better. They just needed a short break and the little bit of sweat would be gone, it was nowhere nearly as exaggerated as Su Yue.

Wu Xiaoxiao shook her head and said to Su Yue: "Your body is too squeamish. You can’t go on like this."

Su Yue was also very helpless. Although the body belonged to the original owner, the tolerance level was her own, and she was not as good as the original. Her biggest hobby in the past was to hole herself up in the kitchen to cook. She wouldn’t exercise, wouldn’t walk, wouldn’t even go out shopping. On the rare occasion that she did go out, it was mostly by car. When did she ever walk this kind of long road? And it was still such a rough and uneven one.

So troublesome.

*imagines what it would be like for Aiguo’s ears to get red loudly*

T/N: Btw, both Su Yue and the Han family members call Han Aiguo dage (Su Yue uses "Han dage" after their first meeting) but I’ll leave it as “big brother” for Su Yue and “elder brother” for family members.

Food/N: I first thought Su Yue made the traditional steamed cake that opens in the middle, like this one:

However, later they’re described as golden, so Su Yue’s cake should be more like... a malnourished castella (no milk or butter available).

I used that recipe once and while it is very soft it also smells a lot like eggs. Now digging around for pics and info on egg cakes, apparently you need to either use old eggs or a ton of butter to get rid of the smell, but I suppose Su Yue's innate talent should be able to do it too.

For those interested in what is/how castella is made:

Also, let me know if you'd rather I leave videos as a link~