After being exiled, she married a rough man, and the sickly beauty was spoiled

Without waiting for Song Huiling to call out, Yang stood on the bridge head upon hearing the sound, holding a corner of her well-worn cloth handkerchief and waving it in the air, while waving the handkerchief, she shouted at the top of her voice: "Freshly made cold water soup cake, so fragrant and sticky, after eating it in one breath you can walk thirty miles."

Song Huiling was amused. She held the soup cake in her hand, but her eyes were always staring at Yang.

Yang usually creates an image of being simple, hardworking, yet taciturn, but unexpectedly he is also a good hawker.

The people on the other side of the bridge heard the hawking and quickened their pace to cross the bridge.

Yang turned her head and saw Song Huiling smiling. The bold and carefree spirit she had when she was hawking her wares disappeared instantly. She lowered her head awkwardly and said, "I see that everyone else is hawking their wares this way, and it takes a lot out of your voice. Just focus on making the soup cakes."

Song Huiling kneaded the soup cake and put it into the basket casually, with a deeper smile on her lips: "Mom, you did a great job, it looks very good. If all the soup cakes are sold today, you will be the great contributor to our family."

In Yang's inherent concept, there is a difference between officials and civilians. Even though Song Huiling fell into trouble and became her daughter-in-law, she was still noble in her bones. She didn't want to expose the vulgar side of a village woman in front of her daughter-in-law, so she always acted a little reserved in front of Song Huiling. Now that she saw her daughter-in-law's smile was sincere and there was no trace of joking, she completely let go of the awkwardness in her heart.

Three porters were walking across the bridge. They were shirtless, short, dark-skinned, but muscular. They were carrying a shoulder pole with a large cloth bag woven from straw hung on each end. They were filled with so much stuff that it was impossible to tell what was inside.

After crossing the bridge, they put down the loads on their shoulders and gathered around Song Huiling's stall. They saw a casserole on an iron bucket next to it. The water in the casserole had boiled and small bubbles were bubbling out of it. They couldn't help but feel curious.

"Girl, what's this iron bucket under your pot? Why are you still angry?"

Song Huiling covered the two ears of the clay pot with a handkerchief, lifted the clay pot and showed it to the three people: "This is an iron stove. It is fueled by coal made from stone coal powder. It is specially used for making hot food."

When they heard that it was made of anthracite powder, the three of them instantly lost their desire to explore. Except for heating in winter, using anthracite at other times would be a waste.

Song Huiling put the clay pot back on the fire, put down the towel, picked up the basket, and said with a smile: "Three brothers, I have just made some cold water soup cakes. They are soft, sticky and chewy. They are ten cents a bowl. Would you like to have a few bowls?"

The three of them had been eating dry food all the way and were craving for hot food. Now they stared at the soup cakes in the basket and swallowed their saliva unconsciously.

One of the porters felt around his body and was about to pay for a bowl, but after a moment, he stopped moving and looked at Song Huiling with embarrassment: "Ten cents is too expensive, can you make it cheaper? I'll buy it for three cents!"

"Of course..." Yang was about to agree, but after seeing the look from Song Huiling, she swallowed the word "okay".

"My dear brother, a bowl of wontons costs fifteen cents in Qingyuan County. I sell a bowl of soup cakes at ten cents, which is a fair price. What's more, my soup cakes are big and stuffed. One bowl can fill you up for a day. Would you like to take a look at them? If you like them, buy them. If you don't, don't buy them." Song Huiling smiled and spoke in a gentle tone, but his attitude was unyielding.

The porter's stomach growled at inopportune times. He held his stomach and sighed helplessly, "But I only have three copper coins on me."

The other two porters looked at each other in confusion.

"I only have three coppers left."

"I have four left."

"Why don't we buy one bowl together and share it? We've already finished the dry food we brought with us. It'll take another hour to get to Qingyuan County. This hundred pounds of salt is heavy to carry. How can we have the strength to go on the journey if we don't eat enough?"

"I think it's fine. Let's do it."

The three porters reached a consensus, but Song Huiling's eyes suddenly lit up. She began to put the soup cakes into the pot and interrupted, "Three brothers, one bowl is not enough for you. How about I cook three bowls for you?"

The porters turned their heads suddenly and looked at Song Huiling in unison: "Are you agreeing to sell it to us for three cents a bowl?"

Song Huiling shook his head and looked at the loads they had unloaded on the roadside. He smiled and said, "Aren't those copper coins and silver coins piled there? Just give me ten kilograms of salt."

"Little girl, you are setting up an illegal stall and trying to rob people!" One of the porters was instantly furious and pointed at Song Huiling and cursed.

Another porter who looked honest and kind also lost his temper: "The three of us brothers carry salt to sell to the salt shop. We can sell one catty for 25 coins. You want ten catties, which is 250 coins, enough to buy 25 bowls of your broken soup cake! You want ten catties of salt for three bowls of soup cake. Do you think we are as stupid as that idiot?"

Yang stepped forward and protected Song Huiling behind her, and said to the three porters with an apologetic smile: "Three brothers, don't be angry, don't be angry, we are all out here to make a living, no one wants to take advantage of anyone else."

"She's not taking advantage of me, she's just short of robbing me!"

Yang was extremely worried and began to regret why she had agreed to let Song Huiling accompany her to set up the stall. Three bowls of soup cakes in exchange for ten kilograms of salt, her mind was not clear at all. How could she do business like this?

Yang raised her arm to protect Song Huiling behind her, but Song Huiling grabbed her arm and gently put it down. He looked at the three porters in front of the stall and said slowly, "Brothers, how do you think this will work? The salt shop charges you 25 cents for a pound of salt, and I'll spend 30 cents to buy 10 pounds of salt from you, and give you three bowls of soup cakes for free, so that you can save the last penny you have. It's such a good deal, don't say I'm taking advantage of you."

There is no salt produced in Qianzhong. If you want to eat salt, you have to rely on porters to carry it from neighboring provinces. The journey is extremely dangerous, crossing mountains and rivers, and the price of salt in Qianzhong is extremely expensive. The porters sell salt to the salt shops at 25 wen per catty, but the actual price sold by the salt shops is 60 wen per catty, more than double the price.

Song Huiling paid thirty cents per pound to buy salt, and gave away three bowls of soup cakes for free. It seemed like a loss, but in fact she made a lot of money. The most important thing was that salt in Qianzhong had become even more scarce recently, and the salt in the salt shop was only sold to dignitaries. Even if she was willing to pay a high price, she could not buy salt. The He family had not eaten salt for three months, and long-term salt shortage would be harmful to her health.

The oldest porter among the three looked relieved. Song Huiling's proposal was very tempting. Anyone who didn't take advantage of the opportunity was a fool.

Yang felt guilty and her eyes kept moving around. She looked at the porter and then at Song Huiling. What she was thinking was, this big brother must not listen to her daughter-in-law's nonsense. Her daughter-in-law didn't have a penny on her body and it was obvious that she was trying to get something for nothing. If he agreed, and she and her daughter-in-law didn't have a penny, she would be beaten today.