Hearing Ji Chen’s words, several people felt a bit shy but did not refuse, expressing their willingness to help him. They all thought Ji Chen had simply been lucky to find the bird eggs, after all, village children often climbed high and low to collect them. In the corner, Li Hui looked at Ji Chen’s happy expression with a strange smile on her face.
Ye Qiu said goodbye to Ji Chen, noticing that it was getting late. Using the same methods, he picked a few bird eggs nearby and headed home.
Ye’s mother and sister-in-law were cooking in the kitchen. When they saw Ye Qiu return, they happily prepared a millet pancake with pickles for him to eat.
As Ji Chen ate the pancake in his hand, an idea began to form in his mind. Millet pancake + pickles + bird eggs equals fried pancake rolls? If his memory served him right, selling things was allowed here; it would be perfect to take his family to sell fried pancake rolls!
“Mom, the pickles you and sister-in-law made are so delicious, even better than those from state-run restaurants!”
“You little rascal, what nonsense are you talking? Have you ever been to a state-run restaurant? You only know our pickles taste better!” Ye’s mother laughed.
“I haven’t been, but those educated youth have gone and said our pickles are better than those from the state-run restaurants. If we sell them, it will definitely work!”
Seeing Ye Qiu’s confident demeanour, Ye’s mother felt a stir in her heart. If they could really sell it, it would be a way to earn money. “Do you have a good idea?”
Seeing that Ye’s mother was already considering it, Ye Qiu seized the opportunity to say, “Let’s make millet pancakes, add an egg on top, and some pickles and lettuce; it will taste amazing!”
“It would be even better to add some fruits or fried dough sticks. I heard the educated youth call it ‘fried pancake rolls’, and it’s very popular in the city!”
Ye’s mother pretended to be angry as she grabbed Ye Qiu’s ear, saying, “Oh, so that’s why you were running to the educated youth with the millet pancakes and eggs. You were learning how to eat from them!”
She thought to herself that her son could never just give away their things for free; it turned out he was learning important skills. Ye’s mother felt relieved!
“Oh Mom, I’m just racking my brains on how to make money. You see Second, he talks about sending Ye Chengcai to school every day. Xiao Hua should go, too!”
Sister-in-law Ye couldn’t hold back her tears upon hearing that Ye Qiu wanted to send her daughter to school. She had suffered when she had Xiao Hua. Although she should have taken good care of herself, Second’s wife ridiculed her for giving birth to a girl, mocking her husband’s family, and leaving all the chores to Ye’s mother. With no choice, she had to work in the fields, which hurt her health, and the doctor said she couldn’t have more children. Xiao Hua was their only daughter. Second talked every day about sending his son to school once he was old enough. Ye’s mother agreed but had never mentioned whether Xiao Hua could go to school. It wasn’t true that she wasn’t sad; now, with the opportunity for Xiao Hua to attend school, she thought she could sell not just a few pancakes but even thousands if necessary!
Ye’s mother’s expression showed hesitation. “Well, schooling is usually for boys; Xiao Hua is a girl…”
“Mom, the leaders have said now, whether it’s a boy or a girl, it’s the same. Why can’t girls go to school? Plus, Xiao Hua is so smart; she must learn better than Ye Chengcai!” Ye Qiu said as he pulled Xiao Hua, who had come over smelling the food, into the conversation. Xiao Hua looked at Ye’s mother with hopeful eyes.
Hearing this, Ye’s mother turned her head and saw the sister-in-law with red eyes, recalling how she had worked hard at home for many years. She nodded, “Okay, once we make some money, we’ll send Xiao Hua to school. She is so clever, she is the one I love the most!”
“Let’s try making some first. This still needs your father’s approval. Once he tries it, we’ll decide!”
“I’m so clever, how could I not make money? Just wait at home and count the money!”
Ye’s mother looked at Ye Qiu’s proud demeanour, “We have the pancakes and pickles ready, and I can make fried dough sticks. But is there really a place for fruit in a pancake?”
Ye Qiu patted his chest confidently, declaring that he would show them how, as he took out a small bowl to prepare the sauce. Under Ye’s mother’s worried gaze, he added a spoonful of sugar to the bowl.
Then he took a bowl of flour and was about to add water to knead it when Ye’s mother stopped him. “You clumsy fool, let your sister-in-law do the kneading; you can just direct from the side!”
Ye Qiu willingly gave up his position to sister-in-law Ye, conveniently avoiding having to explain where he learned to knead the dough.
Sister-in-law Ye added water to the flour, mixed it, and kneaded it into a ball, leaving it to rest for fifteen minutes. While preparing the dough, she used a rolling pin to flatten it, folded it, and rolled it again, repeating the same steps until the dough’s surface became smooth. They let it rest for another ten minutes, then cut it into palm-sized pieces and made a few slits in the middle.
With a cold pot and cold oil, she heated the oil until it was three-quarters hot, placed the dough pieces in the pot to fry on low heat, and once both sides were evenly coloured, the dough sticks were ready.
After frying the dough sticks, Ye Qiu took out the bird eggs from his pocket and explained the recipe to his sister-in-law Ye.
“We need to add one bird egg for each pancake, but you only have to break half of the egg for the family of the eldest brother,” Ye Qiu instructed. Ye’s mother felt sad upon hearing Ye Qiu mention using a whole bird egg.
Sister-in-law Ye followed Ye Qiu’s instructions, first spreading the pancake in the pan as she usually did, adding a spoonful of egg mixture on top, sprinkling sesame seeds, flipping it, spreading the delicious dipping sauce Ye Qiu prepared, and topping it with the fried dough stick, lettuce, and her pickles. Thus, a simple version of the fried pancake roll was completed.
Xiao Hua tiptoed with a stretched neck to look inside, and seeing her eagerness, Ye Qiu cut one pancake into four pieces. He gave the first piece to Ye’s mother, the second to Xiao Hua, and the Second to sister-in-law Ye who made the pancake roll, and with the last piece of the pancake roll, he ran out.
Xiao Hua smiled shyly at Ye Qiu, who brought her the pancake roll; her uncle was so good to her, treating her to delicious food and wanting to send her to school. He was definitely not the wastrel the villagers said he was.
Ye’s mother, holding the pancake roll, wanted to take it to her husband when Ye’s father hurried into the kitchen after Ye Qiu.
“Old fourth is really clever, making these fried pancake rolls taste so good!”
Ye’s mother knew that Ye Qiu had given the pancake rolls to Ye’s father and beamed with pride. “Look at you, even at your age, competing with Old Third for food. Our Old Third is so dutiful, he shares his delicious food first with us, his parents!”