"Isn’t that the truth."
Thinking of the lady who had bought the first bowl of Fruit Jelly, and how business picked up afterwards, Xu Nian’an’s conversation was filled with gratitude towards her.
Carrying the burden on his shoulders, Xu Nian’an suddenly said, "Little sister, when did you become so eloquent?"
Xu Nian’an glanced at Xu Nianhua, remembering how the old Xu Nianhua had a kind heart but wasn’t much of a talker, preferring to smile with her lips pursed, her eyes curving beautifully when she did.
But, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Xu Nianhua had become more lively now.
Especially just now, while hawking their goods, not to mention Xu Nianhua, a young girl, even he wouldn’t have known what to do if he were standing there!
Yet Xu Nianhua wasn’t shy nor afraid, calling out continuously and dealing calmly with Mrs. Wu’s doubts about the price, making Nian’an feel like his little sister had changed.
Xu Nianhua’s heart tightened, worried that Xu Nian’an might suspect something. She smiled sweetly and said, "Big brother, I just saw how other people were selling things, so I shouted out too. Thinking about it, I’m still a bit nervous!"
Xu Nianhua swallowed, changing the subject as she spoke, "Although we have quite a lot of Fruit Jelly at home, I think we need to pick more."
Xu Nian’an listened to her and didn’t think too much of it. His little sister becoming more lively was a good thing.
The siblings, filled with hope for the future, headed home like that.
Upon returning home, they found Ji Ying tending to the vegetable garden, about to ask how well the Mung Bean Jelly sold, only to see them set down their buckets, don a long-sleeved shirt, grab a couple of woven bags, and run towards the back mountain.
"Nian’an, Nianhua, where are you going?" Ji Ying called out from behind.
Xu Nianhua shouted back, "We’re just going to the back mountain, we’ll be back soon."
Xu Nian’an and Xu Nianhua, the brother and sister, ran to the back mountain, locating several Fruit Jelly trees and filled their woven bags with all the fruits.
The Fruit Jelly trees in Shuangzhu Village weren’t exceptionally numerous, but they weren’t scarce either.
The two woven bags were brimming full.
Xu Nian’an picked from the trees, while Xu Nianhua followed behind, collecting the fallen ones.
To avoid letting others know they were carrying Fruit Jelly, they also filled the bags with a lot of rabbit grass.
On the way back, whenever Xu Nian’an encountered someone, he’d say they had gone to the back mountain for rabbit grass.
Dragging two pieces of firewood behind her, Xu Nianhua didn’t mind that it wasn’t much, for the family was indeed in need of firewood, and even two pieces were appreciated.
"The rabbits at home have just been born; we don’t need so much rabbit grass, do we?" Ji Ying looked at the two bags of rabbit grass and couldn’t help but tease.
The four newborn rabbits they got in the division were just born; the others took the grown ones, leaving them an extra of the young.
For the four little rabbits, the amount of rabbit grass they consumed was very, very small.
Xu Nian’an grinned and flipped over the rabbit grass on the top, revealing that the woven bags were full of Fruit Jelly.
"Did you two strip the mountain clean of its Fruit Jelly?" Seeing the two bags of Fruit Jelly, Ji Ying asked, "Even if you sold out of Mung Bean Jelly today, there was no need to pick them all, right?"
"Mom, this Fruit Jelly is so great. Even if we don’t use it all now, we can dry it and save it for next year."
Xu Nianhua certainly didn’t think there could be too much. With more than a month until school started in September, they needed to make even more Mung Bean Jelly!