Blissful Days After Widowhood

Mrs. Wang went to Daxing to buy rice not far from Jinyi Alley. It was an old-fashioned shop. It had always been fair in business.

There were other rice shops in the town, but because of the good business of Daxing, similar shops nearby couldn’t compete, and they were all open far away, and it took half an hour to come and go.

Even if Mrs. Wang was strong, Gu Yin couldn’t bear to let her go so far with a burden on her back.

“I’ll accompany you to take a look. If this one is really not selling, let’s find a cart and go to a farther place to have a look.”

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went home first, put things away, and came out.

As Mrs. Wang said, Daxing was in a mess at this time, dozens of bags of rice were piled up at the door, and the guys stood in two rows with their heads drooping like defeated roosters.

A young man who looked like a shopkeeper was pointing at someone and scolding, “You think I’m easy to bully, right? How long have you been in this industry, and now you come and tell me that you can’t tell the difference between new rice and old rice? You are taking me as a fool!”

The lead worker hurriedly begged for mercy, “Don’t be angry, I am not deliberately fooling you. I do the work of carrying the rice every day. The rest of the work is the responsibility of the former shopkeeper. Today, the former shopkeeper is no longer in charge. As soon as he left, we didn’t know why the two kinds of rice were mixed together. But since you can take over the job of the shopkeeper, why don’t you…”

The price difference between new rice and old rice was doubled. If one did not distinguish carefully and sell it, it would not only be a loss, but they would lose the name they earned after being in business for many years.

The young shopkeeper had a sullen face.

There were already many people around to watch the excitement, and to see the appearance of this young shopkeeper.

“How dare this guy talk to the shopkeeper like this, he doesn’t want his job?”

“You don’t know, this Daxing rice shop was originally the property of the second son’s household of the Wen family, but this new young shopkeeper is a person from the eldest son’s household. This is obviously a family arena!”

At that time, Gu Yin understood after hearing it, no wonder the guy dared to chase the customers out when they came up, as he was busy fighting.

Gu Yin didn’t want to get involved in other people’s disputes, and was about to call Mrs. Wang to leave.

But the guy in front of the shopkeeper who was angry suddenly turned his head and shouted, “What are you looking at? It’s closed today!”

While talking, the guy gestured at the other people, and several tall men stepped forward one after another, reaching out to push and shove the lively pedestrians.

The crowd dispersed like birds and beasts. Gu Yin was thin, and somehow she was squeezed in front of the people.

Seeing that the guy stretched out his hand toward Gu Yin, Mrs. Wang immediately stopped it and scolded, “Just talk with words, what do you mean by manhandling?!”

The guy actually recognized her and scolded, “It’s you again! I said that we are not selling today, what are you doing here? Haven’t eaten rice in a few lifetimes?!”

Gu Yin got a little angry when she heard that, “It’s natural to come to the rice shop to buy rice. If you don’t know how to divide it, I will divide it myself.”

The guy sneered and said, “You little lady, don’t make mad words, the new rice and old rice are similar in appearance, and the old shopkeeper can’t tell the difference! You should stay where you can stay!”

Gu Yin was still neither humble nor arrogant, “Then I will only buy what I have divided. I will also give the price of new rice!” 

The young shopkeeper, as if receiving an amnesty, waved off his staff and greeted her in person.

After welcoming her, seeing Gu Yin’s young and tender face, he hesitated.

It was not that he looked down on people, but the old rice from Daxing was not the kind of old rice that had been put away for many years, moldy, rotten, and easy to distinguish. It was just put away for another year or two and had undergone secondary processing. A layman like him couldn’t really see the way out.

Seeing his hesitation, Mrs. Wang knew he was looking down on her daughter-in-law, and immediately said, “I have lived in the countryside for half my life, and now I do some food business, and I also deal with rice. This shopkeeper should not look down on people!”

Seeing that Mrs Wang was so confident (mainly because of her loud voice and looking particularly imposing), the young shopkeeper immediately nodded and said, “Then I will trouble this lady and the little lady.”

Gu Yin walked to the pile of rice bags and squatted down, opened a bag, grabbed a handful, and said, “The new rice is whiter, old is the yellowish color in my hand, although there is no musty smell, but it is obviously old rice. Secondly, you can also see whether there are white spots on the head of the rice, which is the germ of the rice. After the second refurbishment, there are almost no white spots in the old rice. Then you can also see whether the rice has cracks and gaps, and the new rice has no cracks or cracks. The surface of old rice may be cracked after secondary processing. The hardness of new rice is higher, while that of old rice is not. If you put it in your mouth and bite it with your teeth, you can also tell the difference.”

As she spoke, Gu Yin opened the second bag, “You can also insert your hand into the rice. If there is white flour sticking to your hand, and after blowing lightly with your mouth, the powder is blown off, it is new rice. If it is not easy to blow off, and after rubbing your hands, there is a sludge feeling, that’s old. The new rice is not very sticky. It can’t be clumped together. In the end, it can be judged by smell. If you smell new rice carefully, you can smell the fragrance of rice, but this bag of old rice doesn’t have that smell.”

She explained while distinguishing, and every time a bag was divided, Mrs. Wang helped her to get the bag of rice.

After opening five bags of rice, Gu Yin divided the two bags of new rice that she wanted to buy.