570 Well-informed
“That’s right, Auntie Wang. You’ve heard of the principle that a single piece of rat feces can spoil a pot of good soup, right? It’s the same thing to have bad beans in a pile of good beans. These beans might affect the germination of the entire basket of beans. If we are lucky, the other beans might not be affected. However, we would rather kill a hundred than let one bad thing get away” Qiao Mei said impassionedly.
Although Qiao Mei was talking to everyone about beans, she spoke as if she was going to battle. Xia Zhe stared intently at Qiao Mei’s figure through the window, unwilling to miss a single moment.
Qiao Qiang smiled and said, “Is Mei Mei that good-looking? If you continue staring out the window, your eyes will pop out!”
Xia Zhe scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “I think Qiao Mei is very happy today. The way she shares knowledge with the older women is similar to how we discuss our strategies in the army. It’s very interesting.”
Qiao Qiang looked out of the window in satisfaction. She could even inspire people when growing bean sprouts. She was really his granddaughter, so similar to him back then!
Qiao Mei did not know what the two of them were muttering about in the room. She only knew that she was almost unable to continue making things up.
“Qiao Mei, then what should we do after we choose the beans?” Auntie Dong asked.
“Let’s pour the water out and then put the beans under the sun for an hour. Then, we’ll move them to a shady place and sprinkle them with water. After that, we’ll just cover them with a cotton cloth,” Qiao Mei said.
Dry the beans before growing them! They had never heard of this before. These beans prefer to be damp. To dry them before soaking them with water seemed like a waste of effort.
Could there be some kind of logic here?
Qiao Mei was unable to give them an answer to this question. After all, even if it was a pile of rotten beans, she could still grow the best bean sprouts from them.
“Everyone, let’s start. I’ll let you know if I spot any problems,” Qiao Mei said.
Everyone went to get water and started to wash the beans. They carefully picked out the beans one by one from the basket, worried that they would miss out on something.
“No wonder Qiao Mei’s bean sprouts are so good. Look at the cumbersome process. It’s so amazing that she can do everything on her own. It’s only been an hour or so but my back is starting to ache and I already can’t see too clearly!” Auntie Dong said as she rubbed her shoulders.
The other women all experienced soreness and weakness in their bodies. Their legs were either numb from sitting for too long or their necks were sore from lowering their heads for too long.
“Back then, I thought that Qiao Mei had some shortcuts. Now it seems that if you want to do everything well, you have to work hard at it,” Auntie Wang lamented as she leaned against the wall.
“Auntie Wang, you flatter me. There are also times when I fail! In the beginning, I failed many times before I mastered all the tricks. Just the steps I mentioned are not enough. In the next few days, you have to control the humidity well. If you’re not careful, all your efforts will be in vain!” Qiao Mei said sternly.
The women believed everything she said and they lowered their heads to choose the beans carefully. It took everyone another hour to clean up and put the beans under the sun.
“Mei Mei, this is really a technical job. I was still thinking that it won’t be too hard, but now it seems that it’s really very difficult,” Auntie Dong said.
“You’ll get the hang of it after you do it a few times. Later on, you have to teach me any tricks you discover!” Qiao Mei teased.
“Your Auntie Dong doesn’t know anything else, but she’s very good at finding out about what’s going on in other families!” Auntie Dong said proudly.
Qiao Mei’s interest was instantly piqued. She really wanted to know if anyone had bullied her grandfather during her time in the capital, or if anyone was relying on anyone’s authority to do all kinds of evil!
“Then does auntie know about the matter between the Guo family and Qiao Yu? I only know what Qiao Yu said about Qiao Zhuang wanting to marry her off to the Guo family, but I don’t know anything else. Does auntie know?” Qiao Mei probed.
Everyone around them became very interested and stared at Auntie Dong. Auntie Dong did not hide anything and moved the small stool to sit in the center.
“I only know a little about this matter. It’s not that much. Just make do and listen,” Auntie Dong said humbly.
Everyone urged her to get started quickly. Auntie Dong’s casual chit chat was even more interesting than the tales of those storytellers outside! No one knew where she got her news from, but regardless of whether something happened within or outside the village, she would definitely be the first to know.
