The next day, Lin Momo woke up before dawn. She looked quietly around her surroundings, and she didn’t realize for a while—not until her sleepiness completely faded—that this was the house they were living in this week.

After all the tidying up they did yesterday, this room finally broke away from the category of ‘shed’ and somehow took on the appearance of a ‘house’.

Lin Momo sat on the bed for a while, keeping quiet. She didn’t want to wake up Lin Cheng who was lying asleep on the recliner next to her.

Finally, Lin Momo carefully walked around the still-sleeping Lin Cheng and silently tiptoed out of the house.

Outside the house, Hu Mao’s family next door had already gotten up.

The couple was sitting at a small table, expertly wrapping steamed dumplings that they were going to sell later.

Lin Momo greeted the two of them and moved a small stool to sit next to them, intending to learn how they made steamed dumplings.

As a result, she failed to learn the technique—she was instead choked by the smoke floating around her and began coughing.

At this time, a large pot of soy milk was warming up on the earthen stove next to them.

In order to save money, in addition to the cheap bituminous coal in the stove, the couple also added some wood picked up nearby. As this burned, there was indeed a lot of smoke.

“Ahh, it’s very smoky on that side, so don’t sit there,” Yang Fang told her.

After saying this, Yang Fang stood up and took a look at the soy milk in the pot.

Seeing that the pot of soy milk was done cooking, Yang Fang lifted the pot from the stove.

Yang Fang asked Lin Momo and her two children to sit down on the steps of their house. She took three bowls, scooped out a ladleful of soy milk, scooped out another ladleful of soft tofu from another pot, finally added a spoonful of sugar, and passed it to the three children one by one.

“Thank you…” Lin Momo took the bowl of soy milk and soft tofu that Yang Fang handed her with some embarrassment.

“You’re welcome, stir it with a spoon before eating. Be careful, it’s hot,” Yang Fang said to Lin Momo, and then said to her eldest daughter, “Feed your sister.”

“Okay,” they both responded in unison.

While the three children were eating, Yang Fang turned around and continued to work.

……translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Lin Momo happily ate a bowl of sweetened soft tofu and soy milk. When she took the finished bowl over, she saw Hu Mao and Yang Fang pressing another pot of soaked soybeans.

The soy bean-pressing machine was modified from a bicycle frame. Hu Mao would pedal, and the bean-pressing machine above would follow suit, mechanically beating and squeezing the soy beans until the extracted fluid flowed out. Yang Fang would add soy beans from time to time.

The fine slurry flowed through a gauze and into the pot next to it. This way, the remaining coarse residue was filtered out.

Yang Fang manually pulped and squeezed the coarse residue several times until no more soy milk came out, then she threw the remnants into a nearby bucket.

Lin Momo watched with curiosity and saw that Yang Fang had finished processing another bowl of pulped soy beans. Yang Fang stood up, preparing to pour the soy bean dregs into the bucket. 

Lin Momo called out to her, “Aunt Yang, do you plan to throw those away?”

“Do you mean these soy bean dregs? Yes, these are of no use anymore,” Yang Fang answered.

After saying that, seeing Lin Momo’s distressed look, Yang Fang smiled and explained, “People here don’t like to eat these things, so they can’t be sold at high prices. In fact, they can’t be sold at all, so they are already useless…”

Although their family occasionally left some soy bean dregs for their personal cooking, there were only a few people in their family, so they couldn’t possibly finish all the soy bean dregs they produce.

She simply put the remaining bean dregs in the bucket over there, and after letting it sit for a while, those who grew vegetables and raised chickens in the neighborhood took it for their use.

Lin Momo stared at the pot of soy bean dregs for a long time. She suddenly thought of something, and her eyes lit up.

“Aunt Yang, can you not throw these soy bean dregs away yet?” Lin Momo asked.

“Do you want them?” Yang Fang asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Lin Momo nodded. “You can just sell these to me,” she said.

Hearing this, Yang Fang couldn’t help but laugh, “These are not worth much anymore. I can’t even sell them no matter how I try. I’ll just give them to you if you really want them.”

“But,” Yang Fang looked at Lin Momo doubtfully and asked, “What do you want to do with these? There are so many of it.”

“Well, I still have to discuss it with my dad.”

Lin Momo had an idea in her mind, so she couldn’t wait to run back to the house to discuss it with Lin Cheng.

“Dad, I thought of a way to make money!” Lin Momo said excitedly.

Seeing that Lin Cheng still sleeping, Lin Momo suddenly remembered that Lin Cheng had not slept well in the past two nights, and Lin Momo hurriedly closed her mouth.

After thinking about it, Lin Momo simply moved a stool over and sat next to Lin Cheng, quietly waiting for him to wake up.

Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: Okara or soy pulp or soy bean dregs are the insoluble parts of a soy bean left behind in the production of soy milk and tofu. It’s traditionally part of East Asian cuisine, and in modern times is also used in Western cuisine as part of vegetarian diet—like veggie burgers or granola bars.

Outside of human consumption, it is also used as fertilizer and animal feed.

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Chapter 85.1 — Making Money
Chapter 85.2 — Making Money
Chapter 85.3 — Making Money