She Only Cares About Cultivation

These few days while they were learning to make tofu, An Yi would bring ingredients over so they could cook together. Because they were experimenting, they’d end up with a lot of finished products, some failed, some successful. She’d take the failed ones back to rework and keep them for themselves to eat, while the successful ones were sent out for the villagers to taste. As for the extra bean dregs, she stored them all in the space, not wasting a bit.

Since the beans were hers, she had the right to decide what to do with them, and the two of them wouldn’t say a word.

Even if they were curious what she wanted so much bean dregs for, they didn’t dare ask. After all these years, the only thing the two of them had really learned about dealing with people was to keep their mouths shut.

They practiced for about three or four days before they got the proportions right. In An Yi’s words, it was good enough to take out and sell.

Under her supervision, mixed with beans from the space, the taste of the finished tofu was really excellent. No one had anything bad to say about the tofu they took out for people to try. The reason they threw in such a big cost up front was simply hoping that when the time came, folks in the village would return the favor a bit.

And it wasn’t like everyone in the village got their tofu. Who they sent it to was something the two sisters had figured out over the years.

Only people who knew how to be grateful and were simple and gentle in nature would receive their gifts. As for the rest, including their own relatives, they weren’t qualified.

Of course, the party secretary and the accountant in the village got some as well. Those people held office; they didn’t dare be sloppy about them.

"Hey, Qiuxia, when did you two sisters start getting so close with that woman? Look at you, busy coming and going, don’t even have time to come chat with us."

"Exactly, exactly, your family’s building a house; you should at least say something, right? Didn’t even give us a greeting. Three women tidied up the whole home just like that. It’s nice, sure, but isn’t it a bit like you’re treating us like outsiders?"

"You don’t know, your mom’s been running around saying you’ve got no conscience. You know how to make tofu but won’t send any back to your own maiden family. Says she wasted all those years loving you, raising you up for nothing."

"When did you learn to make tofu anyway? Did you just move into Liu Dofu’s house and suddenly know how to make tofu? Or did you find some secret manual in their place?"

"Come on, secretly tell Auntie, did they come to you in a dream? Gave you the secret recipe for making tofu?"

...

Making tofu is hard work, and it’s a skilled craft too. Not everyone has the patience to do it well. If it were just ordinary tofu, they wouldn’t be talking and asking like this. It was precisely because theirs tasted better than the tofu people bought in town that folks had these feelings.

Whenever they ran into the two of them going out or carrying water, they’d grab them to ask.

As for dreams and secret recipes, that was easy enough to brush off—one "Smash the Four Olds" and they’d be done with it.

But once it involved An Yi, they’d become unusually guarded. If playing dumb and keeping their mouths shut couldn’t get them off the hook, that meant they’d push back.

"Ever since you moved into Liu Dofu’s house, you’ve been living in your own little world, just as withdrawn as that An Yi. I’m telling you, this isn’t good, really not good. Over time, our neighborly ties will all fade away. Your family’s rebuilding a house, such a big deal, how come no one heard a peep from you?"

Every time they ran into this kind of question, Liu Caixia and her sister would answer with a smile that didn’t reach their eyes.

"Auntie, when we were building our house, only An Yi came to help us. The two of us didn’t beg anyone, didn’t invite anyone, yet it was only An Yi who helped us build, even bought us pots and bowls. If it weren’t for her help, this house wouldn’t have gone up, and we wouldn’t have been able to start over."

"It’s not that we didn’t say anything; it’s that there was nothing we could say. Once we left our family, we’re just individuals, unmarried girls. Even if we’re girls with ruined reputations, we’re still girls. Chat a little more with anyone in the village, and people will be poking at our backs, calling us names. What would we want that for? If anyone truly cared, they wouldn’t need us to say much; they’d come on their own."

"That’s right. When we moved out from home, everyone was watching for a joke, and only An Yi genuinely helped us. Don’t go saying she’s withdrawn. She just doesn’t want to deal with too many people. After all, once you get involved, it’s all sarcasm and mockery—what’s the point? We were the ones she pulled up from the pit. Talking more with her, living together, being close, that’s all perfectly normal. As for you lot, better take some time to care more about your own household. We don’t need you worrying on our behalf."

...

The ones they could talk back to like this were all the gossiping women in the village, the kind the three sisters couldn’t be bothered to deal with, so they didn’t hold back at all.

These people only came sticking close when they thought they might benefit; there was no need to humor that kind of person.