The starch jelly business at the pier kept Xiaocao busy for a bit. For the past few days, she got up at the crack of dawn, staggered out the door with the pot of starch jelly Madam Liu had made, and drove the donkey cart with Xiaolian. On the way over, she took a nap on the donkey cart. Once they got to the pier, they simmered chili oil, prepared the condiments, kneaded the dough, rolled the dough, cooked noodles, and then greeted their first group of customers for the day.

For the other food vendors at the docks, the summer was their off-season. However, the business at the Yu Family’s sisters starch jelly stall grew with the summer heat. Other people did try to find out how to make starch jelly. Although starch jelly was easy to make. the ingredients were hard to come by.

As a result, Xiaocao and her sister made sure to tightly cover the baskets that held seaweed. They also separated part of the noodles stall into a storage space. People could come to the stall to eat starch jelly, but they couldn’t go to someone's storage space! Furthermore, the pot that cooked the seaweed was covered with a thick covering, which not only prevented someone from secretly opening it but also sped up the boiling process. 

This summer, for some reason, seaweed poured onto the shore after the tide went out. Xiaocao couldn't help but think that an...