Xiao Man asked Aunt Jiang, "It's not a holiday. Why are you making tofu?"
Aunt Jiang untied the apron from her waist. She glanced at the door, and seeing no one was walking in, she leaned conspiratorially toward Xiao Man. "I don't mind telling you," she said, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone else. I have a cousin who married a man from the mining district. Her husband was just transferred to manage the workers' canteen. Yesterday, your Uncle Jiang went to the co-op in the mining district to buy shoes and socks for the kids and happened to run into him. He said the canteen is reorganizing things and is short-staffed, so there's no one to make tofu. He asked if we had any soybeans of our own to make some and send it over. He's in charge, so he can give us a fair price! We got a lot of soybeans from our private plot this year, and they're cheap to sell as-is. With an opportunity like this, we might as well make a few slabs of tofu ourselves and earn some extra money!"
