Chapter 53: Raising the Beam of the 53rd Inn

While the group on one side was chatting and laughing, the other group of men were much more subdued. Song Shi had finally managed to see Luo Man and just wanted to quietly look at her. Lin Hui was also unusually quiet, and it was unclear what had happened. Fu Wang was not familiar with them, so he didn't say anything either.

Xie Yan said helplessly, "Why are you all so lifeless? Isn't today the Qixi Festival? How can you expect your sweethearts to care about you when you look like this?"

"Song Shi, I'm not trying to criticize you, but if you like someone, pursue them wholeheartedly. If it's really not a good fit, letting go early is a sign of maturity. Instead of letting go, you don't try, and you always look so bitter and resentful. Who are you trying to impress? Who's going to care about you?"

Song Shi sighed and said, "I do want to marry Lady Luo, but my family disagrees. No matter what I say, it's no use. Now I can only hope that I can pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi. If that happens, my family will agree."

Xie Yan shook his head and said, "The most important thing for you is not whether you can pass the imperial examination, but whether you can take responsibility. You said you want to marry Lady Luo, but what will you use to marry her? If you leave home, can you earn money? Can you support your wife and children?"

“If you can support your wife and children, what does it matter if you leave home? Just like you said, you are clearly not cut out for studying, but you study so hard. Now you are unhappy, and I don’t think Madam Luo is happy either.”

After finishing with Song Shi, he looked at Lin Hui and frowned, saying, "Why do you look so listless too?"

Lin Hui sighed, "Today is such a beautiful day, but I have no one to accompany me. Alas~"

Xie Yan's face darkened instantly. He ignored the two of them and sat down next to Fu Wang, sitting quietly with him.

Yunyin brought out the Qiaoguo she made herself, using vegetable juice of various colors and molds, making the Qiaoguo both beautiful and cute.

Song Xuan picked up a Qiaoguo (a type of pastry) and examined it closely. The vegetable leaves on it were clearly visible. She exclaimed in surprise, "Yun Niangzi's hands are still so skillful. She will definitely succeed in the Qiqiao Festival this year and find a good husband."

Luo Man picked up a cabbage pastry, glanced at it, and agreed, "Yun Niangzi's jujube pastry was already very skillful, and now her vegetable pastry is also quite good. I've always felt that Yun Niangzi's skills are wasted on running a small restaurant here."

Yunyin shook her head and said, "Sister Aman always feels that she is wasting her talents, but I feel that I am very free here. Once the house is built, I will be a person with a house and land here, and I can do whatever I like. It will really be a happy life."

"And we can meet up with you anytime we want, whereas in big cities we might only see each other once in a long while."

Song Xuan also laughed and said, "It is indeed very good. Aman, you don't need to keep an eye on Ayin. You can open your restaurant in the state capital. Your mutton is not bad either."

Yunyin chimed in, "Yes, Sister Aman, you can do it."

Luo Man shook her head and said, "Of course I'd like to, but business in the county town is just getting on track. Once everything goes smoothly and I've trained the chef, I'll consider it."

After the Qixi Festival, the whole of July seemed to fly by with the wind. The rice that Yunyin had planted earlier had ripened. The wind blew across the rice fields, making them rise and fall like waves. She called Zhang Lin over and said, "The villagers from Linjiang Village and the people from Letao Village will come back to help harvest the rice in a little while. You take care of them."

Zhang Lin agreed, and Yunyin went to the kitchen to make some refreshing food. She had previously asked the fisherman introduced by Fu Wang to buy fish and release them into the lake. She found that the fig fruits were ripe, so she picked some fruits, dried the seeds inside, and used them to make jelly.

Yunyin went to the kitchen and saw that the juice from kneading had solidified and was trembling when touched. The jelly without any toppings was tasteless, so she took a portion and added rice vinegar and sugar. It was sweet and sour, and a sip of it was especially refreshing.

She added fruit and sugar to another portion, making fruit jelly. She also brought a bucket of herbal tea and carried it to the field with the jelly, saying to everyone, "If you're thirsty, there's something to drink here. Come and get it yourself."

One of the villagers said, "Madam Yun is still so polite. The villagers are so envious that we can come and work for you. Not only are the wages high, but the food and drinks are also plentiful."

Seeing that they had all started eating, Yunyin went back to the kitchen to continue preparing lunch.

After the rice harvest, her inn was almost finished and the roof beams were about to be raised. Yunyin didn't expect that Dazhao also had a roof beam raising ceremony. When Qian Si came to find her, she was busy.

After she finished her work, she asked Qian Si, "Engineer Qian, what do we need to do for the beam-raising ceremony you mentioned before?"

Qian Sidao said: "It mainly consists of five steps: offering sacrifices to the beam, raising the beam, receiving the treasure, throwing the beam, and finally waiting for the craftsmen."

After listening, Yunyin felt that this ceremony was similar to what she had seen in the village when she was a child, but it was more complicated. Back then, all she had to do was hang red cloth and scatter money. She remembered how happy she was when she caught a dime.

She carefully noted it down, planning to buy these things the next day. She thought that pig heads were usually used in sacrifices, so she asked Qian Si, "Do you need a pig head? If so, I'll go to Butcher Hu and order one."

Qian Si said, "It would be best if we had one, but we can also use a rooster instead. It's all up to you."

After thinking for a moment, Yunyin said, "Then I'll go order a pig's head." It just so happened that she had some leftover braising liquid from making braised meat for Wang Yu a few days ago, which she had preserved very well. She could buy a pig's head, braise it, and then cook it into a dish to eat after the sacrificial ceremony.

After deciding what to buy, Yunyin also wrote the invitations, which she would deliver to them tomorrow. This roof-raising ceremony can also be considered a warm-up before the opening. She invited some familiar customers and friends to come over for a meal and to warm up the house.

On the auspicious day, Yunyin got up early to prepare. Today was the day her new house was completed, and she couldn't be too serious about it.

She called Zheng Guilan and some women from Linjiang Village to go to the kitchen to wash vegetables and prepare lunch. These women had heard that her house was about to be built and insisted on coming to help, so that her house-raising ceremony would be lively and popular.

The kitchen was filled with smoke and bustling with activity. The sisters-in-law chatted as they worked. Yunyin, seeing that she didn't need to get involved in these chores, went to the main room to set up the rooms.

She planned to entertain the other craftsmen in the courtyard, but she didn't want her guests to have an outdoor feast, so she prepared several large tables in the main room for them to chat.

Of course, they had eaten out before. When she first started out with just one food stall, everyone except Xie Yan had eaten there. Later, when the weather got hot, she set up a shed. For those who really didn't want to eat out, she also cleaned up one of the thatched huts and let them eat inside.

Now that her inn is completed, she has a better place to entertain them, so naturally she wants to decorate it nicely.

In the morning, the guests she had invited arrived one by one. Yunyin invited them to rest in the side rooms first, and then move to the main hall after the beam-raising ceremony.

Yunyin called Fu Wang over to greet the people, and then said to Luo Man and the others, "Make yourselves at home, I'm going to the kitchen."

Luo Man waved her hand and said, "Go ahead and do your work, we can take care of ourselves."

Song Xuan looked around the room, where only a few people they knew were inside, and pulled Xie Yan, saying, "Let's go out and take a look."

Xie Yan said helplessly, "It's so hot outside, isn't it better to stay in this icy room? Why go out and get hot? You've seen it before."

Song Xuan pursed her lips and said, "I want to see if you're going or not."

Xie Yan said with a forced smile, "Okay, let's go. What do you want to see?"

After the two left, only Luo Man, Song Shi, and Lin Hui remained in the room. Lin Hui didn't want to stay in the room either, so he got up and went out as well.

Luo Man also wanted to go out and take a look. Just as she was about to get up, she heard Song Shi ask, "How have you been lately, A-Man?"

Luo Man nodded and said, "Thanks to you, my lord, everything is fine."

"Are your clansmen still causing you trouble?" Song Shi hesitated for a moment before asking.

Luo Man shook her head: "They don't bother me anymore, so you don't need to worry, Master Song." Seeing that Song Shi still had something to say, she interrupted him, "Master, I want to go see Sister Ayin's room, so I won't keep you any longer. Please do as you please."

After saying that, Luo Man lifted her skirt and stepped out of the room, leaving Song Shi alone in the room.

Luo Man walked out of the side room and looked around. At this time, the main house was preparing for the sacrificial ceremony, and the kitchen next to the main house was also bustling with people. Not knowing where to go, she could only come out from the back of the kitchen and look around in the fields by herself.

As she was walking, she saw someone working in the paddy field ahead. She squinted and called out to him, "Luo Tian, ​​have you been behaving well lately? You haven't caused any trouble for Sister Yin, have you?"

Luo Tian turned around and saw that it was Luo Man. He stopped and said, "No, I've been working very hard lately and helping Yun Niangzi with chores. You don't need to worry about me."

Luo Man looked him over and said with satisfaction, "Now that you've started working diligently, you should listen to Yun Yin. You don't want your mother to worry about you anymore, do you? After you've worked hard for a few years, your aunt can find you a husband."

Luo Tian listened attentively, no longer as arrogant as before. He said, "I know you all mean well. I will listen to what Lady Yun says. Sister Aman, I have to go feed the shrimp and crabs, so I won't talk to you any longer."

As Luo Man watched Luo Tian's departing figure, she thought to herself that Yun Meizi really knew how to train people. He used to be such a hooligan, but now he's a respectable person.

Knowing that Luo Tian was doing well here, Luo Man felt relieved. It was time to raise the roof beam, so she immediately went back to watch the ceremony.

Yunyin came out of the kitchen. Red paper had already been pasted on the ridge beam. She placed the pig's head, chicken, fish and other offerings that she had prepared earlier on the table. She and Qian Si offered incense and wine together. This step was called the beam sacrifice. After the beam sacrifice was completed, she stepped back and let the craftsmen carry the main beam to the ridge.

At this point, Qian Si needs to recite a blessing, wishing the owner all the best and good health.

A craftsman carries a tray filled with fruits, snacks, and red envelopes, and places it on a platform built in the middle of the roof ridge. He then takes another red thread and ties it to a red cloth bag containing red dates, wheat, and other items, symbolizing prosperity and abundant harvests.

Then Qian Si took out a piece of red cloth, took one fruit and one pastry from the tray, wrapped them up, and tossed them to Yun Yin. Catching the bag is also called catching treasure, which is a good blessing and means to catch wealth.

After Yunyin put the bundle away, Qian Si had already carried out the final step of tossing the tray. The pastries and fruits on the tray were tossed in the four directions of east, south, west, and north, symbolizing a continuous flow of wealth. The onlookers could catch the things that were tossed down. Many children came to join in the fun, grabbing a pastry and putting it in their mouths, then grabbing another pastry.

Fu Wang stood in the corner watching when suddenly a red envelope fell in front of him. He quickly grabbed it, and Yun Yin walked over curiously and asked, "How much did you get?"

Yunyin didn't put much money in the red envelopes this time; most contained one coin, with only a few containing six or eight coins.

Fu Wang knew without even opening it that there was definitely more than one copper coin inside. When he opened it, there were indeed eight copper coins. He smiled and said, "Hmm, not bad luck."

Yunyin said, "That's indeed good."

Just then, a child burst into laughter, put his hands on his hips, and said, "I've snatched six coins!"

The other children surrounded him with envy, saying, "Good heavens, I only managed to snatch one penny."

Before he could even feel happy for a moment, his mother squeezed through the crowd and said, "Alright, give me the money, I'll keep it for you and pay you back later."

The child looked unhappy and was about to burst into tears when her mother warned, "Today is Lady Yun's special day. Don't spoil the joy. Come with me now."

Yunyin and Fuwang exchanged a glance and both smiled helplessly.