Chapter 124

When Sun heard Lin Chuntao's reason for the celebration, she was taken aback and didn't quite understand. What was there to celebrate at this time of month? Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "People who work outside get their wages at the end of the month, and they will buy some meat and wine to celebrate back home. From now on, we will have one once a month."

The Hu family understood: they were happy to receive their wages, so they wanted to eat something nice.

But they're the ones getting paid, aren't they? Hu thought to herself, wanting to say something, but with her mother-in-law present, she didn't dare to interrupt. Then she heard Sun laugh and say, "So, we're the ones treating you, not you treating us?"

“That’s right, that’s right.” Aunt Guizhi chimed in with a smile. Lin Chuntao smiled and said, “It’s not the same thing. I’m just thanking you all for your hard work over the past month. Let’s have a meal and chat. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, you can tell me and I will make improvements.”

Hearing her words, Mrs. Sun reached out and patted her shoulder. "You child, we did this job for you and got this money. You've done us a great favor. If anyone should thank you, it's us. Don't be shy, just tell us what you need."

Sun's words came from the bottom of her heart, and Lin Chuntao was also genuinely grateful to them. Although she had been paid, they were very reliable and did things very carefully and diligently, which made things much easier for her.

Hearing Sun's words, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I know what Grandma and Auntie mean. I've already bought the meat. We'll cut it up and cook a mutton hot pot in a bit."

"It's still mutton," Aunt Guizhi said. "Then I'll go to the field and get some vegetables to cook in the broth when it's time to eat."

Lin Chuntao smiled and agreed.

After taking the earthenware pot down and putting it away, Lin Chuntao went back into the house to put the money away before going to find Meng Yun and making a record of the expenses.

After finishing, Lin Chuntao gave Meng Yun an extra ten coins for her work. Originally, Lin Chuntao thought that the bookkeeping work was not much and that Meng Yun could go home and do her own things after finishing the bookkeeping. However, she always followed Lin Chunhe or the eldest grandmother to do things after finishing the bookkeeping, doing whatever she needed to help with. It was a bit unfair that she was paid the same as Aunt Guizhi and the others for doing two jobs.

Meng Yun smiled and thanked Lin Chuntao after hearing her words. Lin Chuntao had said she would raise her salary in the future, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

In fact, Lin Chuntao is quite thoughtful. Take the last time when Duo'er became an apprentice, Lin Chuntao must have heard that she wanted to plant buckwheat but hadn't bought the seeds yet, so she brought twenty catties of buckwheat to plant. One mu of land requires six or seven catties of seeds, and they were going to plant about eleven mu, which would require fifty or sixty catties. Lin Chuntao gave them twenty catties, which saved them some money.

They rarely ate meat since they came to Yizhou. They bought some when they sold firewood before, but only a little bit. Five or six of them tasted it and then looked forward to earning more money to buy a few more pounds of meat and have a good meal. She really wanted to eat braised pork with preserved mustard greens.

Before she could even save up enough money to buy it herself, Lin Chuntao brought over ten pounds of pork belly. Fan Liniang generously cut off a strip and steamed a large bowl of braised pork belly, which she ate with great relish.

Before coming to Yizhou, or rather before her brother's accident and death, she had never suffered any hardship, never lacked meat, and even felt that everyone around her was a good person.

Later, after trekking through mountains and rivers to reach Yizhou, she had long understood from her experiences that there was no such thing as a free meal or free meat. She and the three women, including Meng Yue, were like three pieces of walking meat. When Lin Cun called them to Shuangzizhai, they had made very bad plans, but they did not expect that the villagers were still simple and honest, and most of them were very friendly.

They had partnered with Lin Jialang and his siblings before, and Lin Jialang and Lin Chuntao had such a grudge. If she were in Lin Chuntao's position, she definitely wouldn't have paid any attention to this family.

But Lin Chuntao didn't. She and her sister-in-law were still very polite to her. When she came to her door looking for work, Lin Chuntao didn't make things difficult for her, which was very commendable.

After spending time with her and getting to know Lin Chuntao's personality, she genuinely liked her. If Lin Chuntao could continue working, she would continue to follow her as her employer.

After finishing all that, Lin Chuntao returned to the front yard, took the mutton out of the earthenware pot and set it aside. It wouldn't taste good if it soaked in the soup for too long, so she had to take it out and let it cool.

After preparing the mutton, Lin Chuntao soaked the rice and peeled a few potatoes. She washed the potatoes and soaked them in water. Then she went to get some dried tofu and cut off half a bowl of dried bean curd sheets. Lin Duo'er went to start a fire to cook the small potatoes for the pigs before returning: "Sister, do you want to go to the field to get some vegetables?"

Lin Chuntao said, "No need, I'll take care of it in a bit."

Lin Duo'er smiled and said, "The pig feed is ready. If you're not taking any vegetables, I'll go cut some pig feed first."

"Where should we get it done?" Lin Chuntao asked.

Lin Duo'er replied, "It seems like we can harvest some from our cornfield."

"This one at the village entrance?" Lin Chuntao asked.

Lin Duo'er nodded. "Mm."

Lin Chuntao had just started a fire when she said, "Go and get the basket and sickle. Wait for me, I'll go with you."

"Okay!" Lin Duo'er smiled and ran off. Lin Chuntao heated the oil in the pot and quickly fried the dried bean curd sheets. They could be put into the hot pot to cook later.

Lin Duo'er left quickly, and Lin Chuntao fried the bean curd sheets just as quickly. She took them out and placed them on the table. As soon as Lin Duo'er reached the door, she smelled the aroma and called out, "Sister, you fried bean curd sheets?"

"Okay, fry some up and leave it out, we'll make mutton hot pot later."

"Give me two slices," Lin Duo'er said. Lin Chuntao picked up two slices for her, turned off the stove fire, put the oil pot on the shelf, closed the kitchen door, and then took Lin Duo'er away with her on her back.

She went to check on the corn in the field. From a distance, it still looked lush and green, but as she got closer, she noticed that many of the corn leaves were already turning yellow. Lin Chuntao picked a few ears of corn and examined them. The kernels were already hard, so she could pick them anytime.

Lin Chuntao turned around and found that half of the peaches were yellowish, while some were still too tender and needed to be left to ripen.

If the weather is sunny, they can continue to grow them in the ground. The problem is if it suddenly gets cloudy and rainy. If it rains for ten days or half a month, that would be troublesome, Lin Chuntao thought.

Looking at the pig feed in the field, it was also there before the soybeans were pulled up, but it was relatively short. It's probably because the soybeans were pulled up and they got some sun, so they grew very fast. The pig feed is now as tall as my calves.

She turned around and went back. Lin Duo'er had already cut half a basket of pig feed, and Lin Chuntao squatted down next to her to cut it as well.

In about fifteen minutes, the two of them had filled their baskets with cuts.

With only one pig and being fed potatoes, it doesn't eat much pig feed. The two sisters each have a small basket on their backs, so they probably won't need to come to the field to cut anything tomorrow.

But Lin Duo'er was especially happy to see so much pig feed in the field.

"I'll come back and cut some more after I finish eating."

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "That's enough for it to eat. Why cut so much?"

Lin Duo'er chuckled: "Chicken is edible too."

After saying that, Lin Duo'er added, "I discovered that the pig-fed chicken also loves to eat."

Lin Chuntao was somewhat helpless. The pig feed contained potatoes, which the chickens would definitely love. She raised an eyebrow and asked Lin Duo'er, "Did you feed the chickens pig feed?"

Lin Duo'er nodded with a smile.

Lin Chuntao said, "Once the corn is harvested, we can feed it with cornmeal mixed with bran. I plan to feed our big rooster more and fatten it up so we can slaughter it for the New Year."

The rooster had a particularly loud crow and was quite obedient, so Lin Chunhe and the others liked it very much.

"Sis, why don't you buy two more to keep for the New Year? Keep this one to wake us up."

Seeing her reluctance, Lin Chuntao replied, "Alright, I'll buy two more in a few days."

As the two sisters were talking, Lin Chuntao walked to the other end of the vegetable garden with a basket on her back. The red mustard greens were growing well, with large leaves and thin stems, looking very plump and tender. They would definitely be delicious if cooked with preserved eggs, but unfortunately she didn't make preserved eggs.

The dish was dark in color and needed to be rinsed before eating, so it wasn't very convenient to cook over a hot pot. Lin Chuntao only picked a handful to take home and stir-fry for dinner.

They picked a few bok choy, cut some water spinach, and plucked some pea shoots. Their chili peppers were planted late, so they hadn't turned red yet; they were still lush and tender. Lin Chuntao picked quite a few of the tender green ones and brought them all back.

As lunchtime approached, Aunt Guizhi took a break to go to the vegetable garden, picked a few radishes, pinched some pea shoots, and brought back some chives, scallions, and garlic sprouts. She also told Lin Shuilian's grandmother that they would be having lunch there.

Lin Jiahui returned from collecting his belongings and was just about to lead the mules back for lunch when he ran into Lin Chuntao.

"Jiahui, have lunch at my house today. After you take the mule back, tell your mother that your grandma and the others won't be coming back for lunch. Then call your mother to come over and eat with us."

Lin Jiahui was still a little confused, but he nodded in agreement.

When he got home and mentioned dinner, Chen Dongniang and the others were wondering what day it was. They thought for a while but couldn't remember. Then Lin Cunzheng, who was sitting in the yard, said, "I remember the first time Chun Tao and the others went out to make sauce was around this time last month, right?"

Chen Dongniang suddenly realized and laughed, "It seems so, Father, you have such a good memory."

Lin Cun smiled but didn't say much. Three or four mule carts came and took away many jars of soy sauce. They had been coming frequently over the past month, and he remembered it all.

Chen Dongniang said, "If that's the case, then Chun Tao must have stayed to eat with the people who worked together. You go ahead, I won't go."

Lin Jiahui listened to Chen Dongniang's words and went back this time.

Lin Chuntao went to check on the mutton that was drying. It had already cooled down, so it was the perfect time to slice it. She quickly washed the cutting board and knife and cut all the mutton out.

She bought six jin of mutton, plus offal and blood, so it weighed at least seven jin, and the cut pieces filled more than half a bamboo basket.

She lit a fire in the yard, brought out the pot, poured in mutton soup, and added a small amount of pepper.

After the mutton soup boiled, she put the mutton in and added half a bowl of chili pepper pieces to cook together.

When Lin Chunxing and the others returned, the mutton in the pot had just boiled, and the courtyard was filled with the aroma of meat.