Chapter Sixty Case

Springtime work is in full swing. Wang Erhu's family in the village needs to renovate their old house and expand their yard.

Wang Erhu specially brought wine and meat and personally visited Zhang Liuji.

"Brother Liu Ji, are you home?" Wang Erhu called out loudly from the gate of the Zhang family compound.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Liuji came out of the house, his hands still covered in sawdust: "Brother Erhu? Come in and sit down."

Wang Erhu didn't stand on ceremony and got straight to the point: "I'm covered in dust, I won't sit down. Please, Brother Ji, stay. You know my old house, it's been around for years, the pillars are all a bit worn out, I'd like to renovate it and also extend the courtyard wall a bit."

"You're the best carpenter in the village, and you're an honest man. As for your wages, we won't treat you unfairly—eighty coins a day, plus lunch! How about that?"

Eighty coins a day, that adds up to two and a half taels of silver a month! That's a top-notch job in the village!

You should know that an ordinary strong laborer who goes to town to carry heavy loads and do hard labor can only earn thirty or forty coins a day, and he has to work himself to the bone.

Zhang Liuji felt a surge of warmth in his heart, and a smile appeared on his face. Without much hesitation, he nodded: "Okay! Brother Erhu trusts me, I'll take the job! When do we start?"

"The sooner the better! I've been waiting for you to say that!"

Wang Erhu happily stuffed the wine and meat he had brought into Zhang Liuji's hands: "Then it's settled! I'll go prepare the ingredients tomorrow!"

Zhang Dashan was sharpening his knife on the threshold of the east wing when he heard that his nephew had taken on such a good job with such high pay. His face immediately lit up with a smile, and he put down his knife to go find his brother.

"Big brother! Big brother! Liu Ji has taken on a big job for Er Hu's family! Eighty coins a day!" Zhang Dashan's words were full of joy for his nephew.

Zhang Dahe was chopping firewood on the stove when he heard this and grinned, "This kid, the wages for the jobs he takes on are getting higher and higher these days."

Zhang Dashan clicked his tongue with emotion: "Tsk tsk, it's really good to have a skill to rely on! Back when I was Liu Ji's age, I was full of strength and could run to four or five villages a day to slaughter pigs and earn money. I worked myself to the bone for a month and at most I only earned two taels of silver. I was exhausted."

"Liu Ji's carpentry work, although it doesn't involve carrying sacks weighing a hundred pounds, is still a meticulous and demanding job that requires complete concentration. And the money he earns is respectable!"

As his wife, Li Xiulan was overjoyed. She knew that carpentry work didn't seem as tiring as manual labor, but sitting for most of the day, bending over, chiseling, sawing, and using tools was mentally and physically exhausting.

She gets up before dawn every day and uses freshly ground cornmeal from her own stone mill to cook a large bowl of thick cornmeal porridge.

Prepare a plate of glossy and fragrant eggplant or a plate of crisp and refreshing cabbage with vinegar for him to eat with, making sure Zhang Liuji is full before going to work.

Seeing him finish his meal with gusto, Li Xiulan finally felt a little more at ease.

Li Xiulan had to take care of her family and Xiao Nan'er, and also worry about Zhang Liuji's meals, so she inevitably couldn't manage everything.

Zhang noticed this and naturally took over more of the daily chores at the stall.

Previously, she and Li Xiulan took turns cleaning the raw materials such as rice, beans, and lungs to be used the next day, but now she has taken the initiative to take over these tasks.

"Sister-in-law, you can focus on taking care of Brother Liuji and the family. Leave the washing and scrubbing at the stall to me!" Zhang Liuyi said while deftly rinsing the rice.

Li Xiulan felt a little guilty: "That won't do, you're already exhausted enough running the stall all by yourself..."

"It's alright!" Zhang Yili interrupted her with a smile, "I have Sister Zijuan helping me now! She's very quick and efficient!"

That's true; Xiong Zijuan has now become a valuable assistant to the stall owner.

Every day she gets up early, and before dawn, she takes her hoe and goes to her own field to quickly clear away the newly sprouted weeds.

This task was a piece of cake for her, and she finished it in no time.

After tidying up the fields, she went straight to the stall to keep an eye on things for Zhang.

With Xiong Zijuan's help in cleaning, washing, and serving, Zhang Yiju's workload was significantly reduced, allowing her to focus more on cooking and entertaining guests.

Xiong Zijuan is now familiar with those guests and can occasionally exchange a few words with them.

The stall business was still booming. Zhang Liuji was working hard at Wang Erhu's house, and Xiong Zixiang was also extremely busy.

The land encroachment case in the county government office was far more complicated than expected.

Both sides in the dispute claimed to be right, and the witnesses they brought in gave conflicting accounts, each with their own version of events, leading to a heated argument.

The magistrate was so engrossed in the noise that he pounded on the table and shouted for silence, but nothing worked.

These past few days, Xiong Zixiang has been running around like crazy, visiting each of the mentioned witnesses door to door, carefully inquiring about the situation back then, recording their testimonies, and also observing their expressions and deciphering whether there was any exaggeration in their words.

The county magistrate and the registrar plunged into the dusty storeroom, rummaging through boxes and cabinets to find old land deeds and fish-scale maps, trying to find conclusive evidence of the boundary demarcation from the old documents.

This case involves a wide range of issues and needs to be clarified as soon as possible. Xiong Zixiang simply lived in the county government office, squeezing into a cell with several colleagues, ready to be dispatched at any time.

Xiong Zixiang hadn't been home for several days. Zhang Yili was alone in the empty courtyard, feeling empty inside, and couldn't even muster the energy to cook.

They were too lazy to light a fire in the stove, so they would either go to their uncle Zhang Dahe's house for a meal, or after the stall closed, they would heat up the leftover porridge and soup from the customers and make do with that.

After eating cold porridge and leftovers for two days in a row, she could no longer suppress her longing for her husband.

That evening, after closing up shop, Zhang Yi did not go straight home as usual.

She found the largest basket and carefully washed it clean by the turbid river.

Then he returned to the large pot at the stall and relit the fire.

She cooked a large pot of fragrant and thick white rice porridge, and also cut a large bowl of crisp pickled vegetable shreds, drizzled them with sesame oil, and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top.

The basket was packed full and still steaming.

"Sister-in-law, Sister Zijuan, you two keep tidying up. I'm going to the county government to see Zixiang," Zhang Liuyi said to Li Xiulan and Xiong Zijuan, who were still packing up their stall, as he slung a heavy basket over his shoulder.

Seeing her expression, Li Xiulan smiled and nodded: "Go quickly! Take more so that Zixiang and his colleagues can have something to eat!"

Xiong Zijuan also reminded him, "Be careful on the road, it's getting dark."

Zhang Liuyi carried a basket and hurried towards the county town as dusk fell.

When she arrived at the county government office, the guards who had been on duty there before recognized her.

Hearing that she was delivering food to Captain Xiong and his men, he immediately smiled and let her pass, even kindly pointing out the way: "Captain Xiong is still discussing matters with the officials in the second hall. Why don't you go to the guardhouse and wait there?"

Zhang thanked them and went to the guards' quarters where they were resting.

Sure enough, several constables were sitting inside, eating steamed buns with hot water, and all of them looked tired.

Their eyes lit up when they saw Zhang Xiaoyi carrying a big basket in.

"Oh! My sister-in-law is here!"

"Sister-in-law! I can smell this delicious aroma from far away!"

Zhang Liuyi smiled and placed the basket on the table: "Brothers, you've worked hard. I made some porridge and brought some side dishes. Have a bite while it's hot."

As soon as the lid is lifted, the rich aroma of rice and the tangy fragrance of pickled vegetables immediately fill the air.

The young constables cheered and, forgetting all about formalities, took out their own bowls and chopsticks, eating with gusto, praising, "Sister-in-law's cooking is amazing!"

"This pickled vegetable is even more delicious than the ones in restaurants!"

"Thank you, sister-in-law! Finally, we can have something hot to eat!"

While they were eating, Xiong Zixiang came over from the second hall, looking travel-worn, clearly having just finished discussing matters.

He looked tired and had an unshaven beard. When he saw Zhang Xiaoyi, he was first taken aback, then pleasantly surprised: "Xiaoyi? What brings you here?"

Seeing his exhausted appearance, Zhang felt a pang of heartache and quickly ladled out a full bowl of porridge and handed it to him: "Eat something hot! You've lost weight."

Xiong Zixiang took the bowl, disregarding his image, and began to eat heartily.

After eating the hot porridge, my whole body felt warm.

As he ate, he asked in a low voice, "Is everything alright at home?"

"Everything's fine. My sister and sister-in-law are helping out at the stall, and Brother Ji has taken on a big job at Brother Erhu's house..." Zhang Yi briefly explained the situation at home.

Hearing this, Xiong Zixiang felt much more at ease.

He finished his porridge in a few gulps: "The case is complicated and will take a few more days. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Yes, I just came to see you."

Seeing him wolfing down his food, Zhang noticed he was busy and didn't want to keep him any longer. "Then... take care of yourself, don't stay up too late." She reached out and brushed a speck of dust off his shoulder.

Xiong Zixiang grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, his voice low and deep: "I know, you should go back now, it's getting dark and the road is difficult to walk on."

Their eyes met, and a thousand words were unspoken between them.

Because there were colleagues nearby, he could only shake hands briefly before letting go.

"Then I'm leaving. I'll leave the basket here. You can leave it after you finish eating. I'll come back for it tomorrow," Zhang said, glancing at her husband again before turning to leave.

Xiong Zixiang stood at the door of the prison cell, watching his wife's figure disappear into the twilight at the county government gate until she was out of sight, before turning his gaze away.

Looking at his brothers who were enjoying their meal at the table, the frustration he felt over the case's setbacks immediately vanished. He clapped his hands and said, "Brothers, are you full? If you are, let's get back to work! Tonight, let's go over the testimonies of those witnesses from Dongzhang Village again!"