Chapter 411 Harvesting Grain

When Yao Man told her the name of the inn, she had no objections and immediately sent someone to order a signboard.

"By the way, you told me last time you wanted to sell me a shop. Are you still selling it now?"

"A shop?" Yao Man immediately realized. "Of course I'm selling it. Do you want to buy it now? It's been vacant recently, and I haven't decided what to do with it yet."

“Then sell it to me. I still want to give my daughter a shop so she can do whatever she wants. At least she can earn some money, which would fulfill my wish.”

Song Chunxue also knew that Hongying was sensible and didn't want to spend too much of her money; sensible children always suffer losses.

She hadn't done anything good for them before, and all she felt was heartache and regret. Now that she had something to offer, why should she wrong them and make herself feel sad?

"To be honest, my shop is in a pretty good location, just a bit out of the way. How about ten taels of silver?"

Song Chunxue nodded, "I can't let you suffer a loss, thirteen taels."

Yao Man smiled and said, "That's fine too. A couple of days ago, someone wanted to buy it for fourteen taels, but I didn't agree. But since Sister Song asked, I'm happy to offer ten taels. I know that once the inn opens, earning a few taels of silver every day will definitely be no problem."

"Then I can't take advantage of you by even a tael of silver."

"Sister Song, what are you saying? Thirteen is thirteen. As long as you come to the inn more often, it will bring us good fortune." With that, Yao Man stood up. "Come on, I'll take you to see the shop. We can't lie to you."

*

When Song Chunxue got home at noon, she made braised noodles with potatoes and eggplant.

Just as it was about to be taken out of the pot, we heard the fourth brother come in from outside.

"mother!"

He jumped up the steps and strode into the kitchen. "Mom, guess who I met today?"

Song Chunxue's brow twitched; from that tone alone, she knew who it was without even guessing.

Is this never going to end?

It wasn't that she had a problem with Lord Xie, but everyone was starting to nag her about it again, and just hearing that name gave her a headache.

"Mother, Lord Xie has come to Zhuanglang County! He's searching the streets with his men and even had some refugees take him outside the city," the fourth son said excitedly. "I saw that Lord Xie was busy, so I didn't go up to bother him. He even greeted me."

"But in the past, when Lord Xie came, Mother would always invite him to our house for dinner. Why is she unmoved now when she hears his name?"

The fourth son moved around to Song Chunxue's side and said, "Mother, Lord Xie helped my second brother so much, aren't you going to thank him properly?"

"Isn't his favorite dish his mother makes noodles with meat sauce? When are you going to invite him over for noodles?"

Song Chunxue put the cooked lichen soup into the food box along with the braised noodles.

"Go up the mountain to deliver food to the Taoist priest first. I'll invite Lord Xie over when he's free." Song Chunxue looked at him coldly. "If you dare to talk nonsense, I'll break your legs."

The fourth brother chuckled, "I know, I know."

After dinner, Song Chunxue went to find Hongying.

Jiang Hongying was washing dishes, while He Chuan was putting Xiaolong to sleep in the main room.

Xiao Long was disobedient, and He Chuan was scolding him.

He Chuan was exhausted after a long day and had lost his patience.

"well."

Song Chunxue quietly walked to the door and heard Jiang Hongying sighing.

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Hongying turned around and looked at Song Chunxue in surprise, "Mother, why are you here?"

"Why are you sighing? Did you have a fight?"

Jiang Hongying lowered her head. "The child was making a fuss just now, and I told him to go and soothe the child. I even yelled at him. Now that I think about it, ever since I came to Zhuanglang County, I've become more arrogant and my temper has gotten worse."

Song Chunxue laughed, "It's good that you know it yourself. You need to control your temper. As the saying goes, the less capable a person is, the bigger their temper. I guess you learned it from me. When you were kids, I often yelled at you and even favored the eldest."

"I only realized this after I had my own children. Sometimes you can't get them to listen unless you yell at them. Let alone raising five children by yourself, you can only hold back from yelling if you're a god."

When talking about the past, Hongying sighed again, "Back then, Sanwa was the most pitiful. The eldest and second eldest were the best at dealing with people. When you were around, they would pretend to work, but when you weren't around, they would boss Sanwa around. It was infuriating. I even hit the second eldest."

When these things were brought up, Song Chunxue had nothing to say.

"Don't sigh and complain, it will affect your fortune."

“Mother is such a superstitious person now, even sighing can affect one’s fortune?” Hongying laughed. “But I’ll be careful, this habit is indeed not good.”

“Even if I’m superstitious, don’t you feel uncomfortable listening to yourself sighing all day long?” Song Chunxue said seriously. “Sighing means you’re not optimistic and your mind isn’t clear.”

She sat down on a stool about a foot high in the kitchen. "Who nailed this stool up?"

“He Chuan nailed it. He had studied carpentry for a few days before and knows how to do these things.”

Jiang Hongying wiped the bowls clean and stacked them on the cupboard. Then she poured the dirty water into a bucket, which could be used to feed the pigs.

They didn't have a well in their yard, but there was a water cellar outside. Water was extremely precious, and they were reluctant to use it carelessly on ordinary days.

"Mom, what do you want? Aren't you sleepy at midday?"

Song Chunxue took out a property deed from her bosom. "I bought you a shop. Think about what kind of business you want to do and make your own decisions."

Jiang Hongying took it blankly, wiped her hands on her apron, and spoke in a low voice, as if afraid of blowing away the thick paper in her hands.

“Mother, didn’t I say I didn’t want the shop?” She gently handed the deed back. “You can give it to the eldest son. He must be full of resentment staying in the countryside. After all, he is the eldest son.”

“Or you could give it to the fourth son,” Jiang Hongying said, her head bowed, her eyes reddening. “I’m so happy that Mother sent it to me. But I’ve already taken so many things from Mother. I’m just a daughter, and I’ve taken so much of her stuff…”

“I’ll make my own decisions about my things. The fourth brother is always thinking about freeloading, so I won’t give it to him.”

Speaking of the eldest son, Song Chunxue chuckled, "I meant what I said to the eldest son and his wife last time. If you knew how heartbreaking the eldest son's behavior was when the family split up, you would understand that I have been good enough to him."

She shoved the property deed into Jiang Hongying's arms, saying, "Take it. If anyone dares to say anything bad about you, come find me."

Jiang Hongying burst into tears, "Thank you, Mother."

Seeing her like this, Song Chunxue's eyes stung with tears.

She placed a cloth bag on the table. "I'm going back to take a nap."

"Um."

*

The fifth day of the eighth lunar month is White Dew.

The wheat in the field can be pulled up now.

It was a bit chilly in the morning. After coming down from the Taoist temple, Song Chunxue locked the courtyard gate and prepared to go to the mountains to harvest wheat.

Holding half a potato bun in her hand, she walked towards Xijinmen and bumped into Lord Xie buying chive pancakes on the way.

"Where is Sister Song going?"

Lord Xie took the chive box, walked over, broke off half of it, and handed it to him.

"Try it."

Song Chunxue paused, then took a cold bun out of the cloth bag. "Here you go."

Xie Zheng laughed, "Is it soft ground? I haven't had it in a long time."

He followed behind Song Chunxue, eating steamed buns as he walked.

"I'm going to the field to pull up wheat. Is Lord Xie going too?"

Lord Xie took a big bite, his cheeks bulging.

“Although I haven’t worked in the fields much, I know how to harvest grains. I’d like to go to the fields to take a look. Our local grains are very famous. I’ve always wanted to see what wheat and sesame look like. I’d appreciate it if Sister Song could show me.”