Chapter 93 Ancient World: Stepmother (10)

"Brother, did we spend too much money?"

At this moment, Changqing and his sister were already on their way home. He had received the rent in the morning and then went to town with his sister to buy things. Both of them had their hands full of goods.

He carried a ceramic pot on his back, which he used for cooking rice, and there was also half a pound of pork in the pot. He also carried a cast iron pot in his hand.

The younger sister, Li Huanxi, was holding salt, a kitchen knife, and other utensils. The two siblings had each made a set of clothes, and they had even bought a red hair tie for the younger sister, which she had already tied in her hair.

The total cost was three hundred copper coins.

The annual rent he received was five taels of silver, and one tael of silver was worth one thousand copper coins, which was more than enough to last him a long time.

At least, the brother and sister don't have much trouble eating.

“Money is meant to be spent. We didn’t spend it before, which benefited others. Li Qingyue’s schooling cost more than ten taels of silver a year, and Li Xiangling’s embroidery training also cost several taels of silver. It’s nothing for us to spend a little money now.”

Changqing doesn't care about spending money at all.

Most of Li Fusheng's family's money was spent on Li Qingyue. In those days, education was not something that ordinary families could afford. Not to mention the tuition fees for the teacher, the cost of buying books and paper was a huge expense every year. No wonder the whole family had to be frugal.

Now, it has nothing to do with him anymore.

Changqing had no intention of studying or taking the imperial examinations. He figured he might as well make the best of it and live a good life in the village; that would be what made life interesting.

"Brother, do you think Mom will come looking for the rent money back? She's been managing it all along."

Li Huanxi asked again, she was genuinely a little worried.

Changqing paused in his steps.

"Even if she asks for it, I won't give it to her."

Previously, it was difficult to distinguish between the original owner and the other party because the original owner was young and they lived together. Now that he has moved out and lives alone, he has gained the moral high ground.

In this day and age, it's not just married daughters who are considered "water spilled out" (meaning they're no longer part of the family), but also remarried mothers. If things really get ugly, he wouldn't mind taking them to the clan chief to reason with them.

Her brother spoke calmly, as if he had everything under control, which inexplicably put Li Huanxi at ease.

When the brother and sister returned home, Aunt Dongzhi had already cleaned up the area around the house.

"Changqing, your mother came by this morning. She was very angry. You should be prepared."

Upon seeing the two return, she straightened up and offered a reminder.

Changqing nodded without saying much; he had anticipated this situation.

"Auntie, the weather has been nice these past few days. Tell my uncle to come and help repair the house tomorrow. He can call a few people, so it will be faster. I'll pay him the market price, not a penny less."

"Hehe, okay then, I'll come help out tomorrow too."

Aunt Dongzhi rubbed her hands together, smiling broadly. The young man was easy to work with and generous with the pay, so of course she was willing to do the work.

"Auntie, why don't you have dinner at home today?"

Li Huanxi extended the invitation with a smile.

"No, no, the wages include food expenses, hehe, I still need to go back and cook for a child. You guys go ahead and do your work."

Aunt Dongzhi didn't consider herself a good person, but she felt she was much more moral than Zhao Lianhua; at least, she didn't take advantage of the younger generation.

It's only noon, but the Changqing siblings have already decided to cook a meal.

I'm hungry.

And I was really craving it, so I bought some meat.

If he stayed with his mother at Li Fusheng's house, he would only have two meals a day, and he wouldn't even get to eat meat. The money saved would be used for Li Qingyue's education, under the guise of securing a better future.

Haha, it's not his future, why should he suffer?

They lit a fire, and soon a pot of meat porridge was ready. The two of them ate until they were stuffed.

"I'll go pick some wild vegetables this afternoon, and then I'll have stir-fried wild vegetables with meat for dinner."

Li Huanxi, the younger sister, looked happy.

"Well, I still need to gather some firewood this afternoon, and then I'll tidy up the little vegetable garden behind the house and sow the seeds."

I've already bought several kinds of vegetable seeds; I need to plant them as soon as possible.

"By the way, from now on we'll eat three meals a day, we're really too hungry at noon."

After thinking for a moment, Changqing added another sentence.

He couldn't afford to go hungry twice a day while he was growing. He was very dissatisfied with his current height. Although people in this era were generally shorter, Li Qingyue was still half a head taller than him, which he couldn't tolerate.

Here, the brother and sister began to plan for the future.

However, her biological mother, Zhao Lianhua, felt very uneasy.

The reason is simple: it's difficult to make arrangements when there are two fewer people to do the housework.

When she returned home in the morning, she was ridiculed by the two siblings who knew nothing about the situation. Then, she wanted to arrange for them to do some work, one to gather firewood and the other to cut grass, but neither of them wanted to do it.

"I'm here to take the imperial examinations and become an official, how could I do such menial work?"

“I do embroidery, which is delicate work, so my hands can’t be rough. I can’t do grass cutting.”

no way.

Zhao Lianhua had no choice but to go cut grass herself first, and when she returned at noon, she went back to the fields to work.

She felt she had never been so tired before.

But what can be done? The livestock can't be left unfed, and the work in the fields has to be done in time; if the season is missed, there will be no harvest.

At the end of the day.

She felt like her back was about to break.

"Fusheng's family, aren't you done work this late?" someone asked.

Zhao Lianhua straightened up and rubbed her aching lower back. "The work isn't finished yet, we can't delay."

"Fusheng went to perform corvée labor. Aren't your Qingyue and Xiangling both at home? Didn't they come to help?"

This is like rubbing salt in the wound; Zhao Lianhua's expression froze.

"They all have homework to do..."

All right.

Everyone knows that Li Fusheng's two children are respectable people, studying and learning embroidery.

"Your family will be blessed in the future. Your child will succeed in his studies and won't have to toil in the fields for a living." That was the only way others could comfort him.

Zhao Lianhua comforted herself in the same way: it's about fighting for a future, so suffering a little now is nothing.

However, when she got home as it was getting dark and found that no food had been cooked, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hurry up and cook, we're all hungry."

Li Xiangling walked out of the room rubbing her stomach, muttering to herself, clearly dissatisfied.

"Don't you guys cook at home?" Zhao Lianhua couldn't help but ask.

Li Qingyue: "A gentleman keeps away from the kitchen, don't you understand?"

Li Xiangling: "I've never cooked before, and my dad never said anything to me about it at home. Now that my dad's gone to do corvée labor, you're actually asking me to cook?"

Zhao Lianhua's expression stiffened. She opened her mouth but didn't say anything before going into the kitchen.

However, it was already completely dark by then, and it took them two hours to finish cooking the meal. Some of the dishes were even burnt, which made Li Qingyue and her brother very unhappy.

"Are you trying to kill me with bitterness? How can it taste so awful!"

Li Xiangling picked at her chopsticks, looking irritated.

"I'm not eating anymore."

After taking two bites, Li Qingyue put down her chopsticks and bowl.

That night, lying in bed, Zhao Lianhua, for the first time ever, thought of her children.

"Hey, it would be nice if Changqing and Huanxi were home."