Chapter 33 Thoughts

Cui Hejin nodded and sat down to burn firewood.

His movements were slow and methodical, and even when he was just arranging the firewood on the stove, he looked elegant and refined.

Jiang Zhiluo opened her mouth, but ultimately did not refuse.

After all the vegetables were cut and prepared, Cui Hejin saw that she was going to cook, so he lit the fire.

Jiang Zhiluo always felt that it was a waste of resources for someone with his temperament to sit here and make a fire.

But now is not the time to be particular about these things.

Do cook first.

Mrs. Cui smiled as she watched her son helping to light the fire.

After Jiang Zhiluo finished cooking the dish, she also heated up the bowl of chicken stewed with mushrooms that she brought back yesterday.

Then the three of them washed their hands and sat down to eat.

Everyone had a bowl of steamed buns and fried vegetables.

Neither Mrs. Cui nor Cui Hejin had ever eaten like this before.

But I picked up the chopsticks and tasted it, and it was indeed delicious.

Old Madam Cui felt that Zhiluo seemed to have a talent for taste and could always make the food taste particularly good.

While eating, Mrs. Cui discussed with Jiang Zhiluo about going to the village to harvest beets in the afternoon.

Jiang Zhiluo nodded and said, "Well, mother, please collect more so we can make more brown sugar this afternoon."

"We'll use both pots together this afternoon."

Jiang Zhiluo was thinking of rising the dough after lunch so that she could make the steamed buns for Roujiamo. At the same time, she also had to stew the pig offal in the pot. After everything was done, she could use the same pot to cook brown sugar.

Jiang Zhiluo was thinking and calculating in her mind, and felt that she would be busy in the afternoon.

She had wanted to go to the river to get some willow buds, but she probably didn't have much time.

After Madam Cui and Jiang Zhiluo finished discussing what they were going to do that afternoon, Cui Hejin finished his meal and put down his chopsticks. He then said slowly, "I will be teaching at the town school starting tomorrow. I will receive two taels of silver a month for household expenses."

As soon as Cui Hejin finished speaking, Old Madam Cui and Jiang Zhiluo stopped eating.

They all looked at Cui Hejin at the same time.

Madam Cui asked, "You want to be a teacher?"

Two taels of silver a month is indeed a lot.

She also knew her son's knowledge, so she knew there was no problem for him to be a teacher.

Cui Hejin replied calmly, "Yeah."

Mrs. Cui's expression changed. She knew that her son had no intention of returning to the capital, nor had he thought about taking the imperial examination.

In the past, he was the eldest son of the Duke's Mansion, inheriting the family business and the position of the eldest son. He did not need to take the imperial examination to occupy the quota of others, nor did he need to take the imperial examination to prove his knowledge.

But now Duke Cui's mansion is gone, and if their family wants to revive, they can only take the imperial examination.

But obviously his son didn't think so.

Otherwise he wouldn't have become a teacher.

"Are you doing this to earn those two taels of silver?"

Cui Hejin said: "Not entirely."

Old Madam Cui sighed. She was becoming increasingly confused about her son's thoughts.

Jiang Zhiluo didn't say anything, because any words would seem pale now.

Even if she wanted Cui Hejin to study in the county academy, that would require money. Without money, he could not support his studies at all.

Although he said he had two taels of silver per month for household expenses.

But Jiang Zhiluo thought that she should earn more money as soon as possible so that Cui Hejin would not have to work so hard to make money to support the family.

Madam Cui asked, "Is it tiring to teach at the academy? Do you have time to rest? Do you have to live in the academy?"

Cui Hejin slowly explained, "The school is very close to home, so you don't have to live there. Classes start at 9:00 PM and end at 5:00 PM. There's an hour's break at noon..."

Jiang Zhiluo listened silently and calculated in her mind that classes would start at around nine in the morning and end at four in the afternoon.

There is a two-hour break at noon, so teaching becomes much easier.

She thought the school should also have rest days.

However, Cui Hejin can come home every day, and it doesn’t matter whether he takes a day off or not.

This is good, because this way he doesn't have to work so hard copying books.

After lunch and cleaning up, Jiang Zhiluo and Mrs. Cui got busy.

Jiang Zhiluo gave Madam Cui a hundred coins and said, "Mother, please buy more. We will make brown sugar and sell it these days."

Jiang Zhiluo wanted to buy more beets during this period, as there might not be many beets left after a while.

Beets are winter vegetables. There are no greenhouse vegetables here, so all vegetables must be grown according to the season.

Without beets, it would be impossible to make sugar, after all, there is no sugarcane here.

If she had sugarcane, she wouldn't have to worry about not having brown sugar.

Mrs. Cui knew that Jiang Zhiluo had rules for doing things, so she did as she said.

"Mom, go to a few more houses and have a look. But I still have some copper coins here, so you don't have to give them to me."

Last time, Cui Hejin sold eggs and copied books, and after buying coarse noodles, he had fifty coins left.

Jiang Zhiluo said, "Mom, just take it."

Jiang Zhiluo insisted, so Mrs. Cui did not refuse.

After that, Mrs. Cui went to buy beets.

Jiang Zhiluo began to knead the dough and make it ferment.

After kneading the dough into a ball, she covered it with a clean cloth and waited for it to rise before making the steamed bun for roujiamo.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Zhiluo began to braise the pig offal.

She planned to do this while the fire was burning.

But this was a bit too much, so Cui Hejin packed up some things in the house. When he came out, he saw Jiang Zhiluo looking at the firewood and the pot at the same time.

There was not enough firewood, so she took a piece and put it in the stove, then washed her hands and used a spoon to stir-fry in the pot.

Cui Hejin's expression changed, and he walked over, sat down and helped to light the fire.

Jiang Zhiluo breathed a sigh of relief when she saw someone helping her, "Thank you."

Cui Hejin's lips moved, "I should thank you."

Thank her for everything she does for the family.

He could see that his mother was in a good mood these days and had no time to worry too much.

All this is thanks to his young wife.

Jiang Zhiluo smiled slightly and said, "It's what I should do."

"You don't have to think too much about it. I'm eating well for myself."

But after stir-frying and stewing, Jiang Zhiluo asked Cui Hejin to help light the fire and watch the pot.

She went to the yard to peel the few remaining beets in the house, her hands never stopping.

…

Mrs. Cui wanted to harvest beets, so she went to the headman's house first.

The village head has more fields, so he should have a lot of beets.

Besides, her wife Zhu helped her a lot on a daily basis, and she was grateful to her.

"Sister Zhu, are you home?"

Zhu had just finished her meal and was planting vegetables in the vegetable garden in the yard. When she heard the noise, she hurried out.

"Oh, it's Sister Cui. What brings you here? Come in quickly."

Mrs. Zhu now looked at Mrs. Cui with great enthusiasm.

After pulling Mrs. Cui into the house, she also talked about the previous rescue incident.

"Thanks to your Zhiluo, the county magistrate's steward said he would thank you in the future. However, I saw that the county magistrate's family seemed to have something important to attend to at the time, so he didn't pay much attention..."

But no matter what, because Zhiluo saved the county magistrate's daughter, it was a credit, and they all benefited from it.

When Mrs. Cui heard this, she was stunned. She had never expected such a thing to happen.