Chapter 177 No Luck

After going out, he didn't see anyone from Jiang Mixia's family. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked quickly towards the street.

After strolling around for a long time and talking a lot, Niu finally bought the vegetables that satisfied him.

A carrot, a cabbage, a mustard green, and a piece of tofu weighing one pound and two ounces.

After returning home, Niu started to prepare lunch.

Cabbage stalks are mixed with cornmeal and sweet potato flour and steamed into vegetable steamed bread. Carrots and tofu are stir-fried together to make a dish. The remaining mustard greens are cut into thin strips and pickled with salt, ready to be eaten with cornmeal porridge to go with the vegetable steamed bread in the evening.

These dishes only cost five cents in total, and the corn flour, sweet potato flour and other food only cost four or five cents in total.

With ten cents, you can provide your family with two comfortable meals, but I'm afraid no one can do this.

When it comes to diligence, thrift and virtue, I'm afraid no one can compare to her! Niu raised her chin proudly.

When the vegetable steamed bread was taken out of the pot and the fried carrot and tofu were served, there was a sudden movement at the door.

Niu leaned over and saw Zhang Yaosheng.

"My husband is back?" Mrs. Niu was overjoyed. "Why did my husband come back for dinner today?"

Niu looked at Zhang Yaosheng expectantly, hoping to hear from him "I miss you, come back to see you."

Zhang Yaosheng had a blank expression on his face and replied calmly, "The chef in the academy caught a cold and didn't go to see a doctor, so he passed the disease to others, and several of them fell ill. The dean told those people to rest well, and there will be no food supply in the academy for a while."

"Originally, several classmates were going to go out for dinner together. I was worried that eating out would cost a lot, and I hadn't seen Daya for a while, so I came back to see her."

Then he waved to Zhang Daya, "Daya, come to Daddy quickly. Daddy brought you some maltose."

When Zhang Daya heard that there was maltose, she hurried over, took the oil paper bag from Zhang Yaosheng, and said in a crisp and sweet voice, "Thank you, Dad."

"Go eat." Zhang Yaosheng only had this one daughter, and he loved and cared for her. He reached out and rubbed Zhang Daya's head, "Daya seems to have grown a little taller."

But he seems to have lost some weight.

Zhang Yaosheng frowned slightly.

Seeing that Zhang Yaosheng hadn't mentioned her at all, and hadn't brought her anything, Niu felt a little aggrieved, but she didn't dare to show it on her face. She just said, "The meal will be ready soon, wash your hands and eat."

"Why are you talking like that?" Zhang Yaosheng heard something was wrong with Niu's words. When he noticed that Niu's front teeth were black, his face became even more unhappy. "What's wrong with my teeth?"

"I accidentally tripped over the threshold and fell..." Niu said with tears falling down, "and ended up losing two front teeth. I was in pain for several days."

"Why are you so careless?" Zhang Yaosheng frowned.

Rich families are all powerful and wealthy, and the threshold for entry is much higher than that of this kind of mansion.

If Niu Shi could stumble over such a threshold, then if he passed the imperial examination and lived in a large mansion, wouldn't he be stumbling over it every day? It seemed that Niu Shi really had no life to enjoy happiness.

It’s hard to say, but it was because Niu didn’t have this fate that he failed to pass the imperial examination even though he had been trying to become a scholar for many years.

Seeing that Zhang Yaosheng did not care about her current situation but blamed her for not being careful, Niu felt even more upset and dared not cry anymore. She just wiped her eyes, brought the food into the main room, and invited Zhang Yaosheng and Zhang Daya to eat.

At this time, Zhang Daya was already very hungry. There was tofu in the dish, which was a rare treat. She happily ate it with big bites and focused on eating.

Niu's stomach was also empty, and she kept stuffing vegetable dumplings into her mouth. She was also thinking about Zhang Yaosheng eating more good food, so she put the carrots and tofu slices into his bowl.

Zhang Yaosheng's brows furrowed again.

The taste of carrots and tofu slices fried together is really not delicious, and Niu's cooking skills are not even a little bit worse than those in the academy.

Zhang Daya ate such unpalatable fried carrot tofu slices and vegetable dumplings so sweetly, which shows how poor her food is on a normal day.

This Niu really doesn't know how to manage the household, and she can't even raise and educate her children.

Niu was completely unaware of Zhang Yaosheng's annoyance at the moment. She was just happy that her husband came back for a rare visit. "Since we can't eat in the academy, then you should come back for dinner recently. I'll fry an egg for you tonight."

An egg...

The corner of Zhang Yaosheng's mouth twitched.

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The iron pot in the kitchen is not small. If you fry an egg in it, I'm afraid you won't even be able to see it.

"The butcher shop sells pig offal every evening. Although it has a strong smell, it is meat after all. I buy some in the evening, wash it thoroughly with wood ash, and then make a big pot of it. It can last for several days." Niu said.

Pig offal...

The corner of Zhang Yaosheng's mouth twitched again.

Those things are indeed meaty, but the smell is really strong. After eating them, my body will be covered with the smell, which will last for a long time. If I go to school like this, I will probably be questioned and laughed at.

What's more, he is a scholar, and he will be a juren in the future. How could he be reduced to eating pig offal? Zhang Yaosheng was unhappy and his tone was not very good. "I give you silver every month for household expenses. You know how to be thrifty?"

That money may not be enough to buy the best meals every day, but it is enough for some light porridge and side dishes. At least I don't have to eat vegetable dumplings or think about making pig offal.

Mrs. Niu didn't notice Zhang Yaosheng's bad tone, she just thought he was praising her for being thrifty, and said hurriedly, "Life in the county town requires money everywhere. I have been frugal with the money my husband gave me, and I have saved the rest for my husband to use for the exam in the future."

"Speaking of which, I have always been a frugal person. I feel at ease only when I manage the whole family properly. I will never be like that Madam Jiang, who eats and drinks all day and wants to spend all the family assets. I don't know what bad luck Mr. Song has to have such a poor woman who doesn't know how to be frugal. It's really pitiful."

Song Jingyun is pitiful? How can he be pitiful? The one who is really pitiful is Zhang Yaosheng!

Zhang Yaosheng could no longer suppress his anger, and threw the chopsticks in his hand on the table. "It's Madam Jiang's business to eat, drink and enjoy herself. Why do you care about her? Besides, the money in her family is earned by Madam Jiang, so she has the confidence to eat and drink!"

"But you, we are all women. Others know how to do some business, do some work, and earn a lot of money to support the family so that the husband can concentrate on his studies. You just sit idle at home all day, relying on me to copy books and write poems to make money, delaying my studies and taking the imperial examinations?"

(End of this chapter)