Chapter 28
Their team completed the day's task first. Seeing that it was still early, Xiao Jieming called two young team members to go fishing in the water.
Chen Jin didn't care either. However, the prisoners were required to hand over half of their hunting trophies to the prison. They could do it if they wanted to, and no one forced them to do it if they didn't want to.
The water quality of the Yichun River is very good. There are many fish in the river, but their tails are very agile and difficult to catch.
The others watched, envious of their youth and strength. The river was full of fish, but the water was also incredibly cold. Daring to go fishing at this time of year? If they were to soak in it for a while, they'd definitely get sick, and there was no guarantee they'd catch any fish. So there was no need to take risks for fish you couldn't guarantee you'd catch.
The three of them, lacking proper tools, worked for a long time before finally catching a few fish of varying sizes. After turning in their catch, each took home his share. Xiao Jieming, the main fisherman, was given two fish the size of three fingers, weighing a total of about 1.5 to 2 ounces.
Yao Chunnuan and her partner went home after work. Aunt Yun pulled her away halfway, saying that she was inviting her to visit her home.
Aunt Yun's home wasn't far away. All the prisoners in the same team lived in the same area, with several teams living close together, making it like a small village. It took them two minutes to walk there. It was the same mud-walled, thatched-roofed house. Fortunately, they were the only ones living there.
Her family had two sons and one granddaughter. The eldest daughter-in-law died of illness in the second year after arriving in Yichun because she was weak and unable to take care of herself.
Her granddaughter is nine years old this year. She looks very thin and small, like a child of six or seven. She is very well-behaved. Seeing that there are guests, she even brought a chair for Yao Chunnuan.
Yao Chunnuan felt sympathetic when watching this. The prisoners at the border had a hard time, and it was no exaggeration.
However, she had observed the people around her over the past two days and found that most of the forty or fifty prisoners had a good aura and were not particularly disgusting. Unlike criminals, they inevitably had a bad aura.
Aunt Yun laughed and told her that if the prisoners caused trouble in the camp, they would be taken away. So, over time, those who could stay here were not violent and aggressive people.
Aunt Yun poured her a cup of hot water. Yao Chunnuan drank a few sips, sat for a while, and then went back. Firstly, it was getting dark, and secondly, they had just settled down, so there were many places in the house that needed to be cleaned up, and they also needed to buy some daily necessities.
Aunt Yun didn't stop her. She invited her to come over because she wanted to get to know each other so that they could visit each other in the future. There was no need to rush into getting to know each other.
Yao Chunnuan had wanted to ask if there was a place they could go to trade if they needed to buy something, but after thinking about it, she decided to ask later.
It is necessary to find a legal channel outside to purchase things.
She was afraid that the things in her old house would not be enough to cover their daily expenses, because it was not enough to support the little one in her belly.
Because the old house didn't have folic acid, she didn't take any folic acid supplements in the first or last three months of her pregnancy. But she had found a chance to check it out, and it contained the multivitamins she'd bought for her grandmother. She'd read the instructions, and they said it contained a higher concentration of folic acid and could be used in the last three months of pregnancy, equally effective in preventing birth defects. She figured every day she used the old house from now on would have to be spent taking folic acid regularly.
Yao Chunnuan thought strangely of her grandmother's constant wish for her to have a child before she came through this world. She had a feeling that this old house was more like serving the child in her belly.
Before leaving, Aunt Yun gave me a bunch of pickled wild vegetables she made herself.
This made Yao Chunnuan feel very embarrassed. She came to Aunt Yun's house halfway and had nothing in her hands. How could she accept other people's gifts? Especially after she had a clear understanding of the food shortage among the people here, she could not accept it.
"It's not worth much. They're just wild vegetables I dug up and pickled. I hope you don't mind."
How could I possibly dislike it? Yao Chunnuan thanked him and went back. She would find a chance to return the gift later.
After returning, she met Li Taohua with red and swollen eyes in the yard. When he saw her, he turned around and walked back without snorting or rolling his eyes.
Yao Chunnuan nodded secretly and retreated, which was good.
Not long after she came back, Xiao Jieming came back with two fish.
Okay, fish stew with pickles, we have the dish for tonight, but we don't have any oil. Fish must be cooked with a lot of oil to taste good, but there's no way they can get any oil at the moment.
The thought of this made Yao Chunnuan feel awful. God was like a scumbag, always trying to drag decent women into trouble and persuade fallen girls to change their ways. Thinking back to her past, she'd often exercise and eat light meals for two or three months a year to maintain her figure. She was terrified of oily dishes, sometimes even rinsing them with water to wash off the oil before eating, just to avoid gaining weight. Compared to now, it was truly a sin!
Without oil, what else could she do? She had to use all her skills to stew the two fish.
She asked Luo Suyi to make some porridge. It was so cold, and something warm would be good to drink. It was night, and eating it would help her sleep.
She had previously washed the salted wild vegetables and sautéed them in a pot until the water dried up. The salted wild vegetables here didn't need to be soaked to dilute the salt. Everyone's monthly salt allowance was fixed, unlike later generations, where salt was cheap and available at will. Aunt Yun probably wouldn't have put in more than she needed; at most, she'd just make sure it didn't spoil and could be stored.
Yao Chunnuan took a washed salted wild vegetable and tried it. Just as she expected, Aunt Yun's salted wild vegetable was well pickled, with just the right saltiness, a crispness, and an excellent taste.
She cut off the belly of both fish and used it as lard to fry slowly over low heat. After the fat was fried out, she put the fish pieces in and fried them over low heat. After frying, she added ginger, peppercorns, bay leaves and other spices and stir-fried them. After the aroma came out, she added an appropriate amount of water. After boiling over high heat, she added pickled vegetables and the dish was almost ready.
After the meal was ready, Yao Chunnuan told Xiao Jieming to close the door and eat. The winds in Yichun were truly strong at this time of year, and the temperature dropped as the night progressed. And closing the door was just the right way to keep the aroma out. She was known for her high-profile work and low-profile personal life; she'd already been in the spotlight enough today.
Even though they closed the door, the fragrance still drifted to the next door because they were too close.
It happened that people across the street were also having dinner, so the three of them ate while chatting. Zeng Laoer was a bit of a fool, and when he smelled the fragrance, he sniffed it hard.
Li Taohua glared at him, and Zeng Laoer looked embarrassed.
Li Taohua slammed her chopsticks on the table and said, "Eating delicious food every day is enough, even mountains of gold and silver are not enough."
Boss Zeng lowered his head and chewed the food in his mouth slowly. "Just live your own life well. Why bother about others?" In this area, the three of them have a good life. Why bother to get angry with others?
Thinking of what Boss Zeng had said to her at noon, Li Taohua felt upset but didn't say anything more.
*******
After Wei Qiuyu presented the multiplication table and the form, he waited for news with peace of mind.
But one day, two days, three days passed, and still no good news came. Wei Qiuyu was disappointed and anxious. She really didn't want to work sifting river sand anymore. But what had gone wrong? The value of these two things was obvious to anyone with a discerning eye. Why had there been no news for so long?
"You seem restless these past two days. Is something wrong?" Han Jinan asked.
He had worked all day, and even though he was a military officer, he was exhausted. The key was that the workload was heavy, the diet was poor, and the body was not replenished, which made the fatigue even worse.
Wei Qiuyu looked at their room. Apart from a bed and a tattered bedside table, the room was filled with a pile of junk.
The Han family was assigned a mud house, similar in layout to the one Yao Chunnuan and her family lived in. It had three open rooms, two dark rooms, and two utility rooms on each side. It housed the Han family of ten or so, living side by side, all very tightly packed together. The other rooms were occupied by couples with children. Even Mrs. Han didn't have her own room; she had to sleep with her grandson.
Han Jinan and Wei Qiuyu were newly married, and they didn't feel comfortable letting them sleep with a child, so they could only put as much stuff as possible in their room and make more space in other places.
But Wei Qiuyu felt irritated every day by the rags in the room and the occasional odor. She desperately wanted to do something, so she presented the multiplication table and tables without consulting her husband.
The situation was not right now, and Wei Qiuyu was feeling anxious. Just when Han Jinan asked her about it, she thought, why not just tell him, so she spoke hesitantly.
"What are these multiplication tables and tables you're talking about?"
Wei Qiuyu took two pieces of paper and slowly drew a sample picture for him.
Han Jinan took it and looked at it, his face changed immediately. "Why didn't you discuss this with me? Do you think of me as your husband? I'm telling you, our Han family is going to be ruined by you!"
Hearing the serious consequences he mentioned, Wei Qiuyu was shocked, "That's impossible! Don't scare me!"
"I'm scaring you? I thought I was just scaring you!" Han Jinan was anxious and angry. He didn't expect Wei Qiuyu to be so bold.
At this moment, there was a bang on the door, and the family members outside the door asked, "Second brother, second brother's wife, what happened?"
The quarrel between the two, no, it should be said that it was Han Jinan's excited voice that attracted the family.
Wei Qiuyu looked at him with pleading eyes, she was scared.
Han Jinan wiped his face and went to open the door. He knew very well that this matter could not be covered up and had to be made public, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.
Han Jinan was too lazy to beat around the bush and directly exposed what Wei Qiuyu had done in front of his family.
Except for Wei Qiuyu, everyone present came from a wealthy family and could tell the value of the two drawings at a glance.
But listen, what did they hear? Their second sister-in-law had secretly donated these two drawings without telling them. The key point was that after donating them for several days, there was no response!
"Since these two things are valuable, the other party has no reaction. Either they can't see their value, or they want to get something for nothing. The things are good, so let someone else offer them." Han Xiaosi said slowly. Working in Yichun was too tiring, and he also wanted to relax.
"She gave the things to Ning Zhen, the personal soldier of Li Xinchen's captain, and Ning Zhen was transferred to General Shao's camp and promoted to centurion the day before yesterday." Han Jinan said with a gloomy face.
The Han family members looked at each other in confusion. Does this mean that the other party was promoted two days ago?
Han Xiaosi cursed softly, "This bastard!" He relied on the things contributed by their Han family to get promoted, but he didn't give their Han family any benefits at all. How hateful!
"Is this all you can think of?" Old Madam Han asked with a serious face.
The Han family was confused. Was there any other problem?
Wei Qiuyu also looked nervous.
"You forgot about the third prince." Han Jinan said with a headache.
What does this have to do with the Third Prince?
The others were still confused, and Wei Qiuyu's face changed immediately.
"Good at calculating and making a comeback against the odds..." Han Jinan directly suggested a few key words.
He didn't blame them for not remembering it. If it weren't for the only private meeting he and Wang Lang had had more than half a month ago, and Wang Lang's attitude of rejecting the Han family for thousands of miles, he would have been reminded of it. After returning, he thought about it for two days and still couldn't remember the incident of being tricked by Yao Chunnuan before being exiled.
Han Lao San frowned, "That's just Yao's slander, no one else will believe it, right?" The Han family themselves are not sure whether they can clear the charges and return to the ranks of the powerful in the capital, so how can outsiders be sure?
Madam Han shook her head. Wei Qiuyu's identity was the real problem. Yao Chunnuan defined herself by her actions. Outsiders might wonder if Wei Qiuyu was so determined and unwavering, believing she was only doing this because she knew she would reap a high reward in the future. Did her husband, Han Jinan, have a sophisticated plan for a comeback?
Madam Han asked, "Such a big thing, she didn't tell you?"
Han Jinan shook his head.
The other female members of the Han family looked at Wei Qiuyu in disbelief. Why didn't she follow the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues when doing things? She should at least tell her husband about such a big thing.
"Kneel down!" shouted Old Lady Han.
"Mom..." Wei Qiuyu first asked her husband for help, but Han Jinan turned his head away, and finally she could only kneel down slowly.
Old Man Han pointed at her nose and scolded her, "You old woman, you've suppressed all the men in the family, and yet you're so good as to secretly give away these multiplication tables and tables you got from who knows where?! How can you just give away things like that? Do you know that this action will bring disaster to the whole family?! You brought out these two rare things, which further proves the credibility of what Yao said back then."
Wei Qiuyu was scolded so much that tears came out. Yao Chunnuan, you have made me suffer so much!
She had dug the hole too deep, and she was certain that she would not be able to resist using the knowledge of later generations!
This insidious woman!
The more she used it, the more it proved that what she said was right. Realizing this, Wei Qiuyu felt angry and desperate.
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