Chapter 111 Year-End
Tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve. Except for those who are on duty recently, everyone else will have two days off for the New Year.
The women in the families of these soldiers had started preparing for the New Year well in advance, half a month ago. Lin Changning's family was no exception. Since there were only two young men in Lin Changning's family, the aunts and older sisters in the neighborhood would come over to help the two of them after finishing their own affairs, as a way of making good connections.
Lin Changning is the youngest commander of the thousand households in Daxing. His tenth brother is a doctor who can cure all diseases. The life and career of the young master in the family depend on Changning. Whenever he has a headache or fever, he has to come to the tenth brother for some medicine. It must be said that although the tenth brother is young, his medical skills are excellent. He can cure a cold and flu in no more than three doses of medicine and the person will be full of energy again.
Moreover, since they were neighbors, he wouldn't even charge a consultation fee. If you got medicine from him, he would only charge you for the cost of the herbs. If the herbs you needed weren't available there, you could write down a list and go to the clinic to get them yourself. He saved everyone a lot of money each time.
As for this young commander, he was known for his consideration for his subordinates. Not to mention the meat and eggs he regularly distributed to his husband, with the year-end approaching, his soldiers had all received some copper coins to take home. Even the veterans, the young commander Lin had personally paid out of his own pocket to buy them some good wine and grain.
Now these women are hoping to help these two men so that they can do their part to express their gratitude.
Thanks to Sister-in-law Hu, whose family lived close by, a group of ladies learned during a casual chat that the Lin family had no women, not even two people to steam buns or make dumplings. It was Sister-in-law Hu who had prepared the cured meat. Hearing this, the women understood the situation and came over to help the next day. After all, it was the first New Year that the two Lin brothers had spent in Daxing, and it couldn't be too quiet or too lonely, right?
Lin Changning finished his shift at noon and prepared to go home. Qi Rong's letter of apology had already been submitted, and the new imperial decree had been issued. It seemed that the new commander would be appointed after the New Year. Although Lin Changning and the others were indignant, the matter was now a foregone conclusion.
As the year draws to a close, the Tartars are unusually well-behaved this year, with everyone hoping for a good year. Lin Changning is no exception. A few days ago, she sent some silver home, a total of one hundred taels, which is almost half of her savings. Thirty taels were used for her studies in the clan, and the rest were for her mother and sister-in-law. She thought that her family could have a good year and not be as poor as when she first arrived.
Before Lin Changning even entered his own courtyard, he heard the laughter of a group of women, interspersed with Shilang's embarrassed attempts to please. Lin Changning pushed open the courtyard gate and saw a lively scene of many women coming and going in his own courtyard.
Aunt Liu, the wife of Commander Ma, was sweeping the yard when she saw people returning. She smiled and said, "Changping is back? Come in quickly and go back inside with Shilang. There's a brazier inside, go and warm up so you don't get cold!"
Lin Changning looked at the group of people in the yard with a blank expression: "Auntie? What's going on here?"
Aunt Hu poked her head out of the kitchen and shouted loudly to Lin Changning, "Changning, go wash your hands. We'll be eating soon. Your sisters are making New Year's goods for your family."
Lin Changning was both amused and exasperated: "How could I possibly accept this? Sister-in-law, please tell everyone to stop working and go inside to rest. I'll go buy some meat and we can have lunch together. I'll also invite the other uncles and brothers."
Aunt Liu glared at him, threw down the broom, grabbed Lin Changning, and shoved him into the main room: "What do you two half-grown boys know? Wasting money! Go back inside and warm up. We've cleaned the whole house for you, and we've made a lot of dumplings for you on the stove. It's cold, so they'll keep for a while. We're frying fruit cakes right now. You two have so much food at home, and you don't even know how to cook anything. Go back inside. The girls and boys are all warming up in their rooms. Shilang is teaching them to read right now. Go play inside."
Helpless, Lin Changning was pushed into the main room, where he happened to run into a group of teenagers and young girls. After staring at each other for a while, Lin Changning coughed and greeted the children: "Ahem, the brazier in the room isn't very bright. Are you cold?"
When Hu's two little children saw Lin Changning return, they suddenly rushed over and clung to him, saying, "Uncle Lin, you're back! It's warm inside, we're not cold."
Lin Changning wasn't very familiar with the other children and felt awkward, so he just wanted to sneak back to his own room. Shilang and Dahuang were sitting by the brazier. When Dahuang saw Lin Changning come back, it wagged its tail and ran over to Lin Changning.
Lin Changning casually stroked the dog's head and looked at Shilang, indicating with his eyes what was going on. Shilang helplessly spread his hands: "Thanks to Sixth Brother's good connections, as soon as you left this morning, my aunts and sisters-in-law rushed over and chased me out of the kitchen without saying a word. They helped with cleaning and making New Year's goods. If you weren't literate, they would have even helped us put up the couplets."
Lin Changning sighed, thinking it wouldn't be right to let them work for free, so he took out a tael of silver from his pocket and tossed it to Shilang under the envious gazes of the group of children: "Tenth brother, go to the market and buy some snacks and fruits to share with them."
Shi Lang exclaimed "Oh!" and was about to go out when he bumped into Ma San Niang who was coming in. Ma San Niang's eyes lit up when she saw Lin Changning. She bowed slightly and greeted Lin Changning before looking at Shi Lang: "Shi Lang, you don't need to go to the market to buy anything. My mother thought of it when she came and has already prepared some snacks in the shop. My father and the others will be coming over later and will bring the snacks with them."
Lin Changning raised an eyebrow at Ma Sanniang, somewhat puzzled. Ma Sanniang chuckled, "Sixth Brother, my father said that he owes a debt of gratitude to you for your help in mediating his last trip. Since we don't have much at home, he took the liberty of preparing some snacks. We'll share them with everyone later to show our appreciation."
"I wasn't of much help, Third Sister, you're too kind."
Upon learning that Commander Ma would be coming over later, Lin Changning no longer declined. Ma Sanniang entered the room and raised an eyebrow at a girl in the corner: "What are you doing here?"
Shi Qianhu's niece sat quietly in the corner, carrying a small stool. Seeing Ma San Niang, she looked somewhat embarrassed: "My mother asked me to come and help..."
Ma San Niang sneered: "You talk a good game, but when it comes to helping out, why don't you go work in the kitchen?"
The girl lowered her head, her face flushed crimson, and her voice was barely audible: "Sister-in-law Hu said there are enough people in the kitchen, so she asked me to come inside."
Another girl rolled her eyes, clearly disliking this girl as well: "Who doesn't know your family's dirty thoughts? The Ma family hasn't even broken off the engagement yet, and you're already in a hurry to climb the social ladder!"
Lin Changning looked at the girls' aggressive demeanor and silently asked Shilang, "What's going on here?"
Juro shook his head, pointed to the girl in the corner, and mouthed, "The one surnamed Shi!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
