Chapter 50 Sun's Thoughts
Sun's face was full of disappointment.
The elder sister-in-law took the lanterns that her two daughters had worked so hard to pick, without giving them a single penny.
If I don't make any money tomorrow, won't these eleven coins be wasted?
Thinking of this, Mrs. Sun suddenly paused.
If she were in this business, she definitely wouldn't be willing to spend money to hire someone to help pick lantern grass; her sister-in-law earned more money than she imagined.
"Auntie bought some delicious snacks for Sidan..." Donghua licked her lips and said, "Auntie also bought lots and lots of fabric, so Sidan will have new clothes to wear soon..."
He bought meat and ducks, as well as snacks and cloth; he must have earned at least a hundred coins.
A few months ago, her husband went to town to carry heavy loads, earning only twenty copper coins a day!
An idea popped into Sun's head, and she said softly, "Dashan's wife is pregnant and it's inconvenient for her to cook, and the boys aren't very attentive either. Sister-in-law, you probably can't manage all the cooking by yourself. I'll go help you tomorrow..."
As soon as she opened her mouth, Old Mrs. Zhao knew what she was up to, and scolded her impatiently, "How can you be so short-sighted? You have time to covet other people's coins, you should be doing your own work... I can see you really have a lot of free time, tomorrow you go and pull all the weeds in the field..."
Sun's face turned green.
The Zhao family's land wasn't separated; the three families' land was mixed together, with over twenty acres of rice paddies alone. If they were to uproot it all, wouldn't that be the death of her?
Just as dawn was breaking, the old lady woke Sun up to go weed.
She stepped out of her house and stood on the edge of the field. She saw Zhao Da's oxcart arrive at the village entrance, and then Cheng Wanwan led her four sons out and got on the oxcart.
Standing on the edge of the field, Sun made up her mind and walked towards the end of the village.
Wu Huiniang was the only one in the courtyard.
Today, all four boys in the family went with Cheng Wanwan to Hekou Town to sell ice jelly, while Wu Huiniang sat in the main room cutting fabric.
After cutting off a piece of fabric, she shifted her body somewhat awkwardly, her face flushing slightly.
Last night, in the middle of the night, her mother-in-law suddenly called her out and handed her two pairs of palm-sized pants, telling her to wear them close to her skin from now on to prevent gynecological diseases.
She didn't know what gynecological diseases were, but she knew she had to listen to her mother-in-law, so she put it on.
It is indeed more comfortable to wear, but I am not used to it and can't help but twist and turn and constantly adjust my sitting posture.
"Cluck cluck!"
"Caw caw caw!"
The chickens and ducks in the yard suddenly squawked.
Wu Huiniang quickly put down her work, got up and went out, where she saw Sun Shi pushing open the courtyard gate.
She went out to greet her, opening the courtyard gate: "What brings you here, Third Aunt?"
Sun walked in, her eyes darting around. She first silently counted how many ducklings there were, then went straight into the main room and immediately saw a piece of dark blue homespun cloth on the table.
She gave a forced smile: "Is the mountain woman sewing clothes?"
Wu Huiniang generously said, "Dashan's clothes are all left by his father-in-law when he was alive. He hasn't changed them for several years. My mother-in-law is so considerate that she asked me to make a new one for Dashan."
“These are the lanterns that Chunhua and Donghua sent yesterday, right?” Sun saw a basket of lanterns in the corner of the main room, casually walked over and picked one up. “It’s strange, these lanterns look so unremarkable, how can they be used to make delicious and beautiful ice jelly? Dashan’s wife, can you teach your third aunt?”
Wu Huiniang's vigilance immediately rose to her throat, but she remained calm and composed, appearing weak and insecure: "Third Aunt, I don't know anything about this either. My mother-in-law didn't ask me to get involved."
Sun continued, "You should know whether to boil the lantern in a pot or dry it and grind it into powder, right?"
Wu Huiniang continued to shake her head, refusing to say a single word.
Sun had no choice but to use her trump card: "If you can tell me the recipe for ice jelly, I'll give you half of the sales price. Once you have that money, it's your own private money and has nothing to do with your mother-in-law."
Wu Huiniang remained silent.
"How could you be so stupid!" Sun couldn't hold back any longer and scolded, "With your taciturn nature, you're like a broken gourd, you won't utter a sound even if you're beaten with a stick, that's why your mother-in-law has always been controlling of you. Everyone in the village knows that your mother-in-law abuses you every day, and you, even though you're pregnant, still wash clothes, cook, and do chores like a maid every day... Your mother-in-law is making money now, she'll be like the Queen Mother of the West in heaven in the future, you just wait to be tormented..."
Wu Huiniang looked down and left and right, then walked over, picked up the broom, and started sweeping at Sun's feet: "Third Aunt, move aside, I need to sweep the floor, please move aside..."
She took a broom and swept Sun Shi out of the house.
Then he slammed the gate shut.
Sun was so angry that smoke was billowing from her seven orifices.
"Youcai's wife, what are you doing here?" Aunt Wang from next door came back from the fields. "There are two young men from Guihua Village coming over at the village entrance. They seem to be from your family. The patrol team saw that they were strong and didn't dare to let them in. You should go and check on them."
The patrol team in Dahe Village gradually developed its own rules. If a single outsider came, they could be allowed to pass after being questioned. If two or more people came and they needed to find someone, they had to wait outside the village and someone would go to notify them.
When Sun walked to the village entrance, she saw her two eldest nephews from her maternal family.
“Aunt, Grandma asked us to borrow some grain.” Sun’s eldest nephew went straight to the point. “All the grain in the fields of Guihua Village has dried up. Grandma said that our whole family will have to rely on you this year.”
Sun felt a chill run down her spine. The Sun family had nearly twenty members, and they all depended on her. Who did she depend on?
She said irritably, "The grain in Dahe Village hasn't dried out, but it's still growing in the fields. Where am I supposed to borrow grain from you? Let's talk about it after the rice is harvested!"
If I lend out ten catties of it, it will be considered as showing kindness and loyalty to my family.
The sun gradually rose.
Cheng Wanwan and her four sons finally arrived at Hekou Town.
She instructed Zhao Da once again: "Uncle Da, meet at the city gate at the end of noon. Don't go ahead by yourself."
Without an oxcart, she would have to walk home, which was a terrible thing. If she had to walk back and forth like this every day, she would rather not do business at all.
Zhao Da naturally agreed. He could earn ten coins for each round trip of the mother and her five children.
Last night, Cheng Wanwan and Wu Huiniang used two catties of agar seeds to make three buckets of ice jelly, which would yield more than 350 bowls.
The Nanfu Academy alone couldn't handle such a large volume, so she decided to take her sons to the docks to try it out first.
The dock in Hekou Town isn't large, but it's always bustling with people. As soon as a boat stops, many strong men go aboard to unload the cargo. Some carry the cargo away, while others return to the dock to wait for work after unloading. The crowd is constantly moving.
Cheng Wanwan found a few discarded planks on the dock, set up a makeshift low table, and started hawking her wares.
There were no buildings or trees along the riverbank, and the sun was blazing down. The burly men were so eager to work that they wanted to work shirtless. Suddenly, they heard someone selling ice jelly and offering free samples, and immediately a crowd gathered around.
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