Chapter 63 The Unromantic, Obnoxious Man
During the day, some children would bring lanterns, and Wu Huiniang would stay at home to receive them and settle accounts.
During the day alone, Wu Huiniang harvested eighteen jin of lanterns. Besides cutting and making clothes, she sat and peeled stone flowers. It didn't require much skill, but it required patience and was time-consuming. Sitting still made her back ache. During the day, Wu Huiniang peeled more than two jin of lanterns.
Cheng Wanwan boiled a large pot of water, left it outside to cool in the wind, and then soaked the agar seeds in the cooled water.
While the water was soaking, she continued to boil water. Making ice jelly requires a lot of boiled water, so one pound of agar seeds can make more than a hundred bowls of ice jelly.
Zhao Sanniu was chopping firewood in the yard. Most of the firewood he had just chopped was used to boil water. He then took his axe and went up the mountain again to chop more firewood.
Zhao Ergou carried a bucket and followed along up the mountain to fetch water; they needed a lot of water.
After soaking the agar seeds, Zhao Dashan sat in front of a large wooden basin and kept rubbing them with his hands to wash away the acidic, coagulating substance on the surface of the agar seeds and dissolve it in the water.
After Cheng Wanwan boiled the water, the next step was to filter it. There would be fragments of agar seeds in the kneaded ice jelly, which affected the appearance and taste, so they had to be filtered out.
All the wooden buckets and basins in the house were occupied, so she called Zhao Sidan, who was cleaning up duck droppings outside, in: "Go to your grandma's place and borrow four wooden buckets and two wooden basins. Also, take two coins to your sister Xia Hua."
Xia Hua was responsible for feeding the chickens and ducks at home during the day, and the cost of that must be settled that day.
With two coins in his pocket, Zhao Sidan ran quickly towards the Zhao family's old house. The sun hadn't completely set yet, and there was still light outside, along with a slight evening chill. The Zhao family members were all sitting in the courtyard, some chopping wood, some washing clothes, some mending, some repairing farm tools, and some picking wild vegetables, chatting about everyday things. It was quite lively.
"Sidan, what brings you here?" Old Mrs. Zhao was the first to see him. "What's the matter that you're in such a hurry? You're all sweaty. Come and have some water."
Zhao Sidan pulled out two coins from his sleeve: "My mother said to settle Xia Hua's wages."
Of the two coins, Old Mrs. Zhao took one coin and gave the remaining coin to Xia Hua.
Xia Hua took the money and immediately gave it to her mother, Wen Shi. Wen Shi put it into her purse and said with a smile, "Xia Hua, I'm saving this penny for your dowry. Tomorrow you should dig up some wild vegetables and weeds to feed your aunt's chickens and ducks."
Xia Hua nodded: "Mother, I know."
Seeing this, Mrs. Sun was a little envious. Although it was only one coin, it was still money, and it originally belonged to their third branch of the family.
She said with a hint of bitterness, "Sister-in-law is really generous. She must have made a lot of money. Unlike us, we toil in the fields every day and don't even earn a penny."
Old Mrs. Zhao got angry as soon as she heard her daughter-in-law speak. She had warned her daughter-in-law countless times, both openly and secretly, but her third daughter-in-law still hadn't improved at all.
The old lady ignored Sun Shi and turned to ask, "Fourth Egg, is there anything else?"
Zhao Sidan nodded: "Mother said to come and borrow four wooden buckets and two wooden basins."
In the past, Old Mrs. Zhao would never have lent these household items out, mainly because she was afraid they would be ruined by her eldest daughter-in-law.
During this period, the eldest son's wife would bring food to the old house every few days, and she was much more open and generous than before, lending things out was no big deal for her.
Grandma Zhao said, "Dawang and Erwang, help Sidan take the wooden bucket and basin over."
Sun's brow twitched, and she immediately said, "Mother, the child's father still needs to fetch water later tonight. How will he fetch water if the wooden bucket has been lent out?"
Before Old Mrs. Zhao could speak, Zhao Youcai said, "Didn't you just bring back four buckets of water? The water tank is full. What, not enough for you?"
Sun was so angry that she gritted her teeth.
Although Zhao Sidan didn't say it explicitly, she could guess what her sister-in-law wanted to do with the wooden bucket. She must be making ice jelly, using their things to make money. She should at least pay some rent.
As a result, she was shut down by her own man as soon as she started to talk about it.
Sun pinched Zhao Youcai's arm hard, then turned and went inside.
"You silly woman, what are you thinking about all day?" Zhao Youcai scolded irritably. "With that time, hurry up and weave me a pair of straw sandals. I don't even have any shoes to wear every day..."
Sun sat in the room, her heart aching with anger.
Her husband is such a jerk! He embarrassed her in front of so many people, just because she didn't give birth to a son. If she had a son to back her up, who would dare to give her a hard time?
Zhao Youcai continued chopping wood outside.
Old Zhao took a puff of his pipe and said, "Third brother, go up the mountain and cut down a fir tree."
The fir tree is relatively thin, so one person can cut it down and drag it back. One tree can make three or four wooden buckets. In his early years, Old Man Zhao learned carpentry, but he was not meticulous and his workmanship was rough. He couldn't do this job and was persuaded to quit by his master after half a year of learning. But he did learn some skills after all. Making wooden buckets and basins was not difficult for him.
Zhao Youcai didn't ask what he was going to do with the tree; he just grabbed his axe and went out.
As they approached the foot of the mountain, they encountered another widow from the village, Zhang. Zhang had been widowed in her early twenties and was not yet thirty. Her clothes were not as patched, and she was carrying a bamboo basket. When she saw Zhao Youcai, she greeted him, "Brother Zhao, where are you going?"
Zhao Youcai, holding an axe, casually said, "Let's go up the mountain and cut down a tree."
Seeing the muscles on his arms, Zhang took two steps forward involuntarily: "Brother Zhao, I chopped some firewood and piled it up on the mountain during the day. You know I'm just a woman, I don't have the strength to drag the firewood down the mountain. Could you help me, Brother Zhao?"
As she spoke, she moved closer to Zhao Youcai, her arm brushing against his body almost imperceptibly.
Zhao Youcai took a step back: "It's almost dark. I don't have time to haul firewood for you. Let's talk about it tomorrow."
He carried the axe and hurried up the mountain.
Zhang was so angry that she stomped her feet. What an insensitive man! She had made it so obvious, and he just walked away.
No matter how much she stomped her feet, it was no use; Zhao Youcai's figure had already disappeared into the mountains and forests.
She continued walking, carrying the bamboo basket, and soon stopped in front of Cheng Wanwan's house.
She stood at the gate of the courtyard, tiptoed closer, and stood on tiptoe to look into the house. She couldn't tell what was being cooked in the kitchen, and the door to the main room was closed. She could only hear people talking, but she didn't know what they were doing.
Lanterns were piled up under the eaves of the gate, and had not yet been cleaned up.
Zhang looked left and right, but couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, Zhao Sidan pushed open the door and came out, looking at her with a suspicious expression: "Aunt Zhang, what are you doing?"
Zhang's face immediately lit up with a smile: "I went up the mountain and got some lanterns, about two pounds. Would your mother like to buy them?"
Cheng Wanwan came out of the house, took the bamboo basket and weighed it. It was indeed two jin. She went back into the house, took out four coins, and handed them to Zhang.
After receiving the money, Zhang showed no sign of leaving.
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