Chapter 77 Sun Shi's Deepest Regret
When Cheng Wanwan got home, it was still early.
The doghouse is finished: a few simple wooden planks covered with thatch and lined with dry grass.
The injured little black dog was placed inside to recover, while the big black dog ran around the yard, scaring the chicks and ducklings into huddled in a corner, trembling with fear.
Zhao Sidan shouted angrily, "If you chase the chicks and ducks again, you won't be allowed to eat dinner tonight!"
Big Black immediately backed down and obediently went into its own doghouse, where it and Little Black each occupied one side, barely managing to coexist peacefully.
Xia Hua came over and helped wrap hay in the yard. This was a new job that Cheng Wanwan had assigned her. After wrapping the hay, she would also neatly stack the firewood that had been chopped at home. She could earn two coins a day.
Xia Hua was quiet and kept her head down, working diligently.
Zhao Sidan herded the ducks to the field to eat, but there were just too many ducks, and he was a bit flustered. In the end, Cheng Wanwan couldn't bear to watch anymore and helped him herd the ducks onto the field.
While herding the ducks, Zhao Sidan also dug up wild vegetables and took care of feeding the chicks.
Cheng Wanwan was filtering ice jelly in the house; she needed to make seven buckets today.
As she was busy, Xia Hua suddenly rushed in from outside: "Auntie, a carriage is parked at the door!"
Cheng Wanwan quickly wiped her hands and went outside, where she indeed saw the carriage.
However, this carriage was not as luxurious as the magistrate's carriage, but even if it wasn't luxurious, it was still a rare sight in Dahe Village.
In just a short while, all the people working nearby gathered around.
A man jumped out of the car. Cheng Wanwan recognized him; he was Manager Zheng from Rujia Restaurant in Ping'an Town.
Manager Zheng walked towards Cheng Wanwan: "It was really hard to find Sister Zhao's house, but I finally found it."
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "The ice jelly was delivered this morning. I wonder what brings Manager Zheng here?"
"Half an hour ago, the magistrate, accompanied by dozens of yamen runners and a dozen men, suddenly visited our Rujia Restaurant and ordered ice jelly right away." Manager Zheng sighed. "The ice jelly was delivered early this morning and was almost sold out by noon. There was nothing left for the magistrate, but he specifically asked for it, so I had no choice but to come in person. I wonder if Sister Zhao has any left?"
Cheng Wanwan looked up: "Has the magistrate returned to Ping'an Town?"
Manager Zheng laughed: "Judging from their discussion, it seems they've found some kind of water source. The rice in the fields can probably be saved. This is great news, fantastic news!"
"Then please wait a moment, Manager Zheng, I'll go in and get the ice jelly."
Cheng Wanwan went into the house, took out sweet potato starch from the cabinet, and stirred it into a bucket of filtered ice jelly.
She filled a larger wooden bucket with water, put a bucket of ice jelly inside, and used the water to chill it, which would speed up the solidification process.
She instructed Manager Zheng: "The carriage will take about half an hour to get to Ping'an Town. If it hasn't solidified into a block yet, leave it for a while longer."
Manager Zheng was extremely grateful and was about to pay.
Cheng Wanwan glanced at the crowd watching the commotion outside the courtyard and said with a smile, "It's not too late to settle the bill tomorrow morning."
A bucket of ice jelly contains a hundred bowls, which is a hundred coins. It's not a lot of money, but receiving a pile of copper coins in front of so many people can easily arouse envy.
Manager Zheng understood what he meant, cupped his hands in greeting, picked up the ice jelly bucket, and hurried away.
As soon as he left, the crowd gathered at the door surged in.
"Auntie Dashan, was that Manager Zheng from the Rujia Restaurant just now?"
"I thought Aunt Dashan was running a small business, but it turns out she was doing business with big shots like Manager Zheng."
"Auntie Dashan is amazing! No wonder she has the money to buy so many chickens and ducks to raise. Tsk tsk, she even feeds two dogs. This family has no worries about food and drink."
These women were extremely envious, and their words inevitably carried a hint of sourness.
"What money do you have? For a losing business, no one is doing any work in the fields!" Old Mrs. Zhao suddenly squeezed in and scolded, "Eldest daughter-in-law, I think you don't need to do this business anymore. Look at your rice paddy, the weeds are almost as tall as a person. In half a month, when everyone else is harvesting grain, you'll be harvesting a bunch of grass to feed your chickens!"
Everyone turned to look at the rice paddy. They didn't see the tall weeds, but they did see ducklings fluttering around.
Herding ducks into the rice paddies is such a waste of food. I thought Aunt Dashan was becoming more reliable, but why is she doing something so unreliable again?
Standing on the periphery, Madam Sun gritted her teeth in anger.
The old lady is lying through her teeth. If her sister-in-law hadn't earned any money, how could she possibly pay her husband such a high wage?
Fearing that her sister-in-law would be envied by the villagers, the old lady even made up a set of lies.
She insisted on telling everyone that her sister-in-law had made money, just to see how the old lady could continue spouting nonsense.
Sun squeezed in, carrying a basket of agate seeds: "Sister-in-law, all twenty-four catties of lantern seeds we harvested yesterday have been peeled. You can calculate how much they cost."
Cheng Wanwan weighed the item and paid her twelve coins.
Sun deliberately counted them one by one.
The villagers were stunned. Just for shelling this one basket of seeds, the wages were only twelve coins?
Will these seeds be enough to make a bucket of ice jelly?
They thought that Aunt Dashan had made a lot of money. But when you calculate it this way, a bowl of ice jelly that costs two or three coins doesn't make any profit at all.
In their view, the mountain woman was just too lazy. If she picked the lanterns and shelled the seeds herself, she could save all those costs and make a profit.
Although Da Shan Niang is a bit lazy, this way they can take the opportunity to make some money.
A woman spoke up: "So, Auntie Dashan is collecting seeds from lanterns. My two girls have nothing to do all day long, so I'll have them peel them and bring them over, what do you think?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Sun was stunned.
Why is it different from what she imagined? Shouldn't the villagers be asking how much money her sister-in-law has made?
She immediately defended her interests: "This job is mine, no one is allowed to take it."
“You’re not being nice to hear, Youcai’s wife. Everyone has hands, how can it be your job alone? You can’t handle it all with just your two hands, can you? Dashan’s business is so good, even Manager Zheng comes to pick up the goods himself. You’re too slow, what if we run out of stock?”
"That's right, that's right, Auntie Shan, can my family shell the seeds and send them over too?"
Mrs. Sun was almost driven mad with anger.
She was plotting against her sister-in-law; how could she let these people take her work away from her?
She wanted to say something more, but Old Mrs. Zhao glared at her coldly: "It's not easy for your sister-in-law to run her business. She can't let you hold her back. You can't support her even if you work yourself to death. Others need to lend a hand so that the business can continue in the long run."
Cheng Wanwan chuckled slightly.
The old lady was just scolding her for making a losing deal, and now she's worried that the business won't last.
Her mother-in-law is becoming more and more adorable.
Without even glancing at Sun, she addressed the crowd: "Lanterns are two coins a pound, and peeled lantern seeds are ten coins a pound. Whatever it is, send it to the old house to be settled."
The villagers quickly calculated that about four catties of lanterns could yield one catty of seeds. That meant they would get two coins for peeling four catties and one coin for peeling two catties. This was a fair price. Peeling seeds wasn't a big deal anyway. They could only pick about one or two catties of lanterns a day by going up the mountain. It wouldn't even take an hour to peel them all. Who would turn down such a good opportunity?
"Aunt Dashan is such a straightforward person."
"I'll go back right away and have the kids peel the seeds out quickly."
Sun's eyes widened suddenly. Although the money was hard-earned, it was indeed in her own hands.
But now, even this hard work is gone.
Old Mrs. Zhao glared at her fiercely and cursed, "Serves you right!"
The onlookers at the door had no time to laugh at Sun; they needed to hurry up and send their children up the mountain to collect more lanterns, shell the seeds, and exchange them for money.
Among the crowd, a pair of eyes stared at Cheng Wanwan with envy; it was Zhang, a widow from the village.
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