Chapter 243: Becoming a Grandma
Cheng Wanwan was playing with her granddaughter inside the house.
The little girl was a bit wrinkled when she was born, but she has gradually become whiter in the past few days. She has big eyes with very dark pupils, like glass.
The little chubby hand waved and pinched Cheng Wanwan's fingers, holding them tightly and unwilling to let go.
"This girl loves her grandmother very much," Madam Wen said with a smile. "As soon as her grandmother comes, she doesn't even want her own mother anymore."
Cheng Wanwan was not used to being called "grandma," but indeed, she had become a grandma.
Just as she was about to speak, she felt a heat on her thigh.
She touched her crotch and said, "Little Pearl, you peed again."
Modern times are better; with diapers, you basically don't have to worry about poop or pee getting on your body or the bed.
Ms. Wen took the child from her: "I'll change the diaper, sister-in-law, go and change your clothes."
Cheng Wanwan shook her head. The baby's urine wasn't that smelly, and it would dry after a while if it got wet. Otherwise, how could there be so many clothes to change all day long?
She helped bring over clean diapers and helped Ms. Wen change the baby's diaper and pants. Fortunately, the eldest daughter-in-law was diligent and made a lot of clothes for the baby. In addition, Old Mrs. Zhao borrowed some old clothes from other people's homes. Little Zhuzhu had a lot of clothes and could wear them out even if she changed three or four times a day.
Just as she was leisurely busy, Wu Xiaochui walked in, looking anxious: "Auntie, I just saw someone stealing pork cracklings."
Upon hearing this, Wen became agitated: "How can there still be such petty thieves in the village? Sister-in-law, you shouldn't get involved in this. I'll go tell the old lady and have her drag that person out and give him a good scolding in front of the whole village..."
Cheng Wanwan knew that Wen Shi said this for her own good. After all, the villagers were working for her, and if the master of the house broke ties with the workers, those people might cause trouble in secret later, which would be impossible to guard against.
"Second Aunt, no rush." Cheng Wanwan smiled. "We'll deal with this at noon."
Wu Xiaochui was a little anxious: "That woman can grab a handful at a time, she can eat up a whole bowl of pork cracklings, by noon there probably won't be any left."
Cheng Wanwan chuckled: "Why are you so impatient? There isn't much work to do in the warehouse, so you can continue to help keep an eye on things. Besides pork lard, there's also wood ash, dry firewood, etc. Keep an eye on them. If anyone takes anything, write it down in your notebook."
Wu Xiaochui scratched the back of his head: "Um... Auntie, I can't read or write."
Cheng Wanwan was a little worried. If she couldn't read, she would only be able to do manual labor in the future.
However, she is not the child's parent, nor is she obligated to send the child to school.
She said, "If you can't write, then use your brain to remember what the person looks like and what they took. Once you've memorized it, come back and tell me."
Wu Xiaochui nodded vigorously: "I'll go right now!"
He left in a hurry.
Cheng Wanwan continued to tease her little granddaughter. This girl sleeps for twenty hours a day, so she had to take advantage of her awake time to play with her as much as possible.
Wu Huiniang sat on the edge of the bed, hesitatingly asking, "Mother, I want to teach Xiaochui to read, is that alright?"
Although she didn't go to school, Cheng Zhao taught her to read at home, and she learned quite a bit from him. Later, when the four boys went to school, she no longer had the opportunity to sit in on classes. However, Da Shan would lie in bed every night to review what he had learned that day, and under his influence, her literacy was quite good. Even Chunhua, who hadn't read much, could speak four or five classical phrases in this family atmosphere.
Cheng Wanwan said, "Of course, as long as he is willing to learn."
Wu Huiniang laughed: "He will definitely be willing to learn. He has always been willing to learn new and interesting things since he was a child. He is very smart."
After the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law chatted for a few minutes, Cheng Wanwan got up and went to check on the kitchen.
Now all the cooking duties have been handed over to Chunhua. Although the dishes Chunhua makes are not as good as Wu Huiniang's, they are at least much better than Cheng Wanwan's, and the family is happy to eat them. The workload of cooking three meals a day is not small, with more than a dozen people in the family, as well as meals for Master Yu and He Xiao...
Chunhua's job wasn't just cooking; she also had to clean the house and take care of the animals in the backyard.
Chunhua is honest and hardworking, but she does everything quietly and has a very low profile in the family.
Looking at Chunhua's tattered clothes, Cheng Wanwan thought that she should make some clothes for the child, but there was no rush.
Around noon, Cheng Wanwan headed towards the soap workshop.
We had agreed that we could go back for lunch and rest for half an hour, and now it was time, but no one dared to leave.
Cheng Wanwan walked over, clapped her hands, and told everyone to put down what they were doing and gather together.
Eighteen workers, plus Zhao Ergou who had been busy non-stop, stood neatly in the open space at the entrance.
"We rendered two bowls of pork cracklings this morning. We can't finish them all ourselves, so we're going to save some to give to everyone as a treat," Cheng Wanwan said with a smile. "Everyone helped out and worked hard, so we'll sell these pork cracklings cheaply, five cents a pound, with a limit of half a pound per person."
Everyone was taken aback.
Pure pork fat costs more than 20 coins per pound on the market, lard can sell for 40 coins, and the rendered pork cracklings cost 10 coins per pound.
Some poor families who couldn't afford meat would buy pork cracklings as a treat. These cracklings were fragrant and crispy, a rare delicacy.
Ten coins a pound is already quite cheap, but not many people in the village are willing to spend that much.
Now, at Cheng Wanwan's place, it only costs five coins a pound. Who would refuse such a good deal!
Immediately, many people raised their hands to buy.
Cheng Wanwan's smile slowly faded: "Fifty catties of fatty pork should be able to render at least ten catties of pork cracklings. Everyone, look, are these two basins enough for ten catties?"
Tie Zhu's mother frowned: "The fatty pork delivered this morning didn't have any lean meat mixed in. Four and a half pounds of fatty pork can only yield about one pound of cracklings. It's impossible that there's only this little bit."
“The village is poor, and everyone rarely gets to eat meat all year round, but here are two big basins of pork cracklings. I know some people will be tempted,” Cheng Wanwan said calmly. “But being tempted is not an excuse to steal food. I’ll only say this once. If you take the initiative to stand up and admit your mistake, I can let it go this time. But if you refuse to admit it, don’t blame me for turning my back on you.”
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold and somber, and the eighteen people standing below looked at each other in bewilderment.
Zhao Ergou had been busy all morning teaching the workers how to improve the process, so busy that he was completely overwhelmed and never expected that the first process would go wrong.
His eyes were sharp as he looked at each person one by one.
Aunt Xu's eyes darted around, which Zhao Ergou noticed.
"I know who it is!" Aunt Xu stepped forward, pointing at Wu Xiaochui. "He's been wandering around outside all morning. He must have smelled the aroma of pork cracklings and sneaked some when we weren't looking... Such an irresponsible child should be kicked out!"
Wu Xiaochui's eyes widened in anger. This woman was truly adept at twisting the truth.
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "Tiezhu's mother, please help check Aunt Xu's clothes."
Aunt Xu looked incredulous: "The boy who stole the pork cracklings has nothing to do with me, Aunt Dashan. What do you mean by this? What did I do to you?"
“I saw you stealing fried pork cracklings with my own eyes, and you even hid them in your clothes,” Wu Xiaochui said through gritted teeth. “Aunt Tiezhu, you can find out if you investigate.”
Tie Zhu's mother quickly stepped forward and grabbed Xu Da Niang's arm. Xu Da Niang was not going to stand still obediently and started to struggle.
Then, bits of pork fat dripped down her bulging chest, and her undergarments shone with oil.
"It really is you!" Tie Zhu's mother exclaimed in disbelief. "You don't even have half a pound of pork cracklings, it's only worth five copper coins, how could you do such a thing!"
Caught red-handed, Aunt Xu stopped struggling and immediately pulled out all the pork cracklings: "Auntie Dashan, here you go, let's just forget about it, I'll never steal them again!"
Cheng Wanwan said coldly, "Ergou, settle Aunt Xu's wages for the first half of the day. Aunt Xu, you don't need to come in this afternoon."
After she finished speaking, she turned and left, giving Aunt Xu no chance to admit her mistake or beg for forgiveness.
If Aunt Xu admits to stealing food, she will be willing to give her another chance.
But this person not only refused to admit it, but also tried to shift the blame onto others. His character was questionable, so she dared not keep him around.
The other dozen or so people standing in the open space were still shaken. In fact, after smelling the aroma of lard, they too had the urge to steal some, but they all restrained themselves. Luckily, they resisted, otherwise, they would have lost their good jobs with six hundred coins a month, just like Aunt Xu...
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