Chapter 16
When Yu Ying came out of the house, Fu An, who had gone to fetch water, also came back.
Because of his age and small size, fetching water was a little difficult for him, so he walked and rested for a while and came back just now.
Fu An glanced at Yu Ying who came out of the house, and said nothing. Instead, he poured half a bucket of water into the half-full tank.
A lot of the water here was not drawn by him.
Fu An glanced at Yu Ying and saw that she was still a little unsteady when walking. He curled his lips and ran out of the yard with the wooden barrel.
Yu Ying was about to say that there was no need to fetch water, but she found that Fu An had already run away.
Yu Ying then withdrew her gaze and began to prepare dinner.
First take out the half catty and eight ounces of pork and place it on a wooden plate for later use.
Because the Fu family didn't have a kitchen knife, Yu Ying had to scald the newly bought scissors with boiling water first, then separate the fat from the lean pork, and finally cut off more than three or two taels of fat.
Start boiling half a pot of water, then use scissors to cut the fat into thin slices of the same size and put them into the ceramic pot.
Ceramic stoves are much more convenient to use than those stoves that are simply made of stones. Even the time it takes to boil water is shortened.
After blanching the fat, remove it and set aside.
Pour out the water in the pot, then add a little clean water, then put the blanched fat into the ceramic pot, stir-fry it with a long wooden spoon for a while and then boil the oil.
When the oil comes out, there is foam, which is scooped up with a spoon.
She didn't add firewood frequently, but simmered it slowly over low heat. After more than half a minute, a lot of oil came out. She wrapped the edge of the pot with an old cloth, lifted the pot, and poured the lard into a bowl.
After pouring it, she simmered it for a while, pressing the oil residue that still produced some oil with a wooden spoon, until the oil residue was fried into golden yellow. Then she poured it all into an empty bowl and poured the lard into the bowl containing oil.
There were more than 3 taels of fat meat, but because it was not cooked in an iron pot, the oil yield was not as good as expected, less than 2 taels.
But if you save a little, it will be enough for seven or eight days.
It doesn’t matter if there is less oil and salt, as long as there is some.
Yu Ying planned to stir-fry some wild vegetables in a clay pot with the small amount of oil residue left after boiling the oil.
After drinking porridge for many days, Yu Ying felt hungry, so she planned to cook some rice tonight.
Yu Ying brought out a bowl of rice from the house. When Fu An came back with his grandmother and sister, he smelled the aroma of oil floating in the yard. He sniffed the aroma of meat and couldn't help swallowing.
Seeing them coming back, Yu Ying said to Fu An, "Just put the water next to the water tank. I'll pour it in later. Go inside and ask your uncle if there's anything he can help you with."
She is a woman, so Fu Wei probably avoids her.
Fu An said nothing, he just staggered to the water tank with the water and poured the water into the tank with great effort.
Yu Ying glanced at his stubborn back.
Xindao is only eight years old, still a child, but here he has already shouldered the burden of a family.
After pouring the water, Fu An stood outside the thatched hut and called in, "Uncle, I'm coming in."
He waited for a while before lifting the straw curtain and entering the house.
In the room, Fu Wei was tying the belt of his clothes.
Fu An consciously stepped forward to pick up the used water and wanted to leave, but after hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Uncle, are you okay?"
Fu Wei paused, turned to look at his nephew who had first asked about his condition, and after a moment of silence, replied calmly, "Nothing serious."
Fu An said uncomfortably, "If you get hurt from the fall, don't bear it."
After saying this, he probably felt uncomfortable, so he hurried out of the house with the water.
The remaining Fu Wei lowered his eyes slightly.
After the woman came, everyone in the Fu family seemed to be influenced by her and slowly changed.
Under the subtle influence of her vitality and determination to get through life, the Fu family, who once looked like zombies with no light in their eyes, gradually regained their vitality.
After Fuan took the water out, he went back into the room and took the spittoon out.
Outside the house, Yu Ying saw Fu An coming out. She looked at the sky which still had some daylight. After thinking for a while, she poured the remaining lychee fruits into a new basin and brought it into the room where Fu Wei was.
Fu Wei had just put on his coat when Yu Ying came in.
He thought it was Fu An who had returned, and did not look up until a basin of water was placed on the table beside him, then he turned around and looked over.
When he saw that it was Yu Ying, Fu Wei lowered his gaze, glanced at the small half basin of wild fruits on the table, and then slowly raised his eyes to look at her.
Yu Ying said, "If you feel like a useless person, then make yourself less useless and help me with some work."
Fu Wei glanced at the wild fruits that seemed to be what she was using to earn money. After a long silence, he asked, "How do we do it?"
Yu Ying turned around and walked out of the house, bringing in a stone slightly bigger than her palm. This was something she had picked up by the river, and she usually cut the lychee fruit on it.
She placed the stone, or slate, on the table.
She took a fig fruit and placed it on top, then used the thick-backed, flat-bladed hatchet to cut the fig fruit in half, then used a wooden spoon to scoop out the seeds inside and placed them in a wooden bowl beside her.
After doing this, she put down the spoon and looked at him: "Just do it."
Fu Wei was silent for two breaths, then picked up the hatchet. His posture of holding the knife was skillful, and the knuckles holding the handle seemed to contain hidden power.
He is so skilled in using a knife, it is definitely not because he uses a knife often when cooking. Judging from his previous identity, he should be a good hand with a sword.
A slender hand reached into the wooden basin, took out a ficus carica fruit with long fingers, placed it on the stone slab, and cut it open cleanly and neatly, without any effort like Yu Ying's cutting.
After cutting one, don’t rush to dig out the seeds inside, but put them aside and continue cutting the second one.
Yu Ying watched him work, and after he had cut three pieces, she said, "Let me see if the bamboo frame on your legs is loose."
Fu Wei didn't stop his hands and nodded indifferently.
Yu Ying walked aside, glanced at the thin quilt covering his legs, and asked suspiciously, "Why do you keep it covered all the time?"
The weather is hot now, so he almost never needs to cover himself with a thin quilt at night, but every time she comes in, she sees a quilt covering his legs.
Fu Wei's hands did not stop moving, his expression was cold, and he said calmly: "I don't want to see it."
Yu Ying glanced at him, said nothing, looked away, and lifted up his loose trouser legs.
The bamboo frame was intact and the cloth strips were not loose.
But the noise I heard outside just now was very loud, and it was obvious that he had fallen quite hard. However, his legs were not affected, so the injury must have been to his upper body.
Yu Ying thought for a moment and looked at Fu Wei quietly.
Fu Wei couldn't ignore her gaze. After a while, he stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her.
"Speak frankly."
Yu Ying asked calmly, "If I asked you to take off your shirt, would you do it?"
Fu Wei was stunned for a moment, but he quickly realized from her serious expression that she just wanted to check the bruises on his body.
"It's just a bump." His eyes moved down to his own legs, and a flash of disgust still crossed his mind: "Compared to these legs, it's nothing."
"There are bruises that need to be rubbed open." Yu Ying didn't quite believe it was just a bump. The sound of the fall was so loud, and his legs were disabled, so the degree of injury was definitely different from that of a normal person falling off the bed.
Thinking of this, he said, "Since you've already fallen, don't be so stubborn. It's better to come earlier. You can help me do more work earlier."
When he heard about working, Fu Wei raised his eyebrows, looked at his own legs, then looked at her, as if to say - I am disabled, how can I help you with any work?
Yu Ying seemed to understand the meaning of his eyes, so she explained, "There's a small restaurant in Yun County that has ordered jelly from me for a few days, but making jelly is too time-consuming. We need to reinforce the house in the next few days, so Fu An and I will help."
She treated him as a normal person.
Fu Wei felt something strange in his heart. After a moment of silence, he replied, "Okay."
Yu Ying said, "If you're concerned about the difference between men and women, I'll let Fu An come in and show you."
After saying that, she was about to turn around and call Fu An, but at this time Fu Wei behind her said slowly: "Yu Liuniang, we are husband and wife."
Yu Ying paused, turned her head and gave him a strange look: "Although there is a marriage contract, you don't consider Yu Liuniang your wife at all, right?"
Both of them were forced into the relationship and never considered each other as husband and wife.
Fu Wei asked, "What do you want to do next?"
Yu Ying spread her hands and said, "In the current situation, I just want to have enough food and clothing and live in peace. I'll think about other things when I can have enough food and drink."
After a pause, he continued, "If you have any good suggestions, you can also put them forward."
Fu Wei shook his head slightly, his expression indifferent: "It's up to you to decide. If you want to leave one day, I will divorce you."
They were no longer slaves and could decide on their own about marriage.
Yu Ying pondered for a moment and nodded: "Okay, once things settle down and I have the ability to protect myself, we will divorce."
Then he asked, "Would you rather show it to me or to Fu An?"
Fu Wei pondered for a moment, then raised his hand to take off his coat and untie the belt.
In front of her was a picture of a handsome man taking off his clothes. It was Yu Ying's turn to feel uncomfortable. She didn't know where to look for a moment. She wanted to look elsewhere, but she felt it was too deliberate. She could only stare at him without changing her expression.
If he were uglier, she wouldn't feel as uncomfortable as she does now.
But when Fu Wei exposed his shoulders, Yu Ying's discomfort immediately disappeared.
He couldn't help but frown slightly.
Fu Wei's collarbone was prominent and his body looked thin. He hadn't seen the sun for almost two months, which made his skin look sickly white.
But because he has a silent and cold temperament, he does not look sickly.
The place where he was injured from the fall was the hand holding the knife, and there was a purple-black bruise on the outside of his arm.
Yu Ying's face darkened, and she said solemnly, "Don't cut it anymore. I'll go ask Aunt He if she has any medicinal wine."
Most families who do hard labor have medicine that can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. I don’t know if Aunt He has it, so I can only try my luck.
After Yu Ying finished speaking, she turned and left the room.
Fu Wei glanced at her leaving back, then pulled up his clothes and looked at the wild fruits in the basin thoughtfully.
When Yu Ying came back with the medicinal wine, she saw a table full of fruit shells, and then looked at the seeds that had been dug out and placed in a bowl. She was silent for a long time.
After seeing Fu Wei being so stubborn, Yu Ying finally understood why Fu An was also so stubborn - this was undoubtedly a tradition passed down from their Fu family.
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