Chapter 13: Soaked
The exile team had no food in the morning. After Zhou Jin and his sister took the prey back, the exile team set off. However, because they thought they would be able to eat delicious meat at noon, the whole family was very excited and even felt more energetic than at other times to travel.
After another long and arduous half-day trek, the team stopped in the woods beside a pond.
The family hurriedly found a shady tree to settle down. Zhou Jin took out the prey he had hunted in the morning and discussed with Zheng. They only kept the living pheasant for the family to eat. Zhou Jin took the remaining rabbit and another smaller pheasant and planned to send them to Song, the yamen runner.
There was no other way. Zhou Jin was still thinking about taking him with him when the officials went to replenish supplies. If he didn't hang around in front of the leader Song Yayi from time to time, how could Song Yayi remember him and think of him when sending people out to buy supplies!
As for why he was so sure that the officers would take some prisoners with them when they went out, that was hard to guess. How could the officers just leave the free labor unused and move the prisoners themselves?
When Zhou Jin came over, Li Mao was busy arranging the yamen runners to distribute meals to the prisoners. He was a small team leader in the escort team, with about ten people under him. He was responsible for distributing meals to the prisoners. Since he had some cooking skills, he was also responsible for preparing special meals for several leaders of the Song yamen runners!
When they looked up, they saw Zhou Jin coming over with chickens and rabbits. Although they were officials and had no shortage of meat, these wild animals were rare. When they saw them, they smiled and said,
"You're quite capable, kid! You can even catch this wild animal?!"
"Hehe, young officer, when I was a kid, I learned some trapping skills from the people in the farm. I got some prey and sent them to you as a side dish for your wine!" Zhou Jin said with a smile, acting as if he was very familiar with Li Mao.
Li Mao...
This kid is quite good at naming. He calls the boss "Big Brother Official" and calls him "Little Brother Official". This title is neither as humble as others calling them "Officials", nor as respectful as calling them "Yamen Runners". The terms "Big Brother" and "Little Brother" are quite friendly. It seems that this kid is really like what the boss said, a smart guy with a simple appearance!
"The boss is not here right now, he's sleeping in the car!" Li Mao thought that Zhou Jin must have come to deliver something to their boss personally, so he pointed to the stone beside him and said, "Why don't you sit there and wait for a while!"
"Hey, I'm just here to deliver something. How dare I disturb the officer's rest? Anyway, you have to take care of these pheasants and rabbits, so just leave them here..."
Although he felt a little regretful about not giving the prey to Song Yayi in person, waiting here for Song Yayi to wake up was nothing. Wouldn't it seem like he was forcing Song Yayi to do something good? Zhou Jin would never do such a stupid thing.
Knowing that Li Mao was in charge of Song Yaju's special kitchen, he smiled and asked him, "Where do you think it would be suitable to put it?"
Li Mao found a wooden basin for him. Zhou Jin put the pheasants and rabbits in place. Seeing that Li Mao was busy, he smiled and said:
"I originally wanted to kill and clean them for you before bringing them over to save you the trouble, but I don't have any tools that are suitable for you, and you seem quite busy. How about you lend me a kitchen knife and I'll go and chop the pheasant and rabbit into pieces for you and bring them over to you?"
Li Mao was not unwilling to help Zhou Jin, so he found a kitchen knife and a small chopping board and handed them to him, saying bluntly,
"Don't chop it into small pieces, it won't taste good. The boss likes big pieces!"
"Okay, okay, just take a look!" Zhou Jin took the things and walked towards the river with the wooden basin. Thinking that he didn't have any suitable tools to kill a chicken at home, and he happened to have a kitchen knife, he went back and got the chicken from his own home, intending to bring it to the river and kill it together.
Zheng was currently agonizing over how to kill a chicken. Although her life at the Zhou household wasn't exactly easy, she was still attended to by maids. Even when she occasionally cooked, the chickens and ducks were prepared by others according to her instructions, and she simply used them. She had never killed a chicken before! Even the mere flapping of the chickens made Zheng tremble with fear, but she also wanted to appear timid in front of the children. Her face was pale as she struggled with her own fear.
Zhou Yu dared to kill it, but her mother thought she didn't dare, so she chased her away and made her look at her brother and sister-in-law from a distance. She held a stone and stared at the half-dead pheasant for almost a quarter of an hour, but she didn't dare to make a move...
Little Zhou Ying was getting anxious, and turned to Zhou Yu and said, "Sister, when can we eat meat..."
Zhou Yu was hesitating whether to kill the chicken, which was not in line with his original personality, so that it could be freed and avoid suffering from the pain before dying. Just as he was thinking about it, Zhou Jin came over.
Zhou Yu and Zheng Shi both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this. One thought that she finally didn't have to hold on anymore, as she was so scared! The other thought that she finally didn't have to watch her mother struggling with a chicken anymore!
So Zhou Jin and Zhou Yu, one carrying the prey and a kitchen knife and the other carrying a pottery jar, went to the river together.
Zheng originally wanted to go, but she was too scared. In addition, Zhou Jin said that he only wanted Zhou Yu to boil water for him and not let her watch the chicken being killed. Zhou Yu also said that she was not afraid, so Zheng "reluctantly" agreed!
The brother and sister pretended not to notice their mother's feigned composure, took the chicken and left. They found a clean spot by the river, built a fire with stones, and boiled water. While Zhou Yu was boiling water, Zhou Jin skinned the rabbit, cleaned its internal organs, and chopped it into pieces. When the rabbit was chopped, the water in the casserole was boiling. The two of them held wooden basins, one holding the casserole to pour water while the other plucked the chicken's feathers while it was still hot...
The brother and sister grew up in the countryside and had no parents. When their grandfather was busy, they cooked for themselves and they were very skilled at it.
"Oh, who was it?! It turns out to be our little flatterer! Why, not only can you be the one delivering rabbits and chickens to people, you also have to be their slave?"
The brother and sister were busy when they heard a sarcastic voice coming from behind. They turned around and saw their second aunt Qian standing behind them, looking at them with a sarcastic expression.
Zhou Jin raised his eyes, glanced up and down at Qian, and said, "Are you very idle? Or are you just bored and have nothing to do, so you come here to yell?!"
How come you haven’t died from eating that hard pancake yet?
Zhou Yu also said: "Brother! Why bother with those people who only know how to vomit sour water all day? Let's clean up quickly so that our mother can make us some chicken soup later! I'm dying of these sour chickens!"
Qian...
"Hey! How dare you two little bastards talk like that?! Do you even have any respect for your elders? Now that you have chicken and rabbit meat, instead of offering them to your grandparents, you even dare to talk to your second aunt like that? You're simply...rebellious!"
When Qian heard this, she was furious. She didn't expect that the two siblings, who were usually honest and well-behaved, would be so sarcastic. She was so angry that she walked up to them and wanted to slap them in the face.
How could Zhou Jin and his sister let her hit them? When they saw her coming, one of them picked up the chicken and the other took the kitchen knife, and at the same time they gently turned half of their bodies to avoid her hitting hand.
But their avoidance didn't matter, but it caused great trouble for Qian. The two men were squatting on the ground plucking chicken feathers. When they dodged, Qian, who was coming from behind to hit them, missed. Due to inertia, she lost her balance and plunged into the wooden basin filled with chicken feathers and water in front of her...
The brother and sister...both hissed in unison, feeling that Qian was so pitiful!
Fortunately, the water in the wooden basin was not too hot, otherwise Qian would have been disfigured by the stab.
But even so, Qian was embarrassed. When she climbed out of the wooden basin with a head full of chicken feathers, the people by the river, although they had been numbed by the torture of exile, could not help laughing when they saw her.
Among them, a plump, white woman in her thirties with single eyelids and a round face laughed particularly loudly.
"Haha, hey there! Wangye's family, you can't eat the chicken your nephew hunted, so you're so greedy that you want to eat the chicken feathers! Haha, that stuff is not tasty, it hurts your throat!"
After he said this, everyone by the river burst into laughter!
Zhou Jin and Zhou Yu...
Auntie, we seriously doubt that you are driving...
Qian, with a head full of chicken feathers, glared fiercely at the plump, white woman, Bai. Bai had been her neighbor when they were young. Compared to her own merchant family, Bai's family background was better. Not only was her father a juren, but her two elder brothers were also scholars.
The two families lived next to each other and were of similar age, so naturally they knew each other and were compared since childhood.
Although Qian's family was extremely wealthy and more beautiful than Bai's, the wealthy families in Kyoto always valued family background more than family ancestry, and they looked down on merchants like the Qian family. Therefore, whenever they went out to visit friends or went out together, Bai was always more popular than Qian. As a result, Qian had hated Bai since she was a child, and Bai also treated her...
The two grew up disliking each other and thought they would have no more contact after they got married, but unexpectedly they both married into the Zhou family. Qian married Zhou Wangye, a member of the Zhou family's side branch, while Bai married Zhou Wangrong, a member of the Zhou family's main branch.
Zhou Wangrong is not only the nephew of Lord Zhou, but also the youngest juren of their generation, having passed the imperial examination at the age of sixteen. Although he lost his father at a young age, he was taken care of and taught by his uncle Lord Zhou, and no one in the clan dared to look down on him. Compared with Qian, who became the daughter-in-law of a branch of the Zhou family and even a step-wife, Bai still hung her up and beat her after marriage.
But unexpectedly, things change over time. Just over a year after Bai got married and gave birth to her son Zhou Li, Zhou Wangrong startled a carriage while out for a trip with his classmates. He was thrown out and hit a big rock and died!
Now Qian finally turned the tables. She couldn't help but often mock Bai in front of the other women in the clan, saying that it was her bad fortune that killed her husband.
Gradually, these words reached the ears of Bai's mother-in-law. Bai's mother-in-law, Wei, was also widowed at a young age. She raised her son alone and got along very well with her daughter-in-law, Bai, who had the same fate as her. She loved her like her own daughter. After hearing this, she dragged her daughter-in-law to the Zhou family. In front of Feng, Qian and other sisters-in-law, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law scratched Qian's face until it was covered with blood!
This incident caused a big uproar in the Zhou family at the time. The Bai and Qian families completely broke off relations because of it and became a pair of mortal enemies.
So when Bai saw Qian making a fool of herself, she was bound to step on her. Moreover, compared to Qian, Bai naturally had a good impression of Zheng, who was also a widow like herself, and she also felt more sympathy for her children.
Seeing Qian glaring at him, he also glared back fiercely.
Although Qian wanted to tear Bai's mouth off at this time, she also knew that she had the protection of Zhou Ge Lao's family. If she hit Bai, she would also suffer a bad fate. At this time, she was covered in chicken feathers and looked like a drowned rat. If she stayed, she would only make people laugh at her. So she could only turn her anger into a classic line,
"You two little bastards, just wait and see!"
Then he left in a hurry!
Zhou Jin, Zhou Yu...
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