Chapter 39 The Broken Hairpin - It's Persimmon Season
Before Lu Qiong transmigrated, Yu Niang was close to the original owner's mother. Their families' land was next to each other, and they often went to the fields together, picked mulberry leaves together, and even shared a wild rabbit they caught.
Later, after the original owner's parents passed away, Yu Niang took good care of them, but the original owner was proud and kept things from Yu Niang.
One time, it was cold and there wasn't enough firewood at home. Lu Xuan caught a chill and fell ill. That's when the original owner of this body put on a thin coat and went to borrow money from Yu Niang.
As soon as Yu Niang pushed open the door, she saw that the woman was dressed lightly, with only straw sandals stuffed with dry grass, her face pale, and she was shivering. The sight was heartbreaking; she felt pity and sorrow, and without daring to think too much, she quickly called the woman into the inner room, stuffed a hot water bottle into her bosom, and poured hot water…
It was the same house as before, but this time they were gathered around the stove roasting sweet potatoes. The persimmons on the tree were already ripe and ready to be eaten.
The journey from Bianjing to Shangyuan Village was not long. When Lu Qiong and her companions arrived, it was not yet noon, but every household was already preparing lunch.
Yu Niang's family always eats late, but today they started the fire early.
The yard was filled with the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes. The charred skin looked a bit hard from being roasted. Lu Xuan couldn't wait and reached for one with her bare hands. She cried out "Ouch!" several times, saying it was too hot, but she held the sweet potato firmly in her hand.
"It's too hot, put it on the ground." Lu Qiong was still watching the fire, worried about her.
"Did you get burned? Fetch a bucket of water from the well and go cool off." Yu Niang called out from the kitchen across the yard after hearing the commotion.
"It's okay, it's not hot anymore!"
Lu Xuan waved her hand, not caring. After all, even if it was hot, it couldn't compare to the discomfort of being hungry. She broke the sweet potato in half, revealing the orange-yellow flesh inside, which was still warm.
The aroma of roasted sweet potatoes is even stronger. She blows on them to cool them down for a while, then takes a bite along the edge. They are very soft and melt in her mouth. The aroma gradually spreads on her tongue, and she feels a warm sense of satisfaction after eating them.
Lu Xuan squinted her eyes; it was a feeling of happiness!
Lu Qiong also felt comfortable. The journey was quite bumpy, and she felt dizzy sitting in the carriage. If it weren't for the slow pace, she probably would have vomited bile.
She still had half a sweet potato left in her hand, and her nose was covered in dust. Seeing that Yu Niang was still busy at the stove, she smiled sheepishly and said, "Yu Niang, let's leave after we finish eating the sweet potato."
"Where are we going? We probably don't even have any firewood left to burn." Yu Niang wiped the stove expressionlessly, as if she didn't know what Lu Qiong was thinking.
Lu Qiong wasn't angry that her inner thoughts had been exposed; she just secretly rejoiced with Lu Xuan.
Several sweet potato peels were piled up beside the stove, and the ground was smudged with dirt. Yu Niang clicked her tongue and stepped over with the dirty water in her hand: "Don't eat too much, save some room..."
Yu Niang was a good cook; in the end, she made fish tofu soup, stewed eggplant, and stir-fried a side dish with sweet potato leaves.
Lu Qiong served each person a bowl of fish tofu soup, a total of four bowls, but it was almost noon and Li Jie'er still hadn't returned.
"I heard there's a patch of jujube trees on the back hill; I guess they went to pick jujubes with someone."
Yu Niang scooped water into the pot and used a loofah to scrub the sides, removing a layer of grease. She muttered to herself, "They don't eat the persimmons they grow themselves, they just have to go outside and get covered in mud..."
When she was very young, Yu Niang brought Li Jie'er to live here.
At first, the courtyard was very abandoned, so she wrapped Li Jie'er in a cloth, carried her on her back, and then used a hoe to gradually tidy up the courtyard.
Later, after planting the persimmon tree, they began to look forward to it year after year. By the time Li Jie'er was running around like a child, the persimmon tree had started to bear fruit. She grew up in the yard, eating the crisp persimmons from there.
But later, he always went outside. The pears on the mountain and the mulberries by the stream, even if they grew crookedly, smelled better than those in the yard.
In the summer, Li Jie'er would go wading in the stream with the villagers. Every time she came home, her clothes were wet. Although she caught a lot of small shrimp and fish, she still couldn't escape a scolding from Yu Niang. But no matter how harsh her words were, she couldn't bear to hit her.
Now she would never get her clothes dirty again, nor would she follow behind Yu Niang, eagerly waiting to eat the persimmons.
Yu Niang poured out the dirty water from the pot, wiped the stove, sprinkled some water on the unburnt firewood, and it went out with a "sizzle," leaving only a wisp of smoke.
This fish tofu soup is fresh, fragrant, tender, and smooth. Some egg liquid was also drizzled on top, floating on the surface of the soup. Finally, a layer of chopped green onions was sprinkled on top to enhance the flavor.
"The fish was brought by Limpy Li. I don't know where he bought it from, but it weighs a full two pounds." Yu Niang took a sip of soup from the edge of her bowl.
Lu Qiong picked up a piece of eggplant with her chopsticks and placed it on the rice. She mixed it well, and the rice was completely coated with red oil. She added some minced meat and ate it with the rice. One bite, and it was salty and fragrant.
"Uncle Li is still selling fish? I thought he would give up because it's so tiring."
Lu Xuan was starving and could only bury her head in her food, her nose covered in sweat. Yu Niang brought her a clean cloth and handed it to her.
“It’s better to suffer than to go hungry. Look at Xuan’er, she looks like she hasn’t eaten for days because of you.”
Lu Xuan nodded, adding with a piece of fish in her mouth, "I don't want to go hungry!"
Lu Qiong: "..."
Apart from today, has she ever missed a single meal?
Fine, she simply lowered her head and finished all the rice in her bowl, wiped the grease from the corners of her mouth, and finally enjoyed her meal.
In autumn, the pumpkins in the field ripened. Yu Niang used a sickle to cut the vines and picked small pumpkins one by one, while Lu Qiong followed behind and caught them in a bamboo basket.
However, it was quite heavy, and it took her a lot of effort to lift it.
Yu Niang bent over, picking pumpkins as she walked: "Take these with you, cut them into pieces and stir-fry them, or stew them in porridge."
Having enjoyed a good meal at Yu Niang's house, Lu Qiong and Lu Xuan stayed to help dry the grain. Since Yu Niang's house had several straw hats, they each put one on and helped with the raking of the grain.
Because Yu Niang's family didn't have much land, they finished harvesting a day earlier than others. Now, after another half month of drying, the millet will be ready to be hulled.
Li Jie'er didn't return until all the millet had been turned over.
The afternoon sun was strong. Yu Niang squinted as she looked at the newcomers. It was Granny Liu and her family, along with many other villagers...
Years ago, Granny Liu was known throughout the village for her bad temper, her tendency to throw tantrums, and her love of arguing with people. Every few days, she was either arguing with someone or complaining about other people's crops getting in her way.
Once, she deliberately chose the hottest time of day, brought a bucket of water, and drenched someone's land to death. When she was caught, she said she was just trying to help, so no one could do anything to her.
Yu's family didn't have much contact with Granny Liu, but they did have interactions with Sister Li and her granddaughter Jiang Su.
However, this aggressive demeanor is unlikely to be a good thing.
The group walked up to Yu Niang, and Granny Liu put on a pitiful look, sighing, "Yu Niang, your daughter Li is just like you, she has no sense of restraint and broke my Su'er's hairpin."
After speaking, he opened the wooden box in Jiang Su's hand, took out half of the golden hairpin with his rough hands, and put the other half back in the box.
Yu Niang stared at the broken hairpin, lost in thought.
Seeing that she didn't respond, Li Jie'er, who was usually very talkative, also fell silent. She didn't look at Yu Niang again, but straightened her back and said, "I didn't break it! It was broken to begin with."
Lu Qiong believed her. Putting aside the fact that such a precious item was not stored properly, the hairpin would break as soon as it was dropped.
That gold is far too brittle...
Instead of her usual demeanor, Granny Liu earnestly advised, "I know that Li'er didn't do it on purpose, but my Su'er is getting married in a few days. These are all betrothal gifts from others, and she will definitely take them with her when she gets married. But now... sigh."
For some reason, this appearance makes people feel uncomfortable.
Her aunt, who was close to her, played the bad cop, speaking bluntly and in a rather unpleasant voice: "No need to say these things to others. Since it's broken, just pay for it!"
The others echoed this sentiment.
"Yes, she's getting married in a few days, and now this has happened, it's not good no matter what you say." These were the words of the gossipy Zhou Erniang.
Even the aunt who usually had a good relationship with Yu Niang stepped in to smooth things over: "Yu Niang, let's just let this matter of you paying compensation go..."
Leaving aside Li Jie'er and Yu Niang, Lu Qiong also felt uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people. However, Li Jie'er was just stubborn and did not explain, and Yu Niang was even more unfathomable and did not say a word.
Seeing that everyone was on her side, Granny Liu secretly chuckled to herself, but pretended to be worried.
"Su'er's husband's family is from Bianjing. They just sent someone to deliver the betrothal gifts a few days ago: five catties of pork, five catties of mutton, longan and red dates, silk, tea and wine, and a pair of gold and silver bracelets. But this hairpin is the most valuable; it was specially given to Su'er by her future mother-in-law..."
No one knew what kind of family Jiang Su's husband was from. After all, these days it was common for dowries to be generous, and people would go bankrupt to raise the dowry and betrothal gifts.
But you can tell at a glance that this hairpin isn't cheap...
Yu Niang's family had some money, but it would still take a lot of their savings to compensate for the hairpin.
After a long silence, Yu Niang finally spoke: "How much does the hairpin cost?"
"Not much, twenty taels will be enough," Granny Liu replied with a smile.
The people traveling with her were originally on Granny Liu's side, but when they heard about the amount of money, they all gaped in astonishment: "This hairpin is only worth twenty taels?"
Zhou Erniang's eyes widened as well; how long would it take to earn twenty taels of silver?
Now everyone was a little envious. They knew Jiang Su's dowry was valuable, but they never expected it to be worth several years' worth of harvest.
Granny Liu clearly sensed that the people's gazes were not quite right, so she quickly hugged the hairpin in her arms tightly, afraid that it would be snatched away.
Logically, the hairpin belonged to Jiang Su, but she remained silent, and it was only Granny Liu who was talking.
Lu Qiong felt something was amiss, so she asked Lu Xuan to bring Li Jie'er into the house and take out the food box containing mooncakes.
"Old Liu, this is no small amount of money, and we can't come up with it right now. How about we wait a couple of days?"
Granny Liu naturally refused, her brows furrowing as she was about to reveal her true nature, but Lu Qiong stopped her and quickly called everyone to eat mooncakes together.
"Everyone is busy with the autumn harvest, and it must be hard work for you to take time out of your busy schedule to come here. Why don't you try a piece of mooncake first?"
The food box was opened, revealing delicate little mooncakes, each imprinted with the character "陆" (Lu). However, they couldn't read, so they could only see that the mooncakes had a golden crust that shone with oil, and that a savory aroma of oil could be smelled from afar.
The villagers forgot what had just happened as soon as they saw the food. After all, for them, watching the excitement was only temporary, while eating was the most important thing in the world.
Soon everyone surrounded Lu Qiong, while Granny Liu and Jiang Su stood alone in the courtyard, exposed to the cold wind, ignored by everyone.
"Qiong-jie, what are these 'mooncakes'? Are they only available in Bianjing?"
There were still eight or nine mooncakes left. Lu Qiong picked one that was baked evenly and cut it into several pieces with a bamboo knife, revealing the pale yellow lotus seed paste: "It's not that they're only available in Bianjing. I made these myself."
"Will this taste good?"
The person who said this wasn't being malicious; they simply hadn't seen this kind of food before and found it novel.
Zhou Erniang had tasted this before, and now she licked her lips and said, "This mooncake is delicious! It's not only authentic, but also sweet!"
After hearing her explanation, I began to believe her somewhat, but I still had to try it to know for sure.
"Sister Qiong, how did you make these mooncakes? How much oil did you put in them?" The aunt who spoke was quite discerning; seeing that she had tasted quite a few, she knew they tasted good.
Lu Qiong only said that a lot of oil and sugar were needed, without revealing the recipe for making mooncakes. However, when they heard that so many ingredients were needed, they all shook their heads.
What a waste! This amount of oil and sugar is enough to feed the whole family for half a month.
Some people thought she had become rich and started asking her about setting up a stall.
Lu Qiong explained with a smile, "There is a street office in Bianjing. If you want to set up a stall, you have to pay first."
"I have to pay more? Forget it then. Wouldn't it be a loss if I don't make any money?"
The others thought the same way, believing that Lu Qiong was just putting on a show and had only come back because she couldn't make any money. However, they dispersed after finishing their mooncakes, as there was still a lot of work to be done in the fields. Only then did Lu Qiong have a chance to find Li Jie'er and ask what had happened.
"Did you really break this hairpin?"
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