His sister and wife would then be sold to a brothel.
“Then we must take good care of Miss Jiang.” Fangru was three years older than Wenqing and Wenya.
But in this era, the eldest brother is like a father, and the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Their father and daughter are no longer here, and from now on, the four of them will have to rely on each other.
The two sisters, Wenqing and Wenya, obediently nodded.
After leaving the shop, Jiang Hua took an oxcart back to Xujia Village.
"Stepmother, you're back!" Jiang Jingyi quickly got up and greeted her.
"Why are you back?"
After getting off the oxcart and entering the courtyard, the clothes drying in the yard were still dripping wet, and the water vat was full.
"We've already spoken to Auntie, so we came back first and are waiting for you," Jiang Jingyi explained.
"Did you do all this work?" Jiang Hua asked, glancing at the red flower behind Jiang Jingyi.
“Yes, Sister Jiang, I saw you hadn’t come back yet, so I helped you with the chores in the yard,” Honghua replied.
"Do you remember the river crabs I sold to Mingyue Tower today?" Jiang Hua asked again.
"I remember," Honghua nodded hurriedly.
“These river crabs are in the river. They’re two catties for one coin. Go back and tell the people in your village that I’ll buy river crabs at this price. See if they’re willing to do it,” Jiang Hua said.
"Really?" Honghua asked uncertainly.
“Yes, go back and tell them that I’ll buy 100 jin. I’ll go to your village to collect it tomorrow morning.”
"Can I go back and talk to Village Chief Lu now?" Honghua asked, trying to contain her excitement.
"Go ahead." With that, Jiang Hua counted out ten more copper coins for her: "Here, this is your wages for today."
"Thank you, Sister Jiang." After taking the copper coin, Honghua quickly ran towards Shili Village.
"Stepmother, where did you go this afternoon?" Jiang Jingyi asked, following behind Jiang Hua.
"I went to arrange things at the shop and bought a few workers," Jiang Hua told him.
If we don't say anything now, the one with a fragile heart will start having ulterior motives later.
"Then why can't you take me with you?"
“That place isn’t suitable for children,” Jiang Hua replied casually.
I went into the kitchen, took out the snails from the small wooden basin from yesterday, cleaned them, and prepared to cook them tonight.
“But I’m all grown up now.” Jiang Jingyi said, as he went into the house and brought out the scissors he usually used to trim chicken nails, as Jiang Hua had asked.
“In your stepmother’s eyes, you’re just a little kid.” Jiang Hua was washing the snails in the wooden basin.
“You’re only eight years older than me!” Jiang Jingyi said with dissatisfaction.
"Then am I not your stepmother?" Jiang Hua glanced at him and said.
He then took the sharp knife from his hand, grabbed a handful of snails, and cut off their tails one by one.
It tastes good when you eat it, but it's a hassle to prepare.
"Watch your hands," Jiang Hua reminded Jiang Jingyi, who was sitting next to her.
"Stepmother, when will you have a child with my father that belongs to you both?" Jiang Jingyi asked seriously.
Jiang Hua paused in cutting the snails, then calmly said, "I don't like children."
Jiang Jing also stared at Jiang Hua in disbelief!
The stepmother said she didn't like children?
Does that mean you don't like him anymore?
Thinking of this, Jiang Jingyi felt a little hurt, and his originally happy face immediately fell.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Hua sensed that the air had suddenly become quiet.
"Stepmother, do you not like me?" Jiang Jingyi asked Jiang Hua, pausing his movements.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t a child?” Jiang Hua retorted.
Jiang Jingyi was taken aback. It seemed that this was indeed the case; those were the words he had just said.
In Shili Village, Honghua ran all the way to Village Chief Lu's house and told him what Jiang Hua had told her.
"Honghua, is what you're saying true?" Village Chief Lu asked uncertainly, "No one ever eats the big worms in that river."
“Village Chief Lu, it’s true. Sister Jiang said she’ll buy two catties for one coin, and she’ll buy one hundred catties,” Jiang Hua assured her.
"Alright, then I'll have everyone take buckets and go catch them in the river." Village Chief Lu immediately went out and called out to each household.
Those at home are mostly women and children; those who can lift and move are all laborers at the docks. Now that they've heard about an opportunity to earn money, no one wants to miss it.
At first, some people didn't believe it, but Honghua followed behind Village Chief Lu and explained to everyone repeatedly.
As the sun set, many women in the river at the border of Shili Village and Xujia Village rolled up their skirts and went down to the river to turn over stones and catch crabs.
"Don't catch too many! Miss Jiang said she only wants 100 jin," Village Chief Lu shouted from the shore.
"Understood, Village Chief!" everyone replied.
As it grew dark, everyone carried a bucket full of river crabs back home.
Jiang Hua had already eaten dinner, which was a pork bone and vegetable porridge she had cooked. Since she was going to stir-fry snails for a late-night snack, Jiang Jingyi didn't eat much and was eagerly waiting for her stir-fried snails.
Jiang Hua, who was in the kitchen, was looking at the pickled bamboo shoots made with safflower. She opened it, took a look, and before it was ready, she put it into her spatial storage and took out the ones she had developed a few days ago.
As soon as the stall was opened, the smell of pickled bamboo shoots hit you right in the head.
"Master, what delicious food are you going to make? I want some too!" the little white snake in the space kept calling out.
"Okay, I'll share some with you when it's done!" Jiang Hua took out a piece of pickled bamboo shoot from the stall, which she would use to stir-fry snails later.
It was sealed off again.
"Xiao Yi!" Jiang Hua called out.
Upon hearing Jiang Hua's voice from inside the room, Jiang Jingyi immediately put down his book and ran over.
"Stepmother, what's wrong?"
“We don’t have any perilla leaves at home. Would you dare to go to Aunt Liu’s house and pick some? You could invite them over to eat with us.” Jiang Hua asked him.
"Stepmother, you can't look down on me like that." Jiang Jingyi glanced at Jiang Hua with resentful eyes, then went out.
Jianghu also took the opportunity to have the little white snake in the space pick out a lemon, preparing to make lemonade to drink later to relieve the spiciness.
"Master, here are two for you. I want to drink two cups." As he spoke, he took out two large-capacity glasses from his spatial storage.
Since it was the spirit of her own space, Jiang Hua agreed.
After scrubbing the lemon with salt, Jiang Hua sliced it thinly. Since she didn't have a cup with such a large capacity, she used a bowl instead. Taking out the cup from her spatial storage would have been too out of place.
After adding lemon slices, Jiang Hua squeezed on lemon juice, added some honey from her space, and then added diluted spiritual spring water from her space to make the spiritual spring water even sweeter.
Although I put all the prepared food into the refrigerator, it would actually be better to add ice cubes.
After making the lemonade, Jiang Hua started blanching the prepared snails.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com