Hui Niang didn't know what she was thinking, only assuming that she was just frightened. After thanking Su Hua, she helped Old Lady Xiao slowly walk home.
Su Hua raised her eyes and watched the figures of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gradually disappear into the distance. The Xiao family had gone to great lengths to find a good wife for Xiao Jinyan. Although she could not speak, she was beautiful and kind-hearted. Even if they were gone in the future, given Hui Niang's personality, she would definitely not abandon Xiao Jinyan.
Compared to how Xiao Jinhan was treated in the past, it was like heaven and earth.
Su Sanhu looked at Su Hua's sleeve, somewhat puzzled. Why did Hua'er go to such lengths to get a few sheets of paper?
Before he could even ask, Su Bai's big hand had already landed on his head. "Alright! Everyone, go do what you're supposed to do. Third brother, hurry up and take the food in the pot to the Zhou family. When you come back, take me to Cangwu Town to see if there are any goat calves for sale?"
In Zaozhuang, the sweet potato vines on her 180-plus mu (approximately 12 hectares) field are growing wildly every day, far exceeding the capacity of her 20 piglets. This time, she needs to buy more goat calves.
Next to the pigsty, Lao Yang and his team had already fenced off a plot of land that could accommodate at least a hundred lambs.
The lambs have readily available sweet potato vines to feed them. It's like you only need to pay for the sheep, and in five or six months you can harvest a whole pen of fat sheep. Once the sheep give birth to lambs, you can make a profit whether you sell the lambs or the mutton. You should know that an adult sheep can sell for at least two or three taels of silver.
If you accumulate it little by little, it won't be a small amount.
When Hua'er gets married, it will be given to Hua'er as her dowry. It is something that she, as her mother, has personally saved for her daughter, which is different from the profits that the restaurant owner receives.
"Yes, son, I'll go right away." Su Sanhu shrank back as he was hit.
Forget about paper anymore, he quickly grabbed his small vegetable basket and headed to Aunt Zhou's house.
Su Erlang then moved closer to Su Hua and asked, "Auntie, shall we still go dig up this chicken coop?"
"Of course we'll dig!" Su Hua patted his little head and led the two brothers towards the bamboo forest behind the mountain.
The past few days have been sunny and clear, without a single drop of rain. The dozens of tree stumps in the backyard that are growing mushrooms have been completely dependent on watering them in the morning and evening, and many of the shiitake mushrooms in the linden forest have also dried up.
The stream flowing down from the mountain near the bamboo grove didn't affect the mushrooms much; they remained plump and delicious, and the stewed young hen would definitely taste amazing.
In the center of the village, the ancestral home of the Su family.
As Mrs. Qian was sitting in the courtyard drinking porridge from a large bowl, she suddenly smelled a strong yet familiar aroma.
Suddenly, the meat porridge in my bowl didn't taste good anymore.
She got up and walked to the fence, where she saw Su Sanhu carrying a small vegetable basket and walking towards her. The woman's eyes lit up, and she quickly opened the gate.
In the days since the family split up, apart from the first day when the Su family came to help carry our belongings, no one has come this way, let alone brought us food.
She still thought that the Su family had really abandoned their second branch of the family.
In retrospect, she had misunderstood.
The woman smiled broadly, "Sanhu, have you had breakfast yet? Your second brother bought some meat yesterday, and the meat porridge he cooked this morning is still warm. Come in and have some?"
The boy paused slightly, nodded, and greeted her, "Second Sister-in-law, I've already eaten."
As she got closer, Qian could smell the overpowering aroma—it was the eel slices and fried loach she had been longing for.
During her pregnancy, she had a strong craving for food. Just smelling the aroma made her swallow several times, and she couldn't help but say, "Sanhu, are there eels and loaches in this basket? I can tell from the smell that it's my mother-in-law's cooking. It smells so good!"
Su Sanhu's expression remained indifferent, and he only gave a soft "hmm".
"Thank goodness my mother-in-law remembered, my son was really craving this. This braised eel with perilla is even better than meat!" Madam Qian said, reaching for the vegetable basket. "By the way, I just saw Hua'er's little maid come to the Xiao family. How come Hua'er's hanging out with the Xiao family these days..."
Halfway through his sentence, the young man took a step back with the vegetable basket in his hand and said coldly, "This is for the Zhou family."
"What?!" Madam Qian's smile froze on her face. "What are you going to do with so much meat for the Zhou family?"
Su Sanhu originally intended to leave directly, but upon catching a glimpse of the figure hoeing the ground behind the house, he pursed his lips and simply explained, "These are eels and loaches that Aunt Zhou sent over yesterday. I promised to make them a portion."
The Zhou family's ancestral home was right next to the Su family's, separated by only three households.
When the Zhou family's boys saw Su Sanhu bring them food, they immediately burst into laughter, their boisterous chatter shaking the roof tiles.
Standing at the gate, Qian heard the laughter and her face, covered in red bumps, turned ashen. She slammed the gate shut.
"What's wrong now?" Su Erhu had just finished clearing a plot of land when he heard such a loud noise, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.
The ancestral home has been well preserved over the years, but the vegetable garden behind it has long been abandoned. He can only cultivate it a little bit when he has free time in the morning and evening. The family needs money everywhere these days, and growing some vegetables can reduce expenses.
Upon hearing this, Madam Qian's phoenix eyes were filled with grievance. "Second Brother, Mother just asked Third Brother to send a big basket of eels and loaches to the Zhou family. You'd rather give them to outsiders than let your own son and grandson have a single bite. How can you do such a thing?"
Su Erhu frowned even more. He could only believe a fraction of what she said now. "After the family is separated, Mother can give her things to whomever she wants."
Hearing these cold words, Qian felt a surge of anger stuck in her throat, and her voice softened. "But the doctor said that I am weak and need to take good care of myself. It's been hot lately, and I have no appetite for anything. I only have a little appetite when I smell the aroma of braised eel slices and loach."
The man remained silent for a long time, then pursed his lips and said, "Since you want to eat it, I'll go to the fields to catch some for you when I get back from the restaurant today."
“What…” Qian looked distressed.
For the sake of her unborn son, she dared not enter the kitchen during this period. When Su Erhu was home, he would cook; when he wasn't home, Chunhua would stand on a stool to cook. However, their cooking skills were worse than each other's, and sometimes the food was undercooked.
She hadn't had a decent meal in a long time.
Thinking of this, the woman had no choice but to compromise, "How about you bring me back a hot pot from the restaurant when you come back?"
The hot pot tastes just as good as the eel and loach, and she likes it too.
Su Erhu said expressionlessly, "Your monthly salary of two taels of silver this month has already been used up by buying you hot pot twice before."
"What did you say? You paid for the hotpot?!" Madam Qian suddenly raised her voice, her face full of shock. "It's clearly our own restaurant, you run it all, and your wife has to pay for a meal..."
Before she could finish speaking, Su Erhu rode his horse out of the courtyard without even having breakfast.
As Qian watched the man speed away, her vision blurred...
On the other hand, Su Sanhu didn't want to cause trouble, so he deliberately took a different route back to the end of the village.
However, just halfway there, a pale yellow figure stood in the middle of the mountain road.
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