Chapter 163: Thatched Hut Completed + Braised Pork with Purslane
He Guixiang was just thinking when she heard Lin Dashan's loud snoring beside her pillow.
She has become accustomed to the loud snoring and no longer finds it annoying. Sometimes she feels uncomfortable when she can't hear it.
But she couldn't fall asleep for the time being. She counted the things she needed to prepare on her fingers in her mind, and the more she counted, the more energetic she became.
After an unknown amount of time, there was a noise in the yard. He Guixiang thought of something and pricked up her ears to listen. Sure enough, it was Ah Shu and Ah Ye again.
But this time the two of them did not stick together in the yard. After talking for a few words, they went back to their respective rooms.
It was only after overhearing it that He Guixiang realized that Ah Shu and Ah Ye had been going to the river to bathe every night since some day.
She knew of Ah Ye's daily trip to the river to bathe. By evening, when there wasn't much water left in the large jar, Ah Ye would go to the river to wash, and wash thoroughly there. Unlike Lin Dashan, who was too lazy to walk so far, he simply rinsed himself with the water his mother had used to wash, then rinsed again with the remaining water in the jar, and that was it.
But He Guixiang didn't expect that Ah Shu would also follow her to the river...
She frowned worriedly.
A man and a woman go to the river to bathe alone, this... is really not going to happen?
She began to wonder if a month was really too long.
Lin Dashan was thinking about this matter in his mind. After breakfast the next day, he did not rush to the fields, but went to the village head's house.
When I went there, Zhang, the eldest daughter-in-law of Lin Zheng's family, was also there.
Hearing that Lin Dashan was coming to ask his father-in-law to pick an auspicious date for the wedding, Zhang couldn't help but be stunned.
It's obvious that this marriage is between Zhou Ye and Lin Shu.
But I didn't expect Lin Dashan to be so anxious. He was thinking about marrying his biological daughter off not long after she came back.
"Why don't you stay a little longer?" Zhang poured a cup of tea for her father-in-law and Lin Dashan, and asked casually.
Although she smiled, Lin Dashan didn't want to say anything more to her in his heart.
He has always been brooding over the fact that her son had been pestering A Yao.
But because he was in the middle of the crowd, Lin Dashan politely replied, "Both children are not young anymore. Girls as old as Ah Shu in the village got married two years ago. Some of them have already given birth to children. If they stay here, they will become grown-up girls."
"Have you asked the two children about this? Although it is the parents' orders and the matchmaker's words, the children must be happy too, so that they can live a harmonious life after marriage." Zhang looked as if she was considering the other party.
Lin Dashan didn't think much about it. Instead, his prejudice was lessened by her kind reminder. "The mother of the children has asked, and both children are willing."
Zhang didn't ask any more questions after hearing this, but she felt a little sorry.
She liked Lin Shu very much after chatting with her on the ox cart last time. Not only was she pretty, but she also had a likable personality. She was gentle when she needed to be gentle, and strong when she needed to be strong. Unlike Lin Yao, she looked stubborn and had a lot of ideas. So when her son said he wanted to marry Lin Yao, she refused to agree no matter what.
Not only was the Lin family's youngest daughter in poor health, and the monthly medical expenses were substantial, but also Lin Yao's personality was not to her liking. The more her son liked her, the less she liked her. Humph, her son was already arguing with her over Lin Yao before she even entered the family. Once Lin Yao did enter the family, her son would definitely disobey her, his mother, for this daughter-in-law.
Who could have thought that Lin Yao would suddenly become the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family!
That was the Marquis' Mansion. A prosperous place like the capital was a place that a country woman like Zhang would have almost no chance of setting foot in her entire life. And the Marquis' Mansion was a wealthy and powerful family that she could never even dream of in her lifetime.
If you ask Zhang if she regrets it, of course she does regret it a little. If she had agreed to her son's marriage with Lin Yao, her son would now be the son-in-law of the Marquis's Mansion. He might even be able to go to the capital with Lin Yao. With the support of the Marquis's Mansion, there would be no worries about not having famous teachers and scholars to teach her son.
But Zhang wasn't one to dwell on trivial matters. She'd subconsciously assume the worst when things didn't go her way. The Marquis's Mansion was a powerful institution they couldn't afford to offend. What if they looked down on a small family like theirs and forced her son and Lin Yao to divorce? What if they even secretly plotted to rid the mansion of a son-in-law they disliked? Zhang felt a pang of fear at the mere thought of it. After all, such stories weren't unheard of in the novels.
But Lin Shu was different. She was born in a marquis's mansion, a noblewoman who was carefully raised there. Later, it was discovered that she was a fake. Although she was a fake, she had received a careful education from the mansion. In the eyes of these lower-class people, she was still a step above the village girls or even the girls in the town.
Zhang, of course, wanted to find a daughter-in-law for her son who could help him in his career, but her father-in-law was right. It wasn't easy to find a daughter-in-law from such a family. She had to look more closely at families of lower social status. If the family background wasn't good enough, she could still choose someone who was capable. Other families considered a capable daughter-in-law good at washing clothes and cooking, but her son was a scholar, and an illiterate daughter-in-law would be a disservice to him. She wanted a daughter-in-law who could grind ink for him, pass him paper, and even recite poems with him.
Then Zhang thought of Lin Shu, and her time together on the oxcart had made her even more satisfied.
Lin Shu was completely different from Lin Yao. She was soft-spoken and easy to control, but surprisingly, she wasn't timid towards others. However, she knew that Lin Laoer had a son named Zhou Ye, and that Lin Laoer was definitely going to marry his daughter to Zhou Ye. Even if she felt sorry for him, it was useless.
Unless Lin Lao Er changed his mind and wanted to marry Lin Shu off, or Lin Shu was too proud to look down on a rough man like Zhou Ye, then she could put him on the list of potential daughter-in-laws. After all, there was no one in the area who was more handsome and promising than her son.
Unexpectedly, Lin Lao Er wanted to hold a wedding for the two of them. From what Lin Lao Er said, Lin Shu herself was also willing.
Zhang found it particularly unbelievable. After more than a decade of living in luxury, such a delicate and tender girl actually agreed to marry a rough man like Zhou Ye?
The head of the village frowned and looked at his eldest daughter-in-law. Zhang understood and left after serving the tea.
His eldest daughter-in-law is good in every way, except that she is a little too worried.
Did he not know what she meant by those two questions? He didn't even consider that Lin Shu had grown up in the capital, and had seen all sorts of young masters from noble and scholarly families. How could Lin Shu look down on his grandson, who hadn't even earned the title of scholar? On the contrary, someone like Zhou Ye, a strong and powerful man, was more likely to suit her taste, as Lin Shu had only met a few of them since she grew up in seclusion.
"Dashan, tell me the approximate time and I'll take a look for you," said the village head.
Lin Dashan said with a smile: "My wife said that the good days will come at least in a month. Could you please take a look and see what the good days are within one month and three months."
After listening to Lin Dashan's request, the village head looked through the almanac and picked out a few dates for him. "The 28th of next month is a good day. It's the closest. The 6th or 8th of the next month are also good. Later ones are the 12th, 20th, and 26th..."
The head of the village was somewhat literate, and fearing that Lin Dashan might not be able to remember it, he wrote it down on a piece of paper and asked someone to take it back.
Lin Dashan folded the paper with the auspicious date written on it, put it in his pocket, and happily left the headman's house.
When passing by a courtyard gate, he happened to see a village woman coming out. Lin Dashan's face turned slightly dark, and he turned and left without even looking at the woman.
He was passing by the old Lin family house, which was also built at the entrance of the village, not far from the headman's house. And the person who was about to leave was none other than the eldest sister-in-law of the Lin family who had been so sarcastic when the family split up.
Zhang is a common surname in Tianshui Village. The eldest sister-in-law of the Lin family also has the surname Zhang. She is related to the headman's family for several generations. In the past, Mrs. Zhang would turn around and leave when she saw Lin Dashan, but recently she has been in poor health and can't even quarrel with others.
She looked bad, but Lin Dashan looked very good. Mrs. Zhang covered her chest with her hands and felt pain in her heart again.
The doctor said that her illness was incurable and it was a mental illness. She should not be petty with others and should be more open-minded.
But she couldn't get over it!
When Lin Shu came back that day, she couldn't get over it when the groom from the Marquis' Mansion wanted to give Lin Dashan a hundred taels of silver but he refused it outright.
That's one hundred taels of silver! Ten silver ingots! How could Lin Dashan refuse it outright?!
People in the countryside have little money, and with this one hundred taels, not to mention Lin Dashan's family, even if the whole family uses it together, it will be enough for a lifetime.
If, if the family hadn't split up, the money would have been accepted by Lin Datian, the eldest brother! How could Lin Dashan refuse it?
But why did they split up?
Now, whenever Mrs. Zhang thought of the one hundred taels of silver that the groom of the Marquis' Mansion had taken back, she felt heartbroken. Over the past few days, she had lost a lot of weight.
She felt it was weird. Although she didn't accept the one hundred taels of silver, Lin Dashan's family had been living better and better since Lin Shu came back. She heard that they had dug a fish pond and raised a lot of fish. They could eat big fat fish every day. Even Lin Xiaopu, the sick little guy, had recovered from his illness. He even hunted a wild duck two days ago and brought it back. Instead of going to the town to exchange it for money, he cooked it for himself.
She didn't believe it at first, but the aroma of duck meat from Lin Dashan's house wafted from far away, and several families smelled the fragrance. When they talked about it, they all looked envious, praising Lin Xiaopu for his ability and filial piety, and praising Lin Dashan and He Guixiang for their good fortune.
The more Mrs. Zhang thought about it, the more her heart ached.
If the family had not split up, the fat fish, the wild duck, and the wild boar that Zhou Ye had hunted earlier would all have been hers.
…
Two days later, Uncle Zhao's thatched house was completed. The weather was good, with only a light rain, so the thatch dried in a day without any delays. Aside from the slope blocking the front, the soil in the yard had been flattened and compacted, leaving only the bamboo fence.
On the last day, Lin Zhaodi spent a lot of money and asked Old Man Liao to bring back three pounds of pork belly for a very sumptuous breakfast. She saved one pound of pork belly for dinner, and followed Lin Shu's instructions to make braised meat with purslane and dried vegetables for the rest.
Purslane is blanched in water before drying, and after being exposed to the sun, the sour taste is reduced. After the dried vegetables are soaked, they are stir-fried with chopped pork belly, and then soy sauce and a little sugar are added and simmered until the sauce is thickened.
Because Ah Shu prepared a lot of dried purslane, and after stewing it with the pork, she actually made a big pot of it, which made the group of men shout with delight.
Lin Zhaodi hadn't expected that the ubiquitous dried purslane would be so fragrant when braised with meat. Two pounds of meat wasn't enough for a group of men, but the dried purslane soaked up the meat's juices, creating a sour and fragrant flavor that was a welcome relief from the greasiness. It went really well with rice, and the group cleaned their plates clean!
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The author has something to say: My dears, I'm going on a long trip temporarily and will be back on the 6th. I will update as much as I can during this period, maybe only one or two chapters. Blame me for not saving drafts. But when I come back, I will slowly make up for the updates I owe. Please don't abandon me!!! [Please][Please]
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