Chapter 30 Clam Girl
After Zhao Zhilan finished pouring the vegetable washing water, she was not in a hurry to go back. She stood beside the old poplar tree waiting for Liu Lizheng to come out of Chen's house.
Zhou Cuihua beat Chen Xiaojuan so hard at noon that she always felt a little uncomfortable. The child even ran away in front of her, and she was also worried.
Now that Chen Xiaojuan was brought back by Liu Lizheng, she finally felt relieved.
I thought Chen Xiaojuan was sent back. Given Zhou Cuihua's unreasonable personality, even if she didn't beat her, she would still scold her.
But Zhao Zhilan stood under the old poplar tree for a long time and didn't hear any sound. It was strange.
After a while, Liu Lizheng came out of Chen's house.
Zhao Zhilan quickly chased after him and asked, "Village Head, what's going on? Is the child okay?"
Liu Lizheng glanced at her and said, "Auntie, why are you still concerned about the girl from the Chen family?"
It’s no wonder he asked so many questions. The Chen family and the Yun family have been at odds ever since the Bao Ya incident.
Zhao Zhilan didn't want to hide it, so she told Liu Lizheng what happened at noon.
"Hey," Liu Lizheng slapped his thigh, "Nothing. It rained this afternoon, and when I came back from the fields, I saw this girl hiding from the rain under a big tree at the west end of the village, so I took her home. Now, the rain stopped a little before evening, so I brought her back."
"Oh, that's fine. As long as you're alright." After finding out, Zhao Zhilan went back with the basin.
After dinner in the evening, the family went to bed early.
I'm planning to go to town to sell pearls and tofu early tomorrow morning, and I have to get up and make tofu tomorrow, so I have to go to bed early.
Baoya was held by He Chunxiu and got into bed early. Although the quilt was old, it was warm from her mother's body and had a faint scent of soapberry, which was a clean and comfortable smell.
He Chunxiu was tired after a day of work and fell asleep almost as soon as she touched the pillow. Baoya closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. When He Chunxiu fell asleep, she sneakily got up from the kang.
If she wanted to make tofu tomorrow morning, her father and mother would have to get up early to grind the beans. Her father had been busy at home and outside all day, and her mother's legs still hurt. She didn't want them to have to get up and grind the beans the next day.
Baoya tiptoed up from the kang, not daring to light the lamp. She put on her jacket and trousers, put on her shoes, and quietly slipped out of the east wing.
The big wooden basin for soaking beans was placed on the floor of the main hall. Xiao Baoya walked over, picked it up easily, walked to the yard, took out the beans and placed them on the millstone.
Then she imitated her father, pushing the millstone and pouring water into the millstone eye.
In the past, it was common for Baoya to work in the middle of the night at the Chen family, but since coming to the Yun family, Baoya has never gotten up to work again.
But she ate well at the Yun family and had a lot of energy.
She easily ground the whole basin of soaked soybeans in a short time, filling three large buckets.
After loading it, she carried three large buckets full of soybean pulp to the main room and placed them there. She also washed the wooden basin and put it away. Then she quietly went back to the kang in the east wing to sleep.
At dawn the next day, Baoya was awakened by the screams of her father and mother in the yard.
"Sanlang, you...you got up in the middle of the night to grind it?" He Chunxiu's eyes widened as she looked at the three buckets full of soybean pulp in the main room.
"How is that possible? I thought you got up and ground it yourself." Yun Sanlang was also surprised.
After hearing what he said, He Chunxiu glanced uncertainly towards their east wing and said, "I've heard an old saying that goes, if a bachelor keeps a large snail in a water tank, then whenever he goes to work in the fields, a snail girl will secretly cook it for him."
"We have a big river clam at home. Could it be that these soybeans were ground by the clam girl?"
Yun Sanlang's face turned pale with fear: "Then... that river clam has become a spirit! Our Baoya is still sleeping in the east wing. No way, I have to throw the river clam spirit away quickly!"
As he was about to run back, he was grabbed by He Chunxiu.
At this time, Baoya, the clam girl, was lying on the kang, laughing secretly under the quilt. Daddy and mommy would never guess that it was her who did it!
But soon Baoya couldn't laugh anymore.
Because her mother went to the main room and called her nanny.
Grandma told her not to use too much force and not to be discovered by others. Baoya was a little afraid that grandma would be angry.
Zhao Zhilan was a light sleeper. She woke up when she heard the voices of the third brother and his wife outside. When He Chunxiu came to call her, she thought it was nothing serious.
After putting on his clothes, he looked into the three buckets of water on the floor of the main room, and then listened to He Chunxiu and Yun Sanlang's incoherent chatter. How could the old man not understand what was going on?
Zhao Zhilan rubbed her forehead, feeling both angry and distressed.
Her precious granddaughter was so sensible that she secretly got up in the middle of the night and ground the whole basin of soybeans.
This really made it impossible for her to say anything to Baoya.
Baoya thought her grandmother would rush in, pick her up from the bed and scold her, but she fell asleep in the bed and Zhao Zhilan didn't come either.
This time I took a nap and slept until dawn.
No one in the family mentioned grinding soybeans anymore. When Baoya got up, the tofu was ready, cut into neat blocks, packed in buckets, and soaked in brine.
Dad warmed up a bowl of sweet soy milk for her, grandma left her a bowl of salty tofu pudding, and her aunt also fried some crispy pancakes and gave her three big ones.
Baoya had a happy breakfast, then followed her grandmother, uncle, and two sisters to Ping'an Town, still riding in Qian Dacai's ox cart.
But when they were in the car, Zhao Zhilan looked at her with a loving smile and pinched her little hair: "Baoya, let's go to town and buy a donkey."
Baoya also looked at Zhao Zhilan with a smile: "Great, grandma, now that we have a donkey, we can drive our own donkey cart to town!"
Zhao Zhilan said helplessly: "From now on, grinding beans won't be a hassle."
"Oh, yes." Baoya slapped her little head and grinned.
You are so nice, you must feel sorry for her.
This time, because they were going to deliver next month's food rations to Yun Chengfu, Zhao Zhilan asked Qian Dacai to park the ox cart in front of the school gate. Yun Dalan took the three buckets of prepared tofu, a bag of wheat and a few cabbages off the cart and put them on the roadside.
Qian Dacai told them that they would meet him at the old place in the evening, and then he drove away in his ox cart.
Yucai Academy was founded by a young man who was the second runner-up in the imperial examination in the town. However, he did not accept an official position. Instead, he asked the emperor for permission to return to his hometown to open a private school and teach and educate people.
At first, the people of Ping'an Town were proud of him, but when he returned to his hometown to open a private school, rumors spread that he had offended the emperor during the palace examination and was sent back.
But no matter what, this runner-up was really good at studying and teaching, and he didn't ask for much in tuition, so children from miles around came to him.
Baoya stood at the gate of Yucai Academy, looking up at the four large characters written in silver and iron on the plaque, when a figure appeared in front of her.
"Grandma, Dad, Third Sister, Fourth Sister," the slender figure said, "Baoya is my fifth sister now."
Bao Ya shifted her gaze from the plaque to the figure, and saw a young man in a white gown, holding a paper fan in his hand, standing at the door of the school.
The young man had handsome features and looked a bit like Yun Chenglu, but he had a gentle and scholarly air.
This is her older brother, Yun Chengfu.
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