Chapter 26 It turns out he was born with the ability to pretend.
When Sanwa returned from herding sheep, he saw his mother sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) folding paper ingots, with paper ingots piled up in a wooden plate next to her.
He was somewhat surprised; wasn't his mother the one who disliked fooling ghosts the most?
She always said it was a waste of money to buy paper money, and that the person in the next life might not even receive it.
Mother also said that she had never dreamed of Father since he passed away, which means that when a person dies, they are gone and nothing remains.
But now, there are many papers on the table, and they are all different colors.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Sanwa asked, watching her skillfully fold the paper ingots. "Mother, you can fold this too?"
“You learned this from Aunt Zhao,” Song Chunxue looked up and smiled. “Are you hungry? It’s quite hot today. Go to the kitchen and have a bowl of cold noodles. I’ll make some pancakes later.”
Upon hearing that there was cold noodles to eat, Sanwa smiled, put down his things, and headed to the kitchen.
My mother makes delicious jelly noodles. She uses coarsely ground buckwheat flour, kneads it repeatedly, and then filters it, which takes a long time.
My mother didn't like to make it much before because it was time-consuming, laborious, and a waste of food.
The amount of food needed to eat one serving of cold noodles is enough to make several servings of buckwheat noodles.
When he stepped into the kitchen and saw the jelly noodles cooling on the cutting board, he couldn't help but drool.
He quickly washed his hands and dipped the knife in water so it wouldn't stick when cutting the jelly.
Place the translucent, elastic jelly in a bowl, pour in some stir-fried fermented vegetable broth, add a spoonful of chive oil, sprinkle with salt, and Sanwa can't wait to pick up the bowl and take a sip.
Cool and sour, he picked up a mouthful of jelly and put it in his mouth. It was so delicious that he wanted to swallow the whole bowl.
Sanwa ate three bowls in one go.
"Hiccup~"
He patted his belly contentedly and carried a bowl of sliced cold noodles to the north room.
"Mom, you eat first, I'll fold the food."
"No need, you go and rest for a while, I'll go cook." Folding paper ingots isn't physically demanding, but it's still tiring.
Sanwa was already tired after herding sheep, and then he had to fetch water from the cistern for the livestock and fill the water tank. He should have just lay down and rested.
But instead of going back to the room to rest, Sanwa sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and studied carefully. He learned how to do it after trying two or three pieces of cut paper.
“Mother, it’s the anniversary of Father’s death this year. Second Brother isn’t home, and Eldest Brother has moved away. I don’t know if Fourth Brother will come back that day.” Sanwa said sadly, “I didn’t expect it would be nine years since he left.”
Song Chunxue glanced at him, which meant he had been herding sheep for more than nine years.
She couldn't help but ask, "Do you still want to study?"
Sanwa was taken aback, then scratched his head sheepishly.
"Didn't you say you'd found me a wife and wanted me to get married soon? Studying is just a waste of money, and I can't possibly take exams."
"Why not? If you want, I'll take the money you got from selling the sheep. You can go to school, take exams, and get married without any problems."
Sanwa stared straight at Song Chunxue, never expecting her to say that.
His mother has been exceptionally kind to him lately, so kind that he feels like he's dreaming.
"No need for all that trouble. I'm just a shepherd anyway, so reading all those books is useless to me." Sanwa buried his head in folding paper ingots. "I'm not used to you being so nice to me all of a sudden."
"..." Song Chunxue felt a pang in her heart.
After being neglected for a long time, he will feel insecure and anxious when he is suddenly favored.
"Has your older brother hit you these past two days? Has he been secretly looking for you?" Song Chunxue was worried; the third child used to be a pushover.
"No, he saw that I wasn't saying anything," Sanwa said sullenly. "My sister-in-law scolded me, but it doesn't matter. I just feel that this house isn't as lively as it used to be."
It's not just less lively now, it will eventually fall apart.
Song Chunxue didn't say this aloud.
Have you ever met Xia Mulan?
Sanwa's face suddenly turned red, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.
It seems they've met before, and Song Chunxue smiled along with her.
"Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it amazing how capable you are?"
Sanwa pondered for a moment, "She called me a mute."
"..." She almost forgot that Sanwa would stop talking when he saw a girl.
This will be true in the future, and even more so now.
“Then you can say a few words to her next time,” Song Chunxue said, then added, “Never mind, there’s no need to say anything, lest the people on the estate gossip.”
"Yes, I'll avoid her from now on. Wang's second daughter-in-law asked me about it, and she said some unpleasant things. It won't be good if it gets back to her aunt."
Song Chunxue was surprised; she hadn't expected him to think of these things.
Sanwa used to be quiet, but lately I often chat with her about this and that.
It seems he wasn't originally so taciturn; it was only her special treatment that forced him to remain silent.
In the following days, Song Chunxue cooked soup for him very frequently and gave him two poached eggs in the morning.
At first, the third child refused, but gradually stopped saying anything and ate whatever was made for him.
In early April, the memorial paper for the ninth anniversary of the child's father's death arrived.
Song Chunxue bought paper houses, paper figures, paper horses, and a bundle of paper money. People from the village also came.
She made pork noodle soup for everyone. When they came, they all brought white paper and helped hold up the paper figures so that the geomancer could write the eulogy.
Everyone said that if you have a paper figure, you should ask someone to play the suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument), otherwise the paper figure will be dead and unresponsive in the underworld. Song Chunxue reluctantly asked someone to play it once.
Anyway, this is the last time, so let the child's father have some fun in the afterlife.
As the eldest son, he was dressed in mourning clothes and carried a plate at the front, his face long and he didn't speak to anyone.
After burning the paper money, the eldest son, Jiang Yeming, returned home and crawled into the thatched kiln to cry.
He cried loudly. The people from the village hadn't left yet, waiting to have another meal of meat soup noodles.
Song Chunxue, who was tidying up in the kitchen, sneered inwardly.
Sanwa, looking like he'd done something wrong, rushed in and said to her, "Mom, my eldest brother is crying, do you want to go see him?"
"Isn't he just trying to get a share of the land? He's using this opportunity to get outsiders to make decisions for him and to make everyone think I've wronged him." She chuckled. "Don't worry about him. Just tell the truth whatever people ask. And don't hide the fact that he hit you, understand?"
The third child seemed to understand, but not quite.
He felt that, after all, that was his older brother, and he couldn't let outsiders laugh at him.
Song Chunxue took off her apron and walked out of the courtyard, where she saw the villagers pulling the eldest son out of the thatched kiln.
"Song family daughter-in-law, haven't you always doted on your eldest son the most? Why didn't you divide the family property but not the land? Do you want them to starve to death? Was it Sanwa who instigated this? Did he threaten you?"
Li Guang, adding fuel to the fire, said, "Although you will still have to rely on your third son to support you in the future, how will your eldest son survive if he has no land? He is still your son after all. Can you bear to do that?"
People in Zhuangzi believe anything they hear, and the rumors have spread to such an extent.
Song Chunxue listened quietly, giving her boss a detached look, as if she were looking at a stranger.
If she was disappointed in her boss before, now she has absolutely no desire to care about him anymore.
It's better not to acknowledge this son.
In her past life, the eldest son didn't want to give her any food or drink, nor did he want to give her a single penny, yet he managed to gain the sympathy of the people in the village and pretend to be a pitiful old man for over twenty years.
Now she understands that her boss's ability to put on an act might be innate.
"Mother, please give me some land," the eldest son said pitifully, sniffling. "I was wrong to hit Sanwa before, but you can't not give me land. He doesn't know how to farm, and we'll all go hungry in the future."
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