Chapter 286 Ren Haitang
"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"
"Senior brother, don't talk nonsense."
"Don't make me sound so old just because not many people have cared about you like I have." Song Chunxue walked up to the bag of potatoes. "Come on, give me a hand and throw it onto the car."
The Taoist priest sighed, "Potatoes aren't expensive, I can just buy more as I eat them."
"It's cheap to sell them out, but expensive to buy them back. Potatoes are heavy; buying just a few is enough to buy a bowl of clear soup noodles."
As she spoke, Song Chunxue pulled the donkey over and harnessed it to the cart.
"But back when the eldest brother was studying in the countryside, he cooked for himself, and that's how I brought him things. If my senior brother insists that I want to be your mother..."
"Pah, pah, pah!" The Taoist priest stamped his foot as he pulled the donkey along. "You have no manners. I was just saying it offhand."
Song Chunxue laughed loudly.
My senior brother is really unreasonable; he was the one who spoke first.
In this way, they made two trips and carried all the food the Taoist priest needed to the mountain.
Looking at the porcelain jar full of liquid, the Taoist priest smiled and put the lid back on.
The Taoist temple has a kitchen, which is rather simple and gets very dirty after not being used for a long time.
In less than half an hour, Song Chunxue had cleaned everything spotless, and the stove was gleaming with oil.
The Taoist priest couldn't help but sigh, no wonder everyone says it's good to have a woman in the house.
It turns out he was just after the other person did a good job.
But he knew that someone as adrift as him couldn't afford to be a burden on others.
I used to think it was great to be carefree.
Now he feels guilty for making others worry about him.
"Senior brother, I'm going back now. Come visit when you have time." Song Chunxue stood outside the door and said goodbye to her senior brother.
The Taoist priest put down the broom he was holding and strode out the door.
Standing in a temple that was uninhabited year-round, he finally felt like a Taoist priest.
He had been living too comfortably these days and almost forgot the mission he was entrusted with.
He had almost completely forgotten the oath he had once sworn before the patriarch.
"Take care, junior brother. Go back and cultivate diligently. If you encounter any problems, you can come to the mountain to find me."
Song Chunxue nodded, "How about I share a wolfhound with you?"
The Taoist priest shook his head slightly, "No need. I often go out for several days at a time and can't take good care of it. You can keep the donkey. If I want to use it, I'll come to you to borrow it."
"Why would I borrow it? This donkey belongs to you now." Song Chunxue nodded at him. "Let's go. Remember to eat on time, senior brother."
"Sigh." The Taoist priest walked down the steps, took a few steps forward, and watched his junior brother's receding figure for a long time without moving.
It's rare to find a true friend in life, and my junior brother brightened his long and lonely days.
But in the end, he still had to travel alone.
I hope that my junior brother can achieve perfect enlightenment in this mortal world.
*
After my senior brother left, the house became much quieter.
But Song Chunxue's distress only lasted for a short while; all good things must come to an end.
She also knew that since they were male and female, it was indeed not appropriate for them to live in the same hospital.
Although she no longer farms, she finds herself with a lot to do every day, keeping her busy and fulfilled.
Every few days, I would go to the fields to check on the crops and the growth of the medicinal herbs.
After three days of rain, the crops in the fields grew rapidly.
After the rain, she stayed at home. In the morning, she read and learned to read, meditated, and studied meridian and acupoint charts. Before she knew it, it was noon.
After eating and taking a nap, I tidied up the vegetable garden and went for a walk outside.
After returning home, it was almost time for Sanwa to go home. After feeding the livestock and poultry, she started cooking.
After eating, she started reading and recognizing characters again.
Unbeknownst to her, her calligraphy had become much smaller and she had become quite slender.
Judging by the time, the wheat should be ready for harvest in a few days.
Spring wheat ripens quickly, earlier in the city than in the countryside.
She couldn't collect them herself, so she had to pay someone to do it.
However, she didn't know where to stack her harvested wheat; she couldn't very well leave it in the yard to be threshed.
I wonder where the previous owner of this yard used to thresh wheat.
We should ask Tianjia Huadie about this, since we haven't seen him in a long time.
Song Chunxue waited until she heard someone talking outside the courtyard before opening the door and going out.
Sure enough, Sister Tian, dressed in a dark green silk robe, was standing at the door chatting with two other women.
Upon seeing Song Chunxue leave the courtyard, their expressions instantly changed. Feeling guilty and uneasy, they hurriedly exchanged a few pleasantries and prepared to disperse.
"Don't run away! What are you talking about? Why are you running away when you see me? You're not talking about me, are you?"
Song Chunxue smiled slightly, "I don't eat people, I just want to ask you something."
Aunt Tian looked a little awkward and raised her hand to touch her cheeks, which were covered in rouge.
"What does his aunt want to ask?"
Song Chunxue held out her hand, revealing a plate of stir-fried peas. "Want some?"
"I kneaded it in a bowl while frying, so it won't hurt your teeth. You guys should try it."
As she spoke, Song Chunxue distributed some peas to each of them.
"Hmm, it's crispy. How did you cook it?"
The woman who was speaking was from the first house in the alley. They would just smile at each other when they met, but they had never spoken before.
"I added a little salt, but it didn't affect the texture of the peas; in fact, it made them even crisper," Song Chunxue said with a smile. "You can try it next time."
She asked naturally, "I wanted to ask, when my wheat is harvested, which threshing ground should I take it to?"
The butterfly spat out a pea pod, its eyes wide with surprise, and exclaimed, "You didn't know?"
“There’s such a big yard behind the alley entrance, all overgrown with weeds. Don’t you know it’s yours?” She pointed and said, “It’s the one you see every day when you go out. It’s the one with two stacks of blackened straw piled up in the yard.”
Song Chunxue could indeed see it often; the field was indeed quite large, at least three acres in size.
"Thank you so much, thank you. I forgot to ask when I bought the courtyard. Thank you so much, sister-in-law." Song Chunxue couldn't help but touch the fabric of her clothes. "This dark green is so beautiful, where did you buy it?"
"Next time you want to buy, I'll take you." At this point, Aunt Tian couldn't help but ask curiously, "By the way, I heard Mei Yang is getting married in the next few days. Isn't the person he's marrying you?"
"Of course it wasn't me. Why would I be so upset about getting married?" Song Chunxue glared at Aunt Tian. "So you were talking about this just now?"
Another, younger woman, dressed in a smoky pink traditional Chinese jacket, laughed and said, "Yes, Aunt Tian said you used to have a Taoist priest in your family, but he moved away a few days ago. You're not really going to become a nun, are you?"
Song Chunxue said helplessly, "Taoists are either Taoist priests or Taoist nuns, while Buddhist nuns are from the same family as monks."
It was rare that someone didn't ask her if she was living with a Taoist priest, and Song Chunxue felt a sense of goodwill towards them.
"You're from the second house up ahead, right? I see you sometimes go out with a hoe and often come home with a basket. What kind of business do you run?"
The woman in the smoky pink dress smiled with her eyes lowered; her single-eyelid phoenix eyes were rarely as spirited as hers.
“My husband is a blacksmith, and I often bring him lunch. We also farm a few acres of land and occasionally weed.” She looked at Song Chunxue. “I heard that your youngest child is already fifteen, but you can’t tell at all. My eldest child is only fifteen, and the youngest is just nine.”
“My given name is Ren Haitang, and everyone calls me Fifth Sister. You can call me that too.” Her tone was gentle and mild, with a hint of scholarly elegance.
"Fifth Sister, you're also the fifth child?" Song Chunxue asked with a smile. "Me too. I'm older than you, so you can call me Sister Song."
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