Chapter 117 Chapter 117 Lin Chuntao and the others pulled out that...
The piece of land that Lin Chuntao and her friends were clearing today was close to the river, so people in the village would pass by the land when they went to the river to wash clothes.
Lin Chuntao pulled out a row of bean sprouts and carried them to the ridge to prepare to tie them up.
There was dew on the ground in the morning, and the grass on the ridges was wet. Lin Chuntao was about to find a stone to sit on, but before she found a stone, she heard a familiar voice.
"Chun Tao, are you pulling out the bean sprouts?"
Lin Chuntao looked over and saw Lin Qingqing's grandmother, holding two wooden basins filled with clothes in her arms.
"Well, Third Grandma, are you going to wash clothes?"
The old lady replied, "Well, let's go wash some clothes while the sun is shining."
The old lady stopped in front of her, looked at her bean sprouts, and said, "Your bean harvest looks good."
Lin Chuntao said, "It's OK. There are a lot of beans hanging here, but I don't know if they're good until I pick them."
"It looks quite full, so there shouldn't be anything rotten if you collect it now."
The old lady stood there chatting, so Lin Chuntao didn't rush to tie the bean sprouts.
But after chatting for a while, they ran out of topics and fell into a brief silence.
Their family has been in a low mood recently. Lin Qingqing has not been found yet, and Wang Shi has been lying half-dead every day because of what happened to her parents' family. She doesn't get up to work.
She happened to hear people talking about Lin Chuntao and Lin Chunxing going to look for Lin Qingqing, so the two sisters borrowed a mule from Aunt Guizhi's house and went to the county town to look for her.
She didn't know about this before, and it was only these past two days that Aunt Guizhi next door mentioned it.
Lin Changhua often went to the county town these days, just to stroll around, wondering if he could find Lin Qingqing. But the county town was not a village after all, so how could he find someone if he was looking for her like a headless fly?
Lin Qingqing was not found, and Lin Chuntao even asked Lin Jiaye to help with the work. She was thinking, even if the young people had a good relationship, their family had lost someone after all, so why did Lin Chuntao ask Lin Jiaye for help without any scruples?
Could it be that they have already found Lin Qingqing, but didn't tell anyone?
The old lady thought about it alone for two days. In the morning, she heard Lin Jiaye say that he was picking bean sprouts by the river, so she deliberately took the opportunity of washing clothes to meet Lin Chuntao.
"By the way, Chuntao, I heard that you and Chunxing went to look for Qingqing. Did you find her?"
Lin Chuntao looked at the old lady, pursed her lips, frowned and said, "Third Grandma, we looked around, but we couldn't find it."
"Didn't you find it?" the old lady murmured.
Lin Chuntao hummed, then said, "Qingqing is a lucky person. Maybe she will come home on her own in a while."
The old lady looked at Lin Chuntao's expression and she couldn't tell whether Lin Chuntao was telling the truth or a lie.
She was in a low mood and said calmly, "It's all my fault. If I had been more careful and stopped her mother from doing anything wrong, she wouldn't have been forced to leave home."
"She'll be left alone outside. I heard there are kidnappers in the city. Qingqing is still young. If she meets a bad guy, her life will be over."
The old lady chattered and Lin Chuntao listened quietly.
After she finished her rambling, Lin Chuntao comforted her, "As long as you care about her, Qingqing will be fine. In the eyes of adults, children are still children no matter how old they are. Maybe Qingqing will leave home and learn to be independent. Maybe she will be lucky and meet a good person. You don't have to worry too much, Third Grandma."
In fact, Lin Qingqing is doing fine now and can tell her family, but thinking of what Wang had done before, Lin Chuntao and the adults in their family have to be careful.
If she told Wang about Lin Qingqing, and Wang Shi went crazy and became unreasonable, thinking that they were the ones who instigated Lin Qingqing to leave home, she would have no way to explain herself.
Lin Qingqing was working in the county town. She said she would come back after getting her wages, and then she could come back and tell her family.
She kept saying the same thing. Seeing that Lin Chuntao was tight-lipped and didn't reveal anything, the old lady sighed and said, "You are often in the county town. If you meet Qingqing, tell her that the marriage has been cancelled and ask her to come home early. Everyone at home misses her."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly.
"Don't worry, Third Grandma. If I meet you, I will definitely pass on my message."
Lin Chuntao added, "But the county town is so busy, running into someone you know depends entirely on luck."
Lin Chuntao and the old lady were talking at the edge of the field. Lin Jiaye and the others who were still in the field heard them. Seeing that they were talking about Lin Qingqing, they all hid in the middle of the field and did not come out.
After the old lady left, Lin Jiaye and the others came out with the bean sprouts. Lin Chuntao turned around and looked at them and said with a smile, "Why are you hiding? Are you afraid of grandma?"
Lin Jiaye chuckled.
"No, I'm afraid grandma will nag me."
Lin Chuntao shook her head helplessly. Lin Jiaye next to her asked, "Sister, do you really not know where Qingqing is?"
"Tsk~ If I knew, would I tell your second uncle and the others?"
Lin Jiaye: "That definitely won't happen."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "That's right."
Lin Jiayang listened to their conversation, pursed his lips and asked curiously, "Sister Chuntao, is it easy to find a job in the county town?"
Lin Chuntao said, "It's not easy to find one. If you want to do hard work, there are many adults waiting there. If you want to do something easier, it will be difficult if you are illiterate and have no skills."
They are all young men of about thirteen or fourteen years old. They are tall, but their eyes and faces are still childish.
Listening to Lin Chuntao's words, Lin Jialiang beside him said, "I heard that the teacher's tuition is very expensive. People in our village don't have the money to go to school."
Lin Chuntao said, "The tuition should be fine, but the pens, ink, paper and inkstone will cost a lot of money."
Lin Chuntao looked at them and thought of Lin Duoer and the others. She thought that finding a teacher should be put on the agenda as soon as possible. She had too many things to do and could not handle it all at once.
Pei Ying and his friends came back earlier today. There was still some pork tripe and chicken left from yesterday's meal, and they didn't eat the braised large intestine last night, so they heated it up and served it. They also fried a few dishes and started to eat lunch.
The dish of braised offal was made when they moved, and many people praised it highly. Lin Jiaye and his family had been longing for it for several days and finally got to eat it.
After lunch, Pei Ying washed and hung out her clothes, then went with them to pick beans. Lin Chunxing also had to braise the eggs first. She was very skilled at it, and she had finished it by the time Lin Chuntao and the others came back from picking beans.
Including Lin Duoer, the eight of them pulled out the weeds together. They finished pulling out all the weeds when the sun set. Lin Chunhe steamed rice, and Lin Chuntao came back and quickly cooked some dishes for dinner.
By the time they finished their meal, it was already dark.
Lin Jiaye and the others also wanted to help hang the bean sprouts. Lin Chuntao said, "We're exhausted after a busy day. Let's hang them slowly tomorrow."
But the teenager ignored her advice and dragged Pei Ying along until all the bean sprouts were hung before going back.
By the time they were done, the moon had already risen. Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying said, "Jiayang asked me today if it's easy to find work in the county town."
Pei Ying raised his eyebrows slightly. It was all manual labor, so how could there be any good work?
Lin Chuntao said, "I don't know how much it would cost to hire a teacher to come to my house."
Pei Ying looked at her and said, "You can go and ask."
The two of them talked as they washed up and went to bed. They were glad that Lin Jiaye insisted on hanging all the bean sprouts up last night. If he hadn't, they would have been soaked by the rain when they woke up.
The summer rain in Yizhou is mostly showers, sometimes it only takes a quarter of an hour in the afternoon or evening.
Autumn rain is different. If it doesn’t rain, the sky will be clear and sunny. If it rains, it will drizzle.
It was drizzling when they got up at Yinshi. Pei Ying had to go, and so did Lin Chunxing. They had braised a lot of eggs, and had prepared the meat filling and vegetables. If the rain stopped soon, there would be a lot of people at the market, so they had to go.
Lin Chuntao packed up her things. Afraid that her clothes would get wet on the road, she also packed two sets of clothes and shoes.
After they arrived at the county town, the rain had eased a little. If it had continued to rain and there was no shelter, the customers would not have been able to sit down and eat, and the stall would not have been able to operate.
They watched for a long time, and the sky gradually brightened. The thick fog dissipated and the sky became much brighter. Seeing that the weather had improved, Lin Chuntao went to the flour shop to get some flour.
Not long after, the rain stopped, but the sky did not clear up. There was no sun, and a dark cloud passed by from time to time. Taking advantage of the time when the rain stopped, the market suddenly became lively, but everyone was in a hurry to come and go, and ate noodles faster, for fear that the rain would come suddenly.
Lin Chuntao thought about it and decided that it was necessary to rent a shop. It would be convenient for customers who came to eat noodles, and it would also be convenient for Lin Chunxing to set up a stall.
Lin Chuntao pondered in her heart.
After closing the stall today, Lin Chuntao called Lin Chunxing to go to the cloth shop together. The temperature will drop after the rain. She had originally planned to make clothes after she finished her work in a few days, but now she can't wait any longer.
The tailors in the cloth shop are busy making winter vests. There are some ready-made ones, but they don’t seem to fit well. Lin Chuntao thinks of bringing Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer with her tomorrow to have them measured and made two sets of suitable ones.
After returning home, Lin Chuntao told the two sisters about this incident, and they were very happy.
After talking about making clothes, Lin Chunhe said, "Sister, I looked at the beans that were steamed the day before yesterday and it seems they can be dried, but what should we do in this weather?"
After hearing what she said, Lin Chuntao followed her to take a look. It was indeed well covered and needed to be dried out and ground as soon as possible.
She looked at the stove fire. Since the sun couldn't get any, she could only use the kang. Lin Chuntao got a bamboo plaque and placed it on the stove. She burned firewood underneath, and the temperature on top could slowly dry the food.
But after grilling, I found that this method wastes a lot of firewood, and the temperature is not high enough, so the grilling is a bit slow. If it were charcoal, the temperature would be more balanced and there would be no flames.
They could only roast like this today. Charcoal was quite expensive, so Lin Chuntao called Pei Ying and went to the backyard to dig a cave to burn charcoal.
Lin Chuntao's sudden idea made Pei Ying stunned.
"Now?"
Lin Chuntao nodded and smiled, "Well, right now, I don't have anything to do this afternoon."
Pei Ying smiled and then went to get a hoe. "Where are you digging?"
"Let's take a look at the foot of the mountain. I want to see if we can find a more convenient place to dig a hole." Lin Chuntao said as she and Pei Ying left the yard. Pei Ying said, "We should find a small mound or a slope, right?"
Lin Chuntao nodded.
Behind the yard was a small hill, not too big or too small, but there were many trees behind it, so it was not suitable for digging a hole. The two men walked around with hoes, but they didn't find the hill, but they found a slope.
Pei Ying asked, "How do we dig this?"
Lin Chuntao looked at the location and said to Lin Chuntao, "Dig directly from here, leaving a small door to store firewood inside, and then dig a small chimney here, and dig from under the phase over there to connect it inside."
She gestured as she spoke, and Pei Ying almost understood what she meant. Then he asked, "Will you light the fire here when the time comes?"
Lin Chuntao nodded, and Pei Ying hissed coldly, feeling that this was quite interesting.
He turned around and asked Lin Chuntao, "It doesn't need to be too big, right?"
"Well, it doesn't need to be too big. If it's too big, it won't be easy to seal."
As he spoke, Pei Ying started digging. He dug out the soil and Lin Chuntao pushed it aside.
In just over an hour, the two of them had dug out a fairly large hole.
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