Song Anxin thought it was good that she had deliberately placed the buckwheat flour and other whole grains on the surface of the grains in the bag, making it seem like the bag contained only whole grains.
Otherwise, the whole village would know that her family eats white rice every day. Although the villagers are honest and kind, it's always better to be careful to avoid arousing jealousy.
Before Song Anxin could speak, Aunt Sangui exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, there's meat in this basket! When did your family become so well-off, Sister-in-law Lin?"
The people on the bus didn't think much of the bag of exposed buckwheat flour, since every household eats this, and they assumed that this bag would last a long time.
But as soon as they heard Aunt Sangui say there was still meat, they immediately looked at Song Anxin and the others, their faces full of surprise and doubt that Lin Ersao's family could afford meat.
Oh dear! What a blunder. On the way back to the city gate, Song Anxin didn't forget to buy a large pot from the blacksmith. She spent another eighty coins to put the pot lid on the bamboo basket, but she didn't expect it to not be covered properly. A corner of the pot was exposed, and she could see the red pork inside.
Song Anxin reacted quickly. She immediately put on a sorrowful expression and began wiping away tears, saying, "Sigh, it's because Erzhu's pension came through. Although Erzhu is dead, he would definitely want us, his mother and children, to have this money so we can live a better life."
I was worried that the kids hadn't had meat all year round, and look how thin they've become, so I specially bought a few ounces of meat for them to satisfy their cravings. I hope Erzhu in heaven can rest easy watching over them.”
The meat was only partially visible in the basket, so no one knew how much there was. If she said it was a few ounces, no one would doubt her.
When everyone heard what Song Anxin said, they felt sorry for Lin Ersao. She used to be such an arrogant person, but she has become better and better since Erzhu died.
I figured it must be tough for a widow raising four children alone. Look how thin these kids are, they should get some meat to eat.
Although Aunt Sangui liked to gossip, she wasn't a bad person at heart. She immediately felt guilty and said awkwardly, "Oh dear, look at my loose tongue. It was my fault for reminding you of Erzhu. Fengnian's mother, don't be sad."
Song Anxin simply lowered her head and wiped away her tears, making it impossible to see what was really going on; she simply couldn't cry.
Seeing his mother's distressed expression, Lin Fengnian also felt a pang of grief. He had thought his mother wasn't sad at all, but it turned out she was just putting on a brave face. He secretly resolved that he must take on the responsibility of being a father and take good care of his mother from now on.
Lin Fenghe looked detached, completely absorbed in his own world and oblivious to what was happening around him. He had been keeping an eye on things when his mother went to his uncle Anbang's place to get the book.
He overheard his mother's conversation with his uncle Anbang, especially the line of poetry his mother recited: "The mountains and rivers are now safe and sound, but the loyal souls are buried here."
Although he didn't understand the specific meaning, he could feel the power emanating from it, which made his heart tremble.
He originally thought that his mother could only tell stories and know a few words. He never thought that his mother was actually more capable than his uncle, who was a student. Even his uncle, who was a student, admired and respected his mother so much. He, he must learn from his mother!
Song Anxin never expected that this trip would make one of her sons even more filial to her, while the other had come to admire her.
As they approached Linjia Village, Song Anxin finally managed to squeeze out two drops of cat urine, and said to Aunt Sangui with a sorrowful expression, "Although the compensation has been received, we have four sons, and each of them needs to get married..."
After marrying a wife, you have to provide her with a place to live, build a house, and feed and drink so many mouths. All of this will cost money, and the money probably won't last long.
I thought we couldn't rely on our meager savings, so I wanted to start a small business to supplement our income. We farmers don't know how to do much else, just how to make food. I thought I'd make duck eggs.
Aunt San Gui, if you have any duck eggs at home, bring them to our house. They're the same price as in the county—two copper coins each.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Sangui hurriedly said, "That's great! We happen to raise ducks, and they've laid quite a few eggs these past few days! I'll bring them to you later. Fengnian's mother is dead and can't be brought back to life, but we who are alive still have to keep living. I'll have everyone in the village who has duck eggs at home bring them to you."
After they finished speaking, the car arrived at Linjia Village. Aunt Sangui hurriedly got out of the car and rushed back home.
In business, you need to know how to judge and use people. Although Aunt San Gui is a loudmouth, she is also very enthusiastic. There are more than 200 households and more than 1,000 people in Linjia Village. They can't notify every single one of them.
With Aunt Sangui's help as a loudspeaker, the whole village will know by tomorrow. Moreover, Aunt Sangui knows that her family has received compensation, so she is not worried about not being able to pay it.
Furthermore, there are always women who marry into the village from other villages, and after a while, she believed that several nearby villages would also know that her family collects duck eggs.
Delivering the goods to their village is much closer than to the county, so they won't have to worry about the supply.
Everyone else in the village got off the cart, but Uncle Lin saw that Song Anxin's family had a lot of things, so he specially drove the oxcart to Song Anxin's door.
It was noon when they arrived home. Lin Fengshou had already brought Lin Fengyao back from the mountain. Seeing his mother and her group return with so many things they had bought, he rushed out to help carry the things.
Lin Fengyao approached his mother and asked mysteriously, "Mother, guess how many rabbits my second brother and I caught today?"
As Song Anxin and the children carried the things back into the house, she tilted her head and said to him, "Hmm... I really couldn't have guessed that."
Lin Fengyao couldn't help but excitedly hold up six fingers and said, "Six! We caught six rabbits this morning!"
Song Anxin was somewhat surprised. She thought that after Lin Erxi led them to catch five yesterday, there wouldn't be so many left. She didn't expect that they could still catch so many in just one morning. Perhaps the wild rabbits in ancient times had never seen such a trap with tempting wild fruits.
Lin Fengyao was very satisfied with his mother's reaction: "Hahaha...Mom, we're awesome, right? I'm going to continue catching them this afternoon with my second brother."
Song An thought to himself that they were going to wipe out all the rabbits' burrows on the mountain! But then he thought, why would the rabbits be so stupid as to go in there every day?
After bringing everything inside, Song Anxin slowly took things out of the basket: seven and a half pounds of pork, ten pounds of salt, a pound of sugar, and seasonings like soy sauce and vinegar. Finally, she pulled out a large bolt of cloth.
Everyone was stunned. Lin Fengnian and Lin Fenghe hadn't expected their mother to have bought cloth as well. When they arrived, their mother's basket was already full of things, so they couldn't see them clearly.
Song Anxin held up several pieces of cloth and said, "Meizi, do you have time to make clothes out of this cloth? Make two sets for each of the four Fengnian brothers, and make undergarments out of this cotton cloth..."
She simply didn't have any embroidery skills of her own, so she had to entrust everything to her eldest daughter-in-law.
She continued, "Look, this lotus root color is yours, and the yellowish-brown is mine. We each have two sets. Mother has good taste, doesn't she?"
As she spoke, she held up the fabric to compare and felt that she had indeed made the right choice; this kind of pink suited the little girl perfectly.
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