For the next month or so, Lu Amian couldn't find any more opportunities to make money.
The main reason is that after the start of spring, the weather gradually warms up, and it's the planting season.
Everyone in the village knew that Meng Laosan's family owned no land and had to buy their food from the grain store. In the eyes of the farmers, he was an extremely unreliable person whose life was entirely in the hands of others.
If one day the grain shop stops selling, his whole family will starve to death.
So even though they knew his family earned a little money, they didn't take it seriously. That money was always used to buy grain and rice, and it all went into their stomachs; they didn't have any savings at all.
Many people watched coldly, expecting the family to make a fool of themselves when grain prices were high.
"Especially my second brother's family, they're just waiting for us to starve and beg them!" Meng Jing said indignantly.
Lu Amian thought for a moment and asked her, "How much money do you have?"
Meng Jing was taken aback. "Why are you asking this?"
“I went to the market and asked. A large chicken costs seventy coins, but a chick only costs ten coins, regardless of sex. I have fifty-nine coins, which is only enough to buy a few chicks…”
People who don't know much about farming might think that raising chickens is as simple as just buying them. But it's not that easy.
First, you need to prepare a chicken coop. Second, as the chickens grow, a month's worth of feed consisting of bran and vegetable leaves will cost several tens of coins. Even with all the preparations, if the chickens get sick halfway through, all your investment will be wasted. Even if you manage to raise them to adulthood, if they stop laying eggs, you'll only break even and won't make any money.
Meng Jing hesitated for a moment, "I tried to raise them twice before, but they died after only a few days."
“With me here this time, we can raise them together. When the chickens grow up, or when we sell the eggs, we’ll split the money!” A-Mian patted her chest. “I’ve always been good at raising things. I’ve raised ducks with badly bitten feet by big dogs, tadpoles I’ve fished out of the water, and even A-Dou!”
Really?
"It's true, although the tadpoles later grew into frogs and made too much noise at home, we had to release them."
Under the bright sun, Meng Jing finally nodded. "Then we should plant some vegetables in the backyard so that we won't have to spend money on vegetables for the chickens... How about I contribute fifty coins and you contribute fifty coins?"
"good!"
These two young women felt that this was a career of their own, and therefore took it very seriously.
Meng Chijian neither confirmed nor denied this. There wasn't much work to do at home to begin with, and Xiao Jing usually managed to handle it all by herself.
Ah Mian said she wanted to build a chicken coop in the backyard. She wanted a coop with a small door, a semi-shaded roof, and a spacious, dry coop that was some distance off the ground. Not only that, she also wanted to build a fence to keep the chickens in, so they wouldn't run into the front yard and trip over her.
When I returned home in the evening, my face, hands, and skirt were covered in filthy mud.
Meng Chijian wouldn't let her get on the bed, and instead lifted her up from behind, shaking her a few times in the air. As a result, wild broad beans, shriveled millet, corn kernels, and all sorts of unwanted scraps that she had picked up fell out of Lu Amian's body.
"How did you wash your hands? They're covered in mud!" He slapped her hands hard a few times, warning, "I don't care how you raise them, if you make this house smelly and messy, I'll throw away all your chickens, your donkey, and you too."
“I know,” Lu Amian quickly said ingratiatingly, “and we’ll be sending ten eggs home every month!”
Meng Chijian sneered, "I don't care about what happens a few months from now, you have to take a shower tonight."
In the countryside, taking a bath is a rather troublesome thing.
When the weather is hot, it's relatively convenient for the man; he can simply jump into the river. But when it gets cold, he has to boil water. Hot water requires firewood, which isn't something we have naturally. If you're too particular about cleanliness, you could never have enough firewood at home.
However, Meng Chijian is a person who is extremely particular about this, even somewhat picky.
He loathed slovenly, unkempt people, so the sight of Lu Amian always made his veins bulge. Initially, he was mindful that she was a woman, and being spoken to in such a manner naturally made him extremely ashamed—but now, he realized this person was utterly shameless!
Seeing his unfriendly expression, A-Mian immediately ran to the woodshed.
"How can this be..." In the past, if A-Mian burned firewood a few times at home, her father would get very angry and scold her for being wasteful. Now that she's in the Meng family, she's finally found someone even more wasteful than herself.
After boiling two buckets of water with firewood, Ah Mian resignedly went to close the kitchen door.
She washed very carefully this time, but Meng Chijian was still not satisfied. He grabbed her ear and asked, "Why didn't you wash the back of your neck? The back of your ears is dirty too."
Lu Amian murmured, unable to speak.
As Lu Amian was soaking in the wooden tub for the second time, the door behind her was pushed open slightly. Meng Chijian, his face dark, held a loofah in one hand and a soapberry in the other, approaching his prey with the composure of a cunning hunter.
Amian nervously submerged herself underwater except for her head, stammering, "You, you..." She couldn't speak.
Then Meng Chijian, expressionless, turned his head away and closed his eyes, scrubbing A Mian thoroughly, just like he was washing a piglet.
They even washed her hair before tossing her two towels to dry it and get dressed.
He left the kitchen, but came back a little while later and brought her a brazier.
Meng Chijian hadn't paid much attention to her until now, when he noticed that A-Mian's arms, exposed outside her sleeves, were red from being rubbed, and her face was also very red. She exuded a clean scent of soap and wood, and her eyes were very lively, looking around. It has to be said that in just one month, A-Mian had grown taller, her face had become fuller, and she looked much fairer after taking a bath.
"You're not allowed to go to sleep until you've warmed yourself by the fire and dried your hair here."
As he spoke, Meng Chijian walked around behind her and began to dry her hair little by little with a towel.
"When are you planning to buy chicks?"
Ah Mian honestly replied, "We plan to go the day after tomorrow and buy six or seven chicks."
"I'll go with you, and while we're at it, we'll get some medicine from the clinic."
"Oh." Ah Mian warmed herself up by the fire for a short while, feeling both warm and sleepy, and sat down on the wooden stool, yawning.
"I'll introduce you to my friends then."
Lu Amian hummed in agreement, vaguely feeling herself being lifted up. She wrapped her arms around the person's neck and pledged her loyalty: "I'll take a good bath... and I'll raise the chickens well... I'll earn lots and lots of copper coins..."
"Don't abandon us..."
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