After Ah Mian took on the order for fermented bean curd sauce, she stopped setting up her stall as often.
She spends most of her time at home, and can make a dozen or so jars a day at most. Fortunately, she can deliver them in batches when it's time to go.
Every few days, she would go into town to the backyard of Song Dongjia's shop. A Mian did not hand over the original jar of tofu to the workers, including the amount of ingredients she added. She mainly had the workers do chores such as cutting the tofu into small pieces and moving the jar.
Once a batch of goods is produced, all you need to do is wait 20 to 30 days before going back to check them one by one.
"You know what? It's really strange. Before, to earn a few dozen or a hundred coins, I had to work from morning till night, either doing odd jobs or setting up my own stall, never wanting to rest for a single day. But now, I earned thirty taels of silver in the first month and forty-nine taels in the second month, and I'm not tired at all." Ah Mian lay in bed, her head tilted to one side, resting on her arm. "Hey, do you think it's possible that hard work has nothing to do with earning money?"
"Daydreaming won't conjure up any coins, but at least working will give you something to eat." Meng Chijian was using a dagger to try and carve the shape of a puppy into a piece of wood.
"That's true."
"As long as you're not hungry, doing chores can be quite interesting."
Ah Mian said thoughtfully, "Otherwise, it would be a bit boring to have nothing to do."
"Um."
There's not much entertainment in the countryside. A theatrical troupe might tour different villages and perform for a year, but that's about it. Even if you only see those plays once a year, they become utterly boring after a decade or so. Meng Chijian thought it was more interesting to listen to Lu Amian's nonsense, while the latter was lost in thought, daydreaming about something else entirely.
"By the way, the charity will be distributing porridge and praying for blessings in the city in a few days. It's said to cure all diseases. Should we take the baby there?" Meng Chijian brought the man's attention back.
"It'll be very cold those days, and the baby might catch a chill. We'll go and beg for half a bowl of porridge so that Ah Yue can just have a taste." The porridge at the charity shrine isn't very good; scooping out rice is like finding a needle in a haystack. However, this is a lucky act, not an act to fill one's stomach.
The following afternoon, the couple brought two coins to the charity hall to ask for porridge, only to find it crowded with parents, many of whom had brought their children. The women, who knew each other, gathered together, chatting animatedly about their children.
"Your baby is so smart, he can talk at only eight months old! He looks so cute and chubby."
"He's always causing trouble at home. Look at his head, it's swollen up like this. He fell off the box."
"Thank God..."
"Your baby is the best. He can stand and walk before he's even a year old. He's so robust."
Meng Chijian overheard this. He had been calm and collected until now, because he was unaware of other children's progress. But now, thinking about it, little A-Yue was already over seven months old, and all she could say were "ah ah" and "mama." Moreover, on a few occasions, when he called little A-Yue, she wouldn't respond at all, continuing to play with her dolls or wooden toys, as if she hadn't heard him.
His heart sank to the bottom. Was the baby mentally challenged? Or was his hearing impaired? Why couldn't he speak?
Lu Amian was completely unaware of this, and excitedly joined the end of the line, observing the people around her with great interest.
Many people were also secretly observing Ah Mian—most of the women came with children, but this couple came without a child, so what was going on?
"Mommy, are you tired?" A little girl, about a year old, looked up and asked softly from the line ahead.
"It's alright...it'll be our turn soon."
The woman she was talking to looked tired, but her clothes were neat except for a small patch of pudding of a similar color on her elbow, which was barely noticeable unless you looked closely.
This person was Lu Weiwei. The biggest surprise for her in the year after giving birth to her daughter was not that she didn't have enough money. After all, she had saved up a lot of copper coins and had been selling handkerchiefs to the cloth shop.
But the biggest problem was that her husband was a scholar, and pursuing a career required prioritizing his studies. He couldn't even take care of the children; he had to ensure they didn't disturb his studies.
Is this wrong?
Lu Weiwei thought this was only right. If her husband passed the imperial examination this year, their small family would have more standing in the larger family.
Her husband's family didn't like that she had a girl, and they didn't take care of her much anymore. People said they were busy taking care of their "grandson."
These two characters are pronounced with emphasis.
She had no choice but to take care of the child by herself.
The hardships she endured were immense; she couldn't keep up with washing all the diapers, and it was during this time that she developed back problems. After waiting in line for a long time, Lu Weiwei had to support her back with one hand to feel a little better. She glanced slightly to her left and saw Lu Amian.
Amian was still the same as before, turning her head around to look at everything. Her eyes were still bright, and her face showed no signs of dullness or fatigue. If you didn't know that she was also pregnant, you would think that she had come to pray for a child!
Are the Meng family really that good to her?
Lu Weiwei felt a lump in her throat and quickly turned her face away.
If she were to take a closer look at the frowning man beside Ah Mian, she would realize that Ah Mian's family was not having an easy life either, and Ah Mian's husband looked as if he had aged five years.
Actually, little Yue was very easy to take care of at first. Aunt Wang took care of her until she was five months old. She would have a nap before bedtime, sleep for two hours, and then go to see Amian again. This way, the baby could sleep until dawn. Amian didn't go out to work at that time, and after that, she would sleep until she woke up naturally.
After Aunt Wang left, Meng Chijian felt that the baby was old enough to sleep through the night at six months, so he stopped the baby's nighttime feedings. Little A-Yue naturally protested and cried loudly, but her crying only resulted in her father feeding her millet porridge.
After five or six days of this struggle, Little A-Yue learned on her own to eat more before bed and from then on, she slept soundly until dawn.
Originally, Xiao A Yue was always taken care of by Xiao Jing and Meng's mother during the day. However, Meng Chijian was always a troublemaker, and he always felt that others could not take care of her as well as he could.
“Xiao Jing is the youngest, she has never helped raise her younger siblings, so how would she know how to take care of children? The last time I came home, I saw that the little one’s clothes and pants were all on backwards, and everything was tucked together inside. I don’t know how uncomfortable he must be wearing them.” Meng Chijian muttered to A Mian.
"It's almost our turn, where's the bowl?"
"Here you are too. You always treat the baby like a toy, she's not a doll..."
Ah Mian wanted to cover her ears, but holding the bowl, she listened to his rambling about how if the baby couldn't talk, she should take him to a doctor or temple to see a doctor.
“Meng Chijian, our baby isn’t stupid at all, and she certainly can’t be speechless!” A-Mian glared at him angrily. “She’s ignoring you because she finds you annoying!”
"..."
"impossible."
Ah Mian handed over a bowl and ladled out some porridge.
It looks like plain water.
Just as the two were about to leave, they overheard some women whispering: "Have you heard?"
"Someone in the city is stealing children!"
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