After Ah Mian's foot injury healed, she thought everything was fine.
Not only that, she also really wanted to go to the restaurant again.
Perhaps it's a family tradition in the Lu family that, after drinking, they forget many things in reality, feeling completely refreshed, as if they're walking on clouds. They also become exceptionally excited, as if they have inexhaustible energy.
Father Lu never drank alcohol before, but after Amian's mother died, he started drinking with every meal. Little Amian used to hate her father when he was drunk, but every time he got drunk, he would wave his arms like he was shooing away flies and shout, "What do you know, you little brat!"
Ah Mian believes she's no longer a little kid.
She was also an adult who had troubles and sought solace in alcohol.
However, on the third day after secretly buying the alcohol, he felt something was seriously wrong as soon as he got home.
Meng Jing quickly gave her a look that said, "It wasn't me, I didn't tell on you, good luck," and immediately slipped away through the front door.
Meng Chijian sat imposingly behind the table, on which lay a row of items: a hidden, tattered wine flask, the restaurant's receipts, a few pieces of silver, and... a ruler.
Amian chuckled dryly, "Haha, what a coincidence, you're home during the day too."
Meng Chijian gave a forced smile: "I was waiting specifically for you."
Before he could finish speaking, A-Mian fled towards the door like a rabbit. Meng Chijian blocked the doorway in a few steps, but A-Mian darted into the backyard with lightning speed—
Then, to my dismay, I discovered that the backyard was locked!
"You didn't earn the money yourself, so you don't feel bad spending it, right?" Meng Chijian picked up A Mian and put her on the stool, holding onto her arm to prevent her from running away again.
"I'll give you one tael of silver to buy wine. Then I'll have to take it back."
Upon hearing this, Ah Mian felt as heartbroken as a beggar whose last coin had been taken from his bowl.
"You've already given it to me, how can you take it back?"
Meng Chijian said, "I gave you these things to buy food, clothes, and jewelry, not for you to come back every day reeking of alcohol. What kind of image would that be?"
Ah Mian was filled with regret. She hadn't even properly spent that one or two taels of silver yet, having only bought wine twice!
If she had known this would happen, she should have bought the food, clothes, and jewelry that Meng Chijian had mentioned before going to buy wine, and then she wouldn't have suffered such a huge loss.
"Stretch out your hand, and remember one more thing: from now on, you are not allowed to buy or drink alcohol outside."
Ah Mian only had half a tael of silver and a little over three hundred copper coins that she had earned before, and there was no way she would be willing to use that money to buy wine.
She opened her palm, and Meng Chijian picked up the ruler and struck her three times squarely in the center of her palm.
Only then did he release Ah Mian.
This punishment was less effective than before. Although he used three or four tenths of his strength and Ah Mian's palms turned red, she didn't care much.
Meng Chijian once again considered teaching her to read, since beatings had no effect on A-Mian.
That's how most children in the countryside are; they grow up being beaten and rolling in the wind, so they're very experienced in this.
Meanwhile, A-Mian was indignant. She went to the backyard to feed the donkey while gossiping about someone, clearly determined to hold a grudge: "When I have money in the future, I'll give him an ounce of silver, and then take it back in a couple of days! A-Dou, let me tell you, Meng Chijian is an extremely wicked person. Don't be fooled by him. He's so fierce, has such a wicked tongue, and his heart is as hard as iron. No wonder nobody likes him."
Adou seemed to understand but not quite, and twitched his donkey ears.
"I even said he was similar to you, but now it seems that was all a lie. He's not even half as good as you! He's just a..." Ah Mian racked her brains for words to curse him, "...a pig's head."
After moving hay in the backyard, Pighead took a wooden ladder, placed it on the roof beam, replaced a few broken tiles from his own house, and then washed his hands before going out to the shop.
At this moment, Ah Mian gradually shifted from anger to sadness. "One tael of silver, if you buy two meat buns every day, can last for half a year. And you can also buy cloth shoes, rouge... Even if you don't want any of those, it would be nice to go to the flower and bird market and buy a bird that can talk!"
Actually, A-Mian didn't intend to spend all her money on alcohol.
It was precisely because she couldn't make up her mind about other things and was reluctant to spend them that she went to buy the wine first, since she didn't have to think too much about it.
Now that all her efforts had been in vain, Ah Mian, after much painful reflection, began—
Weaving straw sandals.
Yes, she lost her old straw sandals. She has another pair, but they're too small and she's currently wearing them and they're uncomfortable.
A new pair costs five or six coins.
Amian also has a pair of cloth shoes, but she only wears them on formal or important occasions (such as attending a wedding banquet or going to the theater).
How could she bear to spend money at this point?
Amian took Adou's hand and went to the foot of the back mountain to gather grass. There are specific requirements for the straw used to make straw sandals. Generally, you need to find grass with good toughness, such as cattail or reed. She found a large pair of scissors and a large awl at home and started making them with great enthusiasm.
However, when it comes to needlework, Ah Mian's hands become somewhat clumsy.
Meng Jing, who eventually went home, couldn't bear to watch any longer and helped make the shoe soles.
"Why make them yourself? Let Third Brother make two pairs for you. He can do all of these things!" He's a craftsman, after all.
Ah Mian grumbled, "I don't need his help."
"Alright, my knitting is just so-so, you'll have to make do with it," Meng Jing said, not caring much, and excitedly told him about a strange story she had heard in the city.
"Do you know what's really happened to our magistrate's daughter!"
"have no idea."
A county magistrate is not someone Ah Mian can usually come into contact with.
"Listen to me. The magistrate's family has a very precious daughter who is now of marriageable age. The family has arranged several good marriages for her. But this daughter refuses no matter what, because she already has someone she loves..."
Meng Jing lowered her voice mysteriously, "He's the eldest son of the prefect. The two had long harbored feelings for each other, but who would have thought that he would turn his back on her and marry a noblewoman from a high-ranking family not long ago!"
"Xiao Jing, you can actually speak in such literary language."
"Oh dear, it's what the storyteller said: for just five coins you can buy a pot of tea and a small plate of mung bean cakes, and you can listen to stories all day long in the teahouse... I'm getting off-topic, and then the magistrate's daughter... heartbroken, jumped into the lake one night!"
Amian grabbed Meng Jing's clothes, "How could this happen? Her mother must be so heartbroken."
"And that's not all. The servants rushed to the rescue, but who could have imagined that the magistrate's daughter would undergo such a dramatic change in personality after being pulled from the lake?"
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