Chapter 939 Zhang Daya
In a corner of the Lu family's backyard, there is a storage room.
Zhang Daya knew the ropes well. She found an iron rack and some charcoal, and then used a scraper to pry open the oyster shells.
Lin Yuesha left the space to Qi Heng and Lu the carpenter, and took the initiative to come out and help.
“Miss Yun, I am seventeen years old. If you don’t mind, please call me Sister Daya.”
Zhang Daya was someone who couldn't keep a secret. At that moment, she had no idea what a distinguished woman she was facing. Later, after learning the truth, Zhang Daya said that it was incredibly audacious and arrogant of her to call Lin Yuesha her sister.
"Garlic oysters are best eaten grilled; they're so fresh and fragrant. But since it's winter and we don't have any fresh chili peppers at home, we can only use chili sauce."
Zhang Daya set up a small table next to the charcoal fire and dug out a few frozen crabs from under the snow pile in the yard.
Lin Yuesha stood aside and observed. Zhang Daya had a complete grasp of Lu the carpenter's small plot of land, indicating that the relationship between the two was unusual.
"You have to add some Shaoxing wine when grilling crabs, otherwise they will taste too fishy."
Once the charcoal fire was lit, Zhang Daya placed the garlic on the cutting board, tapped it twice with the back of a knife to easily peel off the garlic skin, and then began to mash the garlic into paste, keeping herself busy for a moment.
Lin Yuesha was observant and did small tasks like passing things to others, while chatting idly with Zhang Daya.
February in Yingcheng is still very cold, and the fishing village is rarely visited until spring arrives and flowers bloom.
Every year in June or July of the lunar calendar, wealthy families from the surrounding area would come to the seaside for leisure. They looked down on the living conditions of the villagers and mostly stayed in horse-drawn carriages.
"Miss Cloud, how long will you and your husband stay?"
Zhang Daya hurriedly inquired, hoping that Lin Yuesha would stay longer so that she could find an excuse to come and see Yunduo every day.
In the past, she was a reserved person, but after waiting for two or three years, Zhang Daya and Lu the carpenter made no progress.
Behind the scenes, Zhang Daya pondered where the problem lay. If she didn't take the initiative, she would only be able to marry someone else.
"Stay for a while."
Lin Yuesha was unsure how long she would stay in Yingcheng, and she was still waiting to see how things progressed.
The couple has just arrived in Yingcheng and hasn't yet figured out the situation there.
"Sister Daya, do you live in the fishing village?"
Lin Yuesha's question was not superfluous. In the fishing village, there were generations of fishermen. These people did not have houses in the village, but only occasionally went down to the boat to replenish their water supply. Their entire families ate and slept on the boat.
“I’m not from the fishing village. I don’t know where I’m from, or even who my parents are.”
After a moment of silence, Zhang Daya began to recount her life story.
She had almost no memory of anything before the age of three, only that she was adopted.
Her parents abandoned her on the beach, and she was picked up and raised by adoptive parents.
Several years ago, her adoptive parents passed away one after another, leaving Zhang Daya with only her eldest brother's family as her remaining relatives.
“I’m not married yet, and I’ll need to prepare a dowry in the future. My sister-in-law dislikes me because I’m just a freeloader at home and can’t do any work, so she separated from me.”
To put it nicely, it was a disguised way of kicking Zhang Daya out of the family.
"Then...you don't blame them?"
Lin Yuesha paused. No wonder Zhang Daya dared to go to Lu the carpenter alone. She was all alone, without parents or relatives to help her find a husband.
"No, I don't blame you."
Zhang Daya shook her head; she wasn't without resentment after being kicked out.
She had lived in the Zhang family for over a decade and had a deep bond with her eldest brother. However, her brother was easily influenced and lacked his own opinions, so everything in the family was decided by his sister-in-law.
"I gradually came to understand what my sister-in-law was doing."
In the fishing village by the sea, the villagers did not live as well as one might imagine. The eldest brother's family had three children, and the half-grown boys were eating their father out of house and home. The couple often went hungry and relied entirely on seafood to fill their stomachs.
"I heard that the barbarians are going to war with the Great Qi, and grain prices have skyrocketed, with rice and flour prices several times higher than before."
Lin Yuesha had personally experienced the grain confiscation and knew all too well the hardships faced by ordinary people.
Especially in the north, it is the lean season when food is scarce and people can only survive on their stored grain.
"It's damp in the fishing village, and getting water isn't easy, but the advantage is that the villagers almost never go hungry."
Living by the sea, the villagers rely on the sea for their livelihood. They go out to sea to fish, and a single catch can last them ten to fifteen days. However, having eaten this way since childhood, the villagers have long been tired of it.
“My sister-in-law is not a heartless person; she left me a fishing boat.”
Zhang Daya and her adoptive parents left behind two fishing boats, which were split equally between Zhang Daya and her older brother, one boat each.
The carpenter assigned to Zhang Daya was dilapidated, so she asked Lu the carpenter to help repair it. Over time, the two became acquainted.
From a young age, she was bolder than the villagers. One day, she took her fishing boat to the deep sea to collect sea clams, and by chance, she found pearls inside.
"And pearls?"
Lin Yuesha's eyes lit up. Back then, Zhang Qing'er gave her a pearl hairpin that cost more than ten taels of silver, and it was just an ordinary river pearl.
Pearls from the deep sea are even rarer.
"Yes, there are grand mansions of wealthy families on one side of our fishing village, such as the Li family and the Zhao family. The Zhao family's daughter is in the pearl business."
While others were chatting, Zhang Daya talked on and on.
Going to the deep sea is extremely risky; it's a gamble with one's life. Zhang Daya never goes out to sea on windy days.
Every time she returned from a sea voyage, Zhang Daya was filled with anxiety.
Her fishing boat was old and worn out. After being modified by Lu the carpenter, it was no longer afraid of strong winds. Instead, it could use the wind to go further.
Therefore, she only managed to catch pearl-bearing oysters three or four times that year, secretly exchanging them for silver.
Zhang Daya dared not tell the villagers about this risky adventure, fearing that they would follow her lead and go to the deep sea without considering the consequences. If something went wrong, she would become a sinner for all time.
"Big Sister Ya, have you met Miss Zhao?"
Lin Yuesha was worried that she couldn't see Zhao Jingya, so she could only wait at the seaside villa. If an acquaintance could pass on a message, then things would be simple.
"I have met her, but after Miss Zhao got married, she rarely came to the seaside to do business with me. I always went to the villa to ask the steward to pass on the message."
Zhang Daya had a very good impression of Zhao Jingya. She was well-educated, reasonable, and poised. She did not show any disdain for Zhao Jingya, who was just a girl from a fishing village.
"I heard that the Zhao family originally had a Miss Pink Butterfly, but she was stabbed to death by Miss Li, and this matter caused a great uproar."
After Zhao Fundie's death, the only young lady of marriageable age in the Zhao family was Zhao Jingya. She married the garrison commander's son, and it is said that this Miss Zhao was very skilled at managing her husband and was a very capable person.
Zhang Daya is obsessed with uncovering the secrets of high-ranking families and knows a great deal about them.
Lin Yuesha remained silent; what Zhang Daya had found out was basically true.
Back when she was at the girls' school, Zhao Jingya showed something different. She was calm, not impulsive, and realized early on that women also needed money to rely on and the ability to earn it. No matter who she married, Zhao Jingya could live a good life.
It hadn't been long since they last met, and Zhao Jingya had already found a way to sell pearls. The price of pearls in the fishing village wasn't high, but after being made into jewelry, their value increased many times over.
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