Chapter 35 New Life
San Ya was young and couldn't hold on any longer, so she quickly fell asleep with her little head resting on Xiao Yan's knees.
His little face was red from sleeping and he was drooling.
This was the first time Xiao Yan looked at a child so closely.
Very cute.
She was so lovely, but she was abandoned at birth.
If it weren't for Lu Qiniang, her soul would have been gone by now.
Lu Qiniang has made great contributions to her three daughters, and she is also such a warm presence to other people around her.
It’s good to have her.
Daya took Sanya back to sleep. Erya yawned and said, "Forget it, let's all go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow morning to go to the New Year's greetings."
She went out holding the red envelope given to her by Lu Qiniang in her hand.
Xiao Yan looked at the identical red envelope in his hand, a faint smile on his face.
He has it too.
He made the bed and reached out.
His hand hesitated in mid-air, but he still gently touched Lu Qi Niang and said, "Lie down and sleep well."
Lu Qiniang was really sleepy, so she didn't respond and just fell asleep.
Xiao Yan covered her with a quilt.
After thinking for a while, he laid out Ah Huang's own "dog mat", then picked it up and placed it between the two of them.
This has become a "ritual" for two people to sleep together.
The north wind was howling outside and snowflakes were weighing down the branches, but inside the house, it was warm and cozy. Lu Qinniang and Ah Huang were breathing evenly. Xiao Yan put the New Year's money under his pillow and closed his eyes.
Early in the morning on the first day of the New Year, the whole family got up early and changed into clean and tidy clothes.
What Xiao Yan was wearing were Zhang Heyao's old clothes.
Because of the huge difference in their body shapes, Daya used two of Zhang Heyao's old clothes to alter one for him.
"It's nothing compared to what you wore before," Lu Qiniang said, "but at least you can change and wash it. You can wear it for now. I'll buy you new clothes when I have money."
Xiao Yan felt that she was treating him like Erya.
"That's good," he said.
"Let's go and take you out to celebrate the New Year."
Lu Qiniang took Xiao Yan and her three daughters on a tour to pay New Year's greetings.
Everyone was a little curious about Xiao Yan and was reserved when facing him.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan was very talkative and took the initiative to talk to everyone about things like the weather and the harvest.
Although his temperament is incompatible with others, he can still talk to everyone.
I don't know if it was out of politeness, sincerity, or stupidity, but someone actually said to Lu Qiniang: "Qiniang, you are so lucky. This one is better than Zhang Heyao."
Everyone felt a little embarrassed.
No one answered.
The man knew he had said the wrong thing and quickly changed the subject.
Xiao Yan lowered his eyes and couldn't see his expression clearly, but Erya, who was very clever, felt that he was very happy to be praised.
During the chat, Lu Qiniang received an important piece of news.
Although she didn't say anything at the time, she drank the medicine in one gulp during lunch and said happily, "I have another way to make money!"
"What are some ways to make money?" Erya asked, poking the pancake soaked in mutton soup in the bowl with her chopsticks.
"Let's go chop ice!" Lu Qiniang couldn't hide her excitement. "Didn't you hear? They say ice lanterns are popular among the wealthy this Lantern Festival. Those who go chop ice can make three hundred yuan a day!"
She counted on her fingers and said, "Three hundred coins, the middleman gets sixty, which leaves two hundred and forty a day. I work from the second to the fourteenth day of the lunar year, so that's two, three, four... thirteen days. Ten days, two thousand four hundred coins, three days, seven hundred and twenty, all together, that's over three taels of silver!"
The price of piglets is calculated by weight, but on average, one piglet costs about three hundred coins.
"That can buy ten pigs!"
"Mom, you can't just let the pigs eat grass after you buy them. You also have to buy food for them!" Erya reminded her.
Erya doesn't want to raise pigs at home.
Feeding pigs is dirty, and the stench is unbearable in the summer.
"I can earn money to buy food later, but I have to buy the piglets first."
By the end of the year, a ten-month-old fat pig can be sold for about two taels of silver. After deducting the cost of about one tael, at least seven or eight hundred yuan can be saved for each pig.
Ten of them would cost seven or eight taels of silver.
If she raised it for two years, she could sell it for four taels of silver at the end of the year, just like the big pig she had bought in the countryside before.
But she couldn't wait, and there was also the possibility of swine fever, so she didn't take the risk.
"Mom, they're saying it's hard to make money like this," Daya said. "Even though it's only 300 yuan a day, you have to get up early and go to bed late, and you need to be physically strong."
"Of course. If it were easy, would I be able to give you that much?" Lu Qiniang said excitedly, "What I have the most is strength, isn't it?"
"But you're taking medicine."
"What's wrong with taking medicine? It doesn't affect my work. I'm full of energy now."
No matter how much her daughters objected, Lu Qiniang said that she must earn the money.
Daya couldn't help but look at Xiao Yan with a look of help in her eyes.
She hoped Xiao Yan could help persuade Lu Qiniang to give up this idea.
Xiao Yan said, "I feel much better now. I'll go with you."
"I can't have you." Lu Qiniang said, "You're too weak."
"I don't want any wages. I'll just lend you a hand. They won't object." Xiao Yan said.
Only a fool would refuse to have one more person working for free.
But Lu Qiniang said that if they didn't pay, only a fool would go.
She didn't let Xiao Yan go.
"You should take good care of yourself."
"Doctor Hu said I'm fine. I'll do what I can and won't try to be too stubborn."
He would help as much as he could. He couldn't just lie at home and watch Lu Qiniang struggle for life despite her illness.
Daya said, "In that case, why don't we all go? We're all bored at home, so if we go together, maybe they'll give us a few more coins."
Erya said, "I don't have much strength. But I can go and take a look. Sanya is playing at home. She is too young and it is not safe to go to the river."
"I want to go too. I'll watch you from the shore!" San Ya said firmly that she wanted to be with the whole family.
Lu Qin's mother said, "Alright, stop making a fuss. How can a girl go? Your father and I will go, and you guys stay home. Daya can embroider and earn ten cents a day; Erya will look after Sanya and help with cooking and cleaning. That's it."
Seeing her firm tone, the three daughters didn't know what to say.
After lunch, the three daughters went back to their rooms to catch up on their sleep, and Lu Qiniang also planned to take a nap.
Xiao Yan did not enter the house.
Lu Qiniang opened the window and looked into the yard, and saw him sitting at the kitchen door.
Snowflakes rustled against the kitchen windowpane. Xiao Yan held a long branch in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, cutting the branch. Sawdust fell on the blue bricks covered with a thin layer of snow.
His fingers were as slender as green bamboo. The moment the kitchen knife cut into the branch at an angle, his wrist bones rotated slightly, and the wood bark fell off layer by layer like a spring silkworm peeling off its cocoon.
When he cut to the fork of the branch, he twisted his thumb and index finger with force, and the frozen wood gently split into two thin branches.
"Xiao Yan, what are you busy with?" Lu Qiniang asked with a smile.
"Make a harpoon." Xiao Yan looked up at her. It was noon in winter and the sun was as pale as paper. Shining on his face, it made him look even more handsome.
"What's the point of a man being so good-looking?" Lu Qiniang muttered softly, refusing to admit that she was a little jealous.
"Can you spear fish?"
"No." Xiao Yan weighed the harpoon in his hand, "But you can try."
He also wants to do his part for this family.
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