Chapter 630 The Early Death of the Scholar's Daughter (Part 4)
When it was time for bed, Jiang's mother was still in a happy mood. She hummed a song while making the bed for Jiang Yue, and would kiss Jiang Yue and her younger brother from time to time. Anyone could tell that she was very happy.
In the room next door, my second uncle's wife was talking to him.
“Look at your third brother, and then look at your eldest brother and you. You were both taught by your father. Why can’t you two do well in your studies?”
Her second uncle rolled his eyes at her without saying a word. Finally, unable to bear her nagging any longer, he said, "According to the opera, the third son is a literary star descended to earth. How can an ordinary person compare to him? Not to mention our village, look at our county. There's only one like him. Didn't you see the county magistrate sending money over?"
"Why!"
"Hey, what are you 'hey' about? Go to sleep, I have to leave early tomorrow."
"What's the rush! Tell me, can't we just let our son study hard? As long as he can pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, that will be enough."
"Isn't Dad teaching him? But I don't think there's much hope. My son is just like me when I was a child. He doesn't listen to anything Dad says. But when I think about it, my third son was different. He would remember everything Dad said after just one explanation."
"The child is still young; maybe he'll get better as he gets older?"
"Hehe, relying on this is not as good as hoping that the third son will pass the imperial examination and become an official. Once the third son becomes an official, we won't have to worry about the children's future."
"Alright! Stop thinking about all this nonsense and get some sleep."
For the next few days, the family was busy receiving guests, and it didn't stop until almost the New Year. During this time, they received a letter from Jiang's father, which was several pages long. After reading the letter, the family's worries were finally put to rest. Jiang Yue was very calm about this, because the puppet was protecting him in secret. No matter what happened to him, he would be safe. Jiang Yue even knew that he was thinking about home.
"Damn it, when is the eldest brother coming back?"
"They said they'd be back on the 25th."
"Oh right, did you forget to tell him what you bought?"
"I haven't forgotten."
"That's good. Second brother, have you found the person I asked you to hire?"
"Mother, the butcher can't come until the 28th, there's a long queue ahead of us."
"Didn't you check out the other one?"
“I went, but the Li family was fully booked until New Year’s Eve. Someone from the Zhao family changed their mind at the last minute, which freed up a morning. We’re a bit late in getting things done this year.”
"Then let's wait until the 28th."
Early on the morning of the 28th, Jiang Yue was awakened by the pitiful squeals of pigs. Before her mother could help her dress, she quickly dressed herself. If there were two things that changed most about Jiang Yue after she came over, they would be going to the toilet and getting dressed.
When she finished dressing and folding the blankets, her grandma came into the room to see her. Seeing the little girl folding the big blankets, she exclaimed, "Oh! Grandma's baby, put her down quickly! Let Grandma do it."
Grandma quickly folded the quilt, then took Jiang Yue to wash her face. There was a pig being slaughtered outside the yard, but Grandma didn't let Jiang Yue go out to watch, afraid of scaring her. She took her inside to play with her older brothers. After they finished, Grandma took out a piece of candy for Jiang Yue. Just as she was about to hand it to Jiang Yue, she saw a bunch of longing little eyes.
"Sigh~"
Grandma sighed and counted out the children according to their number, including the older children playing outside. When distributing the food, Jiang Yue's piece was undoubtedly the biggest. The other children were used to it. To put it bluntly, over the years, the idea of doting on their younger sister had taken root in their hearts. They were so used to giving her their own food that they had no objections.
If this were anyone else, Jiang Yue would definitely accuse them of favoritism, but as a beneficiary, she didn't have the nerve to say that. Fortunately, she's still young and there's still time to change things. Things are much better now, at least everyone gets a share. We can take it slow from here on out. Besides, achieving complete fairness is too difficult. Even ten fingers are not all the same length, let alone people's preferences.
After slaughtering the pig at noon, the butcher left. The adults started cleaning up the area in front of the house, cleaning up the blood on the ground, and finally covering it with a thin layer of soil. The children in the family were staring at the pork in the yard. Although it was a whole pig, Jiang Yue estimated that it weighed less than 100 pounds due to its breed and feeding.
If it's pure meat, then there will be even less. Judging by appearances, it would be good if we could get seventy catties of meat. And this meat is not all kept for consumption. Half of it will be sold, and the remaining half will probably be used to exchange for other meats, such as mutton, chicken, duck, and fish.
By the time the pork stew was ready at noon, half of the pork had already been sold. During the Lunar New Year, unless someone was in dire straits, everyone would buy some meat to eat. At mealtime, everyone would have a big bowl. After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Grandma would start rendering lard. Each person would have a bite or two of the cracklings, and the rest would be saved to make dumplings on New Year's Eve.
On the 29th, the village chief came over to discuss the ancestral worship ceremony. The village chief's idea was to hold it properly because Jiang's father had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar. He wanted to tell the ancestors that their descendants had achieved success and ask them to bless everyone. Grandpa's idea was to wait until the imperial examination was over and then discuss it. By then, Jiang's father would be home, and it wouldn't be too late to do it then. This year, it would be fine to do it like in previous years.
Finally, the village chief adopted Jiang's father's suggestion. On the morning of the 30th, they worshipped their ancestors according to the customs of previous years. Afterwards, everyone went home to prepare for dinner. Tables were already set up at home, with stewed chicken, fish, braised rabbit, braised pork, ribs, and several stir-fried dishes. Basically, everything that could be cooked was cooked.
Besides these, there were also candies and snacks brought back by my eldest uncle, and two jars of wine. We had to have a drink on this special day. During the meal, it was mainly my grandfather and eldest uncle who were talking. Everyone else talked at home every day. Today, my eldest uncle mainly shared the interesting things that happened at work. Of course, he couldn't talk about the grievances he suffered, so he just glossed over them.
The conversation then turned to Jiang's father. This was the first time in so many years that they were short-handed during the Spring Festival. His grandparents were worried that Jiang's father might not eat or dress well, and that he might be lonely during the Spring Festival. His eldest and second uncles were busy comforting him, telling them that their third son was such a capable person that they could rest assured.
Jiang Yue munched on her ribs, glancing at what her father was doing. Was he being emotional again? Sure enough, he was, which almost made her laugh. He was having dinner with some classmates, and while the others were eating and drinking happily, he was holding a wine glass, looking distracted and clearly homesick.
She had originally wanted to look around a bit more, but her grandmother put a piece of braised pork on her plate, which immediately diverted Jiang Yue's attention, and she focused intently on eating.
After dinner, the family sat together chatting. They indulged themselves for once today by lighting the oil lamp. Usually, they would have gone to bed by now, but today, not a single child, including the kids, was sleepy. Jiang Yue had been playing with her younger brother, but she fell asleep without realizing it; her body's instincts were too strong.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
