Chapter 161 Chapter 161 Update.
The rain was pouring down, and Huaer came back like a drenched quail, with a bitter face, saying:
"We didn't sell the handkerchief. The guy at the cloth shop found a better source and didn't want ours anymore."
Every spring rain brings a chill, and she shivered with cold.
"Let's not talk about the handkerchief for now. Go change your clothes so you don't freeze."
Si Niang untied her straw raincoat. The sparse straw on it had been soaked through. When she came in, her shins were wet, leaving water marks with every step she took.
Shen said, "How can she be so delicate? She never behaved in such a way even when she was wearing this straw raincoat. It's because you spoiled her."
Hua'er heard it from inside and felt aggrieved, but dared not say a word. The cold wind blowing in from the broken window made her sneeze continuously and she couldn't stop for a while.
"A-choo, a-choo..."
When Shen heard this, she became even angrier and cursed through the door:
"Who are you doing this for? You want to make Si Niang and I feel bad, right?"
Hua'er held back her tears and didn't dare to hit him anymore. She hugged her clothes, buried her head and cried, her shoulders shaking.
"You have the nerve to cry?"
Shen listened through the door and became even angrier. She stopped coughing recently and now she has the strength to speak.
"Mother."
Si Niang called her several times but failed to persuade her. She gritted her teeth, pinched the corner of her clothes, turned her back and said,
"Mother's cough is gone. How did you get better? It was a can of autumn pear and loquat paste given by Aunt Tian. The medicine you take every day is hot water dissolved in that paste."
Shen was so angry that she trembled and pointed at her, unable to speak for several seconds.
"you……"
Finally, he called Hua'er out from the door and said, "Greedy girl, who told you to take it?"
"Don't blame her, mother. I was the one who ordered her to accept it."
"What an unfilial daughter who disobeys her elders!"
After Si Niang finished speaking, she was slapped in the face. With her face red from the slap, she knelt before Shen Shi.
"As a daughter, I really can't fall asleep every night listening to my mother's cough. Mother, I know your heart very well. The glory of our ancestors is gone. How can we live with a stubborn heart? Please open your eyes and look at our home and your daughter. We must live well."
This room is just a few steps away. It has dilapidated windows and leaking walls. Standing in the room, my face is wet because the roof is leaking and the water is splashing onto the couch.
The daughter kneeling on the ground had skinny cheeks. She was over eighteen years old, but she looked like a girl of thirteen or fourteen. She didn't look tall at all. It was because she ate only vegetarian food and no meat.
Seeing the thin Si Niang looking up at her, Shen Shi could no longer hold her hand down and helped her up.
"Did it hurt?"
Si Niang shook her head.
"My daughter made the decision on her own, and she was wrong in the first place."
The next day, Mr. Yangcheng, who had been away on a long journey, hired a car to return home.
When he entered the door, he saw a man climbing down the ladder from the roof of his house. He bowed to him and called him Master Yangcheng.
Shen came out and said, "This is Xiao Gu's husband. The roof of our house is leaking and several windows are broken. I asked him to come and fix it."
After saying that, he paid the man his wages.
"Just come to me if you need any work."
The man carried the ladder out, and the long tail of the ladder forced Master Yangcheng into a corner, almost getting his clothes dirty.
"snort."
He flicked his sleeves and went in. Just as he was about to scold Shen, he saw a large plate of meat on the table. The aroma of stewed lamb filled his nose, making his stomach growl.
"My dear, you've worked hard on the journey. Please wipe your hands and have dinner first."
She also called out the embroiderer Si Niang from the room. There was only one dining table in the house, and it was no longer possible to eat at separate tables, so the three of them sat down at the table.
Si Niang looked at the mutton and swallowed her saliva unconsciously. She waited for her parents to pick up their chopsticks, then picked up a piece of meat and ate it. It was soft and tasty, and she ate it with the boiled mutton fat. She almost swallowed her tongue.
"If we have some spare money at home, we should buy some medicine to treat your cough. Why buy mutton?"
Master Yangcheng said.
"Don't worry, my husband. My cough is gone now. This is all thanks to the autumn pear and loquat paste that the Tian family's daughter gave me. It's very effective."
"I told you not to associate with people like that. They hoard wool, sell braised food, and work as cooks. They're just profit-seeking people in the market, and you want their things? Humph, just give them some money, and don't accept their kindness."
Shen served him the dishes and said:
"Where did the family get the money? We didn't have a penny left. We had to sell our sheep to the fat butcher at the market for the mutton."
"What?"
This sheep is used by the master of Yangcheng to lead the cart every time he goes out.
At first it was a horse carriage, but when he was poor he pawned it and exchanged it for an ox cart, and then a sheep cart.
He had difficulty walking, and always felt that without a vehicle to carry him, the sound of bells and jingles did not reveal his status.
Now I went to the back of the house and saw that the sheep pen was empty, with only a half-worn cart frame left. I was so angry that I blew my beard and glared.
"Woman, you sold the sheep without consulting me. How can I go out again in the future?"
"The house is leaking, and we need money to repair it. I have no choice but to sell my husband's sheep. Besides, we can't afford to eat, so where will we get food to feed the sheep? Selling them early will save us a lot of trouble.
If you really can't live without the goat cart, you can earn money and buy a good one, and it will be the same."
Speaking of making money, Master Yangcheng fell silent. Shen looked at him and said:
"But your friend didn't get through?"
Yang Chengjian used to be an official in the Shaofu. When his father committed a crime and was stripped of his title, he was also dismissed from office. In recent years, he often visited his old friends and spent a lot of money.
But no one would do anything for him, and he has not been able to return to the Shaofu to be an official until now, and he is still a layman.
Seeing him like this, Shen knew it was not going to work and said:
"The three hundred coins I gave you last time when you went out were the last of my dowry. I won't have any more in the future. My mother and I can only hope that you can earn the money back."
After that, he paused.
"There is a place right now that can earn us fifty taels of silver."
"Which position?"
The master of Yangcheng stroked his beard and said.
"It's not a job title. The Tian family wants to build a restaurant and wants you to design the restaurant and be the head chef."
Master Yangcheng pressed down his chopsticks, refusing to do so.
"What's wrong with you now? You've lived here for so long that you've learned the ways of those small merchants and fallen into the trap of money. My ancestors built the imperial palaces, the Changle and Weiyang..."
"I'm tired of hearing these words. Go and speak in front of the ancestral tablets."
Shen lowered her face and said, "Look at our Si Niang, how thin she has become."
Si Niang on the side lowered her head to eat rice. The mutton was precious, and although she was greedy, she didn't eat too much. She took a small piece and ate it with big mouthfuls of wheat rice, and filially gave the big piece to her parents.
Seeing this, Shen softened her heart, but then hardened it again and said:
"If you don't want to go, we'll have no money at home, so I'll have to go to Tian's house and weave straw raincoats. Now the cloth shops don't want our handkerchiefs anymore, and I can't let my daughter starve to death."
"Absurd, absurd!"
Master Yangcheng said several times, pacing back and forth between the ancestral tablet and Shen, sometimes angry, sometimes slow, sometimes sighing.
Finally, his eyes fell on Si Niang, and he stopped pacing. He finally sat down and put a large piece of mutton into her bowl.
"Ah, Si Niang, eat as much as you want, there will be, there will be..."
The next day, all the gossip girls from Sangshu Lane and a dozen big men gathered in front of the Tian family courtyard. They were professional bricklayers hired by Xiao Gu's husband.
Each of them carried a cage or basket, a ladder on their back, and held standard tools such as pickaxes, shovels, and wooden pestles.
"Miss Tian, is Mr. Yangcheng really willing to take charge of your shop? Don't tell me he's just kidding you. He's never paid any attention to us."
Xiao Gu looked at the direction they came from and didn't quite believe it.
"Ms. Shen came to tell me personally, how could it be false? My family has already paid fifteen taels of silver as a reward."
Tian said that she was very happy that the matter had been settled. She informed all the families and started the work today to dismantle the burned-down frame of the house.
Although the neighbors all said that they didn't need to pay the hired laborer, and the women's time was not valuable in this alley, it was not easy for each family. Now her family was better off than theirs, and Tian Shi didn't take advantage of them. Therefore, she was paid the hired laborer's fee every day, the same price as she was paid for moving things at the dock.
All these nuns have come. If they stay at home, money will not come to them on its own. It is better for them to come out to help and pick up a dozen or twenty coins. If they go out, it will not be easy for women to find work. After all, they are not as strong as Tian.
Only Qiu Gu didn't show up. She said she had to send Wang Er to school and couldn't leave. When Tian came back, she also murmured to her daughter:
"Wang'er is studying, but I pick her up every morning and evening, and she doesn't have to stay with me all day. I guess her husband is making a lot of money and is about to go back. He doesn't like our family. No wonder he doesn't even come to weave straw raincoats anymore."
But these are all trivial matters. Tian was now smiling happily and pointed at her daughter and said:
"It's the Master of Yangcheng, he's here!"
Seeing the bell of the new sheep cart ringing near him, Yang Chengjian looked uncomfortable.
Especially since the neighbors looked at him like a monkey, he felt like he was covered in lice. He asked the people here:
"Who is the hostess?"
"My mother is the wife of the boss."
Ji Xu said that she had to go to the kitchen in the second half of the day, and could only stay there for half a day because the house was being demolished today.
After hearing what her daughter said, Tian's face became brighter and brighter. She said:
"That shop is in Gao City. Master Yangcheng, no, I heard that the person in charge is called Mr. Yangcheng. Mr. Yangcheng has come with us. We have to listen to you before we know how to demolish the house."
The group arrived at Gao City. The nuns were new there and were dazzled by the flying pavilions and corridors. However, Master Yangcheng did not think so. When he was in the Shaofu, he was in charge of building pavilions and towers, and he had seen many magnificent ones.
"What a high tower! No wonder your family invited Yang Cheng to take charge."
When he saw the shop, he said,
"It looked like such a nice shop, it's a shame to burn it down like this."
The nuns were astonished. It was also the first time that Tian came here. She felt quite emotional. She held her daughter's hand and felt more distressed about her difficulties.
Ji Xu had just taken down the wooden sign that said "For Sale" when he heard someone shouting:
"Who asked you to come here? This sign can't be moved! This place can't be taken down! Why don't you stop?"
It was the first time that Ji Xu came here to inquire and he had met Lu the market clerk. He stopped him again this time.
Because Ji Xu had received the shop from Yu privately, the market clerk Lu was completely unaware of it and was still dreaming that the government would buy it and then rent it out to his relatives privately.
"This store is mine now. If you want to demolish it, just do it. Why are you stopping me?" Tian said.
When Ji Xu brought the land deed, Lu, the clerk, realized that the store had been owned by someone else long ago. He was disappointed and left in disappointment.
Under the guidance of Master Yangcheng, the masons set up ladders to demolish the walls; the nuns collected the debris and carried the charcoal that had been burned to a large ash pit and threw it away.
Some half-burned beams and window frames would be put aside by anyone who wanted to use them as firewood, and then carried back home in the evening.
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