"Yes, Third Madam, don't worry, I don't have that intention."
As for the future, we'll talk about it later!
As the old lady said, if things don't work out, just kill it all at once to make an example of it; that's something she's very good at.
After setting the mood, the old lady began the formal process of urging him to get married.
"Of course, if you can find a suitable person who treats you well, then that's a different story."
Jian Dan's eyes widened immediately. "Wait, what do you mean? Weren't you just supporting my being single?"
Seeing her little expression, the old lady shook her head helplessly.
"You shouldn't think about things in such absolute terms."
Yes, living alone is great. You don't have to worry about daily necessities, you don't have to appease others, and you don't have to suffer grievances. Or to think the worst, what if you marry into a family and find out they're not good? That would be truly difficult.
However, nothing is absolute.
For example, during the Lunar New Year, if you have a companion, can you rely on each other and have someone to talk to if something happens?
You're only in your teens, you have a long life ahead of you, there's no rush to make this decision.
Think about it, you'll be living for at least several more decades in the future. In your own home, you can only talk to yourself. When you're happy, there's no one to talk to; when you're sad, there's no one to talk to. Even if you're lying on the kang (heated brick bed) and want to drink some water, you have to get up and pour it yourself.
Think about it, is this a good idea?
In my past life, I was always alone. How did I spend my time back then?
When things are peaceful, they indulge in a life of luxury, running around the mountains and having fun everywhere. When trouble comes, it's all about swords and shadows, life hanging by a thread, and getting injured is commonplace.
"I know, Third Madam, I'll think about it carefully."
Although she didn't have any grand ambitions, she went to the countryside with a purpose. She just wanted to quietly get through this turbulent period. And, although the future was uncertain, returning to the capital to live a life of luxury and go out for fun seemed like an inevitable trend.
She wasn't originally someone with a huge ambition; in her past life, she had no choice but to be born into this situation, and the burden on her shoulders was destined from birth.
In this life, she only wants to do whatever she wants.
While the mother and daughter were chatting, Sun Xiang had already set out a wall of pickled vegetable jars, along with simple dishes like cucumber rolls, small potatoes, and dandelions, all of which had been arranged by Sun Xiang.
"Xiao Jian, I don't see you're picky about food. Everything you wanted to marinate has been marinated. I'll take care of the rest for you. When the time comes, you can try them and see which one you like."
Jian Dan's eyes lit up immediately.
"Auntie, you're amazing! You've made all the pickled vegetables I've been saving all winter in just a little while."
Sun Xiang herself has two children, and she treats the teenager Jian Dan like a child.
"This is nothing, it's not tiring, it'll be over in a minute."
"Sigh, no one in the village is raising ducks this year. If only there were duck eggs! Let me tell you, these pickled vegetables are nothing compared to my salted duck eggs—those are truly delicious!"
As she spoke, Sun Xiang herself began to lament that the past few years had been unlucky. Even when there were no disasters a couple of years ago, no one had been willing to keep duck eggs to pickle for their own consumption; they had all been saving them to exchange for other things.
The same principle applies to banks, just like the one under a chicken's rear end. Farmers are very frugal; they won't waste anything that can be used.
In recent years, even duck farmers have stopped raising ducks.
It's simply too expensive to raise them. Ducks eat grass, but not all of it. They need to be fed corn husks and bran, but these days, there aren't even enough of those things for people to eat, so where would we find the extra to feed the ducks?
She herself hasn't pickled anything for several years.
Salted duck eggs?
Simple's eyes lit up again, and he said, "I knew something good was going to happen today."
"Auntie, do you know how to pickle salted duck eggs?"
The old lady patted Jian Dan gently.
"Look at you, you were silent when we were talking about that, but you perk up as soon as we talk about food."
Simply playing dumb means chuckling.
"However, your aunt's skills are indeed excellent. She's famous throughout the surrounding villages. In the first two years after she started working here, people from other villages would come specifically to ask her to help them pickle salted duck eggs."
Simply put, the air was thick with an aura of ostentation.
"Third Aunt, I know you're very satisfied with this daughter-in-law, so don't show off to me."
The old lady was immediately left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"You, you're making fun of us now?"
Sun Xiang grinned from ear to ear, meaning that what daughter-in-law wouldn't be happy and dutiful to be affirmed by her mother-in-law like that?
"Before your aunt got married, her skills were already excellent. Back then, countless men wanted to marry her, but it was your Uncle Guangming who was so simple-minded that she chose him."
The conversation has gone off-topic, starting with salted duck eggs and then moving on to dating. Is it appropriate to say this to a sixteen-year-old girl?
"Oh, Third Aunt, you've been showing off to me so many times already. I know you adore your daughter-in-law. If you keep doing this, it'll be dark soon."
Sun Xiang still remembered the simple question she had asked about salted duck eggs earlier.
"Xiao Jian, are you going to pickle salted duck eggs?"
"Auntie, is pickling salted duck eggs troublesome? What do you need to prepare?"
She really does have a lot of duck eggs at her farm. She collected quite a few from deep in the mountains a few days ago, but she doesn't know how to eat them yet.
With her limited skills, she simply couldn't get rid of the fishy smell from the duck eggs, and she gave up after trying twice.
“I still have some duck eggs, which I picked up in the mountains before. I don’t know how to cook them properly, and I was wondering what to eat them. Now that you mention it, I remember that they can be pickled.”
I'd only ever eaten salted duck eggs twice before, so I hadn't even thought about it.
The old lady assumed she was thinking of her deceased family members and didn't respond to that, simply agreeing.
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