Chapter 4 Eight Taels
After a while, Su Ruojin prepared dinner. Su Yanli and Shu Tong had not returned yet, so she put the prepared dishes on the grate to keep them warm.
Su Sanlang anxiously looked towards the gate of the courtyard, "Sister, why hasn't Dad come back yet!" His stomach was already rumbling with hunger.
Su Dalang also stood at the kitchen door with a worried look on his face, looking up at the dark night sky. He could hear the whistling north wind, and his neck shrank in the cold. "He didn't come back so late, so he must not have been able to borrow the money."
Su Ruojin's eyebrows twitched. If her father could borrow more money, would he be promoted to the seventh rank like before? If he was transferred to the county government, he would be as good as the county magistrate. It would not be a matter of increasing one or two taels of silver.
The wind was getting stronger and stronger. In the dark and cold night, it made people feel panic. Su Ruojin couldn't help but bend over and wade into the night. She stepped out of the courtyard door with her calves. Just as she was about to tiptoe to look towards the entrance of the alley, she heard someone shouting, "Second Madam..."
It was Uncle Shu Tong's voice. With the light coming from the neighboring house, Su Ruojin saw his father standing next to Uncle Shu Tong. She was overjoyed and waved at Su Yanli, "Dad... Dad..."
Su Dalang also came out from the yard, "Dad!"
Su Sanlang's legs could not move past the howling north wind and he kept shouting, "Dad... Dad... I'm still here."
Su Yanli, who was unable to borrow a single penny, felt as chilled as if he had fallen into an ice hole. He walked in the street in a daze. Pedestrians were in a hurry and no one would even look at him, let alone know that he had no money to pay for his wife's delivery.
If anyone knew that he, a grown man, couldn't even support his wife and children, his face... Su Yanli was like a walking corpse. If the servant Shutong hadn't found him, he wouldn't have known where he had gone.
The children's calls suddenly rang out, awakening the distraught Su Yanli. He reached out and caught his daughter who ran over: "Ajin..." He picked up his daughter and held her in his arms, "Why are you out in such a cold weather!"
He quickly entered the courtyard, and Su Dalang followed him in.
Shu Tong followed in and closed the gate.
Su Yanli looked over from the corridor, "Ma..." He didn't dare to ask whether the midwife had left or was waiting for his money.
Didn't Uncle Shutong tell Dad? Su Ruojin looked towards Shutong.
Shu Tong's face was frozen, and he rubbed his hands and exhaled, "The master was staggering, I thought Master Fan invited him to dinner and he got drunk!"
Su Yanli: ...
He couldn't even get into Lord Fan's house, so he went to look for his colleagues, but they were either out meeting friends or were short of money. He couldn't borrow even a penny. He was so disheartened that he didn't know how to face his wife and children, so how could he get drunk?
"Then sir, please walk..."
Su Yanli glared at the servant and put his daughter down, "How are your mother and brother?" He didn't see the midwife Ma and thought she was not in a hurry to ask for money.
"Dad, I'm full and asleep. Mom also drank a bowl of sweet rice soup and went to sleep. Let's..." Before Su Ruojin finished speaking, Su Sanlang called out anxiously, "Dad, eat...eat..."
As he said that, he pushed the curtain and went into the kitchen.
As the curtain was lifted, the aroma of meat wafted out from the kitchen. Su Yanli took a breath and asked in confusion, "Ajin, did you cook the meat from the third day of the year?"
Su Ruojin nodded, "Yes, Dad."
"You..." Su Yanli's anger rose all of a sudden, but he suppressed his voice: "Why are you so ignorant? How can the meat of a third-year student be..." He turned around twice in anger, "What should I do..."
I didn’t borrow any money tonight, and now my children have cooked the meat for the third day of the lunar year. What shall I use for the third day of the lunar year?
Su Ruojin pursed her lips and looked at him with a smile.
"You're still laughing?" Su Yanli glared at his daughter, "Do you believe I will beat you?"
Whenever the adults got angry with the children, they threatened to hit them, but never really did it, and Shutong would grin.
Why are they both laughing? When Su Yanli was about to give a long lecture to his daughter and servants, Su Ruojin couldn't help it anymore and said, "Uncle Shutong, tell Dad how much the two stone paintings were sold for."
Su Yanli: “…” He stared at the servant Shutong.
He smiled and replied, "Sir, I sold it for eight taels of silver."
"Someone bought it?" Su Yanli couldn't believe it and asked quickly, "Who bought it? How could someone buy it?"
Shu Tong was about to reply when Su Ruojin interrupted him, "Dad, it's cold outside, let's go into the kitchen and talk while we eat."
Is there really money? Even after his daughter told the servant the whole process of making money, Su Yanli still couldn't believe it. "Eight taels, it's almost as much as my monthly salary."
Shu Tong held the rice bowl and ate a mouthful of rice whenever he had the chance. "If it weren't for the Second Lady's idea, I wouldn't have earned these eight taels of silver."
There was a bowl of rice next to him, filled with pork belly and braised tofu that his daughter had picked up. Su Yanli was not in the mood to eat, so he asked, "What's going on?"
The host didn't even eat his meal and still didn't believe it. Shu Tong had no choice but to put down his bowl and told him the whole process of making money from beginning to end.
Before today, the owner had three children, two boys and one girl. The two boys were eight years old and three years old. The eight-year-old was studying and had a gentle personality. He was not naughty and didn't talk much. The three-year-old had just learned to talk and walk, so there was nothing much to say.
But the second daughter, the girl, is completely different from her brothers. She reads like Dalang and asks questions like adults. Every day when Shutong comes back, she asks him all kinds of questions and can get a lot of answers.
Just half a month ago, after sending his master to the Imperial College, he went to the market to buy daily necessities. When he was on the street, he would inevitably look at the excitement and chat with others. In this way, he met a manager who was buying paintings in a bookstore.
The manager searched the bookstore for a long time but couldn't find the painting he wanted. He kept complaining that although Su Yanli was a doctor of the Imperial College and his calligraphy and painting were quite good, the capital was a place where, let alone the ancient collections, even the current ones were too numerous to list.
Shu Tong listened and then forgot about it. When he came back, Su Ruojin kept asking questions and he told her a few words. Unexpectedly, the Second Lady's eyes lit up and she thought of a way to ask him to meet the manager on the street again.
He didn't know if it was God's help, but a few days later, he really met the steward again. He told the steward about the second lady's idea. The steward thought it was very interesting to see paintings on stones.
So Su Ruojin took out the stones he had found while traveling and asked his father to paint them. As a double-jinshi and a doctor of the Imperial College, his painting skills must be pretty good. He caught the manager's eye and was paid eight taels of silver.
So that's how it is.
Su Yanli looked at the glittering silver coins on the table, two of which were worth more than seven taels, and was filled with emotion for a moment.
Shu Tong took a big bite of food and said, "I will go out to the streets again in the future. If I have any news, I will bring it to Second Lady and let her think of ways to make money."
Su Ruojin curled her lips and said, "This kind of luck is hard to come by. If we count on this to make a fortune, we will all be left with nothing."
Shu Tong: ...Why are you trying to dampen his enthusiasm? The 27- or 28-year-old guy pouted, looking aggrieved.
Su Ruojin grinned and said to his father, "Dad, Mom is in confinement after childbirth and you have to work again. Let me and Uncle Shutong take care of the household affairs."
(End of this chapter)
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