Chapter 243 Wu and Shunzi
Although she earned a hundred taels today, she had been accustomed to living frugally in the past two months, so she still felt it was too expensive for her to spend three taels of silver to buy a hairpin.
Just when she was about to put the hairpin down, a big hand took the hairpin from her hand and put it on her head.
"It suits you very well." He then took out some change from his purse and handed it to the stall owner, "Let's buy this hairpin."
Seeing this, the stall owner hurriedly took the money.
"Thank you, sir."
Song Yuntang looked at Xu Qingye and whispered, "It's too expensive. I just picked it up to take a look because I thought it looked pretty. I don't have to buy it."
Xu Qingye smiled warmly.
"Since you like it, wear it. It looks pretty good."
Song Yuntang raised his hand and touched the only hair accessory on his head.
"If it looks good, keep it."
After saying that, he continued to pull Xu Qingye forward.
…
The two of them walked and strolled, and when they returned home it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.
As soon as you enter the door, you are greeted by the fragrance of osmanthus filling the yard, making you feel relaxed and happy.
Looking at the osmanthus flowers on the tree, Song Yuntang suddenly had an idea. Osmanthus rice wine can warm the stomach and spleen, dispel cold and break up knots. Maybe he could add some osmanthus flowers when steaming the glutinous rice later.
Thinking of this, she handed the things in her hand to Xu Qingye, went to the room and got two old sheets and spread them under the osmanthus tree.
Then he shook the branches, and immediately the petals fell.
The girl was shaking the osmanthus tree, watching the petals falling with a smile, which happened to catch Xu Qingye's eyes. He smiled slightly at the corner of his lips, and after a moment, he turned around and went to the kitchen.
After Song Yuntang cleaned up the impurities from the small amount of petals he collected, he washed them clean and mixed them with the ten kilograms of glutinous rice soaked at noon.
Then put it in the steamer with a steaming cloth.
After steaming, add water and wine yeast, mix evenly, and then seal it in a jar for fermentation.
"In today's weather, osmanthus rice wine can be consumed in three or four days. The weather is gradually getting cooler, and rice wine is not strong. Drinking it in moderation is good for you." Song Yuntang washed his hands and continued, "Tomorrow I will buy a few kilograms of glutinous rice to make some glutinous rice cakes and store them. If you don't know what to eat in the morning, you can make do with it."
Xu Qingye looked at her in surprise.
"Have you done these things in Rongshu Village before?"
Song Yuntang shook his head and said, "See what others have done."
Before the Chinese New Year every year, the better-off families in Rongshu Village would make glutinous rice cakes. Every time at this time, the family making glutinous rice cakes would be very lively, and almost everyone in the village would run over to watch the fun.
She had never experienced such a lively atmosphere in the three years she had been in the Song family.
But it’s no wonder, the Song family’s conditions were not very good before.
"I'll try to come back early tomorrow to help you."
Song Yuntang quickly refused, "Don't do that. It's just a few kilograms of glutinous rice. It's not a heavy job. Besides, I came here to solve your problem. If you do this, I will become the biggest trouble."
Then he said, "There's not enough grain to feed the two chickens outside in the county. Should we kill one tomorrow?"
The two chickens were given to her by her aunt after she treated Hu'er's wound.
Jiang had been busy recently and had hardly eaten at home, so she didn't kill any food. This time when she came to the county town, she asked them to bring it with them.
The rice in the county town is not cheap. She couldn't carry much yesterday and didn't buy much. It is not cost-effective to raise chickens with rice. If she really wants to raise chickens, she can bring some bran from the farm next time she comes.
Xu Qingye nodded, "After breakfast tomorrow, I will kill the chicken and go to Tang Mansion."
…
The next day, Xu Qingye killed a chicken and went out.
Song Yuntang cleaned the chicken feathers and came out of the house holding the basin of feathers. He wanted to find a place to dump them to avoid them from stinking in the yard. When he went out, he saw the eight or nine-year-old boy who bumped into him yesterday.
The boy may have recognized Song Yuntang. As soon as he saw her, he hurriedly turned into the yard across the alley and quickly closed the door.
Song Yuntang was stunned.
Who would have thought that the boy who bumped into me yesterday was actually my neighbor.
Just then, a woman's voice was heard from the yard.
"Shun'er, why are you so flustered? What happened?"
The child's voice was hesitant.
"No...it's okay, grandma."
"You didn't get me into trouble outside, did you?"
"Grandma, you think too much."
The yard of the house across the alley didn't look big from the outside. After Song Yuntang poured out the chicken feathers, he went to the next door and knocked on the door.
The person who opened the door was a woman in her forties or fifties. She had a kind face and was wearing grey cotton clothes. Although they were a little bleached from washing, they were clean and tidy, and her half-white hair was combed meticulously.
The boy was standing not far from the woman. When he saw Song Yuntang, he couldn't help but shrink behind the woman.
This yard is indeed not big, and its depth is not even half of my own yard. Apart from the kitchen and the toilet, there are only two rooms. The rooms look a bit old, but the yard is clean.
"Who is the girl?" the woman asked puzzledly.
Song Yuntang smiled and pointed to the yard next door. "I am your new neighbor. My name is Song Yuntang. May I know your last name?"
The woman understood.
"My last name is Wu, and I am number five." Mrs. Wu smiled and pulled her grandson over. "This is my grandson, Cao Shun, nine years old this year. Shunzi, come and say hello to this sister."
Cao Shun timidly called out "sister" and then shrank back behind Wu.
Song Yuntang smiled and said, "I call you aunt, and it doesn't seem appropriate for you to ask him to call me sister."
Mrs. Wu had a kind face.
"You don't look that old, so you're calling me young, right? We can just call each other by our own name, it won't cause any trouble."
Song Yuntang glanced into the room.
"Are there only two people in your family?"
Mrs. Wu put away the smile on her face and sighed, "Yes, my husband passed away early, and I only have one son. After a lot of effort, my son got married, and my grandson was only two years old when he had an accident. Later, my daughter-in-law remarried, and we were the only two people left in the family."
Song Yuntang looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask about my aunt's family affairs."
Mrs. Wu waved her hand and said, "It's okay. I've accepted it over the years." She then turned aside and said, "Miss, do you want to come in and sit down?"
"No, I still have to go to the market to buy some things." After thinking for a while, Song Yuntang looked at her and asked, "It's like this, my husband will study in the county town in the future, and I won't be here often, so I want to find someone to cook for him, but I'm not familiar with the people in Liuqiao Street. I wonder if you can recommend someone for me? The cooking skills must not be too sloppy."
Wu became interested.
"I wonder what the young lady thinks of me, an old woman?"
Song Yuntang nodded, "If Auntie's cooking skills are good, and our two families are close, of course it's possible."
Mrs. Wu smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "To be honest, young lady, I used to work as a helper in the restaurant's kitchen. My cooking skills were pretty good, but I got old in the past two years and the restaurant didn't want me anymore, so I came back to do odd jobs to supplement the family income."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
