Chapter 30 (This appears to be a fragment of a larger text, possibly related to a roof or roof panel.)
So rich!
Although Li Xiaoxiao hadn't witnessed the splendor described by Mao's mother, she could tell just by listening how extravagant the lives of these ruling classes were. She thought of how, after the flood in Yizhou, tens of thousands of people became refugees, and no county or prefecture dared to take them in. Countless people starved or died of disease on their way to escape. Yet, the Duke's mansion had a dowry of 128 loads, enough to support three to five generations of her family.
It seems that the differences between people are roughly the same in any world.
Li Xiaoxiao rarely expressed her feelings, as she seldom pays attention to such matters.
However, her sigh came and went quickly. Since she couldn't go out, she focused her attention on the reward she had just received. Without saying a word, she took two taels of silver and stuffed it into Mama Mao's hand: "Mama Mao, please cook me some sour bamboo shoot and old duck soup, and a bowl of eight-treasure rice. Tomorrow we'll have braised pig's trotters, I want two. The day after tomorrow we'll have salt-water chicken, preferably a big rooster weighing five or six pounds..."
Before Madam Mao could recover from her reverie, two taels of silver appeared in her hand. She was immediately dumbfounded: "You, you're planning to eat all the money I finally managed to give you?" As far as she knew, she had already spent all the money she had earned from selling herself into servitude.
Li Xiaoxiao was taken aback: "There are still so many things I haven't tried yet. Now that I have money, why shouldn't I eat them?"
Mother Mao was still not giving up: "You've spent all the money you earned from selling yourself, all your monthly allowance, and now you're going to spend all the rewards you finally got. Don't you want to save some money for yourself?"
Li Xiaoxiao grinned: "Money has a place to go, and it will naturally come back to come. But I may not always feel like eating good food. Why not enjoy life while we can? Aunt Mao, don't worry about me. I just want to live each day to the fullest."
She may not always have the desire to eat good food. When she was diagnosed with a serious illness, she could still eat three big bowls of food. Her mother never saw her have a bad appetite or refuse to eat anything!
Mother Mao felt a lump in her throat, unable to rise or fall, and she only regretted that Li Xiaoxiao was not her granddaughter, otherwise she would have given her a broom.
She shoved one tael of silver back at her irritably and poked her forehead hard: "If you want to eat well, just use this one tael of silver. As for the rest, you'd better save it up. You're not a child anymore. How can you spend all the money you earn? Don't you ever want to buy anything? Don't you ever need money urgently? What will you do when you really need money after you've spent it all?"
Mao's mother's hand is really heavy; it poked her forehead and it hurts so much!
Li Xiaoxiao sighed and had no choice but to go back to her room and put away the remaining four taels of silver.
She opened the small drawer where she kept her silver coins; there were only a few dozen copper coins left. She put the four small silver anklets inside, and the overall impression was pretty much the same: she was truly poor.
Because this small amount of money wouldn't amount to much, Li Xiaoxiao had no intention of saving it.
Tired of the fighting and killing in the apocalypse, constantly on edge and worried about mutation, she relaxed completely when she arrived in this world where there was nothing.
To be honest, she really lacked ambition and just wanted to live a peaceful and uneventful life, waiting to die.
She now has food and lodging, and the people in the mansion aren't too difficult to get along with. Women in this world rarely achieve much; their greatest wish in life is to marry into a good family, stay at home to be a good wife and mother, and hope that their husbands and sons will be successful—that would be their own success.
The young lady of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion had a dowry of 128 loads and married a husband of equal social standing. She only had a few taels of silver. What kind of family would she marry into in the future?
She smiled and, as if burying her head in the sand, closed the drawer.
After being confined for less than two days, Li Xiaoxiao felt that each day was an eternity and she couldn't stay locked up any longer.
Every morning she would get up and finish all the chores in the kitchen, chop the firewood, and it wouldn't be long before Chenshi (7-9 AM). Then she would have nothing to do. She was so bored that she would follow Liuzhi and Asheng around sweeping the yard, pulling weeds, watering the flowers, and even climb up to the roof of the woodshed and replace all the thatch with new ones.
After repairing the roof of the woodshed, she started thinking about the roof of the kitchen. In this old house, many tiles were broken and it leaked when it rained.
Mao's mother didn't object to repairing the thatched roof of the woodshed, but the kitchen roof was to be tiled. Don't think it looks simple; it's actually a technical job that requires a professional bricklayer. If an amateur just piles it up haphazardly, it will only result in leaks. So Mao's mother didn't agree to her messing around with it.
Li Xiaoxiao is bold and strong. The kitchen leak isn't too serious right now, but what if the roof collapses if she does something reckless?
However, the lady had no intention of repairing the kitchen for the time being, so Madam Mao simply forbade Li Xiaoxiao from touching anything without reporting it to her.
But Li Xiaoxiao was so bored that when her mother forbade her to do it, she did it secretly.
It just so happened that Mama Mao went shopping that day. While she was away, Li Xiaoxiao excitedly grabbed a wooden ladder and climbed onto the roof in the blink of an eye.
She peeled off the tiles one by one, just as they were originally, throwing away the bad ones and putting the good ones back to continue using them.
Ah Sheng and Liu Zhi stared intently at Li Xiaoxiao, who was still moving nimbly on the rooftop, their little faces upturned, afraid that she might accidentally fall.
Liu Zhi also had the responsibility of keeping watch, watching Li Xiaoxiao lay tiles on the roof as if walking on flat ground, while also keeping an eye on whether Mother Mao had returned. She kept calling out anxiously, "Sister Xiaoxiao, hurry up, Mother Mao is coming back."
Li Xiaoxiao patched up the last leaky tile, stood up straight with satisfaction, and patted her dusty hands: "Alright, finally finished!"
"What are you doing?" A clear voice came from behind Ah Sheng. Ah Sheng and Liu Zhi turned around in surprise, their faces changing drastically. They quickly lowered their heads: "Young Master~"
Meng Guanqi looked at Li Xiaoxiao, who was standing on the roof with her hands on her hips, leaning at an angle as if she wasn't afraid of falling. He frowned and asked, "Li Xiaoxiao, what are you doing on the roof?"
Li Xiaoxiao chuckled, "I'm fixing the roof. It rained a few days ago and the kitchen was leaking..." As she spoke, she carefully stepped down the tiles.
Meng Guanqi watched in terror as she swayed precariously across the rooftop: "You, how are you going to get down? Where's the ladder?"
Li Xiaoxiao was almost at the eaves when she suddenly slapped her forehead: "Oh dear, I forgot, the ladder is behind the house!" She had come up from behind.
But she had already come this far, and if she went back, she would have to climb over the entire roof again. The kitchen roof was too old, and the tiles were covered with grayish-green moss. When soaked in water, they became soft and brittle. Li Xiaoxiao felt that if she went back the way she came, she didn't know how many tiles she would break along the way...
She didn't have any extra tiles to repair the roof. Even the three leaks she just fixed were from leftover tiles from the previous workers, which were found at the base of the back wall. She had basically used them all up.
As she was pondering how best to get downstairs, a furious roar suddenly came from the back door: "Li Xiaoxiao! What are you doing?!"
Mother Mao is back!
She was terrified and, without thinking, leaped down from the roof, which was more than three meters high. Her knees buckled, and she landed firmly on the ground, right in front of Meng Guanqi.
Meng Guanqi subconsciously took a step back, his eyes filled with shock, and a hint of admiration and excitement.
She jumped from such a high place and was fine!
Even Meng Guanqi's usually composed face couldn't help but show a hint of childlike admiration.
Mother Mao was terrified. She didn't even care that the basket in her hand had fallen to the ground. She rushed over in a panic, asking, "Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, are you alright?"
She pulled Li Xiaoxiao over and looked her up and down, finding that she wasn't even out of breath or red in the face. Then she slapped her on the head: "You're asking for trouble! How come you didn't break your leg jumping off such a high place?!"
After the initial shock came a surge of anger. She spun around looking for a stick to hit her: "Where's the stick? Where's the stick? I'll beat you to death—"
Finally, she ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bamboo stick, and started hitting Li Xiaoxiao. Li Xiaoxiao wasn't stupid; she quickly hid behind Meng Guanqi, saying, "Aunt Mao, hitting people is wrong!"
Ah Sheng and Liu Zhi watched with amusement, and even ran over to help Li Xiaoxiao block Mama Mao: "Sister Xiaoxiao, run quickly, don't let Mama Mao hit you."
Meng Guanqi was surrounded by the three of them, and Li Xiaoxiao even reached out and pulled his clothes to push him towards Mama Mao. His body stiffened for a moment, but he quickly and righteously followed her lead.
Of course, Mama Mao didn't dare to hit the young master, but she hated Li Xiaoxiao for being naughty and had to give her a beating. So she circled around Meng Guanqi like an eagle catching chicks, while the two little ones were causing trouble on the side. Mama Mao was so angry that her face turned red and she was sweating profusely from running around.
Meng Guanqi was somewhat dazed. It had been a very long time since he had played like this, but he was still a young man at heart. After being pulled aside by Li Xiaoxiao a couple of times, he unconsciously started to help by reaching out to stop Mama Mao. His face melted like ice and snow, and he revealed a rare bit of mischief.
Mama Mao was getting on in years, and after running around several times, she still couldn't catch up with Li Xiaoxiao. Not only were the two children causing trouble, but even the usually composed eldest son reached out to help Li Xiaoxiao. She stopped, panting, and said, "Come here, I promise I won't hit you."
Li Xiaoxiao didn't believe her: "Then swear that you're a dog if you hit someone."
Mao's mother said, "Okay, I swear."
Li Xiaoxiao then emerged from behind Meng Guanqi. Mao's mother jumped up, grabbed her ear with one hand, and whipped her twice with a bamboo stick in the other: "Do you still dare to climb so high? Do you still dare to jump down?"
Li Xiaoxiao yelled, "Mom, you have no sportsmanship! You just swore that hitting people is like being a dog!"
Mother Mao sneered, "I'm an old woman now, how could I still be a puppy? If I were to become a dog, I'd be an old dog, so it wouldn't be considered a breach of my vow."
Li Xiaoxiao grimaced and cried out in pain. Asheng and Liuzhi couldn't help but rush over to plead for her: "Aunt Mao, please don't hit Sister Xiaoxiao anymore! She was just fixing the roof!"
"Yes, Sister Xiaoxiao is amazing. She fixed the leaky roof."
Even Meng Guanqi spoke up: "Aunt Mao, I think Xiaoxiao is very skilled. If she didn't have such great ability, she wouldn't dare to jump down. Please forgive her this time."
The two younger ones were fine, but since the eldest son had spoken up, Madam Mao couldn't very well slap him in the face. She glared at him resentfully and said, "It really is true what they say: if you don't discipline someone for three days, they'll be climbing on the roof and tearing off the tiles. If you dare to jump down from such a high place again, I'll break your legs!"
Li Xiaoxiao touched her arm where she had been hit twice. The skin was burning, but it hadn't actually hurt the inside. She knew that Mama Mao didn't have the heart to beat her to death.
She grinned and chuckled, "I'll do it again next time."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com