In the yard, He Xiyuan was holding a large rooster. When Liu Yanjing turned to ask him a question, he said, "This chicken is quite fat. It's very good."
"There are many people at home, so they will be eaten up quickly." Liu Yanjing never cared about these things when he was in the Marquis' Mansion. After being exiled, he gradually understood these things.
For example, a pound of pork, for a large family, can only last for a few days, or even two days. A chicken may look meaty, but it will be eaten up quickly.
If ordinary people ate like this, their wealth would have been gone long ago. Generally speaking, many ordinary families only eat such delicious food during festivals, and some slightly richer families occasionally buy a pound of meat.
Liu Yanjing knew all too well that these things weren't cheap, and he couldn't help but glance at He Xiyuan. A person like that would need to eat a lot. Perhaps he shouldn't have brought He Xiyuan back with him. He mustn't have bankrupted the family.
Although He Xiyuan also brought some things, Liu Yanjing still thought that He Xiyuan would be better off somewhere else. If someone asked about He Xiyuan's identity, what should he say? What if he said that He Xiyuan was his sister's fiancé, and what if the Chengguo Mansion canceled the engagement later?
Or, just say that He Xiyuan is my sister's cousin?
Liu Yanjing thought that they didn't necessarily have to tell him. Even if they met someone while walking in the village, no one might ask him.
"Plucking it cleanly." Liu Yanjing looked at He Xiyuan who was plucking the duck's feathers. The duck's feathers were difficult to pluck, as there were many fine hairs on it. Especially on the head, there was a lot of hair on the head, and there were also many fine hairs on the wings.
"Okay." He Xiyuan couldn't say that it was not easy to pluck the hair, so he could only work hard.
According to the agreement, the other branches had to pay alimony to the eldest branch. Since Liu's father was still able to move, the other branches only needed to pay sixty wen a year, equivalent to twelve catties of meat, or one catty of meat a month. However, since this was the first year, the months ahead weren't that long, so sixty wen wasn't necessary; twenty or thirty would suffice.
How can an ordinary family eat meat every month? Such alimony is also determined when the family is divided.
Father Liu didn't ask for more. Even if he did, his sons wouldn't give him anything. They all thought he could still do some work, and that would be considered helping the first wife. The illegitimate sons were willing to give alimony to his biological father, but had no intention of giving it to his stepmother.
Even if those bastards didn't say it explicitly, that was their meaning.
When the family was divided, Mother Liu understood that she didn't need these illegitimate sons' filial piety. They all felt that she wasn't treating them well enough, but it was simply because their lives after being exiled weren't as good as before, and they were just looking for excuses.
In every family there is a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, and between wives and concubines.
There were many rules in ancient times, but some people loved to find all kinds of excuses to break them. Especially when the elders were old and had no more abilities, those people would find all kinds of excuses.
Liu Yanbo came to the eldest house specially. He came from the town. In addition to the alimony he had prepared, he also bought two pounds of meat.
Su Qiuya told him that if they only gave alimony, then no one would see them taking things, and people outside would think they didn't take anything. It would be better to buy something and carry it with them, so that others would think they were filial.
Liu Yanbo thought that what Su Qiuya said was right. It was not a good idea to go to the eldest house empty-handed. If others saw him, they would say that he did not even send any New Year gifts.
"Dad, this is this year's New Year's gift and some money for your filial piety." When Liu Yanbo arrived, he saw He Xiyuan in the yard. He Xiyuan was plucking duck feathers, which was really strange. "Having a little money in hand can help with a headache or a fever."
Liu Yanbo didn't want his father to give all the money to the first wife's family, and hoped that he could keep the money. The second wife didn't expect his father to subsidize them either, and just hoped that he wouldn't mess around and ask them for money.
So far, Father Liu has not asked the illegitimate sons from other families for money.
When Father Liu heard what Liu Yanbo said, he knew exactly what his second son was thinking. These few dozen coins might be enough for ordinary families, but in the first house, this amount of money was really not enough.
Father Liu didn't dislike the fact that the money given by his second son was too little. This was what they had agreed upon before, but these people always liked to be on guard against the eldest wife.
"Going back to town?" Father Liu asked. He hadn't considered inviting his second son to dinner. His second son's words were unpleasant to others. His eldest son had just returned from the military camp, and Father Liu didn't want to upset the people in the first house.
"Well, I have to go back." Liu Yanbo thought that his father would let him stay for a meal, but he didn't expect that his father never said that at all.
"Then go back early, it will be cold later." said Liu's father.
"I'm planning to go to the village to buy some things," Liu Yanbo said. "We have to open the shop in a few days, and we have a lot of things to prepare."
"Okay." Father Liu nodded, but still did not let Liu Yanbo stay here for dinner.
When Liu Yanbo returned to the town after buying some things from the village, he told Su Qiuya that he had not eaten and was hungry.
"Dad didn't ask you to stay for dinner?" Su Qiuya was shocked. Her husband had specially run to the village to deliver something to Liu's father. Why were the people from the eldest house so stingy? "Are you afraid that others will be unhappy?"
"It's not easy for Dad to follow my eldest brother and the others." Liu Yanbo said, "We always have to consider the eldest wife."
"That's fine. You don't have to eat over there and look at their faces." Su Qiuya just thought that it was enough to take care of her own family. She asked Liu Yanbo to go to the village to buy food, which was already helping the people in the village.
Su Qiuya still knew how to build good relationships with some people, and they also had interests in the village. She sometimes thought it would be great if the eldest wife was willing to grow vegetables, or if she had taught her how to make tofu earlier.
Nowadays, many people know how to make tofu. It was leaked by a restaurant that bought the recipe. The restaurant knew that the basic recipe was easy to leak, so it didn't hide it too much. It was mainly the processing method that needed to be kept secret.
Su Qiuya also made some soft tofu in the morning, and her tofu was pretty good. She had seen some of the dishes in that restaurant and after studying them, she knew how to make some of them.
There is really no need to have too much contact with a selfish person like the first wife.
"As long as we can save face," Su Qiuya said, as long as they don't cause trouble to each other, that's all. As for excessive things, forget it.
Su Qiuya’s idea cannot be said to be wrong. Since neither side benefits from the other, it seems quite fair, but it seems a bit cold.
The eldest branch of the Liu family couldn't possibly give more money to the other branches. Liu Yulian herself didn't open any shops or sell anything; she just farmed and did embroidery. So, of course, she wouldn't be giving anything to others to motivate them. The culture medium was clearly priced, so anyone could buy it.
The first wife did not buy more things in the village like the second wife did, so those people did not get tangible benefits as quickly.
Liu Yulian's cotton and pills were good, but they were all sold, and sometimes she would buy some chickens and ducks. In the eyes of others, the second wife did give more benefits than the first wife.
The Liu family stewed chicken, smoked duck, and had fish balls and other dishes. Even though it wasn't New Year's Eve yet, the meal was already very sumptuous.
There are children at home, so chicken legs and other things are given to the children.
Little Liujia's mouth was full of oil from eating, and Aunt Xie wiped her mouth from time to time.
Liu Yanjing looked at his daughter who had been taken care of and became plump and white, and he felt a little complicated. When he went to the military camp, he had to trouble his family to take care of his children.
"Eat." Xiao Liujia saw her father looking at her and said, "Mine."
Everything in front of her is hers. Xiao Liujia held her own bowl and said, "Don't stare at mine. I can't give it to you."
"Okay, it's yours." Liu Yanjing said with a smile. There was no way he would compete with his daughter for food.
The situation at home is not bad. There is more food than that, so there is no need to fight for it.
"There's more in the pot," said Liu's mother, "eat as much as you can."
Liu Yulian's cooking skills are at the highest level, and she sometimes cooks. They all think Liu Yulian's cooking is delicious, but they don't ask her to cook all the time.
This chicken soup is made with Liu Yulian's ingredients, and she also added some ginseng. The chicken soup is delicious and full of flavor. Liu Yulian doesn't overcook the chicken soup with too much water.
When you have a way to make money, there is no need to be so frugal.
"This is made by your sister herself." Mother Liu poured another bowl of chicken soup for her son, "Drink more."
"My sister's cooking skills are getting better and better." Liu Yanjing thought that his sister didn't do these things much before, but after coming here, his sister has been doing a lot of them.
"It's very good." He Xiyuan agreed. "We ate a lot."
He Xiyuan sincerely thought that this simple chicken soup was better than what he had eaten at Duke Chengguo's Mansion and in the Imperial Palace.
"Eat." Liu Yulian thought that they were having a hard time training in the military camp and might even have to go to the battlefield, so she prepared some delicious food for them.
After dinner, Liu Yanjing took He Xiyuan to the fields to see if there was anything else to do. Instead of sitting around at home, Liu Yanjing wanted to see how the wheat in the fields was growing.
The wheat had already sprouted when Liu Yanjing left.
In the fields, Liu Yanjing looked at the wheat that was almost as tall as a man. He was a little skeptical whether it was really wheat. No one else's wheat was this tall and strong, only the wheat in his field was growing like this.
"When the wheat is harvested, if there is a holiday, I will come back to harvest it." He Xiyuan thought that if he could persist in the military camp and participate in various trainings, he could also do farm work.
"We should hire someone to harvest the wheat." Liu Yanjing knew that his sister would not let anyone at home harvest the wheat. His younger sister had already hired someone to plow the land and weed, so it was impossible for her to harvest the wheat herself. "There's no need for you or me."
"It's always useful." He Xiyuan couldn't see any difference in the wheat, and thought the wheat in other people's fields was something else.
He Xiyuan thought Liu Yulian really shouldn't do it herself. If she did, it would be very uncomfortable and her hands would easily blister. Sister Lian wasn't that tall, and if she did it in the wheat forest, no one would know, and she would easily get hurt.
"You'd better work harder, show your abilities sooner, and return in glory." Liu Yanjing hopes that He Xiyuan can hold on. If He Xiyuan can't hold on, it means that this man is not destined to be with his sister.
"It's all the same." He Xiyuan looked at Liu Yanjing. If his uncle wanted to revive the Marquis' Mansion, he had to make some achievements first.
In the yard, Liu Yulian picked some strawberries. The yard was not large, so there weren't many ripe strawberries. She didn't use them to make strawberry jam, but waited for the strawberries in the field to ripen so that she could make strawberry jam for her brother.
Aunt Zhao didn't come in the morning, and only came in the afternoon with her son Liu Yanqing. She had already smelled the chicken soup and smoked duck in the courtyard, but since the family had already separated, even if she had the audacity to come, the people in the main house would not let her stay to eat.
If she insists on eating it shamelessly and her relationship with the eldest wife breaks down, that would be bad.
"Master." Aunt Zhao looked at Liu's father and asked Liu Yanqing to take out the alimony he was supposed to give this year. They didn't go to cut meat or buy other things. Unlike the second house, they didn't have a food business. They mainly watched Aunt Zhao and Liu Yanqing's wife do some embroidery work, which didn't make that much money.
Liu Yanqing's wife became angry after her husband often went gambling and even took her money to gamble. She was originally a concubine's daughter of a military general and practiced martial arts on a regular basis. However, after getting married, she behaved more dignified and virtuous.
Liu Yanqing's wife, having endured it again and again, finally couldn't stand it any longer and attacked her husband with a rolling pin. She didn't want the money from Aunt Zhao, but she held on to the money she had earned herself and refused to let her husband take it away.
If your husband is disobedient and goes gambling, then just beat him!
No matter how much Aunt Zhao loved her son, she knew that if she allowed him to gamble, the family would be ruined sooner or later. As long as her daughter-in-law didn't beat her son too badly, she would turn a blind eye.
The daughter-in-law didn't come next door, but was doing other chores at home. Aunt Zhao had to take Liu Yanqing back soon, and if Liu Yanqing didn't come back, the daughter-in-law would probably take a kitchen knife and go to the place where her son usually gambled.
The scoundrels in the village all knew that Liu Yanqing's wife was very cruel, so none of them dared to gamble with him for too long. They were afraid that Liu Yanqing's wife would really do something cruel to them. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed that such a weak-looking woman could have such great strength.
Those people were unwilling to gamble with Liu Yanqing, and Liu Yanqing calmed down a little after being beaten by his wife.
"Where's Big Brother?" Liu Yanqing asked, "Isn't he back?"
"I'm going to the fields." Liu Yulian said, "I'll be back soon."
"These strawberries are growing well." Liu Yanqing reached out and took two strawberries from the basket. He took a bite of the strawberry and said, "Hmm, sour and sweet, tastes good."
Liu Yanqing had been under strict supervision recently and didn't have much money, let alone money to buy fruit. There were some fruits for sale outside, but nothing like these fresh strawberries. When Liu Yanqing was in the Marquis' Mansion, he had all kinds of food. Now that there wasn't so much food, he cherished these things even more.
"There are few ripe strawberries." Liu Yulian immediately said to her nephew, "Take some and eat them."
Liu Yulian handed the small basket directly to her nephew and asked him to take the strawberries away. It was not that she was reluctant to give up the strawberries, but Liu Yanqing only knew how to gamble, and people like him only needed to eat a few.
"So stingy." Liu Yanqing couldn't help but say, "I only ate two."
"It's stingy." Liu Yulian said bluntly, "There are children at home."
Liu Yanqing looked at his little nephew holding the strawberry basket, and then at his little niece chewing on the strawberries. "They are so young, they can't eat much."
"After delivering the gifts, we'll go back," Father Liu said. The strawberry patch in the yard was small, and they'd only picked about 20 or 30 strawberries. There would be more in a few days. The adults didn't eat much, just one or two.
Father Liu didn't think his daughter was stingy. Strawberries were scarce to begin with, so of course they were given priority to the children. There would be plenty of time for them to eat when the strawberries were ripe.
Seeing that his father didn't look very happy, Liu Yanqing had no choice but to go back with Aunt Zhao. Liu Yanqing smacked his lips and thought that the strawberries tasted really good. The strawberries were big and not any worse than the ones he had eaten in the Marquis' Mansion before.
"Dad, let's go back." Liu Yanqing said, "It's just a few strawberries, it's nothing."
"..." Father Liu was too lazy to talk to his sons. They all liked to say that it was nothing. That was because they didn't work at all, or they thought some things could be bought with money.
When Liu Yanqing returned home, he told his wife that the neighbor was stingy and wanted to take the strawberries away after eating only two.
"No wonder the people from the second and third houses are unwilling to get close to them." Liu Yanqing said, "They only care about taking money. They won't let us eat anything from them."
"Why are you fighting with a kid for food?" Liu Yanqing's wife, Lin Xiaowan, rolled her eyes. She had gotten a few strawberries from the neighbors yesterday, and she ate them. The neighbors hadn't said they were for Aunt Zhao and Liu Yanqing, they just told her to eat them, so she ate them.
"How can children eat so much? That strawberry is so big." Liu Yanqing gestured, "The strawberries are almost as big as their little hands."
"Those were planted by others, not you." Lin Xiaowan said, "Why are you dissatisfied?"
"Whose wife are you?" Liu Yanqing asked dissatisfiedly.
"I don't want to be your wife." Lin Xiaowan said.
"No way, you didn't divorce." Liu Yanqing believed that this was his advantage over Liu Yanjing. So what if Liu Yanjing married the daughter of a prominent family? Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they each fly away. That daughter of a prominent family divorced Liu Yanjing directly, without even trying to take the child away.
Lin Xiaowan was too lazy to say anything, as long as her husband didn't go out gambling.
On the other hand, Liu Yulian planned to make some vermicelli, which could be kept for a longer time and used as a snack in the evening.
Sweet potatoes and corn happened to be available in this dynasty, so Liu Yulian used the steamed sweet potatoes to make vermicelli. She then used cornmeal to make some steamed cornbread. The cornmeal she bought was finer, so it had a better texture and was not too coarse, making it less likely to choke.
The main reason is that these people came from the Marquis' Mansion and were not used to eating these coarse grains.
"It's just right to chop up those two pounds of meat and make dumplings." Liu Yulian didn't want to keep the two pounds of meat. She would buy more after she finished eating. What was more important was the health of her family. "Separate the leeks and cabbage."
"They made so much food as soon as they arrived." Mother Liu watched Liu Yulian's actions and did not stop her with a smile on her face. She certainly hoped that her son could eat better.
"Just a few days." Liu Yulian said, "Let them eat well during these few days."
Liu Yulian kneaded the dough. She didn't buy more wine, as it was expensive and not worth it. She didn't think about whether she had to drink wine during the New Year. She just wanted to make other drinks, such as milk tea.
In the town, Su Qiuya's large slabs of tofu were sold out, and many people came to buy them. Tofu is not meat, but it is relatively tender and smooth, suitable for both young and old.
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