Chapter 5: Initial Wages Received, Gifts Purchased in Return...
Around noon, the foreman began calling people to lunch.
Zhu Mingyue got busy again. The river workers were lined up in five teams, and he was responsible for serving meals to one of the teams.
The ladle is used to scoop water, adding about half a ladleful to each person's bowl. Everyone's portion is about the same, and there's no way to ask for more.
During the incident, some troublemakers complained that he hadn't given them enough and demanded more. They were whipped by the supervisor, and eventually, everyone, whether they were planning to cause trouble or not, fell silent.
Zhu Mingyue's eyes widened, afraid that she might serve too little to someone and cause dissatisfaction and arguments.
After all the river workers had eaten, Zhu Mingyue finally had some free time. She and five other colleagues scooped out the leftovers from the pot, each taking half a bowl, and squatted in the shed to eat their lunch.
This millet doesn't taste good to begin with, let alone that it's not ground finely and has a lot of bran mixed in. The only slightly palatable part, sweet potato, is pitifully scarce. To put it bluntly, it's no different from the feed that pig farms used to feed pigs in his previous life.
Although millet was not very tasty, it had one advantage: it was very filling. Zhu Mingyue swallowed half a bowl and her stomach was full.
"Hey, have you heard? Old Zhang from Gouhe Village bought two more acres of land."
“I heard about it a few days ago. It was land bought from the Xie family. They had a big argument with the eldest son of the Xie family over the land price, and it almost escalated to the point of going to the village chief.”
Zhu Mingyue squatted on the ground, wiping the millet flour stuck to the rim of the bowl with her fingers. Just as she was about to put it in her mouth, she was drawn to the conversation of several aunties behind her.
It turns out that land here can be bought and sold among each other. So, when he earns enough money in the future, will he be able to buy a few acres of land in the countryside and live a farming life of working from dawn till dusk?
The millet noodles dripped down his fingers, the sticky feeling pulling Zhu Mingyue back to reality. He quickly stuffed the noodles into his mouth and strained his ears to listen further.
"Why does Old Zhang buy so much land? I remember he bought an acre of land from the Xie family last year too!"
"Pshaw, his family has so many descendants, they can farm any amount of land."
The man who had just finished speaking and chuckled changed the subject again, "But I really don't understand Xie Da. His family only has five acres of land. He sold one acre last year and two acres this year. I don't believe that the two brothers can live off that."
"Who knows? Besides, I heard that it only sells for seven taels a mu. It would be good if he sold it all, so I can buy a mu too."
The conversation gradually veered towards everyday family matters.
He couldn't hear any more useful information by listening further; all he knew so far was that one mu of land cost seven taels of silver.
He currently earns twenty coins a day, working every single day without fail. In 350 days, that's seven thousand coins, or seven taels of silver. This is all under the premise of not eating, drinking, or buying anything new. After considering this, he immediately gave up on the idea of buying land in the short term.
After the meal, he cleaned the pots and pans and went with the other aunties to the accounting office to settle their wages for the day.
After receiving the twenty coins, Zhu Mingyue weighed them in his hand. Surprisingly, they were quite heavy. This was the first time he had earned money through his own labor, and he felt a sense of accomplishment.
He tucked the copper coins into his pocket and, taking advantage of the still-bright daylight, hurried towards the county town.
He originally planned to save the money, buy a decent set of clothes after a while, return the one he was wearing to Cui Jian, and buy an ordinary dagger for self-defense.
But Cui Jian suddenly said yesterday that he wanted to continue north, and now the clothes are definitely not enough, which completely disrupted his original plan.
So while he was working today, he was thinking about what to do with those twenty coins.
Zhu Mingyue strolled slowly along the main street of the county. The street was quite interesting, with open storefronts on both sides and many stalls set up along the roadside.
Although they are called stalls, most of them are just a cloth laid on the ground with various kinds of goods displayed on it.
There were shops selling items for girls' use, with various inexpensive cosmetics, handkerchiefs, and hair ties on display. There were also shops selling bamboo woven items, with baskets and hampers of all kinds available.
He wasn't interested in any of those; his gaze, however, was drawn to the bookstall not far away.
Zhu Mingyue walked to the bookstall, squatted down, and glanced at it briefly. Sure enough, she couldn't understand a single word.
The stall owner warmly approached and greeted them, "I have a wide variety of books here. Take a look and let me know which one you like, and I'll wrap it up for you."
Zhu Mingyue, with only twenty coins in her pocket, showed no fear on her face and nodded in response.
After a while, he picked up one of the books, looked up, and asked, "How much is this one?"
"Six hundred cash," the stall owner added quickly, fearing he might think it was too expensive. "This is not expensive at all. You can go to the bookstores in the county and ask around. Nowhere else can you find such a reasonable price as mine."
Zhu Mingyue's eyes widened slightly. A crack had appeared on her face as soon as she learned that this thin book cost as much as four hundred coins.
What does four hundred coins mean? It means that it's the wages Zhu Mingyue would receive for working herself to the bone for almost half a month.
He calmly and gently put the book down, as if afraid that if the edges were even slightly curled, the stall owner would demand compensation from him.
"Sir, would you like to buy more?"
"Ahem," Zhu Mingyue covered her mouth with her fist and coughed a few times to cover her embarrassment, "I'll go look around somewhere else."
The stall owner panicked, thinking that this person thought his price was higher than others and was going to buy from another stall! He quickly shouted, "Three hundred and eighty coins, that's the lowest price I can give you, I can't go any lower!"
That's ridiculous. Do you think he'd buy it if it were twenty coins cheaper?
He was certain that if the stall owner knew he only had twenty coins on him, he would think he was looking for trouble and would tell him to get lost.
Despite being asked to stay, Zhu Mingyue didn't dare turn her head and fled in a sorry state.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he turned onto a different street.
But when he thought of the crescent-shaped jade pendant that Cui Jian had given him, he felt a dark cloud descend over him again.
He genuinely couldn't afford the book, but he still had to give a return gift, no matter how much it cost; it was his way of showing his appreciation.
As dusk fell, he grew anxious and paced back and forth before finally stopping in front of a hair accessory stall.
Zhu Mingyue immediately took a liking to one of the wooden hairpins.
This hairpin is probably the stall owner's prized possession, as it is placed in the most prominent position.
Compared to the others, you can definitely see that some thought was put into the carving. The carved patterns are more complex than the others, and the surface is smoother.
Zhu Mingyue recalled the hairpin in Cui Jian's hair, an extremely rough wooden hairpin. Zhu Mingyue even suspected that it was just a piece of wood that Cui Jian had picked up on the road and whittled a few times with a knife.
Although both are wooden hairpins, the one in Cui Jian's hair is nothing compared to the one in front of him.
Zhu Mingyue immediately decided that she had to get the hairpin no matter what.
The stall owner was a straightforward old man. Seeing that he was sincere in his willingness to buy, he told him directly that forty coins was the lowest price.
Although a piece of wood the size of a chopstick is not valuable, it still takes a lot of time and effort to carve, and Zhu Mingyue knew in her heart that the price was not expensive.
He hesitated for a moment, then finally steeled himself and said, "I only brought twenty coins with me. Is that enough?"
"No way, I absolutely will not sell it for twenty coins. You're quite shrewd, kid!" The stall owner's expression changed slightly, and his smile vanished.
Zhu Mingyue was so embarrassed by what she was told that she could hardly lift her head. She quickly explained, "That's not what I meant. I really want this hairpin, but I don't have enough money with me. I'd like to pay you twenty coins first and take the hairpin with me. I'll return the rest to you at this time tomorrow."
"That won't do either." The stall owner shook his head, clearly not wanting to do business with him anymore. This was the first time he had ever seen someone who wanted to buy a wooden hairpin on credit.
He wanted to chase the person away so as not to delay his business, but when he looked up, he was shocked by what he saw. "It's just a hairpin, is it really that big of a deal? I can reserve it for you and you can come back to buy it tomorrow. Why are you crying?"
Zhu Mingyue's eyes were brimming with tears, which were still flowing out at a considerable rate. His eyelashes trembled as he let the tears slide down like pearls. His face showed a mixture of grievance, stubbornness, and vulnerability.
"As you know, I lost my parents when I was young."
The inexperienced stall owner had never encountered such a situation before and was caught off guard by these words.
"This... I don't know either."
Zhu Mingyue was speechless for a moment, then pretended not to hear and continued to sob: "I lost both my parents when I was young, and became an orphan. No one cares for me, I'm like a little cabbage growing yellow in the field." He almost started singing as he spoke, but quickly changed the subject.
"Today is my birthday, and I want to treat myself this time. I fell in love with this hairpin at first sight. If I buy it tomorrow, it will have a different meaning."
"Oh dear, poor child, if you had told me earlier, would I have scolded you? Don't be sad, take this hairpin first, and give me the rest of the money tomorrow. Consider it a good deed on my part." The stall owner shoved the hairpin into Zhu Mingyue's hand as if pushing it. "Take it quickly and wipe your tears. If others see this, they'll think this old man is bullying people!"
"How can that be? What if I run away and don't pay you back? It's not easy for you to run a business." Zhu Mingyue held onto the hairpin tightly as soon as she got it, but she still kept talking to herself.
The old stall owner was puzzled. This kid was really strange. He would cry if the hairpin wasn't sold to him, but once it was sold to him, the hairpin was pushed away in front of him. Could it be that the person who begged him to sell the hairpin earlier was not the same person standing in front of him now?
"You don't have that ability, unless you never come to the county again," the old stall owner threatened in a gruff voice. "Give me the money and leave with your hairpin."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Mingyue stopped pretending and took out all the money, handing it to the other person.
"You're just like my great-grandfather. You look intimidating, but you're actually all bark and no bite. You're very kind-hearted, and good people always get good rewards."
The stall owner, not expecting to receive such praise, was quite pleased and casually asked, "How old was your great-grandfather?"
After tilting her head and thinking for a moment, Zhu Mingyue replied, "Eighty-nine."
The stall owner was even happier upon hearing this, "That's certainly a long life! It seems good deeds are indeed rewarded!"
Zhu Mingyue used her sleeve to polish the surface of the hairpin until it shone brightly. The more she looked at it, the more beautiful it seemed, and the more satisfied she became.
"Oh right, I forgot to mention that my great-grandfather passed away more than forty years ago."
After saying this, Zhu Mingyue waved to the person and ran away as if she were escaping, afraid that if she was too slow, she would be caught and beaten up.
The old stall owner stood there stunned for a moment, then became so angry that he blew his beard and glared. He praised him and his great-grandfather for being good people who were rewarded, but his great-grandfather hadn't even lived past the age of fifty. Wasn't this just shortening his lifespan?
Anyone familiar with Zhu Mingyue's family situation knows that he wasn't lying; his great-grandfather was indeed one of those who received good fortune in a certain sense.
A note from the author:
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