After walking a while longer, Butcher Zhang stopped in front of a sheepfold.
He pointed to the thin female goat in the sheepfold and said, "This goat was brought from the countryside the day before yesterday. My apprentice didn't know any better and only found out when he came back that the goat was pregnant."
"Judging from the looks of it, she'll give birth in about ten days. If you want to buy her, it'll cost ten taels of silver. There's still a little one inside her," Butcher Zhang said.
He Tiantian looked at the female goat in the sheepfold. Her two horns were sharp, and her beard had grown quite long. Although she was pregnant, the goat was so thin that you could see her bones, and her eyes were lifeless and teary.
It seems they suffered a lot in that slaughterhouse.
"Okay, here's the money, please keep it." He Tiantian took out ten taels of silver from the money bag.
Butcher Zhang then pulled the goat out of the sheepfold and placed the rope in He Tiantian's hands.
"Let me lead it," said Sister Yulan, stepping forward and taking the rope from He Tiantian.
Most of the day had passed, and on her way back, He Tiantian ran into Zhao Yanniang, who had also finished her business. Zhao Yanniang had a happy expression on her face, radiant with joy.
"Aunt Zhao, what's making you so happy?" He Tiantian asked curiously.
Zhao Yan's mother seemed to have been waiting for someone to ask her. She patted her jacket and said with a big laugh, "My son Zhao Yan is going to take the imperial examination. His success or failure depends on this."
"Ah, that's wonderful news. Are you going to Quanzhou? Aren't you coming along?" He Tiantian remembered what the teacher had said earlier, that Zhao Yan had a high chance of making the list this time.
"Aunt Zhao, if your son gets first place this time, he'll be a scholar, right?" Sister-in-law Yulan asked with envy.
"Oh, not at all. The Master said we should guard against arrogance and impetuosity, and we should not make any wild guesses before everything is settled." Zhao Yanniang imitated what her son had told her, and pretended to repeat it in front of He Tiantian and Yulan's mother.
She'd been using vulgar language for most of her life, so these refined words sounded incredibly awkward coming from her mouth.
“My son said he’s going with some colleagues this time. Quanzhou is so far away, I’ll definitely need to spend more money on travel expenses if I go with them.” Zhao Yanniang certainly wanted to go, but she was worried about the cost!
The family has sold everything they could to raise money for their son's trip to the imperial examinations. The chickens are gone, the ducks are gone, and now, besides the people still breathing, everything else is gone.
The group arrived at the city gate and boarded an oxcart. Now, the only one missing was Tiezi's mother.
Anyway, it's still early, so I'll just wait here for a while.
Uncle Li silently took his pipe and went to the roadside not far away, squatted down and started smoking.
After Zhao Yanniang finished speaking about her son, she knelt down on the ground with a thud and clasped her hands together in prayer towards the sky.
"Heavens above, please bless my son Yan'er so he can pass the imperial examination. I will burn incense for you every day when he does." After saying this, he kowtowed several times.
This series of mysterious actions left He Tiantian completely bewildered.
She looked at the few stray blades of grass stuck in Zhao Yanniang's hair and actually felt a little amused.
The old goat seemed to feel free again, and its spirits improved considerably. It slowly nibbled on the roadside weeds.
The four children sat on the oxcart, huddled together eating the snacks they had just bought.
A group of people waited for a long time before they saw Tiezi's mother running towards them.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, something came up and I was held up today." Tiezi's mother had a steady stance and ran with a brisk pace. After running for a while, panting heavily, she plopped down on the oxcart.
As soon as she came up, He Tiantian felt like their end was almost flipped over.
"I came to the city today to look for work! And here I am! Have you heard of Wanchunlou in the city? It's the biggest, tallest, and most impressive restaurant..." Tiezi's mother said, gesturing exaggeratedly with both hands.
Anyone who didn't know better would think that the restaurant had hired her as the manager.
"I'll go wash the dishes there; the restaurant is hiring odd jobs," Tiezi's mother said breathlessly, almost unable to catch her breath.
“Oh, that’s a really good job. But you live so far away, how can you make it back and forth in one day?” Zhao Yanniang asked.
Tiezi's mother was even happier. "The manager of the restaurant said that they provide accommodation and that if you work in the kitchen, you can also pack up any leftover food from the customers. They even pay you 100 coins a month for that."
One hundred coins, which is better than what her husband used to earn working in the mine.
If I had known there was such a job, Tiezi's mother would have come much earlier. She wouldn't have had to endure so many years of hardship in that godforsaken place, Changfeng Village.
Zhao Yanniang was very interested when she heard this; one hundred coins was already a lot for her family.
"Is that restaurant still hiring? By the way, what will happen to your buddy now that you're in the county?"
"Yes, they're hiring! I heard from the foreman that they need five odd jobs. When I came here, that old woman Zhao said I'd found work. I'll tell her when I get back. She has two daughters-in-law who can earn money too." Tiezi's mother's eyes sparkled with excitement; right now, all she cared about was money.
"Let his grandma take care of Tiezi for a while, it won't be a problem. I'll pack my things when I get back tonight, I have to start work first thing tomorrow morning."
The oxcart moved slowly along the country road, with Tiezi's mother chattering away the whole way, making it hard for He Tiantian to ignore her.
It turns out that the concept of "left-behind children" existed even in ancient times. With Tiezi's mother gone, Tiezi was definitely left behind as a child with his grandparents.
And that Zhao family, Old Lady Zhao is truly ruthless. She can't stand seeing her daughter-in-law idle for even a moment.
He Tiantian recalled that when they were at the old house, her sister-in-law, Tao, had indeed taken good care of her and Lantern Dumplings.
When the old woman refused to feed them, Tao would secretly save some food for them while cooking.
Furthermore, when the original owner gave birth to Lantern and Dumpling, the old woman was very unhappy to see that it was a girl, and naturally did not show any sympathy for the original owner. It was the eldest sister-in-law, Tao, who took care of the original owner during her postpartum period.
The original owner remembered all these good things.
He Tiantian also wanted to help Tao Shi, but after all, her sister-in-law was still in the old house. Those bloodsuckers—even if she gave her sister-in-law some benefits, it probably wouldn't go to her.
By the way, I heard that my sister-in-law's son, Zhao Daniu, is getting married next month. Perhaps she could prepare a wedding gift for him.
Consider it a small token of her appreciation as the second aunt to the younger generation.
By the time they arrived at the village, it was almost dark.
Zhao Tingzhang is still supervising the construction on He Tiantian's land and hasn't left yet. Over the past few days, the new house has gradually taken shape.
He Tiantian thought to herself that simply telling Zhao Tingzhang how to build it every day wouldn't be enough; she needed to draw up a blueprint so the workers could build the house according to it.
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