Transmigration: A Farm Girl's Brocade-Chapter 112 - Fragrance Grease_1
Chapter 112: Chapter 112 Fragrance Grease_1
Chapter 112: Chapter 112 Fragrance Grease_1
The way the Qian family’s third wife handled things set the village abuzz with all sorts of talk—envy, jealousy, resentment and confusion.
For a long time thereafter, many villagers rushed to the mountains, trying their luck at finding valuable flowers. Although they didn’t find any particularly famous ones, some did manage to get some decent flowers, selling them for a few silver ingots. Of course, that was a story for another day.
Old woman Qian was already fuming about her third son’s reckless spending, and the rumors only added fuel to the fire, leaving her with several big blisters in her mouth. Even though Qian Sangui explained, she still felt uneasy, thinking that the silver shouldn’t have been wasted like that. Afterwards, with nothing better to do, she would often look for trouble at the third wife’s place, unwilling to scold her son and with Cheng Yue hiding away in a small room, she had no choice but to vent on Lady Wu.
Lady Wu didn’t have any other option, so she let herself be scolded.
The next day, Qian Dagui led Qian Hua to order the earth bricks and roof tiles. Then, they went to hire people to build the house. The farm work was still a bit busy, but the wages were ten copper coins a day, which included a midday meal. Many people were still willing to earn the money and enjoyed a good meal to boot.
The ground-breaking ceremony took place on the second day of August.
What they called house repair was essentially using earth bricks to enclose the area and build two rows of temporary earth and tile houses in the main courtyard, to the west of their small courtyard, for those six people to live in. They also dug a small door in the west wall of the small courtyard for easy access and mutual support.
The plan was to dig a pond later during the slack farming season. Once they had more money, they would re-plan the entire courtyard and build a large house.
Since the land they bought started from the foot of the Shixi Mountain, they began building the courtyard wall ten meters to the north of the mountain base. The narrow sloping land from the mountain foot to the courtyard wall, including Pine Pool, was enclosed by a hedge. They added a back gate to the backyard wall, which made it convenient to carry water. They left this plot of land empty for now, as Yixiu said she had her own plans for it.
Qian Sangui’s planning made some villagers laugh their heads off. With the money that could have been used to buy subpar land or servants, why not build a few big brick houses with large tiles? It would be so much more comfortable to live in.
Turns out the one they always thought had a good head on his shoulders, Qian Sangui, was nothing special after all!
On the third day of August, Benben and Tiaotiao turned one month old. Dashan was going to the mountains again, and Fierce Red Monkey was tagging along to practice skills. Yixiu raised both hands in favor of Monkey Brother going with Dashan into the mountains. Not only because she wanted it to acquire skills, but also because there were many people around due to the construction, and she feared someone with sticky fingers or a loose tongue might provoke it and get retaliated against. There was also another most important reason that she couldn’t tell anyone else.
Yixiu took him to a secluded spot and repeated what she had quietly told him countless times before, “Be good, Monkey Brother, do you remember the place where we picked Lingzhi last time? When you get there, turn left, just over here,” she lifted its left hand, and continued, “Go over one mountain ridge, then pass another branch before moving forward and climbing over a mountain peak. Stop when you see a big waterfall, and search around the big trees on the right side of the waterfall. Look under the largest tree. There’s lots of grass there; search slowly through it, and you’ll see leaves like these,” she sketched a few leaves on the ground, and carried on, “Then gently pull away the surrounding soil, and inside you’ll find something that looks like a radish. If you can bring it back, there will be a big reward for you.”
Fearing Monkey Brother wouldn’t understand, she carefully explained the less common terms like “branch” and “waterfall” once more.
The place Yixiu asked it to go had a ginseng, but it was too far away and the terrain was too steep. Even with Yixiu’s current short legs, it would take four hours to go there and back without stopping, not to mention that some of the steep paths were impossible for her to climb.
This spot was originally a place she planned to go with a couple of strong adults once she grew up, but now the family needed money urgently, so she could only hope that Monkey Brother could inadvertently bring something back while practicing his skills.
Even she felt she was indulging in a foolish fantasy, but she thought it was better to bang her head against the wall than to give up without trying.
Moreover, Fierce Red Monkey was extremely intelligent, and its nose was very sensitive; who knows, there might really be an unexpected harvest, right?
She made Monkey Brother sniff over and over the ginseng she had found in Qian Sangui’s medicine stash.
After giving Monkey Brother instructions, she also quietly instructed Dashan, “Dashan, Mama, please follow Monkey Brother, and if he can’t walk anymore, you must carry him. If Monkey Brother can bring back the large ginseng, I will buy your two little treasures a copper collar each. Tsk, tsk, those collars are so pretty. And they will be bathed every day, cleaned until they’re spotless and white like two clumps of clouds in the sky.”
Dashan looked gently at the two little treasures rolling on the ground as if she agreed.
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After sending off Dashan and Monkey Brother, Qian Yixiu played with her two white cloud-like treasures. Now with servants around, there were many things she didn’t need to do herself. Little Auntie also had more free time and went to the side room to watch her mother do embroidery work.
Ever since more people had joined the household, Cheng Yue no longer wanted to go outside to embroider. Qian Yixiu asked Lady Wei to move the table in front of the small room’s window to the center of the room and placed the embroidery frame under the small window. She also opened the windows and doors wide to keep the air flowing.
Qian Yixiu noticed that Little Auntie might feel embarrassed about her own rough hands, watching her mother’s delicate hands move swiftly while she clenched her own tightly and crossed them under her armpits.
Qian Yixiu’s heart ached faintly. For the sake of this household, herself, and her little brother, Little Auntie started doing chores such as raising children, cooking, laundry, farming, and chopping wood at the age of six, getting her hands as coarse as an old woman’s. Yet she, unwilling to spend a penny on herself, knew to buy steamed buns and sugar men for her younger siblings…
She had planned to buy her some Peach blossom perfume the last time they went to the county city, but that was neglected because of the incident with buying a servant.
Seeing that Lady Wu was going to Erliu Town to buy food again, Qian Yixiu made a fuss to join her. Lady Wu now had to go to the town almost daily; with so many people helping her household with construction, there was a lot of food she needed every day.
Lady Wu couldn’t stand her nagging, so she nodded in agreement. Besides the last time she went to town with her little brother to play a prank for a small revenge, this was only her second visit. Qian Yixiu was a little excited, with all her private savings—three small silver ingots—tucked away in her chest.
Erliu Town wasn’t big; it had only three streets in total. One was the main street facing the entrance of the town, lined mostly with shops. Another street was where villagers from all around set up their stalls, and the third was where traders set up their stalls year-round.
Today was not a market day, so the town wasn’t crowded. She first accompanied Lady Wu to buy a block of lard, a pound of pork, a pair of pork lungs, four pieces of tofu, twenty pounds of brown rice, and some seasonings.
After Lady Wu had finished buying what she needed, Qian Yixiu pulled her into the only store in town that sold small accessories. The shop procured its goods from the provincial capital or the county city, and the quality of their items was much better than those sold by the traders.
Without listening to Lady Wu’s persuasion and nagging, Qian Yixiu bought each of her mother and Little Auntie a carved wooden hair comb, a small box of Peach blossom perfume, and also a Small copper mirror just for her aunt. During this period, glass mirrors existed, but their exorbitant prices were beyond their means.
She had also wanted to buy Lady Wu some Fragrance grease, but Lady Wu firmly disagreed, so she gave up on the idea.
