Making meat sauce takes time and effort.
Yu Tingwan just stood by watching. Seeing Hui Niang finish preparing everything properly, she then picked up a wooden stool and went to sit by the stove opening, started a fire.
When the oil was hot in the pot, ci la sound. Hui Niang first fried out shrimp oil, then poured in the shrimp meat and deep-fried it until crispy.
Scooped it out, cut it into evenly sized small cubes, then went to deal with the chicken fir mushrooms.
The meat hadn’t even been handled yet, but the air was already floating with mouth-watering fragrance.
Yu Tingwan worked very seriously. When Hui Niang said to add firewood, she added. Said make the fire smaller, she used the long-mouthed iron tongs at the side to pinch out a few sticks of wood.
The firelight reflected on the tear mole at the end of her eye, making the little girl’s brows and eyes appear even more limpid and shimmering.
Hui Niang stir-fried with the spatula, and talked to her.
“Wan-niang, how old are you now?”
“After the New Year I’ll be eighteen.”
“Aiyo, then at this age, should be starting to look at a husband’s household.”
This sentence, made Yu Tingwan very much agree.
She nodded her head heavily.
Hui Niang had just asked casually, very soon she was speaking to Yu Tingwan about other things again.
“This meat sauce I learned from my mother before I got married. Just a pity she passed early, her good skills I only learned a bit of the surface.”
Already like this, and still only surface-level?
But when Yu Tingwan heard this, she couldn’t help but feel sad.
She said in a low voice: “My mother passed early too.”
“She could do embroidery and also sing tunes. I also learned.”
Yu Tingwan very rarely talked about these things with others. The villagers didn’t like mentioning her mother, even if mentioned, it was never in good words.
But she always felt Hui Niang was different from the others.
She stared fixedly at Hui Niang, her hand unconsciously pinching the hem of her clothes.
Hui Niang’s hand paused, tone surprised, smiled and looked at her: “Wan-niang even knows embroidery, huh. Us countryside folks who know needlework aren’t many, just know some ordinary mending and patching. You have this skill, won’t need to worry in the future.”
Yu Tingwan’s eyes had some brightness.
Hui Niang: “Embroider some handkerchiefs, bring to the embroidery house, can also earn a few coins. Later when married, the husband’s family will also look at you a bit more highly.”
Yu Tingwan: “But my skill isn’t good yet.”
“You don’t be modest.”
Yu Tingwan really wasn’t being modest.
“I didn’t have patience, my mother felt bad for me, so she didn’t want to teach me anymore.”
How could she not feel bad?
The little girl had always been delicate, hadn’t suffered much since childhood, worked hard to tiptoe and raise her hand under Ah Niang’s eyelids, deeply afraid she wouldn’t see the fingertip pricked and bleeding from the needle.
Still shamelessly opened her mouth:
【Ah Niang, are we stewing a chicken today to nourish Yaoyao?】
What a pity, she was no longer the naive little girl, and no one was willing to indulge her anymore.
“But I can sing tunes.”
Yu Tingwan’s tone was calm, but if one listened carefully there was still a trace of well-hidden pride:
“Every time I was about to sing, my father would immediately pull out silver, praise my voice, and tell me not to sing anymore.”
Wei Zhao: …
Can’t tell that was sarcasm?
The whole room was filled with the fragrance of meat sauce. Hui Niang was so hot she broke out in a sweat.
Yu Tingwan went to wash her hands, helping to pack it into earthen jars.
Wei Shouzhong came back at this time. Snow had fallen all over his body again, carrying a layer of chill.
He shook himself off outside before coming in.
“A’Lang.”
He called once first.
No response.
Wei Shouzhong was used to it.
Hui Niang asked: “Those out-of-towners all arranged properly?”
Wei Shouzhong stepped forward quickly: “I was just about to talk to you about this.”
“The village head originally wanted to settle three people in our house, five at Doctor Qian’s place, and the rest at Silly Gu’s home.”
But would old man Qian agree?
Immediately flipped out, said he didn’t lack money!
The village head spoke nicely:
【‘Just help out. It’s freezing outside, think of it as saving the dying.’】
Old man Qian was stubborn, directly said:
【‘Then wait until they’re about to freeze to death, and come ask me again. I’ll see if I can save them then.’】
Now he was full of confidence:
【‘That Wei family boy was saved by me. Without me, he’d have stopped breathing long ago. Clearly, I’ve got the skill.’】
Wei Shouzhong had something on his mind, was absent-minded: “In the end, there was no choice, so the village head had to find someone else. But it was arranged properly.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Wei Zhao not far away, who was in a daze, an unclear emotion flashed in his eyes, and seeing Yu Tingwan nearby, he hesitated for a moment and walked out.
“Hui Niang, come out with me for a bit.”
As soon as she heard that tone, Hui Niang became suspicious.
She told Wei Shouzhong to wait a moment, and after working together with Yu Tingwan to finish packing the meat sauce, she then wiped her hands.
The two walked out one after the other.
Once outside the house, Wei Shouzhong called Hui Niang over to a corner, didn’t waste words, and lowered his voice to speak.
“Among those out-of-towners, there’s a ya po, brought five girls with her. All bought from the north, intended to be sold to the south.” [牙婆 (yá pó) – “tooth crone,” a slang term for a human trafficker or old matchmaker involved in buying and selling people, usually girls or women]
In this world, poor people are everywhere, selling daughters for money is the most common thing.
“Before they arrived at our Linxi Village, bandits targeted that group, and all the money on the ya po was looted clean. Those girls suffered a lot along the way too, all skinny to the point of being unrecognizable, and a few even died from illness. So she’s thinking of getting rid of them early, sell however many she can.”
Upon hearing this, Hui Niang held her breath.
She understood what Wei Shouzhong meant, grabbed his arm tightly: “How much silver?”
Wei Shouzhong: “One tael.”
Hui Niang’s eyes dimmed.
The money saved at home these years, plus what was taken from the big house that year, all in all added up to just five taels, and they still had to go to the county seat to see a doctor in the future.
Hui Niang’s mind was a mess: “Give me some time to think.”
While the two talked outside, inside the stove room, Yu Tingwan paced over to Wei Zhao.
A shadow fell from above, but Wei Zhao didn’t react.
Yu Tingwan couldn’t help but ask: “Why are there stones and roof tiles in the basket?”
She had never been able to figure it out!
Seeing that Wei Zhao didn’t respond. Yu Tingwan pressed her lips together, could only probe gently: “You’ve been in the military camp for so many years, your skills aren’t bad.”
Wei Zhao didn’t even look at her.
Yu Tingwan spoke in a good-tempered voice to negotiate with him: “Next time you throw, can you aim a bit more to the right?”
“Every time you hit the same spot, it’s already injured like this yet still so precise—shows you’ve got good aim. Just that spot is a lot deeper than the ground around it, nearly an arm’s length.”
“Every time I have to dig around in the snow for a long time.”
“I’m tired too.”
Wei Zhao didn’t want to bother with her.
Yu Tingwan: “Keep the medicine for yourself, I don’t need it.”
Seeing that Wei Zhao didn’t show any signs of getting angry, Yu Tingwan turned her head and threw out what old man Qian said earlier.
She even made another request.
“Can you fix the time when you throw?”
She wanted to eat warm eggs.
Wei Zhao slowly raised his eyes; there wasn’t the slightest bit of emotion in them.
He always seemed to carry a certain presence, as if born with it. Yet being sickly like this, instead made others feel he posed no threat.
Yu Tingwan pressed her lips together: “Those were all things you were willing to throw. I didn’t steal or rob—though I did pick them up and eat them, I still won’t pay you.”
“Even if you wanted me to, I don’t have the money.”
“But in the future, when I have money, I…”
Before the words were finished, Wei Zhao finally spoke.
It wasn’t pleasant to hear—so much so that to Yu Tingwan, it was even harsh on the ears.
His voice was light:
“This poor?”