In the morning, after Yu Lao’er and his wife saw off their three daughters, they couldn’t settle their hearts.
Their personalities were honest and somewhat timid. They had spent their entire lives digging a living from the land and had never seen much of the world. They never imagined having to seek a livelihood in the county town beyond farming.
For a place like the county town, unless absolutely necessary, they would never go. Even if they did go, they wouldn’t dare linger long.
Now that their daughters were heading to the county town to set up a stall and earn money, they couldn’t help but worry. One moment, they feared the girls might encounter trouble; the next, they worried the coarse grain rice wouldn’t sell, wasting the food for nothing.
In short, they worried about everything.
By noon, with the three daughters absent, the couple casually ate something to tide them over. After the meal, they didn’t take a midday nap but stayed at home, working as they waited for their daughters to return.
In the past, when they went to work in the fields, it was usually the daughters who stayed home waiting for them.
Now, they finally experienced what it felt like to wait for their children, leaving them with somewhat complicated emotions.
By the time afternoon approached, their three daughters finally returned.
Liu Shi quickly poured them water and asked with concern if they were tired, while Yu Lao’er took the buckets and baskets from their hands, finding the two buckets already empty and light.
He was a little surprised—had they sold everything?
The three sisters were also thirsty. Only after drinking a bowl of water each did they respond.
Yu Jin said, “Mother, we’re not tired. We took a boat back earlier.”
Yu Yin added, “Today the sales were fast; it didn’t take much time.”
Yu Zhu’s eyes sparkled. “Elder Sister even took us out to eat. The county town is so big! The food there is so delicious, the streets are so clean, and the houses are so beautiful—two or even three stories tall…”
Seeing the smiles on her daughters’ faces, Liu Shi felt her mood brighten as well. She said, “It’s still early. You all should rest for a while. After we come back, we’ll go handle the offal.”
Yu Lao’er chuckled naively.
The three sisters chatted with their parents for a bit before returning to their rooms to rest.
They had risen too early that morning and were now feeling a little drowsy. They planned to take a short nap and get up later to continue working.
After finally seeing their daughters return and learning that all the coarse grain rice they had brought to sell was sold, Yu Lao’er and his wife were overjoyed. They decided not to stay at home and went to the fields to work.
Back in their room, Yu Jin poured the day’s earnings out of the money pouch.
The clinking sound of coins filled the air as copper coins spilled onto the bed, making the drowsy Yu Yin and Yu Zhu open their eyes wide.
“Second Sister, let me count!” Yu Zhu said excitedly.
Yu Jin thought for a moment. Since her youngest sister was growing older, it was indeed time for her to learn how to count money, lest she struggle with it in the future. She decided to teach her.
The two elder sisters sat patiently, watching her count. If there was a mistake, they corrected her.
After counting, Yu Zhu exclaimed with delight, “Second Sister, Third Sister, there are 98 wen in total!”
Then, with a cry of excitement, “So much money! And all of it earned by us today!”
She felt a great sense of accomplishment and was very satisfied.
Yu Yin was also happy but still corrected her, saying, “We haven’t deducted the cost of the offal, coarse grain, firewood, and seasonings yet.”
“The coarse grain wasn’t bought; it’s what our family grew ourselves, so it doesn’t cost much,” Yu Zhu said. “Shouldn’t that not be included?”
Yu Yin said, “We still need to include it.”
Yu Jin did a quick mental calculation. Subtracting 10 wen for the offal—since they didn’t prepare much coarse grain rice today, they had only used half of the braised offal, which should amount to 5 wen.
The coarse grain was from their own stock, but if they had purchased it elsewhere, it would have cost about 10 wen. Adding the cost of spices, seasonings, and firewood, it totaled roughly 20 wen. Firewood was gathered from the mountains, so they could exclude that, leaving just the cost of the spices and seasonings.
Thus, they could still earn about 60 wen.
Sure enough, there was still a profit!
Yu Jin was delighted.
At this moment, Yu Yin reminded her, “Second Sister, you haven’t included the boat fare and the fee we paid at the dock.”
Yu Jin: “…”
The round-trip boat fare for the three sisters was 24 wen, and they had paid 8 wen to the dock.
If they subtracted 32 wen, they would have earned only about 40 wen today.
Yu Jin suddenly felt it wasn’t that much after all.
But she quickly regained her spirits. “It’s okay. This is just the beginning. Once we sell more, things will get better and better.” At worst, they could walk back to the village in the future and avoid spending money on the boat.
However, Yu Zhu was still very young, and she worried the walk might tire her out.
Yu Yin thought of this too. Glancing at Yu Zhu, who was already drowsily leaning to one side, she recalled the time her younger sister had hit her head and turned pale as paper, scaring them all half to death.
She said, “Second Sister, carrying the coarse grain rice from the village to the county town for sale won’t be possible with just you. You can’t carry that much. Zhu’er is too young to help, so why not ask Mother to help you?”
Yu Jin was taken aback. “But the fieldwork…”
“Father can handle it alone,” Yu Yin replied. “When it’s time for harvest, we can help out. If it’s too much, we can hire temporary workers. According to the rates in our village, it’s just 20 wen a day.”
In the village, some families with larger plots of land often hired temporary workers during the busy farming seasons.
For example, the Li Zheng family, who had a lot of farmland, hired workers every time it was harvest season.
There were many poor households in the village. Those with smaller plots of land would finish harvesting their own crops quickly and then go work as temporary laborers for others, getting paid daily.
Yu Jin hadn’t overlooked this option; she simply hated spending money.
She never considered hiring others for work she could do herself, no matter how exhausting it was.
If she had her eldest sister’s strength, she felt she could do anything without spending a single extra wen hiring help. She would even carry the coarse grain rice to the county town by herself.
At this moment, Yu Yin added, “I think when it’s time for the autumn harvest, Grandma and the others will probably hire temporary workers too.”
Although the family was divided, they lived separated by just one wall. Whatever happened on the other side of the Yu family’s first and third households, they could hear it from their side.
Aside from Yu Qin, the rest of the Yu family’s eldest household stayed in the county town and never came back.
For this, Old Madam Yu frequently scolded Chen Shi, but Chen Shi always found excuses not to return. Besides, Old Madam Yu couldn’t go to the county town herself to drag her back, could she? Even if she wanted to, Old Master Yu would stop her, fearing she would make a scene in the county town, embarrassing their eldest son, eldest grandson, and second grandson, and ruining their prospects.
Old Madam Yu had no choice but to vent her anger on Yu Qin, leaving her feeling extremely aggrieved.
In her rage, Old Madam Yu had even stopped sending food to the county town.
Of course, this hardly affected them. Yu Laoda worked as a bookkeeper in a grain store, so buying grain was convenient for him. The grain store even offered him a discount, so it didn’t cost much at all.
In the past, since the family delivered grain to them, saving money was naturally welcomed by Yu Laoda. Now that the deliveries had stopped, it didn’t make much of a difference.
Judging by the situation of the eldest household, they wouldn’t return to help even during the autumn harvest.
Yu Laoda had a job, Yu Jingde and Yu Jingli needed to study, and Yu Jingzong was still too young to work in the fields. The only one who could work was Chen Shi, but she was adamantly unwilling to return to do farm labor. Otherwise, she wouldn’t endure Old Madam Yu’s scolding without coming back.
The eldest household and the elderly couple had been allocated over ten mu of land during the division. It wasn’t reasonable to expect the elderly couple to manage all of it by themselves.
They would have to hire temporary workers.
Of course, the elderly couple might hope to have the second and third households help with the work, just as before when the second and third households managed most of the family’s land, leaving them with little to worry about.
However, since the division of the family, this was no longer possible.
Even if Yu Lao’er and his wife were pressured by Old Master Yu with filial piety to help, the daughters of the second household would never agree. After the division, there was no reason to help their brothers with labor.
Yu Jin and her sisters would absolutely not allow their parents to be taken advantage of.
As for the third household, it was even more unlikely. Yu Laosan and his wife were shrewd and calculative; if no benefits were offered, they wouldn’t lift a finger.
Yu Jin scoffed, entirely unsurprised by the situation.
She chuckled and said, “If Grandma and the others really hire temporary workers, then we’ll hire some too. If their eldest household’s studies are precious, then our business is just as important.”
Yu Yin pressed her lips into a smile.
Currently, she was learning embroidery from Zhou Shi. Under her guidance, her work had become quite refined, and soon, she would be able to earn money herself. By then, not only would her second sister be earning money, but so would she.
Their family would soon be living a good life, so spending a little money to hire temporary workers wouldn’t be an issue.
—
For several consecutive days, after Yu Li delivered goods, she would take a detour to the dock to check in.
With her there, the coarse grain rice balls always sold quickly, to the point that Yu Jin was considering giving her elder sister a share of the earnings, hoping she could stop by occasionally to oversee things.