Yu Li waited for a while. Seeing no response from her, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
Surely, she hadn’t stopped her just to stare blankly at her, right?
Yu Qin shuddered. Ever since she had witnessed Yu Li pressing her father to kneel and forcing the old man to divide the family, she had been deeply afraid of Yu Li. She was always worried that one day Yu Li might thrash her just like she had done to Cheng Ge’er and Zong Ge’er, sending her flying.
“Uh, I heard that you’ve been slaughtering pigs in the county…” she said softly.
“Yes.” Yu Li replied candidly. She looked Yu Qin over and kindly suggested, “If you’re thinking about slaughtering pigs too, you should start training your body first. Without enough strength, you won’t be able to handle it.”
She thought Yu Qin had specifically called out to her to learn about pig slaughtering, maybe even wanting to join in.
After all, her three younger sisters were quite interested in the job, but they didn’t have the strength for it and couldn’t manage the work.
Yu Qin stared at her blankly.
Who, who wants to slaughter pigs?
She absolutely didn’t want to slaughter pigs. How terrifying would that be! Butchers were often looked down upon because people believed that killing too many living creatures brought bad karma, leaving them with bloodstained hands and a poor reincarnation in the next life.
Moreover, pigs were dirty and smelly, and butchers themselves reeked as well—no one liked them.
Pork might be delicious, but they didn’t want to kill pigs or become butchers.
Yu Qin hurriedly waved her hands. “I-I don’t want to do that…”
Yu Li asked, “If you don’t want to, then why are you asking me?”
Not being from this world, Yu Li didn’t think there was anything wrong with slaughtering pigs. On the contrary, she enjoyed it. No matter how dirty or smelly pigs were, were they filthier or stinkier than mutated creatures or contaminants? After slaughtering pigs, she just needed to scrub herself with some soap a few times and take a bath. She’d smell fresh and fragrant—how could there be any stench?
Yu Qin was at a loss for words.
She, she just wanted to confirm if Yu Li was really working as a butcher in the county. She wasn’t envious at all.
But seeing Yu Li’s composed demeanor, it seemed like she truly didn’t think there was anything wrong with slaughtering pigs. She even kindly offered her advice…
For a moment, Yu Qin couldn’t quite articulate how she felt.
She subconsciously compared herself to Yu Li, noticing how Yu Li was becoming more and more attractive and how her life seemed to be improving. It left her feeling unsettled. She had assumed Yu Li would be miserable doing such work, but who would have thought she didn’t mind it at all? She even thought Yu Qin wanted to join in…
Seeing that Yu Qin seemed to have nothing more to say, Yu Li was about to leave when Yu Jin appeared from the small side door next to them.
“Elder Sister!” Yu Jin called out happily when she saw her.
But when her gaze landed on Yu Qin at the gate of the Yu family’s main courtyard, her expression turned cold. Suspiciously, she asked, “Elder Sister, what were you talking about with Sister Qin?”
Yu Jin looked at Yu Qin defensively.
She hadn’t forgotten Yu Qin’s haughty attitude toward her and her sisters in the past. Whenever there was something delicious, she would eat it in front of them but never share, and she had even joined Yu Jingzong in tricking their then three-year-old youngest sister into licking a piece of candy wrapper on the ground as a joke.
Because of that, she had no fondness for the eldest branch of the family, feeling that they were all detestable.
Not to mention that the eldest branch had thrived by sucking their blood to enjoy a good life—how could she feel any goodwill toward them? Even though Yu Qin had never directly bullied her and her sisters, she still disliked her.
Yu Li said, “She was asking me about slaughtering pigs. I thought she wanted to try it.”
Yu Jin froze for a moment and then turned to look at Yu Qin in disbelief. “You want to slaughter pigs too?”
“Who wants to slaughter pigs?”
Someone asked excitedly. The three sisters turned their heads and saw Aunt Guihua strolling over with a handful of sunflower seeds in her hand.
Every evening after dinner, Aunt Guihua, with nothing better to do, would grab a handful of seeds and wander around the village, looking for people to chat with. Wherever there was any commotion in the village, she would be there, always the first to know the latest news.
Aunt Guihua looked at the three Yu sisters with excitement. Her gaze passed over Yu Li and landed on Yu Jin as she asked, “Jin Niang, do you also want to go to the county with your elder sister to slaughter pigs?”
“It’s not me.” Yu Jin pointed to Yu Qin, who was already standing dumbfounded at the gate. “It’s Sister Qin.”
Aunt Guihua exclaimed, “Oh my, so it’s Qin Niang! Why would you want to slaughter pigs? Could it be that your father, mother, and brothers don’t care about you and left you in the village, and now you’ve decided to slaughter pigs out of despair?”
Yu Jin felt a bit displeased. “Aunt Guihua, slaughtering pigs is a very decent job.”
She had already heard that the whole village knew her elder sister was working as a butcher in the county. Many people found it surprising, some even questioning why a young woman would choose to slaughter pigs—a job that involved so much blood and stench, making her seem less like a woman.
Some even thought Yu Li must be crazy. The Fu family was so wealthy—why not just stay home and enjoy life? Who would be so foolish as to take on such dirty and exhausting work?
That’s a job for men.
Of course, most of the people saying such things were sour and jealous of others living better lives. Sensible folks generally believed that butchering pigs was profitable, and if they had Yu Li’s strength, they’d probably be willing to do it too.
Yu Jin didn’t think there was anything wrong with slaughtering pigs and even regretted not having enough strength to join her elder sister in the work.
She was very angry at those who dared to criticize her sister. If she had been there, she would have argued with them for sure.
Now, hearing Aunt Guihua subtly looking down on butchering pigs, she was annoyed.
Aunt Guihua quickly added, “I know, I know. It’s a great job. I’ve heard you can earn quite a bit for slaughtering just one pig. But our Qin Niang is the granddaughter of a scholar—she’s a refined person and will marry into the county in the future. She’s different from us village folk. Why would she slaughter pigs, right, Qin Niang?”
Her words sounded like praise for Yu Qin, but anyone who wasn’t deaf could hear the underlying meaning.
Yu Qin’s face turned red, and she said angrily, “Aunt Guihua, how could you say that? It’s not that they’ve abandoned me in the village. My father was sick recently, so my mother went to take care of him, and my two brothers are studying for the imperial exam…”
“Enough of that.” Aunt Guihua spat out a sunflower seed shell. “Your mother’s been in the county for almost a month. Your father couldn’t have been sick for that long, right? People who went to buy things in the county said your father’s already working in a rice shop and hasn’t been bedridden at home.”
Living so close to the county had its downsides—news traveled back to the village quickly.
Yu Qin’s father’s illness had long been cured, so why hadn’t Chen Shi returned?
It was obvious.
Not only Chen Shi, but even Yu Jingzong had secretly gone to the county to look for their parents without telling the family.
Luckily, he had ridden on Boatman Wang’s ferry. Boatman Wang kindly dropped him off in the county and asked other villagers traveling on the same boat to escort him near the house Yu Qin’s father had rented.
Later, if Boatman Wang hadn’t returned and mentioned it to the Yu family’s old matriarch while passing through Qingshi Village, they wouldn’t have known. By nightfall, when they discovered Yu Jingzong missing, the old matriarch and the others would’ve been frantic.
The villagers all felt Yu Jingzong was truly out of line for sneaking off to the county without informing his elders.
The security in these times wasn’t good. Once out of the village, one could easily encounter bandits or robbers. Villagers always traveled to the county in groups, let alone letting a child venture out alone.
Now, the eldest branch of the Yu family only had Yu Qin left in the village.
Yu Qin had to do a lot of chores every day. She had never done such work before, as she had been pampered by her family and didn’t even know how to cook. Watching her fumbling around and being clumsy earned her scorn from the old matriarch, who often complained about her ineptitude. She looked rather pitiful.
But no matter how pitiful she seemed, considering that the Yu family had split the household and the fields belonging to the eldest branch still had to be worked on by Old Master Yu and the old matriarch, the villagers didn’t think much of it.
In these times, every household was the same—someone had to do the farm work.
The rest of the eldest branch had all gone to the county, leaving only Yu Qin behind. The old matriarch didn’t force her to go to the fields to work but let her stay home to do chores like washing clothes, cooking, feeding the chickens, and tending to the pigs. This was already a sign of leniency and care.
Unable to argue with Aunt Guihua and likely feeling truly aggrieved, Yu Qin finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.
Her loud crying brought the old matriarch out of the house.
Seeing the group of people at the gate, the old matriarch’s gaze swept past Yu Li and Yu Jin and landed on Aunt Guihua. She immediately lashed out: “You lazy old hag, Da Wang’s wife! How dare you bully my granddaughter in my own home? I’ll beat you to death!”
With that, she grabbed a fire poker and charged at Aunt Guihua.
Aunt Guihua wasn’t about to stand there and let herself be hit. She quickly ran off, shouting as she fled, “Auntie, I didn’t bully her! I was just saying that her father, mother, and brothers aren’t coming back to help with the work. Autumn harvest is almost here. Are you and Uncle Yu really going to manage it all by yourselves? At your age, how can you possibly harvest over ten acres of land?”
“You’re still talking, still talking!”
The old matriarch, fiery and aggressive, wielded her fire poker like a whirlwind as she chased after Aunt Guihua.
Yu Qin, who had been crying at the gate, was dumbfounded.
The nearby villagers found the scene amusing. They stood at their doorways or leaned against their walls to watch the drama unfold, piecing together the context from Aunt Guihua’s shouted words. They couldn’t help but agree that Aunt Guihua wasn’t wrong.
The Yu family’s eldest branch was indeed being unreasonable.