SLH | Chapter 43

Granny Chen Gets Hurt

After a good rest at noon, the couple packed some gifts and headed to the Chen family.

The Chen family lived at the far west end, and it took them nearly half an hour to get there.

“Is this Granny Chen’s house?”

Seeing the Chen family’s courtyard, Song Tingzhu was taken aback.

The courtyard walls had collapsed, the house was in disrepair, and weeds inside were as tall as a person. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. If not for seeing his husband nod, it was hard to believe this was Granny Chen’s house.

“Granny Chen is old, and there’s no one to help her tidy up. Over time, it just ended up like this,” Liu Hu explained.

Bang! Crash!

The sound of something heavy falling came from the courtyard. Song Tingzhu and his husband exchanged a glance, worried that Granny Chen might be hurt. They didn’t even have time to knock before pushing the door open.

“Who’s there, can’t even knock?” Granny Chen grumbled, holding onto a wooden ladder.

Seeing it was just the ladder that had fallen, the two of them immediately relaxed.

“Sorry to bother you, Granny Chen,” Song Tingzhu said from the courtyard entrance, “Are you fixing the house?”

Granny Chen raised her eyebrows, her tone still unfriendly: “So young and already having eyesight problems? If I wasn’t fixing the house, what else could this straw be used for, feeding pigs?”

Song Tingzhu wasn’t offended, instead, he smiled and said, “Let my husband do it. It’s getting colder earlier this year, if you just fix it casually, it might not be good when the snow falls.”

This was indeed something Granny Chen couldn’t handle herself. She wasn’t stupid, so she went along with it: “You’re the ones offering, not me begging for help.”

Granny Chen was already at an age where her legs and feet weren’t very nimble. Seeing her trembling as she stood up, Song Tingzhu quickly went over to help her sit down.

Granny Chen looked at him sideways and only spoke after seeing Liu Hu had almost finished fixing the house: “Alright, tell me why you came to see this old lady.”

She was puzzled. The village said the Liu family was brewing wine. Why would these two youngsters leave their home to see an old lady like her?

“We came to ask Granny Chen for help,” Song Tingzhu said, helping his husband hold the ladder. Once Liu Hu was safely down, he continued, “My husband and I want to buy some clay from Granny Chen.”

“Buy clay?” Granny Chen was stunned. “Then you should go to Liu San’s house. I don’t have any clay to sell.”

“My husband said Granny Chen has a bamboo grove, and deep inside there is…”

Before Song Tingzhu could finish, Granny Chen’s expression changed.

“Oh, so you’re eyeing the bamboo grove. Get out, both of you, get out!”

She grabbed a big broom nearby and waved it, chasing the two out of the courtyard.

Caught off guard, Song Tingzhu got hit by the bamboo broom, and his hand immediately swelled up.

Liu Hu tightened his grip on his wife’s wrist, his thick eyebrows furrowed together.

Song Tingzhu smiled and comforted him: “It’s nothing, just apply some medicinal wine, and it’ll be fine in a few days. It’s just a pity that Granny Chen’s way won’t work, we’ll have to find another place to buy clay.”

Liu Hu said, “There are many people in Dawa Town doing pottery, I’ll ask around another day. If there’s a suitable one, I’ll make a deal.”

“That’s all we can do.”

Song Tingzhu wasn’t very optimistic. Dawa Town was prosperous, so the prices wouldn’t be cheap. Plus, the journey was far, and transporting the pottery back to the village would involve breakage.

Absent-minded, they returned home to find that Ruan Xiulian and the others had already steamed the first batch of grain and were busy steaming the second.

Song Tingzhu didn’t have time to think about anything else. He wanted to help, but Liu Hu stopped him, took him inside to apply some medicinal wine on his hand, and then went to replace Ruan Xiulian, stirring the grain with a ladle.

Ruan Xiulian was a bit displeased seeing her son-in-law return with an injury.

“That old lady, if she doesn’t want to sell, she shouldn’t resort to violence.”

Song Tingzhu said, “Mother, I’m fine, it just looks scary.”

Ruan Xiulian wouldn’t listen, and she warned her son-in-law: “Stay away from Granny Chen’s house in the future, and don’t talk to her if you see her. You don’t know, when I first got married, I saw her carrying a hatchet, threatening to kill someone in the village. Even a few strong men couldn’t hold her back.”

Song Tingzhu was surprised. Although Granny Chen didn’t look friendly, she didn’t seem like someone who would do such a thing. But since his mother-in-law rarely gossiped, it must have been something she saw with her own eyes.

“Just remember to keep your distance. Granny Chen isn’t someone easy to deal with.”

Ruan Xiulian repeatedly warned, and seeing that her son-in-law took it to heart, she went back to the kitchen.

The whole family spent two days steaming the grain. After it cooled, they added yeast, sealed it in jars, and let it ferment naturally.

A few days passed, and four large jars were stacked against the Liu family courtyard wall. If you got close, you could smell the fermenting grain, slightly sour with a hint of sweetness. If it smelled like vinegar, it meant the fermentation had gone wrong.

Every morning, Song Tingzhu would check the condition of the fermenting wine. The Liu family followed his example, and over time, they learned the ropes. Every time they passed by, they would take a sniff.

Even Xia Ge’er wasn’t an exception. The little guy wasn’t as tall as the jar, but he carried himself with the seriousness of an inspector, making the whole family laugh.

－

With the autumn harvest over, people had some free time. They would visit each other, do embroidery, and chat endlessly with neighbors.

“Has anyone been to the Liu family recently?”

A few women were chatting under the big banyan tree. Hearing someone mention the Liu family, they turned their heads curiously.

“What about the Liu family?”

“Isn’t Sister Xiulian’s son-in-law brewing wine at home? I thought brewing wine wasn’t easy, and this would probably fall through. But it’s been a month, and they haven’t thrown out any grain. Could it be that Zhu Ge’er really succeeded?”

The women were envious.

“It’s because they married a good son-in-law. Come spring, when the wine is ready, the Liu family will probably rise up and become the richest family in Yunxi Village.”

“That’s not all! Those big jars of grain could easily turn into hundreds of pounds of wine. The lowest price for turbid wine in town is twenty wen a pound, and clear wine is at least thirty. How much money would that be?”

“Oh my, even the cheapest turbid wine would sell for twenty taels of silver! If I had known brewing wine was so profitable, I would have had my daughter-in-law do it. She makes great yellow wine, it would definitely sell.”

Someone who knew a bit about the market poured cold water on their excitement: “Don’t just see the immediate profit. Brewing wine requires paying taxes to the government, which are several times higher than land taxes. You also have to register as a merchant and pay commercial taxes every year. You couldn’t even afford the taxes.”

“That’s true, not everyone can do this business. Buying grain is also an expense. I roughly calculated, the Liu family collected about twenty shi of grain, costing seven or eight taels of silver.”

The women gasped, “So much! Where did the Liu family get so much money? They just repaired their house recently!”

While the villagers were watching the Liu family’s drama, in the Liu family courtyard, Song Tingzhu had just checked the fermenting wine and was asking his husband, who had returned from Dawa Town, if he had found any reasonably priced clay.

Liu Hu put down some pastries and said, “There were a few households offering reasonable prices, but transporting the pottery back to our village would result in a lot of breakage, so we wouldn’t actually save much.”

Song Tingzhu frowned.

“The price difference is too big, so we’ll have to make coarse pottery with Uncle Ma.”

Since liquor is expensive, he originally planned to package it nicely and sell it to wealthy families in town. Now that he couldn’t focus on packaging, he had to settle for coarse pottery and find someone to promote it in busy streets. As long as the quality of the wine was good, even ordinary wealthy families would appreciate it.

“Before I came back, I met Doctor Zhou in town. He said there are a few pottery makers in Willow Village too. I’ll go ask tomorrow.”

Song Tingzhu nodded, noticing a pastry in his hand, and felt a warmth in his heart.

“Why did you buy pastries?”

Liu Hu smiled sheepishly: “I bought them in Dawa Town. They don’t sell them in our town, and I thought you hadn’t tried them before, so I picked up a couple.”

Song Tingzhu unwrapped the oiled paper to find four intricately designed pastries with carved plum blossoms on top, clearly not cheap.

He didn’t ask about the price, carefully picked one up to taste, and smiled: “It tastes good, but I think it’s not as good as the pear blossom cakes Mother makes.” He passed it to his husband, “Try it.”

Watching him swallow, Song Tingzhu’s smile deepened.

He wrapped the pastries back up, “Let’s save the rest for dinner and let Mother and the others try them too.”

“Okay.”

At dinner, Xia Ge’er was thrilled to have pastries, his round apricot eyes never leaving the oiled paper. When Song Tingzhu handed him a piece, he beamed with joy.

The family had a harmonious dinner, and when it got late, they each returned to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, before Song Tingzhu opened his eyes, Liu Hu had already left for Dawa Town.

Willow Village was further south, and if he didn’t leave early, he might not return before sunset.

Last night, Song Tingzhu reminded Liu Hu to take a bullock cart, as it wasn’t worth exhausting himself to save a few coins.

Liu Hu didn’t feel tired. Walking was much easier than carrying big bags at the dock, so he didn’t listen to his wife and walked to Willow Village.

Unexpectedly, it was a wasted trip. Doctor Zhou hadn’t been to Willow Village in three years, and with the poor market conditions, the pottery makers had either left or scattered. Now, only a broken kiln remained, with bricks nearly taken by the villagers.

Liu Hu returned empty-handed and, on his way back, saw Granny Chen with a few aunties digging for wild vegetables in the field. He took a glance and continued on his way.

But after a few steps, he heard a cry from the field.

“She’s hurt her leg, we need to get her to town to see a doctor for the bone. Old Man Liang can’t handle this!”

“Granny Chen, can you still walk?”

The women were like ants on a hot pan, anxiously pacing.

“Isn’t that Liu family’s second son? Let’s call him over to help.”

Before the women could call out, Liu Hu stopped, turned back to the field, and helped carry Granny Chen to the roadside. Seeing it was indeed a bone issue, he carried her to the town clinic. By the time the bone was set, the sun had already set.

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Author’s Note: Hehe, it’s updated~

This week, I’ll update 3,000 words on Sunday, saving up drafts for a six-day update next week~ [Heart] [Heart] [Heart]