The Family Had Split, Why Should I Care if They Go Broke? - Chapter 19

That evening, Aunt Liang quietly told Chief Liang exactly how much the third son and his wife had earned today. Even the usually steady and composed Chief Liang lost his composure.

“How much?”

Startled, Aunt Liang quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, raising her eyebrows and making eyes at him. “Keep your voice down!”

Chief Liang was incredulous. “What—did they stumble upon a fortune in the street today?”

Aunt Liang burst out laughing. “Old man, you’re thinking the exact same thing I did.” Then she glared, indignantly standing up for her son and daughter-in-law. “What, you look down on our third son and his wife that much?”

“It’s not that. You’re not joking? This money is really what they earned? There’s nothing else going on?”

Aunt Liang grew annoyed. “What kind of father talks like that? Our third son and his wife—are they the scheming sort? Could they possibly be up to something shady? This money was earned fair and square!”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just—one hundred and fifty wen in a single day. In a month, that’s…”

Unable to stop himself, Chief Liang began counting on his fingers, his excitement mounting. Aunt Liang’s eyes lit up as she stared at him eagerly. When she didn’t hear an answer after a while, she couldn’t wait any longer and gave him a nudge. “Well? How much is that in a month?”

“Hold on, I’m calculating.” After a long pause, Chief Liang finally got it straight and drew in a sharp breath. “At least four taels… maybe five.”

“What?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down!”

“Oh my goodness!” Aunt Liang patted her chest, her heart thumping wildly.

The two of them looked at each other, wondering if they were dreaming.

But Chief Liang, seasoned as he was, managed to calm himself. “Ahem, we don’t know if today was just a lucky day for business or if it’ll be this good from now on. We shouldn’t overthink it… the important thing is, the kids are doing well. Doesn’t matter how much they earn—so long as they’re doing well.”

Aunt Liang gave him a complicated look. “I understand. But you’re wrong about one thing. I haven’t told you yet—our third son and his wife said they might earn even more in the future.”

Chief Liang, “…”

Aunt Liang beamed. “That Zhichun child, I knew she was a capable one! Now you can stop worrying—Mingxuan’s schooling will be well provided for.”

Chief Liang sighed with a smile. “Who says it isn’t so?”

The couple chatted excitedly late into the night before finally going to bed, both of them in high spirits. They agreed to keep this a secret for as long as possible.

Also, Aunt Liang resolved to keep an eye on Xu Zhichun’s household. If the eldest or second uncle of the Liang family came to make trouble, she would find a way to back Zhichun up.

As far as they were concerned, the fact that Zhichun had chosen to work with their third daughter-in-law and Zhu’er, and not her eldest or second uncle’s families, showed she was a wise person.

After all, what kind of good people were Lady Zhang and Lady Bai? Work together with them? If they learned how to make that kind of money, Zhichun wouldn’t see a single coin.

Early the next morning, Xu Zhichun got up to start her day. First, she changed the water for the konjac tofu, then prepared the ice jelly.

When she was changing the konjac tofu water, Liang Mingxuan, hearing the noise, got up too. “Sister-in-law!” he called, coming over to help.

There was quite a bit of konjac tofu today—fifty to sixty jin of it, plus thirty jin of konjac knots. Changing the water was physical work.

Luckily, Liang Mingliang had helped carry two loads of water yesterday, so they still had some left to use.

In ancient times, both water and fire were troublesome to manage. Firewood couldn’t be avoided—you had to chop it. But once she had more money, she planned to dig a water well right by the house.

Otherwise, just hauling water alone could wear her out.

She couldn’t rely on Liang Mingliang forever. Even though she got along well with Zeng Xiaoyan, Mingliang couldn’t keep coming over alone to fetch water for her. If it went on too long, the gossipy women in the village would start talking—and it wouldn’t sound nice.

Lotus Restaurant wanted ten jin of liangfen, but she had made about twenty.

The stone flower seeds she had processed yesterday weren’t enough, but that was fine—there was ice jelly powder in the warehouse; she could just brew it.

Once the ice jelly was ready, she split it into two portions and packed them into clean, lidded ceramic jars.

By the time she finished all this, the sun was already up. Xu Zhichun quickly made breakfast, leaving Liang Mingxuan to watch the stove while she went to fetch water. The water jar at home was nearly empty.

While the stove fire seemed fine, Mingxuan decided to grab some tender ragweed from yesterday, chop it, and mix it with rice bran. He opened the chicken coop to let the chickens out and feed them.

The chickens rushed to the trough, clucking, but after a few pecks, they seemed distracted, craning their necks to look around. He had no idea what they were looking for.

Puzzled, he thought they just weren’t very hungry—but nothing seemed wrong.

He then carried the ragweed to the pigpen. The two pigs gobbled it down happily, which comforted him. Perhaps it was because the ragweeds were tender, the pigs’ complexions were shinier.

Xu Zhichun hauled two full loads of water, leaving her shoulders burning, her waist aching, and her breath short. This job really was backbreaking.

She thought of the vegetable garden—she’d have to water it in the evening, or the crops wouldn’t grow well. But watering meant more hauling, even if there was a small stream nearby. Walking uphill with full buckets was still exhausting—all the more reason to make money.

For breakfast, she fried sunny-side-up eggs with runny yolks that oozed golden richness at a gentle poke from the chopsticks. She also stir-fried shredded cabbage, seasoned generously with oil and salt, making it quite tasty.

Still, after heavy labor, the lack of meat was hard to bear.

“Once we’ve made some money today,” Liang Mingxuan said, “let’s buy some meat and bones, so tonight we can have bone soup and meat to eat.”

Xu Zhichun never thought she’d see the day when the absence of meat felt so torturous.

Just imagining fragrant pork stir-fried with chili and garlic sprouts, or a steaming pot of bone soup, made her mouth water.

The warehouse only had vacuum-packed meat—it couldn’t compare to fresh-cooked dishes.

Liang Mingxuan, of course, had no objections. “Sister-in-law, you should eat more. You’ve been working hard and need to make up for it.”

Xu Zhichun smiled. “I’ll buy plenty so we can all eat more.”

After breakfast, she sent her younger brother off, fed the chickens and pigs, washed the dishes, and tidied the kitchen.

Before she was done, Aunt Zhu’er, Zeng Xiaoyan, and Liang Mingliang arrived one after another.

“Sister-in-law Zhichun, you take a break—we’re here to help!”

The three quickly loaded everything onto the ox cart. Xu Zhichun finished locking up the house, got on the cart, and Mingliang drove them toward the city.

“There’s quite a lot of konjac tofu and shredded konjac today,” Aunt Zhu’er remarked. “Think we can sell it all, Zhichun?”

“Mm, I think so. We’ll just stay out selling longer.”

“True, yesterday was so good we sold out before noon.”

“Hehe, so today we’ll make even more money!”

“That’s right, haha!”

The group was clearly more at ease than yesterday, chatting and laughing even more along the way.

Once they entered the city, their first stop was Lotus Restaurant.