The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 17: Childish

Chapter 17: Childish

The spring rain fell gently for seven days straight. Song Yuyan wanted to wait for the rain to stop before going out, but every time she planned to leave, it started drizzling again. So, she put on her half-worn straw raincoat and damaged bamboo hat, following the path in her memory to Baozi Mountain.

The raincoat, made of palm leaves and straw, only covered her upper body. The Song family didn’t have a skirt for the lower half, so going out meant getting wet. The medical care in this era was poor, and if she got sick, there was no money for treatment. This was why Song Yuyan always wanted to wait for the rain to stop before heading out.

But Tang Haogen had settled a date with the supervisor of the lumberyard. When the woodcutters went into the mountain, she needed to be there, so she had no choice but to brave the rain.

Baozi Mountain was about five miles south of Cixi County. The shipyard was northeast of Mingzhou City, near Peach Blossom Ferry at the Three Rivers Junction. The lumberyard couldn’t be too far from the shipyard, and the source of the wood couldn’t be too distant either, so Baozi Mountain was a good choice.

Walking five miles took about half an hour, but with the muddy roads in the rain, it took a bit longer.

When she reached the entrance to Baozi Mountain, the rain had turned into a light drizzle.

There were plenty of people cutting wood on the mountain, and the foot of the mountain was busy with activity. Song Yuyan found someone who seemed like the supervisor and explained why she was there. He listened and said, “Oh, you’re Song Dalang, the friend of Official Tang! Supervisor Liu isn’t here, but he told us if you came, we should let you in to cut bamboo.”

With that, he ordered a woodcutter to guide Song Yuyan. She thanked him repeatedly and followed the man into the mountain.

The bamboo around Mingzhou was mostly mao bamboo, also called nan bamboo. It was the most common type, widely grown. Mao bamboo’s large stalks were used for building scaffolds, and its good splitting quality made it ideal for crafting woven goods.

There were other types of bamboo in Mingzhou and Liangzhe Circuit, like red-shell cold bamboo and hua bamboo, but those were mostly for decoration, not Song Yuyan’s goal today.

The best season for cutting bamboo was the dry winter, when insect eggs hadn’t hatched. But common folks didn’t care about such details, and since Song Yuyan wasn’t cutting much, she didn’t need to worry about it.

“How’s this one?” The man patted a mao bamboo stalk and asked Song Yuyan.

She looked at it. The bamboo was as thick as the man’s arm, yellow-green with a layer of white frost on its surface. The stalk was about ten meters tall, straight and even. She couldn’t help but feel delighted.

“This one’s perfect! You’ve got a great eye! By the way, may I ask your name?”

The man, flattered by Song Yuyan’s praise, felt even better about her. He said, “My surname’s Bai, name’s Bai Can. I’m the fifth in my family, so you can call me Fifth Brother Bai!”

“So you’re Fifth Brother Bai! I’m Song, named Yuyan, the eldest in my family.”

Bai Can grinned. “I know. I heard the supervisor call you earlier.”

He grabbed an axe and said, “Since we’ve met, I’ll help you cut this bamboo!”

“Thank you, Fifth Brother Bai!”

“No need to thank me. It’s just bamboo—much easier than cutting trees.” Bai Can didn’t say much more and started working with his axe.

Song Yuyan sighed to herself that there were still many good people in the world!

The bamboo was cut down in just a few swings. Bai Can helped Song Yuyan trim the bamboo tips and sawed it into about ten sections, tying them with the straw rope she had brought.

Finally, he asked, “Do you want the bamboo tips?”

Song Yuyan thought for a moment and said, “No, I don’t. You’ve helped me so much, and I don’t have much to repay you with. How about I give you the tips? But since you’re still cutting wood, I can take these tips and sell them. Whatever money I get, I’ll give to you.”

Ten pounds of bamboo tips sold for only six wen, so it wasn’t a big gift. But Bai Can knew he hadn’t helped much, and Song Yuyan’s offer showed her sincerity.

He said, “Keep the money. If you remember me later, come find me, and we’ll have a drink together!”

“It’s a deal!”

Bai Can helped tie all the bamboo tips together, and Song Yuyan carried them down the mountain.

One large bamboo stalk plus two bundles of tips weighed at least a hundred pounds, heavier than her own body. Luckily, the rain had stopped, or the trip down would’ve been even harder.

At the foot of the mountain, she sold the bamboo tips. They weighed about twenty pounds, but the rain made them heavier, so after some haggling, she got ten wen.

Song Yuyan tucked the ten wen away, planning to buy some wine to thank Tang Haogen and to treat Bai Can to a drink next time.

The way back always felt longer. Carrying the bamboo, Song Yuyan took an extra quarter hour to get near the county town.

Her worn-out straw sandals and feet were caked in mud, barely visible. She saw a puddle by the road and stuck her feet in to rinse them off.

…

Tang Zhi was returning from the vegetable garden when she passed the main road leading to the county town. She saw a slim young man playing in a puddle, first dipping his left foot in and kicking a couple of times, then switching to his right. Even after the mud was gone, he kept playing as if addicted, stepping both feet in and stirring the water until it was murky.

The last time Tang Zhi saw someone play like this was a neighbor’s child. But Song Yuyan was clearly no longer a child, so it was hard to say if she was still young at heart or just childish.

The weight on her back forced Song Yuyan to stop playing. Reluctantly, she left the puddle and looked up to see Tang Zhi quietly watching her.

Tang Zhi’s expression wasn’t guarded or suspicious like before, nor was it fierce. It was softer, and Song Yuyan was slightly stunned.

“This little girl is younger than me, but her gaze is more like a mother’s than my own mom’s,” Song Yuyan thought to herself, having rarely felt a mother’s loving care.

But seeing Tang Zhi, she was still happy and waved. “Miss Tang, just back from the vegetable garden?”

Tang Zhi had seen Song Yuyan’s carefree grin and her eerie smile when she was upset, but never such a bright, pure smile. Her heart ached.

That smile alone made it impossible for her to be the real Song Yuyan.

“Hmm, you went to Baozi Mountain?”

Song Yuyan waited for her to catch up, and they walked side by side. She said, “Yes, just got back. I have to thank Official Tang for this!”

“What’s there to thank? It’s just that we didn’t want to owe you anything!” Tang Zhi said.

Song Yuyan was about to reply when she noticed a wine stall by the road. A young man was shouting, “Selling wine! Spring rain on the window, wine fragrance in the air, come try some!”

She wanted to buy some wine for Tang Zhi to take back to Tang Haogen but worried about the quality. The wine looked homemade, and she wasn’t sure if it was safe to drink.

As she hesitated, the wine seller locked eyes with her and shouted happily, “Song Da!”

Song Yuyan: “…”

Great, another friend of the original owner.

She quickly recalled the memory and got a clearer picture of the young man.

His name was Meng Shuituan, from Jinchuan Village like Song Yuyan. Unlike the Song family, which had some background, the Meng family had been farmers for generations. They weren’t rich but managed to stay above the poverty line.

The Meng family always brewed and sold wine to make ends meet, and Meng Shuituan continued the tradition.

In the Tang dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and even now, wine was supposed to be sold only by the government. But in small places, the rules weren’t strictly enforced.

In Mingzhou, people could brew and sell wine within twenty miles of the city. Usually, government-run breweries were contracted to private operators. Small-scale sellers like the Meng family, who didn’t sell enough to affect government profits, were left alone.

Meng family’s wine wouldn’t kill anyone, but being from a small household, the ingredients and techniques weren’t as good as professional breweries. Only common folk bought it to try.

The original owner had bought wine from Meng Shuituan a few times and hung out with him and some troublemakers, so they got along like buddies.

But neither the original owner nor Meng Shuituan knew that two years later, the original owner’s execution by the authorities would be connected to him.