The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 33: Little Girl

Chapter 33: Little Girl

Du Yan traveled around everywhere with the purpose of broadening his knowledge, thinking that in the future when he entered the court to serve as an official, he could avoid being blinded by external things. So, having passed through so many places, he could be considered well-informed.

As for bamboo carving, he had come into contact with it only after making friends with others. Although the time of contact was still short, he had at least seen quite a few literati personally carving bamboo and wood: root carvings, relief carvings, openwork carvings, and liuqin carvings—he understood them all. But the arm rest that Song Yuyan gave him did not quite match the carving techniques mentioned above.

He felt that this arm rest was somewhat like liuqin carving, but the liuqin carvings he had come into contact with generally left only the layer of green skin where the pattern was engraved. If one wanted to specifically show the pattern, one would only use the method of yin engraving on the pattern to draw lines.

But what about the arm rest in front of him?

On it, only the green skin within the range of a single plum blossom branch remained, but what truly made his eyes light up was that this plum blossom was carved with exquisite grace. It did not use yin engraved lines to show the hardness of the branches and knots or the plum blossom petals; instead, it used the thickness of the green skin to express the layered relationships of the plum blossom…

If one said the thickness of the green skin was three parts, then when Song Yuyan carved the branches and knots, in some places she left three parts, in some places two parts, and in still others only one part. And in this three-part relationship, it was not a sudden change, but layered progression, making this plum blossom suddenly come alive and flexible!

The bamboo thorns on it had already been ground off, and he could not help but hold it in his hand and rub it, carefully feeling the textures on the arm rest.

If this were a painting, it would not cause him to have such emotions, because in his view, the skill of this “painting” could still be refined a bit more.

But the exquisite nature of this arm rest and its layered relationships were enough to cover the deficiencies in the painting skill!

Moreover, he had heard that Song Yuyan had never studied painting and calligraphy, but to engrave such a work, one must have considerable foundation in drawing. So in his heart, Song Yuyan must have been silently striving to learn painting in places unknown to her clansmen.

“Even if the living environment is ever so harsh, she has never lost the heart to learn and strive forward. This child has a resilient character and holds a pure enthusiasm for life, just like me back then!” Du Yan felt deeply moved in his heart and could not help but be touched by his own perseverance and that of Song Yuyan.

It was a pity that what he was good at was calligraphy; otherwise, he could exchange ideas with her. However, since Song Yuyan had not studied calligraphy, why could he not guide her a bit? If he could take the opportunity to discuss bamboo carving with her, that would be excellent too!

Thinking of this, Du Yan became quite expectant for his next meeting with Song Yuyan.

_____

The unaware Song Yuyan, who did not know that Du Yan had imagined so much, took the books and bid him farewell before going home. She worked during the day and drew out one hour each day to carve. The time for reading was squeezed out from the walks she took after meals to aid digestion.

However, although Song Yuyan could write traditional characters, for books without punctuation marks and in vertical classical Chinese, it was still somewhat difficult for her to fully understand and penetrate them.

Fortunately, she had been urged by her grandfather since childhood to study calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting, so she had indirectly read some ancient texts. Plus, Du Yan had a good habit of annotating his own insights on his books, which made it easier for Song Yuyan to understand when she repeatedly chewed and digested this content.

When Tang Haogen came to find her, regarding how to control pests, she happened to have some ideas, but since she had not experimented with them yet, she did not want to take the initiative to go to the Tang family to ask for vegetable fields as test plots.

Now that Tang Haogen also hoped for a more economical and practical method to replace quicklime, she could just use the Tang family’s fields for testing.

“Besides deep plowing and turning the soil, one can also take twenty jin of rabbit dung, add three dou of water, ferment for more than ten days, then spray it to kill ground root insects and other pests that grow in the soil. Alternatively, one can use two jin of fresh cucumber vines, mash them, add a few he of water, and spray to prevent cabbage worms and leafrollers.”

Tang Haogen: “…”

His original intention was to urge Song Yuyan to read more books, so why did Song Yuyan not follow the routine?

“Are you serious?” Tang Haogen thought for a long time before squeezing out this sentence. He wanted to know if Song Yuyan was fooling him.

If it were before, he would definitely believe her seventy percent right away.

It was no wonder he did not quite trust Song Yuyan. Mainly, now he was looking at her with the eyes of selecting a brother-in-law, so his attitude toward her became subtle: he did not hope for Song Yuyan to become his brother-in-law, but if his sister really took a fancy to this person, he would have no choice but to accept it!

Song Yuyan took out “Fan Sheng Zhi Shu” and “Qi Min Yao Shu” and recommended them to him very seriously: “We must believe in science, but the experiences accumulated by our ancestors also have places worth adopting!”

She could not lend the books to Tang Haogen, since she still had to return them to Du Yan, but Tang Haogen worked in the yamen and had many opportunities to borrow from the yamen’s collection.

However, Tang Haogen would not really go to read these two books, because he was busy enough on weekdays, and in his spare time, he used it to read “The Analects,” “Spring and Autumn Annals,” and “Book of Rites.”

So he went to the yamen, borrowed these two books, and threw them to Tang Zhi. “Song Dalang says these two books have methods to solve the pest problem. He has already found them, but if you do not trust it, you can study them yourself.”

Tang Zhi said: “Big brother, how did you really go find her?”

Tang Haogen touched the back of his head: “We talked about it before. Lime is still a bit expensive. You are almost at the age of hair-pinning ceremony, so we still need to prepare for the dowry early. We should save money where we can.”

Tang Zhi was stunned for a moment and said: “Big brother, my marriage is still far off. No need to mention it so early.”

“I naturally will not let you marry so early, but big brother also hopes that in the future you can find a good husband. If you bring more dowry, you will have more confidence and can live as freely as at home.”

No matter what, it had to be much richer than the Song family’s foundation, so that his sister could hold down Song Dalang… Although from the current interactions between the two, it was usually Song Dalang who got scolded bloody by his sister, but as the big brother-in-law-to-be, he could never feel it was enough!

While Tang Zhi was slightly moved, Tang Haogen cautioned again: “I will not read these two books. You study them well yourself!”

Although she knew characters, Tang Zhi, whose education level was really not as high as her brother’s, looked at the two books with some worry. Perhaps by the time she found the solutions mentioned by Song Yuyan in them, her family’s vegetables would have been eaten up by the bugs.

If she asked Song Yuyan for help, but her brother had already troubled the other once, she should not trouble her again. In the end, after thinking left and right, upholding the principle of harmonious and friendly neighborly relations, she still thickened her face and went to find Song Yuyan.

Song Yuyan did not notice the awkwardness in her heart. Not only did she explain the knowledge on pest prevention for her, but she also included the rest of the farming methods.

After a short few days of systematic learning, Tang Zhi discovered that originally planting crops could have so many intricacies.

After going back, she followed the methods provided by Song Yuyan and collected rabbit dung, cucumber vines, and such to fiddle with.

Originally, Tang Haogen, who had said he would not care about this matter, secretly paid attention again, because he thought that if this method really worked, he could recommend it to the county magistrate.

The court from top to bottom valued agriculture over commerce, and one of the county magistrate’s duties was to urge the people to farm. But in this place of Mingzhou, arable land was too scarce. If they encountered natural disasters or pest infestations, the harvest was often not good. So if a method to control pests could be found and promoted by the county magistrate, it would be a good thing for the people.

For the sake of Song Yuyan righteously helping the Tang family, when she was going to fell bamboo, Tang Zhi thought that Song Yuyan might need to hire someone to help transport the bamboo back. To save the other expense, she took the initiative to lend out the Tang family’s ox cart.

But—

Song Yuyan said with a face full of sincerity: “I do not know how to drive an ox cart.”

In modern times, she had not even gotten a motor vehicle license, let alone operate the more difficult ox cart.

Tang Zhi: “…”

Tang Haogen had to be on duty and had no time to drive the ox cart to send Song Yuyan. And recently, quite a few people had come to buy bamboo woven products from Song Yuyan, so her demand for bamboo was also increasing. Naturally, she could not wait until Tang Haogen had time to go buy bamboo.

Based on this situation, Tang Zhi had no choice but to let her little sister go to the Song house to play and incidentally look after the two little radish heads of the Song family. While she herself drove the ox cart and went to Turtle Mountain together with Song Yuyan.

_____

Although Tang Zhi had grown up in Cixi County since childhood, the number of times she had been to Turtle Mountain could also be counted on one hand, so after arriving at Turtle Mountain, she really did not know how to proceed.

Song Yuyan led the ox cart to the tavern at the foot of the mountain and chatted idly with the owner there for a few sentences. Amid laughter and talk, the tavern owner very generously took on the task of helping her watch the ox cart.

“You have drunk quite a bit of wine here before, right?” Tang Zhi asked.

Song Yuyan smiled: “Only once.”

Tang Zhi did not believe it. If he had only drunk wine here once, how could the other be so generous as to help watch the ox cart?

However, since Song Yuyan did not explain, she did not want to pry, so she did not pursue the question.

Seeing that along the way quite a few people greeted Song Yuyan, she could not help but look sideways: “I did not expect that you have quite good connections here.”

“They are all a group of very enthusiastic good people.” Song Yuyan said.

Again, this optimistic and open appearance! Tang Zhi’s eyes were flashed by her smile.

Thinking that she herself had once been praised by Song Yuyan as a good person, she said: “In your eyes, there are no bad people at all, right!”

“How could that be? It is just that if I encounter someone who makes me feel uncomfortable, I generally keep my distance out of respect. So there would be no chance for you to know that actually, in my eyes, there are so-called ‘bad people’ too.”

Tang Zhi asked: “What kind of person makes you feel uncomfortable?”

Song Yuyan thought for a moment and said: “Roughly, very scoundrelly people.”

Tang Zhi fell silent again. She had said this as if she had not said it at all—this standard was no standard!

Amid the idle chat, the two smelled a faint and indistinct urine stench. Tang Zhi frowned and wanted to avoid it, but Song Yuyan paused for a moment yet still braced herself and walked toward it.

Tang Zhi wanted to call her back, but it was not good to speak up, so she could only pinch her nose and follow. As the two went deeper, the smell became stronger and stronger. Soon, in front of them appeared a crude latrine built with bamboo and wood.

Song Yuyan looked at the few whitened trees beside it and suddenly felt both amused and exasperated—she had roughly guessed what this latrine was about.

“Song Dalang, why did you bring a little miss along with you today?” A lumberjack who had drunk wine with Song Yuyan came out of the latrine just then and, seeing them, asked with a grinning smile.

Tang Zhi saw that he was still tying his waistband and quickly turned her back. And Song Yuyan also subconsciously blocked in front of Tang Zhi, smiled slightly, and said: “This is my little sister. She came today to help me.”

“So it is Miss Song.” The man gave an embarrassed laugh. He had thought Song Dalang had finally come to his senses.

Once the man left, Tang Zhi glared at Song Yuyan: “Who did you say is your little sister?!”

Song Yuyan said: “But little girl, are you not younger than me?”

Tang Zhi jumped in anger: “Who did you call little girl? I am not a little girl!”

At fourteen years old, if not a little girl, what was she? Song Yuyan thought in her heart, but thinking that this little girl was very face-conscious, she said, “Hmm, it was I who called wrongly. Do not be angry.”

Hearing this, Tang Zhi wanted to get angry instead. Did she look like such a petty person? In Song Yuyan’s eyes, was she so easily angered?

“Hmph, I am being magnanimous and too lazy to argue with you!” Tang Zhi said.

Song Yuyan smiled silently. Tang Zhi saw that people frequently went in and out of the latrine around them, so she wanted to pull Song Yuyan away. “Do you want to use the latrine? Otherwise, why come here?”

At this time, Bai Can came here panting. He glanced at the wax trees, then heavily exhaled. When he saw Song Yuyan standing not far away, he called out joyfully: “Song Dalang, you came!”

It was good that Song Yuyan had come; if she had not, he would have been worried instead!

Ever since Song Yuyan told him about the use of the wax trees, his mood had always been excited and tense. He pinned great hopes on these few trees and worried that others would cut them down.

After tossing and turning for several nights, he came up with a method—if he could not tell others the value of these few trees, why could he not make others actively stay away from them?

So he thought of urinating under the trees, using the urine stench to make everyone avoid them. At first, this method of his worked quite well; everyone, upon approaching these few trees, would be repelled by the stink and unable to proceed.

But gradually, some people also liked to come under the trees to relieve themselves. After he discovered this, he felt that this would not do in the long run, so he simply built a latrine not far away. Everyone solved their physiological needs in the latrine on ordinary days, and once they got used to there being a few trees by the latrine, they would no longer pay attention to those few trees.

Sure enough, his method was not bad. Everyone was used to building latrines in places with some cover, and the position of these trees was just right. Although some people had noticed the insects on them, they did not recognize those insects and so did not take it as a big deal.

Even so, he still came every day, using the excuse of using the latrine to keep watch on these few trees.

As the days passed one by one, the wax insects began to hatch, and he worried that Song Yuyan would not come. After all, the only one who knew how to make candles was Song Yuyan. If she did not come, his money-making plan would have to be shelved.

So when Song Yuyan came, he was happier than if he had received his wages.

“Hmm, as long as the mountain here is not closed, I will naturally come over. For livelihood, I have to come.” Song Yuyan smiled.

Bai Can also smiled. He was just about to tell Song Yuyan about the wax tree matter when he saw the little girl standing beside.

“This is…”

To avoid Song Yuyan spouting nonsense again, Tang Zhi said: “I am her neighbor, here to help her!”

Bai Can suddenly realized: “You are the sister of Clerk Tang, Miss Tang, right?!”

Tang Zhi was secretly surprised. She turned her head sharply and saw Song Yuyan holding back a laugh. Only then did she realize that Song Yuyan had never intended to tell Bai Can she was her little sister!

“You know me?” Tang Zhi glared at Song Yuyan and asked Bai Can.

“Of course I know. Song Dalang mentioned Clerk Tang twice.”

Tang Zhi muttered: “What did she mention my brother for?”

“We mentioned it in idle chat. Song Dalang said Clerk Tang, even the people of the Tang family, are very kind and have done him favors. And the sister of Clerk Tang, at such a young age, manages such a large vegetable garden…”

Tang Zhi’s cheeks flushed slightly from the praise. She had not expected that Song Yuyan would also praise her brother and her in front of others.

Suddenly, she thought of Song Yuyan’s behavior just now and gave this person a sidelong glance. “Then why did you just now tell others I am your little sister?”

Bai Can explained for Song Yuyan: “Song Dalang also has to consider your reputation. Besides, my relationship with Song Dalang is not ordinary. He naturally would not hide it from me.”

Bai Can was somewhat proud. The two shared the money-making secret of the wax trees—how could their relationship be ordinary!

Tang Zhi frowned. Song Yuyan’s relationship with Meng Shuituan was so close, yet it still did not make her feel uncomfortable like this sentence from Bai Can did.