The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 234: Thoughts

Chapter 234: Chapter 234: Thoughts

If it were anyone else, Old Granny Zhang would certainly have scolded them. With serious matters underway at home, why come and create chaos?

But for her own dear daughter, there must be a reason. Thus, she quickly made space for Wang Yongzhu and even moved a small stool over for her to sit down.

Wang Yongzhu was seen ceaselessly testing the temperature of the water with her hand, and when it felt about right, she threw in the chopped madder root into the warm water, followed by a piece of undyed white cloth.

"Daughter, what are you up to?" Old Granny Zhang watched her daughter busily muttering to herself, now tossing some roots into the pot, now throwing in a cloth, really, what was this all about?

Wang Yongzhu said softly, "I was thinking about our family’s current situation. It’s still a few months until we can sell the mountain goods, and I’m afraid we won’t have enough silver by then. Just recently, I heard a foreign customer in the Cloth Store talking about a kind of Twilight Silk that’s popular in the Capital City and the provincial cities, with several colors on a single bolt of cloth. It’s the trendiest fabric this year, very profitable. It reminded me of when I stained a perfectly good dress by accidentally dropping mulberries on it. That gave me the idea to try using some colorful twigs and leaves from the mountain. Maybe it could work? Since we’re idle, I thought I’ll give it a try to see if I can dye a few colors. If I can create colors that haven’t been seen before, then our family could make money! When that happens, I’ll build a blue brick and big tile house for you, and buy you several maids just to attend you. How does that sound?"

She had started with a serious matter, but ended up trying to cheer up Old Granny Zhang.

Old Granny Zhang thought her daughter’s idea was a flight of fancy. Can one really dye cloth by boiling a few leaves and roots? She had lived so long and had never heard that dyeing could be so simple.

But if her daughter wanted to try, then let her try. It wouldn’t cost much anyway; there was plenty of firewood, so she could mess around as she pleased.

So, Old Granny Zhang didn’t take it too seriously and even played along: "Alright, I’ll wait to live in the blue brick and big tile house built by my daughter!"

As mother and daughter chatted and laughed for a while, Wang Yongzhu suddenly remembered something important: she still needed a mordant.

Either lime or alum was necessary.

She didn’t know where to buy those things.

Turning to Old Granny Zhang, she asked, and Granny Zhang was momentarily taken aback: "What do you want that for?"

It was just an offhand question, and she didn’t expect an answer from Wang Yongzhu; instead, she said, "I don’t know about this alum you’re talking about, but for lime, go to the family at the entrance of the village that makes tofu; they definitely have some."

Wang Yongzhu realized that they used limewater to curdle tofu these days.

She quickly got up: "Mom, keep an eye on the fire for me. Once the water starts to boil, turn it down to a simmer; don’t let it start boiling over."

Old Granny Zhang nodded at the small request.

She watched her own daughter hurry out, wondering what she had thought of now. It seemed every idea led to action these days.

Shaking her head, Granny Zhang noticed Lady Jiang returning to the kitchen to cook the marinated meat and stepping in, but seeing Granny Zhang shake her head, Lady Jiang’s steps faltered. She stood in the doorway, uncertain whether to enter or retreat.

Seeing Lady Jiang like that, for some reason, Granny Zhang thought of her own Laosan, Wang Yonggui.

The troublesome son was always a headache just thinking about him, with no word from him for nearly a year. She wondered if he might have died out there.

In the end, it still comes down to Lady Jiang not being capable enough to keep a man.

Old Granny Zhang snorted just at the sight of Lady Jiang that made her temper rise, "What are you standing at the doorway for? Waiting for this old woman to come help you? Moping around with that long face every day, has the Wang Family not given you food to eat or clothes to wear? Walking around with such a doleful look, it’s depressing just to see! I’m telling you, now that Zhuzhu is in charge, if you keep showing such a gloomy face, are you trying to bring bad luck upon Zhuzhu, or are you showing that you won’t accept Zhuzhu’s authority? Could it be that you’re hoping to take over because Eldest Brother is incapacitated and Laosi is irresponsible, thinking that it should be your branch of the family in charge?"

How could Lady Jiang ever entertain such thoughts? Everyone said she was constantly scolded by her mother-in-law at the Wang Family, leaving her without a shred of dignity. Although she didn’t have to work in the fields, feeding pigs and chickens at home, cleaning, cooking and washing clothes had her so exhausted she couldn’t straighten her back by the end of the day. It wasn’t as if no one had egged her on to go back to her parents’ home, but now that her stepmother had run away, her father was barely managing to teach two young students before succumbing to his drunken stupors.

But now, at least her two younger brothers had grown up and would be starting their own families in a couple of years. As the eldest daughter returning home, she could practically run half of the Jiang Family.

Why then act so foolishly in the Wang Family, where her dowry had been swindled and stolen away by men, and her mother-in-law cursed at her daily? What was there to look forward to in such a life?

But she never thought that way. In the Jiang Family, aside from the short time when her birth mother was alive and she had a few good days, it was nothing more than not having to worry about food and clothing.

At home, her three younger brothers were called the future heirs of the Jiang Family by her grandparents, which naturally made boys more precious than girls.

Her mother had to earn money to support the family, and with an endless pile of affairs to manage, the three younger brothers were coddled by their grandparents, who constantly reminded them how hard it was for their father to become a Scholar and that the entire Jiang Family’s well-being depended on him. They flattered the three brothers into always putting their father and the Jiang Family first.

Her mother and she, the two who were considered outsiders to the Jiang Family, were naturally overlooked.

When the stepmother came into the family, her life became harder. The three brothers were protected by their grandparents and never suffered much; only she faced the hardships, and never once did her brothers show her any sympathy.

Having married into the Wang Family and subjected to her mother-in-law’s scolding, with her dowry squandered by her husband, she still held some hope for her family since her parental home wasn’t far from the town. Initially, she even had messages secretly sent home.

If her three brothers had any concern for their elder sister, they didn’t have to create a scene at the Wang Family, but just showing up once to give her support, even just showing their faces, would have been enough to prove that someone from the Jiang Family stood with her, that they shouldn’t be too cruel, and she would’ve been satisfied to let people know that she had the backing of her family.

Regrettably, a month after sending a message home, not only did no one from the Jiang Family come, but later her own husband, who had been fooling around outside, ran into her three brothers. Before the public, her brothers declared that a daughter married off was like water spilled out, that alive she belonged to the Wang Family, dead she’d be a ghost of the Wang Family, and even if she were beaten to death by the Wangs, it would just be her own bad fate.

From that moment on, Lady Jiang gave up hope on her parental family, and after three visits back, she never returned to her parents’ home again.

No matter how unpleasant the Wang Family was, they never turned her out and even helped her raise three children. For that alone, she never harbored resentment towards her mother-in-law.

Not to mention her sister-in-law, who, although overbearing in the past, never had bad intentions, just a desire to be the first and the strongest in everything.

But later, the sister-in-law became sensible and provided not insignificant help to her branch of the family, both openly and in secret.

Being a person with a conscience, how could she ever think of harming her sister-in-law or resenting her? She wished she could give her life as repayment for the kindness she had received.

And as for what her mother-in-law said, about wanting her branch to take over because Eldest Brother was ruined, and the second was cut off from the family, she never entertained such a thought! Was she not fully aware of what kind of person her own husband was? If her branch took charge, the entire family would probably be sold off.