The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 244: Wishful Thinking

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Wishful Thinking

"If Mother still holds me as your son in her heart, and still expects me to support you in your old age," Song Chongjin sneered as he looked at Mother Song. "Then you should do less for my sake!"

"Otherwise, if Mother is so good to me, I won’t be able to resist repaying some of that kindness to all those cousins of the Song Family! I’m sure they would be very happy to accept such favors from me!" After saying this, he gave Mother Song a meaningful glance, the threat in his eyes unmistakable.

Mother Song, upon seeing the wolf-like ferocity in Song Chongjin’s eyes, couldn’t help but shrink back a step in fear, "You... you..."

"Remember what I said today, Mother! For every bit of kindness you show me now, I will repay your beloved nephews and nieces tenfold!" Song Chongjin dropped this sentence and entered his own room, slamming the door shut with great force.

Mother Song collapsed weakly onto the floor, it took her a long time to recover her senses, then she clambered up quickly and scurried back to her own room, getting on the kang bed.

Despite the summer heat, she burrowed herself into the blankets, trembling like a sieve, mumbling words that no one could understand.

※※※

Wang Family.

When Wang Yongping returned, he was sent by Old Granny Zhang to find the household scales used for weighing grain.

Then they moved out the dried meat that had been smoked over the past few days, and upon weighing, indeed, there was a little more than forty-five catties.

Old Granny Zhang’s grin was so wide her eyes disappeared, the twenty-odd silver pieces were securely within reach.

With swift hands, she prepared several clean cloth bags to pack up the dried meat, planning to deliver it to town early the next morning.

Wang Yongzhu urged her to save a few pounds for the family, to keep some to nourish themselves.

Old Granny Zhang’s face immediately lengthened, "Foolish girl, that’s half a liang of silver per catty! If we keep it at home to eat, which peasant family has such fortune? Being able to fill one’s stomach is already good enough! These past days, they’ve been enjoying great fortune, which peasant could afford to eat meat every day? Even the landlord’s house wouldn’t be so extravagant!"

"The children at home need to grow, and Father and big brother need to eat something nourishing! Most importantly, wolf meat is such a good thing, and Mother hasn’t really had a chance to enjoy it; selling it all would be too wasteful! Just save a few pounds, from now on Mother must eat some wolf meat every day, it’s good for health!" Wang Yongzhu was mainly concerned about Old Granny Zhang, who at her age still worried about the household inside and out, and seldom indulged in good food, always scrimping to provide for her daughter.

Furthermore, wolf meat nourishes the internal organs, strengthens the stomach and intestines, treats fatigue and dispels cold accumulations – such good stuff might not be hunted again in the future, so they must keep some at home to nourish the family’s health.

Old Granny Zhang hesitated a bit, mainly because saving it meant losing several liang of silver, and the family’s fields were still not redeemed, she dared not spend a big coin frivolously.

But her daughter had already spoken, and now that her daughter was in charge, she, as the mother, naturally had to support her and not undermine her authority. Otherwise, who would listen to her daughter in the future?

So although it was painful, she still took out about two to three catties, "No more than this! There are a lot of expenses in the house, we must be frugal! Eat not poor, wear not poor, but without planning, one will be poor for a lifetime!"

At the same time, she said to the family, "This is all Yongzhu’s heart, thinking of you all, wanting to nourish the family! It’s only because our Yongzhu is kind-hearted and capable that she’s in charge, and she has already earned money. Look, following Yongzhu allows us to have a good life! Just a few days after Yongzhu took charge, our family has meat to eat, and money to earn! As long as we listen to Yongzhu, there are better days ahead!"

The Wang family members nodded their heads, thoroughly convinced.

Setting aside everything else, ever since the eldest aunt took charge, not only had the food at home improved, but life felt more hopeful, and no one could utter a single word of discontent.

They all hoped that even better days were yet to come.

Seeing their reaction, Old Granny Zhang felt more at ease in her heart. Her daughter was too honest and cared too much for the family, doing so much work without a word of complaint.

If this continued for long, she feared those ingrates would take it for granted.

She couldn’t spoil them and needed to speak up for her daughter, making sure to remind them frequently, ensuring they kept this in their hearts.

"Right, this wolf meat can be sold for money now, and there are also those ten or so wolf pelts, you all better cure them properly. If anything goes wrong and they get ruined, see if I don’t skin you! Do you hear me?" Old Granny Zhang thought of the more valuable wolf pelts, which could fetch a higher price from the big mountain goods boss if cured properly, much more than they could get in town.

Jindou and Jinhu, along with Wang Yongfu, quickly nodded and promised.

After Song Chongjin had initially cured the wolf pelts, the remaining steps involved Wang Yongfu verbally guiding his two sons in how to process, how to tan, and how to preserve them.

All three understood that the wolf pelts were valuable and that if tanned well, they could sell for a good price, and it would count as a merit for the main household.

The whole family enjoyed their dinner in high spirits, energized by the thought of the wolf meat being sold and bringing in income.

Wang Yongping was the first to volunteer to carry the dried meat to town the next day.

Old Granny Zhang had originally planned to go to town with her daughter, as they were familiar with the place.

But upon further thought, she realized that it wasn’t sustainable to rely solely on herself and her daughter; Laosi also needed to be trained to be able to assist her daughter in the future.

Otherwise, if her daughter had to run around for everything, wouldn’t she become exhausted?

While everyone else just sat with crossed legs waiting for their meal?

Wishful thinking!

With this in mind, she didn’t stop him but instead cautioned them to let Wang Yongzhu keep the silver and not to give it to Wang Yongping.

Wang Yongping naturally had no objections; he was used to not handling the household’s silver himself.

It wasn’t until everyone else had gone to sleep that Wang Yongzhu got up, lit a lamp, and fished out the Persicaria tinctoria that had been soaking for a day and a night, skimming off all the impurities from the water.

Her bustling around naturally woke Old Granny Zhang, who got dressed and came out.

She helped Wang Yongzhu weigh the lime and put it into the vat; then, she joined Yongzhu in vigorously stirring with a wooden stick to evenly mix the lime in the water.

After all that work, both were drenched in sweat.

Feeling sorry for her, Old Granny Zhang wiped Yongzhu’s sweat, muttering, "If this really produces dyed cloth, you keep the money from selling it! Why should they get any if they’re not helping with such hard-earned money?"

Wang Yongzhu also used a handkerchief to wipe Old Granny Zhang’s face: "Mother, it’s fine, I’m strong, this little bit of work doesn’t tire me out! If we really succeed in dyeing the cloth, I’ll make two sets of clothes for you first. After we redeem our family’s land with the money I earn later on, you can keep it all. Would that be good for your private stash?"

She hadn’t planned to spend the money from dyeing fabrics on the Wang Family.

With their mountain produce business, the Wang Family’s fortunes were bound to improve slowly.

Her tasks required a lot of silver, and future tasks might need even more. No matter what, she needed to leave herself an exit strategy.

So, hearing what Old Granny Zhang said, she went along with it, which pleased the old woman to no end.

"Agreed! Leave it all to me! Rest easy, I’ll keep it safe for you. When you need it, just ask me. No one else will touch your silver!"

After a heartfelt talk, the mother and daughter happily returned to their room to rest.

The night passed uneventfully.