The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 550 - 548: Dead

Chapter 550: Chapter 548: Dead

The stench filled the room, and no one dared to enter.

By the time Wang Yongzhen finished cleaning up, she fetched water to wipe down the kang bed once, and mixed the dirt on the floor with plant ash before sweeping it out.

She brought in another basket of plant ash and spread it around the room, which barely suppressed the odor.

When she went to attend to Sun Daming, she found his body was already cold...

※※※

After spending fifteen taels of silver to send Wang Yongzhen away, and returning to the inner yard, Old Granny Zhang couldn’t really rest easy, constantly listening for any noise from outside.

When she heard her daughter come back, she hurried out and asked, "Did you manage to send the person off?"

Wang Yongzhu nodded, "I gave her fifteen taels of silver, and she took eldest sister away."

Upon hearing that silver was also given, Old Granny Zhang’s brows furrowed. She was about to say something, but after thinking it over, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to criticize her own precious daughter.

Instead, she glared fiercely at Wang Laozhu, who was still asleep, oblivious to it all, "It’s all your father’s doing, spoiling her like that. Now look at him, dead drunk and not caring about anything, leaving us to clean up his mess!"

Although she said this, Old Granny Zhang knew that her youngest daughter had no choice but to handle things this way; it was just that the silver was very dear to her, "You could have just given a few taels of silver, our family’s silver doesn’t grow on trees. Why were you so careless, giving away fifteen taels?"

Wang Yongzhu took Old Granny Zhang into her own room, and seeing that no one was around, Song Chongjin took the opportunity to follow them in.

The only downside of the new house after it was built was that he could no longer live in the same yard as Yongzhu, where they used to see each other all the time.

Now, separated by two yards, they couldn’t see each other as often. He hadn’t even found a chance to enter Yongzhu’s boudoir today, and he finally slipped next door into the side room while Old Granny Zhang’s full attention was on Yongzhu.

Wang Yongzhu designed her own room. The main room, which most families would use as a bedroom, and where the more particular ones would place a screen to conceal the kang, was being used by her as a living room. As one entered, they could see the newly made furniture; it was unpainted, and with the kang heating the room, there was a comforting and faint scent of wood in the air.

On the right side, it was directly opened up, but it was loosely divided by a display shelf embedded into the wall. Passing through the display shelf led to where she usually lived.

There was a writing desk and an embroidery stand, and in this room, too, there was a kang where she could sit and embroider or look over the accounts during the winter days.

To the left was her bedroom, which contained a kang and a tall wardrobe. According to the carpenter’s idea, it was just a low cabinet where clothes were folded and stored inside.

Wang Yongzhu suggested to him that she wanted to make one taller than a person so that clothes could be hung inside and wouldn’t wrinkle.

She even suggested to the idle carpenter to make a simple rack for hanging clothes; now, her out-of-season clothes were neatly folded and stored in boxes, and the current season’s clothes were all matched and hung in the wardrobe using a simple rack.

Between the wardrobe and the kang stood a small dressing table. In this era, there wasn’t the kind of mirror made with mercury that reflected every detail; there were only bronze mirrors, which were hazy and unclear.

For Wang Yongzhu, it was just an ornament.

A dainty jewelry box was also displayed on the dressing table, exquisitely crafted, a sight that one couldn’t help but adore.

This was the first time Old Granny Zhang had entered her daughter’s room since moving to the new house, and she found everything about it refreshingly beautiful through her daughter’s arrangement.

Right then, the annoyance in her heart dissipated a bit.

Wang Yongzhu supported Old Granny Zhang as she looked around the room, then poured her a cup of tea before returning to their previous topic, "I gave her fifteen taels of silver because I thought, since it’s going to be the last time anyway, I might as well be generous. It’s all going to be given, and giving too little may breed resentment. It’s better to give more generously, so that if anything happens in the future, we have fulfilled our duties."

"Besides, eldest sister said she needed the money to find Mutou a wife. She swore on the soul of her deceased mother, claiming this would be the last time. She wouldn’t come back to the Wang Family unless she died. With sister talking like that, if I didn’t give her some silver, others would criticize us," Wang Yongzhu explained.

"Did she really say that?" Old Granny Zhang was quite surprised.

Wang Yongzhen, that girl, never brought up her birth mother.

Wang Yongzhu nodded.

"Well, then! Consider it a bargain for the Sun Family! Later, you must record this silver in the account books; don’t you cover it out of your own pocket. How much silver do you have to fill this gap?" Old Granny Zhang waved her hand and cautioned.

"Mother, rest assured, today, Shopkeeper Wu came and brought me my dividend!" Wang Yongzhu whispered to Old Granny Zhang, holding her.

"Really? How much was it divided?" Old Granny Zhang’s eyes brightened.

Wang Yongzhu extended two fingers and waggled them.

"Two hundred taels?" Old Granny Zhang’s eyes widened. Including Boss Zhang’s five hundred taels and the houses and shops in the county town, oh my, her own daughter was truly capable. She was like a golden doll.

Wang Yongzhu shook her head.

"Two thousand... taels?" Old Granny Zhang swallowed, her voice faltering as disbelief took over.

Wang Yongzhu leaned in and whispered a figure.

Old Granny Zhang was stunned for a moment, and it took her a long time to come to her senses, "Oh my heavens, girl, could your recipe be worth that much money?"

Wang Yongzhu nodded, "Of course. When next spring comes, I’ll come up with a few more recipes, and we can make even more money! Once we don’t have to worry about family affairs, I’ll take you to the county town first. We’ll stay there for a while, and once we’re tired of the county town, we can go to the provincial capital. If the provincial capital bores us too, we can even go to the Capital City and see the place where the Emperor and the royal consorts live!"

Old Granny Zhang slapped her thigh, "That would be great, to think my old woman self could have such hopes in this lifetime! Well, then, mother is looking forward to it."

With Wang Yongzhu’s substantial income, the displeasure about the fifteen taels of silver quickly evaporated.

Especially when Wang Yongzhu counted out one hundred taels in a silver note and gave it to Old Granny Zhang, "Mother, this is your private stash from your daughter. Take it, buy whatever you want, eat whatever you desire. Don’t hold back. If you run out, I’ll give you more!" She flaunted her wealth with great magnanimity.

Yet Old Granny Zhang thought to herself that her daughter was making money now, but she was also spending it too freely. How could a country old woman like herself ever spend one hundred taels?

But this was all her daughter’s filial piety. To reject it would hurt her daughter’s feelings. After all, in the future, her entire personal savings would belong to her daughter. She could consider it as keeping it safe for her.

With this thought, Old Granny Zhang did not refuse. She took the silver note with a beaming smile, glanced at it a couple of times, then tucked it into her bosom, "Great! Thanks to my daughter’s fortune, I reckon I must be the wealthiest old lady in Qilidun now."