Chapter 76: Honey Paws

Sang Luo's estimation for the amount of cotton needed for making clothes was entirely based on her original self's memory.

Having grown up in a modern era where clothes were bought, not made, this was her first time realizing the actual bulk of a jin of cotton.

After exiting the cloth shop with her purchase, she placed the cotton on her cart and went to find Chen You Tian and the others at the grain shop.

She couldn't afford to buy grain today; with just over seventy wen left, she decided to keep it and continue saving for her next purchase of cotton.

Approaching the grain shop, she saw the previously crowded line of people dispersing in disappointment. There she found a disheartened Chen You Tian and Zhou Village Zheng’s group.

“Uncle You Tian, what happened?”

Chen You Tian looked troubled and said, “The grain shop ran out of stock today before it was our turn to buy.”

Looking towards the grain shop, Sang Luo indeed saw the shop assistant hanging a ‘sold out for today’ sign and closing the doors.

Not seeing Lu Da Lang, she inquired further, “Where is Uncle Lu?”

Chen Youtian explained, "He's queuing at another shop, but I'm not sure how it's going."

Just as he finished speaking, Lu Dalaong returned, having also failed to buy grain at the shop he queued at, which had already closed.

Zhou Cunzheng shook his head, "These next few days it'll be hard to buy any. The city gates were deliberately opened late this morning to give priority to the residents inside to queue at the grain shops."

The city residents buying grain now are partly those who heard rumors and are stockpiling, and partly those who still haven't gathered enough for their taxes. Naturally, they are given priority.

In fact, without the delay at the gates, those who hadn’t gathered enough taxes would have been queuing outside the grain shops before dawn. We villagers, even if we travel overnight, can't compete if the city gates don't open early enough.

Unable to buy grain, there was no point in lingering in town. Everyone needed to return to their village to work, so they began heading towards the city gates to return home.

Lu Dalaong took over pushing Sang Luo's cart.

"Uncle Jiu, are we really not coming these next days? I saw today the grain price is ninety-eight wen per dou," asked Zhou Lizheng's son.

Zhou Cunzheng sighed, "Even if we come, we won’t be able to buy any."

Until the tax collection is completed, the city gates will probably continue to open at a controlled time.

Zhou Cunzheng didn't understand why the county yamen, capable of managing such details, couldn’t negotiate with grain merchants to stabilize prices or release slightly more grain, instead of this desperate scarcity.

But soon he realized he was expecting too much. If the county magistrate could easily influence the grain merchants, prices wouldn’t fluctuate daily like this.

If county officials could indeed sit down and negotiate with grain merchants, Zhou Cunzheng felt the likelihood of collusion would be higher.

Stabilizing grain prices?

In his years, he had never been fortunate enough to witness such commendable governance.

Sang Luo took a small path and returned to the village quietly, while Zhou Cunzheng and his group were immediately surrounded by villagers concerned about the grain prices as soon as they entered the village.

Some villagers, unable to bear their anxiety, had decided to buy expensive grain to stock up. However, reluctant to spend the money required for travel and official documents, they had hoped Chen Youtian and others would bring back some grain for them.

After a morning of waiting in vain, they saw Chen Youtian and his group return empty-handed and immediately grew disgruntled.

Sang Luo paid no mind to the villagers' reactions.

Once home, she carefully stored the cotton she had purchased.

Shen An and Shen Ning gathered around, marveling at the new, white cotton they had never seen before – fluffy and soft, Shen Ning squeezed it curiously.

"Big sister, will this be used for a quilt?" asked Shen Ning.

Sang Luo nodded, "Yes, we'll make it once we've saved up three to four jin. For now, the three of us can huddle together under two quilts, and we can use the remaining fabric to add weight."

The days in September were still tolerable with new autumn clothes, and by October, wearing the old autumn clothes as an extra layer would be sufficient.

It’s only cold at night in the mountains at this time of the year, so quilts are a priority over cotton jackets.

But making a quilt with just one jin of cotton wouldn't suffice – it wouldn’t be much of a quilt.

Fortunately, the fabric obtained from trading with three families was enough for several sets of clothes. Layering these with two quilts should keep them warm enough to manage through September.

Hearing about saving up for three to four jin of cotton to make a quilt, the children's eyes lit up.

When their older brother was around, they had warm cotton clothes and quilts. But after he left, they lost these comforts. The best cotton was taken and exchanged by their aunt, leaving them with worn cotton and bulrush fluff in their jackets and quilts.

Though they appeared to be cotton, they offered little warmth, making the winters bitterly cold.

After storing the cotton, Sang Luo washed and hung the grain sacks to dry. These were valuable items only given by grain shops when purchasing in large quantities; smaller purchases required bringing one’s own bags.

After finishing her chores, Sang Luo didn't pause for rest. She poured herself a bowl of water, drank it quickly, and prepared to gather sour jujubes and immortal tree leaves. It was all to earn money for buying cotton for quilts.

Recently, the supply of sour jujubes was steady; they frequently fell from the trees, which were always in the same place. However, finding immortal tree leaves had become more challenging, requiring longer walks. Thus, for trips into the mountains, Sang Luo often took Shen An, who had better stamina, leaving Shen Ning at home.

Today was no different. The two meandered through the mountains, venturing into less frequented areas on the other side of the village. They found plenty of sour jujubes, but immortal tree leaves were scarce.

Shen An expressed his worry, "Big sister, can we still make our immortal tofu today?"

In fact, Shen An's concern wasn't just about today. He realized that this year, they might no longer be able to sell immortal tofu.

Missing one item meant one less source of income, and their household was in dire need of money. The earnings from selling vegetarian tripe always came as credit notes, and they still owed money to Dong Fulu. Recently, they hadn't earned cash from tofu sales either, as it was exchanged for fabric to make clothes. With colder weather approaching, they needed cotton for jackets and quilts.

Shen An was unaware of the current price of cotton, but he remembered his older brother purchasing it before.

He recalled that it was only after his brother and Da Shan went hunting for several days and sold their game in the county that they could afford the cotton.

They had hunted big game.

Both his brother and Da Shan had gotten injured during that hunting trip.

The cotton that they had traded for such big game was certainly very expensive.

When the elder brother brought back that amount of cotton, their aunt's eyes turned red with envy. It was only after he shared half of it with Shen Jin and others that their uncle and aunt finally smiled.

For Shen An, cotton was as valuable as grain. Although they could grow grain in their fields, they couldn't produce cotton. No one in their area grew it. It seemed that a neighboring county across the river, which was warmer, cultivated cotton.

So, with expenses everywhere and one less source of income, how could he not worry?

Seeing the few usable immortal tree leaves she had collected after over an hour, Sang Luo realized that this year's supply of immortal tofu was at its end. Seeing Shen An's worried expression, she smiled, "Alright, don't worry, big sister has ways to make money."

Then, looking further into the depths of the forest, she suggested, "Let's go a bit further in and find some more immortal tree leaves. We can combine them with what we've gathered to make a few pieces. We won't sell them this year but keep them for ourselves and give some to the familiar families. It'll be a good way to end this busy season, allowing each family to enjoy a last taste."

Shen An nodded, following his sister-in-law towards another hill.

Searching deeper, Sang Luo actually found a few more immortal trees. As she was reaching for the leaves, Shen An's excited voice came from behind.

"Big sister, look what I've found!"

Sang Luo turned around and saw Shen An holding a short, dry tree branch.

Shen An, brimming with excitement, approached Sang Luo, holding his find high: "Big sister, honey claws! These are so delicious!"

At the mention of 'honey claws', Sang Luo blinked, then broke into a smile as Shen An approached: "Jujube thorns?"

Taking what Shen An handed over, it was indeed jujube thorns.

Shen An proudly said, "Big sister, do you recognize these? Here we call them 'honey claws'. My elder brother used to bring them for me and Ah Ning when he went into the mountains."

Sang Luo chuckled, "Yes, I know them. We call them jujube thorns."

Recalling that in her original family's hometown, they might have had a different name for it, she added, "We had a servant back home who loved to roam the mountains and brought these back once, saying they were called jujube thorns."

Shen An, not overthinking it, grinned widely, peeled off one and left only the edible part, cleaning it with his hand before offering it to Sang Luo: "Big sister, you eat."

After Sang Luo took it, he quickly prepared another for himself and tossed it into his mouth.

"I'm going to find more, to bring back for Ah Ning."

While Shen An was looking for the tree, Sang Luo laughed and advised, "Look on the lower branches and the ground. These trees are very tall and the ripe ones that fall are sweeter."

Although Shen An had eaten them before, he didn't know what the tree looked like. Taking his big sister's advice, he changed his approach and indeed found many jujube thorn branches on nearby trees and shrubs.

He was as delighted as could be, temporarily forgetting even the immortal tree leaves.

Watching Shen An's enthusiasm, Sang Luo laughed. As she searched for immortal tree leaves, she picked up any jujube thorns she found and either held them in her hand or put them into Shen An's basket if there were too many.

"Gather more, these can be sold for money."

Shen An, surprised: "!!! These can be sold for money?!"

It made sense, considering how sweet they were and how much he liked them.

Sang Luo, smiling: "Yes, we can sell them. Pick as many as you can; the money might help us gather the cotton for our quilts sooner."

This motivated Shen An even more. Despite the loss of one source of income from the immortal tofu, the addition of jujube thorns filled him with joy, his eyes curving into crescents and his mouth stretched in a wide grin, feeling as if even the heavens were favoring them.

He picked the jujube thorns quickly, his eyes darting around energetically, meticulously searching every nook and cranny around the tall jujube thorn tree.

This particular tree, mature and lush, shed its fruits over a large area, which kept Shen An happily busy.

By the time both their baskets were brimming, there were still many jujube thorns left unpicked.

Since they had already gathered a lot of sour dates and some leaves from the immortal tree, there wasn’t much space left in their baskets.

"Let's head back home, empty our baskets, and return immediately," suggested Sang Luo, "We should be able to gather at least two more baskets full."

Hearing they’d return, Shen An’s disappointment vanished: "Let's hurry then."

The journey back was filled with excitement; the closer they got to home, the happier he became. Approaching their house at the foot of the hill, he could see his sister Shen Ning by the chicken coop, busily engaged in something.

Excitedly holding the straps of his basket, Shen An ran towards their hillside home, waving a jujube thorn branch and calling from a distance: "Ah Ning, Ah Ning, look what I brought for you!"

Shen Ning was squatting beside the chicken coop, her back bent and head nearly touching the ground, peering inside. As she looked, she reached her hand in, and then she smiled, pulling it back with a freshly laid, still-warm egg in her palm.

She was even more excited than Shen An, standing up with a laugh. Before Sang Luo and Shen An reached halfway up the hill, she excitedly waved and shouted, "Big sister, second brother, our chicken laid an egg! Look, a warm egg!"

Holding the egg aloft for them to see, she wanted to shake it to show her excitement but feared breaking it. The smile on her face was brighter than the warm autumn sun.

Sang Luo, looking at the siblings, was so happy that her eyes crinkled with laughter.