Chapter 68: The Names of Big Brother and Big Sister

With three families deciding to buy, the Shi and Lu families, originally hesitant due to high grain prices, gradually leaned towards purchasing grain as a safeguard for their families.

After a quiet discussion within each family, both families concluded that they too would buy some grain.

They might not buy a lot, partly due to reluctance and partly due to financial constraints, but not buying any felt too risky.

Seeing the unanimous decision, Zhou, the village chief, was pleased and said, “I’ll inform other families in the village about the rise in grain prices and suggest stockpiling. Those interested can come to my house later tonight to get their passes processed. Getting approval from the county might take some time, so in the meantime, you can check the grain stores in San Li Village.”

Women from the Chen, Shi, and Lu families had their own businesses, like selling tofu, and couldn’t afford to be away, so the men of each family had to take on the task of queueing up to buy grain.

After Zhou left, and the Shi and Lu families departed, Mrs. Chen started chatting with Sang Luo.

“You borrowed six taels of silver as external debt?”

Sang Luo nodded in confirmation.

Mrs. Chen was deeply troubled by this, having never owed so much in her life; just hearing the amount of six taels made her feel dizzy: “When will you be able to repay this?”

She then started criticizing the government for its inhuman actions, like advancing the tax collection by a year and even taxing those who had gone off to war.

Her criticism for Sang Luo's sake was also a reflection of her own concerns, as well as those of their fellow villagers.

Sang Luo patted the old lady's rough hands and softly said, “Granny, it’s because of such actions by the government that I’m afraid. This spring was the first advance in tax collection, by half a year, and now it’s a whole year in advance. Who can guarantee there won’t be a next time? If this continues…”

She left her words unsaid.

The old lady's face subtly changed.

At fifty-four this year, she had witnessed the turmoil of dynastic changes and knew well the chaos that ensued. Her hands trembled slightly before she finally spoke, "It doesn't matter much either way. We can only hope that our southern location keeps us out of harm's way."

After all, she had never seen any ruler who was particularly benevolent.

In the face of such great events, they, as common folk, had no influence. All they could do was to take care of themselves and hope that their small corner of the world would remain unaffected if turmoil did indeed unfold.

The old lady, regaining her composure, said to Sang Luo, “Don’t rush to get new household items. As winter is approaching and farm work will lessen, you can use our hoe. Keep using the sharp shovel and curved knife you've been borrowing. It’s more important to repay your debt with the money you earn.”

Recently, Sang Luo had often borrowed these two items, leading the old woman to guess that whatever Sang Luo was selling might require digging. Without prying, the old lady was willing to lend whatever Sang Luo needed.

Seeing Sang Luo in so much debt, she became anxious on her behalf.

The old lady then told Sang Luo to wait, going inside to fetch a bag of snake repellent powder: “I know you’ve been using it a lot and probably don’t have much left. Take this bag with you. Earning money is important, but don’t venture too deep into the forest. Facing wild beasts with your limited strength could be disastrous. Remember, nothing is more important than your life.”

Sang Luo, rarely experiencing such care from others, felt a warm gratitude. Smiling, she nodded: “I understand.”

When the materials she needed in the deeper parts of the forest were nearly depleted, Sang Luo planned to explore new areas, always sticking close to inhabited places. She valued her life greatly.

Having reminded the old lady of the important matters, Sang Luo also borrowed a pair of scissors from her. Having recently received some cloth, she intended to make a pair of long pants for Shen An, enabling him to accompany her on future forays into the mountains.

The old lady, upon hearing that it was for making clothes for Shen An, cheerfully went to fetch the scissors for Sang Luo.

After Sang Luo returned home with the items, she was immediately followed by Gan Shi, Feng Liu Niang, and Qin Fang Niang, who brought money and soybeans as payment for the next day's tofu.

It was evident that the county's business had been impacted by the taxation and the surge in grain prices. At least Qin Fang Niang's usual sale of eighty pieces of tofu took longer than usual to sell out. With the news of the grain price hike spreading through the county, the situation was expected to worsen.

For caution, Qin Fang Niang decided to reduce the usual quantity of the two types of tofu from eighty to sixty pieces. However, with the order of thirty regular and twenty special tofu pieces from Dong Fu Lou, the total quantity actually increased, necessitating an order of one hundred and ten pieces from Sang Luo.

The total payment was one hundred and sixty-five coins, of which forty coins were paid with a bushel of soybeans, and the remaining one hundred and twenty-five in cash.

Feng Liu Niang and Gan Shi, being new to the tofu business, had modest needs of sixty pieces each, so their orders remained unchanged.

Each owed ninety coins, but this time neither Feng Liu Niang nor Gan Shi brought any goods like hemp cloth, knowing Sang Luo needed money. Each brought half a bushel of soybeans and seventy coins in cash.

With an income of two hundred and sixty-five coins, Sang Luo felt much more at ease.

After everyone had left, taking advantage of the lingering daylight, Sang Luo called Shen An over to measure him, spread the cloth on the bed, and quickly cut out the material needed for a pair of pants.

Grateful for the original body's adeptness at needlework, Sang Luo admitted to herself that while she could manage simple mending, she lacked the skill to tailor clothes, especially the ability to measure and cut accurately with just a few snips – a skill that required real expertise.

With the two children by her side, Sang Luo smiled and said, "I’ll make clothes for Shen An first, so he can accompany me to the mountains. Shen Ning's turn will come a bit later; I'll make yours once things are less busy."

Shen Ning had no objections, cheerily suggesting, "Big sister, I think my clothes don’t need to be new. Just extend my brother’s leftover fabric to my pant legs. Autumn is approaching, and it'll get cold soon. We should save some money for a winter blanket."

Waking up frequently due to the cold at night had been Shen Ning’s most profound memory of the past winters.

Sang Luo observed the girl’s patched and extended clothes, with the pant legs showing signs of multiple extensions. The top piece of fabric was so worn it seemed it might tear with just a few more washes.

Gently touching Shen Ning’s head, Sang Luo reassured, "We'll have blankets, and your clothes need to be made too."

She knew that for a nine-year-old girl, suffering a tear in her pants in public could be an embarrassing memory lasting for decades.

Sending the children to fetch the money jar from under the bed to help count the coins, Sang Luo organized the household’s copper coins into bundles of a hundred each, then sat down in the yard to start sewing Shen An’s pants.

The siblings were enthusiastic about counting money, aware that their big sister had borrowed six taels of silver from the tavern owner of Dong Fu Lou to buy grain.

Six taels of silver, as Shen An specifically asked his sister, equated to seven thousand two hundred copper coins.

Over seven thousand coins.

It was a number the siblings couldn't fathom.

Aware of the significant debt their household bore, they even started to save on food. Fortunately, they had various dishes made from soybeans like soy milk, tofu pudding, and okara, which ensured their nutritional needs were still met.

Sang Luo stored the family’s money in an old clay pot used for cooking rice, hidden under her bed. It was covered with a wooden plank, which in turn was weighed down with a stone to prevent rats.

Shen An crawled under the bed and brought out the clay pot. He spread an old garment on his bed and carefully emptied the contents of the pot onto the cloth.

The siblings sat on the bed and counted the coins meticulously. After counting each string, they helped each other to recount and then securely tied them back.

When Sang Luo was halfway through sewing the pants, the siblings called out from inside, "Big sister, we have finished counting!"

Sang Luo looked inside and asked with a smile, “How much?”

The excited siblings had already got off the bed and rushed out, shoes on. Shen Ning eagerly said, “Big sister, we have fifteen strings, and additionally, twenty-three individual coins.”

Sang Luo's eyes crinkled with a smile, “So that’s one thousand five hundred and twenty-three coins. In a couple of days, after saving up some more from our tofu sales, we should reach over two thousand coins. Then, we’ll sell some more of the crystal candy we've made and go to Dong Fu Lou to repay two thousand coins. We'll use the remaining money to buy more soybeans.”

Soybeans too are a form of grain. With all three families planning to buy more grain due to the uncertain situation, they would likely start hoarding their own soybeans. Given that few in the county consumed soybeans as a staple, and while their price remained stable, Sang Luo intended to stock up on them.

Hearing that they could repay two thousand of the over seven thousand owed coins in a few days, Shen Ning felt relieved and smiled.

Shen An, more detail-oriented, asked Sang Luo, “Big sister, ten hundreds make a thousand, right?”

“Correct,” Sang Luo nodded, “Ten hundreds make a thousand, and ten thousands make ten thousand. It’s all decimal system.”

Shen An silently repeated this in his mind, committing it to memory.

Seeing their eagerness to learn, Sang Luo remembered her plan to teach them to recognize characters and asked the siblings, “Have you learned to write your own names in these past few days?”

Both siblings nodded simultaneously, with Shen An saying, “Big sister, we’ll write it for you to see.”

As they spoke, they turned around and went back inside to get the sand tray.

They placed the sand tray on the ground and squatted beside it, using twig pens to write. Shen An wrote first and then gave his place to Shen Ning. Once finished, they carefully turned the sand tray towards Sang Luo.

Sang Luo looked at their writing. Although the characters were large and somewhat crooked, squeezing four characters onto one tray and barely legible, each stroke was accurate and complete.

“Very clever, you both wrote correctly. Just keep practicing, try to write more neatly, and you’ll gradually improve.” She then asked, “Is there any new character you want to learn?”

Shen An had already thought about it. As soon as Sang Luo asked, he immediately responded, “I want to learn how to write big brother and big sister’s names.”

Shen Ning nodded in agreement, “I also want to learn to write big brother and big sister’s names. Plus, Xiao Ya asked me to learn her name and write it for her to see. She helped us collect those stones outside our courtyard.”

Sang Luo fell silent for a moment, realizing that in their hearts, the siblings still held onto the hope that their elder brother might return one day.

Without commenting, she smiled and said, “Alright, let’s do it one by one. You already know how to write 'Shen', so let's start with your elder brother’s name.”

“Shen Lie,” she recalled seeing the name Shen Lie in the family registry.

Taking the twig from Shen An, she smoothed out the previous characters on the sand tray and wrote the character 'Lie' (烈) for Shen Lie in one corner.

After briefly explaining the structure of the strokes, she handed the twig back to Shen An, saying with a smile, “Just practice a little over there. It's almost dark, you can continue learning tomorrow.”

She herself also focused on sewing a few more stitches before planning to stop, intending to finish the rest the next day in the daylight as working on needlework after dark could strain the eyes.