Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Mrs. Zhang returned, and upon seeing Lin Fengdie, her eyes lit up with excitement. She knew that Lin Chunyan had already spoken to her. Unable to hold back, she reiterated her plea for Lin Fengdie not to tell anyone else.

"Never mind what I tell you; I'll talk to your mother another day," Mrs. Zhang said.

Lin Fengdie nodded quickly and hurried back to share the good news with Li Shi.

Mrs. Zhang put down the two baskets of mung beans and took out a piece of tofu.

Lin Chunyan, puzzled, asked, "Where did this tofu come from? Weren't you supposed to exchange it for mung beans?"

Mrs. Zhang sat down, took a few breaths, and gulped down a large bowl of water. She found the hot water Wang Yingniang handed her wasn't refreshing enough and made her sweat more, causing her to wrinkle her brow slightly. "Dear daughter, next time bring me well water; that's more satisfying to drink."

Wang Yingniang smiled. "That won't do; the last time you drank it, you had a stomachache and spent the whole night in the outhouse."

Mrs. Zhang waved her hand. "That was before. With the heat like today, there's no need to worry."

Turning back to Lin Chunyan's question, she sighed, "Madam Hong saw me going to the village and stopped me, insisting on giving me a piece of tofu."

Lin Taohong snorted, "Madam Hong is quite something. We make tofu every day; who needs her piece of tofu?"

Mrs. Zhang wasn't too angry, knowing Madam Hong wanted to reconcile with them and that a piece of tofu was all they could offer.

"She's a pitiful soul, but her spirit seems much better than before. Her children, Maiya and Shiliu, can help with the work, and the villagers are taking care of her business." Mrs. Zhang fanned herself, feeling a bit emotional.

"There are many pitiful people. I say we shouldn't bother with her. Her husband's fall and death have nothing to do with us."

Mrs. Zhang patted Lin Taohong on the back. "You have such a small heart, like the eye of a needle. We should forgive when we can. Unlike our family, who can still get by, they barely have enough to eat."

Lin Taohong twisted her body and sat next to Lin Chunyan, ignoring Mrs. Zhang. "You get to be both the good and bad person."

Mrs. Zhang clicked her tongue and lowered her voice, having heard a lot of gossip. Instead of sharing it with the other women, she whispered to the three girls at home, "Old Man Peng insists there's a ghost in the well. At first, no one believed him. But early this morning, Old Zhou, who herds sheep, saw a white figure leaving Old Peng's house, which scared him quite a bit."

It was still dark in the early morning, and the sight wasn't clear. Both Old Peng and Old Zhou insisted there was a ghost, describing it vividly.

"They finally said the ghost entered Madam Hong's house, most likely being Shiliu's father."

Lin Chunyan laughed. "Could it be that the ghost went to have a secret meeting with Old Peng and then left at night? There's no such thing."

As it was getting dark, Mrs. Zhang's story sent a chill down their spines, causing them to shiver.

Lin Taohong tightly grabbed Lin Chunyan's clothes, both afraid and wanting to listen.

Mrs. Zhang pouted. "That old fellow, even if he saw a ghost, your Aunt Liu wouldn't want him. If only he had seen it, but now Old Zhou saw it too, so we have to believe it."

At that moment, the call of some animal echoed in the night, seeming eerie. Everyone felt a bit scared and shouted as they ran home.

Just as Lihua was about to go find them, she saw everyone running back and felt puzzled. She asked Mrs. Zhao beside her, "What's going on?"

Mrs. Zhao shook her head. "Probably going home to sleep. Let's come back tomorrow."

Lihua nodded and took the basket of duck eggs back home.

After giving the tofu to Mrs. Zhang, Madam Hong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking of what her mother had said, she was grateful that Lin Chunyan was a decent person and didn't hold grudges. Otherwise, as a widow with children, how would they survive without the tofu business?

Now, their tofu business was back on track. Although it wasn't as good as before, it was enough to support the three of them. Without the beatings, her complexion improved significantly.

She had soaked the soybeans in advance and yawned leisurely. Hearing some noise from the next room, she didn't go over but called out, urging them to sleep early.

This shout caused the sounds from the room next door to cease, and Madam Hong simply blew out the candle and lay down fully clothed.

Tomorrow, she would have to wake up early to grind tofu, a task that wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Every day, she had to wake up early to grind and boil the beans. Unlike Lin Chunyan’s family, who now had a mule to help with the grinding and save a great deal of effort, Madam Hong had no such help.

In the room next door, Shiliu listened closely. Hearing no more sounds from Madam Hong, she estimated that she had already fallen asleep and then quietly scolded Maiya, “I’ve told you many times before, don’t do it again. Why won’t you listen?”

Maiya stubbornly held her ground, her face turning red, but she lowered her voice significantly, “But that old man insisted that Father was pushed down by our mother and made it known to everyone. I couldn’t swallow that insult, so I wanted to scare him.”

Shiliu had been betrothed earlier and was supposed to marry this summer. However, after the incident at home, she couldn’t bear to marry so early and leave Madam Hong and Maiya alone. She spoke with the man’s family and asked to stay a bit longer.

The man’s family was reasonable and agreed, which relieved Shiliu. At least for now, she could help Madam Hong with everything.

One night, when Shiliu got up to use the outhouse, she discovered that Maiya hadn’t been sleeping. He had returned sneakily from outside, his hair disheveled, wearing a white undergarment that, at a glance, was quite startling.

That was when she learned that the haunting at Old Man Peng’s house had all been Maiya’s doing.

Shiliu scolded him on the spot, telling him not to take such risks again, as it would be hard to explain if he were caught. But Maiya, being young and stubborn, insisted that he would continue until Old Man Peng was scared out of his wits.

This wasn’t the first time the siblings had failed to see eye to eye, and Shiliu sighed, turning her back to sulk in frustration.

She was well aware of the village rumors. They infuriated her just as much as they did Maiya.

Losing their father had already been heartbreaking, and for Old Man Peng to go around saying that he was pushed by Madam Hong—it was like a second death.

Setting other things aside, Shiliu was certain that Madam Hong would never have pushed their father. When she was young, she had heard stories from her grandmother about her parents. Because they had the skill of making tofu, many had come to ask for her hand in marriage. But Madam Hong had chosen their father for his good looks and essentially brought him into their home as a semi-recruited son-in-law.

It wasn’t until after Maiya was born that Madam Hong had come to live in Green Mountain Village. At some point, their father had changed, often coming home and beating people, completely transforming the household.

Seeing that Shiliu wasn’t speaking, Maiya began to panic and went to her, “Sister, I’ll scare him a few more times and then stop. That old man is just so detestable! Do you think Spinster Liu left Old Man Zhou because of nothing? It’s because he secretly went to Geda’s mother for those kinds of things, and it was kind of to help Geda too.”

Even though the village rumors were whispered behind the children’s backs, they all knew about them. They didn’t fully understand the implications but knew it was wrong.

Shiliu’s eyes were already red, and her voice was muffled as she said, “We’ve agreed, but this time it was Old Man Zhou who saw you. He has poor eyesight and didn’t recognize you, but someone else might not be so lucky.”

The siblings agreed and then each washed up and went back to their rooms to sleep.

Old Man Zhou was a coward and lived alone. Besides a few sheep, he had nothing else. After seeing the “ghost,” he stopped tending to his sheep and demanded that the Village Headman give him an explanation, asking for Granny Dong to be called to exorcise the ghost.

The Village Headman didn’t want to get involved in such matters and told him to go find Granny Dong himself. Everyone knew Granny Dong charged too much; she asked for several hundred coins just to perform a ritual, which was far too expensive for anyone to afford.

Old Zhou had no choice but to go back and scold Old Man Peng. He insisted that the ghost was summoned by him, saying that Old Man Peng had been badmouthing Madam Hong every day, which caused Father of Shiliu to worry. He also told Old Man Peng to go and properly pray to the gods and buddhas and stop doing those guilty deeds, so as not to bring disaster to others.

Old Man Peng thought he had found a kindred spirit and was about to have a good chat with Old Zhou about what the ghost looked like and why it had been coming to him. Instead, he was scolded, which made him feel even more upset.

Li Shi was initially shocked when she heard the news from Lin Fengdie and then became overwhelmed with joy, not knowing what to say. She paced around the house restlessly.

Thinking of her previous stingy behavior, Li Shi felt even more ashamed.

"I'm not as generous as they are."

She usually kept her embroidery work tightly guarded and only passed it on to Lin Fengdie. When Old Mrs. Zhang came to ask her, she had refused. At this moment, she felt guilty.

"Quick, get my good fabric so I can make new clothes for Yan Niang. I don't know how to thank her."

Lin Fengdie chuckled, "Mother, spare me. Don't make clothes anymore. I think Big Sister really doesn't want those clothes and shoes anymore. We should make bed sheets and quilt covers for her; I think she likes those."

Li Shi quickly nodded, "You're right. Last time at dinner, Yan Niang mentioned it. I forgot. Let's make the fabric into quilt covers and let me embroider some flowers on them."

This piece of fabric was brought as a dowry and had been kept at the bottom of her trunk for many years. She hadn't used it, as it was worth several hundred coins. With her embroidery, it would be a precious return gift.

But Li Shi still felt it wasn't enough and wished she could go back in time to give herself two slaps.

Uncle Lin smiled and shook his head. Li Shi's personality was a bit sharp. She was competitive and often tearful, but her heart wasn't bad.

Seeing Uncle Lin smiling foolishly, Li Shi glared at him, "What are you standing there for? Without saying anything else, make some tables for Yan Niang. I see the table in their yard isn't big enough."

"Alright, alright. I'll go up the mountain in a couple of days to cut some trees."

Li Shi wasn't happy, "Why wait a couple of days? Can't you go tomorrow? Put aside your current work; it's not urgent. The coffin can be made anytime."

It was customary to prepare coffins in advance in case of emergencies.

Uncle Lin usually did such work, but it wasn't urgent, and he only did it when he was satisfied.

After the rain, the sky cleared again. The apricot slices dried more each day, and Xue Tuan, the cat, always wanted to mess with them. Lin Chunyan had said it many times, but now, relying on Old Mrs. Zhang's affection, Xue Tuan didn't heed Lin Chunyan and meowed defiantly.

Looking back, Xue Tuan had knocked down a patch of flowers by the door, even affecting Lin Cuixiang's house.

"I think we should put Xue Tuan in the shop for a few days to catch mice. It's better than eating fish snacks and getting fatter."

Lin Taohong urged Lin Chunyan to talk to Old Mrs. Zhang about it, but she didn't dare, fearing Old Mrs. Zhang would hit her.

Xue Tuan was truly Old Mrs. Zhang's precious, and she even slept with it at night, not minding the shedding fur. If anyone said anything bad about Xue Tuan, Old Mrs. Zhang would get upset.

Lin Chunyan didn't want to provoke that trouble and helped the fallen flowers back up, also picking some mint leaves to take home.

She took a jar of mulberry wine from the cellar and put it in the well to chill, slowly chipping the ice into small pieces.

Seeing the icy cold mulberry wine with mint, Lin Taohong couldn't resist and asked for several bowls.

After drinking the sweet wine, Lin Taohong said, "I just hope it's autumn soon so we can make wine from grapes."

Her jasmine soy milk was now sold in the shop. It was chilled in the well before being brought up, with ice replacing warm water, making it refreshingly cold and becoming a favorite among customers.

After drinking, Lin Chunyan felt refreshed and milked a goat, boiling the milk directly.

"Prepare some sunflower seeds, red beans, and dried hawthorn."

Wang Yingniang curiously asked, "Are we making goat candy?"

Lin Chunyan shook her head, "We're making snow cream."

After cooling, a layer of cream formed on the milk, which was put back into the pot several times until clarified butter was obtained.

Crushed ice was mixed with clarified butter and seasonings like sunflower seeds and hawthorn, then drizzled with fruit sauce to make snow cream.

"Is this the ice cream? I heard Sister Lihua mention that Qian Xiaoniang had ice cream in summer and how wonderful it was."

Lin Chunyan nodded, "Yes, eat it while it's still cool."

Lin Taohong and Wang Yingniang took a bite and couldn't help but show their big white teeth, then shyly looked away from each other.

Lin Chunyan didn't see; she continued boiling the remaining clarified butter, filtering it before putting it in jars.

After fermentation, it would become cream, similar to butter. Adding it to pastries made them more fragrant.

On a sunny day, Lin Chunyan took them up the mountain to pick a lot of pine flowers.

During picking, the mind was empty, only the hands moved mechanically. Looking at the sky and mountains, everything seemed still except for the moving clouds.

She wasn't in a hurry to get all the pine pollen out, planning to do it bit by bit when she had time.

It took several days to get two small jars, which Lin Chunyan treasured and put in the cellar, planning to make pine flower cakes when she wanted.

There was still some venison from Zhao Guanren's hunt, which was taken to his father-in-law's house. The meat had been marinated by Lin Chunyan and only needed to be grilled, very simple.

However, his father-in-law, Mr. Shen, was a man who loved to cultivate an elegant demeanor. Hearing that the gift was venison, he wasn't pleased.

He used to think Zhao Guanren was useless, only good at eating, and even his two grandsons were raised that way, unlike his daughter who hadn't changed over the years.

In the past, when they came for visits, they brought writing supplies like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, but this time it was venison, which he thought was beneath them.

Mrs. Zhao could tell what her father was thinking and didn't say much, personally instructing the kitchen to grill the venison.

"Daughter, have you been suffering? It's just a venison, yet it's treated as something precious. Has your husband been mistreating you?" Mr. Shen continued to make things difficult for Zhao Guanren.

Zhao Guanren quickly apologized, and Mrs. Zhao placed the grilled venison in small dishes for the maids to serve.

"Father, don't be hasty. Please try it first."

Mr. Shen snorted neither lightly nor heavily, and after tasting it, his expression indeed became quite pleasant, just as Mrs. Zhao had expected.

Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao exchanged a glance, and both saw a hint of amusement in each other's eyes.

Only after finishing did Mr. Shen speak, "This roe deer meat is indeed excellent, even better than what I had last time in the prefectural city. Is there any more?"

If there was more, he could ask for some to gift to the colleagues he frequently interacted with. He didn't remember a thing about what he had just said.

Mr. Zhao quickly shook his head, "We encountered it by chance that day. This is all we have; there's no more."

Hearing this, Mr. Shen could only regretfully shake his head. In his mind, he thought that if he had known there was only this much, he wouldn't have eaten it. He could have just shown off the roe deer meat and earned a few compliments.

Having it eaten by them was a pity.

This son-in-law still didn't know how to behave and needed to be taught.

The youngest brother of Mrs. Zhao was eating with his head down, not noticing the several glares from his father. His ears, however, caught everything clearly, and when Mrs. Zhao mentioned there were some fresh delicacies in the shop, his eyes lit up, and he pestered her to take him there to try some.

"Come to think of it, it's been a while since I stayed at my sister's place for a few days. Now the lessons aren't busy, and the season is just right."

Mr. Zhao almost laughed out loud. The season was almost summer; it was too hot for a spring outing, so how was it the right season?

But he was quite happy that his brother-in-law loved to be close to him. At the same time, they both looked at Mr. Shen, who was sitting at the head of the table.

Mr. Shen had been complaining in his mind and only lifted his head when he felt several pairs of eyes burning into him, looking at them with a bit of disappointment.

"Lessons are more important; there will be time later."

This youngest son didn't take after him, only caring about eating, and had Mrs. Zhao's temperament instead. His daughter was better, preferring more elegant things.

When Mrs. Zhao left, her youngest brother was very reluctant, almost pulling at her sleeve and crying. He asked her to bring more delicious food next time and not forget her brother.

Zhao Dalang and Erlang naturally heard about them eating the roe deer meat, and upon returning, they blamed Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao for eating alone without them.

Mrs. Zhao pushed Mr. Zhao forward to explain to their sons.

On their day off, Zhao Dalang and Zhao Erlang didn't want to stay home and instead went to a food shop with their friends.

Everyone knew that the idle men outside the academy gate bought most of their things from Lin Chunyan's shop, including the delicious crispy fish. Many who used to look down on street food now loved to eat at Lin Chunyan's shop.

On their day off, many people sat in Mr. Song's booth outside, avoiding the heat inside by buying tickets to purchase food and then eating it outside.

Seeing the slippery items, some who hadn't tried the crystal noodles immediately ordered the dish, not wanting half portions for fear of not getting enough.

These noodles and jelly had been on Xu Dalao's banquet table, making them quite popular for a while and quickly snatched up.

Some of the more enterprising idle men only needed to sell these noodles and jelly to the scholars to have them quickly sold out.

Later, Lin Taohong noticed and stopped them from taking too many, afraid that those who came late or wanted to buy food to take home wouldn't get any.

Scholar Song brought the stir-fried jelly and eggs back to his seat and eagerly took a bite, immediately captivated by the soft, chewy texture.

The eggs had absorbed the sauce, making them very flavorful, with the aroma of pickled garlic, creating a harmonious mix.

Scholar Song sighed in satisfaction. He had been reviewing his lessons and hadn't been able to try this dish until today.

The cool and smooth texture was refreshing, and with the spicy garlic sauce, it was even better than cold noodles.

Looking at the vermicelli, the thin, slippery strands were covered in sauce and garlic, and he slurped them into his mouth, unable to stop.

At another table, Scholar Qin was eating stir-fried intestines heartily, not lifting his head, mixing the sauce with rice and swallowing it down. Only then did he feel alive.

Thinking about going to study in the prefectural city and not being able to eat such delicious food, Scholar Qin felt a sense of loss, and he took another big bite of rice, putting it all in his mouth.

Knowing that the scholars would definitely go to Lin Chunyan's shop to eat, the tutors and the private school head didn't go. They only sent a message through a servant, asking Tutor Duan to bring some dishes over in the evening to drink together.

Hearing the servant's words, Tutor Duan sneered a few times, knowing that the invitation to drink was just a pretense to get him to bring food.

Though he seemed to dislike it, he still told Hu Daqiang to set some aside in a food box, and when the shop closed in the evening, he would take it away.

Thinking of his wife at home, he had Hu Daqiang pack another portion, saying the money would be deducted from his monthly allowance, and asked the idle men to deliver it and send a message.