Chapter 25 Mountain Home Hearth 25

Chapter 25: Hearth and Home in the Mountains

Chen Guicai limped over to help her up, but Yu Chunhong refused to move. After regaining her senses, she simply sat on the ground and began to wail and lament:

"Oh, the injustice! There's no humanity left! How are we supposed to live?!"

Her voice was quite loud—it was as if a megaphone had come to life.

Liu Guyu stood by, listening with his chin in hand. Halfway through, he suddenly snatched the bronze gong from Fang Wu. For every half-sentence Yu Chunhong uttered, he'd strike it with a resounding "CLANG!"

"How can we go on living like this?!"

"—CLANG!"

"Might as well take the whole family and jump into the river!"

"—CLANG!"

"We can't survive!"

"—CLANG!"

...

Yu Chunhong: "..."

Yu Chunhong stopped, turned to look at Liu Guyu, and shrieked, "Liu Guyu! What exactly are you trying to do?!"

Liu Guyu ceased his actions, spread his hands, and widened his innocent, dark, gleaming eyes.

He said, "I'm just providing accompaniment! This wailing alone is too monotonous. I'm simply keeping time for you, adding a bit of atmosphere! Why are you getting upset?"

Yu Chunhong angrily retorted, "...Are you insane?!"

Liu Guyu immediately denied it: "Certainly not!"

Seeing Yu Chunhong fall silent, Liu Guyu clutched the gong, squatted down in front of her, and began to instruct her with genuine sincerity.

"Auntie, your emotion is all wrong!"

"You need to cry more pitifully! All thunder and no rain won't do! You need tears! Your emotions must be full! This... this isn't even as good as your son's crying! Oh dear... no, no, no, let me teach you a trick. Next time you want to fake crying, rub some chili powder on your sleeve, and while you're wailing, wipe your eyes—the tears will surely stream down!"

"Ah, but we don't have any chili powder right now."

"Alright, then just think of the most tragic thing that's ever happened to you in your life. Think about it... Oh dear, the family is so poor, so poor you can't even make ends meet! Haven't changed your clothes in years, right? The house leaks from the roof and windows! When was the last time you ate meat? Oh, we had pig trotters today... eh, never mind that, never mind that... Anyway, just follow this process. Try it again."

"Don't get discouraged, come on, come on, try again! Get into the mood! Ready... begin!"

Yu Chunhong could no longer bring herself to wail. Her face was blank. She secretly glanced up at the villagers gathered around, watching the spectacle; every one of them had smiles on their faces, looking at her as if she were some strange act, seemingly waiting for her to continue her outburst.

Unable to cry, Yu Chunhong broke down and screamed at Liu Guyu, "Are you out of your mind?!!"

Liu Guyu widened his eyes: "Tsk, how rude."

He frowned, made a 'tsk' sound, then appealed to the villagers around him, spreading his hands with an expression of helplessness, and said, "Tell me, tell me, why is she getting so agitated?"

He even sighed, appearing quite regretful, and muttered to himself, "Why won't she listen to reason? What I said makes sense."

What kind of sense are you talking about?!!!

Yu Chunhong could no longer keep up the pretense. She gritted her teeth, grabbed Chen Guicai's hand, and stood up. She glared furiously at Liu Guyu, then turned to look at the field, where the two strong men had already cut several handfuls of rice.

She couldn't be bothered with crying anymore. She tugged hard at Chen Guicai beside her, hitting and scolding him.

"Why are you standing there gawking?! Our crops are about to be cut down! Hurry home and get the sickle to keep cutting! You useless fool! Standing there like a plague god, not daring to utter a single word! What good are you to me?!"

She alternated between yelling and hitting, punching him several times until he swayed.

Chen Guicai remained silent, enduring her blows with his head down, only heading home to get the sickle after she had finished.

Chen Guicai, Yu Chunhong, and even their young daughter Chen Erya were all called out to cut rice in the field.

But with one child, one lame man, and Yu Chunhong, whose speed and strength couldn't match a full-grown man's, the three of them together still couldn't keep up with the two strapping young lads.

The two mu of rice that would originally have taken five or six days to harvest was cut down in just two days, with both sides racing against each other.

On the third day, in the presence of the village head and other villagers, the Qin family reclaimed the field and weighed the grain on the spot.

Liu Guyu didn't ask for more; he simply weighed out grain equal to the value of the rent based on the price at the town grain store.

But Yu Chunhong was unhappy again. She put her hands on her hips and shouted arrogantly, "That's too much! Too much! The price in town is eight wen per jin of grain. You've taken at least seven jin more!"

Yu Chunhong had been watching their every move like a hawk, afraid they might take even one extra grain of her family's rice.

Liu Guyu stopped and turned to look at her: "It's not too much. This amount covers the wages for Er Zhuang and Tie Niu for helping cut the rice!"

Er Zhuang and Tie Niu were the two young men who had helped with the harvesting over the past two days.

Yu Chunhong's eyes widened in shock, and she cried out, "What?! You hired them, why should we pay?!"

Liu Guyu spread his hands, frowned, and said, "They cut your family's rice, so of course you pay."

Yu Chunhong hadn't expected this. How could someone be even more shameless than her! She caught her breath a few times and yelled loudly, "But we didn't hire them! You did! We won't acknowledge this!"

As the two started arguing again, the villagers settled in for the show, thoroughly riveted by the exchange.

Someone spoke up: "The Chen family has a point. Those men really weren't hired by them."

Another said: "So what? They cut her family's rice. Liu Ge'er can't just take all the grain that Er Zhuang and Tie Niu cut these past two days back to his home, can he?"

...

Liu Guyu chuckled at this and said, "Auntie, you're not so old that you've forgotten already, are you?"

Yu Chunhong: "What?"

Liu Guyu counted off on his fingers: "A few days ago, my mother and I came to your house to collect the rent payment. You didn't want to pay. I said right then that if you didn't pay, I'd find my own way to get what's owed. You agreed at the time, saying you'd accept any method I used."

When he reached the last three words, Liu Guyu paused for effect, then laid heavy emphasis on them.

Immediately, someone who had been present that day spoke up.

"Hey! That's true! I heard it with my own ears."

"Indeed, indeed!"

"But then again, the Chen family couldn't come up with the money. Liu Ge'er had to collect it himself. The creditor shouldn't have to foot the bill, that doesn't make sense."

Everyone had their say. Finally, the village head stepped in and said, "Liu Ge'er is right. This is your bill to pay."

The village head hadn't really listened carefully, but he'd already spoken.

Where was the reason? The reason lay in two packages of brown sugar.

Yu Chunhong: "..."

Yu Chunhong stamped her foot reluctantly, shot a glare at the silent Chen Guicai beside her, and said no more.

Liu Guyu carried the grain back home. How could he manage dozens of pounds of grain alone? In the end, Er Zhuang and Tie Niu helped him out.

Yu Chunhong was displeased again. She stood there with her hands on her hips, shouting, "You two, come back here! I provided the grain, shouldn't you be helping me carry it? Why are you helping him? Come back!"

The two men pretended not to hear, not even turning their heads.

After all, Liu Guyu had paid them thirty coppers. They didn't care about anything else—they'd help whoever they wanted.

The group carried the grain away without looking back. Er Zhuang and Tie Niu didn't say much either; they left the grain at the Qin's place and left.

Cui Lanfang was tidying up the kitchen, clearing space for the grain, when she heard the commotion outside and hurried out to see, just in time to see the two men leaving.

"Is the grain brought back?"

Liu Guyu turned and nodded to her, then called out, "Mom, come help me with this."

Cui Lanfang nodded cheerfully and shouted into the house, "Erlang, Banban, come help out!"

With some free time these past couple of days, Qin Rongshi had been teaching Banban to read characters in the main room. He used a wooden stick dipped in water to write and draw on the table, saving paper and ink while learning characters—which served both purposes.

The two quickly came out and helped carry several large bags of grain into the kitchen. Liu Guyu added, "We don’t have a grain mill at home. When we have time in a few days, we’ll take the grain to the village ancestral hall to have it milled."

Not every household in the village had a grain mill or a millstone, but the village ancestral hall was equipped with these things. There was even an old, faded red wedding sedan chair stored there, available for any family to use when someone gets married.

Cui Lanfang naturally agreed and said, "We still have rice at home. Let’s cook a pot of white rice today!"

That sounded good. Liu Guyu hadn’t realized how much he loved white rice before, but after days of eating cornbread and vegetable gruel, he now found rice truly fragrant.

As it was nearly time to prepare the meal, Liu Guyu tied his apron around his waist and entered the kitchen to start cooking.

He picked two eggs from the bamboo basket, went to the vegetable garden to pick a handful of green peppers and cowpeas, and upon returning said to Cui Lanfang, who was stoking the fire and cooking rice, "Mom, we always buy our eggs. That won't do. How about we buy some chicks next spring? They'll lay eggs, and we can also eat chicken."

Cui Lanfang actually paused to think for a moment before replying seriously, "I think that’s a good idea. By next spring, my health should be much better, and I can take on more household work. Then you and Erlang can run a stall in town, and leave the housework to me."

Liu Guyu laughed and shook his head, "That won’t do! I want to earn enough to send Erlang to school!"

After all, this was his golden ticket—he had to cultivate it properly!

Cui Lanfang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "...If we can earn enough for tuition, that would be wonderful."

Liu Guyu didn’t say more and began washing and cutting the vegetables.

Stir-fried pork with cowpeas, green peppers with eggs, and a vegetable soup—this meal was quite lavish.

He heated lard in the pan until it was hot, then added the marinated minced pork and diced cowpeas, stir-frying quickly. He tossed in a spoonful of chopped pickled peppers and preserved radish, frying until the red oil released its fragrance. Then he scooped a spoonful of salt from the salt jar, sprinkled in some scallions, and dished it out.

A simple yet delicious side dish was ready—the preserved radish and peppers enhanced the flavor, making it tangy, spicy, and full of flavor.

After stir-frying the green pepper eggs and cooking the vegetable soup, the meal was quickly prepared.

"Time to eat!"

Liu Guyu called out, and Qin Rongshi and Qin Banban, who had been practicing characters in the main room, quickly came over to help set the table and bowls.

Liu Guyu served four large bowls of white rice. Just the aroma of the rice alone was incredibly enticing.

Once the family was seated at the table, he first spooned a portion of pork with cowpeas into his bowl, mixing it with the rice. It was delicious.

As he ate, Liu Guyu asked, "Mom, what should we do with the two acres of land we got back?"

At this, Cui Lanfang also frowned. No one in the family knew how to farm, and even her husband wasn’t cut out for it. Back when Old Qin was still alive, the family had several acres of land. He kept one acre for growing medicinal herbs and leased out the rest.

Hearing Liu Guyu bring it up, Cui Lanfang felt conflicted and tentatively asked, "Should we lease it out again?"

But Liu Guyu frowned and shook his head, suddenly asking, "Mom, how much grain can the best paddy field in our village yield per acre?"