Chapter 183: Brother-in-Law

Chapter 183: Brother-in-Law

"Mom, the fermented glutinous rice we made in previous years was never enough. Can we make more this year?" Lin Xiaopu asked with an expectant look.

The family was much better off than before, so making more fermented glutinous rice should be possible, right?

He Guixiang readily agreed: "Sure! Your sister said that once the fermented glutinous rice is ready, we'll switch to three meals a day. This time, I'll make two large earthenware jars of fermented glutinous rice and store them. When we finish them, we'll make more!"

Lin Xiaopu was overjoyed.

Oh my gosh, two big jars!

Does that mean we can have fermented glutinous rice every day from now on?

And three whole meals a day!

If we switch to three meals, she wouldn’t have to go hungry every morning until breakfast—she could eat as soon as she got up?

Gosh, this family couldn’t do without her sister! Because of her sister, the whole family could now have three meals a day!

After her burst of happiness, Lin Xiaopu began looking forward to Aunt Lin’s return. Once Aunt Lin was back, her little piggy bank would be filled with many more coppers!

With Zhao San around, the money jar definitely wouldn’t be stolen again.

Today, the ice jelly business went smoothly. When Lin Zhaodi returned, her face lit up with joy again.

They counted the earnings together, which were about the same as the previous two days—around 1,700 copper coins.

Lin Zhaodi should have gotten 500 coins, but because she failed to guard the money jar properly yesterday, as A Shu had said, she wouldn’t get a share today.

It was just a day of working for free. When she thought about it that way, the loss didn’t seem too bad? Once she accepted it, Lin Zhaodi stopped worrying about the thief.

Besides, with Zhao San helping out at the stall today, she felt much more at ease. After selling out, the couple could have a relaxed chat during their downtime.

Zhao Laosan, who returned a bit later, also felt quite pleased. Although he had to walk both ways, it was still easier than working in the fields. At the stall, he didn’t have to do much—just help handle money and keep an eye on the money jar.

When he got too hot, his wife would even scoop him a bowl of ice jelly to eat. The cool, refreshing treat was so comforting.

He knew it must be because A Shu had given permission, allowing them to eat the ice jelly freely. Otherwise, given his wife’s meticulous nature, he would have had to pay for a bowl himself.

By the time he walked back home, smoke was already rising from the chimney.

Lin Zhaodi turned to look at him. "Dear, have some water first. Supper will be ready soon. I cooked some porridge, and once it’s done, I’ll make a few griddle cakes. A Shu said it’s good for me to eat more mugwort, so tonight we’re having mugwort griddle cakes."

Zhao Laosan acknowledged and went to scoop a bowl of water from the jar himself, sighing, "This water is nowhere near as good as ice jelly."

Lin Zhaodi glared at him. "It’s twelve coppers a bowl—of course it’s good! Stop thinking about it. It was already good enough that you got to have a bowl today."

"Wife, let’s forget about today. The money we earned went toward covering the loss. But tomorrow, if we make money, could you buy me a few measures of wine to drink?"

Lin Zhaodi was speechless. "We don’t earn this much every day. A Shu said that at first, everyone’s just curious, but after a few days, business won’t be this booming. A Shu also said that drinking is bad for your health. Drink less—I’ll allow you three times a month, but don’t even think about more."

Zhao Laosan was easily satisfied and immediately broke into a smile. "Three times is fine too."

He had originally prepared himself for not being able to drink more than a few times a year after the family split, but he never expected his wife to be so capable.

In Zhao Laosan’s eyes, earning A Shu’s trust was also a testament to his wife’s ability. As far as he was concerned, aside from not being able to have children, his wife was perfect in every way.

In the first few years, Zhao San was still somewhat fixated, pushing Lin Zhaodi to keep trying. Sometimes, even when exhausted, he would force himself to perform like it was a duty. But after a few years, Zhao Laosan had come to terms with it. Like Old Man Liao, who had a child but lost him, and now lived alone without a wife—life went on, didn’t it?

Now that their lives had hope, once the family became wealthier, he and Lin Zhaodi could always adopt a child from the clan.

...

As Lin Shu had predicted, the ice jelly business was a huge hit in the first few days. After stabilizing at around 1,600 or 1,700 copper coins daily for four or five days, the income began to slowly decline but not by much, settling at around 1,200 or 1,300 coins.

Except for a few days of heavy rain, Lin Zhaodi and her husband went to town every day without fail, showing no signs of fatigue and working with great enthusiasm.

As for Lin Shu, she only had to sit back and collect money. After deducting the cost of rock sugar, the rest was pure profit, making it even more lucrative than her Termitomyces sauce business.

Lin Xiaopu’s little piggy bank grew steadily, and she would gleefully count the coins in her little money jar every day.

He Guixiang, having received her share of the money, became more generous with food and other expenses. After the fermentation starter was ready, she directly bought two dou of glutinous rice and made two big jars of fermented glutinous rice.

Without realizing it, the family had acquired more and more things.

Several new sets of bowls and plates were added to the kitchen, along with more pottery jars and vegetable crocks. The three beds in the house all got new bedding.

Lin Xiaopu now had pretty hair accessories, and He Guixiang had replaced her wooden hairpin with a new one.

They even bought a shovel and a cleaver, which they hadn’t had before.

That day, a large mortar appeared in the courtyard!

The mortar could not only hull brown rice into polished rice but also grind rice grains into rice flour. The glutinous rice cakes that every household loved were made by pounding rice in a mortar.

Naturally, Zhou Ye had ordered the mortar. There was a stonemason in Dafu Village, and Zhou Ye not only ordered the mortar but also had the stonemason make a sink.

The sink was placed under the bamboo water pipe in the courtyard. From then on, whether washing rice, cleaning vegetables, or washing hands and face, water would no longer splash everywhere.

Lin Shu hadn’t expected that A Ye would remember something she had only mentioned once.

Since Old Man Liao had to take Aunt Lin to town every day, A Ye didn’t borrow his ox cart. Instead, he carried these two items all the way back himself!

Lin Shu thought he was foolish, but her heart felt warm and sweet.

Lin Xiaopu laughed, "Is this what you call 'one person’s hard work benefits the whole family'? From now on, with this mortar, Sister can have as much polished rice as she wants."

Lin Shu flicked her forehead. "Since you know how hard Brother A Ye worked, don’t bother him with trivial matters. Also, I prefer brown rice. We can hull some polished rice for holidays and festivals."

Although almost every household had a mortar, most used it to grind rice flour or glutinous rice flour for making glutinous rice cakes. Few used it to hull brown rice into polished rice.

After removing the bran, brown rice becomes much lighter. Many villagers couldn’t even eat their fill of brown rice. To save food, they would leave some room in their stomachs, so why would they hull polished rice?

Lin Xiaopu muttered, "I don’t bother Brother A Ye that much. I just asked him to make a few bamboo slingshots. I promised Feng Shitou and the others earlier. If I go back on my word, wouldn’t I lose credibility as their big sister?"

Lin Shu was amused—the term "big sister" was something she had taught her.

Speaking of Lin Xiaopu’s little followers, Wang Yingen had to be mentioned.

After running off midway through the first lesson, the boy came back a few more times, but every time it came to reading and writing, he would slip away quickly, frustrating Li Chunmiao to no end.

Later, Lin Xiaopu came up with a sudden idea: she would set up a small school and become the teacher, having her little followers learn to read with her. The teaching content would be the same as Lin Shu’s—the first half would be storytelling and moral lessons, and the second half would be teaching characters.

Lin Xiaopu was quite mischievous—she set up this small school right in Wang Yingen’s courtyard. The teaching time was similar to when Lin Shu taught Lin Yushu, scheduled for half an hour to an hour after breakfast.

Wang Yingen couldn’t avoid it unless he skipped breakfast.

At first, Wang Yingen refused to learn, but when he saw his less capable followers starting to learn, he joined in too.

After a couple days, he actually picked up some things—at least he could write the numbers from one to ten.

Li Chunmiao was so grateful that she doted on Lin Xiaopu more than her own son.

Not only Li Chunmiao, but also the parents of the other rascals were deeply thankful and even made a special trip to bring gifts to express their gratitude.

With the added status of being a "Little Teacher," the group of kids, including Wang Yingen, had already accepted Lin Xiaopu as their new leader.

The new leader not only taught them how to read but also played with them, striving for well-rounded development in morality, intelligence, and physical fitness.

Now, the new leader, Lin Xiaopu, was already thinking about something else.

"Sis, last time you mentioned that cicada molts and pagoda tree flower buds and flowers are medicines that can be sold for money. So why don’t the villagers collect and sell them?" Lin Xiaopu asked curiously.

Lin Shu explained, "First, many villagers aren’t aware of this. Second, the town’s pharmacies have their own regular suppliers. If they're well-stocked, they won’t buy herbs even if someone brings them in."

Lin Xiaopu pondered this and then asked, "Sis, what if I take some cicada molts and pagoda tree flower buds to sell at a pharmacy in the county? Since the pharmacies there are bigger and wealthier, do you think they’d buy them?"

Lin Shu wasn’t sure about this. "Well, you’ll have to ask your A Ye about that."

Lin Xiaopu grinned cheekily. "Heh heh, what 'A Ye'? In a few days, I’ll be calling him brother-in-law."

Lin Shu raised an eyebrow, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "You can call him brother-in-law to his face. Just based on that title, I guarantee even if he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll go to the county to ask for you."

Lin Xiaopu’s eyes lit up. Was it really that simple?

Now, the person who knew A Ye best in the family wasn’t her, her mother, or her father—it was her sister. If her sister said so, it must be true!

Zhou Ye had just carried the mortar and stone trough back, set them up, and had worked up a good sweat. He was now cleaning up in the courtyard.

As soon as he finished, Lin Xiaopu went over to ask about selling the herbs.

"Brother-in-law, there are so many cicada molts in the back mountain, and the pagoda trees have already produced buds, some even blooming. Do you think the county pharmacies would buy them if I dried them and took them there?" Lin Xiaopu’s voice was bright and clear when she called him "brother-in-law," and even Lin Shu, sitting far away, heard it clearly.

She coughed lightly and slowed the fanning motion of her fan.

She didn’t know if A Ye was embarrassed by the term "brother-in-law," but she certainly felt a little shy.

Why was Xiao Pu’s voice getting louder and louder?

Just as she was thinking to herself, Zhou Ye suddenly glanced in her direction.

Lin Shu remained composed and playfully winked at him: *Stop pretending, I know you’re secretly pleased.*

Zhou Ye kept a straight face, but he fought back a smile.