Chapter 83: Taking the Family’s Money

Chapter 83: Went Home to Get Money

After waiting about an hour, the good-news procession arrived.

With trumpets and drums all the way, they brought great honor to Xiaohé Village.

Li Zheng Gu Changhe and the clan elders grinned so wide their gums showed at the sight.

Good, good, this was quite the spectacle—for quite a while to come, everyone would be talking about how Xiaohé Village produced two xiucai, one of them even the top-ranked scholar (Anshou)!

Hopefully the talk would last long enough that by the time the town head called a meeting of village heads before the autumn harvest, people would still be discussing it.

Then he could hold his head high and puff out his chest just like the li zheng of Sanyang Village had done a few years back.

The yamen's good-news procession naturally went first to the home of Anshou Gu Chaoning for a round, then to the home of Gu Rong, who placed twelfth in the xiucai exam.

Originally, the last stop should have been the li zheng's invitation, but since Gu Rong's dad was the li zheng, that step was skipped.

In the end, the li zheng and clan elders sat through two cups of tea, handed out congratulatory money, and the yamen runners happily rose and went off with trumpets and drums to Xiaodukou Village, to the home of Shen Zhenghao, who placed forty-eighth.

After the good-news procession left, everyone was actually even happier.

There was no helping it—they were all farming folk. Even when yamen runners came bearing good news, it still made them nervous.

Now that they were gone, they could finally start talking all at once.

The li zheng and clan elders immediately decided to open the village ancestral hall and proclaim a ceremony to pay homage to the ancestors!

The date was set for ten days later, a lucky day the elders had scoured the calendar to find. In the meantime, Gu Chaoning and Gu Rong were to rest, and the village was given time to prepare.

Early the next morning, Gu Chaoning and Gu Rong first went to Teacher Zhang's place, reporting on the exam, writing out the questions and their answers from memory.

Then they spent the morning at the village school, teaching the students one by one, talking about the imperial exams and boosting everyone's morale, before finally heading home.

When they arrived, the kitchen was bustling. Gu Muan was the head chef, with Chen Youyan as the sous-chef handling the wok for the midday meal.

Chen Youyan felt bad for the little boy who had been picked on without their knowledge, so today, whatever Gu Muan said, that's what they made.

On ordinary days, only Wang Xiuxiu, Chen Youyan, and Hao Youfu ate the midday meal, so it was simpler.

But today, first there was Gu Chaoning, worn out from the exam and the long journey, and second there was Gu Muan, who had been wronged. Though Gu Daniu, Gu Wen, and Yin Hongxue were absent, the midday meal had more variety to it.

The dishes were: a slow-simmered soup with dried shrimp, luffa chunks, tofu, and eggs; scallion whites stir-fried with wild mushrooms; wild greens tossed in scallion-leaf oil; and stir-fried pork with chili peppers, with steamed rice and steamed buns as the staples.

These four dishes, just by looking, seemed the same as what Chen Youyan or Wang Xiuxiu usually made.

But the moment Gu Chaoning walked in, looking at the look of the dishes and catching the aroma, he knew—some of them were different.

For the dried shrimp stew, the luffa was first dry-roasted in a wok over low heat to draw out its juices, then set aside. Oil was added, and the eggs and dried shrimp were gently fried.

Then boiling water was added over high heat, the lid clamped on, and the broth simmered to a milky white. The eggs were cut into pieces with the spatula, and finally the tofu chunks and roasted luffa were added.

The luffa was the first of the season, as tender as a young cucumber. After roasting, it wilted slightly, then tumbled in the soup, soaking up all the broth until it was succulent.

The scallion whites with wild mushrooms needed no introduction—the tastiest part of the scallion, stir-fried with wild mushrooms that are famed as mountain delicacies. Even with just salt, it made you wolf down your rice, let alone with the light touch of other seasonings Gu Muan had added.

The seemingly simplest scallion-oil tossed wild greens: oil was heated over low heat, the leftover scallion leaves from the mushroom dish were added and fried until just slightly charred, then the firewood was immediately pulled out of the stove. Using the wok's residual heat, salt, soy sauce, and other seasonings were poured in.

Once the oil and seasonings had mixed together and cooled a bit, they were poured over the prepped wild greens.

The greens had been dug up bright and early by Wang Xiuxiu, blanched in boiling water, then chilled in just-drawn well water. Tossed with the scallion oil, they were salty, fragrant, crisp, and refreshing.

Ironically, the stir-fried pork with chili peppers, a meat dish, turned out to be the simplest.

They set aside a portion for Hao Youfu and brought it out to him, then the remaining four at home all took a sip of the soup at once.

The broth was rich and milky, fragrant with oil, savory with shrimp, carrying the unique vegetal sweetness of luffa, and the eggy aroma.

One sip, and they felt completely satisfied from head to toe.

"Delicious!" Gu Chaoning exclaimed.

Wang Xiuxiu and Chen Youyan followed suit, and even Gu Muan was especially pleased with the midday meal he had personally directed.

Gu Chaoning couldn't help thinking—since his little brother liked cooking so much, might as well have him apprentice under a master chef.

Cooking was a trade, too. Once he mastered it, he'd never have to worry about going hungry. Whether he became a chef or opened a restaurant later, it was a skill that made money.

Combined with his little brother's knack for knowing what was in a dish just by smelling it, he might not outdo the imperial chefs, but once he finished his training, he'd certainly be their match.

But he only kept this thought in his head, not daring to voice it.

His little brother had just had a rough time with the apprenticeship business. If he rushed to push him into another apprenticeship right away, that's not how a big brother should act.

After the midday meal, the four of them took a nap. When they woke, Gu Chaoning followed his father to the fields, Gu Muan stayed home to continue napping, and Wang Xiuxiu sewed new clothes for Gu Muan while keeping an eye on the kid.

By the time he'd gone to take the exam, the family's rice seedlings had already been transplanted into the paddies. These next couple of days, they needed to get the dry land ready—plant one mu of peanuts and three mu of sweet potatoes.

The Gu family was thin on labor. They only had three real able-bodied workers, so when it came time to sow, they'd definitely need to hire hands.

But they couldn't just sit idle beforehand either. Every day, they came over to weed and turn the soil, so the hired hands would have less prep work when planting time arrived.

The regular hired hand, Hao Youfu, was working a full day today, alone in another field.

The family had a plow, but the mule wasn't around, so Gu Chaoning and Chen Youyan worked together—one pushed the plow while the other pulled it, turning the soil little by little like that.

The dry land had all been plowed in early spring, but that's just how fields are—leave them alone for a while, and weeds would grow.

And since it had been freshly plowed in early spring, the father and son didn't find the cleanup too much trouble.

The spring sun was warm and pleasant. They first focused on plowing the weediest spots, then picked the weeds and wild greens into a backpack basket—the tender wild greens they kept for themselves to eat, the rest they chopped up to feed the chickens and ducks.

They worked until the afternoon wore on, when they saw at the edge of the field Wang Xiuxiu coming toward them, a clay pot in one hand and Gu Muan's hand in the other, bringing water.

Gu Muan was carrying two bowls.

When they poured out the clay pot, the liquid turned out to be a deep purple-black. One taste—sweet and sour, refreshing. It was sour plum drink.

"Oh, who made this sour plum soup? How come there's no medicinal taste at all?"

Chen Youyan took a sip and exclaimed.

Gu Muan chuckled and raised his little hand up high: "It was me!"

Chen Youyan knew it had to be Gu Muan. In just two times of directing the cooking, the little chef Gu Muan had already won Chen Youyan's approval for his cooking.

Their little master might be the god of cooking reincarnated.

The same thought crossed his mind as Gu Chaoning's, but he also held back, worried about Doctor Ding, and didn't dare bring it up.

Another worry was that even if Gu Muan liked to cook, if the teacher they found turned out to be shady behind closed doors, Gu Muan would still be the one to suffer.

So even though everyone had their opinions, nobody said anything.

After downing the sour plum drink to quench their thirst, Gu Chaoning and Chen Youyan continued plowing the field, while Wang Xiuxiu and Gu Muan grabbed their baskets to pick up the weeds the men had turned over.

By the time they got to the end of the rows, the baskets were full, and they had to stomp the weeds down to make room.

They had to pick them up—otherwise, if left in the field, the weeds would look dead after a day in the sun, but after soaking up the night dew or a little rain, they'd take root again.

Besides, the chickens and ducks ate a ton every day, and they usually had to make a special trip to cut grass for them. The weeds from the field were still grass, so picking them up cleaned the field and saved them a separate trip for feed.

Three generations worked until the sun went down, then packed up their tools and headed home.

Gu Muan, being young and happy, still had plenty of energy to bounce around.

"Xue Age is coming back. After dinner, I wanna go out and play with Xue Age," the little guy turned to Gu Chaoning. "Brother, you coming?"

Gu Chaoning naturally nodded.

Gu Muan cheered and bounced around, circling his dad, grandma, and brother.

On the way, they ran into Gu Lvliu and his dad Gu Tang, both with muddy feet, looking like they'd just come from the pond.

Gu Lvliu was surprised to see Gu Muan at this hour: "An Geer, why are you home? Didn't you go to study medicine today?"

Folks in Xiaohe Village had been busy with farm work lately, going to town to sell wild veggies early and coming back early, so they rarely made the trip. So what went down at Huichun Hall yesterday was still news to most of the village.

Gu Muan leaned in and whispered that he wasn't studying medicine anymore.

The little guy looked a bit sheepish: "Liu Geer, I'm not cool anymore. I can't teach you any new herbs."

Gu Lvliu shook his head: "An Geer's still cool. Even if he doesn't know new herbs, he's still cool."

After Gu Tang heard Chen Youyan and Wang Xiuxiu tell him about Doctor Ding, he felt a mix of emotions.

When Gu Muan had gone to town to study medicine, folks had whispered things like, "An Geer picked up a few herbs from Liu Geer and then went to town to study medicine," and he'd heard it all.

He'd actually wanted to send Gu Lvliu to study medicine too, but he just couldn't scrape together that much silver right now.

It wasn't that he couldn't, it was just too much—even gritting his teeth, he couldn't bring himself to shell it out.

Now hearing that Gu Muan's medical studies had hit a snag and the teacher was a bad apple, Gu Tang felt mad for the Gu family but also secretly relieved.

Gu Muan and Gu Lvliu agreed to play together that evening, then waved goodbye and headed to their respective homes.

About half an hour after getting home, they heard a ruckus outside—it was Gu Wen and Yin Hongxue coming back. About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Gu Daniu also came back driving the mule cart.

The cart held work tools and a few straw cushions, usually just tossed in the back.

But today, with his son and grandson having matters to attend to, Gu Daniu stopped the mule cart at the gate, unloaded everything first, added fodder and water for the mule, and gave the cart a simple wipe-down before calling it done.

That evening after dinner, as dusk fell, Gu Wen drove the mule cart while Gu Chaoning carried a lantern, and the father and son headed out into the fading light.

Their destination was Ferry Town.

Gu Muan stood at the door, craning his neck to watch the mule cart shrink into the distance until it was no longer visible, then curiously asked Yin Hongxue, who stood beside him.

"What are Father and Brother going to do?"

Yin Hongxue also watched the cart and the two figures, and upon hearing the question, he ruffled Gu Muan's head and answered softly.

"Going to Doctor Ding's place to get our family's money back."