The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 48 2/2

Sang Lou only now understood why that young Lu second sister-in-law, even when she smiled at her, seemed to have a layer of unshakable melancholy between her brows. It seemed as if she was always lacking a bit of vitality.

While earlier, when she brought back a pile of household items at noon, she still felt optimistic about the future, now she couldn’t help but feel a little more troubled.

Wars in ancient times were the greatest suffering for the common people. Despite being here for some time after transmigrating, she probably hadn’t encountered many things like this.

Sang Lou didn’t ask why there were always wars like this, she just nodded and said, “I understand.”

Thinking of the eldest grandson of the old lady, who was in a similar situation, she looked at Mrs. Chen with some remorse.

The old lady smiled gently, “It’s alright, you couldn’t have known. Besides, living in such times, one must learn to console oneself, or else what can one do?”

How does one go on living?

After letting out a sigh, the old lady composed herself and changed the subject, introducing Sang Lou to the Zhou family.

“We don’t have many families in our village, but if we talk about families with many members, the Lu family is one, and the Zhou family is another.”

“Zhou? Are they related to Zhou Li?”

Mrs. Chen nodded and shook her head, “They’re from the same ancestor, but it’s already the fourth generation, so they’re considered distant relatives. The relationship isn’t as close anymore.”

As an orphan herself, Sang Lou had a vague understanding of some kinship concepts, but with memories from her previous life, she understood what the old lady meant by “distant relatives”.

In the Great Qian Dynasty, the first generation were direct siblings, the second generation were cousins, the third generation were clan siblings, and by the fourth generation, they were considered distant relatives.

So it seemed that the blood relationship was indeed quite weak.

Being the village head usually meant having the best living standards in the entire village, and that was the case for the Zhou family. Although they also lived in adobe houses, they had tiled roofs, which was noticeably different from the thatched roofs of other villagers. Moreover, their house was large due to the numerous family members. Despite being made of adobe, it somehow exuded a certain air of grandeur when compared to the houses of other villagers.

Mrs. Chen probably had good interpersonal relationships in general, as she was always smiling and able to strike up a conversation with anyone, including the Zhou family.

After a brief explanation of their visit, the wife of the village head scrutinized Sang Lou and said, “So you’re Alie’s wife. You’ve been in our village for a while, but we haven’t had the chance to meet before.”

Handling household registration and other matters usually involved going directly to the neighboring village to find the village head. The village head merely assisted the village elder in his daily work, coordinated neighborhood relations, and handled disputes. So, since Sang Lou rarely ventured out, it wasn’t surprising that the family of the village head hadn’t seen her before.

Mrs. Chen smiled and said to Sang Lou, “This is the wife of the village head. According to seniority, you can call her ‘sister-in-law’.”

The wife of the village head was about the same age as Qin Fangniang, indicating that the village head of their village was quite young.

Sang Lou smiled and greeted Mrs. Zhou.

Mrs. Zhou smiled back and led the two towards the chicken coop, saying, “We don’t have many chickens at home, but I heard you just built a new house. Since it’s not the right time to buy chicks, I can spare you two. Feel free to pick them out yourself.”

Sang Lou chose two young hens this time, adding to the two she bought from the Lu family, making it one rooster and three hens. After another two or three months of raising them, they should start laying eggs. With three hens, if each laid an egg per day, it would be enough for their household consumption.

Mrs. Zhou, the wife of the village head, was also efficient, quickly weighing and tying up the chickens. These two chickens were slightly lighter than the ones from the Lu family, but they were just right, also costing fifty-six cents each.

Since the two families didn’t have much interaction, there were no personal favors involved. Mrs. Zhou accepted the payment with a smile, and Sang Lou and Mrs. Chen then bid farewell.

Passing by Mrs. Chen’s house, Sang Lou remembered that she hadn’t bought any vegetables from the county today. Thinking about tonight’s meal, she remembered they had wild vegetables at home and asked Mrs. Chen to buy two eggs.

As soon as she spoke, she took out two cents from her purse and handed them to the old lady, making it clear that she didn’t want to be shortchanged.

It wasn’t surprising that Sang Lou acted this way. During the time she spent cooking at Mrs. Chen’s house while they were building her own, the old lady often bought groceries and helped out with cooking. At first, Sang Lou didn’t know, but over time, how could she not notice?

Since they began building their house, most of the eggs laid by the chickens at Mrs. Chen’s house were given to her.

During those times when they ate together, the old lady always felt guilty that the whole family seemed to be benefiting from her, so she secretly supplemented Sang Lou with some eggs, feeling much better afterwards.

So Sang Lou didn’t say anything. But now that the house was built, and she was cooking at home, how could she dare to take advantage of the old lady?

Seeing her expression, Mrs. Chen smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take it. I make a living with these chicken butts.”

With a cheerful smile, she tucked the money into her sleeve, went inside to get the eggs, and when she came out, she had two eggplants in her hand. “Here, a little extra.”

Sang Lou chuckled and didn’t refuse, thanking her with a smile. With one hand holding the cloth bag and the other holding the eggplants, she was about to leave when she remembered the sack of grain she had bought. “Grandma, I’ll come later to pound the rice.”

Mrs. Chen glanced into her own courtyard and smiled, “It’s gone. Your Aunt Arita must have helped you pound the rice and brought it over. Go home and take a look.”

Back at home, under the thatched roof, the grain bag was indeed there.

Shen An had already made several trips and brought back straw and mats. They had even made the bed. The siblings sat and lay on the new bed, enjoying themselves. When they heard Sang Lou come back, they climbed down from the bed and eagerly greeted her.

“Sister-in-law, I’ve given water to the ducklings and put them in the backyard.”

“Sister-in-law, Aunt Arita helped us pound the rice. I’ve put the rice in the rice jar, and the bran is in the cloth bag.”

With one sibling in front and one behind, they ran to Sang Lou and told her everything they needed to know. Their eyes were fixed on the cloth bag in Sang Lou’s hand, which occasionally wriggled. Shen An eagerly took the eggplants while asking, “Did you buy chickens too?”

Sang Lou smiled, “Yes, I did. I’ll put them in the backyard for a couple of days to get used to it. After I build a coop, I’ll let them roam outside and put them back in the coop at night.”

Carrying the cloth bag into the backyard, she closed the yard door and let the chickens out one by one, untying the grass ropes from their feet.

As soon as the four chickens were freed, they scattered around the yard, startling the ducks in the corner, who huddled together on the dry grass. The previously empty backyard was now filled with the commotion of clucking and quacking, lively and bustling.

Shen Ning’s eyes sparkled, “Sister-in-law, I’ll go pick some dandelions and mugwort and find some foxtail grass. We can mix it with bran to feed the chickens.”

Foxtail grass seeds were also known as foxtail millet, and during famines, people would use them as food. They were suitable for feeding chickens and ducks.

The little girl seemed quite knowledgeable about raising chickens and ducks, indicating that she had done a lot of this kind of work before.

Sang Lou smiled and replied, “Okay, but you have to be careful these days when feeding them. Don’t let the ducks eat the chicken feed. They’re still young and can’t eat certain things. The feed for them must be prepared separately for now.”

“Got it.” The siblings nodded and ran out of the house.

Sang Lou checked on the three ducklings and saw that they were adapting well. After the four chickens had settled down a bit, she closed the door and left the backyard.

Sang Lou first took a look inside the grass hut and found the bed neatly made with some straw in the corner, presumably extras. She thought she could use this straw to make a nest for the chickens and ducks later.

Before getting to work, she went to the bathhouse and discovered, besides the toilet and the newly bought tub, two dustpans in the corner. They were filled with carefully selected goose eggs, all of them round and smooth, with some even having beautiful patterns. Each one appeared to have been cleaned thoroughly, without a speck of sand on them, and was exceptionally clean.

Sang Lou was puzzled. She had only asked for them last night, so where did they find so many attractive goose eggs in just half a day?