from widow to dame

Chapter 29

Under the dizzy yellow light, Su Huiniang's small abacus dial made a rattling sound.Jujubes were sold for 270 taels, bean sprouts were sold for 91 taels, eggs were sold for two taels, one hundred was two hundred taels, and handkerchiefs were sold for 12 taels.But there was also a lot of expenses. It cost two and a half taels of silver for food, three taels of silver for cloth and embroidery thread, and three taels of silver for Su Wen to buy white paper and a few scriptures. The copper stove used for shabu-shabu was 17 renminbi, half a pig’s hip cost 66 renminbi, and some daily necessities such as salt, sugar, aniseed, lamp oil, etc. cost a total of 39 renminbi. The rest is only sixty-two zero and ninety-five Wen.

Su Huiniang sighed with some melancholy, thinking, fortunately, in the countryside, you don't have to buy vegetables or anything, otherwise the money in your hand would definitely be spent faster.Of course, this is also because their family is relatively "luxury". Even if you belong to the whole Wangjiaao, there is no such thing as their family, which has meat and soup for every meal, and at least two dishes per meal.

Today's jujubes are the best sellers, Su Huiniang couldn't help but be moved to continue selling, there are five or six jujube trees growing in her portable space, if they are packed into baskets, thirty or forty baskets are not a problem.I just want to continue, but there are two obstacles. One is that the journey is too long.The second is that there are not always fairs in the town.The thought was temporarily suppressed, and at dawn the next day, Su Wen and Wang Qilang went to school by themselves. Su Huiniang finished the housework and began to tidy up the vegetable garden. Mrs. Lin went to the third aunt's house, but there was no one in the house, so Su Huiniang hurried after finishing her work. After entering the space, he smashed out several baskets of red dates.She doesn't plan to sell these, but to use them to make jujube wine.

Holding a large wooden basin and placing it in the yard, filling it with clean water, and then pouring in the dates, Su Huiniang washed them one by one, and then took a wooden mallet and began to beat them evenly, repeatedly, for a long time, until the whole basin The jujubes were all turned into jujube paste before stopping.This procedure alone took more than three hours. After Lin came back, she couldn't help being surprised. Su Huiniang explained it with a smile and asked the other party to help. So under her command, the mother and daughter took what they could find at home. All the pottery pots were taken out. Su Huiniang poured the right amount of rock sugar and water into the jujube paste according to the proportion, and then poured them into the pots one by one. The most important thing was when sealing the lids. There should be no gaps exposed, otherwise the brewed wine would be spoiled. .Su Huiniang specially wrapped a circle of spun yarn tightly on each seal.After a lot of work, the time came to sunset before they knew it, and the result was the fourteen jars in front of them.There is no cellar or well at home, so Su Huiniang can only find the shady place and bury them in the ground. It should only take about half a month for them to ferment successfully.For the remaining jujubes, Su Huiniang decided to dry them. She cut the jujubes in half with a knife and exposed them to the sun.In this way, after more than half a month passed, Su Huiniang took out the jar buried in the soil, opened it, and sure enough, the pulp had completely rotted and sank to the bottom of the jar, and the dark red juice exuded a strong aroma of wine.

Su Huiniang couldn't wait to take a sip. Suddenly, she felt a creamy and mellow taste in her teeth. She smiled and narrowed her eyes with joy. Lin Shi, Su Wen and others also said it was delicious, and Wang Qilang was the most deceitful. The little ghost actually secretly took out a jar and put it in his little glutton's belly before Su Huiniang, and was read by Su Huiniang for a long time.

A total of fourteen altars of wine were brewed, and Su Huiniang gave one jar to the third aunt's house, the home of Osmanthus osmanthus, and the teacher of Su Wentang. The response was quite good, and the third aunt came to ask her for more, Su Huiniang Where are you willing to give it again, just say it and it's all gone.The third aunt was very disappointed, she thought to herself, this jujube wine is easy to make, she has made it before, but the wine produced is sour and astringent and not tasty at all, how could it be different for Su Huiniang?
On this day, a guest from Su Hui's family came, but it was Mother Rong from the Chen family.

"Do you still have those dates that you sold last time?" Mother Rong asked with a smile: "To tell you the truth, our wife loves those dates very much, and now I eat some every day." Surprised by her arrival, she still smiled and invited people into the house. Su Huiniang was extremely happy to be able to establish a relationship with the Chen family.So, she said: "There are more, let mother wait a moment, I'll get you some." Su Huiniang came over with a basket of jujubes, and then took out two jars of jujube wine.Mother Rong gave Su Huiniang ten taels of silver and left a few boxes of food before she left with a smile on her face. Who would have thought that a few days later, she would come again and bluntly said that her wife fell in love with the jujube wine brewed by Su Huiniang, so she wanted to buy more go back.Su Huiniang asked how much she wanted, and Mother Rong said as much as she wanted.

Su Huiniang thought for a while, and went to fetch the Qitan, but she never accepted the money, she just said: "Mom, to tell you the truth, I have a younger brother named Su Wen, who is studying in the school in the village, and he has a reputation as a child. It turned out that he was not in good health, and it was inconvenient for him to be too far away from home. Now he is indeed much better. After all, the educational resources in the village are limited, so I thought about transferring him to the town."

Mother Rong pondered for a while, and said with a smile: "You are a good sister who is willing to take care of my brother. It's really difficult." Su Huiniang smiled.Mother Rong didn't mention the money anymore, she put the jujube wine into the carriage, said hello, and the group left.Su Huiniang looked at the shadow of the car fading away amidst the dust, and smiled slightly, knowing that it should be done.

Sure enough, three days later, someone from the Chen residence sent a "teacher invitation card".At this time, if a student wants to go to the school, he only needs to meet the admission requirements of the other party and submit a certain amount of training. But if you want to worship a teacher with real status and knowledge in the school, you have to use There are some special means, and this "teacher invitation" is equivalent to the door-knocking stone. As for whether you can catch the teacher's eyes or not, it depends on the student's own ability.The one who got this news was the happiest than Su Wen. The child's eyes were red with excitement, almost crying, and he was buried by Wang Qilang beside him.

On the second day, Su Huiniang led Su Wen, who was wearing a light blue student robe and a scarf, to the "Spring and Autumn" school in Longquan Town.The school was full of men, and it was inconvenient for women to enter. Su Wen took a deep breath, and walked in by himself with the greeting card from the Chen family.Su Huiniang waited outside for a long time, and it took more than two hours before Su Wen came out. When he saw his sister, he immediately showed a strong expression of joy and ran towards her with a brisk pace.

Su Huiniang asked with a smile, "It's done?"

Su Wen nodded vigorously, and said excitedly: "Mr. Ziyou from the academy is willing to accept me as a student. Mr. Ziyou is very knowledgeable. I..." Su Huiniang smiled and listened to Su Wen's unspeakable words. He spoke excitedly, and after a long while, he said in admiration, "My younger brother is talented and beautiful, and Mr. Yu has vision."

After Su Wen heard this, his handsome face immediately turned red with a shy look on his face, but his small chest stood up slightly.However, Su Huiniang knew that probably because of her poor health and family background since she was a child, Su Wen's temperament was actually a little weak and inferior. Such a person needs constant encouragement to cultivate his self-confidence, and gradually he can get rid of himself. to be a real man.

The "Spring and Autumn" school is a dormitory system. When Su Huiniang came here, she didn't bring anything. She planned to buy new ones for Su Wen. So the whole afternoon, the two siblings began to shuttle between the market, except for the necessary daily necessities. In addition, Su Huiniang also bought a precious Taizhou inkstone with a square foot of 50 taels of silver. .

In the evening, Su Wen lived in the school, and Su Huiniang also found a clean inn to stay overnight. In the afternoon of the next day, she just got on the ox cart to go home.When Su Wen left, Lin's heart suddenly dropped, and she shed a few tears from time to time. Su Huiniang's persuasion was useless, so she just let it go, thinking that Lin would always figure it out.On the contrary, Wang Qilang was so excited these days, he always got tired of Su Huiniang like a little sparrow, even when he practiced calligraphy every day, he had to be next to Su Huiniang, so he really wanted to become a sticky "sticking tree bark" It's better not to get off her body.

The days passed slowly like this, and two months passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Su Huiniang's family lived a leisurely and peaceful life, and what made her most happy was that the huge red spots on her face finally completely disappeared Gone, a delicate and pretty face, but so greasy that she wanted to pinch the water, finally saw the light of day again. Everyone who saw her was amazed by her changes, and Su Huiniang's heart finally fell completely. It is really not a happy thing to be on the ground and live under the strange eyes of others all the time.

"Huiniang, have you finished washing?" Aunt Osmanthus put down the mallet in her hand and asked with a smile.

Su Huiniang hummed, talked to her again, and then walked home with her tub in her arms.It was the setting sun at this time, and the twilight light dyed the small roads in the country, which was quite beautiful. Su Huiniang was in a good mood, and while admiring the scenery, she was thinking about something delicious to cook tonight.

"Yo... Isn't this my fourth sister-in-law who died?" Suddenly, a smooth voice sounded, accompanied by a high-pitched whistle. Four boys who looked like teenagers blocked him, and whoever was the leader was Wang Liulang.

(End of this chapter)