Chapter 66 Autumn
It was under You Jin's suggestion, Uncle Wang rented his earthen house to those five canal workers. It was set to one wen per person per day and charged the five people for ten days. The five canal workers didn’t mind Uncle Wang's earthen house being dilapidated. At least there was a place to stay, no?
Uncle Wang was also delighted. His old dilapidated house can bring him five wen income a day. And he lived in Su Family's canal worker's dormitory for free. Wasn't this perfect? Although the few canal workers puffed in anger when they saw old Third Chen occasionally at Wuliqiao, this matter was considered over.
However, old Third Chen’s matter had sounded an alarm within You Jin. Although her family won’t steal the canal workers’ money, who knows what kind canal workers were there. If something happens, it may affect her family business, no?
Right now, Su Family’s canal worker dormitory was full and can bring Su Family an income of about 4 silver liang per day. The canal workers had been in business for two months. The money invested in the construction had long been paid back. Now what they earn back every day was all pure profit. Such a good business, how can she bear to let go of it.
The time sequence had entered autumn. The 16 mu of fertile land that Su Family bought in Houjiawan was waiting for the original owner's family to harvest. Then it will be Su Family's land in the future. Nowadays, the business of sour plum soup had declined a lot. You Jin simply stopped this business. The sunflowers beside Su’s house had produced huge disc florets of sunflower seeds. The slightly curved sunflowers were happily telling people the joy of a good harvest.
You Jin bought back two puppies from the man whom she bought back the previous four wolf dogs from. Now that the family had fewer people and more things to do. The dog's attack power was much stronger than that of a child after training.
You Zhu's culinary skill was slowly improving. Can only say that Mrs. Su was a very patient teacher and You Zhu was a master of persistence. When the two gathered together, it seemed success could happen.
"Eldest Sister, come and try my new snack." You Zhu, whose face was stained like a dirty cat, brought a plate of pastries shaped like plum blossoms into the East Wing and happily presented the treasure to You Jin.
You Jin tied the strings of one hundred wen copper coins tightly and put them on the table. Then she amusedly asked, "Is this coming to me to test the poison or taste the flavor?"
Carefully placing the snack plate on the vacant table, You Zhu pouted and coquettishly responded: "Eldest Sister!"
Although at the beginning she made difficult-to-swallow things, but Mother said she had made great progress now. Eldest Sister still made fun of her!
Seeing her like this, You Jin stopped teasing her. She wiped her hands with a thick cotton handkerchief beside her, then twisted off a piece of pastry in the shape of a pale yellow plum blossom, and put it in her mouth. The faint scent of chrysanthemum instantly spread in her mouth. Although the snack ingredients weren’t as exquisite as the snack shops in the city, they still have a special flavor.
Initially, You Jin was a little hungry. She finished in two, three mouthfuls nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad. What's this snack called?"
After getting a good evaluation from Eldest Sister, You Zhu grinned: "Mother doesn't know what to call it. Just said that she was taught by her maternal grandparent."
Afterward, she happily carried the snacks out for the little ones to try and correct the prestige of elder sister while she was at it.
On the other hand, You Jin in the East Wing Room began to think about the hope of her family opening a snack shop. Now her family had more than 500 liang as foundation and Mrs. Su's superb culinary skills. Although Mrs. Su's health was poor, a few apprentices could be bought. It wasn’t a problem then.
You Jin mulled about it for several days before discussing this matter with Mrs. Su.
Although Mrs. Su didn't know much about business, it wasn’t a big problem for her to teach people how to make snacks. "Wouldn’t our family's culinary skills be passed on to the outside world?"
People in this era were always very obsessed with the skills passed down from within the family. It wasn’t easy for a daughter, Mrs. Su to learn the skills passed down from her family, let alone pass it on to outsiders?
You Jin had considered this point. Upon Mrs. Su's question, You Jin outlined the plan in her heart: "I'm going to buy a few girls back and they will learn from my mother. Their life is in our hands. If they dare to spread it to the outside world, we will naturally have a way to deal with them. Besides, we can keep the recipe and only let them help with the dough. Wouldn't this do?"
After listening to You Jin's plan, Mrs. Su nodded in relief: "Since you have thought it all over, I naturally have no objections."
***
There was a trading market specially for human trading in Luohe Prefecture. The market opened on the 10th and 22nd of every month. Traffickers and customers who want to buy people will enter the market on these two days to conduct transactions.
You Jin was only twelve years old this year. It goes without saying, she won't go to the human trading market by herself. She went directly to Broker Chen whom she was familiar with. Broker Chen was naturally happy to handle this business.
Although You Jin knew that the lives of the poor in ancient times were worth nothing, this was the first time she had seen such a situation. The men, women, children, old, and young were standing dumbfounded with filthy-faced waiting to be picked. The traffickers enthusiastically greeted the guests. It wasn’t those who were tied together with ropes and had the same nose and eyes as herself. You Jin thought this was like selling animals.
Seeing a customer coming to the door, the human trafficker hurriedly greeted with a grin: "Sir, what kind do you want to pick back to serve? I have all kinds. Take a look?"
Looking at the trafficker with yellow teeth, Broker Chen frowned slightly. Then he looked at You Jin: "Miss Su, what do you think?"
It turned out that the owner was the little girl in the back who was only eleven or twelve years old in fine cotton clothes. The chubby-cheek human trafficker showed a flattering smile at her: "Little Miss, casually look around. If you find any suitable, tell me!"
You Jin gently covered her nose with her hand and then carefully examined the people who were tightly connected by a thick hemp rope. In the end, she picked out three girls who were about fourteen or fifteen years old, and nodded to Broker Chen .
Broker Chen nodded slightly and then negotiated a price with the trafficker who was rubbing his hands at the side. You Jin paid the silver and got the three’s body selling indentures. Just as they were about to leave the market, You Jin noticed a woman with her head down.She seemed a little different from the people around her. So she stepped forward and asked, "How much is this person?”
Seeing You Jin asked about the woman who caused him troubles along the way, the trafficker frowned in disgust and answered: "If Miss wants her, how about eight silver liang?"
"So expensive?" You Jin bought three of them just now for the total of five silver liang. So this one being eight liang was too expensive!
Seeing that she was quite interested, the trafficker immediately wanted to get her off his hand. So he offered, "Miss, if you really want her, how about seven liang? Little miss, she was a family member of an official family I bought back from the capital. Seven silver liang is really not expensive!"
The two went back and forth haggling over the price. Finally the woman whose real face and age couldn’t be seen was bought for six liang five coins. After leaving the human market and separating from Broker Chen, everyone boarded a mule cart hired by You Jin and headed for Wuliqiao.
Except for Mrs. Su, everyone in Su Family didn't know that You Jin went to the city to buy people. Seeing that she went alone and came back as five people and four of them were still dirty, the sisters curiously gathered over.
You Jin led the four of them into Su Family’s courtyard and let the four take a good bath first. Mrs. Su dug out four sets of old clothes she wore before and gave them to the four of them. Although they didn't fit well, it was much better than the former dirty and smelly clothes.
After the four of them took a detailed wash up, their true features were revealed. The three young teens were all from poor families. Their appearance could only be considered delicate, but looked capable and able to work.
And the one who was said to be an official’s family member in the capital finally showed her original appearance after grooming. Although the appearance of the woman in her early twenties with a bun was average, her eyebrows and eyes were free-spirited. After washing up, she gave a deep courtesy to You Jin: "Yu Lan thank you, Miss."
Although she was wearing half-worn village women's clothes, Yu Lan's demeanor was obviously very different from the three timid country girls beside her. You Jin nodded in satisfaction. In conclusion, she felt that the six silver liang wasn’t in vain: "Elder Sister-in-law Yu Lan, you are too polite."
After talking with the four of them for quite a while, You Jin had a rough understanding of the background of the four of them: Er Ya, Chen Xiao He, and Wu Ya-er were all sold by their parents and followed the traffickers from the north, the war-torn land and arrived in Luohe Prefecture. From young, they were used to rough work. As for Yu Lan, her husband's family was originally a ninth-rank official in the capital. Yu Lan was originally the daughter of a Juren. As a child, she knew how to read and write. Unexpectedly, a natural disaster occurred and the family was destroyed. Yu Lan was classified as a lowly citizen.
After hearing the life experiences of the few, You Jin didn't say anything. While Mrs. Su's eyes were watery.
"Let me tell you what you are going to do in the future first. Er Ya, you three will work in the kitchen with Mother and You Zhu. Elder Sister-in-law Yu Lan, you will be responsible for teaching the girls in our family to read and write every day and then help Mother take care of little Eighth and Kang-er."
Little Eighth and Kang-er were more than half a year old. A time when they were restless, and Mrs. Su couldn't keep up.
Yu Lan had given birth and raised children before. But it was a pity that her children had separated from her in the disaster at home. Now seeing the babbling little Eighth and Kang-er, she thought of her two children. Her eyes unconsciously turned red. She stretched out her hand, taking little Eighth, who wasn’t afraid of strangers, and gratefully responded: "Oh! I can definitely do it well!"
She thought that she was doomed to fall into the mud in this life. Although Su Family was worse than her past twenty years, there was a tile to cover her head. It was already a blessing to roll in the dust.
In one go, there were four more people in Su Family. Fortunately, the current house was big enough. You Jin took Er Ya trio to the west wing to clean up the lower rooms. Yu Lan and the three girls lived in the west wing next to You Yin sisters’ room.
Mrs. Su took You Zhu and three lasses to study snacks in the kitchen every day. While You Jin was busy interacting with Broker Chen. She wanted to find a suitable shop before winter and then opened the snack shop. Yu Lan followed You Jin's instruction and spent one or two hours a day teaching the girls in the family to read and write. They couldn't afford brushes and ink, so she took them to write and draw on the ground in the yard with branches. It was quite effective.
It was under You Jin's suggestion, Uncle Wang rented his earthen house to those five canal workers. It was set to one wen per person per day and charged the five people for ten days. The five canal workers didn’t mind Uncle Wang's earthen house being dilapidated. At least there was a place to stay, no?
Uncle Wang was also delighted. His old dilapidated house can bring him five wen income a day. And he lived in Su Family's canal worker's dormitory for free. Wasn't this perfect? Although the few canal workers puffed in anger when they saw old Third Chen occasionally at Wuliqiao, this matter was considered over.
However, old Third Chen’s matter had sounded an alarm within You Jin. Although her family won’t steal the canal workers’ money, who knows what kind canal workers were there. If something happens, it may affect her family business, no?
Right now, Su Family’s canal worker dormitory was full and can bring Su Family an income of about 4 silver liang per day. The canal workers had been in business for two months. The money invested in the construction had long been paid back. Now what they earn back every day was all pure profit. Such a good business, how can she bear to let go of it.
The time sequence had entered autumn. The 16 mu of fertile land that Su Family bought in Houjiawan was waiting for the original owner's family to harvest. Then it will be Su Family's land in the future. Nowadays, the business of sour plum soup had declined a lot. You Jin simply stopped this business. The sunflowers beside Su’s house had produced huge disc florets of sunflower seeds. The slightly curved sunflowers were happily telling people the joy of a good harvest.
You Jin bought back two puppies from the man whom she bought back the previous four wolf dogs from. Now that the family had fewer people and more things to do. The dog's attack power was much stronger than that of a child after training.
You Zhu's culinary skill was slowly improving. Can only say that Mrs. Su was a very patient teacher and You Zhu was a master of persistence. When the two gathered together, it seemed success could happen.
"Eldest Sister, come and try my new snack." You Zhu, whose face was stained like a dirty cat, brought a plate of pastries shaped like plum blossoms into the East Wing and happily presented the treasure to You Jin.
You Jin tied the strings of one hundred wen copper coins tightly and put them on the table. Then she amusedly asked, "Is this coming to me to test the poison or taste the flavor?"
Carefully placing the snack plate on the vacant table, You Zhu pouted and coquettishly responded: "Eldest Sister!"
Although at the beginning she made difficult-to-swallow things, but Mother said she had made great progress now. Eldest Sister still made fun of her!
Seeing her like this, You Jin stopped teasing her. She wiped her hands with a thick cotton handkerchief beside her, then twisted off a piece of pastry in the shape of a pale yellow plum blossom, and put it in her mouth. The faint scent of chrysanthemum instantly spread in her mouth. Although the snack ingredients weren’t as exquisite as the snack shops in the city, they still have a special flavor.
Initially, You Jin was a little hungry. She finished in two, three mouthfuls nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad. What's this snack called?"
After getting a good evaluation from Eldest Sister, You Zhu grinned: "Mother doesn't know what to call it. Just said that she was taught by her maternal grandparent."
Afterward, she happily carried the snacks out for the little ones to try and correct the prestige of elder sister while she was at it.
On the other hand, You Jin in the East Wing Room began to think about the hope of her family opening a snack shop. Now her family had more than 500 liang as foundation and Mrs. Su's superb culinary skills. Although Mrs. Su's health was poor, a few apprentices could be bought. It wasn’t a problem then.
You Jin mulled about it for several days before discussing this matter with Mrs. Su.
Although Mrs. Su didn't know much about business, it wasn’t a big problem for her to teach people how to make snacks. "Wouldn’t our family's culinary skills be passed on to the outside world?"
People in this era were always very obsessed with the skills passed down from within the family. It wasn’t easy for a daughter, Mrs. Su to learn the skills passed down from her family, let alone pass it on to outsiders?
You Jin had considered this point. Upon Mrs. Su's question, You Jin outlined the plan in her heart: "I'm going to buy a few girls back and they will learn from my mother. Their life is in our hands. If they dare to spread it to the outside world, we will naturally have a way to deal with them. Besides, we can keep the recipe and only let them help with the dough. Wouldn't this do?"
After listening to You Jin's plan, Mrs. Su nodded in relief: "Since you have thought it all over, I naturally have no objections."
***
There was a trading market specially for human trading in Luohe Prefecture. The market opened on the 10th and 22nd of every month. Traffickers and customers who want to buy people will enter the market on these two days to conduct transactions.
You Jin was only twelve years old this year. It goes without saying, she won't go to the human trading market by herself. She went directly to Broker Chen whom she was familiar with. Broker Chen was naturally happy to handle this business.
Although You Jin knew that the lives of the poor in ancient times were worth nothing, this was the first time she had seen such a situation. The men, women, children, old, and young were standing dumbfounded with filthy-faced waiting to be picked. The traffickers enthusiastically greeted the guests. It wasn’t those who were tied together with ropes and had the same nose and eyes as herself. You Jin thought this was like selling animals.
Seeing a customer coming to the door, the human trafficker hurriedly greeted with a grin: "Sir, what kind do you want to pick back to serve? I have all kinds. Take a look?"
Looking at the trafficker with yellow teeth, Broker Chen frowned slightly. Then he looked at You Jin: "Miss Su, what do you think?"
It turned out that the owner was the little girl in the back who was only eleven or twelve years old in fine cotton clothes. The chubby-cheek human trafficker showed a flattering smile at her: "Little Miss, casually look around. If you find any suitable, tell me!"
You Jin gently covered her nose with her hand and then carefully examined the people who were tightly connected by a thick hemp rope. In the end, she picked out three girls who were about fourteen or fifteen years old, and nodded to Broker Chen .
Broker Chen nodded slightly and then negotiated a price with the trafficker who was rubbing his hands at the side. You Jin paid the silver and got the three’s body selling indentures. Just as they were about to leave the market, You Jin noticed a woman with her head down.She seemed a little different from the people around her. So she stepped forward and asked, "How much is this person?”
Seeing You Jin asked about the woman who caused him troubles along the way, the trafficker frowned in disgust and answered: "If Miss wants her, how about eight silver liang?"
"So expensive?" You Jin bought three of them just now for the total of five silver liang. So this one being eight liang was too expensive!
Seeing that she was quite interested, the trafficker immediately wanted to get her off his hand. So he offered, "Miss, if you really want her, how about seven liang? Little miss, she was a family member of an official family I bought back from the capital. Seven silver liang is really not expensive!"
The two went back and forth haggling over the price. Finally the woman whose real face and age couldn’t be seen was bought for six liang five coins. After leaving the human market and separating from Broker Chen, everyone boarded a mule cart hired by You Jin and headed for Wuliqiao.
Except for Mrs. Su, everyone in Su Family didn't know that You Jin went to the city to buy people. Seeing that she went alone and came back as five people and four of them were still dirty, the sisters curiously gathered over.
You Jin led the four of them into Su Family’s courtyard and let the four take a good bath first. Mrs. Su dug out four sets of old clothes she wore before and gave them to the four of them. Although they didn't fit well, it was much better than the former dirty and smelly clothes.
After the four of them took a detailed wash up, their true features were revealed. The three young teens were all from poor families. Their appearance could only be considered delicate, but looked capable and able to work.
And the one who was said to be an official’s family member in the capital finally showed her original appearance after grooming. Although the appearance of the woman in her early twenties with a bun was average, her eyebrows and eyes were free-spirited. After washing up, she gave a deep courtesy to You Jin: "Yu Lan thank you, Miss."
Although she was wearing half-worn village women's clothes, Yu Lan's demeanor was obviously very different from the three timid country girls beside her. You Jin nodded in satisfaction. In conclusion, she felt that the six silver liang wasn’t in vain: "Elder Sister-in-law Yu Lan, you are too polite."
After talking with the four of them for quite a while, You Jin had a rough understanding of the background of the four of them: Er Ya, Chen Xiao He, and Wu Ya-er were all sold by their parents and followed the traffickers from the north, the war-torn land and arrived in Luohe Prefecture. From young, they were used to rough work. As for Yu Lan, her husband's family was originally a ninth-rank official in the capital. Yu Lan was originally the daughter of a Juren. As a child, she knew how to read and write. Unexpectedly, a natural disaster occurred and the family was destroyed. Yu Lan was classified as a lowly citizen.
After hearing the life experiences of the few, You Jin didn't say anything. While Mrs. Su's eyes were watery.
"Let me tell you what you are going to do in the future first. Er Ya, you three will work in the kitchen with Mother and You Zhu. Elder Sister-in-law Yu Lan, you will be responsible for teaching the girls in our family to read and write every day and then help Mother take care of little Eighth and Kang-er."
Little Eighth and Kang-er were more than half a year old. A time when they were restless, and Mrs. Su couldn't keep up.
Yu Lan had given birth and raised children before. But it was a pity that her children had separated from her in the disaster at home. Now seeing the babbling little Eighth and Kang-er, she thought of her two children. Her eyes unconsciously turned red. She stretched out her hand, taking little Eighth, who wasn’t afraid of strangers, and gratefully responded: "Oh! I can definitely do it well!"
She thought that she was doomed to fall into the mud in this life. Although Su Family was worse than her past twenty years, there was a tile to cover her head. It was already a blessing to roll in the dust.
In one go, there were four more people in Su Family. Fortunately, the current house was big enough. You Jin took Er Ya trio to the west wing to clean up the lower rooms. Yu Lan and the three girls lived in the west wing next to You Yin sisters’ room.
Mrs. Su took You Zhu and three lasses to study snacks in the kitchen every day. While You Jin was busy interacting with Broker Chen. She wanted to find a suitable shop before winter and then opened the snack shop. Yu Lan followed You Jin's instruction and spent one or two hours a day teaching the girls in the family to read and write. They couldn't afford brushes and ink, so she took them to write and draw on the ground in the yard with branches. It was quite effective.
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I think this Yu Lan is the mom of the 2 boys and thank you for your wonderful translation
ReplyDeleteI hope so, I hope Yu Lan is the mother of the 2 boys
ReplyDelete