Chapter 35 – Making Brown Sugar and Going Back to Qinghe Village
Wei Lei’s mother saw that he didn’t go to work and after asking him about it, she learned that he didn’t have to go to work because he was on vacation. Every day Wei Lei went to work and handed in 30 wen so now that he doesn’t go to work, it means he has no money to hand in. She immediately scolded him for staying at home, Wei Lei replied that he didn’t have a job, and he didn’t have to look for one. His mother shouted at him that he was just staying at him while eating when he had nothing to give.
Recently, Wei Lei had been going to work- he got up early, came back late, and was not at home all day long. Now that he was at home, he faced his mother’s swearing, life felt harsh at that moment.
He simply didn’t continue staying at home and went to Wei Yuan’s house where the vegetables were still being collected. It was better to help than to be at home.
Wei Yuan watched Wei Lei come over so he asked him, “Lei-zi, why are you at ours today and didn’t go to Cheng-zi’s to work?”
Wei Lei said in a flat tone, “The stall will be temporarily closed for a few days.”
Wei Yuan was very surprised, and asked him in a low voice, “Is the business not doing good? Why is the business closed?” He helped at the stall once, and he was amazed by the booming business. It made no sense that the business would not be good.
Wei Le simply told him the truth, “The business is the same as before. It’s Cheng-zi who said that the stall has not had a break since it opened so we should take a few days off.”
Wei Yuan raised his voice in surprise: “What is Cheng-zi thinking? The business at the stall is so good that he is making so much money!” If his family opened the stall and made that much money every day, they would definitely not rest, not even within a year. They did not need rest, making money is the most important thing.
However, this is a business owned by Wei Cheng’s family. No matter how good their relationship is, they can’t control Wei Cheng. As for why Wei Cheng wanted to go on vacation… Anyways, he doesn’t want to even analyze it.
The two were chatting next to each other, and the villagers who came to deliver the vegetables were curious about what they were talking about. They seemed to have heard them talking about Wei Cheng. When the villagers heard Wei Cheng’s name, they all wanted to find out if Wei Cheng wanted to buy something.
Wei Yuan and Wei Lei just chatted for a few words, and didn’t mention anything about Wei Cheng’ stall, so as not to reveal Wei Cheng’s affairs and let the villagers listen to them and discuss it behind their backs.
Wei Cheng didn’t have anything to do or worry about so he was very relaxed now.
Zhou Yuan looked at his leisurely expression with a funny face as he ignored him. Although he was technically resting, there was still a lot of work at home. He had been busy with the stall and didn’t have the chance to clean their house properly. He took advantage of the vacation to clean up.
Wei Cheng wanted to help him but Zhou Yuan refused. He was allowing his husband to rest well- he was the one who wanted to take a vacation in the first place. Besides, the work was not heavy, so it was trivial, and he could finish it by himself.
Wei Cheng rubbed his nose, then moved a stool to the door where he sat leisurely, watching his wife come in and out.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zhou Yuan sat beside him after finishing his cleaning.
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Zhou Yuan looked at Wei Cheng, carefully observing his expression, to see if he would be unhappy that he wanted to go back to his natal home.
He has a good relationship with his cousin Xiu, and they often played together when they were young.
“When will you go visit? I’ll take you there so I can also see my father-in-law and mother-in-law.” Wei Cheng thought that since his wife’s house is not far away, it’s convenient to go back and visit, maybe it was because his wife misses his father-in-law and mother-in-law too.
“You have no objection to me going back?”
Hearing that the husband did not object to him going back, Zhou Yuan was also happy. In most cases, for those who get married, their husband’s family doesn’t like their wives going back to their natal homes often.
Wei Cheng smiled at him, “How could I object? Your husband is not someone else. You only have one day to go back to your natal home though. If you go back to your natal home and leave me alone for too long, I won’t be willing.”
Zhou Yuan said happily, “Thank you husband.”
Wei Cheng looked at his wife with a rare serious expression, but his voice was extremely gentle, “Yuan Yuan, I am your husband, to thank your husband is like cheating on me. Don’t do this in the future, you can just talk to me if you have anything to ask for in the future. Remember, don’t say thank you any more.”
Wei Cheng felt that his wife was caring and gentle, but it seemed like he was always worried about doing something that would cause his displeasure, like asking to go back to his natal home. However, it was also understandable that the ancient etiquette were disadvantageous to women and gers with gers having it even worse.
To change the concepts that were imprinted for so long on his wife, he must guide him slowly.
Zhou Yuan looked at his husband’s gentle expression, and nodded slightly, “Okay.”
Knowing his husband’s heart will gradually change him.
“Yuan Yuan, go back and visit your cousin. You can decide what you want to buy. You have all the money in your hands so you don’t need to ask me to buy anything.”
Wei Cheng’s gentle eyes were still intently locked onto him, he wants to let his wife understand his affection, he wants him to know that he will tolerate everything for him, so that he doesn’t have to worry.
Zhou Yuan smiled slightly as he boldly said what was in his heart, “I originally wanted to buy some brown sugar to give to my cousin Xiu. She is doing confinement right now, and brown sugar is the most suitable. It is very difficult to buy brown sugar in the county town though and if I can’t buy any, I will Just buy a small bracelet for cousin Xiu’s child.”
Brown sugar is tens of pennies a catty as it is more expensive than white sugar. Ordinary people have enough money to buy some for confinement or health care at home, but Nanshan County does not produce brown sugar so the quantity of brown sugar sold here was small. If any stock were available, they would be sold out within a few days which is why brown sugar is not easy to buy.
Wei Cheng remembered that when he went for a walk with his wife after lunch every day, he found a lot of wild sugarcane growing in a wasteland. It may be because the wild sugarcane was hard and without moisture so no one picked it even though it was nearby, so it was abandoned there.
Sugar cane juice can be squeezed out of sugar cane with a stone mill, and the sugar cane juice is used to cook brown sugar.
When he was a child, his grandparents often made brown sugar. This was because when he was a child, his family was poor and had no money to buy candy, so his grandparents boiled brown sugar using sugarcane juice as candy and gave it to him as snacks.
“Your husband has a way to get brown sugar for you.”
“Really? Do you know someone who can help you buy some?”
“There is no need to buy any, we’ll just make it ourselves.”
“What?”
*
First, he needed to make a stone mill to squeeze the sugarcane juice, and then find someone to cut the sugarcane.
Wei Cheng would not do things that only cost twenty or thirty wen for someone else to do.
He remembered that Aunt Yang’s son was at home these days and seemed to be out of work, and he also saw someone coming to help Aunt Yang wash the dishes.
Wei Cheng started heading to his neighbor Aunt Yang’s house in order to ask Aunt Yang’s son, Yang Gaolin, to hire him to help cut sugar cane. If the other party refused, he would just find someone else.
Wei Cheng went to the next door, and when he came, the helper who was washing vegetables saw him- she was a little cautious as she stopped chatting happily about her family with another helper.
In their eyes, Wei Cheng was their boss, and no matter how good-tempered Wei Cheng was, he was the one who hired them. Now that Wei Cheng came over, she was afraid that her boss would think they were slacking off, so they silently stopped talking and moved faster.
Wei Cheng saw this but he didn’t say anything to let them not be so restrained. The manager can relax appropriately with management as long as the worker’s are doing fine but he won’t directly admit it. Otherwise the workers below might think that it was easy to talk to him and their work may start getting flimsy and not taken seriously.
Wei Cheng went straight to Aunt Yang because Aunt Yang’s son was also helping her wash the vegetables. Seeing him coming, Aunt Yang’s didn’t greet him as naturally as when they were neighbors in the past because he was a little cautious, probably because of his identity change.
“Brother Wei.”
Yang Gaolin is younger than Wei Cheng, a few centimeters shorter than Wei Cheng, and not very strong.
“It’s good that Gaolin is here, I happen to be looking for you.”
“Brother Wei, what did you want to tell me?” Yang Gaolin didn’t expect that someone would come looking for him.
“My family wants to hire someone to go to the uninhabited wasteland in front of us to cut sugarcane, and to squeeze the sugarcane into juice with a stone mill. It only takes half a day and the wages would be twenty yuan. I wonder if you would like to do it?”
“This…” Yang Gaolin didn’t expect that the man came here to give him a job, one with a salary that was good. He didn’t know what to say for a while but he was happy to have a job, even if it was for a day.
“You’re so dumb, why are you still not agreeing, are you not gonna say yes?.” Aunt Yang glared at her son, she was stunned and didn’t hesitate to express her opinion on such a good thing.
It’s not that her son is not hardworking and he also has a good personality, but he is not shrewd and too honest. This is also the reason why he can’t find a job. He has been back for four days, and he has been returning empty-handed every day when he goes out.
Fortunately, her eldest son has a job, otherwise the whole family would rely on the money she earned at Wei Cheng’s house for their food and drink. If that happens then when will they be able to earn silver taels for their two sons to marry?
Her husband at home couldn’t do much work but he still went to the markets and docks every day to see if there was any temporary work to do.
Yang Gaolin was embarrassed by his mother’s words so he immediately replied, “I’ll do it, thank you, Brother Wei.”
“Okay, then I won’t need to find anyone else since you’ll do it. Just cut about a hundred sugar canes while I go make a stone mill. If there is no one at home when you return then you can just put the sugar cane in my yard when you bring it back.” Wei Cheng explained the matter as he made arrangements and left.
Yang Gaolin went to the room where they stored firewood to get a hatchet for chopping sugar cane, he walked briskly, happy with the job he gained.
Aunt Yang was also very happy, they were able to earn another 20 wen for her own family, and the work is not heavy. The other two helpers are also a little envious, but they are also happy for Aunt Yang. Because of this job, the whole family can have enough food.
Thank You for the new chapter (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡
I wonder if they’ll make sugar cane juice!!
Thanks for the chapters!
Thanks for the update!! and thanks Hammy for the chapters!!
Thanks for the chapter! Sugar cane makes a better kind of sugar, health wise, than others so it’s not a bad thing to have it around