Chapter 10

For lunch and dinner, they made stir-fried mushrooms with black fungus, which Zhou Jing and Shen Mo had picked from the mountain yesterday.

In the evening, before Shen Lin returned home, Zhou Jing said, “Xiao Di, come over early tomorrow. Your elder brother and I are going to town, and you need to stay here to look after our things.”

The thatched cottage was really just a house by name. It could withstand rain, but not much else. Zhou Jing hid all his treasures under the bed, buried under a pile of straw. Those treasures were pure, shiny silver! If they were stolen, he would have no place to cry.

Shen Lin shrugged it off and said, “You worry too much. I don’t know what’s so interesting about this thatched house. Besides, I need to go dig for vegetables on the back mountain tomorrow; otherwise, what will we eat?”

Still, Shen Mo ultimately said, “Xiao Di, come over early tomorrow. Don’t go up the mountain; there are still some black fungus and mushrooms at home. You can stir-fry them for yourself. There’s something very important at home that your brother-in-law left here, and I’m worried someone might take it.”

“Alright, I’ll come over early tomorrow.” Shen Lin replied.

Zhou Jing shook his head. “I hope we can sell some of the things we will take to the town tomorrow. Then we’ll have money, and we can bring Shen Lin over to live with us, so he won’t have to go back and face Wang Chunhua’s mood. But I’m curious—how can Wang Chunhua bear to not let such a strong laborer like Shen Lin work? He always ends up coming to our place.”

Shen Mo’s expression turned a bit awkward, but he still spoke up.

“It was me who taught him. I’ve suffered myself, so I understand. I had him pretend to be sick; whenever the family asked him to work, he would act unwell. Later, when Mother passed away and our stepmother arrived, she wanted Xiao Di to work in the fields, so I told him to pretend to faint. Everyone in the village witnessed this. Xiao Di already had a reputation for being weak, and when that happened, people began saying that with a stepmother comes a stepfather. When my father, concerned about his image, heard the villagers telling him not to be too hard on the child, he felt ashamed. After a few incidents of Shen Lin ‘fainting,’ he finally stopped making him work.”

“And besides, at that time, I was there. If Xiao Di didn’t work, I did it all myself. It was manageable. Later, when I got married, I was worried Xiao Di would be bullied. So, I promised Wang Chunhua ten coins a month to keep her from making him work, and of course, she agreed to the money.”

“Ten coins a month? Where are you going to get that much money?”

“One year, when I was up the mountain, I found a small piece of Ganoderma and sold it for a couple of silver coins. I didn’t tell anyone at home; I secretly hid it away.”

Zhou Jing chuckled softly. His little wife and he was really of the same mind.

—o—o—o—

The next morning, Shen Lin arrived early. Zhou Jing and Shen Mo set off without eating breakfast.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to eat; it was just that if they ate the only remaining food in their house, Shen Lin would have to go hungry.

Zhou Jing and Shen Mo had no money in their pockets, so they had to walk. The dirt road from Wangjia Village to town was rough. It would take them an hour and a half on foot while riding a donkey cart would make it in about an hour.

When they set off, the sun had just peeked over the horizon, but by now, it was fully out.

“How much farther?” Zhou Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead. He always thought of himself as someone who exercised regularly, but he couldn’t handle walking such a long distance.

“About half an hour left!” Shen Mo replied, also feeling exhausted.

Shen Li had rarely come to town before and had never walked such a distance. Though he had done farm work, where he could do labor all day, today he was struggling due to a pain in his lower back.

Shen Mo discreetly rubbed his waist, but Zhou Jing caught him with a glance.

“Let’s sit down and rest for a bit.”

In the early spring, the mornings and evenings were still quite cool. They found a sunny spot, and just as Shen Mo was about to sit, Zhou Jing suddenly said, “Wait.”

Zhou Jing took off his outer coat, folded it a few times, and placed it on the ground. “Don’t sit on the cold ground.”

Shen Mo felt a pang of emotion. How could this person be so kind to him? He was just a ger! No family in the village liked gers. The best he could hope for was to find a family that wouldn’t mistreat him.

Just as Shen Mo was about to ask if Zhou Jing would be cold, a mule cart clattered by behind them. The farmers primarily used their mule carts for work in the fields, and they would only take them to town during the off-season. Families would coordinate to go together, each contributing two coins, pooling together enough for a trip. However, since these carts weren’t specifically meant for transporting passengers, there were no compartments, and everyone sat on the flatbed.

With that, it became easy to see inside and outside the cart.

“Hey, Xiao Ju, isn’t that Zhou Jing over there? The one who kept bothering you, got stabbed by your brother, and lost a hundred coins?”

Zhang Ju’s face immediately darkened, and she deliberately raised her voice. “I don’t know him. Shu Hua, don’t talk nonsense.”

Everyone on the cart was aware of the messy situation between Zhang Ju and Zhou Jing.

One nosy woman chimed in, “Zhang Ju, you don’t know him? Who else would send him into the river to catch a turtle? I remember that turtle was quite big, and it even attracted Old Lady Wang!”

The cart erupted in laughter, and Zhang Ju felt so embarrassed that she wished she could jump off right then and there.

She hurriedly said, “Look at him, all poor and pitiful. Even if I asked him for something, he wouldn’t have a single coin to give. That turtle was actually caught by my brother; he was afraid it would bite me, so he asked Zhou Jing to help out. The people in the village saw it and spread the rumor that it was Zhou Jing who gave it to me, and then Old Lady Wang extorted money from him. Just look at him—he can’t even afford to eat, so how could he possibly give me anything good!”

“Oh, but that’s different. Everyone was young once! When young people are involved, isn’t it all about love and promises? If you were with him, he’d give you not just a big turtle, but even his life! Just ask him for something; look, he’s carrying a big rooster in his hands! If you say the word, I bet he’d just hand it over!”

The people in the cart laughed again.

Zhang Ju was so angry she almost cried. “I won’t ask a man for anything! Besides, who would associate with someone like him? A low-class woman like Shen Mo is the perfect match for him!”

Thinking about Shen Mo growing up in such an environment, being discriminated against and ridiculed by people, Zhou Jing disregarded the difference between men and women. He only wanted to grab her and give her a taste of her own medicine, to let that woman know how it felt to be ridiculed to her face.

He stood up, intending to chase after the departing donkey cart, but was caught by Shen Mo’s hand.’

“Let it go. I’ve heard such words many times before. If I were to fuss over each time, it would never end,” Shen Mo said.

“How can that be acceptable? If I hadn’t heard it, that would be one thing, but since I did hear it, I’ll fight back!” Zhou Jing retorted.

Unexpectedly, Shen Mo suddenly smiled. “Zhou Jing, just having your attitude is enough. It makes me very happy.”

“You know, your expectations of me are too low. You can expect more. Actually, your husband is quite capable,” Zhou Jing said.

“I know.” Shen Mo said softly.

Zhou Jing gripped Shen Mo’s hand tightly and said, “From now on, I won’t let anyone bully you again!”

Shen Mo smiled and said, “I will protect you too. Actually, I am… I am also quite fierce. I just didn’t dare to do it before.”

“You can be from now on. I like a fierce wife.” Zhou Jing said.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Shen Mo said, “We’ve rested enough. Let’s hurry and get to town so we can start our journey back earlier.”

—o—o—o—

The two of them walked for another half hour before finally reaching the town. After inquiring about which establishment offered fair prices for wild game, they arrived at a restaurant called “Tianxia Ke” (Guests from All Around the World).

It wasn’t mealtime, so the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. A waiter was lazily sitting behind a table, while the shopkeeper was fiddling with an abacus.

“Excuse me, do you buy wild game here?” Zhou Jing asked.

Zhou Jing, with his short hair, had worn a straw hat to avoid unnecessary trouble. Wearing a straw hat in this season wasn’t unusual. The shopkeeper looked up at them, noticing their patched clothes, and immediately recognized them as farmers. He looked down on them in his heart but didn’t show it too obviously. He just said unenthusiastically, “Yes, we do. Waiter, go weigh it for them. We’ll pay twenty wen per jin.”

“Understood,” the waiter responded while leading them to the back kitchen.

The wild pheasant was quite large, weighing over five jin. They were given one hundred and ten wen for it. Zhou Jing secretly counted out five wen from the payment and slipped it to the waiter.

“Brother, can I ask you something?” Zhou Jing said.

Five wen wasn’t much, but the waiter was used to running errands in the restaurant and sometimes received tips. No one would refuse free money, no matter how little it is. However, it depended on what the person wanted to ask.

“Brother, don’t worry, I’m not asking about anything private. I won’t put you in a difficult position.” Zhou Jing assured him. “You know, we farmers are usually idle except during the busy farming seasons. Our family is struggling financially, so we want to find work. But we’re afraid of encountering harsh employers and working a whole year for nothing and being unable to get our wages. I wanted to ask you if you know any kind of masters who treat their short-term workers well and have good working conditions.”

The waiter replied, “This season, most masters aren’t hiring.”

Zhou Jing persisted, “They’ll hire eventually. I just want to keep an eye out in case I get lucky and find something. I don’t want to work for nothing. Brother, how about this: just tell me a few households that might hire people like me, and I’ll pay special attention to those families.”

The waiter finally mentioned four households, then thought for a moment and added, “If you’re looking for short-term work, our county magistrate’s household is the best. Our magistrate is fair in his official duties and kind as a person. His wife even goes to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha during festivals. But you probably can’t get in there.”

“Thank you, Brother,” Zhou Jing thanked the waiter and left the shop with Shen Mo.

Shen Mo thought for a moment and said, “I’ve heard some things about the county magistrate’s family.”

“What things? Tell me, it might be useful,” Zhou Jing said.

He was planning to find a wealthy family with trustworthy characters who wouldn’t steal their belongings. He knew nothing about this place, and it was Shen Mo’s first time in town as well, so they were both in the dark.

However, being a native, Shen Mo was still better informed than Zhou Jing, who had just arrived in this world, and knew some rumors.