Chapter 10

Yin Huaixi and her daughter refusing to exchange houses with the Cai family had already made the Cai family resentful. If it weren’t for the village chief warning them several times, they would have definitely taken advantage of their many men to cause trouble.  

At the moment, without a house, they could only set up a straw shed to survive, and the rations they received had long been consumed. Earlier, seeing everyone in the village going to the beach, they had also gone to dig up some clams, but ended up baking a few that were full of sand, making them almost vomit with rage.  

Now, hearing that the Yin family actually had fish and eggs to eat, their jealousy was burning so fiercely it felt as though it would consume their rationality.  

“Yin Huaishan said before that they had no silver left, that he dug his parents’ graves with his bare hands. He really knows how to put on an act.”  

“Unbelievable! They caused us to sleep in the mountains, while they enjoy a good life. Heaven is unjust!”  

“They can’t be allowed to have it easy! Eldest brother and second brother, you keep an eye on that family. The next time they go out, we’ll sneak in and look for money.”  

The three brothers from the second branch didn’t care about the first and third branches and decided on their plan themselves. Old Master Cai neither opposed nor supported them. In any case, when his grandsons benefited, he would too, and by not speaking up, he wouldn’t have any stains on his reputation.  

The couple from the first branch opened their mouths, wanting to intervene, but ended up being harshly mocked by their three nephews.  

“The eldest cousin can barely breathe when pulling a blade of grass; we can’t rely on him.”  

The second branch had already risen, while the first branch was being crushed.  

With over a dozen people in the family, each had different thoughts.  

At this time, Yin Huaixi had already returned home. After putting down what she had, she took the mugwort leaves and went to Xiaoman’s house. Making the mugwort water was quite easy; just wash the leaves clean and boil them in water. Mugwort can inhibit bacteria and relieve itching, making it perfect for the current situation.  

Whether it was psychological or not, Xiaoman felt very surprised after washing; she felt much more comfortable. Aunt Qiu Fang was so delighted she nearly knelt down again to thank Yin Huaixi.  

In the village, paper and pens were very precious, so Yin Huaixi couldn’t write the prescription and could only verbally instruct the mother and daughter to remember it and get the medicine in the city.  

This illness could be cured in about seven to ten days with a two-pronged approach; after that, they would just need a follow-up consultation.  

Yin Huaixi didn’t take anything else from Xiaoman’s family, only borrowing a kitchen knife to bring back. She had no choice; she needed to cut the bamboo shoots at home, and doing it by hand wouldn’t work.  

“Little sister, are you really going to do this? Aunt Niu said this stuff is both bitter and astringent and not edible.”  

“That’s because they don’t know how to eat it. Eldest brother, I’ve been living in the back courtyard for a long time and have thought up many recipes. These shoots are quite delicious; once I’m done, you’ll see for yourself.”  

Yin Huaixi grabbed the peeled bamboo shoots and began to chop them up skillfully. The sight made Yin Huaishan inexplicably feel his eyes sting.  

His little sister had been pampered since childhood and had never done any cooking; after marrying that scoundrel Jiang Cheng, she was unexpectedly learning both medicine and cooking. The thought of his precious sister toiling away in the smoke-filled kitchen made him want to drag Jiang Cheng out and beat him up.  

That scoundrel had acted as if he was deeply in love when he married her, but now he didn’t treasure her at all. The moment he got out of prison, he divorced her without a thought, not even caring for their daughter, Wanwan; it was simply heartless.  

Sooner or later, he would…  

Uh, thinking too much.  

Right now, he was just a banished commoner.  

Yin Huaishan was filled with silent resentment; after being exiled, he would never return to the capital in this lifetime. Even if he wanted to hit someone, he couldn’t. He could only hope that heaven had eyes and that scoundrel would meet a bad end!  

“Ah-choo! Ah-choo!”  

While Jiang Cheng was working, he sneezed several times in a row, spraying saliva onto the woman beneath him, and for no reason, he just explained.  

“Cousin…”  

The woman called out mournfully, turning her head to wipe her face disdainfully with her clothes. Jiang Cheng immediately lost all interest, so he simply turned over and lay back on the bed, waiting for his cousin to clean him up.  

“Cousin, have you caught a cold?”  

“Of course not! I’m very healthy and have no headaches or fever. It must be someone cursing me.”  

Jiang Cheng’s face darkened, likely thinking about who would be cursing him at that moment.  

“Cousin, you mustn’t think of Cousin-in-law~”  

A slender arm wrapped around him, and Jiang Cheng’s expression immediately improved a lot. He turned and kissed his cousin, reassuring her, “Yingying, don’t worry; my heart is all yours.”  

That woman Yin Huaixi was both fat and dull; if it weren’t for her maternal family, he wouldn’t have married her. Now that he was already a fourth-rank official with a promising future, that woman had also made way for him—truly, heaven was helping him.  

“Cousin~ When will you go to our home to propose? I haven’t taken any contraceptive medicine these past few times; maybe I’m pregnant.”  

“What?! You haven’t taken it?!”  

Jiang Cheng sat up with an expression full of displeasure. Qian Yingying secretly thought it was bad; her cousin’s reaction was unusual.  

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you say you would marry me after the divorce? Now that Yin Huaixi has left, there’s no obstacle to us getting married. Isn’t it normal to stop taking contraceptive medicine?”  

Qian Yingying had a bad feeling, but her face still showed full dependence on her cousin. Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth and endured, not wanting to say anything unpleasant.  

He was about to be promoted to the third rank, while her uncle was only a sixth-rank official. How could such a cousin be worthy of his rightful wife? Such a precious position should be given to someone who could help him rise. As for his cousin, even if he didn’t marry, she would still have to follow him. After properly marrying, he could then take her as a concubine.  

“This matter isn’t urgent. The Yin family has just had an incident; if I rush to marry again, how will others view me? Previously, I divorced my wife for the greater good; marrying too quickly will surely lead to many unfavorable rumors. Yin Huaixi still has a few friends in the capital; I’m afraid they might say something unpleasant that could affect your reputation.”  

Jiang Cheng’s words were reasonable, and Qian Yingying could only believe him, turning obediently back down. Her submissiveness pleased Jiang Cheng.

But hatred gradually began to seep in.

It’s all that shameless Yin Huaixi’s fault! If it weren’t for her seducing my cousin at Qingtan Temple back then, my cousin would have been engaged to me long ago. I wouldn’t have been arranged by my stepmother to marry a sickly man and become a widow.

I imagine she has already arrived at Lizhou Island, just in time for me to send her a gift. She’ll never have the chance to live a stable life!

The calculations made from a thousand miles away won’t reach Lizhou Island anytime soon. Meanwhile, the Yin family is happily boiling bamboo shoots.

There are several methods to remove the bitter taste from bamboo shoots. The simplest way is to soak them in clean water and change the water frequently, or boil them in water for one or two hours. The soaked bamboo shoots have a crisper texture, while those boiled in water are less crunchy.

Currently, the conditions at home are limited; we don’t have many containers to soak the bamboo shoots in, and changing the water every two hours is quite troublesome. Jiang Wan suggested soaking the shoots in a ditch and surrounding them with stones. However, they encountered a few children by the ditch, all staring at the bamboo shoots in their hands.

Yin Huaishan worried that if he left, the kids would play with the bamboo shoots, so he had to take them back.

The fire in the kitchen quickly caught on, with two clay pots alternating to boil water for the bamboo shoots. Yin Ning was inside tending to the fire while Jiang Wan was outside washing the palm leaves they brought back with her mother.

After cleaning, the palm leaves dried quickly. The mother and daughter tidied them up, marked a few spots, and started weaving.

There were too many things missing at home, and their skills were limited; they couldn’t weave anything complex or exquisite. They simply folded the palm leaves into a cross pattern, extending to form a large rectangle.

With this, drying things became much more convenient, as it could be used as a mat to lay out the cooked bamboo shoots.

It had only been a day since they arrived in the village, yet they already had clams, crabs, and conch, along with plenty of bamboo shoots, duck eggs, and wild vegetables. Their situation was already much better than others.

“Tonight, we’ll boil duck eggs, one for each person!”

Upon hearing they were going to boil so many duck eggs, Yin Huaishan and his wife felt a pang in their hearts; no matter how much they craved it, they didn’t agree.

“Little sister, those duck eggs are from your examination; we can’t accept them. When you go back next time, take a clay pot and some stones to boil them.”

“Big brother, sister-in-law, are you treating me like a stranger? I’m here eating with Wanwan, not needing to fetch water or gather firewood. Shouldn’t I get extra compensation? Why do we have to be so clear-cut about being family? Big brother, do you not want to acknowledge me as your sister anymore?”

Her words were too serious, causing Yin Huaishan to stutter in anxiety.

“No, no! Little, little sister, that’s not what I meant!”

Of course, Yin Huaixi understood her big brother didn’t mean it that way, but to ensure peace in the future, she still needed to speak more sternly; otherwise, she couldn’t handle this big brother.

Song Wenhui patted her foolish husband. Though he was smart from studying, he always let his little sister lead him around by the nose.

“Little sister, don’t mind your big brother’s clumsiness. Later, we’ll boil duck eggs and not let him have any.”

Yin Huaixi took the opportunity to speak more softly.

“Big brother, you saw the room Wanwan and I are in; it’s really inconvenient for cooking. We’ll often be bothering you and sister-in-law. If you treat me like a stranger, I won’t feel comfortable bringing Wanwan over to eat anymore.”

“We’re not strangers! We’re family!”

At this, Yin Huaishan no longer dared to say anything about taking it back.

“Exactly, we’re family. Once our conditions improve, we won’t have to worry about food anymore, and we’ll have a new kitchen built. By then, even if you want me to stay and eat, I might not want to!”

Yin Huaixi’s words made the family want to laugh.

When would they no longer have to worry about food, and could build new houses?

Jiang Wan felt it wouldn’t be long.

Because the sea is a treasure, as long as the tide recedes, you can find plenty of edible seafood. If they were lucky enough to find something valuable, money wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, since mother’s medical skills are so good, once her reputation spreads, many people will come seeking treatment. Charging a fee to build a house would be quite easy, right?

She didn’t want a mud house; she wanted several stone houses and to plant a circle of flowers in front of the house. Facing the sea with spring flowers blooming, life would be beautiful.

“Wanwan? What are you thinking? You’re about to tear the leaves!”

Jiang Wan quickly loosened her grip and turned to clean out the mugwort and mint leaves. With these treasures tonight, the house would be smoked, and there wouldn’t be any mosquitoes at night.

“Hey, mother, what do you have in your pocket?”

It seemed to be something round.

“Oh! I almost forgot about this.”

Yin Huaixi took the handful of beans from her pocket and placed them in the cabinet.

“That’s castor bean, which I picked on the mountain. You must not eat it; it could cause diarrhea at best, or death at worst.”

So serious!

Even Yin Ning perked up, carefully looking at the beans in the cabinet, deciding resolutely not to touch them.

“Our house currently has no boxes or cabinets, so we can only temporarily keep them in the cabinet. Just don’t touch them.”

Yin Huaixi repeatedly reminded them, ensuring the family all remembered before feeling at ease to continue working.

All afternoon, the industrious family boiled all the bamboo shoot slices and laid them out on the woven palm leaves. In the evening, they boiled five duck eggs to pair with wild vegetable soup, just barely filling their stomachs.

The Cai brothers hadn’t found an opportunity all along, and when night fell, they reluctantly returned to their thatched shed, waiting until the next morning to sneak back.

The next day, with the tide receding in the morning, the family naturally had to go to the seaside to bargain. The clams and conch they dug back yesterday had spit out sand overnight, making today the perfect time to eat them, as tomorrow’s rations depended on today’s findings.

Today, Mao Cuifang didn’t come; instead, it was Aunt Niu and Aunt Qiufang. They knew the Yin family had just settled in and didn’t understand anything about the seaside, so they took the initiative to offer guidance. They also wanted the villagers to see that this family was…

“Don’t bully those with good connections.”

“Mother, I still want to go find my cousin by ourselves today. Can you lend me a bucket?”

Before Yin Huaixi could respond, Aunt Qiufang quickly untied the basket from her waist and handed it to Jiang Wan.

“Carrying a wooden bucket is too heavy for a young girl; just take this bamboo basket instead.”

Aunt Qiufang felt grateful to Yin Huaixi and, extending that affection to Jiang Wan, thought to herself that she must have the head of the household make a couple more baskets tomorrow.

“Thank you, Aunt Qiufang! Mother, I’m going with my cousin now~”

“Go ahead, but don’t run too far.”

Yin Huaixi was very reassured about her daughter, but she still couldn’t help but remind them. She focused back on her work after watching the two girls run off.

At this time, most of the idle villagers had gone to the seaside to gather things, and half of the Cai family had gone as well, leaving the rest at the intersection to keep watch for the two younger brothers from the second household.

The two younger brothers were young and strong, and they had the guts to easily sneak into the Yin family’s house.

What they were looking for was money, so naturally, they first searched the main house. As a result, they tore apart the beds in both rooms but found nothing.

“It’s impossible! They bought eggs and fish yesterday.”

“Could it be they spent the last bit of money?”

The second brother, unwilling to accept this, licked his lips and searched the house carefully again before finally giving up and heading to the kitchen.

“Without money, they still have food. The eggs and fish from yesterday must not have been eaten all at once.”

Upon entering the kitchen, the brothers immediately spotted the salted fish hanging on the wall and the duck eggs in the cabinet. It had been a long time since they had eaten eggs, and they were so tempted that they immediately began gathering the duck eggs into their arms, also taking the salted fish with them. They also thoroughly scavenged the cleaned wild vegetables and herbs inside.

“Big brother, there’s a pile of beans here!”

“Take them! Don’t leave them anything to eat!”

Hmph, Yin Huaixi and her daughter caused their own house to be empty; they didn’t deserve to have food.

“Let’s go home and cook everything quickly.”

Feeling a bit guilty after stealing, they needed to eat everything quickly to destroy the evidence.

The brothers returned home, happily loaded down with their spoils.