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“Brother-in-law is truly amazing!” Jiang Chunya marveled, looking at Song Jingyun with starry eyes. Simultaneously, he felt frustrated at his own clumsiness, as if his hands were as useless as his feet, unable to do anything well.
His face had become almost as dejected as a frostbitten eggplant, completely lacking energy.
“Don’t be disheartened, I’ll teach you,” Song Jingyun spoke up, seeing Jiang Chunya’s despondency.
“Alright,” Jiang Chunya perked up and rolled up his sleeves to learn how to make clay figures.
“Watch, like this, then this, and this…,” Song Jingyun explained, demonstrating the process to Jiang Chunya. After a while, a small clay tiger figure began to take shape.
“Have you got it?” Song Jingyun asked.
Jiang Chunya, “…”
It seemed his eyes had understood, but his hands hadn’t quite mastered it.
After several days of hard work and with the help of the learning whiz, Song Jingyun, Jiang Mixia successfully completed the set of small tiger clay figures. She placed them in a cool place to dry, ready to be sent to the county town along with the patterns.
Despite learning from Song Jingyun every day, Jiang Chunya still hadn’t achieved anything and hadn’t made a single clay figure. However, he did manage to sculpt a clay bowl.
It was a sizable bowl, showing some semblance of the intended shape.
After Jiang Chunya’s creations were dried, he planned to store them in the house and use them for some daily purposes, considering the effort he had put into making them. Jiang Mixia felt a tinge of regret upon seeing this.
The clay had a nice texture, and if someone knew the art of pottery and ceramics, they could put this clay to good use, potentially boosting the economy of the entire Jiang family village. However, there was no one in their village or the nearby villages with such skills. It remained nothing more than wishful thinking.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, every household became busy. The early-planted beans and sesame had reached the harvest season. They were cut with sickles and left to dry in the courtyard under the sun to allow the beans and sesame to fall out of their pods. They were then beaten with brooms or wooden mallets to ensure all beans and sesame were separated from the pods, followed by the removal of any twigs and husks, leaving behind clean beans and sesame.
While Jiang Mixia’s family only planted pole beans, which were not yet ready for shelling, she helped her eldest Uncle, Jiang Youfu, with the work. In her spare time, she prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Before the 15th of the eighth lunar month, it was customary to visit one’s parents’ home, bringing some delicate pastries or mooncakes as a sign of filial piety.
Although Jiang Mixia was married, as her husband was the one who married into their family, she wasn’t involved in this tradition. However, her mother,Liu shi, needed to make a trip to her family’s village.
Liu’s village was located north of the county town, a considerable distance from Jiang’s village. A round trip took an entire day, rushing back and forth, often allowing for just a quick lunch at home.
Liu shi always felt a bit regretful as she believed that the time spent visiting her parents was too short. This year, as there wasn’t much to do on the land and Jiang Mixia was now married and not as naive as before, Liu shi decided to stay at her parents’ home for a couple of days before returning.
Jiang Youcheng naturally agreed and even suggested that they go together and buy some extra items for the family. With the family’s prosperity this year and their financial comfort, it seemed only natural for Jiang Youcheng to show filial piety to his in-laws.
Liu shi was pleased and, along with Jiang Youcheng, hired a cart to travel to her parents’ home, without taking Jiang Mixia and Song Jingyun.
The reason was that Liu shi’s family didn’t have many spare rooms. If they all went, they would need to vacate a couple of rooms for several days. Considering the need for proper hospitality, it would be troublesome. It seemed better for just the two of them to go now and then visit during the New Year festivities.
When visiting a rural household, one needed to consider the other party’s capacity to accommodate guests. If their family of four went to stay for a while, it would certainly cause some inconvenience to others.
Even though it was her maternal family, Jiang Mixia understood this consideration. She saw Liu shi and Jiang Youcheng off early in the morning along with Song Jingyun.
Afterward, she and Song Jingyun tidied up the courtyard and fed the chickens in the backyard.
“Wife, is there anything I can do?” Song Jingyun asked.
Due to his proficiency in weaving, he had already made a substantial number of bamboo baskets and woven containers, sufficient for selling at two or three market days. Starting from yesterday, Jiang Youcheng had advised Song Jingyun to take a break.
During the break, Song Jingyun found himself feeling a bit bored.
“Hmm…” Jiang Mixia wasn’t sure what task to assign him, so after some thought, she said, “Go to the river and fetch a few buckets of water. I’ll go to the vegetable garden and cut some leeks. We’ll have leek and pork dumplings for lunch.”
Dumplings were delicious, and he loved eating them.
“Alright,” Song Jingyun eagerly nodded and left with a shoulder pole and wooden buckets.
He walked with a proud and confident stride, as if it was his first independent trip to fetch water from the river. He was determined to complete the task well and put his wife at ease.
Song Jingyun walked briskly, exchanging smiles and greetings with the elders from the village along the way. Since arriving at Jiang’s village, he had been obedient, polite, and single-mindedly focused on earning money for Jiang Mixia’s family. As a result, the villagers admired and praised him whenever they met.
With a smile on his face, Song Jingyun quickened his pace. Once outside the village, he headed straight for the river. At the same time, another figure was hurrying along a path through the fields.
Occasionally stopping to wipe away the sweat from walking so hurriedly, the person then checked the compass and murmured, “The purple energy is becoming increasingly concentrated. I should be in this area…”
As he raised his head to look around, he caught sight of Song Jingyun approaching with the shoulder pole. Delighted, he exclaimed, “Young man!”
He knew it. His divination was never wrong! Xun Yuanbai almost ran up to Song Jingyun and grabbed his arm. “Finally found you.”
Taken aback by the sudden grab, Song Jingyun stepped back. When he recognized the strange man he had encountered at Deyin Temple, he was both surprised and bewildered. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t worry about that. I have my ways of finding you,” Xun Yuanbai said, stroking his beard, his smile inscrutable.
Seeing the sly and sinister smile on the strange man’s face, Song Jingyun became wary all over and tightened his grip on the shoulder pole. “Let me tell you, we’re near Jiang’s village. I’m from this village. Don’t think of any mischief. If I shout, people from the village will come to help.”
“You better leave now. Otherwise, I’ll call for my wife, and let me tell you, she’s quite formidable. Beware, or she’ll knock you out cold!”
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