Chapter 61: Washing & Grooming Upgrade

She had never in her whole life worn anything other than coarse hemp or rough homespun.

So she naturally thought this must be some expensive fabric.

“Granny, why is the cloth still dry? Didn’t you wash your face?”
Jiang Fubao looked at the towel in her grandmother’s hands. It wasn’t even wet. She was full of confusion.

“This fine thing is only for Fubao to use. The other one I’ll put away for you. We’ll just use hemp cloth.”

Zhang Jinlan replied gently to her granddaughter.

Fubao raised her head.

The towel she had hung on the wall last night—
had once again turned into two strips of hemp rags.

The same ones they had always used.

Dark, grimy, impossible to wash clean.

At once, Jiang Fubao’s lips puckered. Arms crossed over her chest, she half sobbed:

“I don’t care. Washing with hemp cloth hurts my face so bad. If you won’t use the towel, then I won’t either. We’ll all suffer together. Let me just hurt to death, then—”

“Look at this pout, sticking your little lips out so high. Alright, alright, Grandma will take out the white cloth. We’ll all use it, alright? You little rascal, I really can’t resist you.”

Zhang Jinlan immediately surrendered.

Only then did Fubao beam happily.

When the towels were hung properly on the hemp rope, she finally picked up her toothbrush, ready to wash up.

“Mother, what is this? White and fragrant—smells like honey? No, can’t be, it’s far too white. I just tasted a bit, it’s sweet—don’t tell me this is food?”

Just as Fubao was puzzling over the missing bamboo tube of toothpaste, Sun Pingmei walked in carrying it.

“You greedy thing, you’ll eat anything! What if it’s poison? You’ll lose your life to that gluttonous mouth one day!”

Zhang Jinlan snatched the bamboo tube and scolded her daughter-in-law.

Sun Pingmei kept her head low, not daring to argue.

“Granny, that’s toothpaste.” Fubao couldn’t stand watching anymore. She lifted her chin and explained.

“Tooth… paste? What’s that?” Of course, Zhang Jinlan had never heard of it.

She turned the bamboo tube over and over, then asked her granddaughter.

“The white-bearded old man told me in a dream. He said if we use this to brush our teeth, they’ll be white and won’t ache anymore.”

Fubao made up an excuse, stretched out her hand, and took the bamboo tube.

She squeezed some paste onto the toothbrush and began brushing. Before long, her mouth was full of white foam.

Both Zhang Jinlan and Sun Pingmei were stunned.

When she finished, she rinsed thoroughly, then grabbed the soft towel to wash her face.

But her small hands couldn’t wring it dry.

So she turned to Grandma for help.

“Granny, please wring it for me. Oh—by the way, is there really only one toothbrush?”

She could clearly remember putting out three.

But now only one was visible.

“There are two more. Granny put them away. They’ll be for you to use later.”

As expected.

Fubao pouted.

Just as she thought.

“Granny and Grandpa should use them too. In a few days, I’ll have the white-bearded old man send more—mmph—”

Before she finished, her grandmother clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Shh! Fubao, you mustn’t talk like that. One mustn’t be greedy, or the old man will be displeased, understand?”

Only when Fubao nodded did Zhang Jinlan release her.

“Then you must also use the toothbrushes. Otherwise, I’ll say it again.”

Escaping Grandma’s grip, Fubao planted her hands on her hips, fearless.

“You child! Fine, fine, we’ll listen to you. I’ll bring them out tomorrow, and your grandfather and I will use them together.”

Afraid her granddaughter might say something too reckless, Zhang Jinlan gave in.

Victorious, Jiang Fubao picked up her bowl, perched on her little chair, and happily ate her custard-like steamed eggs.

“Second Aunt—!”

A shout came from the doorway. A moment later, a huge wooden log entered first.

Long and thick, like a telegraph pole.

Carried at the bottom by two strapping young men—

Ma Chunxia’s sons, Jiang Liwen and Jiang Liwu.

“My goodness, what’s all this? Why are you carrying such a beam over here? Isn’t work supposed to start at dawn? You’ve come so early.”

Zhang Jinlan was startled by the massive log.

“Auntie, we heard from Eryong that your family is in a hurry to build a house. But no matter how urgent, the foundation stakes must be solid, and the beams must be fully dried. If not dried, the wood will rot with insects and collapse—it’s too dangerous.

As it happens, our family is also preparing wood. Yungping is seeking a bride, but our house is too small. Mother asked us to start cutting logs early. We’ll let you use these first, and later we’ll chop more for ourselves. We’re not in a rush, as long as the house is up before year’s end.”

Jiang Liwen explained as they set the wood down.

“That’s wonderful. Once our house is built, Dahe and Eryong will chop wood to repay your family.”

Zhang Jinlan accepted happily.

Indeed, their house project was urgent, and the wood hadn’t had time to dry properly.

But now the neighbors’ logs came just in time.

“No need to repay. There are plenty of trees on the mountain. We’ll just cut more later. Auntie, we’ll go fetch more now.”

Liwen let out a small sigh of relief.

It was their mother’s idea to send over the timber.

Building a house wasn’t done in a day.

With labor costing ten copper coins per person daily, their family would earn well from the job.

If not for good relations, this work wouldn’t have come to them.

Now the favor was returned.

The men who had originally planned to go chop trees at dawn didn’t need to anymore.

The timber was enough.

“In that case, let’s dig the foundation now.”

Jiang Shoujia gave the order.

The work officially began.

Villagers passing by stopped to watch.

By the end of the day, news of the Jiang family building a house had spread through the entire village.

“Tch, look at Fubao’s family—building a house already. No wonder, after they conned a few taels of silver out of people, now they’ve got money to spare.”

At the village chief’s home, Zhou Gai’er sneered over the dinner table.

“How’s that ‘conning’? That Zhou family was shameless. Their granddaughter fooled around with someone without a matchmaker and even wanted to stick an innocent man with the marriage. Paying compensation was only right. Fubao’s family asking for money was justified.”

Her sister-in-law Zhou Baiyun thought quite the opposite.

Both of them were daughters-in-law from Zhoujia Village, so they knew well what had happened that day.

And the two villages were close.

“Elder sister-in-law, why are you siding with outsiders? That family is used to cheating people. Didn’t they grab thirty eggs and half a tael of silver from us? A rotten family through and through—they’ll come to no good end.”

Zhou Gai’er curled her lip, rolling her eyes.

“You dare bring that up? If you had disciplined Third Girl properly, would she have come making a fuss at our house? Always spoiling your precious son like a golden nugget, while beating your daughters half to death. Look at poor Fourth Girl—just five years old, and you’ve already bruised her face black and blue. Father, aren’t you going to say something? What kind of mother is this—I can’t stand to watch it anymore.”

Zhou Baiyun yanked over her niece, who had been made to stand in punishment, and hugged her close, stroking the little girl’s face with distress.