Chapter 13

Yin Huaixi was also a bit surprised.

She realized that the village head was actually looking out for her and her older brother. Working at the quarry sounded exhausting, and if every family had to send one person, then her brother would have to go, and she would too, leaving only her sister-in-law and two little girls at home. She couldn’t imagine what life would be like for them then. Thankfully…

“Village head, this isn’t fair! Why didn’t you mention the quarry before we split up?” Mrs. Cai was nearly beside herself with anger. The only men in their family capable of doing the work were the eldest, second, and third sons, plus Wen Sheng and Wen Yi from the second branch. Altogether they had only five strong men, and now all five would have to go—how could they manage?

“I already told you—you could settle this publicly or privately, as you wish. If you back out now, I’ll send you all to the county office. Originally, you only needed to serve for two months on the Yin family’s behalf. Cause more trouble, and it’ll be a year instead.”

The village head had no patience for the Cai family. He truly had no fondness for them. They’d already been exiled; if they’d just stayed honest and peaceful, like the Yin family or Zhou family, he might have shown them some leniency.

Realizing the village head wouldn’t listen to her pleas, Mrs. Cai grabbed her three daughters-in-law and knelt in front of Yin Huaixi, wailing and begging her for mercy.

Yin Huaixi, however, had no intention of being merciful. She was more than happy for the Cai family to take on the labor in their place. With the village head as witness to the theft, there was no point in staying around any longer. She exchanged a quick word with the village head, then took her brother by the arm and left.

Let the village head handle the quarry arrangements. They wouldn’t need to send anyone from their own family anymore.

The incident over the stolen goods turned out to have an unexpected upside. When the siblings got home and told Song Wenhui, her worries instantly vanished.

Her husband was a scholar, and he’d never survive the hard labor at the quarry. Yin Huaixi herself had a delicate constitution and certainly couldn’t go either.

The family was in high spirits when Jiang Wan brought them back down to earth.

“Mother, didn’t the village head say it’s only two months? After that, we might have to send someone ourselves.”

Yin Huaixi nodded but didn’t look too concerned.

“Uncle asked the village head’s son, and it turns out we can pay to avoid the labor duty. It’s one tael of silver per person per month.”

They might be poor for now, having just arrived, and had to start from scratch, but with her medical skills and her daughter’s fishing skills, Yin Huaixi was confident they could earn two taels of silver within two months. Otherwise, she’d feel she’d failed as a modern-day traveler.

“All right, let’s put money-making plans aside for now. Something smells delicious—what’s cooking? I’m starving.”

At the mention of food, everyone perked up.

The air was filled with the tempting smell of roasted seafood that made their mouths water.

Song Wenhui smiled as she went into the kitchen and took out the crabs and sea snails from the ashes in the stove.

“The wonderful aroma is from the crabs and snails. While you two were out, Wanwan pried one open for me—it tasted amazing.”

The crabs and sea snails were covered in ash and looked dirty, but no one cared. They each grabbed one and began eating.

There would be time to wash their hands and faces after they ate. With good food in front of them, they didn’t need to worry about being too refined.

The adults started digging into the crabs, while Jiang Wan and Yin Ning preferred the snails. Using bamboo sticks, they pried out sizable pieces of meat, salty with a hint of charred flavor from the roasting. The chewy texture was satisfying, and three or four snails with a bowl of clam soup were enough to fill them up.

“This clam soup tastes a bit fishy at first, but the more you drink it, the better it gets. It’s really fresh, but the meat’s a bit small. After cracking open such a heavy shell, there’s only a tiny bit of meat. The bucket we soaked might only yield half a pot once cleaned out.”

Just enough for the whole family to get a taste.

Song Wenhui decided it might be better to go crab-hunting with Wanwan in the future, as clams didn’t taste as good as crabs and didn’t have as much meat.

However, her comment was met with immediate objection from her sister-in-law.

“Sister-in-law, crabs are a cold food. It’s fine to eat one or two a day, but eating too many could make us sick.”

Clam meat was also cold, but not as extreme as crab. With their current lack of stable income, they’d still need to rely on clam meat for now.

For now, making money was the top priority.

As Jiang Wan picked at a snail shell, she began to think of ways to make a profit from the seafood.

Aunt Cuifang had told her that most seafood on the island was very cheap because there were so many fishermen and an abundance of seafood. People on the island couldn’t eat it all, and the excess seafood couldn’t be stored for long.

With the summer heat already setting in, fresh seafood could only last about a day. Dead seafood spoiled before it could even leave the bay, rotting in the water. Salted fish could be sold, but most people didn’t like it, and it wasn’t in high demand.

As a result, people inland found seafood too expensive, while the island’s seafood was practically worthless.

In Jiang Wan’s view, there wasn’t much she could do given the lack of cold storage. Fresh seafood wouldn’t travel far, so she could only focus on dried goods or sauces.

With their current daily harvests being modest and no savings to buy fish for drying, she’d try making sauces first.

She and her mother loved a simple, easy-to-make sand crab sauce that had a shelf life of one to two months. If the locals enjoyed it, it could be a good initial product.

However, she hadn’t seen any sand crabs on the beach, so she figured the spot she went to didn’t have them. She’d have to ask around and find out where to look.

“Yin brother! Yin sister!”

Lian Jiabao came running over, looking anxious.

“The old man from the Cai family has started having diarrhea, and the rest of the Cai family is feeling unwell. My father wants you to come and deal with the poison.”

Yin Huaixi responded and went out alone this time without her brother.

Treating poisons and ailments was her specialty, after all.

“No need to worry; this is my specialty.”

“Brother Jiabao, you’re fast on your feet. Go to the village and see if anyone has mung beans we can borrow—five or six pounds should do. Also, get a mortar and a bit of salt.”

It was a lot to ask, but with so many in the Cai family affected, they’d need it. Anyway, the Cai family would return what they borrowed. Yin Huaixi would just follow her remedy to help them.

Lian Jiabao hesitated but, realizing the urgency, quickly ran off. By the time Yin Huaixi returned to the Cai family’s grass hut, he’d already brought back the mung beans, a mortar, a stove, and a pot.

“Brother Jiabao, did you think I’d make mung bean soup?”

Mung bean soup takes a while to cook thoroughly. By the time it’s ready, old Mr. Cai might not even make it. Besides, she didn’t have silver needles with her to stabilize his condition.

Yin Huaixi smiled and, ignoring the stove and pot, poured the mung beans into the mortar and had them ground into a fine powder. She mixed in salt, added cool water, stirred well, and let it soak and settle (method reportedly from Baidu; unverified). Then she had the Cai family drink the soaked mung bean water, bowl after bowl.

Old Mr. Cai narrowly escaped death, though he looked extremely pale. The whole family suffered through the ordeal, vomiting and having diarrhea, but kept drinking the bitter mung bean water.

Yin Huaixi didn’t stay to watch. As a healer, once she decided to treat them, she intended to do her best to cure the Cai family. After all, someone would still need to replace her family at the quarry. So, she taught the villagers how to prepare the mung bean water, then went up the mountain with two village elders to gather medicinal herbs.

This time, she had a clear purpose, picking herbs that would stop diarrhea and strengthen the stomach and spleen.

As long as the Cai family obediently took their medicine, they would be back to normal in three days.