Chapter 48

“Big Brother, now that I have a name, do I have to keep learning?”

Xiao Yuanzi’s words successfully made his older brother’s face darken.

“You’re saying you don’t want to learn after just one day?! Who was the one praising the teacher just now? If the teacher is so great, shouldn’t you learn from him?”

Lian Yue raised his voice, startling Xiao Yuanzi, who shrank his neck and didn’t dare speak further.

“Why don’t you want to continue?”

“Because… because… because the teacher is so amazing, I can’t understand the words he writes…”

Lian Yue: “…”

Silly little brother, you need to learn precisely because you don’t understand.

“If you study a bit more, you’ll get it. Think about it—when Mao Mao and the others can’t read, you’ll be the only one who can. When people talk about ‘Brother Feng,’ they’ll praise you for being so impressive.”

“Alright, fine. I’ll keep learning.”

For the sake of being an impressive ‘Brother Feng,’ he could hang on a little longer.

The two brothers happily returned home, where the Yin family was finishing their meal and beginning to divide the money.

Today, Yin Huaixi had gone out alone to sell snail meat, saving a few coins on travel expenses. The owner of the porridge shop, having tasted the benefits, gladly accepted the goods this time.

“This time, let’s settle the payment for a whole jar. Two jars cost 120 coins. Next time, we’ll weigh it by the pound,” the shopkeeper said.

Yin Huaixi handed 43 coins to her sister-in-law, which was half of the profit for the day.

Song Wenhui treasured the money, tucking it into her clothes. Adding the money from the last time, she had nearly 100 coins now.

100 coins could buy nearly 20 pounds of corn, which would last the family for several days if they ate freely.

The feeling of earning her own money was truly joyful.

“Little sister, tomorrow when you go deliver the snail meat, can you take me along?”

Yin Huaixi raised an eyebrow, looking at her in confusion. Her sister-in-law had always preferred staying in the backyard, rarely going out unless necessary. Now, she was actively asking to go with her.

It was a bit surprising.

Yin Huaishan also didn’t understand.

“Hui Niang, why do you want to go? The snail meat can be carried by little sister alone. If there are more people, we’ll have to pay extra for the boat fare.”

“I want to go with little sister to learn the way and see what the outside world is like. What if a patient suddenly comes to find little sister in the future? Who will deliver the snail meat? You can’t move, and we can’t have the children do it.”

That made sense—after all, they couldn’t just send the kids to deliver it.

Yin Huaishan was convinced by his wife’s reasoning. Yin Huaixi opened her mouth, thought for a moment, and decided not to say anything. It was a good thing that her sister-in-law wanted to go out and see the world.

Even if their daughter seemed wise and capable, she was still just a 12-year-old girl. Many things still needed to be done by adults.

So, the plan was settled.

“By the way, Big Brother, the village chief said he would come tomorrow to discuss things with you in detail. Have you decided if you want a salary in the form of a bundle or a monthly wage?”

“This…”

Yin Huaishan was torn.

Whether it was a bundle or a monthly salary, he felt reluctant. People in the small fishing village didn’t have much money; everyone lived on tight budgets.

But if he didn’t take the payment, he couldn’t work for free. After all, his family needed to make a living.

He couldn’t keep relying on his little sister to subsidize the household.

Sigh…

He wanted to be noble, but it was hard to maintain that nobility.

“I’ll ask the village chief tomorrow, find out how much the monthly wage is, and how much the bundle is, then we’ll decide.”

Yin Huaixi nodded and didn’t ask further. After chatting a little longer with her brother and sister-in-law, she took the two children back to the small stone house.

Recently, the family had bought an oil lamp, so they no longer went to bed early. With the lamp lit, Yin Huaixi was organizing her bottles and jars, while Jiang Wan sat beside her cousin, watching her embroider a handkerchief.

Originally, Yin Huaixi didn’t recommend working by lamp light at night, as it was really bad for the eyes.

But her cousin only had a little bit left to finish on the handkerchief. She wanted to finish it before dawn so the adults could take it to the city to check the price. That’s why she was working late.

Jiang Wan sat beside her, watching. The little red carp that had been embroidered on the handkerchief was almost finished, and it was now playing in the lotus leaves, lively and adorable.

Even Jiang Wan, who didn’t understand embroidery, could tell that her cousin’s work was exquisite. It was bound to fetch a good price.

“Cousin, do you have a price in mind for this handkerchief? What’s your asking price?”

Yin Ning paused, and countless price ideas popped up in her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. After a while, she cautiously said, “What do you think of 20 coins?”

Jiang Wan: ???

“Cousin, what are you saying? This handkerchief for 20 coins? Such intricate embroidery and you’re only asking that little?”

“20 coins isn’t little. It can buy three or four pounds of corn and maybe a bit of meat,” Yin Ning replied.

Having recently learned about the prices of things, Yin Ning, the former young lady, finally understood how extravagant her previous life had been.

Back then, she used to make one or two new outfits every month, each costing dozens of taels of silver. She also bought books, paintings, and brushes, which would cost over a hundred taels. And she casually gave her maids several coins in tips.

But here, her aunt needed to sell snail meat several times just to earn a few coins.

The money here was spent penny by penny. Her mother earned over 40 coins from selling snail meat, and if Yin Ning could sell one handkerchief for 20 coins every two days, she’d be content to earn 200 or 300 coins a month.

“Cousin, you should have more confidence in your embroidery. We can be bolder about the price.”

Although the fishing village was full of poor people, there were plenty of wealthy people in the city. A handkerchief like this could easily be sold for over 100 coins, and she felt confident about asking that price.

But then again, would her mother and aunt be able to bargain?

She still remembered the last time they sold fish. Her mother—

There hadn’t been an opportunity to negotiate. Aunt didn’t seem like someone who could haggle, so Jiang Wan was really worried.

She even considered going along.

But if she went, she couldn’t just leave her cousin at home. It would cost an extra eight coins for the round trip, which seemed a bit much, so she decided against it.

She would leave the selling to her mother and aunt and hope they brought back good news tomorrow.

The next morning, the family was up early and busy.

Snail meat is freshest when cooked right away, and the juice needs to soak for a while to be flavorful.

Yesterday, Lian Yue had brought quite a few sea snails, so today there was more than half a jar of extra snail meat. Since the old village chief was expected to visit soon, they decided not to sell this extra jar but to keep it for guests and for the family to eat.

She had expected the first visitor of the day to be the old village chief, but to her surprise, it was Xiao Man mother who arrived first.

She had come to deliver vegetables and eggs, mainly to express her apologies. Her second sister-in-law had been gossiping about Yin Huaixi in the village, saying some unflattering things.

Yin Huaixi didn’t hold it against her, so of course, she couldn’t accept the gift. In the end, after a bit of back-and-forth, only the eggs were returned, and a small pile of okra was left lying alone on the ground.

Jiang Wan’s eyes brightened.

Okra! The king of vegetables.

When she called it the king, it wasn’t because of the taste, but rather its nutritional value. She didn’t quite remember all the details, but she knew her mother loved to buy it.

However, okra secretes a lot of mucus, sticky and slimy like snot, and the texture when eating it feels strange. Jiang Wan never really liked it, and most of it was eaten by her mother.

Her mother’s favorite way to prepare okra was with oyster sauce, and here…

Hmm?!

Oyster sauce!!

She slapped her forehead. How could she have forgotten about oyster sauce!