Chapter 26 – Giving a Suggestion

“Of course not. I already said earlier, roe deer meat is warm in nature. People who are prone to internal heat shouldn’t eat too much of it. Just look at Auntie Song—she snacks on sunflower seeds all day, so she already has a lot of internal heat. If she eats more nourishing food, it’ll naturally cause liver fire to flare up, leading to a burning chest and terrible itching all over.”

“How do you know all this?” Lin Mother looked at Wen Lan suspiciously.

As the saying goes, you know your own children best. Lin Furong was usually quiet. Apart from doing household chores and some farm work, how could she possibly know about indigestion, internal heat, or the warming properties of roe deer meat?

“Did that hunter tell you?” Lin Mother asked again.

Wen Lan quickly nodded. “Yes, the hunter told me. When I brought the meat back, he reminded me that we shouldn’t eat too much of it. It’s best stewed together with radish.”

Some of the meat they brought back had disappeared without explanation, which made Lin Hehua feel distressed. When she heard her older sister say this, she quickly chimed in, “We have radishes in our vegetable garden. Tomorrow we can stew them with the meat.”

Wen Lan glanced at the remaining chunk of meat in Lin Mutou’s arms. Fortunately, the piece the Song family’s daughter-in-law had taken was the smaller one. Mutou was holding the bigger piece, which looked to be about four or five jin (around 2–2.5 kg).

Wen Lan suddenly had an idea. She called over Lin Furong’s parents and whispered in their ears, “Father, Mother, tomorrow you can invite the village chief and a few of our clan elders. Just say that since I’m getting married, we’ll keep things simple and treat them to a modest meal.”

When Lin Father heard this, he felt Wen Lan made a lot of sense. Since their daughter didn’t want the hunter to come into the village, treating everyone to a meal would at least fulfill the courtesy.

“And about the bride price money,” Wen Lan added as she looked up at the Lin family’s house.

In Lin Furong’s memories, this house had stood for many years. When it rained outside, it would also rain inside—just less.

Rather than letting the money sit around at home and attract attention, it would be better to invest it in property.

From ancient times to the present, buying property had always been the most reliable form of investment.

When Wen Lan shared her idea with the Lin couple, Lin Furong’s mother was reluctant.

“I haven’t even had the chance to enjoy holding that money, and now you want to spend it like this? It hurts my heart.”

“You’ll hurt even more if you don’t spend it and someone else gets ideas about it.” Wen Lan thought of Sun Dafu, that good-for-nothing, and quietly gathered the family to speak in a low voice. “Today, when I was shopping at the market, I ran into Sun Dafu. He was talking to someone about how our family has a gold ingot. Now it’s not just Yushou Village—everyone in Jiming Town probably knows.”

“Father, Mother, you also know that there are bandits outside the town. If they hear we have gold and sneak over to rob us in the middle of the night, we’ll be left with nothing.”

“Yes, I’m worried about that too,” Lin Father said with a light cough. He had been weak ever since a serious illness in early spring and was deeply concerned about bandits being lured by their wealth. “Since this money was given as Little Fu’s betrothal gift, we’ll spend it however she says. Tomorrow I’ll go find the kiln workers and ask them to help us fire some bricks and tiles so we can renovate the house.”

After helping the Lin family come up with a plan, Wen Lan decided to hurry back that very night.

“It’s already so late. Just stay the night at home,” Lin Father tried to persuade her. He still cared about Lin Furong.

Wen Lan shook her head. She was now the servant girl at the hunter’s house. Tomorrow would be her official first day at work, and Qingfeng was set to leave Yunzhong Mountain in the morning. As the family’s servant, no matter what, she had to prepare breakfast.

She didn’t want to leave a bad impression on the hunter right from the start.

So, she led Hehua to their field to pick some fresh vegetables, grabbed a few dried goods they’d sun-dried earlier in the spring, and set off that night to return.

Lin Father, of course, was uneasy and decided to escort Wen Lan back.

Fourteen-year-old younger sister Lin Hehua insisted on tagging along too.

Wen Lan couldn’t refuse, so she agreed. The three of them, along with the dog, stepped into the night and headed up the mountain out of the village.