Chapter 18: Rice Pounding

Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law was quite talkative and loved to speak.

She began by complaining to Li Qingzhi about Yao Zuming, then moved on to complain about her own family, saying that her in-laws constantly quarreled, her husband didn’t take care of anything, and her son was a fool.

Li Qingzhi listened quietly. It seemed that there was quite a bit of human drama in Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law’s life!

However, he still enjoyed listening… Li Qingzhi subtly asked about Jin Xiaoye’s situation.

Sure enough, Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law started talking about it! She said that Jin Xiaoye had a bad temper, was competitive from a young age, and that Jin Moli was lazy from childhood. She also mentioned that her own mother, Jin Xiaoye’s grandmother, favored Jin Moli’s family more…

Li Qingzhi summarized it in his mind. It seemed that Jin Xiaoye’s grandparents favored Jin Moli’s family more. When Jin Moli’s three sons were still young, Jin Xiaoye’s family did most of the work around the house.

Jin Xiaoye’s parents didn’t say anything about it, but Jin Xiaoye had a hot temper and would argue with her grandmother.

Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but imagine how Jin Xiaoye would stand up for her parents at such a young age and she couldn’t help but smile.

He really liked Jin Xiaoye’s personality.

Having experienced the apocalypse, he knew one thing very clearly: people could only rely on themselves.

But he didn’t like those who were selfish, ruthless, and willing to harm others for their own benefit.

Someone like Jin Xiaoye was really good.

When Jin Xiaoye returned home, she saw Li Qingzhi chatting happily with her sister-in-law.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t like Jin Moli and also didn’t like her sister-in-law. Or rather… she couldn’t stand her.

Before she got married, every time her sister-in-law came back to her parents’ house, she would complain endlessly about her in-laws to anyone who would listen, endlessly complaining about everything.

At that time, Jin Xiaoye was so angry when she heard it that she gave her sister-in-law some advice. But her sister-in-law didn’t think any of her suggestions would work, so she didn’t make any changes and just came back to complain again next time.

As time went on, Jin Xiaoye started avoiding her sister-in-law.

Instead of spending time listening to her sister-in-law’s complaints, Jin Xiaoye preferred to think about how to make money.

She hadn’t expected Li Qingzhi to get along so well with her sister-in-law!

Five years ago, Li Qingzhi was not talkative at all!

After enduring five years of hardship, Li Qingzhi had indeed changed a lot.

He used to be quite aloof, but now he actively engages in conversations with people all the time, chatting about various topics…

Well, that was fine.

Jin Xiaoye thought that in the future, she could treat herself as the man of the house and Li Qingzhi as her wife. Li Qingzhi could stay at home to take care of the housework and the children, while she went out to earn money to support the family.

Thinking this way, Li Qingzhi seemed pretty good. He was literate, good at teaching children, and none of the women in the village could compare to him!

He even brought two acres of land as a dowry… That was two acres of land! Worth fifty taels of silver! It could support a family!

Jin Xiaoye’s gaze towards Li Qingzhi softened.

When Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law saw Jin Xiaoye, she immediately approached her and said, “Xiaoye, your man was bullied by Yao Zuming today. That Yao Zuming is just a scoundrel, always badmouthing you in the village and even going to talk to Damao, Ermao, and your man…”

Hearing this, Jin Xiaoye frowned and asked Li Qingzhi, “Yao Zuming bullied you?”

“He did! There were witnesses. He even talked about Da Zhuang to Xiaoqing!” Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law looked at Jin Xiaoye with shining eyes, as if hoping Jin Xiaoye would teach Yao Zuming a lesson right away.

Jin Xiaoye, as a woman, certainly couldn’t match Yao Zuming, a big man, in terms of strength. But in rural conflicts, besides strength, personal temperaments and family support also mattered.

Even though Jin Xiaoye’s family didn’t get along with Jin Moli’s family, they were still family. When Jin Xiaoye had an argument with someone, her three cousins, her younger brother, and her father would all stand by her side, not to mention that there were so many people surnamed Jin in the village!

As for why personal temperament was important… Some people were soft-hearted, so even if their family could provide assistance, it wouldn’t help much, and they would still be bullied.

Jin Moli had three real brothers and a lot of confidence, but wasn’t she scolded by her mother-in-law every day?

And some people had strong temperaments, so even if their family couldn’t help, they could stand up and live well on their own. For example, Jin Moli, even without her natal family, her mother-in-law couldn’t do anything to her even if they argued. She already had children, so could the Yao family really abandon her because of a quarrel with her mother-in-law? If they really did that, the Yao family would be criticized by everyone in the village.

Of course, Jin Xiaoye also knew when to draw the line and wouldn’t really fight with others.

She was weak, and if she really fought, Yao Zuming could easily throw her out and break her arm.

In fact, people in the village also knew when to draw the line. Yao Zuming might be a loudmouth, but he didn’t dare to bully Jin Xiaoye. If things got serious, it wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Hearing Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law’s words, Li Qingzhi realized that she wasn’t here to gossip but to instigate Jin Xiaoye to confront Yao Zuming.

He didn’t have a good impression of Yao Zuming, but he also knew that Jin Xiaoye, as a woman, wouldn’t gain any advantage by going to confront him.

Li Qingzhi said to Jin Xiaoye, “He didn’t do much, just had a bad breath after eating too much and annoyed me.”

Hearing her sister-in-law’s words, Jin Xiaoye felt a little worried.

She did know someone named Da Zhuang. She often went to the county town, and Da Zhuang earned a living by carrying goods at the county town wharf. It was inevitable that they would meet.

However, they really had nothing to do with each other.

Despite his name, “Da Zhuang,” he was actually quite thin and small. He would even try to please widows when he saw them, which was quite annoying.

However, even though they had no relationship, if Li Qingzhi believed Yao Zuming’s words…

In their village, there were men who, upon hearing some rumors, would go home and beat their wives, and some women who, upon hearing rumors related to their husbands, would cause a scene.

Li Qingzhi definitely couldn’t beat her, but she was worried that he might argue with her like those other women.

But then Li Qingzhi came and said that Yao Zuming had bad breath, which made Jin Xiaoye burst out laughing.

Li Qingzhi had poured a bowl of water for Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law earlier, and he poured another bowl for himself. Now, he kindly brought the bowl of water he hadn’t drunk to Jin Xiaoye. “Xiaoye, have some water.”

Jin Xiaoye took the water and drank it. Then she said to her sister-in-law, “Are you done talking? If you’re done, you can leave. It’s getting dark!”

Jin Xiaoye’s sister-in-law looked disappointed and muttered a few words before leaving.

Once she was gone, Jin Xiaoye asked Li Qingzhi, “Did Yao Zuming mention Da Zhuang again? I have nothing to do with him.”

“I know. I’m so good-looking, you definitely wouldn’t look at other men,” Li Qingzhi joked as he touched his face.

Jin Xiaoye couldn’t help but laugh again. Li Qingzhi used to be very handsome, but now he looked unhealthy, black and thin. Even Yao Zhenfu was better-looking.

Yao Zhenfu had so much flesh on him, so strong!

Li Qingzhi made Jin Xiaoye laugh, then said, “It’s getting late. I’ll go call the two kids home and give them a bath.”

Both he and the two kids needed to bathe.

At first, he was too weak to bathe in the river, not because he was afraid of the cold water, but mainly because his legs were weak, and he was afraid of slipping in the river while bathing.

Now he didn’t have to worry anymore… Li Qingzhi took Li Damao and Li Ermao to bathe in the river.

However, unlike other men who bathed in shorts, he wore clothes just like the women.

He didn’t want to be seen with his skinny body.

After bathing, the three of them walked home, damp and cool from the evening breeze, feeling quite comfortable.

When they got home, they changed their clothes and hung up their wet clothes.

Their family was still fortunate. In the poorest households, sometimes they didn’t even have a spare set of clothes, so after washing them, they could only wait naked until they dried.

The next morning, Jin Xiaoye went to work in the fields first. When she came back from the fields and had eaten, she loaded some newly harvested rice and said she was going to pound rice.

Pounding rice was actually the process of dehusking rice.

In Miaoqian Village, people used stone mortars to pound rice.

The stone mortar was made of stone, two feet square with a hollow in the middle. It could be used not only to pound rice but also to make rice cakes.

These items were not found in every household in Miaoqian Village, as they were quite expensive.

However, those who had stone mortars were generally willing to lend them out for free, as they were very durable.

Of course, after using them a lot, people would usually give something in return.

Their family was not well-off, so they didn’t have a stone mortar, but the Yao family next door did. Whenever Jin Xiaoye needed to pound rice, she would go to the Yao family to borrow their stone mortar.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t really like going to the Yao family to borrow it. There was no other reason, mainly because Jin Moli always kept an eye on her.

After the incident of Li Laogen gambling and incurring debts came to light, she often went to the county town to sell things. Mr. Yao saw that she was heavily pregnant and inconvenient to travel, so he let her ride his boat for free and didn’t charge her for the fare.

Mr. Yao sent Yao Zhenfu to the county town every day. Normally, if villagers wanted to go to the county town, they would pay one copper coin or give an egg to ride the boat back and forth. Those who had a closer relationship with the Yao family could ride the boat without paying.

At that time, Jin Xiaoye was indeed in difficulty. Mr. Yao firmly refused to take her money, so she rode the boat without paying. However, she only rode the boat twice, and Jin Moli found her, subtly suggesting that she keep her distance from Yao Zhenfu, fearing that she might take advantage of the Yao family…

She couldn’t help but laugh! She didn’t stop riding the boat because of that. Why should she! But afterwards, she paid every time she rode the boat. If she didn’t have money, she would rather walk to the county town.

It wasn’t very far anyway.

At that time, she didn’t want to borrow the Yao family’s stone mortar to pound rice anymore. However, since their houses were close together, if she went to someone else’s house far away to pound rice instead of going to the Yao family’s house, most of the villagers would say something… so she just did whatever she wanted.

The stone mortar was made of stone and very heavy, making it difficult for thieves to steal. Therefore, villagers usually didn’t keep it inside their homes but outside near the door.

Jin Xiaoye had already talked to Yao’s mother in advance. When she arrived, she scooped some rice into the stone mortar with a ladle, then used a thick piece of wood to pound it.

The rice had been dried for several days and was very dry. Moderate pounding would cause the outermost layer of husk to fall off, revealing the brown rice.

After that, she would shake it in a winnowing basket, separating the brown rice from the outermost layer of husk.

It was difficult to cook and absorb brown rice, so it was usually further processed in two ways.

One way was to continue pounding or grind it with a suitable millstone to remove the bran from the brown rice, revealing white rice, which could then be eaten as white rice.

The other way was to crush the brown rice into small pieces, not too finely. Crushed brown rice cooked faster.

Wealthier families would eat white rice, while poorer farmers would eat more brown rice. Their family mostly ate brown rice.

Some families were extremely poor and could only eat rice bran!

People in the county town loved white rice, so rice shops would produce a lot of rice bran every day. Some people would buy rice bran from the rice shop, claiming it was for feeding their pigs, but in reality, they would eat it themselves.

Pounding rice was actually a physically demanding task usually done by men, but now their family relied on Jin Xiaoye.

Li Qingzhi stood beside Jin Xiaoye, stirring the grains in the stone mortar with a bamboo stick, helping to mix them evenly.

The outermost layer of the new grains was quickly removed. This layer was completely inedible and could only be used as firewood.

Jin Xiaoye shook the rice grains and husks in the winnowing basket, using the power of the wind to quickly separate the husks. Then she put the brown rice back into the stone mortar and continued pounding, saying, “Today, I’ll make white rice for you!”

By this time, the sun had risen to its zenith, and its rays were almost directly shining on Jin Xiaoye.

Sweat glistened on her dark face as she worked. Seeing her smile, Li Qingzhi felt his heart racing in his chest.

He wanted to say something, but Jin Xiaoye had already resumed pounding the rice, so he could only watch beside her as the brown rice slowly turned into white rice.