Chapter 27

Butcher Hu brought along men who were carefully selected, each one a skilled worker.

Not only did Shuiqing, the woman, not need help, but even Fan Jin was classified as a “frail scholar.”

In their words: “Nephew-in-law is a scholar; how can we let a scholar do such heavy labor like building a house?”

“The son-in-law will become an official in the future; those hands are for holding a pen, not for doing rough work.”

“Rest assured, we’ll do the work. We guarantee to build it quickly and well.”

…..

Rural people have a natural admiration for scholars, genuinely believing that reading and literacy are very impressive.

Fan Jin blushed from the praise, feeling at a loss, especially when he heard the last sentence. He feared that his father-in-law’s relatives and neighbors might think he was supervising because he didn’t trust them. He quickly tried to explain.

“Alright, your uncles are just joking with you. If you have things to do, go ahead. Leave the house to us,” Butcher Hu said, not very kindly.

The son-in-law was timid, even less imposing than his daughter, which made Butcher Hu angry.

How could he look like someone who could become an official?

Taking a deep breath, he whispered to his daughter: “Take a few more eggs to exchange for some vegetables. The evening meal can’t be just rice again.”

His daughter had told him in advance that she and her husband would go to the village head’s house to express their gratitude and that they would also have the evening meal there, so they would return home after eating.

She said that it would also make it easier for her mother at home.

Hearing this made his eyes moist. It was good that his daughter had her own family and could make decisions.

If they were still living in the old Fan family house, no matter how much they wanted to take care of their parents, they couldn’t afford to host so many people, let alone put more eggs than mushrooms in the dishes or have meals with rice!

But on the other hand, if his daughter hadn’t moved out, he wouldn’t be able to help so much either.

Hmph, in the past, he had subsidized them many times, and it all ended up in someone else’s stomach.

Thinking about the past made Butcher Hu even angrier, making him look at Fan Jin more and more unfavorably, and he said fiercely: “Hurry up and go! Go and come back quickly!”

The thatched house needed to be finished, and the things needed to be moved inside.

With more people, the work would be done faster, otherwise, his daughter would be the one to suffer.

Fan Jin only saw his father-in-law’s face change rapidly before he was pulled along by his wife and ran off.

Behind them, they heard his father-in-law’s powerful shout: “Eggs! Don’t forget the eggs!”

·

Shanshui Village had a lot of hills and wastelands, as well as many rivers and ponds, so there were fewer fertile fields.

The Fan family had been wealthy in the past and had bought a lot of land, but by the time it reached Fan Jin’s father’s generation, due to laziness and poor management, much of it had been sold off, leaving only twenty-seven acres.

Now, after dividing the family property, the main branch had eighteen acres, including Fan Jin’s mother, while the second branch had nine acres.

Seven people with nine acres couldn’t compare to the main branch’s eight people with eighteen acres, but in Shanshui Village, they were still considered well-off!

Several families in the village had seventeen or eighteen people with only eleven or twelve acres of land.

“The worst off is Aunt Zhang’s family. Uncle Zhang was a gambler and lost all the family’s silver and still owed a lot of debt. Later, the debt collectors came, and they had to sell three acres of good land to pay off the debt;

They thought that with only six acres left, Uncle Zhang would change his ways, but he continued to gamble behind Aunt Zhang’s back, reducing the land from six acres to four, then to two, and finally, it was all gone,” Fan Jin sighed as he walked to Aunt Zhang’s house.

To be blunt, it was better that Uncle Zhang was dead.

Otherwise, the next step would have been selling off their children.

After Uncle Zhang’s death, Aunt Zhang and her six children had a hard life, but it was still better than when Uncle Zhang was around.

At least they no longer had to worry about debt collectors coming to their home.

When Aunt Zhang spoke up for Shuiqing earlier, she was mocked by Sun Jinhua. Shuiqing understood the gist of it.

As they walked along the dirt road of the village, most of the houses they saw were low thatched cottages. Hearing Fan Jin’s sigh, Shuiqing realized how hard it must be for a woman with no land or savings to raise six children.

She admired Fan Jin’s sensitivity: “No wonder you wanted to visit Aunt Zhang first.”

Fan Jin smiled shyly, “Aunt Zhang is poor, but she is a good person, and she has raised six diligent and hardworking children.”

Shuiqing understood what Fan Jin meant.

This was a family worth helping.

·

In the low-fenced yard, chickens, ducks, and geese were noisily clucking, and a girl of about fourteen or fifteen was squatting down, chopping wild vegetables to feed the poultry.

A voice called out from the dim thatched cottage behind: “Xiao Cao, come in for lunch.”

“Coming,” Zhang Xiaocao responded, rubbing her numb legs before standing up excitedly and seeing Fan Jin and Shuiqing outside the fence.

She smiled and asked, “Fan Er Ge, Er Sao, what brings you here?”

Then she turned to the house and shouted, “Mom, Fan Er Ge and Er Sao are here!”

Aunt Zhang hurried out, smiling as she greeted them: “Oh, just in time for lunch. Have you eaten? Come in and join us!”

She was about to turn to the kitchen to prepare more food.

Their family had little food, and they always made it last, so even half a bowl was unlikely.

Shuiqing quickly stepped forward and stopped her with a smile: “Aunt, no need to trouble yourself. We’ve already eaten.”

Food was precious, especially for Aunt Zhang’s family. Shuiqing was deeply moved by her kind offer.

Fan Jin followed suit: “Aunt, we really have eaten. We came to talk to you about something.”

Seeing their insistence, Aunt Zhang wiped her hands on her clothes and changed her tone: “Alright, then come inside and talk.”

Their family only had a few acres of wild land where they grew millet and corn, so they indeed didn’t have extra food.

Shuiqing and Fan Jin followed her inside.

As they entered, the smell of old thatch filled the air. Shuiqing tried hard not to show her discomfort, understanding why Sun Jinhua valued the Fan family’s three brick houses so much!

Thatched houses were low, poorly lit, and leaky, not to mention the unpleasant smell after long periods.

As soon as they sat down, Zhang Xiaocao brought two cups of clear water in bamboo cups.

Aunt Zhang felt very embarrassed, “Auntie doesn’t have sugar water or tea, so I can only offer you plain water.”

She then asked, “Are you here because I spoke up for your wife this morning? You really didn’t need to come just for that.”

Fan Jin sincerely thanked her before explaining their purpose for the visit.

Aunt Zhang was stunned, her mouth open in surprise: “What did you say?”

The children, who had been squatting around the yard drinking their vegetable porridge, all perked up their ears.

“Little sister, did Big Brother hear that right?” Zhang Jinniu asked, turning to his nearest sibling, Zhang Xiaocao.

Zhang Yinniu swallowed his porridge and said urgently, “No, Big Brother, I heard it too!”

Fan Jin said they wanted to buy foxnuts, offering two and a half pounds of rice for each pound of peeled foxnuts, emphasizing they had to be fresh.

Fresh foxnuts were full of water; two to three pounds of fresh foxnuts could make a pound of dried ones.

But Fan Jin wanted to exchange two and a half pounds of rice for one pound of fresh foxnuts!

The fourteen-year-old Tongniu, thirteen-year-old Tieniu, and twelve-year-old Muniu were so shocked they forgot to eat, all looking towards the house.