Chapter 30 2/3

“Waa waa waa…”

“Boo hoo hoo…”

Who would listen to him?

The third brother and the sister were arguing loudly so fierce.

After three days of anticipation for the pig grease residue, wouldn’t they cry if they couldn’t get it?

It was heartbreaking.

Shen An’s forehead twitched, and he raised his voice, “Shen Yin, Shen Tie, if you want to eat grease residue, shut up immediately and stop crying.”

There was silence in the forest.

The two little ones opened their watery eyes. The youngest, Shen Tie, choked on his sobs, looked at his second cousin with teary eyes, and then, belatedly, covered his mouth with his two dark hands.

Shen An: …

“Wanna eat grease residue?”

The two little ones nodded vigorously, and Shen Jin beside them seemed even more excited.

Shen Ning hurriedly went to pull her second brother’s sleeve. “Second Brother, Sister-in-law hasn’t eaten much yet.”

Shen An comfortingly patted his sister’s hand and then turned to Shen Yin and Shen Tie. “If you want to eat grease residue, see that patch of land behind our house? Help me clear it, do a good job, and in the evening, I’ll give each of you a piece.”

The two little brothers, still with wet eyes and tears on their faces, looked puzzled. “How do we clear it?”

One was six years old, and the other was five. Were you expecting them to understand how to clear land?

Shen An was actually planning to teach them.

He waved and led the two little ones to the back of the house, not giving them a hoe, but using the bamboo pieces they used before to teach them how to dig up the mud, pull out the rocks, and pile them up, also making sure to remove the grass roots.

He even specially carried his small hoe to show the two little ones the cleared land. “After clearing it, it should look like this, only soil, no rocks or grass roots. It needs to be cleared like this to plant things.”

The two little brothers were delighted. “Second Brother, I can do it!”

Wasn’t this just playing with mud?

They played with it every day.

It’s just that this time, their second brother instructed them to pick up rocks and grass roots.

The two brothers happily took the bamboo pieces and went to dig the mud where Shen An had just taught them.

Shen Jin didn’t have bamboo pieces, so he went to find a wooden stick nearby to use as a makeshift tool. Ignoring Shen Ning’s fierce glare, saying his second brother didn’t ask him to work, he couldn’t hear, not even a word. Cheerfully, he went to join his two little brothers.

This made Shen Ning so angry that she pouted at her own second brother.

Shen An hadn’t seen his sister’s expression so vivid in a long time. Subconsciously, he wanted to pinch her puffed-up cheeks, but seeing his muddy hands, he awkwardly retracted them and whispered to Shen Ning’s ear, “To make them quiet, and in exchange for their help with clearing the land, three pieces of grease residue, Sister-in-law will be less tired when she comes back, and we need to catch up with the planting season.”

Most importantly, he lowered his voice even more: “Think about Third Aunt’s pantry.”

Mrs. Li’s food cupboard, with a lock, no matter how she hid it, Shen Jin could always find things to eat.

Of course, Shen Jin wouldn’t take things from other people’s homes. The key was, didn’t they grow up together? Did Shen Jin consider their home as someone else’s?

Shen An was afraid he might misjudge, so he went straight into the house.

They didn’t have a lock now.

The family made fairy tofu every day, leaving too many traces behind. The house couldn’t be allowed for anyone to enter, especially not kids like Shen Jin.

If their third uncle and third aunt caught on, asking a few more times, they’d surely figure it out sooner or later.

Shen Ning’s eyes widened suddenly. She turned to look at Shen Jin, but Shen An pulled her back gently. “It’s not that he will definitely do it. Rather than wasting effort guarding against him, it’s better to keep him busy with other things. After a couple of days, when they all think there’s no grease residue left, they’ll naturally calm down.”

Shen Ning still wasn’t happy. It’s not that she minded giving some to Shen Yin and Shen Tie, having the two little cousins help with work in exchange for food wasn’t unreasonable. She just didn’t want to give any to Shen Jin.

However, when she thought about her sister-in-law’s family recipe and how her sister-in-law traveled so far every day to set up a stall and then worked the land, getting so tired at night that she didn’t want to move, only to wake up in the middle of the night to make tofu, Shen Ning fell silent. She pouted and went back to the area where they were clearing the land. Shen Jin watched his siblings, not knowing what they were muttering about, staring at them all along. This time, he was caught by Shen Ning’s gaze.

Shen Ning snorted, picked up her small hoe, and went to clear the land as well. After hoeing a couple of times, she glanced at Shen Jin’s progress and said with a dark expression, “Don’t think that just playing with mud all day will earn you food from my second brother. If you clear too little, you won’t get any.”

Shen Jin, who had actually planned to play with mud all day, froze. Finally, he stopped pretending not to hear. He looked up at Shen Ning, gave up, and turned to ask Shen An, “Shen An, how much land do I need to clear to get grease residue?”

Shen An wasn’t polite either. He took a stick and marked out a square about two feet on each side for Shen Jin. “Once you clear this area, it’s not enough to just scratch the surface. You have to dig at least a foot deep and clear out all the rocks and grass roots inside.”

He gestured with the stick in his hand.

In the era of the Great Qian Dynasty, a foot was roughly equivalent to about thirty centimeters in later years. So what Shen An marked out was probably a little over half a square meter.

Don’t think it’s small. The mountain soil was too dry and hard, with rocks and grass roots intertwined under the surface, making it very difficult to clear. The size Shen An marked out was the size he could clear in a day by himself.

If he could do it, then Shen Jin could certainly do it too.

As for the two little cousins, they didn’t ask, and Shen An didn’t say anything, just turning a blind eye to it.

Shen Jin looked at the area Shen An marked out for him, then at the length of the stick Shen An gestured with. He had never done any work in the fields, so he had no idea about the difficulty of clearing land. Shen Jin only cared about one thing: “Will I get grease residue after finishing the work?”

Once Shen An gave his word, he wouldn’t go back on it. “I’ll check to see if it meets the standard. If there are no rocks or grass roots left and the soil is loose, then I’ll give you a piece of grease residue.”

Shen Jin was excited. “Okay! You better keep your word! I’ll be back in a flash!”

He turned and dashed down the mountain.

Shen Yin and Shen Tie watched their third brother run off, looking puzzled. But now that they had work to do and the promise of grease residue if they did it well, they didn’t care where their third brother had gone. They squatted down and started digging with bamboo pieces.