Chapter 37 2/2

“How many coins?” Mrs. Chen was stunned. “With five people, including your own family, that’s only eight people. Twenty-five coins for vegetables? Are you planning to treat meat as a staple food?”

“Except for the expensive meat used for cooking oil, good-quality meat with a moderate amount of fat and lean meat costs only fifteen coins per catty. Are you planning to have meat every day?”

Old Man Chen thought Sang Luo was young and didn’t understand the situation, so he hurriedly said, “Ah Lian’s wife, usually, each family takes care of their own meals when helping with house construction, depending on their own conditions. Meat is usually added to vegetarian dishes during cooking. As long as the meals are filling, having meat in the vegetables is already considered generous. You don’t need to buy expensive meat.”

Mrs. Chen added, “Eggs cost one coin each, which can also be considered a meat dish. Vegetables are cheap. With eight people, if you make abundant dishes, five vegetarian dishes per meal, twice a day, three or four coins should be enough. You don’t need to buy from elsewhere; just buy from my family. You don’t need so much money for eight people in a day.

Two meals a day, with half a catty of meat, is already decent. You can also buy pork liver, pork heart, and other organs, which are cheaper but still considered meat dishes. It’s more cost-effective this way. Fifteen coins a day should be enough.

If you trust me, just give me fifteen coins for now, and it should be almost enough. If it’s not enough, I’ll ask you for more. If there’s any surplus, I’ll return it to you.”

The old lady instructed her on how to spend less money on relatively decent meals. Sang Luo listened and laughed, “I trust you, and I wouldn’t distrust you. It’s not just eight people eating; it’s twelve, including you and Aunt. You’ll eat with us.”

Mrs. Chen was taken aback and waved her hand, “There’s no need for that. Letting you use the kitchen is letting you use the kitchen. It’s not a big deal for the whole family to eat together. We’ll make something simple at home.”

Sang Luo half-complained and half-playfully scolded, “Why are you being so polite? There are four adults in your family, and three of them are helping me work. Aunt is also helping me with the stall. Am I such a petty person? Are Erlang and the little girl missing a meal? Besides, the two children aren’t idle either, are they? They went to work on our land. Don’t pretend you don’t know anything.”

Mrs. Chen: …

“It’s not like that. If we all eat your food while you’re building the house, how can that be?” 

Just the laborers alone have big appetites, and considering their usual lack of good food, if they cook white rice, each of them can easily consume one liter a day, which adds up to five liters for five people. With twelve people, they would consume even more. The bushel of grains Sang Luo bought today would probably be gone after just one day.

Before she could finish her grumbling, Sang Luo hugged her arm and said, “Consider all the things you and Grandpa, as well as Uncle and Aunt, have done for me. Don’t refuse anymore. If you really make Aunt and the children eat separately, then I won’t be able to show my face at your house anymore.”

Oh god.

The old lady had never been through such a scene.

Her son and daughter-in-law never even acted this affectionately toward her.

This was a problem.

The old lady was speechless.

Sang Luo raised her eyebrows, waiting for her response.

Mrs. Chen: “Alright, alright, Erlang will also go help you with the clay.”

Sang Luo smiled and poured the twenty-five coins she had already counted out from her money pouch onto the table, pushing them towards Mrs. Chen. “Let’s stick with twenty-five coins. You keep it.”

Mrs. Chen shook her head. “No need. We women and children won’t eat at the table. We’ll just eat a few bites of vegetables under the table. A couple of vegetarian dishes will do, and there’s no need to spend that money.”

How much grain have they eaten these days?

Mrs. Chen remembered that when she had been soft-hearted and wanted to help Sang Luo, two liters of rice were already a stretch.

Now, with her whole family and six mouths to feed, even if she counted herself as someone who helped with cooking, only three people were working for six. Managing meals for six people with only three hands to help was already difficult, especially considering that house construction wasn’t a one- or two-day job, and with fewer workers, the project would take longer.

Mrs. Chen herself felt that she had probably agreed earlier because Sang Luo had hugged her arm and spoken softly, leaving her bewildered.

Thinking this, she quickly added, “We’ll all eat together. I won’t charge you for the vegetables. We don’t need so much.”

After counting out eight coins, she pushed them back to Sang Luo. “Take these back. Otherwise, I’ll just use them myself.”

Sang Luo: …

What could she say to this old lady? She just wouldn’t allow herself to take advantage of others.

Or perhaps almost everyone in the Chen family inherited the temperament of the old lady and the old master.

Sang Luo glanced at the old lady, who returned the gaze. In the end, Sang Luo was defeated. “Alright, I’ll leave it to you. Thank you and Grandpa for taking care of everything.”

She collected the eight coins pushed back by the old lady and put them back in her money pouch.

Mrs. Chen finally had a smile on her face. “That’s more like it. Leave it to me. Don’t worry about the tofu while you’re busy selling your magical tofu every day.”

Old Man Chen, with a face weathered by the elements, also smiled. “Tomorrow, we’ll chop down trees and haul clay. When you come back in the afternoon, we’ll mark out the foundation. The day after tomorrow, you just need to go to the county, and you won’t have to worry about anything here.”

With the construction plans settled for tomorrow, Sang Luo brought up another matter.

“Tomorrow is the fifteenth, which happens to be the big market day in Sanli Village. Aunt and I are both at the county town setting up stalls, so we won’t be able to take care of the business at the market. I was wondering if you could go to the market in the morning and bring along ten or twenty blocks of tofu for trial sales? It won’t take much effort, and we could sell them on the side while you’re there.”

Mrs. Chen’s eyes lit up. “Why not? I won’t be carrying much, and I’ll be back early. It won’t delay me from buying groceries or cooking.”

Sang Luo smiled. “Alright, I’ll go get some ingredients later. I’ll bring the portion you’ll be selling tomorrow morning.”

She was about to take her leave when Mrs. Chen stopped her, asking her to wait.

She went back into the house and soon returned with a small cloth bag. “I forgot about this earlier. If you’re going into the mountains, it won’t matter much near the village. But if you venture deeper, especially into areas with dense vegetation, sprinkle some of this powder on your pants and shoes. It’s effective at repelling snakes.”

Sang Luo was pleasantly surprised. “There’s such a thing?”

Mrs. Chen chuckled. “It’s nothing valuable. If you need it, just ask me for more when you’ve used it up.”

Her maternal family were hunters, and this was a remedy passed down from them. Unfortunately, during the drought year, bandits ran rampant, causing everyone to flee. She became separated from her maternal family, and she had no idea if her parents, siblings, and nephew were still alive or where they were. There was no news at all.

This snake repellent medicine was only used when they went into the mountains to gather wild fruits every autumn, so Mrs. Chen hadn’t thought of it before.

Sang Luo was delighted. With this, she dared to venture a bit deeper into the mountains. She thanked Mrs. Chen repeatedly and said, “I’ll rely on the mountains to earn a living. Don’t refuse me when the time comes. You mustn’t find me bothersome.”

Mrs. Chen smiled and assured her she wouldn’t. Sang Luo then took her leave happily, carrying the bag of snake repellent powder.

After Sang Luo left, Mrs. Chen turned to Old Man Chen and said, “She’s such a good-hearted person, always thinking of repaying kindness. Those two, I wonder if they’ll regret their actions in the future.”

“Those two” naturally referred to the neighboring couple, Uncle Shen and Mrs. Li.

Whether or not they would regret it remained to be seen. However, they wouldn’t have to wait long for the answer. The next day, Mrs. Li was furious.