Chapter 40: Installing a Water Wheel

“Is the family as the matchmaker said?” Zhao Shi asked.

They didn’t know if he would change, but a wealthy family would be better.

Song Jinsheng nodded. “More or less. Their house is old but brick. They have pigs and chickens.  It’s better than ours.”

He corrected himself. “But we just split up. If Father were the only son, we might live in a brick house, too.”

Song Jinbao said, “There are always better people. Our family is good. Don’t compare.”

Song Jinsheng quickly shook his head. “I’m not comparing us to other families — I like our own family too.”

Zhao Qiao’e turned her head to look at Song Yuntang.

“What do you think, Tang’er?”

Since the family had gone to such great lengths, Song Yuntang naturally couldn’t directly refuse. Besides, she would have to settle a marriage eventually to put their minds at ease — going to take a look wouldn’t hurt.

“I want to meet the person before I make a decision.”

Zhao Qiao’e didn’t object either. “Alright, I’ll first tell Matchmaker Zhou what you think and see how he arranges it on his end.”

Song Yuntang responded with a soft “Mm.” “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to my room and rest.”

“Go ahead.” Zhao shi then looked around at everyone else. “Let’s all scatter. It’s getting late — after another short rest, we’ll have to head to the fields.”

Everyone returned to their rooms to rest, except Song Jinsheng, who was still concerned about the situation at the Song Ma’zi household. Instead of going to sleep, he went straight out toward the village entrance.

…

Ever since she took on the handkerchief embroidery work, Zhao shi had been spending her time embroidering in the room whenever she finished her house chores during the day.

Liu shi could embroider too, but her skills weren’t quite up to par, so she only dared to help with simpler tasks like hemming the edges.

When she had free time, she would take the initiative to handle some of the household chores.

Tonight’s dinner was prepared by Liu shi and Song Yuntang together.

Liu shi rinsed the rice and put it in the pot, then lit the stove fire.

Song Yuntang cracked three eggs that were delivered earlier in the day by Sun Jinhua, the eldest daughter-in-law of Old Qiao’s family. She also soaked and cleaned some dried black fungus they had gathered from the mountains a while back, then chopped up a handful of wild garlic leaves to make a dish of scrambled eggs with black fungus.

The family had never stir-fried eggs before, but this new dish by Song Yuntang turned out surprisingly tasty.

As he ate, Song Jinsheng praised, “I didn’t expect little sister’s cooking to be this good.”

Song Yuntang replied calmly, “Scrambled eggs with black fungus isn’t exactly a complicated dish — it’s hard to mess up.”

She did know how to cook a few dishes, but due to the limited ingredients, she hadn’t been able to fully showcase her skills.

“By the way, Second Brother, how are things going with Brother Ma’zi?”

Song Jinsheng looked at her. “Just about done. After dinner, I still need to head over. We should be able to get someone to help with the installation tomorrow.”

Song Yuntang nodded. “For the installation, Qiao Da and Qiao Er will probably be willing to help.”

“Then I’ll go over to Old Qiao’s and our uncles’ places right after I finish eating,” Song Jinsheng said, speeding up as he spooned his porridge.

Song Yuntang, on the other hand, continued eating at her usual unhurried pace. “I’ll go to the fields with you all tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Song Jinbao, who was sitting nearby, grew curious. “You guys have been all secretive lately. What exactly are you up to? Getting so many people to help and going to the fields — does it have something to do with our farmland?”

Song Jinsheng grinned mysteriously. “Father will find out tomorrow. I bet everyone will be amazed by little sister’s cleverness.”

Song Jinbao scolded half-jokingly, “You rascal, still playing guessing games with your old man.”

Seeing him flushed with curiosity but unable to seriously argue with Song Jinsheng, the whole family burst into laughter.

…

Early the next morning, the entire family got up bright and early.

Because a big project was scheduled for the morning, their usual water-fetching chore would have to be postponed. But once the waterwheel was installed, they wouldn’t have to worry about irrigating the fields anymore.

After breakfast, Zhao shi and Liu shi stayed behind at home, while the brothers Zhuzi and Zhuangzi were tasked with foraging wild vegetables in the mountains.

Song Yuntang went with her father and two brothers to the home of Song Ma’zi at the entrance of the village.

The door was opened by Song Ma’zi’s mother, Auntie Cui. In the courtyard, Song Ma’zi had already neatly organized all the materials, with some of them already loaded onto a flat cart.

“There’s quite a bit of stuff today, and the paths to the fields are narrow, so the cart can only go as far as the roadside. From there, everything will need to be carried by hand to the river near the well,” he said.

Just as he finished speaking, two voices called out from behind them.

“Third Brother, you’re here this early!”

Song Jinbao turned around and saw it was Qiao Da and Qiao Er. Knowing they had come to help, he quickly smiled and greeted them, “You’re here!”

Qiao Da and Qiao Er smiled and exchanged greetings with everyone.

Qiao Er looked at Song Yuntang a little sheepishly. “I wrongly accused you yesterday.”

“You didn’t know me — that kind of reaction was understandable at the time,” she said, looking at the two of them. “Thanks in advance for your help this morning.”

Qiao Da quickly waved his hand. “It’s no trouble at all. Taking a morning off is something we can afford.”

Seeing how polite and respectful Qiao Da and Qiao Er were toward Song Yuntang, Song Jinbao noted it with both surprise and a sense of comfort.

It seemed his daughter was gradually adjusting to the life of a farming household.

Including Song Ma’zi, there were six men in the group. Some carried loads while others pushed carts, and they transported a batch of materials to the edge of the fields.

There, Uncle Song Jinzhu and his five sons were already waiting, along with Second Uncle Song Jinwen.

Originally, Second Aunt Ma Zhaolan had been against Song Jinwen coming because of past grievances with Song Yuntang. But Song Jinwen couldn’t bring himself to sit this one out. After a fierce argument with his wife, he came anyway.

After all, in the past, whenever his own family had something going on, Song Jinbao always brought his entire family over to help.

Upon closer look, there was still a scratch on his face, though the blood had already dried and begun to scab over.

“Second Brother, what happened to your face?”

Song Jinwen awkwardly raised a hand to cover the wound near the corner of his eye.

“Just a little scratch. It’s nothing serious.”

The other men all knew what kind of temper Ma shi had, so they didn’t call him out on the lie.

“There’s still one more load of timber to bring from Ma’zi’s house. Let’s unload this batch here first, then go back for the rest,” said Song Jinbao, turning to his two older brothers. “Big Brother, Second Brother, could you help carry this load down to the river first? Once we bring the second batch, we’ll join you.”

Song Jinzhu and Song Jinwen nodded. “Sure, leave it to us.”

After Song Jinbao and the others left, Song Yuntang stayed behind to help her two uncles and four cousins move the materials toward the river.

She didn’t have much strength and couldn’t carry anything too heavy, so she picked the lighter items to move.

Fortunately, with so many people working together, within half an hour, everything had been moved to the riverside by the wellspring.

Song Mazzi called out to the group to go into the water and start assembling the frame, while he and Song Jinsheng stayed on shore to begin installing the main body of the waterwheel.

Song Yuntang wasn’t skilled in this kind of technical work, so she busied herself running around delivering wood and tools to them.

There were eleven men present, all able-bodied workers from the village, and they worked swiftly and efficiently. Before long, they had built a wooden framework by the riverbank.

Once the main body of the waterwheel was in place, Song Mazzi climbed into the water to begin installing the wheel’s base.

Of the men present, only Song Ma’zi and Song Jinsheng knew exactly what they were setting up.

“Third Brother, what exactly is this thing you’re installing that it’s important enough to put off the fieldwork?” Song Jinzhu asked.