Chapter 39 Selling Candied Haws is embarrassing
Mrs Shen was in deep thought.
Shen Lin added: “Not only the money, but I will also not help my grandparents and uncle with their chores. Their lives are much better than ours.”
“From now on, I must first do the work on my own farm, then help the people who helped me, and in my free time, I will go to the county town to earn money. Not only money, but also my time and physical strength. I can’t waste even a penny of it casually.”
Su Wan also added a few words and corrected Mrs Shen’s thinking. Mrs Shen also grew up listening to the principles of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, so naturally she could not avoid being poisoned by such feudal ideas. However, Mrs Shen was not an ignorant person. After Su Wan said a few more words, Mrs Shen also figured it out.
Mrs Shen nodded and said, “That’s true. I was too confused before.”
Seeing that Mrs Shen understood, Shen Lin said, “I must take good care of mother’s legs. From now on, the most important thing is to let you three live a good life. As for other things, filial piety or not, it doesn’t matter.”
Mrs Shen looked up and saw her tall son in front of her. She felt inexplicably at ease.
In the past, my son was always taciturn and rarely spoke so much.
Su Wan was also relieved. What Shen Lin said just now was “Let the three of you live a good life.” Naturally, Su Wan was included in the three people.
Shen Lin went to the kitchen to fry some vegetable leaves, and then prepared a meal for a few people.
Su Wan did not compete with Shen Lin for work. Shen Lin was not too tired today. Su Wan felt that household chores should be shared together.
Early the next morning, Shen Lin put on gloves and went to the threshing ground to rub corn. This was one of the last steps in the autumn harvest. Everyone in the village, except Shen Lin, had to break and carry corn for a few more days. It seemed that Shen Lin was the fastest worker this year.
Shen Lin was rubbing corn in the threshing ground. Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen came over and accused Shen Lin of not helping Eldest Shen with the work. Shen Lin had already seen through the faces of Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen. Shen Lin said to Old Man Shen, “Let my uncle’s family help me rub the corn first, and then I’ll go work for my uncle’s family.”
Old man Shen was naturally unwilling to do so, saying that he couldn’t even finish his own work so how could he let Shen Lin do it.
Shen Lin replied: “I can’t even finish my own work, how can I do it for my uncle.” After saying this, no matter what old man Shen said or muttered, Shen Lin seemed not to hear it.
Old man Shen was anxious, and carried Shen Lin’s corn, to the Shen Lao Da’s threshing ground. Just as he packed a basket, he was stopped by the people who were watching the threshing ground.
The person who looks after the threshing ground said that Old Man Shen and Shen Lin had already separated, and Old Man Shen could not take Shen Lin’s corn.
The people who watch over the grain field in Qingshi Village are there to prevent thieves from other villages and villagers from stealing grain. In addition to these two rules, there is another rule, which is that brothers who have divided the family property are not allowed to take their brother’s grain without permission. The reason for adding this rule is that the first two situations rarely happen. The most likely conflicts in the village are between blood relatives who have ulterior motives and take each other’s crops and grain by relying on their kinship. Many conflicts have arisen because of this, and this conflict has become the main conflict on the grain field.
For this reason, Qingshi Village added a rule that crops and grain belong to whose family members are divided, and once the family has been divided, they cannot take grain from relatives. The people who look after the grain field have experienced the pain of having their crops taken away by their uncles and aunts, so when they see people taking grain after the family has been divided, they will step forward to stop them.
Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen wanted to say a few more words, but after being scolded by the person watching over the grain field, they dared not say anything more. After all, the person watching over the grain field was specially selected to be a big and strong man who was not easy to mess with.
Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen had no choice but to put Shen Lin’s corn down and return to the Eldest Shen family’s grain field.
Shen Lin knew clearly that the reason why Old Man Shen would not easily take Shen Lin’s corn was because after Shen Lin harvested the crops and sold for money, he would take the initiative to pay him a tribute.
From this year on, Shen Lin no longer planned to pay the filial piety money. His uncle had never paid filial piety money before.
Su Wan and Shen Yaya changed into old clothes early in the morning, carried baskets on their backs, and went to the village to pick wild fruits.
This wild fruit is smaller than hawthorn, and tastes more sour, astringent, dry and bitter than hawthorn. No one in this village picks it. Not to mention people, even animals won’t eat this wild fruit.
The wild fruit trees grow tall and crooked, but are easy to climb.
However, Su Wan did not plan to climb the tree. The wild fruits were very strong and the soil under the tree was very soft. Even if she knocked the fruits down and picked them up again, they would not be damaged.
Su Wan found a long pole and swung it at the wild fruit tree a few times. The wild fruits fell down like hail. Su Wan and Shen Yaya hurried to pick them up. When half the basket was full, Su Wan carried one basket back and left Shen Yaya to continue filling the rest of the basket under the tree.
There were quite a lot of fruits on the wild fruit tree. After a while, Su Wan had carried a basket full of them. If the basket wasn’t too heavy, she could have carried more.
Su Wan dumped the first basket of wild fruits at Shen’s house. When she returned to the wild fruit tree, she saw Shen Yaya picking wild fruits, and several little girls were pointing at her and laughing not far away.
They were the little girls who had bullied and laughed at Shen Yaya in the past, and the green-headband girl was among them.
The green-headband girl is called Chen Suisui. Her family is a wealthy family in the village. The Chen family is also the only family in Qingshi village that raises cattle. Su Wan refused to rent cattle and ox carts from the Chen family because the Chen family is domineering and Chen Suisui bullied Shen Yaya.
Chen Susu was still wearing her green flower headband, and the other little girls stood on both sides of her, also treating her like a star.
Chen Suisui said arrogantly to Shen Yaya who was picking wild fruits on the ground: “Hey, why are you picking wild fruits here? Your family is so poor that you have to eat wild fruits?”
Chen Suisui’s little follower with a yellow flower headband said, “These wild fruits are not for human consumption. Even Suisui’s cows don’t like to eat them.”
The other two little girls also echoed and laughed at Shen Yaya’s family, saying that they were so poor that they had to eat wild fruits.
Chen Suisui said with a sarcasm on her face: “Didn’t you buy new clothes? I thought your family was rich, but it turns out you can’t even afford to eat and have to eat wild fruits. Then what’s the point of buying new clothes before? Wasn’t that just pretending to be rich? Hahaha.”
The other little girls also started laughing.
Shen Yaya didn’t argue with the little girls. She acted as if she didn’t hear anything and just picked up wild fruits on the ground seriously.
Seeing that Shen Yaya didn’t react at all, Chen Suosui stepped forward and crushed a few wild fruits in front of Shen Yaya.
When the other little girls saw Chen Suisui stepping on the wild fruits, they also went forward to step on them.
Su Wan shouted, “What are you guys doing?” Su Wan’s voice was very stern, and the little girls stopped.
Su Wan was older after all, and was still able to control these kids to some extent.
Chen Suisui turned around and saw that it was Su Wan. She showed some disdain on her face. Chen Suisui said, “My mother said that you spend money lavishly. You must have spent all your money before you came here to pick wild fruits.”
Su Wan pretended not to see Chen Suisui. She just walked up to Shen Yaya and said to her, “The two of us are too slow to pick up these fruits. Go find a few girls to help us pick up these fruits. We’ll pay each of them ten cents a day.”
Chen Suisui and several other little girls who had just followed Chen Suisui to laugh at Shen Yaya were stunned. They could actually earn ten cents by picking wild fruits in a day. They also wanted to do this job.
Su Wan still acted as if she didn’t see Chen Suisui and the others, and said to Shen Yaya, “You go and call the people who are picking wild fruits first. The more the better. I’ll go to the next village to hire a ox cart so that we can do it faster.”
Chen Suisui felt uncomfortable. Although her family was a wealthy family in Qingshi Village, she did not have even ten cents of her own money. If she could earn ten cents by picking wild fruits, she would be willing to do it. Moreover, her family also had cows and ox carts. If Su Wan could rent her ox cart, it would also be an income.
Shen Yaya knew why Su Wan was picking the wild fruits. Shen Yaya had hoped to pick all the wild fruits quickly to prevent others from finding out and stealing their business. With more people, they could pick the fruits faster. So, Shen Yaya ran to find her friends. The girl with floral headband who spoke for her last time was her good friend. There were also many other little girls and boys in the village who had never bullied Shen Yaya but who did not have much contact with her. They should also be willing to earn the ten cents.
Shen Yaya ran off to look for someone.
The other little girls looked at Su Wan with eager eyes, hoping that Su Wan would give them ten cents to help pick wild fruits.
The little girl with the yellow flower headband said, “Su Wan, give me ten cents and I can help you pick wild fruits.”
Several other little girls echoed this.
Su Wan sneered in her heart but showed no reaction on her face. They bullied Shen Yaya and had no respect for her at all. They didn’t even call her sister but called her by her name. She would never give them such a good thing.
Su Wan said: “I dare not use you. I am afraid that you will step on these wild fruits.”
Chen Suisui said: “These wild fruits are not from your family. These wild fruits belong to the village. We can trample them if we want.”
After hearing this, Su Wan dumped the half basket of wild fruits that Shen Yaya had just picked onto the ground and said, “Since these wild fruits are from the village, then they are all yours. I won’t pick them in this village anymore.”
Chen Suisui was too domineering. Su Wan didn’t have a good impression of Chen Suisui and her tone was not friendly at all.
Anyway, there are a lot of wild fruits in the back mountain. Su Wan originally thought that the back mountain was a bit far to pick them in the village, but since she had already decided to hire a ox cart, it would be fine to go to the back mountain.
Although the back mountain is called a mountain, it is actually a very gentle hill. The ox cart can go up and down freely as if it were flat ground, and children often play in the back mountain without worrying about safety issues.
After Su Wan finished speaking, she packed up the basket and walked towards the next village.
Behind Su Wan, several other little girls could be heard blaming Chen Suisui for delaying them from earning the ten cents.
Shen Yaya went to look for children picking wild fruits, and she actually called seven or eight people at once, including the girl with floral headband from that day, and several other little boys and girls, all of whom were children from kind families in the village.
Su Wan rented the ox and the ox cart.
Today, that family reduced the price of cow and ox cart to thirteen cents for Su Wan, hoping that Su Wan could use their cow and ox cart more often.
Normally, his relatives would borrow the cows and ox carts and would not give him a penny, so he naturally preferred to rent both the cows and ox carts to Su Wan.
Su Wan came back from renting a ox cart and saw that Shen Yaya had already called seven or eight children, each of whom was carrying a basket, including both little boys and little girls.
These seven or eight children were the ones who had never bullied Shen Yaya. Their parents were also very honest farmers, different from those gossipy people in the village.
Su Wan praised Shen Yaya for being really smart. Before she could arrange for each child to take a basket, Shen Yaya had already arranged it. She was indeed a good helper.
Before going to pick wild fruits, Su Wan first paid each child five cents, saying that she would give them the remaining five cents after they finished picking the fruits for a day.
Naturally, all the children were very happy. Even though they didn’t like to eat wild fruits on weekdays, picking them was also their pleasure. It was a really good job as they could have fun and make money at the same time. For many children, this was the first time they had so much money in their pockets.
Su Wan led Shen Yaya and a group of children to the back mountain.
On the way, they naturally met a few villagers from Qingshi Village. Seeing Su Wan bringing so many children with her, the villagers couldn’t help but ask what she was going to do.
Before Su Wan could answer, the children started talking to them, saying that they were going to the back mountain to pick wild fruits.
The villager was puzzled: “Everyone at home is busy harvesting corn. Why don’t you go and help rub the corn? Why are you going to the back hill to pick those useless wild fruits? You are really unfilial.”
This unfilial behavior is a big accusation that people in the village use to accuse anyone. Su Wan really dislikes this villager.
The children started chattering again: “We are going to the back mountain to pick wild fruits because Sister Su Wan will give us ten cents.”
“At first she gave us five cents, and when we will pick enough for the day, she would give us remaining five cents.”
The villager frowned and said to Su Wan unhappily: “How could you lie to these children?”
Before Su Wan could answer, a child took out five cents from his pocket and waved it in front of the villager.
The villager frowned even deeper, with a hint of anger on his face. He said to Su Wan, “How can you spend money so lavishly? No wonder everyone says you don’t know how to live. It turns out to be true.”
The look of disgust on this man’s face was as if Su Wan had used his money to give to these children. Su Wan could understand what he was thinking. He was just jealous of Su Wan’s wealth. He was even a little jealous that these children could earn ten cents by picking wild fruits.
In the countryside, it is not easy to earn ten cents. Every household in the village does not have much land, and all the farm work is done by themselves without hiring anyone. As for other ways to make money in the county town, the people of Qingshi Village are unwilling to put down their pride and do them.
In the Zhou Dynasty, apart from being an official, farmers had the highest social status. Although farmers were not rich, they would feel ashamed to give up their social status and go to work or do some small business.
Seeing that the villager’s words were not friendly, Su Wan did not want to pay any attention to him, and simply drove the ox cart straight to the back mountain with the children.
The villager had been condescending and giving instructions to Su Wan, but now he was in big trouble. The villager spat on himself and went to the grain field with his corn on his back.
Su Wan brought the children to the back mountain. Wild fruit trees were scattered everywhere. Su Wan and the children picked fruits from each tree.
Su Wan found that with this group of children, she didn’t need to pick the wild fruits herself. A clever boy swung his pole a few times to knock the wild fruits off the tree, and the rest of the children rushed over and squatted down to pick up the wild fruits. Su Wan simply stopped picking up the fruits and leaned on the ox cart to watch the children pick up the fruits. The children picked very quickly. They could pick up about a basket from one tree, and filled the basket very quickly.
After picking fruits from one tree, Su Wan took the children to find the next tree. It was obvious that the children knew where the wild fruit trees were better than Su Wan did. There was no trouble in finding the wild fruit trees. In just a short while, Su Wan had filled ten baskets.
Su Wan naturally had to drive the ox cart to return the wild fruits to the Shen family. One of the boys, about ten years old, who had been most active in looking for wild fruit trees, asked Su Wan to go back and dump the wild fruits. There were still a few baskets left, and they could stay here to pick them up, which would be faster.
Su Wan discovered that this boy worked extremely hard and attentively, but Su Wan still did not agree. She asked these children to go back and help unload the wild fruits. Indeed, it was not easy for Su Wan to move these wild fruits alone.
And Su Wan didn’t want to exploit child laborers. Besides, since they were helping Su Wan with the work, Su Wan would naturally take care of their safety. Although the children in the back mountain were used to coming here, it was still safer for them to follow Su Wan wherever she went.
When the boy heard this, he didn’t feel disappointed, but just followed Su Wan back.
When the wild fruits were unloading at the Shen family, that boy was still the hardest working.
Su Wan brought this group of children and picked more than 40 baskets of wild fruits, from about 50 trees. There were probably only these 50 wild fruit trees in the back mountain. Except for a few wild fruits sparsely growing on the tops of the trees, the rest were picked up by Su Wan and brought back to the Shen family.
Su Wan and a group of children made five trips between the Shen family and the back mountain, and it only took them one morning to bring back all the wild fruits.
Chen Suisui and her little followers were very envious of the group of children running back and forth in a lively manner. Two of the little followers even looked at Su Wan pitifully.
Su Wan did not feel pity for them because of their pitiful looks. They had done something wrong. Before, when they laughed at Shen Yaya for not having a flower headband at the entrance of the village, Su Wan even gave them some pastries so that they would not bully Shen Yaya in the future. But later, they still laughed at Shen Yaya. People like this will change their faces when there is an advantage, and show their vicious faces when there is no advantage. They should be stayed away from.
