Chapter 4: 4

Si Hongcang returned home, looking at the simple thatched cottage, and could not help but sigh a little.

The old-fashioned wooden bed is covered with straw, and the sheets are patched. The thin quilt is also a patch set, and the cotton wool inside is lumped, and it doesn't feel soft at all. The pillowcase is made of dirty-resistant blue coarse cloth, which is rigid and stiff, like a brick.

There is an old wooden box at the head of the bed; next to it is a cabinet that is mottled in color.

On it neatly was old enough to be missing corners and shaven textbooks; next to it were handwriting copies of the text. The handwritten text looks very similar to her predecessor and must have been copied by her. She looked over the contents of the manuscript and didn’t expect it to be almost the same as the four books and Five Classics of ancient China.

This must have been her predecessor's place to study and sleep.

She knew the words of Wazis already. In this ancient ritual society where men and women are incompatible, the customs, public opinion, and criticism the neighbors have of Yun Ruo must be far more profound than that of her.

If she can't go back to her previous life, she must find a way to improve her current life. She couldn’t continue living like this. But what can she do to escape poverty?

Well! Living in a life like this? She couldn’t even think about it.

Regarding the land field, it was not that much; she only had three acres of land, two of which were paddy fields and one dry land. The second issue was that she wasn’t outputting enough from her field and still had to pay taxes for the grain. The money she had left over after doing that was for important stuff like household supplies, and she still had to save up for rations!

On weekends there was no work, so she had stored chickens to sell for daily necessities. If one of them got sick, that would be the end.

Si Hongcang thought, what about now? She heard the bear-like aunt say before that if you raise a pig, you will have five taels of silver in the account if you raise it for a year. She would have to get and raise a piglet and do some other things to earn income. With that in mind, she decided she would get two little from the bear-like-Auntie on credit tomorrow morning. She would have to wait for the rooster to hatch some more chicks to have eggs to sell in the future.

If people worked hard enough, it was always a way to make money.

And she could also ask the bear-like Auntie to teach her how to make a rod basket to catch fish and shrimp at the Chenghu and Xiaoqing Rivers. She had to do it herself to have enough food and clothes.

She was lying on the bed, looking at the thatched roof with a focus in her eyes and brainstorming different ideas.

Hmm! Thinking about it was so many things that needed to be done, one by one.

While planning all this, suddenly, she heard a crash and thought about what type of animal would break into the yard at this time of night.

At first, she didn’t pay much mind to it, but the faint sound of rusting in the backyard made her curious. Her personality may be soft, but it does not mean that she is timid. So, she quickly got out of bed and rushed to the backyard.

When she came to the backyard, there was suddenly a sweet smell in the air.

Si Hongcang turned her head to look and was frightened! A strange woman was standing three feet away from her under the moonlight. The woman stared directly at her and didn’t appear to be breathing, but Si Hongcang could see in the lady's eye confusion and hesitation.

The lady was thinking, why did Si Hongcang come out? Is it by accident? Did she hear her?

Si Hongcang guessed what the lady was thinking, so she said to the lady, “ I came out because I heard a voice in the backyard.”

“ You have very good ears. My name is Bai Yi” She had swords in her body; one was dripping blood on her hand, and the other was dripping blood on her shoulder, “May I borrow some of your water”

“ Yes, I have a well; I will take to it” Si Hongcang hurriedly led her through the vegetable garden and try to get the water quickly.

But Si Hongcang was too slow, so Bai Yi took the rope from her hand and stretched out her hand, and quickly brought the water up. She started drinking water from the well and poured the rest over her body to wash away the blood.

“ Do you have any clothes I can borrow?” She asked indifferently while pulling out the sword to her shoulder like it was nothing and did so without frowning, and blood spurted from the wound immediately.

“ I’ll go get them.” Si Hongcang turned and rushed into the house.

She picked out clothes from the closet and rushed back toward the well…. However, she was embarrassed and turned around.

Bai Yi was naked. She had stripped off her clothes and washed them with water from the well. Although she was a woman as well, she was still embarrassed. She didn’t see anything… and most of all she saw was her back. She had a beautiful figure with a fine curve… Maybe she was a fatal beauty with a sword.

“ Here are the clothes for you.” Si Hongcang said calmly while squatting down, carefully putting the clothes and towel on the stone, “ I have placed them behind you; I’m going back to the house to tidy up. You can stay since it’s late already.”

“...” Bai Yi didn’t answer Si Hongcang and just focused on washing herself.

Although it was too late for dinner, it was too early for breakfast.

Si Hongcang still took out two eggs, used a pan to fry them, session them with a few garlic gloves, sauteed a plate of fragrant spinach, and stewed a loofah.

By the time she finishes the meal and places it on the table with a broken foot and a piece of wood wrapped around it like a tumor, Bai Yi was finished washing up and walking over with her wet hair.

“ Although the food is not all that you should eat something” With that said, she hand her a bowl of white rice.

Bai Yi was taken back for a moment and then took the bowl, and picked up the chopsticks, but didn’t eat right away.

Si Hongcang was troubled by this, so she asked her, “ Uh... Is the food not to your liken?”

She shook her head softly and then at a terrifying speed at all of the food.

Si Hongcang looked at Bai Yi and thought to herself: ShSh… How long has it been since your last meal?

In the end, Bai Yi drank all the salty rice porridge that Si Hongcang kept for breakfast tomorrow before putting down her chopsticks.

“ I will pay you,” She said hoarsely.

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Si Hongcang, in a daze, finally woke up and quickly shook her head, “ No, no, no, I may be enough just for me!”

I didn’t calculate the right amount of food… Since you are so thin,” She was incoherent for a while before calming down, “ Just eat… “ “I’ll just cook again later….”

“ Enough.” Bai Yi cleaned the dishes and went into the house to wash them.

Si Hongcang scratched her head, went into the house to clean up, and took out some quilts. The hut was small and very simple and had only a kitchen, a hall, and a bedroom. There was no door between the hall and the bedroom, just a curtain separating them.

“ Are you the only one that lives here?”

“ Ah, by the way…. Bai Yi,” Si Hongcang shouted to Bai Yi, who was putting the dishes in the kitchen, “Are you used to sleeping on the inside or the outside of the bed?”

Bai Yi's cold gaze pierced over, “I'll just be sleeping under the eaves.”

“Don't be polite,” Si Hongcang waved his hand, “Although the bed will be a little crowded, we will sleep well.”

“ Although you are still young should you know that man and woman should sleep separable?”

“ What?! I am also a woman”

“ Are you a woman?

“Shall I take off my clothes and show you?”

“That's not necessary.”

“Miss Bai Yi, how is your injury?”

“ I have put medicine on it.”

“Are you still hungry?”

“Not hungry.”

“Do you want to drink water?”

“Not thirsty.”

The next day, Si Hongcang rubbed her eyes and climbed off the bed, and as soon as she walked out the door, she saw Bai Yi indifferently sharpening the rusted hatchet.

It's amazing. She sighed in her heart. It's been a month or two, and she still doesn't know how to sharpen her knife and is often joked about by women in the village.

“Miss Bai Yi, good morning."She greeted admiringly.

“I am not a young lady."She poured water on the wooden knife, “just call me Bai Yi."

“My name is Si Hongcang.”

“I didn't ask you."Bai Yi didn't even raise her head. After sharpening the wood knife, carry it into the bamboo forest behind the house.

After finishing cooking a large bowl of porridge with a serving of fried eggs with green onion and spoiled spicy cabbage, Si Hongcang took the food outside to place on the table, and saw a new bamboo table and chairs in the yard.

Bai Yi took the food without saying a word and placed it on the new table.

“ How I don’t have a saw, a hammer, nails….” Si Hongcang murmured, her eye out of focus.

“ A wooden knife is enough to do this. What do you need that other stuff for? “ Bai Yi went into the kitchen and brought out the bowl of porridge without the cloth like it wasn’t even hot.

Si Hongcang took out the bowl and chopsticks in a daze and looked at the flat and beautiful bamboo table in disbelief throughout the meal. It was terrific.

"Si Hongcang." Bai Yi suddenly called her.

"Huh?" She looked up blankly.

"Your surname is Si Hong." Bai Yi asked her with a strange look.

"Is something wrong with the surname Sihong?" She asked her.

Bai Yi lowered her head and continued to eat without speaking again.

She said very little, and Si Hongcang didn't know what to say to her. After all, he didn't know her. She has a lot of work every day, she has to go to the fields to farm, feed chickens and pick eggs, and because of this, she has a shower and a lot of clothes to wash every day. She also had to take care of the vegetable garden and was the only person caring for all these things. When she had these many duties to do, she still had to find a way to make pickled and dry vegetables.

It's not the season to turn the soil and plow the fields, so she has to pick up firewood.

She also had to stop by bear-like-aunt places today and get two little piglets to raise on credit.

 

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