147 Earning Money to Build a House
The elderly couple listened to their son and nodded. They knew Su Fengchen was a reasonable person, but they still wanted to guide him.
Old Madam Su picked a small basket and continued to weave it. She thought of something and said, “Binglan is right. We can buy more eggs from the villagers to sell more salted and preserved eggs. I’ll go door-to-door tomorrow and buy everyone’s eggs.”
Old Master Su said, “I’ll go. You stay home and rest.”
The elderly couple’s relationship was excellent, but Old Master Su could not bear to see his wife tire herself out.
Since the two were so close, Old Madam Su understood her husband’s thoughts. She said smilingly, “I’ll join you if I’m not too tired. Besides, we’re buying eggs from the villagers to make them happy. It’s a good thing.”
Old Master Su insisted, “You should just stay home and help Fengchen feed the chickens, ducks, and pigs.”
It was already late, yet the elderly couple was still weaving baskets. Su Fengchen’s heart ached when he looked at them. Father, Mother, don’t tire yourselves. Please rest early.”
“We’re not tired yet, so you can go to sleep first while we continue weaving for a while longer.” The elderly couple did not think about sleeping.
However, Su Fengchen insisted, “Have you forgotten about Sister-in-law’s situation? Didn’t she also stay up late to weave? Now her sight has worsened, and she can’t even weave even if she wants to.”
The elderly couple fell silent when they heard that. Old Madam Su sighed and said, “Let’s sleep now.”
The trio finally went to sleep after blowing out their candles.
…
It was late when Su Binglan arrived near her parent’s home. The wind blew, and it was cold. When she arrived at her parent’s house, she noticed the wind was constantly blowing away the hay on their roof.
She did not think about it before, but her heart sank now that she saw it. Her parents had given a slightly better house to her and Luo Jin’an to live in while they moved into a shabby old house.
The shabby house was in better condition when autumn had just arrived, but if it were winter and the wind blew, it would probably blow away the hay on the roof. The house would inevitably collapse if it snowed.
Su Binglan thought of building a big house before winter arrived. If the family lived together, she would not have to worry about the wind and snow during winter.
However, she would need money and land to build a house. She had planned to buy the vacant land behind the old house and build a bigger one, but if she wanted to do it according to her design, she would need at least fifty to sixty silver taels.
Su Binglan did some calculations and realized she needed more money to do whatever she planned. In the end, it still came down to money.
When she entered the shabby home, her parents, big brother, and sister-in-law were in the yard lighting lamps to keep grinding soybeans. Even Luo Jin’an was helping.
She entered the yard and said, “Why aren’t you guys asleep yet?”
“I can’t sleep yet because I must continue selling tofu tomorrow. We had been busy all day, so we didn’t have time to grind the beans.” Shen Qiuhua did not stop working while she was speaking. She was still turning the stone mill.
Meanwhile, Su Fengmao put the soy milk into a bucket and looked at Luo Jin’an putting the beans into the mill. He said, “Jin’an, go home with Binglan and rest. You have to wake up early tomorrow.”
Luo Jin’an had to go to the academy with Su Xuexuan and Su Xuehai in the morning, after all, so he said, “It’s okay, Father. I’m not sleepy.”
Su Binglan looked at her husband’s diligent expression. She thought he sometimes resembled a dutiful son, always silently helping.
She said, “I’ll help too.”
However, Shen Qiuhua urged, “We’ll finish and go to bed soon. You two should go home quickly. It’s already so late.”
Su Binglan thought of her husband’s health condition and dragged him home, but when they arrived, she did not sleep. Instead, she took out a backpack she had spent all night making.