Chapter 37

Following Xu Ran’s instruction, the next day, Liu Tong went to the town with twenty bamboo tubes of chili paste.

There in the restaurant, he informed Mr. Chen of Xu Ran’s terms and requirements on their future transactions, and the shopkeeper readily agreed.

“Oh, Daddy Xu! You can’t imagine how popular yesterday’s chili paste was. The 20 bamboo tubes of chili paste you brought in were sold out except one for cooking. Some customers even came to order a lot of them after they tasted it. Would you please send more tomorrow? ”

“All right, Mr. Chen. I’ll send you some more here tomorrow. From now on, you can name a time and I’ll deliver them to you at the quantity of twenty bamboo tubes of the paste each time.”

“Alright, Daddy Xu. From now on then, you will send the paste here every seven days, but will you give me 150 bamboo tubes of chili paste each time?”

In this way, it meant they would only deliver ten more bamboo tubes of the paste for each transaction, and they would not have much extra work actually. Thus, Liu Tong nodded and agreed. It seemed that after he went back, they would still have to go up the mountain to pick more chilies.

After settling the account, Liu Tong left the restaurant and went to the grain store. There was neither rice nor brown rice to eat at home, so he had to buy some.

Thinking of how hard it was for Xu Ran to swallow every time he ate brown rice, Liu Tong decided to buy rice only this time. It was fine for him to eat something worse himself, but he couldn’t let the two kids and Ran suffer.

A bag of rice cost Liu Tong five hundred copper coins. After that, he also bought some meat, not only for his own family but also for Wu Mei’s and other two families. In addition, he bought some pastry for the kids.

At last, he went to buy some cloth. His family were all in need of new clothes. At present, each of them had only two sets of clothes to wear in turn. Now it was hot and they could cope with it. When it was cold, however, they would be cold because they didn’t wear enough. In addition, they had to buy some tarpaulins to cover their bamboo house to prevent the cold wind from coming in all directions.

After calculation, he found that it would cost several taels of silver. Now he had only 20 taels in total, and he still had to save money to buy land. Liu Tong was in a bit of dilemma, but at the thouhgt of the two kids, he gritted his teeth and bought them in the end.

On the way back, Liu Tong’s carriage was loaded with many things, but they were all covered by a tarpaulin, so that others couldn’t see what was inside the carriage.

There were two paths between the village and the town. One was at the entrance of the village while the other was at the end of it. However, the latter road was longer, so there were few pedestrians. This was just convenient for Liu Tong’s family, because it was better not to drive the ox cart through the village, so as to avoid any cause for gossip.

As soon as Liu Tong arrived at the door, he was welcomed by the two kids warmly.

However, Xu Ran was not present. Liu Tong unloaded all the things from the ox cart and moved them into the house. After finishing his work, he asked the two kids, “Tangtang and Guoguo, where is your father?”

Tangtang and Guoguo were eating the cakes bought by Liu Tong. Upon hearing Liu Tong’s words, Tangtang tried to swallow the food in his mouth and replied, “Daddy, dad went up the mountain to pick chilies. He let us wait for you at home. He said that you would cook after you came back. Don’t worry about him. He has taken food with him and asked you to pick him up in the afternoon.”

As soon as Tangtang finished reporting, he continued with the cake. He liked the pastry so much. It was more delicious than what his daddy had bought before.

Seeing that the two kids were enjoying the pastry so much there, Liu Tong just let them be. He went to the kitchen, cut the meat into four pieces, picked up three pieces, put them in a basket, covered them with oiled paper, and then left with the basket.

When he reached the gate, he called out to the kids, “Tangtang and Guoguo, I am going to Daddy Wu Mei’s home to return the ox cart. You two stay at home and be good.”

“All right,” one of them replied. With food in his mouth, he couldn’t even speak clearly.

Wu Mei’s and the other two families had finished harvesting the rice. Now they were busy in their grain-basking field. They had to air all the rice out while the weather was fine.

Liu Tong stopped the ox cart at the gate of their house. Dahu came to open the door for him, “Hello, Daddy Liu Tong, are you coming to return the ox cart?”

Liu Tong touched him on the head saying, “Hello! Yes, I am coming for that.”

Liu Tong then took out a few candies from the basket and handed them to the kid, “Have some sweets.”

Dahudidn’t stand on ceremony. He took the candies happily and called out to his daddy, “Daddy, Daddy Liu Tong is here to return the ox cart.”

Wu Mei was just busy at the moment. It was Xu An who came for the carriage. Liu Tong took out a piece of meat from the basket and handed it to him, “Xu An, I went to the town today and bought some meat. You’ve helped our family so much. I really don’t know how to thank you.”

Knowing that Liu Tong would feel uneasy if he refused, he accepted his favor saying, “I’ll take it. But don’t stand on ceremony. You are friends with Wu Mei, so we will help you anyway.”

“Thank you so much, Bro Xu An! I’ll leave now.”

“Fine.”

Later, Liu Tong sent the remaining pieces of meat to the other two families and then went home to prepare lunch.

After lunch, Liu Tong led his two children up the mountain. Each of them carried a basket. They planned to get not only chilies but also soybeans. Now that the chili paste was their only source of income, they had to collect as much at the time being, otherwise their chili paste would definitely fail to meet Mr. Chen’s demand.

Liu Tong took Tangtang and Guoguo to the place where they had been to last time. He didn’t dare to take them too far away. He guessed that Xu Ran was also there, because a lot of chilies were not picked up there. Besides, Xu Ran was not familiar with other places.

Sure enough, as soon as Liu Tong stepped into the mountain forest, he caught sight of Xu Ran’s figure. He was bending over to pick chilies with a basket on his back. In front of him, there were red patches everywhere.

Seeing this, the two kids ran over happily, “Hello, dad, dad…”

Smiling, Xu Ran raised his head, “You are here! Have you finished the meal? ”

“Yes, and daddy has bought meat. We didn’t finish it. We have saved some for you at home,” said Guoguo excitedly.

Even Tangtang, by his side, was thrilled apparently.

Xu Ran smiled, “Okay, you are good boys. We’ll eat meat after I go back in the evening.”

“Great! Then dad, let’s go to pick chilies. ”

“Okay, but don’t hurry.”

After the two children left, Liu Tong came over. Seeing the sweat on Xu Ran’s forehead, he wiped it off with his sleeve, “Ran, if you’re tired, you can have a rest for a while and then go on with the work.”

Shaking his head, Xu Ran replied, “It’s fine. I know it myself. But you should have a rest. You have been to the town today. Are you tired?”

“No, not at all,” Liu Tong replied. He was indeed not tired. Compared with the work he had done before in the Xu Family, it was nothing.

“Alright, Ran. I’m going to pick soybeans. You and the kids go on with the chilies.”

“Alright.” Thus, they two went on with their own business.

At noon, Xu Ran’s lunch was the potato he had prepared, so he was not hungry.

The whole family didn’t go back home until it was late in the afternoon.

In total, they had got four baskets of chilies and two baskets of soybeans.

It took both Liu Tong and Xu Ran twice on the way to carry all their good harvest home.

At night, Xu Ran ate the meat that Tangtang and Guoguo had specially left for him. Actually he was not specially fond of meat. He didn’t care much whether he could have meat for his food or not. However, he noticed that all his family were watching him and feeling happier than when they had meat themselves.

Just for that very moment, Xu Ran felt a wave of emotion swept through his heart. He was so touched.

After dinner, they had a rest. Xu Ran told the two kids a fairy tale, after which, he and Liu Tong each took a child to take a bath alone.

At night, both children fell asleep. Liu Tong and Xu Ran went into their room. Liu Tong reported to Xu Ran what Mr. Chen had told him today. Xu Ran thought it was all right for them to deliver their goods every seven days, and for the time being, there was no problem with the quantity demanded. However, they should get the products ready as soon as possible.

It seemed that they had to go to find more sources of chilies and soybeans. And it was not a good way for them to work this way. They had to buy more land as soon as possible.

Liu Tong showed Xu Ran the rest of the money he got today. He had spent four taels of silver, and still had six taels left. Then Liu Tong narrated what and why he had bought today, especially he talked about the meat divided for Wu Mei’s and the other two families. Suddenly,  Liu Tong thought of something and felt worried and anxious.

He suddenly realized that he had bought meat without having discussed with Xu Ran in advance.

Xu Ran looked at his nervous appearance and laughed, “Tongtong, it’s OK. You can make your own decisions about this kind of things from now on. You’re more sophisticated than me. You just need to tell me about it and let me know.”

“Yes, I will.” Hearing this, Liu Tong was relieved. In the past, Ran was a fool. He made decisions on such matters, but he didn’t let the Xu Family and other people know about it. In this way, he was able to maintain a good relationship with Wu Mei’s and the other two families.

At present, though Ran recovered, he had got used to it and forgot who was the master in the family.

Luckily, Ran didn’t mind it and even handed the matter to him.

The things Ran had done since he recovered really made him feel very warm and touched.

The next day, Liu Tong carried 150 bamboo tubes of chili paste to the town. This time, he went there on foot, because he felt sorry to borrow Wu Mei’s ox cart every time.

On the way, Liu Tong was excited. They would have the money to buy more land after today’s transaction.

He had bought everything yesterday. So, Today, Liu Tong didn’t buy anything else but hurried back home after the delivery.

Today, Xu Ran went out to the mountain again with only their two kids staying at home. Liu Tong asked them both to go out to play, but they didn’t want to. They had experienced being bullied so much when they were in the Xu Family before that they were now afraid to go out and play.

Liu Tong had no way out about all these. Over the past years, in order to prevent his family from being driven out by the Xu Family, he had been working desperately most of the time. Occasionally, when he was free, he would tend to be with Xu Ran. He thus cared little about the two kids. In addition, both of them were so obedient and helpful that they helped take care of Ran. Thus Liu Tong felt guilty for his kids in his heart.

It was only that he never said it.