CH 21.1

Wang Qing and Wang Nizi seriously practiced their writing at Uncle Lizheng’s house. Zhao Lizheng also knew a few words so he could advise them a little. Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing went up the mountain and were very busy picking sheep’s milk fruits. Thanks to his body, which was accustomed to farming, Shao Yunan was able to withstand such ‘heavy’ work, even without spiritual water.

It was almost noon when they finished and the two baskets were full of goat milk fruit. Sitting against a tree to rest, Shao Yunan said slightly breathless, “Our family must hire people in the future. This is a serious shortage of manpower.” Wang Shijing wiped Shao Yunan’s sweat, “When the new house is built, we will go to the county town to find workers.”

Shao Yunan blinked and said, “The first time I went to the city, I asked two beggars to inquire about the situation in the town. Those two beggars talked pretty well and were not greedy. How about hiring them? With a place to settle down and earn money, they should work more attentively, right?”

Wang Shijing thought about it for a moment and finally said, “Wait until our new house is built. Maybe they have already gone to other places.”

“That’s good.” Shao Yunan poured some water on a handkerchief and gave it to Wang Shijing. “Wipe your eyes.” Wang Shijing took the handkerchief and said, “My eyes have become much more comfortable these two days.”

“Then wipe them some more and have something to eat too.”

“Eat first, I will eat after finishing wiping.” The two of them sat next to each other, unlike a couple who have just been married for a few days, but more like a couple who have been together for many years. Wang Shijing’s not asking questions made Shao Yunan especially relaxed and the thoughtfulness he showed without thinking also made Shao Yunan appreciate him more. As for the decision to leave after making money, has Shao Yunan even said something like this?

After filling their stomachs and finishing picking all the goat milk fruits, the two of them went down the mountain. In addition to the basket, they each also carried two large cloth bags of sheep’s milk fruit and wild peaches. On the way, Shao Yunan discussed with Wang Shijing about asking aunt Wang to help them clean up the fruits. It would be too tiring for the two of them to do it alone. As for Wang Qing and Wang Nizi, Shao Yunan didn’t even consider it. Wang Shijing also agreed with this.

After they got home smoothly, Shao Yunan went to Zhao Lizheng’s house to pick up the children, while Wang Shijing went to pick up Aunt Wang. Arriving at Zhao Lizheng’s house, Shao Yunan gave a small amount of the goat milk fruit as a thank you to Zhao Lizheng, since wild peaches were too sour for a gift. Zhao He, the eldest daughter-in-law of Zhao Lizheng’s house, brought out the two children who were holding books and a thick pile of written paper.

Zhao He said to Shao Yunan, “I heard from Wang Qing, that you plan to send him to private school next year. These were the books and texts that my little Bo used at the private school, you can take them and teach from them.” Shao Yunan was taken aback when Zhao Liu said affectionately, “Yunan, this is my eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao He. Just call him Brother He.”

Shao Yunan reached out and gratefully accepted it, “Thank you, Brother He. Won’t your son use them anymore?”

Zhao He said, “This is what he learned from when he first started going to private school. He has been studying for two years now, so he no longer uses them. These books are just sitting at home and it’s a pity to throw away the paper, since it was bought with money. So why not give them to Wang Qing, so he can learn in advance. This way he won’t be uncomfortable when he goes to private school.”

“Thank you so much! I’ll borrow these books and I’ll give them back to little Bo after Wang Qing finishes with them.” Shao Yunan took it and said to Wang Qing, “Thank you Uncle He.”

“Thank you, Uncle He.”

“No need to thank me.” Zhao He smiled and touched Wang Qing’s head. On the night of the dinner invitation, Zhao He came with Zhao Yuande. Since he was busy that day, Shao Yunan did not remember much, but now Zhao He had left a deep impression on him. Coming out of Zhao Lizheng’s house, Shao Yunan was still thinking of the Zhao family’s eldest daughter-in-law, who was a man. Although in the great state of Yan, marrying a male wife was not a taboo, the eldest son of the family would usually still marry a woman. After all, men were not fertile. He didn’t expect that Zhao Lizheng would be so open minded. 

As a pure zero, Shao Yunan’s good feelings towards Uncle Lizheng increased by one point.

After asking what Wang Qing and Wang Nizi did today, he learned that the Wang family behaved very well today and didn’t come to make trouble for the two children. The two children practiced their calligraphy at Zhao Lizheng’s house, during which both Zhao Lizheng and Zhao Yuande had even given them pointers. Learning about this, Shao Yunan felt even more goodwill towards Zhao Lizheng’s family. Whatever the reason for Zhao Lizheng’s generosity, it was not bad for them.

Not long after returning home, Wang Shijing came over with some other people. Fourth Aunt Wang, Aunt Zhou, Sun Erjiang’s mother, Aunt Sun Guan, and three other aunts that Shao Yunan didn’t quite remember, but who were all very honest and kind had come to help. Aunt Zhou was embarrassed to come since she hadn’t finished sewing their clothes yet, but was pulled over by fourth aunt Wang, after she was invited over by Wang Shijing. Aunt Zhou was handy, just the person that Shao Yunan needed.

Once they came over, Shao Yunan first thanked them gratefully and then asked them to help him with the goat milk fruits. They would each get 30 copper coins after they were done. Hearing that one person could get 30 copper coins, the six aunts even said it was too high. When you went out to work for a day, you would only earn 10 copper coins at most and sometimes you might not even be able to earn that. But earning so much money just for handling a few fruits… since they were from the same village it would only be appropriate. Shao Yunan was embarrassed to exploit these simple aunts, who usually had no other incomes. These 30 copper coins were not that different from 200 yuan (about 30 US dollars). 

But the aunties were all smiles as they immediately rolled up their sleeves and washed their hands in preparation for work. Wang Qing and Wang Nizi also wanted to help, but Shao Yunan just stuffed a goat milk fruit into their mouth and drove them inside the house.

Shao Yunan left a small portion of the goat milk fruits to make jam and planned to use the rest to brew wine. First he poured all the goat milk fruits on the bamboo mat and sorted out the poor quality ones, as well as those that were about to ripen. After sorting and cleaning them, he spread them out to dry before he started processing the fruits. First of all, the fruit stalk had to be cleaned up and then pressed to extract as much juice as possible. The first time the fruit was squeezed it needed to have its pulp separated with fine linen cloth, before squeezing it for a second time.

Shao Yunan used a stone mortar and pestle to squeeze the fruit, but the aunts and Wang Shijing used their hands to directly squeeze them. After three rounds, Shao Yunan left the juice of the first squeeze alone and then mixed the juice from the second and third squeeze together. The juice that was already filtered twice already had as few impurities as possible. After all that, it was already dark, so Shao Yunan settled the payment on the spot, because he did not want to keep the aunts for dinner.

The aunts took the 30 copper coins each and left happily. Wang Shijing poured the juice into the wine barrel and then went to the kitchen to cook, since he couldn’t help with the rest. The wine barrel could only be kept in the cellar for the time being. Shao Yunan closed the entrance to the cellar, but when his hand closed the door, the six wine barrels disappeared. He then entered the space. 

Shao Yunan found a mask in his own pile of things and put it on. He then ignited the sulfur he bought yesterday from the pharmacy. If you want the fruit wine to last longer and taste better, sulfur dioxide must be added during the fermentation of the fruit. Since he could not get ready-made sulfur dioxide here, he could only make it manually.

The burning sulfur produced sulfur dioxide gas, which Shao Yunan poured into the wine barrel and sealed it according to his experience. Sulfur dioxide gas was harmful to humans, but his space had a very good purification effect. After sealing all six barrels, Shao Yunan poured a scoop of water on the burning sulfur. The pungent smell was difficult to bear even with a mask, so Shao Yunan drank two large cups of spiritual spring water and washed his face before he felt comfortable again. 

The first sedimentation would happen after 20 days, then from 28 to 42 days, the second one would happen, making the wine taste good. In other words, it would take at least forty-eight days before it was ready to drink and even more if you wanted it to taste good. Going back to the cellar, he took out the six barrels. Not noticing anything special, Shao Yunan left the cellar. 

Wang Shijing had already made the rice and fried two kinds of meat and two vegetables. Wang Shijing’s skills were very ordinary, but Shao Yunan was not fussy. With a good appetite he ate two large bowls of rice, but unfortunately he could not rest yet. There was still a large round winnowing basket of wild chrysanthemums waiting for him to handle. These things were money in Shao Yunan’s eyes and there was still a large area of land and a large mountain waiting for him to buy, with more than twenty ancient tea trees, he would never let others have.