CH 74

Zhao shi stopped crying, feeling that her tears were wasted, and it was not worth getting angry with the idiot. So she continued to make dumplings with her head down.

Zhulan was washing her hands, and when she heard the movement of Zheng’s family. She gestured for Li shi to go out and have a look.

Li shi was obedient and went out to have a look and came back soon, “Mother, Fourth Wang’s family is going to live in Zheng’s house, and they are giving a rent of five wens a day. Aunt Zheng is really dark-hearted.”

Zhao shi sneered, “Who asked Fourth Wang to pretend to be generous; as if he is richer than the landlord. Why won’t Aunt Zheng kill him.”

She looked down on Fourth Wang, he did not protect his own wife and chose not to see the abuse of his daughters. In her eyes, Fourth Wang was just a wimp.

Her husband was so much better at protecting his wife and daughter. Every time he goes out, her husband bought delicious food for her and their daughter. Thinking of her husband, Zhao shi blushed.

Zhulan was not in the mood to pay attention to the change in Zhao’s expression. She was in a trance; this time Wang Ru became a neighbor. Luckily, she had recently increased the boundary walls, otherwise with Wang Ru living next door, she would not be able to sleep well.

In the evening, there were two large pots of dumpling soup, and the table was full of dumplings. The four sons each had two large plates, and they also poured several bowls of dumpling soup.

The eldest granddaughter ate seven of them despite her age. If her mother was not afraid of having trouble digesting food at night, she would still want to eat more.

In the end, not only were the two big pots of dumplings eaten up, but also the dumpling soup. Zhu Lan looked somewhat disheartened. A meal of dumplings was far from a Han dynasty feast, yet they were struggling to have enough to eat due to their financial constraints.

After eating, she didn’t want to move anymore. The little grandson Ming Teng touched his round belly, “It would be great if I could eat dumplings every day.”

Li shi patted her son’s head and said: “You’re daydreaming. It’s already good enough to have a few meals of dumplings made from plain flour in a year.”

Changing to another house, such a meal was possible only during the Chinese New Year. Thinking about it like this was so flattering, and the sisters in the family were all envious of her good marriage!

Ever since Boss Zhou knew his family background, he didn’t care about such small things in his heart anymore. Eating a meal or two of dumplings was nothing. He looked at his son’s angry face with a smile, and thought of himself asking, “Mother, where do you think Father is now? Has he reached Jiangnan?” (1)

Zhulan specifically asked her elder nephew how long the travel time could be. She learned that it would take about ten days to travel by horse-drawn carriage from the county to the canal without delay, and at least ten days for the canal to go south to Suzhou and Hangzhou assuming favorable winds. If the journey was slower, it could take nearly twenty days. She calculated in her mind and thought, “I estimate your father is still on the boat. It will take some more time for him to arrive.”

The journey in ancient times was bad, but at least they had canals. Without canals, it could have taken longer to on this journey.

Second Zhou counted the days, “Will it take long for Father to come home?”

Zhulan said, “Yes, it will take nearly two months for a round trip.”

This was still the case that the canal on the return journey was not frozen. If it was frozen, they will have to take the official road which will make the journey longer.

Zhulan suddenly thought of the abundant beauties in the south of the Yangtze River and wondered if Zhou Shuren would be dazzled. Hum, anyway, they were bound, so it was useless for Zhou Shuren to be dazzled.*

Zhulan felt a little emotional in her heart, she stood up and was unwilling to chat, “Boss, hurry up and clear the table, let’s all go back and rest.”

Li shi’s intuition was right, and she sensed that Mother was upset, “Okay Mother.”

As soon as Zhulan went out, Li shi complained to her husband, “You had to stir up trouble where there was none. Mother and Father have never been apart for such a long time. Now Mother is missing Father again because of this.”

Zhulan didn’t go far, almost slipped and fell. Bah Ah, who missed Zhou Shuren! *

On the sailboat, Zhou Shuren touched the silver bills in his pocket. His luck was truly remarkable. Zhuo County, being a hub of the Grand Canal, was bustling with merchants and traders, but it also attracted its fair share of fraud and deception, especially in the counterfeit industry. During his break from escorting, he happened to come across someone selling fake antiques during his stroll around town.

He was not foolish enough to directly go up and say it was fake. But instead pretended to be a friend of the buyer and took the buyer away, avoiding being cheated and opening his eyes. The merchant thanked him and gifted him two hundred silver taels.

Zhou Shuren couldn’t help but marvel at the shrewdness of merchants and traders. He realized that receiving such a large sum of silver was indeed a stroke of good fortune. With the establishment of the new dynasty, the status of merchants had declined, and they were more cautious about not offending scholars. Zhou Shuren had taken advantage of this situation, benefiting from the favor of the scholarly class.

Li Shuan pushed the door open and came in, “Qìngjia, I enquired. The journey is on schedule, and we’ll be there in two days.” (2)

Zhou Shuren was too weak to complain about the journey, well, he had eaten enough fish, “It’s almost time to arrive.”

Li Shuan nodded, “I feel like I’ve become dull from staying on the boat for so long.”

Zhou Shuren saw his in-laws take out the purse from his chest, read it, and then put it back carefully. He was afraid that it would be stolen when he went out, and there were many people on board.

Li Shuan touched his purse and was satisfied. With this money, even if he didn’t sell the recipe in Jiangnan, he could give his mother an explanation when he returned home.

Zhou Shuren laughed. In Zhuo County, he took advantage of the opportunity and sold the recipes to merchants he knew. The recipes didn’t have much technical content. Fifty taels of silver bills were enough, and the in-laws earned a lot.

Zhou Shuren kept down the book. He wondered if Zhulan was missing him or not!

The next morning, the sky was clear, and Zhulan was finally able to relax without worrying about the snow disaster. Instead, it was a good sign of auspicious snow for a good year.

The weather was colder after the snowfall, the temperature was enough to freeze the meat, and the weather was good for slaughtering pigs. After dinner, Zhulan ordered the boss to go to Butcher Li to kill the pigs.

The two pigs in Zhulan’s family are well-raised. Each pig weighs about 250 catties. In ancient times, 250 catties pig was considered a fat pig. Zhulan stood at the entrance of the pigsty, her mind filled with thoughts of various dishes: blood sausages, steamed pig’s blood, stir-fried fatty intestines, braised pork, sweet and sour spareribs, marinated pig ears, soy-braised pork bones. She couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.