Chapter 13: Old Yan Bought an Ox Cart!

The return journey was faster than the trip there.

Yan Lao’er didn’t dare to interject the whole way, only listening as his eldest nephew was peppered with questions by Old Yan. They sounded quite difficult, full of classical allusions and obscure phrases. His eldest nephew was sweating profusely, and his answers weren’t smooth.

As an academic slacker, he was quite at ease in such moments.

If he didn’t understand, he didn’t care.

After arriving home, Yan Lao’er unloaded the goods and then looked for his wife.

He needed to go to Physician Cui’s house to have her pulse checked; he was really concerned about it.

What was Li Xuemei doing?

She was airing out clothes with Daya, especially the cotton quilts, padded clothes, mattresses, and so on used in winter. They couldn’t be washed due to lack of water, but airing them out and beating them was still possible.

She also checked for moth holes or mouse bites, and mended them.

She had figured it out: Daya couldn’t be allowed to stay idle. The moment the child was idle, she would start overthinking things and become melancholic.

It was better to have her do some chores, keeping her hands and feet busy.

The family’s wheat harvest was very fast, being transported back cartload by cartload. They occasionally had to stop and greet people, pour a few bowls of water to quench their thirst, and once the people left, they would untie the bundled wheat, spread it out, and let it dry thoroughly.

The two of them, under the scorching sun, were flushed red and covered in sweat.

When Yan Lao’er found her, he saw Li Xuemei looking as if she had just been pulled out of a steamer.

“Let me do it, let me do it!”

He felt a pang of sympathy again. Her face, which had finally regained its youth, should be carefully maintained! How could she just bake in the sun like this?

He snatched the wooden stick and beat the quilt with a thudding sound, making puffs of dust rise from it.

Li Xuemei dodged her face and gave him a playful punch.

“Watch out for me! You almost got dust in my eyes.”

“Is there lunch?” Yan Lao’er asked quietly.

He was hungry! Even his elder brother didn’t bother to arrange for some food to tide them over.

“Yes, it’s in the pot,” Li Xuemei said, amused by his hungry look.

“What did you make?” He didn’t want to hope, but he couldn’t help it, what if it wasn’t coarse grain pancakes?

“Today’s a big deal, we’re having thin porridge.”

As soon as Li Xuemei finished speaking, Yan Lao’er turned and ran off, “I’m going to take a look.”

He wasn’t really greedy; he just wanted to see what ancient thin porridge looked like.

When he entered the kitchen and saw the pot full of water, Yan Lao’er was shocked!

What was this?

Porridge?

No wonder his wife emphasized it was ‘thin’ porridge; it was indeed thin enough.

Was it for an enema?

“Dad!” His daughter’s weak voice came from behind him, “Can you move aside?”

Yan Yu could understand her father’s feelings, because she felt the same way.

After seeing off her father and eldest uncle in the morning, she had started digging holes to find worms. She fed them one by one as she found them, making the family’s hens cluck whenever they saw her approach. Their little heads would twitch in all directions, unsure which eye to use to pinpoint her.

As she wished, the two hens she had been watching laid eggs. While Daya was called away by her mother to do various chores, she managed to get her hands on two warm, fragrant eggs.

She scurried back to her room, hid one egg, and put the other in the basket where eggs were kept in the kitchen.

Having successfully completed her plan, Yan Yu then continued the work she hadn’t finished yesterday.

“Washing” her parents’ clothes.

Rolling them three times in plant ash, she pulled them out with her small hands, and shook them vigorously.

The rustling dust dissipated.

Huh? It really didn’t smell as bad anymore!

Yan Yu got busy, treating all the family’s changed clothes in the same way. Although there weren’t many pieces, piling them up gave her a full sense of accomplishment.

This was the natural laundry method of a farming family!

Just as she was about to go out and continue to bond with her village friends, an ominous feeling suddenly struck her little tummy.

Yan Yu’s little legs churned as she ran towards the latrine.

It had been several days, and this was the first time she felt anything.

If it hadn’t come, she would have thought she was sick.

Squatting in the latrine pit, Yan Yu pushed very, very hard.

But…

She had eaten too much dry food!

In the end, Yan Er Ya truly expended a tremendous amount of effort before she could stand up from the pit.

Her calves were trembling.

Coarse grain pancakes, we are sworn enemies!

What embarrassed her even more was the subsequent cleaning problem.

Bamboo slivers or dry grass, a choice between two.

If it were you, how would you choose?

Mom was right, they had to seize the opportunity to solve the most urgent need.

At this moment, Yan Yu was absolutely certain that toilet paper was their most, most, most urgent need, bar none.

She quietly told her mother about her difficult experience, and Daya, as if life itself depended on it, poured a large pot of water and cooked thin porridge.

Yan Yu gulped down a bowl. Though the rice flavor was faint, in this weather, drinking porridge, especially thin porridge, was quite pleasant.

But after a while, Yan Yu no longer felt that way.

Porridge was simply too unsatisfying!

She would get hungry again soon, and kept running to the latrine.

One must know that every trip to the latrine was a battle for her.

Her skill was inferior; she had never won!

Therefore, when she came to the kitchen again, Yan Yu was looking for her archenemy—the coarse grain pancakes.

Hearing his daughter’s experience, Yan Lao’er seriously considered the two types of food from yesterday and today.

Coarse grain pancakes and thin porridge…

I decree that you are equal!

Yan Lao’er also realized the importance of hygiene at this moment. After all, it was he who had put the dry grass and leaves in there.

Li Xuemei was worried about her daughter, and came over to check on her.

She first asked how her body felt. Yan Yu said she was fine, just felt a bit ‘dry’ recently. Li Xuemei sighed faintly. The diet was unreasonable. Let alone her daughter’s small body now, even she, an adult, found it a bit hard to bear. Not having to constantly visit the latrine, she didn’t know whether to worry or be grateful.

“Oh, right, help me take a look at what these are, so we don’t get them wrong later,” Yan Lao’er said, pulling out the pick-up list Old Yan had tossed to him.

“Brown rice, coarse salt, cotton, Tung Oil, hemp rope, iron pot, candles, Ox Cart…” Li Xuemei took it and read each item aloud. Traditional characters were no problem for her.

When she read ‘Ox Cart’, the whole family’s eyes widened, and they repeated, “Ox Cart?”

“A yellow ox, four years old and strong, four chi seven cun tall, five chi three cun long, with a cart frame, for a total of twenty-eight liang of silver,” Yan Yu stood on tiptoe and quickly read the words on the paper.

“Hiss! One ox, twenty-eight liang?” Yan Lao’er’s voice was completely off-key.

He recalled how he had been suffocated by a gambling debt of twenty liang of silver; one ox alone was enough to cover it, with plenty to spare.

“It’s not just the ox, but also the cart, all together for twenty-eight liang,” Yan Yu explained. “The cart frame isn’t easy to make; it requires good wood, otherwise it won’t be strong enough. The wheels have to be ground by hand, bit by bit, which is time-consuming and laborious. The size isn’t arbitrary either; it has to be custom-made according to the ox’s physique. It takes a considerable amount of time to complete one cart frame. And this ox is only four years old, just reached adulthood, so it can be used for a long time.”

Yan Lao’er looked at his daughter and asked her, “How do you know all this?”

“Hehe!” Yan Yu secretly glanced at her mother. How else would she know? Reading books just happened to increase her strange and varied knowledge.

“Fifty liang, minus twenty-eight, leaves twenty-two. No wonder they bought such cheap goods,” Yan Lao’er muttered.

The rice was coarse, the salt was rough…

Sigh!

Life was not easy, he could only sigh!

———

Old Yan: I’m just recovering from a serious illness, often tired, I need an Ox Cart, buy, buy, buy.

Yan Lao’er: If we keep eating coarse food, our family will completely bid farewell to the latrine! (exasperated expression)

(End of Chapter)