Chapter 272: The Freedom of Paper

Houses, land, possessions—as long as we’re alive and well, there’s nothing we can’t earn again. At the end of the day, life is about people, not dead things.

Yan Yu understood her mother was right.

Getting involved with that family would only bring trouble.

“It’d be best if they stayed far away from us and never came looking again. We could go our whole lives without crossing paths.”

Li Xuemei thought for a moment and said, “There might be a way to make that happen.”

A sudden idea struck Yan Yu, and she burst out laughing.

She whipped her head around too fast and yanked her hair, wincing in pain.

“Mama, we can even pitch in some silver ourselves. If it’s not enough, I’ll cover the rest. Let’s help them settle somewhere farther away—near Changping, maybe. It’s not close, and just the travel expenses would make them think twice before dropping by.”

Li Xuemei chuckled. “Silly girl. Even if someone’s rich and living deep in the mountains, distant relatives will still come knocking. Once our family’s doing well, they’ll find their way here no matter how far.”

“We can’t tie people’s feet and stop them from coming. What matters is that we stand firm and don’t let them take advantage of us anymore.”

Yan Yu nodded eagerly. “Exactly. Honestly, aside from that great-uncle, their whole family has nothing to do with us.”

Li Xuemei said, “According to the customs here, since Li Chunjing changed his surname, he’s officially part of the Li family now. On the other hand, your aunt and I, as married daughters, are like water thrown out—we belong to our husband’s families now. No one can argue with that.”

Yan Yu grinned. “Mama, you’re one powerful shield. I just have to hide behind Dad, and he can handle everything. My dad, heh, he’s actually pretty good at dealing with this kind of stuff.”

Li Xuemei couldn’t help but laugh. “All the silver tongues in this family are on your father. Now we’ve got one more—you.”

“Well, isn’t that great? Mama, you’ve got it easy. No matter what happens, Dad and I are your golden guardians, one on each side.”

“What’s this about left and right?” came a voice thick with sweat and grime—Yan Lao’er had returned.

Yan Yu cried out, “Aiya! Dad, go wash up! You’re gonna stink me to death!”

Yan Lao’er laughed in mock outrage. “You little rascal, Er Ya! We were both rolling in the muck together, and now that you’ve cleaned up, you’re turning your nose up at me?”

Li Xuemei said gently, “Go wash up now.”

Yan Lao’er gave a cheerful grunt and quickly turned to leave.

Yan Yu clutched her belly, laughing uncontrollably.

“Mama, when did Dad become so henpecked?”

Li Xuemei shot her a look. “Go check the accounts. We need to hand out silver to the villagers tomorrow.”

She was referring to the herbs the villagers had dug up while the father and daughter were away. Another batch had been harvested, and after discussing with Village Chief Luo and the elders, they decided not to delay the delivery to Crouching Tiger. So Yan Xiangheng led a team and drove several carts over.

They didn’t just deliver herbs—they also brought back some much-needed supplies for the village.

The main item, of course, was large vats.

It was as if the entire village had become the exclusive supplier of vats to Crouching Tiger City.

Every household needed them. One wasn’t enough, two weren’t too many, and three or four were the norm.

The herbs were delivered, and the payment was settled.

But when it came time to distribute the money, things hit a snag.

Only Yan Xiangheng and Liang Fengnian in the village were literate and knew how to do the math.

But no matter how many times the two of them went over the numbers, they never came up with the same total.

It was… awkward, to say the least.

Fortunately, the villagers weren’t in a rush. They figured they’d wait until Yan Lao’er and Yan Yu returned.

Faced with the pile of work, Yan Yu handled it swiftly.

She couldn’t understand why Big Brother and Fengnian couldn’t manage such simple calculations.

Yan Yu felt it was time to give them some serious training.

Not knowing how to do math? That wouldn’t fly.

They’d get eaten alive out there!

After combing her hair, Li Xuemei climbed off the kang bed and went to wash her daughter’s dirty clothes.

She looked around but couldn’t find them.

Just as she was about to head back in to ask, she saw Daya returning from outside with a basin in her hands.

The small clothes inside were clearly Er Ya’s.

“Daya, don’t spoil Er Ya too much. Let her wash her own clothes next time,” Li Xuemei said as she took the basin. The two of them walked to the backyard and hung the clothes on the line.

“Auntie, Er Ya’s still young. When I was her age, you took care of me the same way,” Daya said, her cheeks flushing pink.

Everything she was doing now was what her aunt had done for her before.

Helping her bathe, washing the family’s clothes, cooking the daily meals…

“I am pregnant now, so we hired Granny Rong to help out. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Just lend a hand when needed,” Li Xuemei said.

Daya let out a soft “mm” and then asked shyly, “Auntie, could I have some of the paper we made last time?”

Li Xuemei wondered if the girl had finally come around.

She had hinted before that Daya could use the paper for wiping after using the toilet, which had scared the poor girl half to death…

“Pick the softer sheets. After you use them, just toss them into the compost pit. Once it’s all broken down, it makes great fertilizer,” Li Xuemei explained.

Daya’s face turned crimson, and she said in a tiny voice, “Auntie, that’s not what I meant… I wanted to draw some flower patterns.”

Li Xuemei: …

So it was a misunderstanding.

Lately, Daya had grown close with the two girls from the Qi family.

Those two were learning needlework from the Qi family matron and were getting quite good at it.

“You’re learning from Granny Qi?” Li Xuemei asked. When Daya nodded, she said, “Then take a few more sheets, and leave some for the Qi girls too. Granny Qi has great skills. You girls should learn diligently.”

She led Daya to the place where they stored the paper.

“These sheets are homemade. We reprocessed scraps and unusable paper. The color’s not great, but they’re perfect for practicing calligraphy, tracing patterns, or other uses. They’re cheap, so don’t be stingy. If we run out, we’ll just make more.”

“Later, have your uncle bring back some more scrap paper. Next time we make paper, you and Heng’er should watch and give it a try. Let’s make a bigger batch, so we won’t have to be so stingy with paper at home anymore.”

Daya’s eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically.

…

“Heavens, I almost forgot about those Northern Rong bodies! Can you believe it? They’re still lying in our village! Good thing Master Lu knows what he’s doing—he sprinkled lime over them. Otherwise, the stench would’ve been unbearable!”

Yan Lao’er, freshly washed and once again looking clean and proper, returned to the house with his hair still dripping wet, looking for his wife.

Li Xuemei had just finished cleaning up the little one and was now tending to the big one.

She followed the same routine, wiping him down from head to toe with a cloth.

Compared to Yan Yu, things were a bit rougher on Yan Lao’er’s side.

She used more force and moved a lot faster.

Yan Lao’er had no clue about the difference in treatment. He was feeling quite pleased with himself.

He kept rambling on, “Tomorrow we’ll haul those Northern Rong corpses over to Crouching Tiger. Seriously, our villagers are way too honest. All they know is how to report things. What’s the point of reporting if no one from Crouching Tiger can come pick them up right away? Why not just take them over ourselves?”

“And another thing—why didn’t anyone check the bodies? Chai Tou and the others didn’t take a single thing. The money pouches were still on them! These honest fools are gonna drive me crazy.”

Li Xuemei asked, “Are we even allowed to take what’s on them?”

“If it doesn’t have any writing on it and it doesn’t cause trouble, then it’s fine. If they didn’t take it, that means they left it for us,” Yan Lao’er said.

(End of this chapter)