With three people working, the progress was indeed fast. Moreover, Eleven had already prepared several usable tiles earlier. After some hammering and fixing, both the main room and the side rooms became habitable.
Madam Wen and Wen Zhirou slept on the bed with Rui'er, while the others dismantled a door to use as a makeshift bed, making do for the night.
As crude as it was, it was still far better than before.
Chen Shiyi thought that tomorrow she would go to the town to see if she could find any ways to earn money. After all, there were too many things that required funds.
Bedding—they couldn't keep sleeping under the open sky forever. It might be tolerable in summer, but in winter, without quilts, they would freeze to death.
Clothing—they couldn't keep wearing the same set of clothes. No matter what, everyone needed at least one spare set for washing and changing.
In short, there were many, many trivial and tedious things to take care of…
The next day, she retrieved two fish from the net she had set the day before and stewed them together with the leftover mushrooms. After finishing the meal, she headed straight for the town.
Ping'an Town was over ten miles of mountain road away from Fengming Mine.
A round trip would take about two hours.
By the time she arrived in town, the bustling market had already begun.
The butcher's stall attracted the largest crowd, with the cleaver ceaselessly chopping bones on the cutting board. Nearby, the wonton stall had only a few customers. Further along, vendors selling chicken, duck, fish, and meat were everywhere.
Bamboo shoots from the mountains, aged pickled vegetables, golden honey—even the Fir Mushrooms gathered the day before were being sold by someone.
Perhaps because anyone could go up the mountain to gather a few, despite the vendors' increasingly loud hawking, relatively few people were buying.
Moving further along the main street, there were restaurants, inns, fabric shops, jewelry stores, pastry shops…
From some of the wider alleys, the sound of blacksmithing could be heard.
Shop signs of various colors and lengths lined the dark bluestone streets, blending the bustling prosperity with a touch of desolation in the drizzling rain.
She turned into a flower-filled alley.
The alley was extremely lively. Pink gauze was draped over the plane trees on both sides, and even in broad daylight, the candles in the red lanterns burned brightly. Everyone passing through here wore fine clothes and adorned their hair with flowers. Compared to the ordinary life on the main street, this place exuded an extravagant, almost decadent luxury.
"Little beggar, come here."
Chen Shiyi looked up and saw an exquisitely dressed beauty waving at her.
She walked over to the beauty, her eyes sparkling.
"Sister, are you calling me?"
"Sister? Hehehe…"
The beauty covered her mouth with a silk handkerchief and laughed delicately, turning to the person beside her.
"Someone called me sister…"
She then smiled at Chen Shiyi.
"I'm not your sister. We have a special name—prostitutes."
Upon hearing this, Chen Shiyi stiffened, feeling somewhat at a loss.
"Alright, why am I bothering to explain to a little beggar like you? Here, go to the Wu Family Pastry Shop outside and buy me a box of Pear Cloud Cake Slices. The remaining five copper coins are your payment for running the errand."
Chen Shiyi was delighted to hear there was a reward. She took the money from the beauty's palm and ran off, but then suddenly thought of something and turned back.
"Aren't you afraid I'll take the money and run?"
The beauty covered her mouth with the handkerchief and laughed again.
"But did you run?"
"What should I call you?"
"'The moon and stars connect to the Big Dipper, ice and snow entwine the southern branch.' Everyone calls me Nanzhi."
"Nanzhi, why did you ask me to buy the cake slices for you?"
Nanzhi placed her hands on her hips.
"Are you going or not? Why so many questions? If you're not going, give me back the money."
Chen Shiyi darted out in a flash.
Only to hear a soft, delicate voice muttering behind her.
"If you miss the timing for the pear cloud cakes to come out of the pan, just wait and see, I'll carefully skin you alive."
There were too many poor families in the town, and finding work was not an easy task.
With five copper coins tucked in her bosom, Chen Shiyi searched the town for a long time but found no jobs.
Occasionally, there were one or two, but when she asked, they either required literacy or were only for men.
Whenever Chen Shiyi tried to ask more, she was impatiently shooed away.
It was already past the hour of Wei, and she still had to hurry back to cook.
On her way back, she passed by a grain shop.
"Shopkeeper, what is the cheapest rice you have here?"
A middle-aged man was fiddling with an abacus, not even looking up as he replied.
"Brown rice, twenty wen per dou."
Chen Shiyi pursed her lips and cautiously asked.
"Shopkeeper, can I buy five wen worth of brown rice?"
Perhaps the shopkeeper had never done such a small transaction, he finally looked up from the abacus, his face full of confusion.
Maybe because he had been in business for years and had encountered many penniless people, after a moment of bewilderment, he replied.
"Alright, I'll weigh it for you."
After saying this, he picked up a wooden dou with a pointed spout, first sealed the spout at the bottom, then filled the dou with rice.
The shopkeeper frowned and asked.
"Where's your rice bag?"
Chen Shiyi shook her head.
"I didn't bring one."
The shopkeeper grew a bit impatient.
"Who buys rice without bringing a cloth bag?"
Chen Shiyi shrank back, awkwardly retracting the five copper coins from her palm.
"Sorry, shopkeeper, I'll come back to buy when I bring a bag next time."
Perhaps the shopkeeper pitied her, or maybe he really didn't want to miss a sale, he tossed out a sentence.
"Wait."
Shortly after, he retrieved a white cloth bag from a corner, poured the measured rice into it, and tossed it to Chen Shiyi.
"Bring the bag back tomorrow."
Chen Shiyi thought to herself, her luck was really good today—she had encountered kind-hearted people.
Back in the courtyard, Wen Zhirou, with her dark hair loose, leaned against a chair, drying her hair by the fire in the yard.
"Shiyi, why are you back so late? I bathed and washed my hair today, but we're out of water, and there isn't much firewood left. Remember to prepare more dry firewood."
"Alright, I know."
Chen Shiyi walked into the kitchen, placed the brown rice in the cupboard, fetched the earthenware pot, poured half of the rice into it, and prepared to go to the stream to wash the rice.
Rui'er rushed in excitedly.
"Sister, what's good to eat today?"
Chen Shiyi took his hand, and together they walked to the stream.
"We haven't had staple food in a long time. We can have porridge tonight."
She opened the net she had left by the stream to catch fish, but it was empty, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed.
She repositioned the fishing net, hoping for some catch tomorrow.
For dinner, there was a large pot of brown rice porridge and a big plate of vibrant green shepherd's purse.
Everyone sat around the fire, eating quietly.
"What kind of rice is this porridge made from? Why is it so hard to swallow?"
The second young mistress's faint voice broke the silence.
Chen Shiyi quickly replied.
"I only earned five wen today, just enough to buy some brown rice. I'll go to town again tomorrow to look for work."
Wen Zhiyuan loudly scolded.
"Having something to eat is already good enough. Stop being picky."
The second young mistress bit her lip, her eyes glistening with tears, looking utterly pitiful and heart-wrenching.
"I was just asking."
"Alright, what's all this about?"
Madam Wen chided them, then sighed.
"Chun'er, the Wen family has fallen on hard times. Our days are no longer as prosperous as they were in the Marquis's Mansion. Just being able to survive is already fortunate. Shiyi has also had a hard time, searching everywhere for food all by herself. It's been difficult for her."
"Shiyi, aren't there still fish?"
Hearing Wen Zhirou's words, Chen Shiyi replied shyly.
"Miss, there were no fish caught in the net today."
Wen Zhiheng lowered his head slightly, lost in thought.
Rui'er looked left and right, his dark eyes darting around.
"Sister, the porridge you made is delicious. I can drink a big bowl."
Chen Shiyi's eyes curved into crescents.
"As long as Rui'er likes it."