Halfway through her meal, Lady Yang noticed that Lu Zimo was still talking with Yiyi and called out hastily, “Zimo, eat your meal before talking to Yiyi.”
“I’m not hungry, you go ahead and eat. I’ll take Yiyi out for a walk.” As Lu Zimo spoke, he took the little girl’s hand and walked outside.
Yun Zhu could tell that Lu Zimo held a grudge against her, but she didn’t take his coldness to heart.
On the contrary, she was deeply grateful to Lu Zimo.
In her memory, Lu Zimo doted heavily on his cousin Yiyi.
He had even pulled Yiyi back from death’s door several times.
This was also the main reason why Lu Zimo harbored resentment toward the original host of this body.
After all, she was Yiyi’s birth mother, yet she had failed to protect her daughter.
With Lu Zimo around, Yun Zhu knew her daughter wouldn’t face any danger. However, after the previous incident with Lady Zhao, Yun Zhu still felt uneasy letting her daughter out of her sight. “I happen to need to buy a few things, so I’ll come along with you.”
Just as Lu Zimo was about to refuse, Yun Zhu tied a small purse to her daughter’s waist: “We can shop separately, and Yiyi can buy whatever she fancies.”
Inside the purse was one tael of silver scrap and dozens of copper coins.
Children needed pocket money as well.
Lu Zimo paused, his expression shifting. This Second Aunt truly seemed to have changed.
In the past, his Second Aunt had been a foolishly confused person, believing that by submitting to Lady Zhao’s abuse, she could secure a good life for Yiyi. She never realized that her compromise would only make Lady Zhao grow more aggressive, causing Yiyi even greater harm.
Now that Second Uncle was gone, Yiyi was his only bloodline. If this Second Aunt was still as blind to reality as before, he wouldn’t mind using means to make her “remarry” and leave!
Lu Zimo didn’t take Lu Yiyi far, only walking around the northern quarter. When they returned, however, he was carrying large and small bundles in his hands.
These were all purchased by Yun Zhu: clothes, shoes, and socks for her daughter, snacks her daughter wanted to eat, as well as twenty catties of coarse rice, twenty catties of white flour, and ten catties of fine rice.
Coarse rice in Daliang County was somewhat cheaper than in town, so she had to buy some to keep up appearances.
Besides these, she also bought oil, salt, and various seasonings.
Purchasing so many goods had cost less than three taels of silver—no wonder everyone had worn such shocked expressions earlier when they saw her packing up those dishes from Zuixiao Restaurant.
However, once chaotic times arrived and prices skyrocketed, the silver she had on hand would still be far from enough.
“Grain is cheap in the county town—should we buy some to bring back too?” Lady Yang discussed with her husband.
“Let’s buy a bit then,” Lu Jinghai said. “Once the grain at home is sold, we can exchange it for more coarse grains.”
Having said that, Lu Jinghai turned to ask his eldest son, “Zimo, what do you think?”
Lu Zimo said after a moment’s thought, “The academy master mentioned that this year’s weather is rather abnormal, fearing natural disasters next year. I think we can exchange all the unhusked rice at home for coarse grains to store away.”
Yun Zhu couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Scholars were indeed different—they could anticipate danger in times of peace.
“But if we can’t finish eating it, it’ll turn into stale grain,” Lady Yang hesitated slightly.
“Even stale grain is better than starving!” Yun Zhu spoke up, offering a warning: “The weather this year is indeed unusual. It’s already autumn, yet it feels just like summer. Perhaps we won’t even have to wait until next year; there might be natural disasters by the end of this year.”
“Still… we don’t have much silver on hand to begin with. If we exchange all the grain at home for coarse grain, what if something happens…” Lady Yang trailed off. She didn’t want to think about things going bad, but some events wouldn’t be stopped just because one wished against them.
Without savings on hand, she lacked peace of mind.
Yun Zhu did not offer to lend silver to the eldest branch to buy grain. It wasn’t that she was cold-blooded, but rather that things hadn’t reached a dead end yet—the eldest branch wouldn’t accept her silver.
If they truly reached a desperate crisis, she wouldn’t stand by and watch the eldest branch starve to death either.
“Mother,” Lu Zimo pulled out two pieces of silver scrap and handed them to Lady Yang. “Now that family ties are severed, I no longer need to hand over the silver I earn from copying books. Please hold onto it.”
Lady Yang’s eyes grew moist with tears.
If it weren’t for Zimo copying books for the bookstore to earn silver and occasionally buying food in secret over these past two years, their branch would have failed to survive long ago.
“Don’t work yourself so hard in the future,” Lady Yang said, taking the silver. “You’re taking the imperial examinations next year, so spend more time reviewing your studies.”
Early the next morning, the group set off to return to the village.
Because the eldest branch had bought over a hundred catties of coarse grain, combined with the bundles Yun Zhu had bought and the seven people in total, the single ox cart was packed to capacity.
The ox cart traveled very slowly, reaching home only after total darkness had fallen.
It was another night with the starry sky as their blanket, yet little Lu Yiyi remained very happy.
To be precise, aside from the incident where Lady Zhao beat people, she had been overjoyed over these past two days.
Because she could feel that her mother was watching over her every single moment.
Before dawn the next day, Lu Jinghai and Lu Zimo loaded the newly harvested grain onto the cart and headed toward the town.
The father and son returned before lunch, hauling back several burlap sacks of coarse grain.
Lu Jinghai called Yun Zhu over and said, “This year’s grain tax has risen to forty percent. After paying the tax on the rice we harvested, only five hundred and twenty catties remain. In town right now, one catty of new unhusked rice can be exchanged for two catties of coarse rice. I exchanged it all, giving each of our families two hundred and sixty catties.”
Added to the hundred-odd catties of coarse rice and coarse flour bought in the county seat, if they ate sparingly, it should last them until next spring.
“Elder Brother, your family has many mouths to feed, while Yiyi and I don’t eat much. Sixty catties will be enough for us.”
Yiyi preferred eating the white rice from her pocket dimension and couldn’t stomach much coarse rice.
Speaking of which, Yun Zhu felt that during famine years, growing more coarse grains in her pocket dimension would be a safer bet.
After all, eating white rice in a famine year would draw far too much unwanted attention!
Lu Jinghai thought about it and said, “That works too! I’ll make up the money to you later.”
“No need,” Yun Zhu said. “Consider these grains as payment for helping me repair the house, otherwise I’d have to hire other villagers to help me.”
“It’s just repairing a roof…”
“Elder Brother, what I want isn’t an ordinary roof. Additional pillars must be added around every room, the corner beams of the roof must be thick, and several more crossbeams need to be installed…”
Yun Zhu listed her requirements one by one: “Besides that, the walls must be thickened to improve heat retention. Additionally, we need to construct a heated *kang* bed.”
“A *kang* bed?” Lu Jinghai froze. “That requires a lot of firewood. Why would us country folk use a *kang* bed? It only snows for a few days during winter down here. Putting a brazier in the room at night is enough to tough it out.”
“Elder Brother, I wasn’t joking about the natural disasters!” Hearing Lu Jinghai’s words, Yun Zhu knew he hadn’t taken her earlier warning seriously, so she spoke more directly: “I feel that this winter might be extremely cold. There could very well be a severe snow disaster!”
Lady Yang gasped in surprise: “That can’t be, right? We rarely even see snow here—how could there be a snow disaster?”
“Better safe than sorry!”
Just then, Lu Zimo—recalling the solemn look on the academy master’s face when mentioning next year’s natural disasters—spoke up: “It pays to be prepared.”
While the few of them were talking, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and Lu Ping walked inside.
“Father… Uncle Lu, why are you here?” Seeing his biological father for the first time since the family division, Lu Jinghai felt at a loss for a moment.