Song Beichen and Zhou Rong had already discussed the matter privately.
The money currently in the household had all come from the black bear their daughter had sold. Unless Song Xiaoyu personally stated how she wanted it used, the couple intended to keep every tael safely stored away for her future.
“Xiaoyu, since you’ve brought up building a house, let’s start with a simple one,” Zhou Rong suggested as she mentally calculated the expenses. “We’ll build a few rooms with mud walls and tiled roofs. Your eldest and second brothers can share one room, your father and I will have one, and you’ll get your own room. Then we’ll add a kitchen, a latrine, and a small grain storehouse. Twenty taels of silver should be more than enough.”
The current residence of the main Song family had been built relatively recently. The truly old ancestral home had collapsed many years ago.
Even then, the family had only been able to afford a mud house.
In the village, poor families lived in homes made of mud walls covered with thatched roofs. Only wealthier households could afford sturdy blue-brick houses with proper tiled roofs.
In the entire village, only Village Chief Wang’s family and the butcher Chen Hu’s household lived comfortably in blue-brick homes.
“Mother, mud houses need repairs every few years,” Song Xiaoyu replied. “Since we’re building, let’s do it properly. We’ll build the entire house with blue bricks and roof tiles.”
In her opinion, there was no need to make the family suffer now that they finally had money.
“Alright then.” Zhou Rong smiled. “If Xiaoyu wants a blue-brick house, then that’s what we’ll build. Your father can visit the Village Chief later and ask him to help us contact some builders. We’ll also need to purchase the bricks ourselves.”
“Father, let me handle the trip,” Song Wen volunteered immediately. “Village Chief Wang’s house is quite far away. After breakfast, Brother Wu and I can go into town and arrange the purchase of the bricks.”
Blue bricks were considered a valuable building material. They had to be specially ordered from the brick kilns outside town, and the process involved a considerable amount of travel and negotiation.
With Song Beichen’s injured leg, the responsibility naturally fell to his sons.
“Very well, Song Wen,” Song Beichen said with a nod. “I’ll leave the brick kiln matter to you. Have your mother give you the deposit money before you leave. Be respectful when dealing with the kiln masters, and they’ll make sure our bricks are fired properly.”
After a pause, his expression became more serious.
“However, I still need to visit the Village Chief personally. Uncle Wang’s family has shown us tremendous kindness.”
Song Wen nodded in agreement.
After all, it was Village Chief Wang who had stepped forward and approved their family separation. Without his support, the other clan elders might have caused endless trouble, and their branch of the family would still be trapped supporting Uncle Beishan’s household like beasts of burden.
“I’ll come with you,” Zhou Rong said, setting down her chopsticks before hurrying toward the kitchen.
“I’ll pack twenty eggs for Aunt Wang. She never properly recovered after her confinement years ago, and her health has been poor ever since.”
Song Xiaoyu secretly rejoiced.
Perfect.
Everyone in the family was busy with their own tasks.
That meant she could head into the mountains alone.
Without her two older brothers following her around, she would be free to collect valuable medicinal herbs such as wild ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms without attracting any attention.
“Father, Mother, Brother Wen, Brother Wu, I’m full!”
She jumped to her feet.
“I’m heading to the back mountains now! Don’t worry, I’ll be careful and won’t go too deep into the dangerous areas!”
With that, she slung a wicker basket onto her back, stuffed three large sacks inside, grabbed the family’s only iron shovel, and dashed off.
In the Great Sheng Dynasty, iron tools were extremely expensive.
This particular shovel had actually been lent to them by Aunt Wang.
Song Xiaoyu moved so quickly that the rest of the family barely had time to react before she disappeared.
“How strange.”
Song Wu scratched his head.
“It’s like Little Sister’s tail caught fire. She vanished in the blink of an eye.”
Zhou Rong immediately shot him a fierce glare.
“What kind of older brother talks about his sister like that?”
Then her expression softened slightly.
“Still… that child really has changed lately.”
A trace of sadness entered her eyes.
“Perhaps surviving that serious head injury made her stronger. In the past, your father and I weren’t capable enough. Xiaoyu suffered far too many grievances.”
“Mother, you really don’t need to worry about her,” Song Wu said enthusiastically.
“Xiaoyu is amazing now! Last time, she chased down that giant black bear and beat it to death herself. Even I, her second brother, admire her from the bottom of my heart.”
The moment he mentioned the black bear incident, Zhou Rong’s temper flared again.
“And you’re proud of that?”
She smacked him on the shoulder.
“As her older brother, you stood behind your little sister and let her fight a black bear herself? Useless boy!”
Fortunately, Song Wen had already finished eating and escaped to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
Only Song Wu remained behind to endure the full force of Zhou Rong’s scolding.
“If I ever see you hiding behind Xiaoyu again when danger appears, I’ll break your legs!”
“Mother, stop hitting me! I understand! I know I was wrong!”
Clutching his backside, Song Wu fled through the front gate.
But after only a few steps, he suddenly froze.
His eyes widened.
A huge crowd of villagers had gathered in the distance, creating an enormous commotion near the center of the village.
“Mother!”
Song Wu pointed excitedly.
“Come look! Something major happened! Half the village is gathered over there!”
…
Meanwhile, far up in the mountains, Song Xiaoyu was already making her way through knee-deep snow.
Each step left deep footprints behind her as she climbed beyond the middle slopes.
Stopping briefly, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and looked back toward the village.
The world below was covered in a blanket of pristine white snow.
Dark mountain ridges cut through the landscape like strokes of black ink, while the withered treetops stood out in muted shades of gold and brown.
It was a breathtaking winter scene.
…
“Mother, I’m going over there first to see what’s happening!”
True to his curious nature, Song Wu immediately ran toward the crowd, still carrying his half-finished bowl of breakfast.
After cleaning up the kitchen, Zhou Rong and Song Wen packed twenty eggs and ten jin of premium white rice into a basket.
Then they rolled out Song Beichen’s wheelchair and helped him leave the house.
As they approached the village road, excited voices from the gathered crowd drifted into their ears.
“Have you heard?”
“The personal steward from Squire Zhao’s estate in town has arrived!”
“He brought a huge group of estate guards and servants with him!”
“They say the third son of the old Song family swindled an enormous amount of money from Squire Zhao!”
“Squire Zhao was furious!”
“They’ve already torn down the entire old Song family residence!”
“Everything has been smashed to pieces!”
“All their furniture and belongings have been thrown outside into the mud!”
“Oh, you should see it! The scene is absolutely spectacular!”