“I know. Thank you, Third Aunt. As long as they dare to make trouble I certainly won’t swallow it,” said Yan Xi.
“Good that you know. Watch out for yourself from now on, and keep your wits about you in everything. It’s not the ten thousand you fear but the one time.”
Yan Xi nodded, feeling a little warmth in her heart. For Third Aunt to say as much meant she really did regard her as a junior of her own, and Yan Xi wasn’t one to fail to appreciate it.
The ox cart reached the gate of Yan Xi’s house, and the two of them carried the things into the house. Everyone was at home. There was another month to the autumn harvest and there was nothing much that needed doing in the fields, as long as the autumn harvest went without trouble it would certainly be a good year.
“Xiaoyue, Little Xi is back. You’re back really late today. Have you eaten? If you haven’t, Mom will go and boil you a bowl of noodles now.”
“Don’t trouble yourself, Mom, Sister-in-law and I ate wontons in town, and we bought buns too. You don’t need to cook this evening, just mix some cold dishes, the weather’s too hot.” As she spoke she gave the buns to Yan Xi’s mother first and had her hang them in the well so they wouldn’t turn by evening.
Everyone went into the front room and the women started putting things away. “Aiyo, how did you buy so many things? I only gave Little Xi a hundred wen, and even with Xiaoyue handing in her embroidery it wouldn’t be enough. Where did the two of you get so much money?” said Yan Xi’s mother as she tidied.
“Mom, I earned all this money today. Didn’t I go to the embroidery shop with Sister-in-law? Seeing they didn’t have many designs for their embroidery, I showed the manager the ones I’d drawn before, and they sold for two taels each,” said Yan Xi.
So saying she took out the money left on her and handed it to Yan Xi’s mother. Hearing that she had earned twenty-four taels in one day, Yan Xi’s mother simply couldn’t believe it. You had to know there were twelve mouths in the family, and from one end of the year to the other they couldn’t earn that much. In a bad year they would be left with a bellyful of famine debt.
Thinking of it, Yan Xi’s mother’s eyes reddened. When her daughter hadn’t been in her right mind life at home was hard, and now, only a few days after she got better, the family had meat to eat and money coming in. In the past days like this wouldn’t even have been dreamed of. Now that her daughter was better, looking back at the old days the bitterness had turned to sweetness.
“This money you earned yourself. Mom can’t take it. Keep it well, and later when you marry you’ll have something behind you.” Yan Xi’s mother pushed the money back.
“Mom, I’m still young. I want to stay with you all a few more years, I don’t want to marry! Besides, I’m part of this family too. Since I have the means now to let the family eat better, there’s no need to push it back and forth. You were all good to me before, now that I have the means I want to be good to you. And this money isn’t much. When the autumn harvest is over let’s see whether we can send the nephews to school. Yan Wen is nine already, he can go and learn to read. Xiaofeng and Xiaoqing are only five, there’s no hurry, when Xiaowen comes back from school he can teach them just the same.”
Hearing this Yan Xi’s mother could only take it. In the past there had been no money to send the grandsons to school, and now their auntie was willing to help out, which was a good thing. But she still forced the odd three taels and more back into Yan Xi’s hand, telling her to keep it to spend herself and not have to hold out a hand to the family.
The second sister-in-law Zhou Fen, hearing Mom and her sister-in-law decide to send Xiaowen to school, was thrilled beyond words. Thinking of her sister-in-law’s kindness, she decided all the more to be better to her from now on, and if Xiaowen were ever bad to his auntie later she would break his legs.
Up on the mountain raiding birds’ nests, Yan Wen only felt a sudden chill down his spine, as if something had its eye on him.
Back to the Yan house.
Yan Xi gave the sweet potato wine to her father, and her father was delighted beyond words. It had been a good many days since he’d had a drink, and he decided tonight to have a couple of good cups with his two sons.
Yan Xi’s mother and the others took the rice, flour, oil and salt back to the kitchen. Yan Xi had meant to buy meat too, but had thought the weather was too hot and it would probably turn in a few hours.
The family put the things away and then each went about their own business. Feng Yue went back to her room to embroider handkerchiefs, and Yan Xi’s mother and father went out to chat, one to Third Aunt’s house and one to the big locust tree. The others were in the front room cooling off, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans, very comfortable.
Yan Xi went back to her room and went straight into the space, and at once the summer heat was swept away. The temperature in the space was just right, about twenty degrees. First she watered the vegetable plot, then picked the ripe fruit and hauled it in the little three-wheeler to a prefab house.
The ripe fruit and vegetables in the space didn’t go tough, once ripe they stayed exactly as they were, only they had to be picked by hand, and a fruit tree could only start the next round of fruiting once its fruit was all picked, so Yan Xi went into the space and picked whenever she had time.
After a few days of feeling it out Yan Xi was already very familiar with the space. Time inside compared with outside was one to ten, that is, ten days outside was one day inside. Vegetables that took two months outside took only three days in the space, and watering with spirit spring water could cut that time in half again.
Looking at the fruit and vegetables that were nearly filling two prefab houses, Yan Xi decided to sell some the next time she went into town. At this rate it wouldn’t be long before the other three storehouses were full too.
Yan Xi worked in the space for a few hours, and meaning to go out and see whether her mother and the others were back, she went out and found she was the only one at home. It seemed they had all gone out to chat.
With nothing to do, Yan Xi got ready to boil some mung bean soup, so it would be just right for them to drink when they came back.
Yan Xi first measured out a bowl of mung beans, washed them clean in well water, poured them into the pot and added cold water to just cover the beans, brought it to a boil over a high flame, then turned it low and cooked it a quarter of an hour. In the middle Yan Xi also took a lemon from the space and squeezed in a few drops, this is done to keep the mung bean soup from changing color. Then she added a suitable amount of well water in three goes, bringing it back to the boil each time until the mung beans burst open. Then she put in rock sugar and stirred until it dissolved, and pressed the mung beans to a paste with a spoon, and at this step the mung bean soup was done, all it needed was to be dished out and chilled in the well, since it tasted better cold.
When all this was done Yan Xi went back to her room, meaning to work on the knotted cords. She hadn’t braided any for several years and was out of practice, she braided and unpicked and braided again, and worked at it nearly two hours before she found the knack. Looking at the crooked cord, Yan Xi sighed. Never mind, she’d go out first, they’d be back soon. There was no hurry with this anyway, it didn’t matter when she delivered them, and once she was practiced it would be quick. And later she would still have to rely on her eldest and second sisters-in-law and her mother. She knew her own skill, she only won on style and novelty, and on technique there was no comparing with women who did needlework all the time.
On the other side.
Yan Xi’s father, having finished showing off to a crowd of old friends the wine his daughter had given him and how she could earn money to help the household, walked back satisfied under the crowd’s envious, jealous eyes. Who was it who had said no few unkind things about his daughter, openly and behind his back? What family didn’t take pride in having a boy? Only his family, three sons born before they had Little Xi. And who knew Little Xi would be born deficient. His old wife had shed who knows how many tears, and because of outsiders’ idle talk she was often quarreling with the neighbors. His old wife’s temper had been mild enough to begin with, and it slowly got worse and worse. Fortunately Little Xi was better now, his old wife’s heartsickness was cured, and her temper was growing kinder too.