Meng Wan said aggrievedly, “Second Aunt, you are so petite. Xiao Mei and I didn’t bend down or lower our heads, so we didn’t notice you.”
He’s so short, like a winter melon, you’d have to jump to hit him!
Zhang Xiaoyu’s eyes seemed to spit fire, “You said I’m short?”
Meng Wan looked completely innocent. “I didn’t say that! Xiao Mei, did you hear me say that Second Aunt looks like a short, stout person?”
Xiaomei stammered as she testified, “I…I didn’t hear it.”
Zhang Xiaoyu was furious. Unable to argue with Meng Wan, he resorted to cursing: “You’re just showing off your sharp tongue. You’re so disrespectful to your elders. You’re a teenager who should be getting married, yet you’re living under the same roof with a cousin in such an ambiguous way. You look so seductive. I wonder if you’ve bewitched the eldest son of the Song family.”
In ancient times, reputation was even more important than life. Even in poor farming families where the separation of men and women was not so strict, Zhang Xiaoyu’s words were a disgrace to a person’s reputation. If it were a wealthy family in the capital, it might even cost them their lives.
Xiaomei’s face turned pale. She dared not get involved any further and quietly tiptoed backward.
Meng Wan was unaware of the implications, but he knew these words shouldn’t be overheard by just anyone. “Second Aunt, you…”
”Wan-ge’er!”
Chang Jinhua had survived the early death of her husband and raised her son single-handedly. Although she was saddened to see her mother today, she was only sad for a while and then it passed.
Seeing that Meng Wan was not at home, she went out to look for him, only to hear Zhang Xiaoyu’s cursing. Fearing that Meng Wan would suffer from his ambiguous relationship with him, Chang Jinhua hurriedly stopped him.
Rushing forward to shield Meng Wan behind her, Chang Jinhua’s face was cold and stern. “You know you’re an elder, and we’re from the same clan. How dare you slander a junior like this! If word gets out, I’ll have Wan-ge’er smash his head against your doorstep and then drag you into the river with him!”
Zhang Xiaoyu was already making a fuss, and he was also afraid of Chang Jinhua. Seeing Chang Jinhua’s cold face was like seeing a living devil. He was still not convinced, but he didn’t dare to talk nonsense in front of Chang Jinhua. He muttered to himself, “He was the one who made fun of me first. Besides, there was no one else around. It’s his right to scold him.”
Chang Jinhua sneered and grabbed his arm. “Since that’s the case, let’s go and argue with your in-laws. Let’s see if your husband doesn’t beat your foul-mouth half to death!”
”I’m not going. I didn’t say that. Let go of me now.”
Seeing that Chang Jinhua was really going to drag him to meet his in-laws, Zhang Xiaoyu became really anxious. He had been married for several years without having children, and he couldn’t hold his head up at home. If he offended his in-laws, his husband would really hang him up and beat him without hesitation.
Chang Jinhua was strong and taller than Zhang Xiaoyu, so she actually dragged him a couple of steps away, scaring him into a panic. “Good sister-in-law, I was wrong, I was mean, I’m not human, please don’t hold it against me. Wan-ge’er, please persuade your mother-in-law, oops, I mean your aunt!”
Meng Wan couldn’t tell whether Chang Jinhua was just trying to scare Zhang Xiaoyu or if she was serious. Although his reputation was important, Zhang Xiaoyu’s family and Song Tingzhou’s family were cousins from the same clan. He had heard Chang Jinhua say that Zhang Xiaoyu’s husband, Song Youcai, and Song Tingzhou’s father were cousins who grew up in the same courtyard. However, Song Youcai was a notorious lazybones in the village, spending his days drinking and having fun instead of farming. He was over thirty when he finally married Zhang Xiaoyu, whose family was so poor they could barely make ends meet and whose parents were about to sell their children. Although he was a ge’er, he had at least gotten married, which was better than not having a wife at all.
Although Song Youcai was a scoundrel, he still respected his sister-in-law. Chang Jinhua followed the principle of “I won’t offend others unless they offend me” in the village and rarely contacted others. This was because she was a widow and might cause trouble. If she really went to her cousin’s house for his sake, wouldn’t she become a laughing stock?
Meng Wan quickly grabbed Chang Jinhua and said, “Auntie, let it go. I doubt he’ll dare to talk about me again in the future. Let’s forgive him this time.”
Chang Jinhua’s expression softened after hearing this, indicating that despite her strong words, she was actually hesitant.
”Good sister-in-law, your brother has gone drinking again. I still have work to do in the fields. Please have pity on me and let me go.” Seeing someone pushing grain towards them again, Zhang Xiaoyu was extremely anxious and quickly begged for mercy.
Meng Wan tugged at Chang Jinhua’s arm, and Chang Jinhua let go of him.
Zhang Xiaoyu hurriedly pushed the cart of grain away, while Meng Wan threatened him from behind, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, “Second Aunt, if you spread rumors about me in the village, I have plenty of time to sit at the village entrance and make up a few things. But you have a whole family, including two young sisters-in-law. If you ruin their reputations, I’m sure Second Uncle’s family will have a good talk with you.”
Zhang Xiaoyu dared not provoke him again and slunk away. When Meng Wan turned around again, she found that Xiao Mei was nowhere to be seen, and couldn’t help but give a bitter laugh.
”Let’s go home first. But you have to go out less. Your second aunt is a fake. He can fool you with just a few words. You don’t know how formidable some wives are. They can kill you in no time.”
Meng Wan verbally agreed, thinking that Chang Jinhua’s words about how terrible it was were just an exaggeration. Little did he know that soon after, a death would really occur in Sanquan Village.
When Meng Wan got home in the afternoon, he told Chang Jinhua about grinding soybeans at the grain drying yard the next morning.
”Making tofu requires grinding soybeans, I know that. I’ll grind them tomorrow morning, you can prepare yours at home.” It’s just a few pounds of soybeans, it’s not a matter of how heavy the task is. The tofu-making technique is passed down from generation to generation. She was afraid that Meng Wan would feel uncomfortable if she was there. According to custom, a servant’s life and death should be controlled by the master. Not to mention a small tofu recipe, even if there were ten or a hundred recipes, if the master wanted them, the servant would have to hand them over without reservation.
However, the Song family did not buy Meng Wan to make him a slave or maid. They wanted their son to marry him, so he would not be treated the same way. Although Meng Wan had no maternal family, the Song family should still give him the respect due to them. Their ancestral recipes should not be shown to others.
Meng Wan was unaware of Chang Jinhua’s thoughts. He had no intention of hiding anything from people; if the research succeeded, he and Chang Jinhua would definitely work together.
He was sleeping soundly in the cabin at night when he was awakened by a suppressed cry of pain. Meng Wan’s eyes widened instantly—it was happening again.
At first, he thought it was the couple next door being affectionate, and he felt a little embarrassed. Later, he felt it didn’t seem like it, but he was too embarrassed to listen carefully. It wasn’t until Xiaomei told him during the day that he understood.
It turns out it was domestic violence.
The one who hits remains silent, while the one who is hit endures it in a low voice.
This is different from the domestic violence that Meng Wan had only a superficial understanding of; it seems that the two of them were used to this way of getting along.
Meng Wan felt a chill in his heart. Since he transmigrated into the body of a young man from this era, he hadn’t looked in a mirror for months. He vaguely saw his current appearance in the old, blurry bronze mirror of the Song family and in the clear water basin.
Well—he looked remarkably similar to his past life, but with a touch more delicate and refined features. The biggest changes, besides being younger, were his decreased physical strength. It’s important to understand that an adult man’s physical strength is generally overwhelming compared to a woman’s, yet Meng Wan’s current strength was even less than that of Chang Jinhua, who had worked the land for years.
Accompanied by a nagging and agonizing sound, Meng Wan was preoccupied with too many thoughts, which caused him to sleep poorly that night. He had many chaotic dreams, but he forgot most of them when he woke up. The one he remembered vividly was that he was holding a monster with the body of an infant and the head of an adult, who looked just like Song Tingzhou. The monster kept calling him “Mommy” and asking him for milk.
Meng Wan was startled awake. He was alone at home, and Chang Jinhua had gotten up early to grind soybeans. Meng Wan wasn’t quite used to getting up at the crack of dawn, but fortunately, Chang Jinhua didn’t restrict him. After getting up and washing up, he didn’t eat and went to check on the brine she was making.
On the top of the cupboard was a bowl of pale yellow brine dissolved in water. Meng Wan had carefully instructed Chang Jinhua that this stuff was poisonous and must be kept in a hidden place to prevent people from accidentally eating it. He didn’t know where Chang Jinhua had put it; in any case, he had never seen it in the open.
Seeing that the brine was ready, Meng Wan went to the yard to fetch firewood. At that moment, Chang Jinhua also returned carrying a wooden bucket.
”Auntie, you’re back just in time. Could you find me a large piece of linen?” Linen has a similar texture to gauze, so it’s perfect for wrapping the tofu.
Chang Jinhua went to find a cloth, and Meng Wan washed the pot to prepare to filter the soybean pulp. Today, they made three catties of soybeans. Chang Jinhua found a cloth, and Meng Wan asked her to help. The two of them used the burlap cloth to filter the soybean pulp.
Chang Jinhua was quite surprised. She laughed and said, “You want me to help you? Aren’t you afraid I’ll steal your skills?”
Meng Wan was genuinely puzzled. “What’s so great about learning this? Even if you don’t want to learn, I’ll still teach you. Otherwise, it’ll be too tiring for me to do it all by myself.”
Chang Jinhua angrily scolded him, “I always say that the Tian family next door married a lazy granddaughter-in-law, but who knew that my Ge’er is even lazier and is ordering me around.”
Although she spoke of him, Chang Jinhua was deeply moved. She could see that Meng Wan was not reluctant at all, which showed that he really did not want to hide it from her.
Upon hearing her words, Meng Wan recalled the bizarre dream he had last night and fell silent, continuing his work quietly.
In the first experiment, he used a small amount of soybeans and only produced half a bucket of soy milk. After filtering it, he poured it into a pot and took out a tinderbox to start a fire.
”Wan-ge’er, what are these? How do we use them?” Chang Jinhua asked, pointing to the remaining tofu dregs.
Meng Wan lit a fire and added a handful of firewood to the stove. “Throw those in the corner of the yard to dry. When the cabbages and radishes get bigger, crush them up and use them as fertilizer.”
Chang Jinhua beamed with joy, “It has this effect? I’ll try it in a few days.”
Meng Wan said it was his first time trying it, but Chang Jinhua saw that he had a methodical approach to adding water and filtering, and seemed very confident, so she relaxed a lot.
Meng Wan gradually brought the soy milk in the pot to boil and then stopped adding wood. The rich aroma of soybeans wafted out of the room, and Chang Jinhua hurried in, “Wan’er, is it done?”
Meng Wan found a pair of chopsticks and two large bowls. He used the chopsticks to pick up a layer of milky white bean curd skin along the edge of the pot and put it into the bowl. He then scooped in half a spoonful of soy milk.
”Auntie, try some bean curd sheets. They’re more nutritious than eggs.”
Chang Jinhua declined, saying, “You can drink it, why leave it for me?”
Meng Wan waited for the next layer of bean curd skin to solidify, and said, “We’re not doing business today anyway. If you don’t eat it, we can’t finish this half-pot either. I’ll have more later.”
Upon hearing this, Chang Jinhua picked up the bowl, blew on it twice, took a sip, and exclaimed in surprise, “This…this is truly rich and mellow, even better than tofu!”
Meng Wan also developed a layer of bean curd skin, scooped up a bowl of soy milk. The bowl was so hot it was burning his hands. His skin was more delicate than Chang Jinhua’s, so he couldn’t hold the bowl and drink like she did. He put the bowl down by the stove, squatted down, and took a small sip.
My goodness, it tastes so good! It would be perfect with just a spoonful of sugar, but unfortunately saccharin is expensive, so Chang Jinhua locked it in the cabinet.
The two drank without looking up. Meng Wan took a third sheet of bean curd skin and dried it on a newly tied thin hemp rope. “I’m keeping this one for my cousin. If our family really makes a living selling tofu, we can leave him more. This stuff is a tonic and has benefits.”
Chang Jinhua’s wrinkles smoothed out. Wan Ge’er was thoughtful, and that put her at ease.
Soy milk is easy to make, but tofu is difficult to press. Meng Wan picked up the brine and carefully poured it along the edge of the pot, stirring with a large spoon in his right hand. When he saw the soy milk in the pot gradually begin to solidify, he stopped stirring.
He added a little more firewood, covered the pot, and let it simmer for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before Meng Wan lifted the lid.
”Auntie, the tofu is ready.”
”Is it done?” Chang Jinhua leaned closer to take a look and saw that the soy milk in the pot had solidified into a jelly-like consistency, and the aroma of soybeans was irresistible.
”Why is everyone else’s tofu in small pieces, while ours is so tender?”
Meng Wan took a large, deep bowl from the cupboard and scooped a full spoonful of tofu into it. “This is firm tofu, which needs to be pressed to form a block, but I prefer this kind. Let’s leave a spoonful.”
Chang Jinhua smiled, “You’re the head chef today, so you can decide how things are arranged.”
Meng Wan smiled too; the tofu was already more than halfway to success.
”Auntie, could you bring in the burlap I’ve been drying outside? I’ll need your help with the rest.”
”Okay, I’ll go right now.”
Meng Wan scooped the remaining tofu from the pot into a washed and dried burlap lining and placed it in a slightly shallow rice bowl.
Yesterday, he picked up a smooth stone by the river, cleaned it, scalded it twice with boiling water, and then placed the stone on the burlap bean bun.
”If we wait a little longer, we can remove the cloth bag and it will be like a block of tofu.”
Meng Wan’s words revealed his unspoken joy, clearly indicating that he was also very pleasantly surprised to have succeeded on the first try.
”Auntie, I’m going to take a piece of pickled vegetable out of the jar to use as topping.”
”Go ahead, go ahead.” Chang Jinhua’s eyes were fixed on the tofu in the rice bowl. At this moment, even if Meng Wan wanted candy, she would probably have opened the cabinet and given it to her.
Meng Wan scooped out a pickled radish. It was a radish pickled in early spring this year. It’s something that every household eats with brown rice porridge when there are no vegetables in the fall.
When Song Tingzhou was not at home, he and Chang Jinhua did the same thing, except that Chang Jinhua would cook him an egg or make him a bowl of rice porridge every few days.
Meng Wan had nothing to be pretentious about. Chang Jinhua treated him like her own son. There were plenty of people in the village who ate coarse rice porridge every day. It was still more comfortable than living under the control of a slave trader.
He wasn’t ungrateful; when Chang Jinhua offered to boil eggs for him, he would crack the eggs, add water, and make steamed egg custard so that both of them could have a few bites.
Meng Wan deftly used the cleaver to cut the pickled radish in half, taking only one half and chopping it into fine cubes. He then cleaned the pot and left it idle. Chang Jinhua, who was in the kitchen, added some firewood for him when she saw this.
Meng Wan coated the bottom of the pot with a little lard, then added diced scallions and pickled vegetables and stir-fried until fragrant. He then added a small spoonful of water. The radish was salty enough, so he didn’t add any more salt. Once the broth had reduced, he ladled it into a bowl.
Given the current conditions, the braising liquid can only be used as a temporary measure. However, when I have some free time in a while, I can ask Xiaomei to go up the mountain to pick some mushrooms and other fungi. Adding those to the braising liquid will make it more fragrant!