Second Aunt’s face flushed purple, not daring to talk back.
Eldest Aunt quickly called out, “Jin Zhu, your grandmother is calling you inside to eat, hurry!”
Xie Jinzhu had just come in from outside carrying firewood, unaware of the earlier conversation. Without even stopping to wash her hands, she hurried into the house.
Old Mrs. Xie, her face dark, picked up her chopsticks again, but the bowl of steamed egg custard remained untouched on the table, and no one dared to take any.
After an unpleasant dinner, Xie Jinzhu ran back outside to tend to her fire.
Madam Wang came out to call her, “Jin Zhu… Jinzhu?”
Xie Jinzhu turned her head at the sound.
Madam Wang walked over, wiping away some dirt that had somehow gotten on her face, and said softly, “I heard from your fifth sister that you’ve changed your name?”
Xie Jinzhu sighed and nodded.
Madam Wang murmured the name “Xie Jinzhu” a few times, then chuckled quietly, “Jinzhu is good, better than Jin Zhu.”
This name sounded like a girl’s name, much better than living the past dozen years in ambiguity.
Madam Wang only felt that her daughter seemed different from before, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly how.
Still, such a change felt reassuring.
Xie Jinzhu added a few more sticks of firewood to the stove and was startled to see Madam Wang sit down beside her, taking out her needlework. “Aren’t you going to rest?”
“I took on some work, and the client needs it urgently.”
Madam Wang deftly separated the threads by the light of the lanterns in the courtyard, saying, “Once this is finished, I can earn fifty copper coins.”
One tael of silver was equivalent to a thousand copper coins.
And the grand promise Xie Jinzhu had made was ten taels of silver a month. Who knew how many handkerchiefs like this she’d have to make to reach that amount.
Xie Jinzhu’s throat tightened inexplicably. Poking at the fire in the stove, she said, “There’s really no need for this.”
The glue in the pot would be ready in about three days. Including the ink-making process, the first batch could be tested in at most half a month.
She was confident she could earn enough silver.
It was just that neither Madam Wang nor Father Xie seemed to take her words seriously.
One had taken on embroidery work to rush through at night.
The other had returned very late today, his face heavy with exhaustion, clearly having taken on extra work as well.
But no matter what Xie Jinzhu said now, they wouldn’t believe her.
Knowing it was pointless to say more, Xie Jinzhu simply stared at the flames in the stove and said, “Whether I’m boasting or not, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Once the first batch of ink was made and exchanged for silver, let’s see who still doubted her boasting!
Xie Jinzhu worked with great determination, but no one else took it seriously.
The next day, Xie Wuni and Xie Xiao Liu followed Eldest Aunt to the fields. Xie Jinzhu entrusted the task of tending the fire to Xie Xiao Qi and, carrying her basket on her back, headed alone into the pine forest once more.
Xie Jinzhu traveled back and forth to the pine forest for three days, leaving early and returning late each day.
And the number of coarse ceramic bowls burning in the courtyard grew steadily.
The rapid depletion of firewood provoked another round of scolding from Second Aunt.
However, on the third day, when she saw Xie Jinzhu gather firewood herself and fill the courtyard with it, she swallowed her harsh words.
By the fourth day, the deer antlers that had been simmering in the pot finally reached the consistency Xie Jinzhu desired.
It was time to coagulate the glue.
Xie Jinzhu dismantled her old bookcase to make a suitable wooden frame, found a piece of gauze to stretch over a wooden bucket, and used a newly made gourd ladle to scoop out the deer antler glue that had been simmering for days. She slowly filtered it through the gauze, letting it drip into the bucket below.
The amount of glue collected in the bucket wasn’t much, filling the wooden frame to just a finger’s depth.
The filtered deer glue gradually solidified, and Xie Jinzhu picked up a knife, ready to slice it.
Old Mrs. Xie, looking through the window, instinctively exclaimed, “Put that down!”
Xie Jinzhu turned around in confusion, meeting Old Mrs. Xie’s anxious figure leaning out of the window. “Grandma?”
“When have you ever used a knife?”
Old Mrs. Xie was so frantic she nearly jumped out of the window. “You’ve never touched this before. Leave it for your sister to cut!”
“Xiao Qi, go help your brother—”
“I can do it!”
Before Old Mrs. Xie could feel embarrassed by her own blurted words, Xie Jinzhu raised the knife and swiftly sliced the glue, proving she wasn’t just putting on a brave face. She forced a dry smile. “I really know how to use it.”
“Grandma, close the window and rest. Be careful not to catch a draft and get a headache.”
Then she quickly added to Xie Xiao Qi, “Seventh Sister, you don’t need to help me. I can manage on my own!”
Xie Xiao Qi heard but didn’t move, continuing with her embroidery work.
Old Mrs. Xie shot Xie Jinzhu a dark look, slammed the window shut, and fell silent again.
It had been like this for days.
Since waking up, Old Mrs. Xie had been trapped in an indescribable awkwardness, which directly affected the rest of the family.
Her instinctive doting and the shattered reality of her Golden Grandson clashed repeatedly, causing Old Mrs. Xie to alternate between cold and warm remarks toward Xie Jinzhu, often leading to awkward moments.
No one felt at ease.
Xie Jinzhu let out a sigh filled with mixed emotions and focused on slicing the glue.
The sliced pieces needed to be air-dried, and during this time, she could hurry to scrape the pine soot that had settled at the bottom of the bowls.
Xie Jinzhu held one blackened bowl after another in her hands.
With a deft flick of the goose feather used to scrape the pine soot, a bit of pine soot powder, darker than charcoal ash, would fall into the wooden bucket below.
The scraped bowls were then rehung above the bowls filled with pine oil, repeating the cycle.
At some point, Xie Xiao Qi set aside her work, brought over a small stool, and began helping scrape the pine soot.
Seeing this, Xie Jinzhu said softly, “Thank you, Seventh Sister.”
Xie Xiao Qi replied coldly, “If Grandma hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t be helping you.”
She didn’t believe Xie Jinzhu’s reckless efforts would yield any results, but Old Mrs. Xie’s favoritism remained unchanged.
One moment she was filled with pity, the next with frustration, unsettling everyone around her.
Xie Jinzhu, about to scratch her nose, stopped herself just in time upon noticing her blackened hands. She lowered her head and continued working, chuckling wryly. “Regardless, thank you.”
These past few days, while it seemed she was the only one busy, the others hadn’t been idle either.
Second Uncle Xie and Eldest Uncle Xie, though they complained about wasting firewood, still managed to bring more for Xie Jinzhu during their breaks.
Eldest Aunt included Xie Jinzhu’s portion when preparing meals.
Xie Wuni and the others took turns watching the fire at night so Xie Jinzhu could catch some rest.
Though the mocking remarks from Second Aunt grew louder, they still lent a hand when needed.
Xie Xiao Qi didn’t respond.
Feeling a bit awkward, Xie Jinzhu whispered, “By the way, why haven’t Second Sister and the others made any move?”
Since arriving, she had been acutely aware of an unspoken tension beneath her feet: the other sisters.
Of the Xie family’s seven daughters, she had met four so far.
Three remained missing—those who had placed high hopes on the original host but had yet to appear.
This kind of unexploded bomb, whose timing was unknown, brought far greater pressure than the firecracker-like Second Aunt. For some reason, Xie Jinzhu felt an urge to scratch her head.
Xie Xiao Qi said indifferently, “Perhaps they think that as long as they don’t come back, they can pretend it isn’t real.”
As long as they hadn’t seen Xie Jinzhu, who had become their younger sister, their hopes would remain intact.
Once they actually saw Xie Jinzhu, everything would be revealed as false.
And…
Xie Xiao Qi gave Xie Jinzhu a cold glance. “Do you think that once you’re married, you’ll still come and go as freely as before?”
Xie Jinzhu was left speechless for no reason.
But Xie Xiao Qi asked, “What should we do with these things we’ve collected?”
“Wash.”
Xie Jinzhu put away the goose feathers and declared firmly under Xie Xiao Qi’s incredulous gaze, “Wash soot!”