Chapter 22 - Brew Wine and Boil Jam, Tie Wazi
UNEDITED
The fish seemed like it really was selling well. It wasn't even midday when Ling Jingpeng came back. Ling Chenglong did not come with him, he probably went home to help with the farm work. After all, it currently was the farming season, stopping by everyday was already pretty good. Don’t forget to mention, because Ling Jingxuan threatened to tell the authorities on Da Wa’s family, Li Zheng also did not bring people to come trouble him. This situation was basically restrained. As for if Li Zhe ng or Da Wa’s family would resent him, Ling Jingxuan expressed indifference. Is the resentment towards him small? Adding on another problem wasn’t much, having one less problem was also not small.
“What? 20 Wen each one? How is it so expensive?”
Big bun when hearing Ling Jingpeng’s report that the jars with the skinny necks and big bellies were 20 Wen each, his little face choked red. Both eyes furiously glared at the jars. You can imagine how much it hurt him. There were 20 of them, in total it cost 400 Wen. In addition there were other things that were bought today, therefore today’s fish had no profit.
The corners of Ling Jingxuan’s mouth twitched. He secretly threw Ling Jingpeng a wink and the two of them hurried to move those jars to the cellar. With Ling Jingxuan’s instructions, the actions of the two were very swift and took yesterday’s wild grapes, put inside the pot and mashed them together. Then they sealed the jars with a cloth covered in mud to let the grapes inside naturally ferment.
“Ok, it can be drunk after a month. Jingpeng, is the market in town open everyday?”
Looking at the neat pile of jars in the cellar, Ling Jingxuan let out a gratified smile. If he wasn’t short of money, he wanted to pick more grapes and turn it into wine. Maybe this could get him a pot of gold in this era, although he didn't know if this era had wine or not already.
“It’s not like that. Market day is every three days. Tomorrow just happens to be market day. Big brother you want to go to the market?”
“En, I want to turn the rest of the grapes into a jam and sell it at the market.”
He didn’t need to say much. Ling Jingxuan nodded his head then carried up the leftover grapes which weren't a lot. Turning it into 2-3 jars of jam wasn’t a problem.
“This jam thing can really be sold for money?”
Having heard what was said, Ling Jingpeng curiously questioned him. He thought that big brother was tricking Xiao Wen.
“Should ba? Take it to test tomorrow and we’ll know. That's right, don’t dig out the pond in the back yet, wait for us to earn some more money and I’ll hire some people to dig out a big pond. What dad said is correct, Yuehua ravine’s fish can’t be caught forever. It would be better to just raise some ourself, in the future it will all be income.”
While taking the two people already reached the kitchen. Ling Jingxuan put down the basket and swiftly lit a fire to prepare to make jam and rock sugar. Ling Jinghan’s illness cannot be dragged on anymore, he planned on entering the treatment stage tomorrow. This was one of the reasons he wanted to go to the market tomorrow, the medical herbs at home were limited. There were some he had to get at a Medicine Store.
“Brother, why don’t you teach me how to make jam? I also want to make money.”
Without even the slightest suspicion to his words, Ling Jingpeng eagerly asked. What happened with Da Wa family made him earnestly be won over. Ever since big brother became clear headed, it was like he became omnipotent. Ever since, he had faith in him from the bottom of his heart. Furthermore, although many years had already passed, he continued to remember the brother from before who was very gentle and soft and loved them dearly.
“Hehe… ok ah, for today, just watch me first. We don’t have that many grapes left, I also can’t guarantee if the jam will sell for good money. Wait for me to try it tomorrow . If the price is good, us brothers will make it together.”
Having already decided to teach him business, Ling Jingxuan naturally did not refuse him. Isn’t it good for his little brother to be ambitious on his own accord?
“En, wait for more money and I’ll have dad and mom buy some more land here to build a house. In the future we can separate from the family and live here.”
Ling Jingpeng’s face burst into a brilliant smile as he helped scoop some water from the pot. Having heard what Ling Jingpeng said, Ling Jingxuan paused. After staring at him for awhile he finally said, “What side of the house is mom and dad suffering from? They’re still like before and threw everything at mom and dad?”
“En?”
The movement of scooping water stopped. Ling Jingpeng’s smiling expression froze on his face. Lowering his head he muttered, “En, grandpa is still good but that's because of second brother’s prospects. He isn’t too harsh with us but he also doesn’t really care about us. Impossible for him to support us. Grandma, you already know. She doesn’t like mother and father. Oldest uncle and youngest uncle, don’t even need to say it. The several tens of fields were all thrown at dad to take care of, the household chores were thrown to mother. Every day they’re clean and idle about, but mom and dad…”
Speaking up to here, Ling Jingpeng was a bit choked with emotion. After a while he lifted his head, clenching his fists and looked at Ling Jingxuan, “Big brother, I will definitely try hard to earn money. I’ll let mom and dad and you guys pass good lives.”
The hardship of the parents, big brother’s grievance, second brother’s illness, the hardships of the two nephews, he was 14 years old and he understood everything. But it’s just that he was too young for this bitterness, simply unable to become their support.
“En, you can do it. Big brother will also work hard with you, but as for before that, should still think of a method to have the old master split the family. Probably because you guys have been helping me these past few days they are already in a bad mood ba.”
Patting his shoulder, Ling Jingxuan spoke with certainty.
“Few days ago they caused a ruckus. Mom and dad won’t tell you, afraid that you will find it difficult to bear.”
Lowering his head, with great difficulty Ling Jingpeng tried to cover up his low spirits. Who didn’t want to divide the family? Only if they separated would they be able to live happy days. But… the elders were there, they couldn’t separate. Qing Dynasty has always been ruled by filial piety. It was unfilial to ask about separation while the elders were still there. Even though they were a family of farmers and scholars, they were still an ordinary peasant family. Without the necessary circumstance they could not mention separating the family. Not to mention dad was a fillial person, he could suffer through more bitterness and tiredness and would still not mention separation.
“Really? Hmph!”
Ling Jingxuan coldly snorted having seen their prejudice. Who had seen the old Ling house to be partial The second eldest wasn’t a child? It was best they pray that they didn't run into his hands, otherwise…
“Dad, smells so good, what are you guys making?”
During the moment when the two brothers were silent, Little bun excitedly ran over. Behind him was a wolf cub following him and… a little boy that looked around the same age as him.
“Little gluttonous cat!”
He threw the rod used to stir at Ling Jingpeng, indicating for him to continue stirring the pot with jam that was starting to turn sticky. Ling Jingxuan crouched down to pamperingly poke at Little bun’s head. Embracing him he looked at the shy boy behind him. This should probably be the Tie Wazi (1) that the little bun kept talking about all the time ba? It's said that he was the only friend of the two little buns.
“How annoying, daddy is bullying me.”
Holding onto his neck, Little bun persistently acted like a spoiled child. It had only been a few days and he was slowly reinstating the innocence and liveliness a five year old child was supposed to have.
“Really? Don’t tell me you don't want to eat? What am I supposed to do? I was even thinking of putting some in water for you guys to drink after it's done.”
Raising his eyebrows, Ling Jingxuan cast sidelong glances at him and feigned embarrassment. Little bun became anxious and hurried to say, “Who said I didn’t want to eat, I…”
“Haha…”
Looking at his eager appearance, Ling Jingxuan broke in an instant. Carrying him, he laughed out loud. Ling Jingpeng couldn't help but laugh along.
“Annoying, daddy is bullying me again.”
Knowing that he was being made fun of, Little bun pouted and pushed him away. Both hands on his chest, he glared at him. Isn’t the fuming one his bun?
Ling Jingxuan couldn’t stop laughing and pinched his cheek. Without batting an eyelid he said, “Is this the Tie Wazi you talk about all the time?”
“En, daddy, he is Tie Wazi. His name is Zhao Tiesheng, he lives at the end of the village. Uncle Zhao went to deliver some tools to the town today, so Tie Wazi was by himself at home. So I told him to come over to play at our house.”
Forgetting that he was supposed to be angry, Little bun dragged a shy and reserved boy and pushed him in front of Ling Jingxuan.
“Hello Uncle Ling.”
Zhao Tiesheng shyly looked at Ling Jingxuan, bashfully hid behind Ling Wu. The sound of ‘Uncle Ling’ was as quiet as a mosquito. If you didn’t listen carefully you wouldn't have heard it at all. But Ling Jingxuan was actually very happy. First, he liked children very much. Second, he was the only friend of the little buns. As a father, he would naturally love anyone connected.
“Well behaved child. Xiao Wu, take Tie Wazi and go find your brother to play ba. Wait for the jam to be ready and I’ll send it over.”
Extending a hand to rub the two children’s heads, Ling Jingxuan patted the little bun’s butt. Compared to the stingy but very earnest Big bun, Little bun was no doubt even more lazy. But he still very earnestly woke up with him in the morning to go run and shadowbox. Right now he even added on practice writing characters. If possible, he hoped that Big bun could also be like this. After all they were only five right?
“En.”
Nodding his head, Little bun stooped down to pick up the wolf cub that was baring his teeth at Ling Jingxuan. Lulling on Tie Wazi, he turned around and left. Ling Jingxuan watched until they disappeared before going back to stirring. “Zhao family is a foreign family ba?”
Not everyone in Lingjai village was surnamed Ling. According to the memories of the original owner, there seemed to be a couple foreign households and Zhao family was one of them. As for the others, he didn't know.
“En, but Zhao family is not the same as the other foreign families. Brother Zhao’s parents passed away early and his wife also died when she gave birth. A few years ago he was the mother and father as he dragged along Tie Wazi. His days passed with great difficulty. Fortunately, although the Zhao family didn’t have much land, Brother Zhao could forge iron wares.Although it was barely enough, it wasn’t too bad. But… three years ago Brother Zhao suddenly got married to Brother Han. The village people felt that these two manly men getting married was ridiculous. Afraid that it would throw away the face of Lingjia village, clan leader and second grandpa gave them a new residence. Calling it an exchange is just a glorified name, in fact it was really chasing them out of the village. These few years Tie Wazi is the same as Xiao Wen, bullied by everyone everywhere he goes, quite pitiful.”
It was already hard for foreign households, adding on the fact that they were two married men, it wasn’t easy to say how hard it was for them.
“Hmph, it’s just the countryside nothing more. Acting like a large and influential family, do they really think that they are rich and powerful tycoons?”
Ling Jingxuan couldn't help but sneer. The emperor had married a man and turned him into an Empress, how far would they go? Although there were not a lot of men who married men, it was more commonly seen in big households. Furthermore, these men were usually concubines. But it wasn't like there wasn't any in the countryside. A house had a lot of manpower, and households with small lands would marry off their unfavored sons for two pieces of silver for household expenses. And there were some widowers with children who because they were too poor, were unable to marry a wife. They would marry a man to help the child and handle household duties. Basically almost every village had some, and had never heard of anyone looking down on them, so much that they felt they would lose face. Lingjia village was really the best.
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- Tie Wazi: So “wazi” actually just means a baby/small child. But Baby Tie/Child Tie seems a little weird to me so keeping it in Chinese.
