Chapter 16: Buying Food
Jiang Huaizhen’s attitude was cold, but Lin Shuang didn’t take it to heart.
She had been reborn, and she was clinging to Jiang Huaizhen not only to secure a life for herself, but also to repay her kindness.
Now, it was more about atonement.
The thought of selfishly abandoning her in the other world, leaving her alone and desolate while she went to her own death, plunged her into boundless guilt. In this life, she only hoped to take good care of her and her grandmother.
So how could she be bothered by her aloofness?
“After paying off the debts, is there any money left?” she asked, catching up to her.
Since they were living together and taking care of the elderly together, she needed to know the family’s financial situation to plan their next steps.
Jiang Huaizhen didn’t slow down. After a moment of silence, she finally replied, “I just received seven taels. I paid back Head Constable Lu three taels, and I have to pay back the village chief two taels when I get back, so there are two taels left.”
“Only seven taels? Weren’t there eight heads?” Lin Shuang frowned. “Was one tael skimmed by the officials?”
Jiang Huaizhen grunted in affirmation.
Generally, in a local yamen, except for the top two officials who were transferred from outside, the other positions were almost all filled by the sons of local powerful families and other local bullies. Although Jiang Huaizhen was also a bailiff now, she had no say compared to these petty officials who held real power.
Moreover, she had only been in the profession for a few days, with no power or influence, and hadn’t established herself yet. It was not a good idea to offend people.
In her past life, Lin Shuang had been weak and bullied everywhere, so she knew how frustrating such a situation could be. But for now, there was no way to fight a losing battle, so she could only endure it.
But she knew she couldn’t add fuel to the fire at this moment. So she adjusted her mood and comforted her, “It’s alright. We’ll just consider that one tael as money for his coffin.”
As expected, the other girl felt much better after her comforting words.
“You keep the remaining two taels for Grandma’s medical expenses. I’ll figure out a way to cover the household expenses from now on.”
Jiang Huaizhen replied without thinking, “No.”
Lin Shuang glanced at her. “Don’t underestimate me. I sold the yams I dug this morning for over two hundred copper coins. Although it’s not as much as yours, it’s a steady stream of income.”
“Of course, if I go up the mountain to gather herbs in the future, I’ll need your help. So we can consider it money we earned together, how about that?”
“We’ll see,” Jiang Huaizhen said, unwilling to take advantage of her.
As they were talking, her stomach suddenly rumbled.
It was getting late. She had expended a great deal of mental and physical energy today. Now that the task was completed and she had received her reward, the tension and pressure had disappeared, and she felt extremely hungry.
Hearing the sound, Lin Shuang remembered the steamed buns she had bought. When she took them out, she found that they had been squeezed out of shape.
She smiled sheepishly and handed over the unfolded oiled paper. “I originally bought these for you, in case you got hungry. But you were already on the execution platform, so it wasn’t convenient to give them to you…”
“You went to watch my execution?” Jiang Huaizhen looked at her.
Lin Shuang hummed in agreement. “But I’m a coward. I didn’t dare to watch the later ones, only the first one.”
Jiang Huaizhen was clearly relieved. She looked at the buns with the filling oozing out and didn’t show any disgust. She took the oiled paper and began to stuff the buns into her mouth in large bites.
It was a bit ungraceful, but with her beautiful face, it was still a pleasing sight.
After eating two, she handed the remaining one to Lin Shuang. “I’m full.”
“I’m not eating. You eat,” Lin Shuang said.
Seeing that the other was still insisting, she had no choice but to take it and finish the rest.
After they finished eating, they walked shoulder to shoulder toward the Everlasting Peace Apothecary.
The young apprentice who had served Lin Shuang earlier saw her and smiled. “You’re back, miss?”
Lin Shuang turned and pointed at Jiang Huaizhen. “We’re here to get some medicine.”
Jiang Huaizhen didn’t enter the shop but said to the young apprentice, “The same prescription as last time, the remaining two doses.”
Seeing that it was her, the young apprentice said quickly, “So you two know each other. Please wait a moment, I’ll go and get the medicine right away.”
With that, he hurried to the pharmacy inside.
When the commoners who had come to get medicine saw Jiang Huaizhen, some of them recognized her and retreated in fear.
Seeing this, Jiang Huaizhen took out a piece of silver from her robes and handed it to Lin Shuang. “I’ll wait outside.”
With that, she carried her saber and walked to a secluded spot by the back door, hiding behind a large tree.
The crowd whispered among themselves, sizing up Lin Shuang, thinking about their intimate behavior just now, and speculating about their relationship.
Lin Shuang said openly, “An executioner is still a bailiff. They are just following orders and won’t just slaughter people on the street. Like all of you, they get sick and need to see a doctor and take medicine, and as children, they have to support their elders. To put it bluntly, it’s just a different kind of job. There’s no need to panic.”
The crowd, which had been a little restless, quickly calmed down after hearing her words.
Someone couldn’t help but ask, “What is your relationship? How can you be so close?”
Lin Shuang said, “I am her wife.”
Wasn’t that what was written on the household register?
She was almost thirty when she died, no longer the shy fifteen or sixteen-year-old who would blush at the mention of marriage. She said this without a hint of a blush.
The crowd began to whisper among themselves again, probably finding it strange that an executioner could actually get a wife.
“He’s full of killing intent. What do you see in him?”
“He’s filial and hardworking,” Lin Shuang said. “And good-looking.”
Hearing her last sentence, the crowd burst into laughter. Some said she was shameless, but it also broke the fear they had originally had of the executioner’s identity.
Amidst the laughter, the apprentice quickly came out with two packets of medicine. He looked around but didn’t see Jiang Huaizhen, so he walked over to Lin Shuang and asked, “Where’s Little Jiang?”
“Give it to her. She’s Little Jiang’s wife,” someone said.
The apprentice knew that Jiang Huaizhen was a woman because she had brought Old Madam Jiang to the doctor before. Now, hearing what the crowd was saying, he looked at Lin Shuang suspiciously.
Lin Shuang smiled. “Give it to me. She’s waiting out back.”
The young apprentice said “oh” a couple of times. “After finishing these two doses of medicine, she’ll have to come back for another consultation. If she’s better, we can switch to a cheaper prescription…”
He trailed off and handed her the medicine.
Lin Shuang paid and waited for him to give her the change. After thanking him, she walked in Jiang Huaizhen’s direction.
They arrived at the market.
Lin Shuang said, “We have rice at home, so let’s buy some coarse flour. Porridge isn’t filling enough on its own, so we can steam some buns to fill our stomachs. We need to buy some eggs for Grandma to regain her strength. Eggs can be stored for a long time. If we come to the city, we can buy some meat.”
Jiang Huaizhen saw that she knew more about these trivial matters than she did, so she took out some of the money left over from buying the medicine and handed it to her, letting her take charge.
But Lin Shuang shook her head. “We agreed that your money is for Grandma’s medical expenses. We’ll earn money for the household’s food and clothing separately.”
Jiang Huaizhen didn’t want to argue with her on the street. After a moment of hesitation, she put the money away.
She bought ten catties of coarse flour, three catties of white flour, a jar of salt, and ten catties of pork suet. Seeing someone selling eggs by the roadside for one copper coin each, Lin Shuang bought twenty of them in one go, spending twenty-one copper coins including the small straw basket.
[Coarse flour is four copper coins per catty, white flour is six… The flour cost fifty-eight coins, the salt cost twenty, the pork suet and meat cost one hundred and twenty, a set of bones cost ten, the eggs… a total of two hundred and twenty-six coins.]
Lin Shuang did a quick calculation in her head. Of the original three strings of copper coins, only thirty-seven were left.
The money was almost all spent, but looking at the full basket, she was still very happy.
Wasn’t earning money for spending it?
After buying everything, she turned to Jiang Huaizhen. “This will be enough for us to eat for a while. Is there anything else you want to buy? We can spend the rest.”
Jiang Huaizhen’s gaze swept over a strand of hair that had been blown loose by the wind as she walked. She shook her head. “I don’t have anything to buy.”
Lin Shuang had seen someone selling candy just now, but it was too expensive, so she couldn’t bring herself to buy it. “Let’s save it for now. We can buy whatever we’re missing next time we come to the city.”
So the two of them left the city with their things.
Jiang Huaizhen was unwilling to take a cart. She was now recognized by the commoners, and everyone avoided her like the plague. She didn’t want to be a nuisance. Besides, a half-hour walk was nothing to her.
She told Lin Shuang to take a cart, but Lin Shuang refused, and the two of them walked home together.
From the Everlasting Peace Apothecary to the market, the basket had been carried by Jiang Huaizhen. Lin Shuang thought that she must be exhausted, both mentally and physically, from the execution today, and she was still carrying a ghost-head saber that weighed twenty or thirty catties. She didn’t want her to be so tired and wanted to take the basket herself, but the other refused.
“This isn’t heavy. But you should take out the eggs and carry them, so they don’t get jostled while we walk.”
Lin Shuang couldn’t win against her and had to let her be.
By the time the two of them got home, it was already afternoon.
Jiang Huaizhen helped the old woman to the latrine, and Lin Shuang rested for a while before preparing to render the lard.
As the old woman passed by the kitchen on her way back, she couldn’t help but glance inside and ask, “You were busy all morning. What did you buy?”
Lin Shuang was cutting the pork suet. Hearing her voice, she turned and smiled. “I bought some pork suet, and also some pork bones and meat. We’ll have bone broth tonight. If Grandma doesn’t want to lie down, you can have Sister Jiang bring a chair with a backrest to the kitchen for you to sit on.”
Old Madam Jiang seemed to like this suggestion and turned to look at Jiang Huaizhen.
Jiang Huaizhen first helped her to a high stool, then went to move the rattan chair from the main hall into the kitchen. This chair had been woven by Jiang Gui when he was still alive. He would lie on it every day with a small drink, and it was extremely comfortable.
After he passed away, Old Madam Jiang had fallen gravely ill and had become extremely world-weary, spending all her days in bed. If it weren’t for her love of cleanliness and her refusal to use a chamber pot in the room, she wouldn’t even have been willing to take a step outside.
Today, she had agreed to sit in the rattan chair. This was a surprising and happy sign for Jiang Huaizhen. She carefully helped her sit down and lean against the backrest.
Then she turned and went back to her room, bringing out a thin quilt to cover her.
Seeing that the old woman was settled, and her own hands were covered in grease, Lin Shuang smiled and directed, “Sister Jiang, light the fire.”
Jiang Huaizhen grunted in agreement and squatted down by the stove.
Soon, a fire was lit in the stove, and a few wisps of smoke from the stove’s opening curled up the chimney and gathered under the eaves.
“Which pot should I use to render the lard?” Jiang Huaizhen asked.
“The large iron pot. Ten catties of lard will make a big pot,” Lin Shuang said. “After you’ve lit this stove, light the other one too, to boil the bones.”
The butcher had already helped chop the bones, so they just needed to be washed before being put in the pot.
Jiang Huaizhen agreed.
The old woman watched the two of them busy at the stove and, for once, didn’t say anything discouraging.
After putting the lard and pork bones in their respective pots, Lin Shuang asked Jiang Huaizhen to watch the fire while she went out to the vegetable garden to pick a radish and some vegetables.
Jiang Huaizhen sat by the woodpile with an axe, chopping firewood.
Old Madam Jiang looked at her sideways and asked, “Isn’t that beheading job over yet?”
Jiang Huaizhen had originally hidden the fact that she had taken this job from her. But she usually didn’t have a proper job and would be at home most of the time. Even if she was on the mountain, she would come back in time to cook for her and help her to the latrine.
But that day, her granddaughter had prepared her meal in advance and left it by her bed. She knew then that she had found a job that wouldn’t allow her to come back for lunch. She had a bad feeling and, using all her strength, had hobbled to the small woodshed with her cane. Sure enough, her son’s ghost-head saber was gone.
She knew then that her granddaughter had become an executioner.
Her world had collapsed.
But it was already a done deal.
But a few days had passed, and a little girl had arrived, and the sky hadn’t fallen yet.
“Today was the last day. Barring any accidents, there probably won’t be any more work before the new year,” Jiang Huaizhen replied honestly.
The old woman was clearly relieved and muttered, “No wonder you had money to buy so many things today.”
Jiang Huaizhen didn’t want her to misunderstand. “She was the one who paid for all this.”
The reward money for the beheadings was, of course, to be saved for this old woman, who should have died long ago, to buy medicine.
Old Madam Jiang’s slightly improved mood instantly soured again. She couldn’t suppress a couple of coughs and struggled to sit up, about to go back to her room.
Just then, she heard footsteps outside the door, and Lin Shuang’s surprised voice came in. “Huaizhen, the old hen laid two eggs today.”
The old woman’s straightened back leaned back again.
