The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 34

Chapter 34: Encountering the Qin Family

When the two of them entered the valley, they saw Old Madam Jiang from afar, leaning on her cane under the eaves, craning her neck to look toward the end of the road.

It was only when she saw them appear that she slowly sat back down.

Lin Shuang called out to her from a distance, “Grandma! It’s windy outside. Why don’t you stay inside?”

Her personality was much livelier than when she had first arrived. Her voice was soft yet clear.

Old Madam Jiang looked at her granddaughter, who was following behind her and wouldn’t say a word even if you beat her, and completely gave up on the hope of her greeting her from afar. She replied, “It’s stuffy inside. I came out for some fresh air.”

They were the only family in all of Changping County to have a heated kang so early in the winter.

It was only when they got closer that she asked, “How were the sales on the official road today?”

Lin Shuang put down the basket on Jiang Huaizhen’s back. “Look, we sold all forty catties of dough today. We plan to prepare a little more tomorrow.”

Old Madam Jiang looked at the empty basket and asked, “Are there many stalls there?”

“Just an old man selling tea. He even knows Sister Jiang and took good care of us. He even let us store our stove and tables and chairs in his tea shed.”

Hearing her say this, Old Madam Jiang’s worried heart finally settled.

“Are you hungry, Grandma?” Lin Shuang asked, putting away the carrying pole.

“It hasn’t been long since lunch. I’m not hungry.”

When they had left in the morning, the kang had been burning, and a large pot of water was boiling on the adjacent stove. When it was time to eat and take her medicine, she just had to warm it up in the steamer. The old woman only needed to add some water when it was about to dry up, and she didn’t have to do anything else.

This way, she could have a hot meal and medicine for lunch.

After entering the house, Jiang Huaizhen put down the money bag and turned to get some water to drink.

Lin Shuang called out to the old woman, “Grandma, come and count the money.”

Old Madam Jiang was very happy to do this kind of chore. She hobbled into the house with her cane and sat down at the dining table with Lin Shuang, stringing the copper coins one by one.

Forty catties of dough, twenty flatbreads, for a total of eight hundred and fifteen copper coins.

“Why are there fifteen extra?” the old woman asked.

“Occasionally, some wealthy masters and madams pass by on the official road. When they see that our flatbreads are delicious, they give a few extra copper coins.”

The old woman instantly became nervous. “These people, seeing that you’re pretty, will they have any bad intentions?”

Lin Shuang smiled. “In broad daylight, there aren’t that many cases of kidnapping. Those traveling merchants are more vigilant with their money bags than we are. Besides, Sister Jiang is a trained martial artist and works at the yamen. If it comes to a fight, we’re not afraid.”

Old Madam Jiang said grumpily, “That lousy job is only useful at a time like this.”

After counting the money, Lin Shuang recorded the accounts.

They had now saved up nearly eight taels of silver. Seeing the money jar fill up day by day was a very satisfying feeling.

Lin Shuang said, “Forty catties of dough wasn’t enough to sell today. Should we make seventy catties tomorrow? If we can’t sell it all, we can leave it with Uncle Liu.”

Seventy catties of dough could make thirty-five flatbreads. With a profit of nearly thirty copper coins per flatbread, they could make a profit of about one tael a day. Although it wasn’t as much as they had earned at the market, there were no arguments, and it was peaceful.

“Old Man Liu said that there are more people these few days. The closer it gets to the new year, the fewer people there will be. We have to sell more in these few days.”

Jiang Huaizhen had no objection.

After counting the money, Lin Shuang went to make dinner.

Jiang Huaizhen squatted by the water vat, washing the large frying pan and the two lids.

The two of them chatted idly.

It was mainly Lin Shuang who was talking, with Jiang Huaizhen occasionally replying.

“Today is the third of the twelfth lunar month. We’ll work until the fifteenth and then stop. We’ll go back next year during the peak season.”

“If we save up enough money, we can buy a horse like Head Constable Lu’s. Then we can set up our stall whenever we want, wherever we want, and we won’t have to worry about the rain.”

The money they had now was barely enough to buy an old horse, but they had agreed that the emergency fund was not to be touched, so they could only wait.

Jiang Huaizhen suddenly said, “You’re the one who’s been worrying about all the family’s affairs now. Do you feel tired?”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang smiled. “Why would you think I’m tired?”

“You have to worry about how many flatbreads to make tomorrow, how much money to earn, and then how to spend it…”

Lin Shuang sighed softly. “You have to know that being able to worry about such things is something that many women can’t even dream of.”

If a woman was not yet married, her parents were in charge, and she had no say. After she was married, her husband and mother-in-law would control the family’s finances. She would have endless work to do and endless children to raise. How could she have a say in how much money to earn and how much to spend?

For someone like her, if she had been married into the Qin family for the chongxi marriage, she would have only lost her life.

…

For several days in a row, the two of them went out to sell their wares. The amount of dough they brought also increased from the initial twenty to forty.

Some days, there were more people on the road, and they could sell faster. Sometimes, there were fewer people, and they sold slower. But no matter what, they had to pack up by the third quarter of the Hour of the Monkey(3 PM to 5 PM). Otherwise, if they spent more time on the road, they would be late getting home, and the old woman would worry.

If there were any leftover flatbreads, they would leave them at Old Man Liu’s tea shed. The weather was cool now, so they could be kept overnight.

On the eighth of the twelfth lunar month, they brought a total of forty dough balls.

As soon as they arrived at the stall, Old Man Liu, after serving two customers, came over and smiled. “This morning, a few customers who were heading back came here and asked me when you would be here. They wanted to eat something hot. Later, they couldn’t wait and took a few cold flatbreads and left.”

Lin Shuang smiled. “I thought there were no repeat customers on the official road. It turns out there are.”

Old Man Liu said, “The business in Jizhou is not just a one-time thing. These merchants and transporters are mostly the same group of people. They travel this road three or four times a year. The food sold by these mobile vendors on the road is extremely bad. It’s rare to have a good meal, so of course they keep thinking about it.”

Hearing him say this, Lin Shuang turned to look at Jiang Huaizhen. “It’s a good thing Doctor Xue gave us the advice. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have known to come here. I didn’t expect it to be such a good place.”

As they were talking, the charcoal fire was already burning brightly, and the pot was heating up.

A customer came to the tea shed, and Old Man Liu quickly turned to go back and serve them.

As the fragrance of the flatbreads wafted over, someone soon called out for a flatbread. Jiang Huaizhen quickly cut the flatbread, placed it on a tray, and brought it over.

Just like the others, after the first piece, they couldn’t help but have a second. When they left, they took a whole one with them. In the blink of an eye, two flatbreads were gone.

Since they had made an agreement with Old Man Liu, Lin Shuang would make flatbreads whenever she had time and send the extra ones to the tea shed. If a customer wanted a hot one, she would make it for them on the spot.

By the afternoon, two carriages, one in front of the other, came from the direction of Jizhou. When they passed the fork in the road, the carriages suddenly stopped.

A boy of about ten years old poked his head out of the carriage and looked around, his eyes locking on Lin Shuang and the two of them’s stall.

He lifted the curtain and stepped on the coachman’s back to get out of the carriage.

The carriage in front had gone a few steps, but seeing that the one behind hadn’t followed, it also stopped.

The boy walked up to the stall and asked, “How much are the flatbreads?”

Lin Shuang, who was busy, suddenly stopped her hand that was spreading the sauce.

Even after several years, when this voice had turned into a young man’s, she remembered it until her death. She remembered how this person had taken a hammer and struck her knees again and again, until the bones were completely shattered, until she couldn’t move—

At this moment, her two intact knees, because of those memories, began to ache faintly.

She had to support herself on the nearby table.

Jiang Huaizhen, who was next to her, noticed her pale face and placed her right hand on her lower back to support her. “What’s wrong?”

Lin Shuang’s consciousness returned. She turned to look at her slightly furrowed brow, which was filled with worry, and subconsciously comforted her, “It’s nothing. I’ve been spreading the sauce for a while, and my hand is a little tired.”

“I’ll do it. You can just make the flatbreads,” Jiang Huaizhen said, reaching for the brush in her hand. “Take your time. If we can’t make it, we’ll just sell a little less.”

Lin Shuang didn’t insist and let the other take the brush.

She lowered her eyes slightly, her gaze sweeping over the boy before her.

He still looked the same as she remembered. Although he was still a child, he had a depth that didn’t match his age. There was a hint of imperceptible gloom in his eyes, like a poisonous sprout that had taken root in his tender face long ago.

Seeing that the two of them were ignoring him, Qin Qingsheng’s face was clearly displeased, and his tone became impatient. “Are you going to do business or not?”

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly stared at Jiang Huaizhen. “It’s you—”

Only then did Jiang Huaizhen look up at him. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, and it took her a while to recognize him.

That day, at Lin Shuang’s request, she had gone to reveal the matter of Lin Mancang and his wife changing the birth characters to the Qin family. Jiang Huaizhen was afraid that others would not handle it properly, so she had gone herself. At that time, she had seen this child outside the Qin residence, dressed in magnificent clothes. She had roughly guessed his identity and had passed the message to him. As expected, the Qin family had come to break the engagement the next day.

Seeing this child again here, Jiang Huaizhen was not very surprised. She continued to spread the sauce with her hand and said faintly, “One flatbread is divided into eight pieces. One piece is five copper coins. A whole one is forty copper coins.”

Seeing her act as if she didn’t know him, Qin Qingsheng became even more displeased, and his tender face darkened.

“You’re just selling a flatbread. You’re so aloof. Are you trying to act superior?”

Jiang Huaizhen seemed to not hear his complaint and asked, “How many flatbreads does the guest want?”

The young servant behind Qin Qingsheng hurried up and reminded him in a low voice, “Young master, the old madam said that you can’t eat things from outside…”

Just as he finished speaking, a woman got out of the carriage in front and walked over.

“This flatbread smells fragrant. The old madam also wants to try it.”

With that, she also walked up to the stall. But when she saw the two people at the stall, she instantly sneered. “I was wondering who was setting up a stall here. It turns out it’s the jinx’s wife from Whitewater Village. What, now that your Lin family’s changing of the birth characters has been exposed, and you can’t get married, you can only run to this desolate mountain to set up a stall?”

The newcomer was Matron Lou, who was by Old Madam Qin’s side. She was the old crone who had gone to the Lin family to break the engagement.

From her words just now, Old Madam Qin was sitting in the carriage in front.

Lin Shuang’s head was buzzing.

She didn’t know if Qin Wan’er was in the carriage. If she was, then the few people who had held her life and death in their hands in her past life were all here.

Jiang Huaizhen looked at the few people before her with a blank expression. “Does the guest want a flatbread? One piece is five copper coins, a whole one is forty copper coins.”

If it were anyone else, Matron Lou would have spat a couple of times and left. But the flatbread before her was so fragrant, and it was even more so up close. She couldn’t move her feet.

But her mouth was still unforgiving. “You look so pitiful. If it weren’t for the fact that there’s nothing else to eat in this desolate mountain, I wouldn’t have patronized this stall. I don’t even know if the flour used in this flatbread is moldy, and this sauce is so dark. We don’t know what’s mixed in—”

Hearing her nag, Jiang Huaizhen’s brow furrowed slightly.

Just then, a man’s rough voice came from the direction of the tea shed. “Flatbread seller, two hot flatbreads, cut and delivered.”

Jiang Huaizhen then turned and replied, nimbly cut the flatbreads, placed them on a plate, and carried them to the tea shed.

Seeing this, Matron Lou quickly shouted, “We were here first. Why did you serve him first?”

Lin Shuang said, “You’ve been dawdling for half a day and haven’t decided whether to buy or not. If you still haven’t decided by dark, are we still going to do business?”

With that, she ignored her, bent down, and slid the newly rolled out dough into the frying pan, covering it with the other heated lid. For a moment, the oil sizzled, and the fragrance wafted out, making the few people in front of the stall swallow.

Seeing that there was the sound of horse hooves from the other end of the road, Matron Lou was afraid that someone else would come and snatch them. She had no choice but to ignore her displeasure and said to the young servant next to Qin Qingsheng, “We’ll take one flatbread. When it’s ready, bring it over.”

With that, she turned and went back to the carriage in front.

After she left, Qin Qingsheng stared at Lin Shuang with a gloomy expression, his tone laced with accusation and dissatisfaction. “Why were you unwilling to marry into the Qin family, and even deliberately had someone pass a message to the Qin family?”

Lin Shuang’s emotions had stabilized by now. She lowered her head and flipped the flatbread, saying faintly, “Since the birth characters were fake, it’s better for everyone to say it early.”

Qin Qingsheng snorted coldly, a sarcastic smile on his lips. “You say it so nicely. I’m afraid you’ve already hooked up with some wild man and wanted to elope, so you made this move.”

Lin Shuang turned her head and narrowed her eyes at the ten-year-old boy before her. Her heart was filled with regret and contempt for her former self. How could she have been so foolish as to place her hopes on him and his sister? She had treated them with all her heart, but in the end, she had been rewarded with one heavy blow after another on her knees, so painful that her heart grew cold.

Just then, Jiang Huaizhen had just returned to the stall and had also heard this.

“Young Master Qin, we were honest with you and saved your family from a disaster. I don’t think we should be subjected to such accusations.”

Qin Qingsheng looked up at Jiang Huaizhen, who was several heads taller than him, and said unhappily, “The marriage fraud was your business. Coming to inform us of the changed birth characters was just a remedy. You were in the wrong first, and you won’t let people talk about it?”

Jiang Huaizhen’s tone was cold and unyielding. “The marriage fraud was the Lin family’s business. She was just kept in the dark. And she is no longer a member of the Lin family. The one who wronged you has a debtor. If you have any resentment, you can go and find the Lin family yourself. There is no need to take it out on us.”

Qin Qingsheng had been spoiled since he was young. When had he ever been contradicted like this? His face instantly darkened, and he glared at Jiang Huaizhen, gritting his teeth.

But Jiang Huaizhen ignored him. She nimbly took the flatbread that Lin Shuang had scooped up, spread the sauce, sprinkled the scallions, and then picked up the kitchen knife. With a few quick chops, she neatly cut the flatbread into eight pieces.

Seeing her swift movements with the knife, the young servant next to her quickly pulled on Qin Qingsheng. “Young master, the old madam is waiting for her flatbread.”

Qin Qingsheng’s face quickly returned to normal. “You take this portion over first. I’ll wait for the next one.”

It had to be said that for a ten-year-old child to have such composure was not ordinary.

And yet, in her past life, Lin Shuang had misjudged him.

Just then, a sweet and naive voice came from the carriage. “Brother, isn’t the flatbread ready yet?”

Lin Shuang stood there in a daze.

The last time she had heard this voice, it had been laced with sobs. “Auntie, don’t blame me—if I don’t cover your mouth, and you cry out and attract others, what will we do…”