The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 46p2

Chapter 46: Guiying Comes p2

Although Old Madam Jiang didn’t like it, besides the two girls, there were only a few rabbits and a few chickens at home. The rabbits just ate all day, and the few chickens would take their chicks to the mountains to look for insects in the morning. And they were not human-friendly and would poop everywhere. She didn’t like them.

The valley was cold and deserted. The night before, when the two girls hadn’t come back, she had been bored to death.

Now that there was a grumpy big black horse, although she was very disgusted with it, she was also quite curious about this new living creature. She hobbled to the grass shed with her cane and stood outside the shed, watching Lin Shuang give it water.

After Lin Shuang left, she didn’t leave either. She leaned on the railing and nagged, “I brought you back with good intentions and spent a lot of silver. If you don’t get better, I’ll kill you and eat you.”

The big black horse turned and snorted at her, as if in extreme disdain.

The old woman snorted. “In this family, you are the one with the lowest status. If you dare to have this attitude toward me again, be careful that I don’t let those two girls feed you.”

With that, she stood for a while longer before she hobbled away with her cane.

Lin Shuang saw this from a distance and found it a little funny, and also a little cute.

But in the end, it was still a lack of people to talk to.

Old Madam Jiang’s husband had died early, and she had been a widow since she was young. After Jiang Gui became an executioner, she had stopped going out of the valley and had stayed with her son and granddaughter for nearly thirty years. She must have been bored to death.

Lin Shuang then thought of Jiang Huaizhen. Wasn’t she the second Old Madam Jiang? In her past life, when they had met again, she was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight. At that time, Jiang Huaizhen was all alone in this valley, with a gloomy personality, silent, lonely, and taciturn, with no sign of a living person. She didn’t know how she had lived after she had left.

At this thought, she couldn’t help but sigh again.

But since she had the chance to be reborn, how could she let such a thing happen again?

It was an indisputable fact that there were few people in the valley and they did not interact with the outside world. Since they couldn’t communicate with people, they would start with small animals.

Doctor Xue came at the Hour of the Monkey.(3 PM to 5 PM)

He looked at the wound that Lin Shuang had treated and praised, “You’ve handled it quite well. The rotten flesh on the side is also cleaned. Even I might not have been able to do it as well as you. But the medicine you applied is not suitable. I have some medicine specifically for this kind of rotten wound. I brought some today. Let’s change it for it first. You watch how I do it. You can go to the city again tomorrow, and I’ll prescribe some more medicine for you. You can just follow this from now on.”

Lin Shuang quickly agreed and helped to change the dressing for the big black horse.

Yesterday, when they had changed the dressing, they had debrided and scraped the flesh, and the big black horse had been in some pain, so it had not been very friendly to them. But after waking up this morning, it felt that its hoof was a little lighter and knew that these people were saving it, so it was obedient this time and didn’t kick.

But it still had a temper and was aloof, still proud.

Doctor Xue praised the horse sling that Jiang Huaizhen had made and then left.

Hu Guiying came on the third day at noon.

At that time, Lin Shuang had just finished changing the dressing on the horse’s hoof. When she turned her head, she saw a person leaning on the railing of the stable, and she was startled.

When she saw who it was, she couldn’t help but scold lightly, “When did you come? You didn’t even make a sound. You almost scared me to death.”

Hu Guiying smiled. “You’re just a coward. You can’t take a scare. Where’s Huaizhen?”

“In the fields. What, is there another job for her?” Lin Shuang couldn’t help but frown. The last time she had come, it was to call Huaizhen to execute Zhao Mei’er.

Hu Guiying waved her hand. “Don’t treat me like the god of plague. I’m off duty today. I heard from my old uncle that you bought a horse, so I came to take a look.”

Hearing that she wasn’t calling Jiang Huaizhen for an execution, Lin Shuang was relieved and said proudly, “What do you think? Isn’t he handsome?”

“Handsome, so handsome. When his hoof is better, who knows how majestic he will be,” Hu Guiying said with envy.

“If you think he’s handsome, you should get one too,” Jiang Huaizhen’s voice came from behind. She had just come back from the fields, her shoes covered in mud. She was bending down to scrape the mud off with a bamboo strip.

Hearing this, Hu Guiying’s shoulders instantly slumped, and she said weakly, “If I had your ability, I would have gotten one long ago. Why would I come here to look at yours with envy?”

Jiang Huaizhen smiled and asked, “How much are you short?”

“What, are you going to subsidize me?”

“It’s not impossible.”

Hu Guiying snorted. “If I have to ask someone else for money to buy a horse, what’s the point of me buying this horse?”

For someone who would stay up all night to pick a basket of duck eggs as a return gift for a bowl of noodles, how could she borrow money from herself to buy a horse? Jiang Huaizhen didn’t continue to tempt her.

But she herself said, “My mother has earned a lot of money with you recently, but it’s to be saved for my second brother’s wedding. She said that by the end of next month, she can give me 2 taels, and I have to save up my own wages to buy a donkey.”

“Listen to that. Is that reasonable? A donkey. I’m a constable, and I’m going to ride a donkey to chase after thieves. Isn’t that embarrassing?”

Lin Shuang was amused by her exaggerated movements and chuckled. “What’s wrong with a donkey? Don’t you know that many scholars love donkeys? Many candidates who go to the capital for the imperial examinations ride donkeys. The great immortal Zhang Guolao in the heavens also rides a donkey.”

Hu Guiying rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’m not a scholar. I don’t like donkeys. My two legs can run faster than that thing. If I ride it, the criminals will have already run to who knows where.”

“I’m a heroic and beautiful little lady. Riding a donkey, is that reasonable? Have you ever seen a storybook where a female warrior comes down from the mountain to punish evil and rides a donkey?”

“I don’t want it.”

“It affects my prestige.”

That look, she was truly disgusted.

“Then what do you want?” Jiang Huaizhen said.

“I don’t want anything,” Hu Guiying said lazily, leaning against the railing. “Can’t I just vent my frustrations here?”

“Alright, alright. As you wish.”

Hu Guiying sighed and looked at her. “These few days, you’re not selling flatbreads, and you don’t have to be on duty. What have you been busy with?”

Jiang Huaizhen was scooping water to wash her feet and replied helplessly, “Reclaiming land, plowing the fields, and sowing seeds. It’s almost spring plowing. Doesn’t your family also have fields? Why do you have to ask me these things?”

Hearing this, Hu Guiying grinned proudly. “My father and my brother are in charge of the work in the fields. It’s not my turn to go down to the fields.”

Her family had a good tradition. The farm work in the fields was all done by the men. Even her mother, when she went down to the fields, would only do the light work. After her older sister-in-law married into the family, she would only help for a few days during the busy season. The rest of the time, she was mainly at home cooking.

Now that she was on duty at the yamen, she didn’t even have to wash the dishes when she went back.

“Your parents really spoil you,” Jiang Huaizhen’s mind flashed with the image of Old Hu’s honest face and Lu Erqiao’s fiery personality. She felt that it was a miracle that they could have a child like Hu Guiying.

“It’s alright. If they could give me a few more taels of silver to buy a horse, that would be real spoiling,” Hu Guiying pouted.

Jiang Huaizhen glanced at her. “It’s not very promising to rely on your parents for money to buy things you like.”

Hearing her say this, Hu Guiying straightened up. “You, Jiang Huaizhen. I’m telling you my true feelings, and you’re lecturing me like an adult.”

“What do you mean, lecturing you like an adult? I am an adult,” Jiang Huaizhen moved a small stool, sat down by the water vat, and pulled over a wooden basin to start washing clothes.

“That’s right. You’re almost eighteen. Someone like you, in our village, would have children running all over the place by now,” Hu Guiying sat on the edge of the water vat, looking nonchalant.

Jiang Huaizhen looked up at her. “You’re only one year younger than me.”

“That’s still younger.”

Jiang Huaizhen was too lazy to argue with her and lowered her head to wash the clothes.

Old Madam Jiang came out of the room with her cane. Seeing them talking by the water vat, she also hobbled over.

Seeing her come out, Hu Guiying quickly stood up and called out, “Hello, Great-grandmother.”

Old Madam Jiang had previously disliked her because of Jiang Huaizhen’s job as an executioner at the yamen. Now that the two families had a cooperative relationship, and she had learned last time that she had stayed up all night by the riverside to pick duck eggs, her impression of her had also improved.

She fumbled in her pocket, took out two pieces of candy, and handed them to her. “Guiying, have some candy.”

The candy was leftover from the Spring Festival. The old woman would occasionally take two pieces and put them in her pocket to suck on when her mouth was bitter.

It had to be said that Hu Guiying was a little girl who was very easy to like by the elders. She was lively and sweet, and her mouth was also sweet. She opened her hands, gathered the two pieces of candy the old woman had given her in her palm, and smiled. “I have to say, Grandma is the one who dotes on me. My mother never buys me candy at home.”

With that, she peeled one, threw it in her mouth, and her face was full of delight.

Old Madam Jiang was indeed pleased and smiled. “When you want to eat candy next time, come to my house. Grandma will give you candy.”

With that, she sat down on a nearby stool and listened to them talk.

Seeing that she was there, Hu Guiying restrained herself a little and began to talk about the trivial matters of her family. When she talked about her one-year-old little niece, who had slapped her brother in the mouth in the middle of the night because he was snoring too loudly, the old woman was so amused she was bent over with laughter, revealing the two rows of her bare gums.

It wasn’t until the fragrance of food came from the kitchen that she realized she had stayed for too long. She quickly got up to take her leave.

But Jiang Huaizhen glared at her. “The food is already cooked. Are you looking for a beating by going back at this time?”

Old Madam Jiang hadn’t heard enough of her stories and was reluctant to let her go. “The basket of duck eggs you sent last time, Shuang’er used them to make salted duck eggs. I just saw her take them out to make fried rice. If you don’t try her skills, you’ll regret it when you go back.”

The old woman’s words hit the spot. The rich fragrance of the food reached her nose, and she was reluctant to leave. But she had come without bringing anything, and yet she was staying for lunch at someone else’s house. It was too rude.

Lin Shuang also heard them talking in the kitchen and ran out with a spatula. She said to Hu Guiying, “Guiying, don’t you want to earn money to buy a horse? Sister has a good idea. I’ll tell you after we eat.”

Hearing her say this, Hu Guiying’s feet were instantly rooted to the ground. She laughed dryly. “Then I’ll respectfully obey. I’ll shamelessly stay for a meal.”

Lin Shuang scolded with a slight reproach,  “What’s there to be shameless about? I’ve already salted these duck eggs. I was just waiting for you to come before I opened the jar. If you hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have been able to eat them at all.”

Hu Guiying was shy and bit her lip, then sat back down.