The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 43

Chapter 43: Half a Pig

The next morning, as soon as the rooster crowed, Jiang Huaizhen got up.

First, she put a few logs in the stove connected to the heated kang, washed up simply, and then began to knead the dough.

Ever since she had memorized the ratio of water to flour, Lin Shuang no longer needed to guide her. As they had agreed yesterday, she kneaded a total of sixty catties of dough.

Sixty catties of dough could make thirty flatbreads. They would test the waters. If they sold well, they would increase the amount tomorrow. If not, they wouldn’t have wasted too much.

Last night, Lin Shuang had already prepared the oil pastry and sauce, and had put them in two small jars.

Around the third quarter of the Hour of the Rabbit(5 a.m. to 7 a.m), the sound of cart wheels rolling over the stone slabs and voices came from outside. They had arrived.

Soon, there was a knock on the door. Jiang Huaizhen opened it, and Lu Erqiao smiled. “Huaizhen, did we come too early?”

And behind her stood a man of medium height with a dark complexion, Hu Guiying’s father, with an honest face.

It was still dark outside. Jiang Huaizhen rarely smiled, but she did now. She opened the door and said, “Not early. I’ve already packed everything. We can just load it onto the cart and go.”

With that, she went to get the dough.

Seeing this, Old Hu strode over, picked up the bamboo basket without a word, and walked out.

Lu Erqiao said, “That’s just his dog temper. Let him carry it.”

With that, she picked up the two jars and the cutting board and followed.

Jiang Huaizhen carried the stove and followed behind.

Old Hu came over and loaded the rest of the things onto the cart.

After putting everything away, Lu Erqiao said, “How much charcoal do you have left at home? If you run out, you can have Lu Qing and Old Hu go up the mountain to make some.”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “There’s still some left. We’ll see when we run out.”

“Alright then. We’ll be going now.”

“Okay, take care.”

After the two of them left, Lin Shuang slowly came out of the room.

Her period had come last night, and since everything was already prepared, she had been lazy and hadn’t gotten up. Now, hearing that they had left, she got up to go to the latrine.

Jiang Huaizhen was tidying up the kitchen. Hearing the movement at the door, she turned her head. “If you’re not feeling well, you can go and lie down on Grandma’s kang in a while. There’s nothing to do today. There are still some leftovers from last night. I’ll cook some rice later and just heat them up.”

Lin Shuang replied with an “alright.” After she came back, she indeed went to Old Madam Jiang’s room and got into her quilt.

Old Madam Jiang had been awake for a long time but hadn’t gotten up. Seeing her two cold feet slip into the quilt, she was so cold she shivered and cursed, “I told you to sleep with me, but you wouldn’t. Now your two legs are as cold as ice, and you know to come and freeze me.”

Lin Shuang giggled. “It wasn’t cold last night. I just got cold when I went out just now.”

With that, she reached for the plate on the table by the kang, took a candied fruit, and put it in her mouth. She then covered herself with the quilt and continued to sleep.

Seeing this, the old woman chattered, “You want to eat candied fruit before you’re even awake. When your teeth get cavities, you won’t have anywhere to cry.”

Lin Shuang slept in a daze until the end of the Hour of the Snake(9:00 AM to 11:00 AM). By the time she got up and washed up, it was almost noon.

The old woman grumbled, saying that she hadn’t gotten up even when the sun was high in the sky. When she got married in the future, who knows how her in-laws would criticize her.

Lin Shuang said, “Then why didn’t you wake me up when I was sleeping?”

Not only did she not wake her, but she was also careful when she got in and out of bed, afraid of startling her.

Old Madam Jiang snorted. “It’s only because your flatbreads can earn a couple of coins.”

Lin Shuang shrugged. She didn’t admit that she was a lazy person. It was just that in this cold weather, who wouldn’t want to hide in their quilt? Besides, in her past life, she had worked so hard and had still not had a good end. In this life, she had to enjoy herself more.

Of course, as long as it didn’t interfere with earning money.

“Where’s Sister Jiang?” She didn’t see Jiang Huaizhen at home.

“She went to the fields.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang got up, slipped on her shoes, and went to the window. She looked at the fields and indeed saw Jiang Huaizhen, stepping on a plow, turning over the earth, one step after another.

“Grandma, how many mu of land do we have?”

“One mu and six fen of paddy field, and four fen of dry land. We wanted to reclaim a few more mu of wasteland before, but that girl’s father refused.”

“Then where does the water for the paddy field come from? The river at the village entrance is far from here.”

The West Mountain Valley was slightly elevated. Even if the river water was diverted into a canal to the fields of every household, a waterwheel was needed to make it flow upward.

But there was only one household here, with just over one mu of paddy field. The government and the village would not go to the trouble of getting them a waterwheel.

Old Madam Jiang replied, “We don’t use the river water. There are a few streams and brooks on the back mountain. We just use bamboo pipes to divert them to the fields.”

So that was it.

“It sounds more convenient than other families.”

“No matter how convenient it is, it’s only two mu of land. At most, we can get four or five hundred catties of rice a year.”

Lin Shuang smiled. “We have two laborers at home now. Let’s reclaim another mu next year.”

Land was the lifeblood of a farmer. Lin Shuang’s words clearly resonated with Old Madam Jiang, but she still grumbled, “You have to make flatbreads. How can you have so much time to take care of the land?”

“Didn’t we have Guiying and the others help us sell the flatbreads? It doesn’t take much time to prepare the dough and sauce in the morning. And if we want to do business on the official road, that will have to wait until autumn,” Lin Shuang said.

The old woman hesitated. “We have to ask that stubborn girl. I’m afraid she’s like her father. Now that she has a few taels of silver, she won’t want to plant more.”

Lin Shuang smiled. “Leave it to me. I’ll convince her later.”

“Alright then. You can talk to her later.”

After discussing it with the old woman, Lin Shuang went to make lunch.

The grandmother and granddaughter had eaten the leftovers from last night for breakfast. Lin Shuang had slept until now and hadn’t had breakfast, so her stomach was already rumbling.

She had soaked some kidney beans overnight, thrown in a few chopped pork trotters, and stewed them in a clay pot. She also cooked some rice.

The kidney beans and pork trotters were soft and tender after stewing for over half an hour. She then added some pickled vegetables to stew with them. Just the smell was already delicious.

She went to the door to call Jiang Huaizhen back for lunch, then went to the vegetable garden to pick a large cabbage and cut half of it to cook.

When the cabbage was cooked, Jiang Huaizhen also came back.

Her feet were covered in mud. She changed her shoes at the door and washed her hands before entering.

Smelling the pickled vegetables, she knew that Lin Shuang had cooked something good. She quickly went into the kitchen to help ladle out the dishes and bring them to the table.

The old woman also came out with her cane. Looking at the large steaming bowl on the table, she said with emotion, “In this weather, it looks like it’s going to snow. To be able to eat such a hot meal, many people can’t even ask for it.”

Lin Shuang brought the remaining cabbage to the table. “Isn’t that the truth? A year ago, I wouldn’t have even dared to think about it.”

The kidney beans were stewed until they were soft and tender. The sandy bean paste coated the soft and tender pork trotters, and mixed with the sour soup of the pickled vegetables, one sip made you reluctant to swallow.

Jiang Huaizhen liked to eat her rice with sour soup. She immediately ladled a large spoonful of the soup into her rice.

Seeing this, Lin Shuang said, “Chew carefully before you swallow.”

Jiang Huaizhen hummed in agreement.

Just as they were about to finish eating, a voice came from outside the door. “Little Jiang—Little Jiang—are you home? I’ve brought you the pork.”

Hearing that it was Butcher Zhang’s voice, Jiang Huaizhen put down her bowl and chopsticks and got up to go out.

Lin Shuang also followed.

She saw an ox-cart parked in front of the door, and Butcher Zhang and his son were standing by the cart, looking toward the door.

Seeing Jiang Huaizhen come out, Butcher Zhang said, “I’ve brought you the pork. We’ll weigh it and then carry it in.”

With that, he took a large scale from the cart. The father and son each carried one side, and Jiang Huaizhen and Lin Shuang went forward to help. They quickly hooked up the half a pig.

“One hundred and ten. With the bones, I’ll charge you nine copper coins per catty. I also got you a set of small intestines and a pig’s stomach. Let’s make it one tael.”

Old Madam Jiang, who had come out behind them, saw that they had bought a whole tael of pork and her heart ached. She couldn’t help but nag, “The new year is only a few days away. You’ve bought such a large piece. How long will it take to eat?”

Butcher Zhang laughed heartily. “You have to eat meat for the new year, and you also have to eat meat on ordinary days. Otherwise, where would you get the strength to work?”

When Jiang Gui was still alive, they had been able to talk. After all, one killed people and the other killed pigs. They were in similar professions and could feel a sense of camaraderie.

Now that Jiang Huaizhen had become an executioner, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of disgust.

Lin Shuang went into the house to get the money and said, “This meat is not for eating in a day or two. We’ll cure it, and it can last for a whole year.”

Butcher Zhang took the money and asked, “Where should we put the meat? We’ll help you carry it in.”

Lin Shuang said, “Put it in the main hall. I just spread a layer of banana leaves on the table. We’ll cut it up there later.”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoman bent down and directly carried the half a pig on his shoulder, walking into the house with a thud.

Seeing this, Butcher Zhang cursed, “When I usually ask you to work, you push it off. Now you know how to be attentive.”

Zhang Xiaoman’s dark face instantly turned red, but he didn’t talk back. He carried the hundred catties of meat to the main hall, as Lin Shuang had indicated.

Before they could say anything, he ran out with a thud.

Butcher Zhang smiled and bid them farewell, then drove the cart away.

Old Madam Jiang was already full. Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen hadn’t finished eating. The food was still warm. The two of them sat by the stove and finished the remaining pork trotters, then began to divide the meat.

The meat had to be salted for three or four days first. Only after the salt had penetrated could they start to cure it.

Jiang Huaizhen was in charge of cutting the meat into small pieces. Lin Shuang first spread a thick layer of salt at the bottom of a clay pot, then rubbed coarse salt on the cut strips of meat one by one, and then placed them in the pot layer by layer.

They were afraid that they wouldn’t have time to eat the two pork trotters, so they also salted them to make cured pork trotters.

They only left two pieces of pork belly and some offal for the next two days.

The two of them were busy for over an hour before they were done.

Jiang Huaizhen had just washed her hands and was about to go back to the fields to plow when another ox-cart came into the valley.

A closer look revealed that it was Old Hu with Wang Zhimei and Lu Erqiao. From a distance, their faces were filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Before the ox-cart had even stopped, the two of them jumped off impatiently. They first went into the house to greet the old woman, then pulled Lin Shuang, one after the other, and said excitedly, “Shuang’er, the flatbreads sold so well today. They’re all sold out by now.”

“Ever since your business took off last time, all sorts of sauce flatbread stalls have popped up. We thought that people might not necessarily buy from us on the first day, but as soon as we spread the sauce, they came, following the smell.”

Hearing that business was good, Lin Shuang was also happy and was infected by their emotions.

“These few days are just before and after the new year. There are a lot of people on the street, and it’s the right time to sell snacks. As long as you don’t do a bad job, you can earn some money.”

Wang Zhimei said excitedly, “It’s the twenty-sixth today. There are still three days to sell. We have to make more dough and sauce these few days. If we sell until the evening, we can sell fifty or sixty flatbreads.”

“Then we’ll prepare for fifty flatbreads a day for the next few days. When you two aunts close your stall at night, you can just go home. You don’t have to come back. Uncle Hu can just come and get the goods on time in the morning,” Lin Shuang said.

“Alright. By the way, we sold thirty flatbreads today, for a total of one tael and two hundred copper coins. Here’s the money,” Lu Erqiao said.

Lin Shuang smiled and took the small cloth bag, counting out three hundred copper coins for them. “We’ll settle the accounts again in these few days before the new year. After the new year, we’ll settle every five days. Otherwise, it’s easy to attract thieves if we carry a money bag back and forth every day.”

“Alright. We’ll listen to you.”

The two of them took the money, their hearts filled with excitement. They chatted with the old woman for a while longer before they took their leave.

After getting on the ox-cart, Lu Erqiao counted out one hundred and fifty copper coins for Wang Zhimei. “Sister-in-law, this is your share. Take it.”

Wang Zhimei refused. “You don’t have to give me so much. Brother-in-law helps to get the goods every day. He should also get a share.”

Lu Erqiao said, “What share? We’re family. Since we’re working together, don’t be so formal.”

“That won’t do,” Wang Zhimei still refused. “When Shuang’er and Huaizhen went to the official road, they also paid for the transport.”

Seeing that she couldn’t persuade her, Lu Erqiao had no choice but to say, “Since it’s for transport, you can’t be the only one to pay. I’ll have to pay half too.”

With that, she counted out five copper coins and gave the rest to Wang Zhimei.

Seeing this, Wang Zhimei finally took it.

Although the two families were close, even brothers had to settle accounts clearly. At first, no one might say anything, but over time, it was easy to have conflicts. Her own family had brothers who had fallen out over a small amount of money and had never spoken to each other again. Since there was a precedent, she couldn’t pretend to be foolish.

Seeing that the money was divided, the two of them were extremely happy.

“One hundred and fifty copper coins a day, that’s one and a half taels in ten days. Tsk, tsk, tsk, if it weren’t for Huaizhen and Shuang’er, where would we find such a good job?” Lu Erqiao was so happy her face was flushed.

“Sister, have you forgotten that we’re getting fifty dough balls tomorrow?” Wang Zhimei smiled. “Fifty dough balls, that’s five hundred copper coins. We’ll split it, and that’s over seven taels of silver a month for each of us.”

“My heavens, am I dreaming?”

Old Hu, who was in front, finally spoke. “After the new year, where will there be so many people on the street buying sauce flatbreads?”

Hearing this, the two of them instantly calmed down a lot.

But soon, Lu Erqiao said cheerfully again, “Even after the new year, the streets will still be lively during the holidays. On market days, we should be able to sell at least forty flatbreads. On ordinary days, even if it’s less, it won’t be less than twenty. That’s enough.”

Even if they only sold twenty a day, they could still earn one and a half taels a month each. There was still a profit to be made.

“We have to work hard. If we sell more, and Little Jiang and the others earn money, then this business can continue.”

“That’s right.”