The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 82

Chapter 82: Furnishing the New House

When they got home, Ping’er clung to her and asked about the new house.

Although Lin Shuang was still angry with Jiang Huaizhen, she was not the kind of person who would bring her negative emotions to her family. She hugged the little girl and said, “It’s all tidied up. We’ll add some furniture tomorrow, and the day after, Ping’er and Grandma can move in.”

Ping’er was so happy she jumped up and down.

“Does Ping’er want to share a room with Grandma or have her own?”

Ping’er’s eyes widened. “Can I share a room with Auntie?”

Lin Shuang shook her head. “No. Auntie has to share a room with big sister.”

Jiang Huaizhen, who was chopping pig grass next to her, heard this, and her originally pursed lips relaxed slightly.

Ping’er asked curiously, “How many rooms does the new house have?”

“Three main rooms, and two side rooms on each side,” Lin Shuang replied.

“So many rooms. Why does Auntie still have to squeeze into one with big sister?” Ping’er said innocently.

Hearing this, Lin Shuang was stunned for a moment. She hadn’t thought about this question. She had long taken it for granted that she would have to share a room with Jiang Huaizhen. But since Ping’er could ask this, wouldn’t the old woman also notice this problem?

Her gaze swept over Jiang Huaizhen.

The other also looked over.

Lin Shuang lowered her head, casually fooled the little girl, and then got up to make dinner.

That night, when they were lying down, neither of them spoke.

Lin Shuang was annoyed at her blockheadedness. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She turned her back to her and ignored her.

After staring for a quarter of an hour, there was a movement behind her, and then a warm body was pressed against her back. A slender arm wrapped around her waist, and the other hand was still fanning her with a cattail fan.

But she still didn’t say anything, just held her.

Lin Shuang was holding her breath and didn’t say anything. In the end, she fell asleep when she was extremely tired.

When she woke up, she was in Jiang Huaizhen’s arms. But she had turned from her back to face to face, lying intimately in her arms.

See, no matter how angry she was before she went to sleep, her heart was still with her.

She shrunk her body and rolled inward, her back to that person.

Seeing her wake up, Jiang Huaizhen sat up and got out of bed.

Lin Shuang hadn’t expected to have rolled over and fallen back asleep. When she woke up, the sun was already shining on the window. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Seeing her wake up, the person who had been sitting in front of the window, weaving a sieve, stood up and walked toward her.

She sat down by the bed and asked softly, “Did you sleep well?”

Lin Shuang saw her gentle eyes, and her young face looked even more beautiful.

She pouted and glared at her for a while, and finally moved closer to her.

Jiang Huaizhen reached out and hugged her, pulling her into her embrace. Her right hand stroked her hair and gently patted her back.

Lin Shuang snorted, and her hand, which was wrapped around her slender waist, tightened.

An argument just passed like that.

“Have you been in the room all this time?”

Jiang Huaizhen hummed in agreement. “I was afraid you would be angry again when you woke up and didn’t see me.”

Lin Shuang said with a hint of reproach, “Am I that petty?”

Jiang Huaizhen smiled and didn’t argue with her. “Are you going to the city today? If not, I’ll go down to the fields.”

“I am. We’re buying furniture today. Tomorrow, we’ll take Ping’er and Grandma to see the new house. When they want to go to the city in the future, they’ll know where to go.”

“Alright. Then let’s get up.”

Lin Shuang hummed in agreement. “Get me some clothes.”

Only then did Jiang Huaizhen let go of her hand, stand up, and go to the wardrobe to get her clothes.

They might have to buy things today. When the two of them went out, they hitched the carriage and drove out.

The large pieces of furniture left by the previous owner, including the beds and cabinets, tables and chairs, could all be used again. Today, they were mainly adding some bedding and things for the kitchen.

When they passed by Hengtou’s house at the village entrance, they took a few bamboo mats.

Hengtou’s legs were not good, but he had good carpentry skills. He would make tables, cabinets, and chairs, and he would weave mats and sieves. Anyway, he would do anything that could earn money.

When the villagers had been gossiping about Old Woman Hao’s Wasong before, they had compared him to Hengtou.

They were both lame, but one was dejected and drank all day, which had eventually led to his wife leaving and his daughter being sold. The other was down-to-earth and worked hard to earn money. He had even just built a small tiled house this year.

Jiang Huaizhen had been busy recently and hadn’t had time to weave mats. Now that they had money, they bought them outside, and they could also help out their fellow villagers.

They took four mats, three or four basins and wooden buckets, and also a new winnowing basket and broom, and loaded them onto the carriage.

Seeing that they were taking so much, Hengtou was visibly happy. His wife also helped to load the things onto the cart and asked, “Are you taking these outside? Have you bought a house outside?”

The matter of buying a house would be known to the village sooner or later, so Lin Shuang directly admitted it.

Hengtou’s wife hesitated to speak, probably wanting to ask who had bought it, but she felt that it was not a good question to ask. After all, they were all on the same household register. No matter who bought it, the whole family could live in it.

After entering the city and arriving at the new house, they put down their things, then went to the market to buy bedsheets and quilts.

Although it was still hot now, it was already autumn. In another two months, it would start to get cold. If they prepared early, they wouldn’t have to worry about being cold if the temperature suddenly dropped.

Three rooms, three sets of quilts, all made of cotton.

The old woman had worked hard all her life. Her skin was rough, and silk was delicate. Her rough hands and feet would often catch on the threads, so she couldn’t sleep on it at all. Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen also worked hard every day and were not destined to sleep on silk.

Ping’er was still small, and her skin was delicate, but she was the only one, so they didn’t make an exception. They simply bought all cotton fabric.

The old woman had a floral pattern, Ping’er had a pink one, and the two of them had a regular mixed color.

The pots, bowls, and ladles were all new. The firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar were also added. They could start a fire in the new house soon.

They also had a locksmith come to the door and change the locks on the main door and all the rooms in the courtyard.

After all this, only then did they feel that this courtyard truly belonged to them.

There were a total of seven rooms in the courtyard, three main rooms, and two side rooms on each side.

Lin Shuang said, “The heated kang is in the main room of the main building. This room will be for Grandma.”

“Ping’er can’t be too far away by herself. She can live in the west side room next to the main room. When it gets cold, she can go and sleep on the kang in Grandma’s room.”

“Then where should we live?” Jiang Huaizhen asked. “The east side room?”

Lin Shuang shook her head and bit her lip. “It’s too close to Grandma.”

Now that they were sleeping in the old house in the valley, the east and west rooms were separated by a main hall. According to their current situation, they were not very restrained in that area. If they made any noise at night, the old woman’s hearing was very good. It would not be good if she heard them.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Huaizhen also realized what she was thinking and pointed to the west wing. “Then let’s live here.”

The courtyard was large, and the east and west wings were also a distance from the main road in the center of the courtyard. There was even a corridor door, so they didn’t have to worry about being right by the door when they passed by.

The west wing and the east wing each had two rooms. One person would live in one, and the other could be used as a study or something else. The two of them were rough people, so there was no need to set up a study. But Lin Shuang liked to tinker with medicinal herbs, so she could still do that here.

Maybe if they did some business in the future, they could also do their accounts there.

After they had decided, they took the newly bought mats and quilts to the various rooms and arranged them neatly.

“Let’s go. We’ll go back first. We’ll bring Grandma and Ping’er over tomorrow, and we’ll sleep here tomorrow night.”

Lin Shuang had wanted to have a housewarming party, but other than Hu Guiying and Lu Qing, they had almost no friends. It was not good to invite some villagers and not others, so they simply didn’t invite anyone.

So the next day, the two of them brought the old and the young to the city and moved into their new home.

Seeing that she had been arranged in the main room, Old Madam Jiang was not very happy.

“You two earned the money to buy this house. This old woman didn’t contribute a single bit. I can just live in the side room.”

Lin Shuang didn’t argue with her at all and just said lightly, “Grandma, I had someone look at it. The feng shui master said that the west room is good for me.”

Old Madam Jiang instantly shut up and obediently moved into the main room.

Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen couldn’t help but exchange a smile.

Ping’er was very happy to have her own little room, and also a pink and tender quilt and a beautiful dressing table. But she was a little unhappy about being far from her aunt’s room.

Only then did Old Madam Jiang notice that there was no room for her granddaughter. When she asked, she found that the two of them were still living together. She frowned. “You’re so old. Why are you still living together? It’s not like there are no more rooms.”

Lin Shuang said, “We didn’t buy enough mats and quilts. We’ll just make do for now. We’ll talk about it when we buy new ones.”

After they had settled down, Old Madam Jiang took Ping’er to tinker with the small vegetable garden, while Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen sat down to count their money.

After the mohele business, the family had a total of five hundred and ninety taels of silver. Two hundred of which had been exchanged for twenty taels of gold. Ten taels of gold were with the old woman, and the remaining ten were with Lin Shuang.

There were also three hundred and ninety taels of silver. After some expenses for the past two months, and the three taels for hiring people during the flood, and the ninety-five taels for buying this house, and the five taels for the new furniture, after deducting other miscellaneous expenses, there were still two hundred and eighty taels left.

Because the weather was hot, the sauce flatbreads had sold averagely in these two months, with an income of only about ten taels a month.

But the business of Linglong Pavilion in the prefectural city was still alright. After she came back, Wang Xiuxiu had sent money twice, ten taels each time, and with the sauce flatbreads, it was a total of twenty taels.

So they now had a total of twenty taels of gold and three hundred taels of silver.

In the whole of Changping County, it was considered very good.

“Let’s ask Guiying to come for dinner tonight,” Lin Shuang said.

Jiang Huaizhen said, “Alright. I have to go back to the valley to feed the pigs later.”

“Go early, eat early. Ask Aunt Qiao and Aunt Zhimei to come too, and Uncle Qing as well.”

Jiang Huaizhen agreed.