The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 9

Chapter 9: A Fortunate Mistake

By the time she returned home, it was already past noon.

She put her things down and went inside to check on the old woman first.

Old Madam Jiang was leaning against a faded mandarin duck pillowcase, lost in thought. Seeing someone enter, she turned to look at her. “You were gone for a long time. What did you find?”

“Jiaogulan and some yams,” Lin Shuang replied. “I’ll make yam porridge later. It’s good for the lungs and boosts energy, and it tastes good too.”

The old woman had been tormented by Jiang Huaizhen’s terrible cooking for two years. Last night, she had finally had a proper meal. Hearing that Lin Shuang was going to make yam porridge, her throat couldn’t help but bob. Her withered hand clutched the corner of the quilt as she muttered, “How good can that stuff be? You might as well save it to sell for money…”

Lin Shuang smiled. “We save money to live, and living is nothing more than food, clothing, and shelter. If we sell it for money, we’ll just have to buy food anyway.”

The old woman pursed her lips. “Do as you please. It’s not like I was the one who dug it up.”

Seeing that she had no other instructions, Lin Shuang turned and went to the kitchen to make the porridge.

The sticky sap of the yam made her hands itch, so she carefully peeled half a root. She stripped the meat from the remaining half of the chicken from last night and boiled the bones with ginger slices to make a broth. When the broth came to a boil, she added the washed rice.

As the rice grains bubbled in the golden broth, she slid the chopped yam into the pot, covered it, and let it simmer over low heat.

While the porridge was cooking, she sorted the jiaogulan she had gathered. She found several large winnowing baskets and bamboo sieves, spread the herbs on them, and placed them in the main hall to air dry.

There were only a few catties of yam, so it wouldn’t fetch much money. The family was short on food, so she would save it and sell it all at once when she had gathered more.

By the time she finished, the porridge was cooked. The aroma of meat mixed with the rich scent of rice filled the entire house.

The old woman’s ears were perked up, listening to the sounds outside. When she caught a whiff of the fragrance, she couldn’t help but prop herself up on the bed and peer out, a hint of eagerness in her expression.

But she didn’t have to wait long. Lin Shuang soon brought in two bowls of porridge.

After setting up the frame, she brought the porridge over.

“It’s fresh out of the pot, be careful it’s hot.” Afraid the old woman would be reluctant to eat, she added, “I’ve saved some for Sister Jiang, and there’s still more in the pot. When you’re done, I’ll get you another serving.”

After saying this, Lin Shuang sat down at the table and began to eat.

She had lived for twenty-seven years in her previous life. When she first went to the Qin family, she had eaten and drunk well. But after Qin Chong’s death and the exposure of the Lin family’s falsification of her birth characters, what awaited her was endless hardship. She couldn’t even dream of eating anything good.

And the body she was in now had hardly ever tasted meat. Being able to eat her fill was a blessing.

Now, being able to eat this bowl of yam porridge, her entire body was filled with satisfaction.

The old woman’s thoughts were different. When Jiang Gui was still alive, she and her granddaughter had eaten reasonably well. But in the two years since she had fallen ill, the family had no income. But no matter how hard things were, her granddaughter would never let her go without.

She didn’t lack food, but her granddaughter’s cooking was comparable to pig slop. If you counted that, then she hadn’t been eating well.

Now, in her eyes, anyone who could cook better than her own granddaughter was already considered good. The meal before her now, with its thick, creamy porridge, the savory flavor of the chicken broth, and the soft, powdery texture of the yam, was undoubtedly a delicacy.

But she had always been sharp-tongued, and she nitpicked, “It’s barely edible.”

Despite her dismissive words, her spoon moved quickly.

The warmth slid down her throat and into her stomach, and even her stiff knuckles relaxed.

Lin Shuang let her grumble and ate with relish.

After they finished lunch, Lin Shuang went to wash the clothes she had changed out of the night before.

Just as she was hanging the clothes up to dry, she saw a small black dot at the entrance of the valley, walking toward the house.

As the person got closer, she asked, “Why are you back so early today? No execution?”

Jiang Huaizhen shook her head. “For the first three days, it was one person each day, all different cases, executed separately as a warning. But tomorrow is the same case, five prisoners to be executed together. After tomorrow, this year’s tasks will be considered complete. I just went today to prepare for tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang was slightly surprised. “Five people executed together? Are you doing it alone?”

There was a mountain called Mang Mountain between two villages north of Changping County, which was a necessary route to the neighboring county. At the beginning of the year, she had heard that a group of people had been ambushing travelers there, robbing them of their money and killing them to silence them, not even sparing children. Later, the county had organized constables and local militia, and it had taken them several months to capture them. It must be this group.

Jiang Huaizhen grunted in affirmation.

Just chopping five winter melons at once would be difficult enough, let alone beheading five people. How much strength would it take to do it all at once?

Lin Shuang asked with some concern, “Can you do it?”

Jiang Huaizhen pursed her lips and nodded. “I can.”

Lin Shuang couldn’t help with this kind of thing. She was a little worried, but she knew that worrying was useless, so she changed the subject. “I dug up a few yams on the mountain this morning and made porridge. It’s still warm on the stove. Go and eat.”

Although there was no execution today, she had gone to inspect the site and the prison to understand the prisoners’ situation. Coupled with the travel back and forth, Jiang Huaizhen was starving.

Nowadays, every household was short on food, and it was common to have only one or two meals a day. But you couldn’t fight hunger. If there was food in the house, who cared if it was two or three meals? You ate your fill first.

Jiang Huaizhen rubbed her stomach and walked through the main hall.

Seeing the jiaogulan scattered on the table and stools, she asked, “Did you pick this in the morning?”

Lin Shuang nodded and sifted through the herbs with her hand. “When it’s dried, one catty can fetch twenty copper coins. There aren’t enough bamboo sieves, so I haven’t been able to process the yams yet.”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “When I have time, I’ll cut some bamboo and make a few more.”

This was exactly what Lin Shuang had been waiting for. She beamed. “Alright, we’ll talk about it when you have time.”

There was a large bowl of yam porridge left in the pot. Jiang Huaizhen ate every last bit, scraping the bottom of the pot with her spoon, clearly wanting more.

“Save some room for dinner tonight.” In her past life, Lin Shuang had never seen Jiang Huaizhen show interest in anything, not even food, let alone make such an expression. Her current reactions were a novelty to her.

Just as she finished eating, she heard the village chief’s voice from outside the house.

The two of them went out, one after the other. The village chief was standing under a large tree, holding the household register.

When they approached, he handed it to them.

“There’s been a bit of a situation,” he said, rubbing his hands. “I went to the yamen first thing this morning to take care of this. That official in the household registration office, I don’t know if he drank too much last night, but he was all drunk and half-asleep. When I told him I was here to register someone for your household, he said he knew you and that there were a few people ahead of me. He told me to go for a walk and come back in the afternoon to pick it up…”

Hearing this, Jiang Huaizhen had a bad feeling. She opened the household register.

On the last page, Lin Shuang’s registration had been added.

And on the head of household page, another line had been added: Jiang Huaizhen, Head of Household, Wife: Lin shi…

The Xie family was considered a scholarly family. Xie Jin was a scholar, and her mother was also a lady from a prominent family. She had started learning to read at the age of two, and by the time her parents had their accident when she was over three, she could already recognize dozens of characters.

After Jiang Gui brought her back, he had secretly sent her to school for over a year. Although she wasn’t a great scholar, she had no trouble with reading.

The village chief saw her eyes scan the document and smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t look closely when I got it. I just flipped through it and realized he had made a mistake. I’m busy these next few days. Since you’re going to the yamen anyway, you can just tell him to redo it for you.”

Villagers were the most reluctant to deal with yamen officials. For a mistake like this, they would have to waste a lot of words and get a scolding.

Seeing the strange expressions on their faces, Lin Shuang couldn’t help but look at the household register.

In her past life, she had taken care of the siblings Qin Qingsheng and Qin Wan’er, so she could also recognize a few characters.

When her eyes swept over the line, her ears couldn’t help but burn.

Jiang Huaizhen’s long, thin eyebrows furrowed slightly. She said to the village chief, “Thank you for your trouble, Seventh Uncle. I’ll take care of this later.”

Hearing this, the village chief left as if granted amnesty.

Lin Shuang watched her close the register and wrap the leather cord around the document several times. Suddenly, she said, “Actually, it doesn’t matter…”

Jiang Huaizhen’s eyelashes trembled, and she turned to look at her.

“If you haven’t specifically told the yamen that you’re a woman, why don’t we just let the mistake stand for now… If you want to get married in the future, it won’t be too late to change it back then.”

Lin Shuang truly didn’t mind appearing in their household register with this status. In fact, she felt a secret, inexplicable happiness.

Perhaps it was because she was closer to Jiang Huaizhen. She wanted to repay this person in this life, and she couldn’t wait to be as close to her as possible.

“I’m not getting married,” Jiang Huaizhen said.

Lin Shuang’s lips curled slightly. “That’s my plan too. Then there’s no need to go to the trouble. As long as I have a place to register, that’s all that matters.”

Jiang Huaizhen was silent for a moment, then agreed.

“I’ll go up the mountain to cut bamboo and weave some baskets later,” she said, turning to look at the house, her gaze sweeping over the clothes still dripping under the eaves.

“From now on, you don’t have to wash my and Grandma’s clothes. I let you stay here so you could help look after the old woman when I’m not home, not to have you serve us.”

Lin Shuang smiled. “We’re all on the same household register now, so we should share the chores. I have nowhere else to go, and I truly consider this my home. If you’re so polite with me, it will make me feel uneasy. Besides, these aren’t heavy chores.”

Hearing this, Jiang Huaizhen couldn’t argue with her, lest she make her feel uneasy as she had said.

Finally, she said, “Then we’ll do the chores together from now on.”

Lin Shuang’s eyes curved into a smile. “Alright.”