Chapter 12: What a Calculation! Corn Bread for Meat!
Ning Shaoqing who was at the door felt reassured and peaceful when he saw the thin figure by the carriage.
He had been frequently looking to the distance to check if she was back. Never had he ever been so eager to see anyone.
Mo smiled when she brought what she bought into the house, “Sir, why are you standing here?”
A simple greet yet Ning could tell the tease in her tone. He blushed out of shyness which turned all his worries into something like this, “Why are you this late? I’m starving. Now go prepare the meal.”
Mo stopped in shock, her smile frozen and her passion dampened out by the cold water her husband just poured.
Oh! Great, I am merely a cook whose mere value is to cook!
“Get out of my way,” fumed Mo angrily after coming back to herself. She deliberately shoved Ning aside when carrying the package into the house and left Ning stunned at the door.
Though angry, she still had to prepare the meals. So she went straight to the kitchen after sorting what she bought in the day. However, the way she chopped let Ning’s brows knit tightly together. It was so loud that one could clearly tell the intangible anger from it.
Both lost in their own thoughts that they didn’t notice a person coming in.
“I called in front of the open door yet no one answered. So I just walked in,” said the woman after she reached the kitchen.
Mo Qianxue was startled by the voice. She raised her head out of shock, only to find it was Zhao Ersao who had attended to her when she first arrived. So Mo smiled fatuously, “Sorry, I was chopping and didn’t hear you. It’s been a long time, what’s the matter?”
“I heard you went to town? So I guess you haven’t got the time to cook your meals. I brought you some corn bread. Humble as it is, it is a great filler.”
A great filler? Jesus! She would rather starve to death than eat the corn bread that was hard as stones!
Zhao Ersao’s must all have marvelous teeth!
Though thinking it that way, it would be improper and ungrateful of her to turn it down. Mo Qianxue cried in heart yet still took the bread harder than stones with gratitude and casually put it on the hearth.
Visible cunningness flashed across Zhao’s eyes after Mo accepted the bread. She looked around the kitchen and landed her gaze on the ham. “Ah, you bought some pork?” asked Zhao in excitement.
It was the meat Mo Qianxue planned to salt for better use. Jinhua Ham, the best for taste lift.
“Yeah, I don’t always get the chance to town. So I bought some.” Seeing that Zhao stared fiercely at the ham, Mo Qianxue added, “What about you get some for the children?”
“No, that’s inappropriate. It’s quite expensive, dozens of notes a kilo.” Though she refused the offer, her eyes still glued to the ham.
What a pretentious woman! Why not just say it frankly?
Mo Qianxue couldn’t help but secretly despise Zhao for that yet she just smiled, “I didn’t thank you for the tend care when I was sick. It’s great that you came today, which saves me the bother of visiting your house for this.”
Delicious or not, the corn bread was Zhao’s kindness. A gram of pork didn’t matter much.
Mo Qianxue put the dish she had been stir-frying into the plate as she talked. She then said after taking a kitchen knife, “No need to stand on ceremony. We’re neighbors and just take some home.”
Zhao Ersao rushed to take the kitchen knife from Mo’s hand and pushed her back to the hearth as if fearing that Mo would cut too much.
Zhao’s tone sounded extremely polite and amicable, “Don’t bother to take care of me. Now go and serve the dish to your front hall. Dishes are easy to cool off during such freezing days and it would do harm to your stomach if you don’t eat it hot. I’ll cut some myself if that’s what you want.”
Seeing Zhao’s reaction, Mo Qianxue had to go. Besides, Ning Shaoqing was starving who might throw a temper of scholar again if delayed a bit longer.
“Alright then you just help yourself. I’ll serve the meal for my husband.”
Zhao Ersao looked weird this day yet Mo Qianxue couldn’t figure out why. In bewilderment, she left with the dish as there was nothing valuable in the kitchen.
Ning was reading when Mo came in with the dish. She stole glances over him while serving the table, only to find Ning holding the book upside down.
Mo beamed with joy after a trance.
Obviously, the man was not that heartless.
Her smile dazed Ning Shaoqing who couldn’t help but exclaim that a woman’s heart was indeed a deep ocean of secrets. She came back in smiles yet got angry with only on sentence. Chopping violently to vent her anger yet now she smiled again?
Ning shook his head and decided to just let it go, burying himself to the meal.
Mo Qianxue, in a good mood, filled herself another bowl of rice, totally forgetting that someone was still in her kitchen.
The two were enjoying their meal when Zhao Ersao came out from the kitchen, blurted out some courtesy words like “Bon appetite” and flew away in a hurry.
By the time Mo Qianxue came to herself, she only got a view of Zhao Ersao’s hasting back. She muttered to Ning as she ate, “What’s all the hurry about? She looks panic.”
***
Along with the setting sun came the soft breeze of dusk and the inviting aroma of meat from Zhao Ergou’s house.
“Honey, how did you get the meat?” asked Zhao Ergou with his eyes glued to the meat on the table after he came back from the pier.
“Have a guess!” Zhao Ersao looked at her husband with a complacent face and explained with highly colored details on what had happened. In the end, she concluded, “Lady Ning is stupid. She just bought everything I said. She herself urged me to cut the ham, so now even if she brought it to public, I got something to defend myself. However, I bet she doesn’t dare to make it even with me when she finds out. Besides, Teacher Ning is a scholar who has always been gentle and polite, by no means would he come and pick a quarrel. So Lady Ning has to take it. I wonder if she is crying over the left bone.” Zhao Ersao laughed happily as she talked, her tone extremely perky.
“Meat! I want meat!” The two boys nearly buried their heads into the bowl.
“No need to scramble! You can eat as you like today.”
Seeing her two sons fighting for the last piece of ham, Zhao Ersao hurried to the kitchen.
Zhao Ergou enjoyed the meat with the liquor and shouted to his wife in the kitchen, “Dear, you just visit Teacher Ning’s house more often. It would be foolish to not take the advantage when you can.”
***
While Zhao family was enjoying their feast, the house in one of the Elders Fang Wuye was quite stirred.
“Father, it’s all your fault. If you didn’t stop me, I would be Lady Ning now.” Fang Taoer pulled her father’s sleeve and complained.
Fang Wuye had five sons who were all married and this only one daughter who always gave him a headache.
Fang Tao’er naturally was an ill-tempered and unreasonable girl spoiled by her parents and five elder brothers. She just ate her head off and wasn’t married even at the age of eighteen.
TN: In ancient, girls usually marry at the age of 13-16.
Fang Tao’er had a crush on Ning Shaoqing at first sight couples of months ago when he just escaped here. She immediately urged her father to make the propose yet was refused directly. Ning even threatened to leave the village so Fang Wuye had to give up.
Now hearing Fang Tao’er bringing it up again, Fang Wuye knocked the table hard with his pipe which frightened Tao’er to rush into her mother’s arms.
“I stopped you? Back then when Bao Zhang and village Elders decided to hold a Chong Qi wedding to repel the evils you refused without hesitation after learning that Ning was half a step to death.”
Seeing that her father was just bluffing, Fang Tao’er got out of her mother’s arm and shouted, “How could I know that Ning would get well with a simple wedding! The witch claimed that his survival lied to the will of Heaven! Chong Qi wedding was the last thing we could try. Do you want your daughter to be widowed upon marriage?”
“You…just behave yourself and I’ll find you a perfect match.” Fang Wuye had wanted to berate yet his voice softened when he thought of her daughter’s poor life without a husband.
“I want no other man but Ning. That bitch is just nobody we picked up by the river. Father, go sell her as a slave and marry me to Teacher Ning.”
What a mess! The ancient did tell the truth: A grown girl couldn’t be kept at home or grudges might grow.
Fang Wuye heaved a long sigh, shook his head repeatedly and left after warning his wife to discipline and keep an eye on their daughter.
He intended to go ask Bao Zhang for help and see if he would matchmake for his daughter.
“Tao’er my dear, don’t cry…”
“Mother, I want Teacher Ning. He is learned and good looking. If I marry him, perhaps one day I can even be a lady of an official.”
Tao’s words tempted her mother, who, with a glimmer in her eyes and a face suddenly turning serious as if she just made some great decision, whispered in her daughter’s ear, “If you are so determined to have him, then I can let you get what you want.”
“You do?”
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