When the rooster crowed for the first time, Lei Tie opened his eyes. The faint gleam of light and wind outside pushed in through the gaps in the thatched cottage. He soon sobered up and looked down at the warm object in his arms. The teenager curled up in his arms was sleeping soundly. In the middle of the night, the teenager felt cold and unconsciously squeezed his head under Lei Tie’s right armpit.
He took back his arm and tucked the teenager nicely into the quilt before he dressed quietly, washed his face with cold well water in the courtyard and then went back to the thatched cottage to collect the prey and bow set and set out in the dim morning light. The town was not close by and it’s going to take more than an hour to walk across the mountain. If he departed early, he could arrive at the opening of the market. At that time, it would be the most bustling time. The people who were in charge of purchasing from the well-to-do families chose to come out at this time, so he could sell the prey sooner.
Not far out, several people from the same village came from another direction, each carrying a shoulder pole which already bent by pressure.
“Tiezi.” One of them was Zhang Dashuan.
“Brother Zhang.” Lei Tie greeted without saying a word more.
Zhang Dahuan knew his character, so didn’t mind and smiled as he nodded.
A man looked about in his 30s came to Lei Tie’s side. “Tiezi, how is your newlywed life? Is the wifey cuddly?”
“Dashan!” Zhang Dashuan’s face changed slightly as he frowned at him.
“What’s wrong with that?” The other one, a bit younger and looking in his mid-twenties, laughed and bumped against Zhang Dashuan’s shoulder pole with his shoulder pole. “Brother Zhang, aren’t you curious? Brother Shan too, one can see at first glance that Tiezi’s wife isn’t nice to touch, you don’t need to ask more.”
Zhang Dashuan angrily stopped him from continuing, “Qiangzhu!”
Lei Tie stopped his footstep. His pair of black eyes without billows stared fixatedly at Song Qiangzhu, seemingly even the air had cooled down.
Yao Dashan was shocked and regretted it a bit. Lei Tie didn’t seem a person who was easy to provoke, he shouldn’t provoke the man. In case he offended the man, it’s not impossible to be shot with an arrow.
Song Qiangzhu’s back felt chill, but he didn’t want to lose face in front of others, so with a sneer he raised his head as he said: “What? If you dare to marry a man as a wife, I dare to say so!”
Lei Tie restrained the cold light in his eyes, turned around and said to Zhang Dashan in a low voice, “Brother Zhang, I go first.”
“Alright, alright.” Zhang Dahuan immediately nodded in fear of another dispute between him and the other two.
When Lei Tie’s back view had integrated into the black shadow of the green mountain, Song Qiangzhu said coldly, “I told you; look at what you can do to me!”
Zhang Dashuan and Yao Dashan looked at each other and inwardly shook their heads. If you’re not afraid, why don’t you say this in front of Lei Tie?
Zhang Dashuan gestured with his hand, “Go, go, and keeps going.”
Qin Mian naturally didn’t know what happened to his cheap ‘husband’ and was sleeping soundly under the covers. It was unknown how long it took for the door to be slammed open.
“Eldest’s family [wife], still aren’t getting up? Have you lived with the pigs for a long time that you turned into a pig?”
Qin Mian suddenly sat up and looked at Du Shi coldly. This old hag had no such propriety in speech. This was not only cussing him, but also cussing her man’s eldest son.
“What? You’re still not obeying?” Du Shi didn’t care about him at all as her voice was even louder, “Don’t roll up still!”
Qin Mian took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Mother, I was about to get up. You’ve working hard, I’ll make breakfast today.”
Du Shi’s face eased a bit. “Hurry up!”
After Qin Mian dressed, he went out. The sky had yet brightened, looked like six o’clock at the most. He simply washed his face before he went into the kitchen and looked around. There were some sweet potatoes, some autumn eggplants, some green peppers, three potatoes and two eggs in the bamboo basket.
Du Shi followed in. “Just fry the vegetables in the basket for breakfast. I’ve scooped up the brown rice; when the rice is cooking, steam the two eggs on it.”
After that, she did not leave, but looked from the door.
“I understand.” Qin Mian knew that she was afraid of him cooking too much rice. Regarding her as non-existent, he swiftly lighted the fire and cooked the rice first. The farmstead families all done hard works, so they didn’t eat the kind of soup or liquid as breakfast like the city people did, but they ate staple food like in lunch and dinner, otherwise they would get hungry easily.
When Du Shi saw that he did not secretly add rice from the rice jar, she left at ease.
As the rice was boiling, Qin Mian washed and cut the vegetables. After the rice was cooked, he put the brown rice with sweet potatoes in a basin and put it on the hot water of the innermost wok to keep warm, and then washed the other wok to fry the vegetables.
Qian Shi probably had nothing to do as it was such a rarity for her to come in to help him add firewood.
Qin Mian found exactly what he had been looking for. When the wok was dried up on fire, he scooped out a large spoon of oil and poured it in. The oil smelled delicious.
Qian Shi was too late to stop him. “Eldest sister-in-law, you put too much. If Mother-in-law knew, she would definitely scold you.”
Qin Mian calmly said: “Eggplants consume oil, more oil to fry, more delicious.”
Qian Shi was indifferent because the one going to be scolded anyway not going to be her. She smiled and praised: “It’s really fragrant. Eldest sister-in-law, you are bold. If you are the one to cook in the future, it will be good.”
Qin Mian gave a faint smile, noncommittal.
Just like that, Qin Mian fried two plates of eggplant, two plates of potato shreds and two plates of green pepper. As soon as the vegetables were fried, he quickly slipped out.
He had yet walked far and he heard Du Shi’s loud scolding but it went into the left ear and went out the right ear. He walked slowly along the way out of the village.
Seeing a tall figure coming neither too fast nor too slow from afar, he waved quickly. That’s indeed his amulet!
When Lei Tie looked at the small and thin figure in the distance, he felt a strange feeling in his heart and unconsciously accelerating his pace. For the first time, someone was waiting for him to come back.
When he got closer, he couldn’t hear anything unusual in his voice, “What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing. I’ve just finished preparing meal and mother thinks I put too much oil in it.” Qin Mian told the story frankly and did not deny that he was intentional.
Lei Tie nodded, “I’ll make more money, let you put as much oil as you want when cooking.”
Qin Mian’s face felt a little hot, so he changed the topic, “Was the prey sold? How much did it cost?”
Lei Tie answered: “3 taels[1] and 2 diaos[2].”
Qin Mian gave an ‘oh’. He knew that 1 tael of gold here was equal to 10 taels of silver, 1 tael of silver was equal to 10 diao coins, and 1 diao was equal to 100 wen[3]. But he didn’t know exactly what the concept of 1 wen and how many things it could buy, so he didn’t know whether 3 taels and 2 diaos were more or less.
When they got home, the meal was just served.
As soon as Du Shi saw Qin Mian, she was about to scold him but Lei Tie called out “mother” before he led Qin Mian pass over her to sit down at the table.
Du Shi remembered that Lei Tie got the money, so she held back her anger and let Qin Mian go for a while. She said gently, “Eldest is back. How is the market price today?”
“Enough to buy 2 sets of clothes for me and Xiao Mian.”
Qin Mian disregarded Du Shi. He took his bowl and clipped eggplants and shredded potatoes in it. Although there were all vegetables, it’s a lot better than Du Shi’s fried vegetables.
Lei Daqiang, Lei Xiangren and the others were all eating with relish, mouths full of grease. Seeing the vegetables in the dishes become shallower and shallower, Qin Mian quickly took some into Lei Tie’s bowl.
Lei Tie glanced at him and Qin Mian returned with a smile.
Du Shi was not satisfied with Lei Tie’s answer and asked, “There must be 2 or 3 taels?”
“1 tael and 200 wen.” After that, Lei Tie talked no more and lowered his head to eat.
He didn’t hand over the slightest amount to her and Du Shi’s heart began to feel uncomfortable again. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Lei Xiangren’s cry came out from the kitchen, “Why is there no rice left?”
Lei Xiangyi said: “Haven’t you eaten two bowls already?”
Du Shi returned to her senses and looked at the table. There was only a little soup left on the bottom of the three dishes and there were only a few vegetables in her bowl. Needless to say, it was Lei Chuntao who gave it to her.
All of a sudden, a burst of anger and smothered breath came out of her chest at the same time and rushed to her brain. She picked up her chopsticks and dropped it to the ground, shouting to Zhao Shi and Qian Shi: “Eating such the likes of scoundrel, are you just released from the prison? Even dogs don’t eat as clean as you all!”
Qian Shi quickly emptied the rice in the bowl without uttering any sound.
Zhao Shi murmured to herself unwillingly, “Younger sister-in-law also ate…”
“Second sister-in-law!” Lei Chuntao blushed and glared at Zhao Shi.
Du Shi’s anger made her stagger.
“Enough! Even having a meal can’t be in peace!” Lei Daqiang slapped his hand on the table. Who knew why, his face was a little red.
Du Shi sat down heavily and her eyes shifted to Qin Mian; they were indignantly resentful and cold, just like looking at the enemy.
Qin Mian hid behind Lei Tie and continued to eat.
Du Shi looked at Lei Tie, who was blocking her sight. “Eldest, are you going to town tomorrow? Buy two jin of oil.”
Lei Tie answered: “No, I have something to do.”
After the meal, Qin Mian took the initiative to say: “Mother, I’ll go chop firewood.”
Du Shi said immediately, “No need for you! You can’t even chop two jin[4] of firewood in a day! Second’s [wife] and Third’s [wife] go to chop firewood; Eldest’s [wife] go wash dishes and clothes!”
Qin Mian secretly congratulated himself.
It was only when he saw a large pile of clothes piled by the well that he knew he had underestimated Du Shi. Did Du Shi even take out the clean clothes?
“Wife, follow me to mow the grass.” Lei Tie came, took Qin Mian and left.
Qin Mian reckoned that his wish to separate and live apart had been determined; therefore he didn’t have to attend to Du Shi.
Note:
[1] Tael = unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern)
[2] Diao = a string of 100 (wen) coin
[3] Copper coin
[4] 1 jin = a catty; 0.5 kg
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