The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 83 Eating White Flour (1)_1

Chapter 83: Chapter 83 Eating White Flour (1)_1

Lady Fang and the others returned to the small courtyard, still somewhat dazed. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it, sometimes she did wonder, the dowry brought by her eldest sister-in-law had already disappeared in the first few years after she married into the family. Over the years, she had managed to save a little private stash, never expecting it to be so much.

Si Ya complained with some indignation, "We haven’t saved anything!"

"Money isn’t saved, it’s earned!" Pei Qin gave her a look and went into the kitchen to see what there was to eat for the evening.

Si Ya grumbled discontentedly, "If we could save, we would have saved quite a bit by now. All spent, now there’s not a penny left to save! Auntie has still saved up so much silver!"

San Ya glanced at her and then at Pei Qin entering the kitchen, "Then let’s start saving money too! If we earn money, saving will be faster." The eldest sister had said that they needed to think of other ways to make a lump sum.

Lady Fang took a deep breath, "Tomorrow I will go get some embroidery work to do!"

Embroidery work brings in money too slowly! However, Si Ya thought about it, the winter bamboo shoots that were not plentiful on the mountain, and the bamboo rats that were already hard to catch, and had to pin her hopes on embroidery work now.

Pei Qin thought about the little capital she had at hand and still decided to get some more money in hand, so that Lady Fang and the others would also feel more at ease. Plus, she wanted to get a new cotton-padded coat. The clothes that everyone was wearing were not warm enough, how were they supposed to get through the winter!?

So after eating dinner and discussing it, the next day Pei Qin didn’t let Lady Fang go to the town to get embroidery work, but instead dragged her to the distant mountains to scope out the area.

The entire Taiping Town had many mountains, all located in different directions, some mountains were covered with bamboo.

Once they had a rough idea of the terrain, Pei Qin led Lady Fang and the others straight to the bamboo-covered mountainside. They found four bamboo rat holes, caught all the bamboo rats inside, and stuffed them into two sacks.

Lady Fang looked at the bamboo rats struggling and scurrying inside the sacks, feeling a bit scared herself. But seeing Pei Qin and San Ya and Si Ya all so focused, she went to dig up winter bamboo shoots instead, placing the sacks carefully and having Pei Wendong watch them while she peeled the bamboo shoots they dug up.

It wasn’t until late afternoon that Pei Qin finally stopped, "It gets dark early in winter, we can’t carry any more, let’s go!"

They divided the work among themselves, Pei Qin and San Ya and Si Ya carrying the bamboo rats, and Lady Fang carrying the peeled winter bamboo shoots.

Pei Wendong followed behind.

By the time they returned to the small courtyard, the sky had completely darkened.

Lady Fang put the things inside the house and lit the oil lamp, bustling into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"Just make something simple!" Pei Qin said, exhausted, sitting on a wooden stump to catch her breath.

Lady Fang saw her panting heavily and sweating profusely, with San Ya and Si Ya not faring much better, yet there was next to nothing to eat at home. Holding back a feeling of sourness in her heart, she cooked up a pot of thicker rice porridge and made a few steamed buns.

Eating plain steamed buns with rice porridge, Pei Qin just couldn’t stomach it. Noticing there was still half a cabbage left, she chopped up the cabbage leaves and tossed them with salt, making half a basin full.

"How do you eat this cold dish?" Lady Fang said as she reached out, "Let’s put it in the pot and fry it up."

"Cold mixed cabbage hearts are also a dish, eat and you’ll see!" Pei Qin pinched a piece and threw it into her mouth. It was only salty, without any other flavors. She cursed inwardly, "Let’s eat!"

Eating the cold, salty mixed cabbage leaves, Lady Fang’s eyes reddened quietly, "Tomorrow after selling for some money, let’s buy a few eggs!" The children were all growing, they couldn’t eat such bland food every day.

Pei Qin had no objections to buying eggs.

Waking up from a good night’s sleep, the sky was already bright, and Lady Fang had already prepared the food. Cornmeal mush, and unleavened dough-fried pastries made from white flour on a strainer.

If there’s also a basin of meat, that would suit Pei Qin even better.

Si Ya checked the white flour they had just bought, which had gone down by a large amount, and her complexion turned unwell.

Before they even finished eating, someone from outside came looking for Lady Fang.