RMCF: Chapter 31

 

Chapter 31

The next day, Xu He slowly woke up to the distant, not very loud, crow of a rooster.

Zhang Fangyuan's household didn't raise poultry, so the only reminder of daybreak in the early hours was habitual waking. Having slept late last night, he woke up rather late this morning; it was already fully bright outside.

Usually, by this time, Xu He would have already been working in the fields for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

He moved his body, wanting to get up, but clearly felt discomfort.

A long leg was draped over his waist, hooking him from the waist down. His shoulders were also encircled, and a head full of hair rested on his shoulder. He was like a cloth doll that a small child had to hold to fall asleep… only… the ‘child’ holding him was dead heavy.

He pushed the person but couldn't move him; instead, it aggravated the painful spots on his body. It felt like the soreness from bruises after carrying a heavy load, and the pain radiating from below his lower back made his face flush.

Xu He thought—this doesn't seem much different from being beaten, except the person doing it isn't angry.

He truly didn't understand why married women and ger often had radiant faces and found life so enjoyable. If he had to endure this every day, he really couldn't laugh about it.

Didn't they get poked by that big stick? Last night, the pain was so intense he cried out directly. Zhang Fangyuan did stop his actions, but when he let go, he seemed reluctant.

He had said let's just go through the motions first, get familiar with it, later they can...

Later what? Once wasn’t enough?

He now suspected that scoundrel Zhang Fangyuan was teaching him nonsense. But this matter was simply beyond his understanding and tolerance. How could he possibly ask someone else to verify whether it was right or wrong? He had no friends, no reliable relatives.

This situation was truly miserable.

Fortunately, he had married Zhang Fangyuan. If it were another man, he might as well die.

Feeling troubled, he thought maybe they should sleep in separate rooms. Looking at Zhang Fangyuan, he didn't seem to be sleeping very comfortably either, sprawled all over him. He must have been used to stretching out freely on the big bed before. Of course, this was just a small internal grumble; in reality, he couldn't make such decision himself.

He couldn't push him off—such a big lump!

It was time to get up and cook. Feeling irritable, he pulled out one hand and pinched Zhang Fangyuan's arm hard.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch!”

The tips of Xu He's ears turned red. It seemed he had cried out like this last night too.

Zhang Fangyuan opened his eyes and looked at the clear-eyed person. “Why are you awake so early?”

“It's already morning. Move your limbs back. I need to go cook.” Xu He pushed him. “Aren't you going to set up your stall in town?”

Zhang Fangyuan, with his morning grumpiness, rubbed his face against Xu He's shoulder, his voice hoarse. “Haven't gone to find livestock to buy yet. Not going these couple of days.”

“Why not going?”

Zhang Fangyuan couldn't help but pinch Xu He's face, which had little flesh. “What man thinks about running off right after getting married?”

Xu He didn't answer. “Then sleep a bit more. I'll call you when the food is ready.”

This kind of treatment was excellent, but Zhang Fangyuan hadn't married him to be served. “If you're getting up, I'm getting up too.”

With that, he got out of bed and quickly put on his clothes.

Xu He watched Zhang Fangyuan full of energy, and was inwardly happy he was getting up with him. However, his own expression showed some difficulty. He slowly sat up, enduring the discomfort, and put on his clothes unhurriedly.

Opening the bedroom door, a cool breeze blew in, refreshing body and mind.

Zhang Fangyuan looked back at Xu He getting out of bed. “The weather looks excellent today.”

Xu He acknowledged with a sound, gritting his teeth as he walked over. Zhang Fangyuan saw him trying hard to hide but still unable to completely cover up his somewhat awkward walk. His mood wasn't exactly bright.

He touched the tip of his nose, embarrassed. The bottom-ranked teaching the ‘illiterate’ resulted in both their scores being too tragic to look at.

Zhang Fangyuan strode over and suddenly scooped Xu He up by the waist.

“What are you doing!?”

Zhang Fangyuan didn't speak, carrying him to the central hall and placing him on a chair with a soft cushion. “There are many leftover dishes from the banquet. I'll heat up something casually; it'll be enough for the two of us.”

He went back into the room and brought out the gift box from yesterday's monetary gifts. “I haven't had time to tally the accounts yet. You sort it out here.”

Xu He felt touched and temporarily forgave Zhang Fangyuan. He also decided that tonight… and in the future… maybe they didn't need to sleep in separate rooms just yet.

He really liked counting money. The feeling of weight gave him a great sense of security. The monetary gifts from the wedding were all copper coins, stored together in a box. Dozens of tables of people had come yesterday. Although one family might occupy most of a table, there were still many households.

Xu He patiently counted them one by one, stringing them together with hemp rope in bundles of one hundred, placing the coils into a jar. Every household had such a money saving jar; commonly called a coin bank.*

*puman ( 撲滿 ) — lit. 'full to bursting' can be translated as piggy bank, but that’s a western term

A smaller household’s money banks was a pottery pot with a handle, big-bellied with a narrow neck. If there was more money, a jar was used. Wealthy families had several large jars just for copper coins. It was said that extremely rich households even had special cellars for storing money.

When he was in the Xu family, he also had one the size of a teapot, which could hold at most three hundred wen. Even so, he had never filled it.

Seeing so much money now, he couldn't resist reaching into the pile of coins for a moment, burying his hand and feeling the temperature of the copper coins.

The total gift money received this time amounted to two thousand six hundred wen.

“Xiao He, time to eat.”

Zhang Fangyuan placed the empty box in the main hall, then carried the large jar of copper coins to put aside. Though money jars were good for storing copper coins, making the money look plentiful, they were really inconvenient. It would be better to exchange them for silver and silver banknotes for easier storage.

“Finished counting?” Zhang Fangyuan used a tray that hadn't been returned yet to bring over all the heated dishes together: a pot of black chicken soup, a braised fish with sauce, and twice-cooked pork.

Xu He told him the total and went to serve the rice.

He placed the white rice in front of Zhang Fangyuan. “How much did the banquet cost?”

“The main expense was over a thousand wen for the pork. Then there were chickens, ducks, fish, and various other things. Probably roughly balanced out. Even if we spent a bit more, it wouldn't be much, maybe one or two hundred wen at most.”

Xu He didn't quite approve of Zhang Fangyuan's careless way of calculating money. Managing a household required clear and detailed calculations; otherwise,they wouldn't know where the money went and wouldn't be able to save up anything.

“After eating, we should still calculate it carefully.”

Zhang Fangyuan laughed and put a piece of meat in Xu He's bowl. “Okay, I'll listen to you. Eat quickly! So skinny, if you don't eat more, you won't grow taller.”

Only then did Xu He pick up his bowl. He muttered, “I'm already quite tall. Any taller would be strange.”

“Height doesn't matter; what matters is good health.”

Xu He finally nodded. The couple ate together and then each got busy.

Yesterday's large banquet meant that although helpers had done a simple cleanup, many things were borrowed and needed returning.

Xu He wanted to go with Zhang Fangyuan to return things, but Zhang Fangyuan wouldn’t let him, telling him to stay home.

Zhang Fangyuan carried the borrowed tables, chairs, pots, pans, and dishes to return to each household. Going here and there was troublesome and time-consuming. Fortunately, having a horse cart meant tying things onto it and making three or four trips from home was enough.

Xu He couldn't leave, so he focused on cleaning and tidying inside the house. With both of them working separately, it went quickly. Xu He saw there was still many leftovers from the banquet in large and small bowls filling half the counter—not just vegetables but plenty of meat dishes too. 

At banquets, villagers usually tried to eat enough for three days in one go. Ordinary families holding banquets usually only had some broth and leftovers. This showed just how much Zhang Fangyuan had prepared this time, that there could still be so much left over.

Xu He picked out all the meat, separating it from the vegetables into two large bowls. Boiled vegetable dishes could be tossed to feed livestock, but he was still reluctant to waste stir-fried dishes with oil. Another headache was that their household didn't have livestock to eat leftovers. Farm households rarely had leftover food, but when they did, not having animals to eat them was a pity.

Although Zhang Fangyuan could buy pigs cheaper outside, now that he was here, they should still buy piglets to raise, whether to sell when grown or slaughter for their own consumption.

Also, they needed to buy a few pairs of chicks and ducklings. Every household had a corner in the backyard partitioned to build a shed for raising these. They could sell them, catch one to eat during festivals, and when grown, they laid eggs—killing several birds with one stone.

Xu He stood at the stove scrubbing the pot, his mind actively planning how to live their days when he heard the horse snorting and puffing in the yard. He glanced out the window. “Back?”

“Mm. Returned all the borrowed stuff.”

Zhang Fangyuan unhitched the cart, tied up the horse, and came inside to drink a bowl of water.

“There's still quite a bit of food left. See who you want to give some to.” Xu He pushed the bowl of picked-out meat forward. “The weather is getting warmer day by day; it can spoil easily. Would be a shame if it went bad.”

Zhang Fangyuan said, “You decide. Give it to whoever you want.”

Xu He thought for a moment. “Then send some to Fourth Uncle's family. The Chen family is close by; we see them all the time. Give them some too."

Zhang Fangyuan's parents were no longer around, so the new ger didn't need to serve tea early in the morning. Fourth uncle's family was the closest to Zhang Fangyuan. He had asked if they should go to fourth uncle's house to meet the elders, but Zhang Fangyuan said it wasn't necessary. Fourth uncle and aunt had already told them to just live their lives well together; they wouldn't use their status as elders to pressure the new ger.

Xu He felt touched, feeling life suddenly became much easier and more relaxed, with no one overly managing him anymore. Even so, Xu He thought that while delivering things, he should still go see them as a matter of courtesy.

Zhang Fangyuan nodded, put down the water bowl, and took out the bracelet he had prepared to give earlier from his pocket. “Wear it.”

Xu He looked at the silver bracelet and didn't say more.

“Here, let me put it on for you.”

Zhang Fangyuan rolled up Xu He's sleeve and slipped the bracelet on. He pinched Xu He's slender wrist; apart from the bone structure, there really wasn't much flesh. “My mother's arm was thicker than yours. When she wore this bracelet, it didn't have as much extra space as it does on you."

Xu He touched the bracelet, looking at his own wheat-colored skin, which was somewhat dark, and didn't speak.

“Doesn't matter. I'll take good care of you, it'll fill out properly in time.”

Zhang Fangyuan took the opportunity to lean closer to Xu He's hand, his thick eyebrows twitching. “If nothing else, being with a butcher guarantees you meat every day.”

The corner of Xu He's mouth lifted imperceptibly. That makes it sound like he came here just for that reason.

Zhang Fangyuan held Xu He's hand, being affectionate for a while, then suddenly remembered something from when he went out. “Just now when I was returning tables and stools, I passed by the front of your family’s house. Guess who I ran into?”

Xu He's brow twitched slightly. “Who?”

“Madam Fei led Fei Lian, bringing some gifts to your house.”

“The Fei family went to propose!” Yesterday, when they got married, the Fei family hadn't come. Given the previous awkward situation, it was expected.

Now that the Fei family had finally visited, presumably his mother and second sister were overjoyed. The stone in their hearts had finally been put down.

 

***

 

T/N

here‘s an interesting fact I learnt while translating this chapter and wanted to share: these clay jars or money banks called 'puman' were designed with a small slit for inserting coins, once full it had to be smashed for one to access the collected money, and their original purpose was to prevent corruption and embezzlement - just like childhood piggy banks (you can read more on this here)

I could have translated it as piggy bank, but since that's a western term and the story is set in ancient China, although it's use would be obvious, I preferred to translate it as money bank/jar, and it's also not pig shaped ...

which led me to another rabbit hole ... and a fun fact - the clay pot for storing money also existed in medieval England where it was called 'pygg' and overtime with the change of language and the association of the name to the animal, potters began shaping these clay pots into little pigs we know today as piggy banks

you're welcome ( x - x )~

 

- ʑ ą ɱ 

 

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