Capítulo 17: Her Own Homestead
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At this moment, Lin Qinshi walked into the courtyard with farm tools and saw Lin Wanwan, who had taken out her cooking stove and was planning to make breakfast for herself. She said, "Sister Wan, please. Let me do it."
She had come back at this time precisely because she had calculated that it was the right time to make breakfast. It was cool in the morning, and they would go to the fields to do some farm work at the first glimmer of light before coming back to make breakfast.
"Sister Wan, you brought your own cooking stove? I heard that the girls in the city love such facilities the most. It can be used as a small kitchen during the spring and fall outing." Lin Qinshi curiously peered around the cooking stove.
"Yes, it does make cooking very convenient."
Lin Wanwan had bought this at the market in Wanghai town.
Cooking stoves went back a long way in history, and the stove in Sun Bin's Classic tale was a cooking stove, one of the most convenient cooking utensils. Of course, Tang Dynasty's cooking stove had been improved and was more convenient to use. The most down-to-earth poet, Bai Juyi, had once written a poem about cooking: There was a cooking stove at the bow of the ship, cooking red carp with rice. Satiating herself, she washed up in the water of the autumn river.
Lin Qinshi looked at the kitchen with envy for a while. Such a kitchen would cost at least four strings of Yen. Their family would have to go without food and water for six months to afford it.
Lin Wanwan put away the cooking stove and began to talk about Xiao Ya'er's illness last night.
When she heard that Xiao Ya'er had a fever last night, Lin Qinshi hurriedly took out an egg and prepared to make a candied egg for Xiao Ya'er.
Lin Wanwan stopped her. "Sister-in-law, don't worry. She simply has a poor constitution. She doesn't like to eat eggs. I've already prepared some fruits for her, she just needs to eat some sweet stuff."
Lin Qinshi could not help but say, "Oh dear, to think that there's someone who doesn't want eggs."
Eggs were sold for one copper coin each. If Lin Wanwan hadn't saved the girl, Lin Qinshi wouldn't have been so willing to take them out. Usually, they couldn't even bear to eat it themselves and would save them to sell at the market.
Lin Wanwan had studied hard on taking care of sick children last night and knew that it was best for a child to eat fewer eggs while running a fever. Eggs had high protein content and high calories, so she could only decline Lin Qinshi's good intentions.
Lin Qinshi raised her eyes and saw the fruits on the table in the central room. She immediately said, "Alright, it's fine if you don't eat eggs. I'll go to Uncle's house and borrow a big rooster for Xiao Yu'er to carry. It'll help her get rid of her illness. "
After saying that, she left in a hurry. Lin Wanwan stretched out her hand and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
The medical treatment of the great Tang was truly eye-opening.
It was no wonder that children were not recorded in the genealogy before they were seven years old. It was said that they were not easy to raise. With this level of medical care, would it be easy to support them? Human cubs were one of the most delicate cubs in nature, and they were raised so roughly. Those who could grow up successfully were all alphas with robust constitutions.
When Lin Qinshi came back with the rooster, Lin Wanwan did not immediately turn her away. She only said that if Xiao Yu'er's fever flared up again that night, she would let her hold the rooster. Of course, she would have already left the Lin family manor by nightfall. Whether she hugged the rooster or not was no longer her concern.
The breakfast Lin Qinshi made was a pot of rice crust that was a little too dry for the throat, and it was paired with a soup of Chinese cabbage. Chinese cabbage was identical to the cabbage of the modern era. The rice seemed to have been mixed with chaff or something else, so it was difficult to swallow. After Lin Wanwan had one scoop, she could not take another.
The price of rice during Tang Dynasty's early days was actually heavily subsidized the government, but it still could not help the poor, for the first to be supplied was to the city residents.
Lin Qinshi could see it all through the aristocratic behavior of this so-called cousin's of hers. In the past, when she followed the old immortal, she claimed to be living in seclusion, but in reality, she was living the life of an immortal.
From the silk and satin she was wearing, to the food she was cooking. It was not something that ordinary people could dream of. It seemed that she wouldn't be staying in this poor and remote Lin Village for long. Uncle said that he wanted to give her a plot of land, but she was afraid that his efforts would be in vain.
"Ah, Sister Wan, that's a big fragrant pear, right? Are you having the children eat it raw? Why don't I cook it first?" Lin Qinshi was eating her rice crust while looking at the children. She finally noticed the fragrant pears on the fruit plate.
The fragrant pears in the great Tang were all cooked and eaten. If someone were to eat them raw, they would probably be ridiculed by the nobles.
"Cook?" Lin Wanwan was a little surprised. It was the first time she had heard of it, but she remained calm and smiled. "It's fine to eat raw pears. My master likes to eat raw pears, so I'm used to it."
"Oh, oh." Lin Qinshi nodded. Although she still found it a little strange, she did not say anything more. Fishermen were simple folk. Since the old immortal was eating raw pears, she would eat it raw too. It was quite tiring to cut the firewood from the mountain, so she was glad to be saved the chore.
After a simple breakfast, Lin Wanwan carried a bamboo basket filled with pears and went to Patriarch Lin's house. She stood at the gate of the courtyard and shouted, "Uncle, are you busy?"
"No, no! Did you rest well at Meng Bo's house last night?" Patriarch Lin had also just returned from his farm work early in the morning and was washing his muddy feet in the corner of the courtyard.
Although the Lin Village mainly made a living by fishing and paying sea rent and taxes to the Imperial court, they would also cultivate some land by the hillside to grow rice and vegetables for their own use. However, the land was relatively barren, and the harvest was not great.
"I did," Lin Wanwan said."I feel a sense of belonging now that I've found my family."
Patriarch Lin chuckled and said, "That's right! Humans still have to find their roots. Did you come here early in the morning to discuss the foundation of the house?"
"You have great foresight, Uncle," Lin Wanwan nodded.
Patriarch Lin stroked his chin and spoke bluntly. "Let's go. I'll take you there now. There was an empty stone field to the east of Meng Bo's house, which we could find no use for. You can build a house next to their house so that you can take care of them."
Lin Wanwan naturally didn't object to it, and then left the fragrant pears and the bamboo basket as a gift.
"What are you doing? This is such a good thing, quickly keep it and eat it."
"No, uncle, let us share good things together."
In the end, Patriarch Lin couldn't persuade Lin Wanwan and left the bamboo basket and fragrant pears behind, much to the delight of his family. Although it was the season to eat fragrant pears, they usually couldn't bear to buy them. This was something only the people in the town ate.
After seeing her own homestead with Patriarch Lin, Lin Wanwan brought up the matter of Xiao Yu'er.
"What did you say?" Patriarch Lin was shocked. Xiao Yu'er isn't your real child, you picked her up? You said she's from our Lin Village?"
"Yes," Lin Wanwan replied,"I met Xiao Yu'er as soon as I left the mountain. To think that fate would bring us together." Xiao Yu'er said that she's fatherless and motherless. After some thought, I think that's a good idea. Uncle , what do you think?"
Patriarch Lin sighed and said, "No wonder Xiao Yu'er looks so familiar. If I'm not mistaken, she's from a wealthy family. Half a month ago, Guofu's daughter-in-law went to town to buy some things and said that she would bring her child to watch a show. In the end, she lost the child."
-- Regalo
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