After Wu Shancun and the others left with the crabs, Ms.Wang and the women from the village came into the courtyard and closed the door.
The women helped clean the drunken crabs, Ms.Wang boiled brine with the two maids and Yang Chuxia, Old Aunt-in-law Gen and others helped pour the brine into jars, while people outside cleaned the crabs and placed them into the jars one by one.
They were busy until evening when all the drunken crabs and shrimp were finally put into the jars.
After Yang Chuxia distributed the copper coins to everyone, they all went home.
"It's much faster to hire people than do it ourselves!" Ms.Wang said when they returned to the courtyard where they lived.
"But mother, I'm afraid we won't have any free time in a few days." Yang Chuxia said, "The salted shrimps are almost ready, and we'll have to prepare the shrimp paste soon, which could be overwhelming."
"What should we do then?" Ms.Wang asked.