章節 25: 25 Broken rice
Qi Sanshun saw the three people sitting on the bare kang bed, without even a kang table; they were just holding their bowls, about to eat breakfast. The little guy couldn't help but freeze, seeming unsure of what to do next.
Ye Xinyan put down her bowl and smiled at him, "It's Sanshun, right? We've already made some porridge, so we won't come over to eat. Remember to tell Great Uncle that my second grandpa and I are going to the county later to buy some household items. We'll be back late at noon, so tell him not to worry."
Qi Younian called out to Sanshun, "Have you had breakfast, Sanshun? Second Grandpa's bowl here hasn't been touched, you can use his bowl to drink some porridge first."
There were only three bowls in the house for use on the road, and luckily they had just served up the food and hadn't started eating yet. Otherwise, it would have been really awkward, too embarrassing to let someone else eat.
Sanshun quickly waved his hands, "No, no, our family also drinks porridge; I'll go back to eat. My grandfather is waiting for me." After saying this, he ran off like a wisp of smoke.
Second Grandpa's family is too poor, they don't have anything, not even a nesting box, how could they possibly be satisfied with just drinking wild vegetable porridge?
Watching Sanshun run away, Ye Xinyan smiled, "It's nice to have relatives who care about you."
Qi Younian also felt content, finally back at home. Despite being away for so many years, the sudden return still felt reassuring and warm, being in his hometown. Yesterday, he and his two brothers had already discussed that after the farming work of the next few days was over, they would go to their parents' graves to pay homage, and tell them that their unfilial son had returned.
While drinking the porridge, Ye Xinyan, remembering the dissatisfaction Great Uncle had shown towards Madam Pang the day before, casually asked, "Grandfather, Great Uncle seemed somewhat displeased with fourth uncle and aunt yesterday; do you know why?"
"I also thought something was off yesterday, but since your Great Uncle didn't mention it, I didn't ask further. Let's wait and see, if it's something out in the open, we might not even need to ask to find out."
Qi Younian had also noticed that his eldest brother was not happy with his third brother and that nephew from the third branch of the family, but having just returned, he didn't delve into it since his brother didn't speak of it, genuinely unaware of the reason.
Due to the rush yesterday, only two rooms had been tidied up; the courtyard was still cluttered. After breakfast, leaving Nanny Jin to continue cleaning up the yard, Qi Younian drove the donkey cart with Ye Xinyan towards the county town to purchase daily necessities for the household.
Qingyuan County was a sizeable town. Qi Younian driving the donkey cart took over a Shichen Chinese Time to get there. By the time they reached the town, the marketplace was already bustling with people coming and going.
Leading the donkey cart, although it was not very convenient to walk, there was no fear of not being able to carry what they bought.
Ye Xinyan, undaunted by the sellers' disdainful looks, fearlessly haggled over the prices for the items they needed to buy. Finally, with gritted teeth, she purchased all the goods they planned to buy in the first batch.
As she paid, she murmured with heartache, "Thinking about the things we had back in Miyi County, they were all in good condition, and we only got so little money from selling them. Now to buy them anew, it costs dozens of times more in silver coins."
Qi Younian followed her, amused, not trying to console her. He just watched her fiercely haggling, gaining another layer of understanding about his granddaughter.
Supposedly, Ye Zi was born the daughter of a wealthy family, just considering the ex-husband she encountered on the road, one could tell her family must be quite rich. Usually, she could indeed appear like someone with a refined family background, but sometimes, the pettiness coming out of her truly didn't seem like someone who grew up in luxury.
Pots, pans, ladles, bathing equipment, sauces and condiments, rice, noodles, vegetables, and the addition of cotton and fabric for three sets of bedding, it all cost them over six 'Silver'.
Ye Xinyan helped Qi Younian secure the items they had purchased onto the cart, and said with relief, "That's good, we didn't spend too much silver."
Upon hearing this, Qi Younian laughed and said, "Over six taels of silver, and it's not too much? Seeing you buy things with such gritted teeth, I thought you'd be in utter despair when you tallied up the total. I didn't expect you to get over it so quickly, even saying we didn't spend too much silver."
Ye Xinyan blinked, "Did I, grit my teeth while buying things?" No way, that would be embarrassing.
Qi Younian found it amusing, "How could you not have? And you even muttered under your breath about how the sellers have no conscience, pricing their goods so expensively."
"Well... I haven't seriously bought things before, how would I know how things are priced? I thought all these items would cost us a lot of money."
Ye Xinyan felt embarrassed, she just subconsciously felt she was poor with no security. In fact, when it came to spending money, she had no concept of it, knowing that the silver that must be spent cannot be saved.
Qi Younian placed a small bag of broken rice on the cart and asked in surprise, "What did you buy this for? Although it's broken rice, it's much more expensive than mixed grains, and the cooked rice isn't very good either. Could it be you wanted to drink white rice porridge, yet couldn't bear to buy proper white rice?"
It seemed Qi Younian was still of those who had lived better days, otherwise, the average poor family wouldn't know the difference in taste between broken rice and proper white rice.
"What are you saying, Grandpa? Am I that greedy?" Ye Xinyan rolled her eyes at Qi Younian in disdain, then whispered, "I thought of a snack. We can try using these broken rice, and if it tastes alright, I think we can set up a stall selling breakfast in the county town."
She spoke so softly not because she was being petty, but for fear that if people heard that broken rice could be used for food, what would she do if its price went up?
Qi Younian saw Ye Xinyan haggle with the rice shopkeeper to buy this broken rice. The broken rice were the remnants at the bottom of the granary, truly very broken. Such stuff was too expensive for the poor and considered worthless by the rich—who would be willing to spend money to eat something made from it.
He had watched Ye Zi fiercely bargain over the price of goods, yet mysteriously purchased a tiny stone mill. She haggled at the place selling stone mills and somehow found the smallest stone mill to buy.
That tiny stone mill looked like a mere decoration; he had no idea what she intended to do with it.
Qi Younian did not want to discourage his granddaughter and thought to himself that once they settled down at home, he would take on masonry work in the town. With his good skills, as long as he put his heart into it, he would always be able to provide for the three of them. And if they saved a bit, he could even save up a larger dowry for Ye Zi.
The shopping trip was quite satisfactory, not having spent too much money. Pleased with herself, Ye Xinyan bought a few flatbreads from a stall in the market, planning to eat them at home combined with vegetable paste.
Driving the donkey cart back to the village, it was Wei Hour by the time they arrived. At the village entrance, seven or eight children were running around playing. There wasn't much excitement in the village daily, but the return of the Qi family's long-departed second eldest counted as a big event for the village, and naturally, all the children knew about it.
Seeing this strange donkey cart and the two people on board, the children found it novel and laughed as they chased after the cart.
Qi Younian slowed down the donkey cart, warmly calling out to the donkey and reminding the children to be careful not to fall down.
Looking up again, he saw on a small path not far away, a three or four-year-old child dragging a carrying basket, walking while looking down and around. The child suddenly stepped to the side, waving a shovel, scooping something into the carrying basket.
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