Zhou Yao Was a Particular Man

The meal had left Damao and his two brothers grinning so widely that their faces looked like chrysanthemums. Damao, the eldest of the three, hurriedly said to Zhou Yao, "Brother Zhou, the three of us thank you."

"If you hadn't looked after the three of us all these years, how could we still be eating meat? So we're truly grateful to you."

"No need for thanks. We're all brothers. What we need to think about is that we'll all be taking wives in a few days. There'll be more mouths to feed at home, and making a living will get a lot harder. That's what matters most," Zhou Yao said.

"We've had two years of drought in a row, and it looks like this year will be another one. Sigh... when will these hard days ever end?" Ermao said.

"It's the same in many parts of the Great Zhou State. There's nothing to be done about it. If the drought keeps up, who knows how many more people will starve to death? If it weren't for the deep mountains behind our village, who knows how many people here would have starved too?" Damao said.

"There's no point sitting here talking about this. We'd better think about how to fill our bellies and earn more money. In a few days, there'll be more mouths to feed in each of our homes!" Sanmao said.

"All right... all right... you three brothers have had your fill of meat. Hurry and take the meat back for Auntie to eat! Then hurry back and carry the furniture up for me. I'm counting on using it when I take a wife in a few days!"

"Hahaha..." Hearing Zhou Yao say that, Damao and his brothers immediately broke into delighted smiles, then came back carrying the bowls of meat.

With their bellies full of meat, Damao and his brothers worked incredibly fast. Before long, each of them had carried a piece of furniture up.

As for the old, broken furniture in Zhou Yao's house, he chopped it all up and put it in the woodshed to burn as firewood later.

It had to be said, the whole set of furniture was beautiful. Although Zhou Yao couldn't tell what kind of wood it was made from, it looked lovely.

There were two large beds, four wardrobes, two large cabinets for bedding, eight chairs, eight stools for sitting on at meals, a large dining table, two dressing tables for women, and two sets of kitchen cupboards and dish cabinets.

Besides, Damao hadn't made much money, charging only a little for his labor. If he hadn't managed to sell it, he really would have had to drink the northwest wind, because he had paid for making the furniture out of his own pocket. The rich landlord had only put down a small deposit.

Once everything had been moved, Damao and his brothers took their leave, as they also had plenty to do.

After the three brothers left, Zhou Yao shut the courtyard gate and set about his own work.

First, Zhou Yao cleaned the entire house, because he was a clean and particular man. Then he put a palm-fiber mattress on the bed he slept in, laid the bedding over it, and finally spread out a cooling mat, since it was September and the weather was still very hot.

Then Zhou Yao filled the water vat and the rice jar, and put flour in the flour jar as well. He placed new chopsticks, bowls and basins in the cupboard, along with salt, cooking wine, sauce and oil. Then he hung several pieces of cured meat and more than two links of meat sausage above the wood-fired stove in the kitchen.

Zhou Yao wasn't worried about the cattle pen, sheepfold or pigsty, because they had all been built, complete with shelters from the wind and rain. There was no need to worry about the pigs, cattle or sheep freezing to death in winter.

Then Zhou Yao went to the place for bathing and using the toilet. It had been built quite well, and he was fairly satisfied with it.

Finally, he went to look in the woodshed. There wasn't much dry firewood left, so Zhou Yao decided to go up the mountain to chop wood the next day and fill the entire shed.