No embroidery

Lu Mingyi and the other two had made three dishes: stir-fried wild greens, stir-fried cabbage, and a large bowl of steamed eggs. Su Yuhe sliced some meat, planning to stir-fry another dish of sliced pork. Usually busy copying books, she had only taught them to make these few dishes. After eating them for more than half a month, she was already tired of them.

After washing up, Li Yun came in looking bashful. Su Yuhe circled him twice. The clothes fit him well enough, but the light color made his skin look a little dark. They still looked nice, just not quite right on him.

Lu Mingxi emerged from behind the stove. "Wow, Brother Li, you look really good in those clothes."

She shut her mouth. Better not tell the truth.

"Thank you." Li Yun pressed his lips together without taking up Lu Mingxi's remark. He glanced at the dishes on the table. "I'll stir-fry some pork, and then we can eat."

Su Yuhe rinsed the cutting board. "I bought a free-range chicken a while ago. I was going to wait until you came back to eat it together, but that wait turned into nearly half a month. It barely had any meat on it before, but it's fattened up quite a bit."

Li Yun took the cutting board from her and pulled a piece of pork collar from the basket beside him. "I see you bought quite a lot of meat. How much was it a catty?"

"Pork belly is still thirty wen a catty. The price hasn't dropped yet."

He deftly cut the meat into slices of even thickness, scooped half a ladle of water into the wok, and quickly rinsed it clean. "If I'd known, I should have brought it over sooner, so you wouldn't have had to go out and buy any."

She was still curious about why he had brought it to her place this time. Even if he was selling it to the villagers, wouldn't slaughtering the pig at his place have been more convenient? Quite a few people lived on the eastern side of the village.

Su Yuhe voiced her question. Li Yun kept working, heating the washed wok to dry it. "I originally thought that little wild boar would feed the five of us for a month or two. When I got here, I saw the village chief had come. She told me about the granaries."

She knew what had happened after that. She could not describe what she felt.

He had caught little wild boars before, cutting off some meat and selling the rest. If they had not needed to pay for building the granaries, this little wild boar would probably have ended up entirely in the five of their stomachs.

For him alone, the official granary in town required a payment of only five qian, and the village's communal granary another five qian. What he had earned from his earlier hunting and from renting out his fields was more than enough to pay it. He had sold this pig for her and the three young husbands at home.

"We should plant more sweet potatoes this year and prepare for the great cold as early as possible." He dug a lump of snow-white lard out of an earthenware jar. Once it was hot, he added the sliced pork and stir-fried it. "It'll be ready soon. Go sit down."

Hearing that it would be ready soon, Lu Mingxi ran to the cupboard for bowls and chopsticks, then lifted the lid of the other pot, where the rice had been cooking, and began serving it.

Meng Zhixian carried some firewood in and set it beside Lu Mingyi, who was tending the fire behind the stove. "There isn't much firewood left. Put in less."

Li Yun gave the meat a couple of stirs, set down the spatula, and took a look. "I'll go up the mountain and cut some later."

"It won't cost much. Just buy some from Little He. You should rest."

Lu Mingxi looked over as he served the rice. "Brother Li, take me with you. I'll chop it!"

Meng Zhixian watched from the side. Now that he had finished copying the books, there was little work he could do. If he could chop wood and save the household some firewood money, that would be very good.

Su Yuhe carried the bowls of rice he had filled to the table and chuckled. "What could you do up there with those thin arms and legs?"

"I can chop wood too!" Lu Mingxi was indignant, but could hardly argue with her. Puffing up his cheeks, he lowered his voice. "Wife, you underestimate me. I have plenty of strength."

"I'll take him for a walk on the mountain and dig up some wild greens."

She glared at Li Yun and snapped, "You've only just come back, and you're already going to take him up the mountain? Get some rest. Take him in a few days when you have time."

"If you really have nothing to do, I'll buy you some cloth. You can embroider and sew clothes indoors."

Lu Mingxi hurriedly shook his head like a pellet drum. "No, no! No embroidery."

Su Yuhe was puzzled. Didn't young masters from wealthy families embroider and sew clothes at home?

"I don't like doing that, and I never learned to do it well. Wife, please let me do something else. I can cut grass, cook, and chop wood."

Resistance was written all over his little face, and she went along with him. "All right. No embroidery, then."

Men who embroidered and sewed clothes were rare in the countryside. They were quite good at farmwork, rough work, and heavy labor, but not only did they dislike embroidery and sewing, they did not do it as well as women.

She had thought only the countryside was like this, and that men in town and from prominent families would be different. Now it seemed they were all the same.

Meng Zhixian did not like embroidery either. His father, mother, and eldest sister had all indulged him in the past and never made him learn. They had only arranged for a few manservants skilled in embroidery and needlework to accompany him when he married.

Back then, apart from attending daily lessons in etiquette, he would make the rounds of jewelry shops and cloth shops every day to see whether anything new had come in.

At noon, he would eat at a grand restaurant outside, where even the cheapest dish cost one tael of silver.

In the afternoons, he would read illustrated storybooks, go to a teahouse to listen to storytelling, and drink tea. Every day had been wonderfully carefree.

Suddenly, he felt some regret. If he had learned a little, he would have had somewhere to put his skills to use today, instead of being useless.

He knew how to do nothing. Now there was no book-copying work either, and he was not as good as the Lu brothers at tending the fire or cooking. If the great cold came, he would be the one most likely to be abandoned first.

At that thought, he turned his gaze toward his wife.

No. He could not be left behind.