Chapter 13

Xie Ning grew anxious and began giving orders outright. "You tend the fire. I'll brew the medicine."

He was afraid he would not explain it clearly, so it was better to brew the medicine himself.

Zhou Jinian looked at Xie Ning's flushed cheeks, both aching for him and touched.

Author's note: Thank you to all the little angels who sent me reward votes or watered me with nutrient solution between 2020-09-17 21:14:44 and 2020-09-18 20:51:35~

Thank you to the little angel who watered me with nutrient solution: Kong Meng Yi Shang, 25 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!

Chapter 13

In the third son's branch, only Zhou Sanfeng was working the fields now, dragging his lame leg along. Never mind the fields-even the household was in chaos. Grandmother Zhou had not worked since her husband passed away. She was old, too, and could not do much, yet she would rather die than divide the household.

After all, once a household split, plenty of old mothers in the village had to get a bite from their eldest son's family and another from their second son's, living as though they were begging for food. If it really came to that, she could only count on her eldest and sixth sons. But capable though those two sons were, the wives they had married were shrewd as could be. When the household was no longer under her control, she felt those two daughters-in-law would bully her to death.

Her third and fourth sons were good for nothing. The third was lame, and although her grandson Jinian studied, he was still young. By the time she could count on him, she would already be in her grave. The fourth was a little better than the third, but only because he could farm. He had not produced a single grandson, though. With no heir, he was beneath her notice.

To stabilize things at home, she had no choice but to work her sixth son's wife like a slave.

"Mother, the weaving can't be left unattended..." Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law tugged at the corners of her mouth, her face sour.

Grandmother Zhou rolled her eyes and stopped smiling. "Don't I know to watch it? Several people in the family are sick, and the fields are sitting there untended. Is the whole family supposed to stop eating? Stop drinking? Bear a little hardship now. Once my sixth son passes the examination next year and the family is exempt from taxes, all the extra silver will go to your branch."

Seeing that she could not escape the work, Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law pursed her lips and put on airs. "Even when I was an unmarried girl, I never worked in the fields. You promised me that back then, Mother. My father only agreed to marry me into this family because Liufeng was a preliminary scholar."

Seeing that Grandmother Zhou was about to turn hostile, Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law softened her tone again. "Don't get angry just yet, Mother. It's not as though I'm refusing to work like your grandson's spouse. I truly don't know how to farm. How about this? I'll handle the household chores, and Fourth Sister-in-law can work in the fields. Rong-ge'er is twelve now, too. He can go along and help her."

Grandmother Zhou still looked sour. "Aren't you afraid of fire?" She was afraid Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law was up to some new trick.

"Oh, even if I'm afraid, we still have to eat and get on with life. It's downright uncanny. How come ever since our nephew Jinian brought his spouse home, the family's had one misfortune after another? Ah, what rotten luck..." Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law simply could not hold her tongue. "Mother, I won't keep you company any longer. I'll get to work."

Grandmother Zhou, who knew little of the world and was not particularly firm-minded, felt her heart thump at these words. She, too, began having misgivings about Xie Ning.

How would she have the sense to consider that Zhou Dafeng had been the one to propose catching the wild boar? And wasn't Lin Jin's back pain a lasting ailment caused by her making him wash clothes and cook on the third day after giving birth?

It was rather laughable, really. Xie Ning now collected the meals for the third son's branch, and ever since he had started doing so, every meal had been plentiful, with generous portions.

As it turned out, Zhou's Sixth Daughter-in-Law was greedy for food. Whenever she cooked, she added an extra bowl of rice and made an extra dish. When Grandmother Zhou scolded her as she did Lin Jin of the third branch and Lin Guihua of the fourth, she threw a tantrum and declared she would stop cooking. She was not someone who would suffer losses for the sake of filial piety, and Grandmother Zhou could do absolutely nothing about her.

The food chain-everything had its match.

Zhou Jinian sped up his copying. He was eager to go into town to buy coarse sea salt, so he planned to finish copying the first volume of Complete Poetry of Qing within five days. He rose at daybreak to copy and sat at his desk all day. Xie Ning did not dare disturb him, either, bringing his meals over and setting them beside his desk.

Only after night fell, when he could no longer see clearly even with the oil lamp lit, did Zhou Jinian put down his brush. He was helpless, too. He was eighteen and had not even taken the licentiate examination yet. Even if he composed a hundred poems, with his status as a mere preliminary scholar, people would only call them "poor man's poetry" and would not consider them worthy of notice.

Writing storybooks could earn him silver, but as a right chancellor, he had dealt only with court affairs. How could he publish such things with his current status?

Xie Ning saw how hard he worked and worried that he would ruin his eyes, so he went up the mountain to gather herbs again, secretly bringing a thick hemp rope and a fire starter.

Mustering his courage, Xie Ning entered the pitch-black cave. He used the fire starter to light a dry stick and held it, then pushed a large rock to the opening, tied the hemp rope around it, and dropped the other end down to hang below.

Then he threw his basket down first, stripped off his clothes, and jumped into the pool. He wanted to catch fish. As a child, he had heard adults say that a blind man had eaten fish eyes and regained his sight.

Xie Ning moved freely through the water. If he had not needed to toss the fish and shrimp he caught onto the rocky bank, he would not even have needed to surface.

He plundered the water, sending the fish flicking their tails rapidly to escape him. Xie Ning pursued them relentlessly, and the school of fish led him to an inlet.

So the water in Pool Cave flowed down through this opening. Since there was an inlet, yet the water level had never risen, there presumably had to be another outlet.

Holding his fish, Xie Ning headed toward the bank and put the fish there into his basket, lest they flop back into the water while he searched for the outlet.

He jumped into the pool again and dived along the rock walls, looking for a way out. To his disappointment, he found no other outlet, and the water farther down was too dark for him to see.

Xie Ning caught only five large fish and a dozen or so shrimp. The shrimp had plump bellies and were all big. Satisfied, he shouldered his bamboo basket and climbed back up the rope.

On his way down the mountain and home, he buried the fish and shrimp beneath the herbs at the bottom of his basket. Xie Ning hurried home in high spirits to show off his treasures and seek praise.

Zhou Jinian put down his brush again and rotated his wrist. He had been too impatient these past few days. His hand had trembled several times today, nearly ruining his writing.

"Jinian..." Xie Ning called almost in a whisper as he pushed the door open. Seeing him rubbing his wrist, he grew anxious and stopped keeping his voice down. "Does your hand hurt again?"

"It's a little sore, but it doesn't hurt," Zhou Jinian denied.

Xie Ning took off his basket and went over to hold Zhou Jinian's hand and massage it. Jinian had said before that his hands were cool and soothing when he massaged him.