Do You Think This Could Be Traded for the House?

Zhou Wanwan couldn't be bothered wasting any more words on these people. She took Zhou Fusheng by the hand and left.

She went straight home, and then the family of six set off for town.

It took two hours to walk to town from here. An ox cart was surely faster, and a ride usually cost one copper coin per person.

Zhou Wanwan said, "We're going to town. That's six copper coins, right?"

"Bah! You actually want to ride in my ox cart? Is my ox cart for the likes of you? Stinking mute, get lost!" Zhou the Fourth roared.

Zhou Fusheng shouted angrily, "Zhou the Fourth, do you have to treat a child like that? If you won't let us ride, fine! Who cares?"

Zhou Fu'an's wife hurried over and said, "The ox cart hasn't left yet! Thank goodness."

Zhou the Fourth smiled. "Nope! We were just waiting for you."

Zhou Fu'an's wife looked at Zhou Wanwan and Zhou Qingyan. "What's this unlucky family doing here? Hurry up and chase them away."

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Get as far away as you can, you bunch of harbingers of doom. Aren't you afraid you'll bring disaster on our Zhou Family Village? Every one of you is unlucky as can be."

The people from Wild Field Village across the way couldn't stand watching anymore. "Oh, come on! You people from Zhou Family Village are going too far. All they wanted was a ride on an ox cart. Why won't you leave them alone?"

"Everyone in Zhou Family Village is vicious. All they know how to do is bully honest folk.

"We've fought over that river several times. Every time, they cut off the flow upstream to irrigate their fields."

The people from Zhou Family Village shouted back:

"Who's to blame for you always being downstream? If you're so capable, why don't you go upstream too?

"If you like that family of calamity stars so much, take them away! You're good at talking, aren't you?"

The man driving Wild Field Village's ox cart was named Lin Shouyi. He sat up and said, "All of you, come aboard! I won't charge you for the ride today."

Zhou Fu'an's wife snorted coldly. "Bah! Just you wait! Sooner or later you'll have bad luck. They're calamity stars. Let's go! Sooner or later, they'll suffer a great disaster."

Lin Shouyi sneered. "What sort of people are they? Calamity stars or not, all they do is spout nonsense all day long."

Zhou Fusheng hurriedly thanked him. "Many thanks, Lin Shouyi!"

Lin Shouyi looked at him and said:

"No need to thank me. You may have forgotten, but my family was poor when I was little.

"Once, we were so poor we had nothing to eat. You gave me twenty copper coins and a few steamed buns."

Zhou Fusheng frowned and thought for a moment.

"So it was you! My goodness! How did you grow up so much, lad?

"You're doing well for yourself now. You can even afford an ox cart."

Lin Shouyi smiled.

"It was my father, really. He later made some money in business and came back to the village to become the village chief.

"You've been wronged in Zhou Family Village. If you're unhappy living there, just come to our Wild Field Village! My father still talks about you."

Zhou Fusheng sighed. "I do want to buy a plot of land and register the household, but I don't know anyone, so there's just no way."

Lin Shouyi smiled.

"You may not have a way, but I do!

"My second uncle is the registrar at the yamen. I'll take you there in a bit and get it taken care of."

Zhou Wanwan hadn't expected to encounter such good fortune either. Zhou Fusheng took Lin Shouyi's hand and said, "Shouyi, thank you! I was also planning to buy a plot of land and build a house."

Lin Shouyi nodded and looked at him.

"Actually, there's a house in our village, and it's a decent one. The family moved to town and asked me to sell it for them.

"But who can afford to buy a house these days? People can't even fill their bellies."

Zhou Fusheng looked at Zhou Wanwan. "Wanwan, then..."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him and smiled faintly. "Father, once we've registered our household, why don't we go back with Uncle Shouyi and take a look?"

Lin Shouyi thought for a moment.

"But the house isn't cheap. It costs two taels of silver! Do you have that much?

"It really is a nice house, though, built of blue bricks with a proper tiled roof. It belongs to our village schoolmaster.

"There's a study too, with a few books in it. I'll take you to see it later!"

"All right, let's go take a look later."

Lin Shouyi was quite capable at getting things done. He took them straight to the county yamen, and their household registration was soon transferred to Wild Field Village.

Lin Shouyi smiled. "Uncle Fusheng, welcome to Wild Field Village. Come on, I'll take you to the village to see the house now."

Wild Field Village wasn't far from Zhou Family Village, only the time it took an incense stick to burn. When they reached a courtyard, Lin Shouyi stopped the ox cart. "This is it. The schoolmaster likes peace and quiet, so the courtyard was built a little out of the way."

The courtyard didn't look big, but it was kept spotless.

Its walls were built of blue bricks and capped with blue tiles, far grander than the ordinary mud-brick houses in the village.

They pushed open the creaking wooden door. The house had three rooms in all, with a sitting room in the middle and a room on either side. The eastern room held a desk and a bookshelf; it was the schoolmaster's study.

The courtyard hadn't been left bare. Flowers and plants grew in the corners and beneath the windows: Chinese roses, balsams, and several pots of lush green orchids, all blooming in a riot of color.

When the wind blew, the petals carried their fragrance. One look was enough to tell that the schoolmaster liked tending such things and knew how to appreciate beauty.

Unlike other village households, which used their courtyards to stack firewood and dry grain.

Zhou Wanwan's eyes lit up. "Father, why don't we buy it outright? I really think this place is nice."

Zhou Fusheng said awkwardly, "But we don't have that much money!"

Zhou Wanwan took out the gold ring. "Uncle Shouyi, do you think this could be traded for the house?"

Lin Shouyi looked at the ring.

"This is gold, isn't it? Then it shouldn't be far off. How about this? I'll take you to town and get everything settled.

"That way, you'll have somewhere to stay when you come back tonight."

Naturally, the people of Wild Field Village knew what had happened in Zhou Family Village. Village gossip spread quickly these days.

Zhou Fusheng followed Lin Shouyi back to town. The gold ring fetched three taels of silver, leaving them with an extra tael after the exchange.

Zhou Wanwan looked at Lin Shouyi.

"Uncle Shouyi, we also caught a pheasant and a few wild ducks. We'd like to sell them first.

"Then we want to buy some pots, bowls, and other household things, as well as clothes."

Lin Shouyi was good-tempered too, and smiled.

"I'll take you to a restaurant to sell all this game. We go hunting in the mountains too.

"We bring everything we catch to this restaurant, and they pay a decent price."

Sure enough, the accountant gave them 180 copper coins and said, "Bring more next time you have a chance. They're all still alive, too. Good, very good."

Zhou Wanwan now had a little over one tael of silver. Lin Shouyi then took them into a cloth shop.

Zhou Wanwan walked up to the counter and asked:

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to make clothes for the six people in my family, and six cotton quilts too.

"Could you work out how much cloth and cotton I'll need, and how much it will cost altogether?"