The next morning, Mrs. Chen indeed boiled eggs, one for each person as she had planned. The children, upon seeing the eggs, were naturally overjoyed and held them in their hands, reluctant to eat them. Mrs. Xue put the egg aside, saving it for Wenxuan to eat, and Zhixin did the same, not willing to eat it himself but rather saving it for his child.
Mrs. Wei didn't care about that. She ate the egg quickly and then picked up her bowl to drink porridge. Wencheng, being older and knowing to take care of his younger brother, left his egg for Wenchang, "Brother, you keep it to eat, I won't." Wenchang wouldn't accept it and pushed it back in front of his brother, "Brother, you eat it, I have one too."
Mrs. Wei watched as her two sons politely offered the egg back and forth and then said, "Hurry up and eat, or I'll take it myself." Only then did the two children eat their eggs.
It was the same with Wenhan, who left his egg for Jinghan, "Little sister, you've just recovered from your illness, keep it to nourish yourself." Jinghan refused. He then offered it to his brother Wenxuan, who also shook his head, "Sister, you should keep it and eat it."
Mrs. Xue, watching from the side, laughed and said, "Just eat, we only get eggs on Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival, eat your own, no need to give it away." So, the children all ate their own eggs.
After breakfast, the old master led the men to the family graves. The Xu family's ancestral graves were on Nanshan, just over the crest of the hill. At this time of year, the north-facing slopes of the mountain still had snow that hadn't completely melted, and the mornings were quite cold with the ground still somewhat frozen, making for easier walking. Everyone carried incense and paper money, making their way up the mountain.
Arriving at the Xu family gravesite, the old master took the lead in cleaning up the dried grass around the graves. He then arranged the incense and paper, lighting it. Everyone knelt before the graves to kowtow, and then the old master poured out wine in front of the graves in tribute. After the paper was fully burnt and had been stirred and scattered to cool the ashes, they made their way down the mountain.
Back at home, the fourth son said he needed to return to town, and the third son also said that he had asked for only a couple days off from the drug store, so he needed to hurry back as well. They both had already informed their means of transport that they would return today.
Mrs. Chen did not try to keep them any longer, providing them with dried vegetables, beans, and such, and gave the third son's family some dry food in addition. The trip to the county town was more than three hours, so having some dry food for the journey was useful. Mrs. Zhu held the items and said, "Mother, our household is not very well-off, so there's no need to send us off with these. Nowadays, the third brother is earning quite a bit, so our days aren't that tight. You should save it instead, especially since the fifth brother hasn't married, and the little sister isn't wed yet; those will need money."
"It's no trouble, these aren't anything special, just some things your eldest sister-in-law and I dried last summer, kept for times like these. Living in the county town, even a bite of food costs money, so it's better to save where you can. Jingwan is growing up too, we need to start planning early for that." Mrs. Chen never showed any displeasure to Mrs. Zhu over the matter of having given birth to daughters instead of sons, and treated her the same as always.
"Alright, I'll listen to Mother and take it," Mrs. Zhu said as she picked up the bag, leading her daughter and followed by her husband; the third son saw his wife struggling with the bag and took it from her, hoisting it onto his shoulder. He waved back to his parents, "Dad, Mom, we'll be heading back now."
After the third son left, the fourth son was also ready to go. Mrs. Chen gave some items to Mrs. Han, who upon seeing them, lightly pursed her lips and then said, "Mother, we don't need these things, just keep them for the family. The children don't like them anyway." Having said that, she took her children and left. The fourth son rushed to say to his mother, "Mother, we must be going, please keep the things. After a while, have Wenhan and Wencheng come over to study with me." With that, he too hurriedly left.
Mrs. Chen watched her son's retreating figure and felt a sudden pang in her heart, "What's the use of raising sons if none are around? Each time they come back, it's like lighting a fire—they're in such a rush to leave. Ah, only the eldest is good, always at hand when needed." With that, she turned and went back inside.
The old master was discussing with Zhixin the construction of a shed for the ginseng field. Jinghan was eager to know more about the world, so she and Wenhan listened by the side.
"Eldest, this batch of about ten feet of ginseng will take several days to shed. Speaking of which, do we have enough boards for the ginseng? Should we get some more? I noticed some of the boards were rotten when we harvested ginseng last year," the old master inquired.
"Dad, some of the boards do need to be changed. No worries, there's plenty of wood from the trees we cut down last year next to the ginseng field. Tomorrow, the fifth brother and I will saw some new boards first. Since we've already fixed the post bases last year, building the shed will be quicker." Zhixin glanced at his brother Zhixiang, "Fifth brother, you'll have to work hard for a few days."
The youngest son, Zhixiang, smiled, "Big brother, what are you talking about? If it weren't for you supporting my education all these years, where would I be today? It's just a bit of work, nothing serious. I've done it before anyway. If I pass the central examination this year, our family's situation will improve. As for this ginseng, whether we grow it or not, it doesn't really make much difference. Each year we have to turn over so much of it, and in the end, from ten feet of ginseng, if we can keep three to five pounds, it's already good, and it still doesn't sell for much."
"You can't really say that," Zhixin disagreed. "After all, we rely on ginseng farming. Even though a lot is turned over to the government, we still manage to save fifty taels a year, which is not bad. We can't earn that much from farming alone." In their village, everyone relied on cultivating ginseng for income. There were about a hundred households, and each one grew ginseng. The ginseng they grew was directly taken away by the government—such a valuable commodity that ordinary people could hardly afford it.