Chapter 41: Martial Arts Talent
Qin Yao listened to him quietly, raised her eyebrows and asked, "How much do you want this time? We need to stock up on vegetables for the winter. If we don't have fresh vegetables, pickles will do."
Liu Ji said, "I know about this. Madam, give me the money and I will buy it myself."
After more than a month of hands-on practice, he could confidently say that no one in the family knew the kitchen better than him!
Seeing how confident he was, Qin Yao motioned for him to say a number.
When Liu Ji came, he had already made up his mind. He asked Qin Yao to give him four hundred coins. In addition to three meals a month, he also wanted to stock up some vegetables that were easy to store, such as radishes and cabbages.
By the way, Liu the peddler's wife is the best at pickling pickles. When you have time, go ask her for some. When it snows and it's inconvenient to go out, white porridge with pickles is also a good meal.
When it comes to money, Qin Yao was frugal and spent money where necessary, so she readily gave Liu Jisi some silver.
Copper coins are mostly used in the countryside, and loose silver dimes are also used, but not much. Liu Ji secretly curled his lips as he held the silver dimes, thinking that he would have to exchange them for copper coins again.
Liu the peddler has a lot of change at home, so next time you want to buy oil or salt, you can go to his house to exchange it for change.
If it is someone else, the exchanger will charge two or three cents as a replacement fee, which is not cost-effective.
The two of them didn't know when it started, but they reached a model of getting along where the woman works outside and the man works inside.
But it seems that there haven't been any major conflicts yet, and Qin Yao feels it is acceptable overall.
She has requirements for food and accommodation, but is too lazy to do these complicated things. Liu Ji, this useless guy, can't do anything, but he is good at housework.
Although preparing three meals a day may not seem like a big deal, the repetitive work day after day is what Qin Yao hates the most.
It's a complete waste of her time and energy to spend on housework.
It would be better to go into the mountains more often to chop some firewood and hunt, which would allow you to exercise at the same time.
Over the past month, the family has had good meals, and the five members of the Liu family, father and son, have all gained a lot of weight.
The two little guys, Sanlang and Si Niang, finally had some baby fat on their faces. When Qin Yao saw them, she couldn't help but pinch them.
The two little ones are very attached to her. They don't cry when their faces are pinched, but smile at her instead. Who can resist pinching them?
Qin Yao walked out of the room and came to the backyard, where she saw Dalang and his four siblings fighting with sticks. She took a stick from the pile of firewood and joined them.
The four children looked at her in surprise, and immediately, in tacit understanding, all pointed their sticks at her.
Over the past month, Qin Yao discovered that the children in the village were mainly divided into two groups.
One group is over seven years old. The boys follow the adults in the family to work in the fields, while the girls help with housework at home within their ability and learn weaving and making clothes from the female elders.
Another group is those under the age of seven who have no schooling and cannot do any work. All day long, a large group of little kids gather in the open space by the village well and play wildly.
It was very free and very happy, but it seemed like a forced freedom because they had nothing else to do.
But this only happened in peaceful years. Two years ago, when the world was in chaos, every household stayed indoors, and children stayed at home, hungry and without the energy to play.
But whether it is an older child or a younger child, the trajectory of their life seems to have been determined.
Girls learn housework and needlework and other household management skills, and when they reach a certain age, they get married and have children, and the cycle continues.
The boy was almost the same, busy in the fields all his life until he died of old age.
In this era of clear class divisions, farmers are farmers all their lives and seem to have no chance of advancement.
No, there are, but it's difficult.
That is reading.
But this is something that makes the villagers feel scared when they hear it.
Qin Yao had previously asked why Jinbao and Jinhua were not sent to school to learn to read.
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of everyone in the Liu family's old house changed.
He said awkwardly, "Sister-in-law, you can read and write, and you must have had a good life in the past, but look at our family's situation, how can you afford to go to school?"
While wiping the mud off his hoe, Liu Bo said calmly, "What's the point of studying for one or two years? You still have to go home to farm. It's a waste of money."
Zhang, who was selecting vegetable seeds for Qin Yao in the house, sighed, "The school is in the town, and it takes three hours to go back and forth. Some people in the village want their children to learn a few words so that they can find a job in the town in the future."
"But, we have so many fields to farm, our baby is so young, and the roads are not safe, so we have to pick him up and drop him off every day."
"I don't have time to deliver it. It costs four cents a day for the round trip. I took it home less than half a month after delivering it. The money in my hand can't stand such a rush."
"Now he is as old as our fourth son. He is very good at farm work and has just got engaged. His life seems to be going well."
The implication is that even the wealthy people in the village cannot afford to send their children to school, let alone families like them who are still struggling to make ends meet.
Qiu said that this was only the travel expenses and tuition fees for school, not including other hidden expenses of studying, such as pens, ink, paper and inkstone, which are consumables and require long-term supply.
Reading? Ordinary people don't even dare to think about it!
From this perspective, it was really a great fortune for Liu Ji to be able to go to the town to study for a year and a half.
If he hadn't been such a bastard, if his own father hadn't wanted to give up on him and wanted to find a teacher to educate him, he would never have been able to go to school.
A "bang" sound brought Qin Yao's thoughts back to reality.
It turned out that she was absorbed in thinking about something and didn't pay attention, so she knocked all the small wooden sticks of the four brothers and sisters down.
The four children looked at her with grievance and unwillingness.
Qin Yao gave them an encouraging smile and motioned for them to pick up the sticks, "Come again!"
The children are still very competitive. With four of them, they don't believe that they can't beat their stepmother with a stick alone.
However, the reality was cruel. Qin Yao held the stick in one hand and leaped easily in their encirclement, like a slippery fish that could not be touched at all.
Soon, Sanlang and Si Niang were exhausted and gave up breathlessly.
When Erlang saw that our side was so weak, most of his anger went out, and his stick was directly hit away by the wooden stick swept by Qin Yao. It flew over the high wall with a "swoosh" and landed in the grass outside the yard.
"Oh!" Erlang waved his hands angrily and had to retreat. He stood at the foot of the wall with Sanlang and Si Niang to cheer for the only remaining eldest brother.
Qin Yao was a little surprised that Dalang could hold on until now, and this young boy was not as anxious as the remaining three.
He spent a month fishing in the river but failed to catch any fish, but it did help him develop patience.
Qin Yao saw that he was sweating profusely but still unwilling to give up. He dropped the stick but immediately picked it up and rushed towards her, suddenly changing from defense to offensive.
Taking advantage of his height, he swung directly at the young boy's wrist.
Unexpectedly, he actually grasped her intention in advance and dodged to the side in panic.
Although the small wooden stick in his hand was finally knocked down as Qin Yao predicted his next move, Qin Yao was already surprised that he was able to dodge her first attack.
This kid has a talent for martial arts!
(End of this chapter)