Su Yaoguang entered the woodshed carrying cornbread and mushroom soup.
As soon as she stepped inside, Zhou Wangshu opened his eyes.
In the dim light, he watched warily like a young wolf as Su Yaoguang approached.
"Are you hungry? Can you feed yourself? If you can, I'll help you sit up. If not, I'll feed you."
Su Yaoguang first placed the items on the broken stool beside her.
"Help me up."
The voice of the young guy sounded quite mature for his age.
Su Yaoguang helped him sit up.
Zhou Wangshu groaned softly.
"Did your wound open up?"
"No." Zhou Wangshu endured the pain.
Su Yaoguang placed the bread and mushroom soup in front of him and said, "Then eat slowly. I'll collect the bowl tomorrow; eat and get some rest early."
Zhou Wangshu watched Su Yaoguang's figure disappear, his fingers touching the bread in the bowl.
All day, he'd had nothing but medicine and porridge. His stomach was full of liquid, and he was starving.
As Zhou Wangshu was about to eat, Su Yaoguang returned and said to him, "Your chamber pot should be full; let me empty it for you."
Zhou Wangshu: "..."
His body stiffened, his expression unnatural.
However, under the dim light, his emotions were all hidden in darkness.
"Hey…" Zhou Wangshu awkwardly said, "Thank you."
Su Yaoguang smiled and said, "No need to feel pressured. You heard me earlier; I still need your identity to shield me from trouble!"
After emptying the chamber pot, Su Yaoguang returned it.
This time, she said nothing, simply closing the woodshed door behind her.
Zhou Wangshu listened to her footsteps fade before picking up the cornbread to eat.
After several hours of observation, he believed this was a poor and remote village. The people here didn't know who he was, so he should be safe.
Furthermore, given his current state, if someone wanted him dead, there was no need for any extra effort.
Zhou Wangshu savored the cornbread, finding it crispy and delicious, especially paired with the flavorful mushroom soup. Such simple farm food tasted surprisingly good.
How long had it been since he last ate a proper meal?
The next morning, Su Yaoguang, carrying her basket, waited for the ox cart at the village entrance.
Shortly after arriving, she saw Jiang Yihuan and Zhong Lanhua walking over one after the other.
The villagers greeted the mother and daughter proactively.
"Yao Guang, you're heading to town too!" Zhong Lanhua laughed, "Is your mother's health improving?"
"Auntie really cares about my mother," Su Yaoguang replied sarcastically, "If my mother knew, she'd surely want to greet yours properly."
Greet your ancestors of eight generations.
"Your mother and I are from the same village, remarried to Anning Village one after the other; that's quite a coincidence, of course, I care for her." Zhong Lanhua held her handkerchief. "By the way, is your ten cents husband still alive? You better keep a close watch; even if it's only ten cents, if he dies, you'll have to pay for a coffin."
Su Yaoguang boarded the ox cart, found a corner to sit in, and coldly replied, "Thanks for your concern. Auntie should worry more about her own household! Scholars are useless, their bodies frail, and if you buy them to work as farmhands, you can't be sure if they're capable; you might end up losing money."
"This girl, what are you saying? You're also insulting Jiang Yihui, Aunt Zhong's son, along with that." An aunt nearby stoked the flames.
"Oh, I didn't notice. But, the hardest work Jiang Yihui has probably done is feeding himself; my words apply just as much to him."
"Sister Yaoguang seems in a bad mood, her words sharp like thorns, we understand. Fortunately, we're from the same village, knowing each other well, so we can grasp your feelings; others might misunderstand Sister Yaoguang." Jiang Yihuan held Zhong Lanhua's arm, subtly prodding Su Yaoguang's weaknesses. "Sister Yaoguang, I heard Grandma Su still wants to marry you off to Zhang Mutou. Assuming your newly purchased little husband works out, better write the marriage contract early."
"If the marriage contract is written and the guy doesn't survive, wouldn't Yaoguang become a widow?" another aunt interjected.
"Yaoguang is still young. Yesterday, she could have bought that Xiao fellow as a farmhand, but she was stingy and chose the cheaper option instead. If she bought that farmhand, the guy is decent-looking, physically okay, and most importantly a scholar. A household with such a man would surely establish itself."
"I just like the one I bought myself." Su Yaoguang retorted defiantly, "What's so good about that Xiao fellow? From his eyes, I can tell he's untrustworthy. If I bought him home, who knows when he might run off. Aunt Zhong, you dare leave him alone at home, aren't you afraid he'll run away?"
Zhong Lanhua frowned, looked at Jiang Yihuan and whispered, "That girl is right; we should leave someone at home to watch him."
"I carry his indenture contract with me. If he runs, we can pursue him with the contract; the government is strict with runaway slaves." Jiang Yihuan answered in the same low voice. "Besides, before leaving, I asked Brother Chunshui from next door to keep an eye on him today. We're testing him by leaving; if he's untrustworthy, we'll teach him a lesson, make him honest."
Their conversation reached Su Yaoguang's ears.
Su Yaoguang's lips curled upward.
Xiao Yanci, look, this is your white moonlight.
The ox cart wobbled, and after half an hour, reached the town.
Su Yaoguang, carrying her basket, jumped off the ox cart, exchanged greetings with Uncle Wang driving the cart, and left.
"Do you think there's something off with that girl Yaoguang?"
"Feels like her tongue is sharper than before, her gaze more fierce, a bit intimidating."
Su Yaoguang's main purpose in town this time was to purchase supplies. First was food; she didn't like barley flour, so primarily bought cornmeal and broken rice.
Broken rice is still rice, just with lots of pebbles mixed in, and the grain quality isn't good. Regular rice costs five cents per pound, while broken rice is only three.
Flour and regular rice are the same price, five cents per pound, she bought ten pounds. Cornmeal and broken rice, twenty pounds each, totaling fifty pounds.
Additionally, passing by the pork stall, she took a liking to the bones, with little meat on them, so for three cents, she got them. She selected half a pound of pork, asked the Boss to process pig trotters and pork heart and lungs for her, costing a total of twenty-five cents.
This time, she had another goal—to buy some tools. She wanted to make money, which requires an investment. Of course, most raw materials can be gathered from the mountains. What she needed to buy were essential tools and some important materials.
She spent one hundred and ten cents on rice and flour, twenty-five on meat, but the materials she bought cost three hundred cents.
In a short while, she spent half a string of Copper Coins.
Su Yaoguang held back her heartache, her desire to make money even stronger.
Turning around, she saw Zhong Lanhua and Jiang Yihuan emerging from the Clothing Shop. Zhong Lanhua was counting money, her face beaming at the long string of Copper Coins.
This was one of the reasons why Jiang Yihuan and Zhong Lanhua always suppressed them—Zhong Lanhua and Jiang Yihuan did embroidery work, supporting themselves with their skills. Zhang Zhaodi worked as a midwife, perceived by others as inferior to Zhong Lanhua.
The discord between Zhang Zhaodi and Zhong Lanhua stemmed from a past incident—Zhang Zhaodi, skilled with her hands, once applied for an apprentice position at the embroidery workshop. Upon receiving the opportunity and preparing to report to the embroidery pavilion, Zhong Lanhua scalded her with boiling water, permanently disabling her hands from needlework.