CH 76

The next day, Mrs. Liang and Mo Yan went to buy vegetables at the vegetable market. They found the vendors they had their eyes on last time, negotiated a price, and told them to send it to the Ng family courtyard.

The bok choy had to be washed and the rotten leaves had to be removed before they could be put into the vegetable cellar. They worked on them, with Ms. Hua helping and the kitten watching from the side while purring.

It was a cloudy day, so it was colder than any of the prior days. The bok choy leaves were cold to the touch, and had become freezing after they handled it for so long. Mo Yan breathed warm air into her palms, but that only kept the cold at bay for a few seconds.

She looked at Mrs. Liang, who swiftly plucked off all the rotten leaves and was done with a single bok choy in less than five seconds. The intermittent coughing didn’t hinder her at all, and the entire pile was taken care of in a short amount of time.

“I’m done. Go down into the cellar, I’ll hand you the bok choy.”

There were a few steps leading to the bottom of the cellar, and Mo Yan slowly went down them. Ms. Hua gave her a few bales of straw, which she used to cover the bottom of the cellar. Then, Mrs. Liang handed her the bok choy.

Mo Yan had just started placing them down when Mrs. Liang said from the entrance of the cellar, “You have to flip the way the bok choy are placed every row, or it’ll all fall over.”

Ms. Hua said from the side, “How about you go down yourself, and I hand you the bok choy?”

She complained about how Mo Yan ‘couldn’t do such a basic thing’ while going down. Ms. Hua was in the entrance of the cellar, while Mo Yan was on the steps. One side was filled with bok choy, while the other was filled with carrots, and they were all placed extremely neatly.

There were also some green onions, placed in a rough pile at the back.

Mo Yan said to Mrs. Liang, “Mum, remember to leave some space for my chinese foxgloves. We need to plant them next year!”

After placing the vegetables, they left the cellar. Ms. Hua was looking over the pile of rotten vegetables, and it seemed like old habits die hard after all.

“Just throw all of these out! They’ll attract insects.”

Ms. Hua replied in the affirmative before putting it all in a basket and throwing it out.

After working for half a day, Mrs. Liang was coughing hard and had to go back home.

“Mum, drink a bowl of hot lamb soup before going back home!”

“No, it’s too hot and it’ll just make my cough worse.”

She’d cough if it was too hot or too cold. This long-lasting illness of hers was really annoying, no wonder Mo Ling said she was practically bedridden during the winter.

“Mum, just stay at home. If you want to eat anything, just tell us and we’ll buy it for you.”

Ms. Hua felt emotional when she heard her, “You’re really blessed to have just a filial daughter!”

Mrs. Liang nodded towards Mo Yan. “Don’t worry about me, look after the shop.”

As the sound of her coughing gradually got fainter, Ms. Hua turned towards Mo Yan, “You’re the only two children in your family, your mum will definitely have a live-in son-in-law in the future.”

Mo Yan picked up Wang Wang, “Never let my mum hear that. She has a fourteen-year-old son.”

Ms. Hua was stupefied and couldn’t get out a single word. They had a fourteen-year-old son, but she had never seen him before; the only people who she had seen working were the two daughters. This was the first time she had encountered such a thing in her life.

Zhao’er came back, reading a book and mumbling its contents.

“Zhao’er, why have you come back so early? Have you been slacking off?”

Zhao’er closed the book and placed it in front of his chest, saying, “No, Master has to tend to a patient in the village today, so the clinic closed early. He gave me homework, which was to memorise the Soup Song.” [1]

Mo Yan asked, “Do you already know how to read?”

He nodded seriously, “I’ve learnt a few words. Master even praised me for being intelligent!”

She patted him on the head, “You’ve already learnt a few words after a month? You’re really smart! If there’s a word you don’t know, I can help you with it.”

“Thank you, big sister!”

Zhao’er continued reading his book, while Mo Yan handed Wang Wang back to Ms. Hua, “Your son has a bright future ahead of him.”

Lu Junming had gone up to the Upper Valley again, and had already been gone for five days. Mo Yan went to find Ms. Zhao, who was also worried. She was afraid that the official wife of the Lu family was making things hard for him.

Mo Yan had just gotten close to the store when a gust of cold wind blew. She hid her face under her collar and rubbed her hands together for warmth.

A horse was heading towards her direction from the official road, but she paid no heed and scrambled to the shop to get out of the wind.

“Sis, it’s probably about to snow. Close up shop for the day and head home!”

Mo Ling packed up while saying, “We need to put a stove here when it’s this cold, or the uncooked salted eggs will crack from the low temperature.”

“There definitely won’t be time today. Place the jar of salted duck eggs at the Ng family first! Or maybe ask Ms. Hua to cook the salted eggs for you.”

Ever since they had rented the storefront, they rarely brought the wheelbarrow over. The jar was too heavy for a single person to lift, but having two people carry it together would make it unwieldy. Mo Ling walked backwards while carrying the jar to get out of the storefront, but tripped on something and almost fell.

“Slow down.” A set of hands caught her waist. However, Mo Ling checked that the jar she was holding was fine before looking at who had caught her.

“Where do you want to put it?” Zhong Cheng asked after he took the jar.

“It’s cold, so I’m placing this at Ms. Hua’s.”

Zhong Cheng carried the clay jar away before Mo Yan found out that another person was standing by the side of the road.

“Lu Junming, you’re back!”

She ran over when another gust of wind made her so cold she had to hurriedly lower her head to keep it safe from the wind. Lu Junming swiftly appeared in front of her and covered her with his cloak, “It’s so cold, why didn’t you wear a coat?”

Mo Yan didn’t know if she even had a coat. “It wasn’t that cold in the morning.”

“Let’s go, I’ll send you back home.”

Lu Junming wanted to help her on his horse but was stopped by her. “The shop hasn’t been boarded up yet, and what about my sister!”

“There’s still your brother-in-law, don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t call him that, or she’ll definitely beat you up!”

While they were speaking, Zhong Cheng and Mo Ling returned. He boarded up the shop before telling the siblings to get onto his carriage.

Lu Junming said, “Let Mo Yan stay on the horse! I’ll protect her, and even keep her warm.”

Small snowflakes were already gently falling from the sky, and Mo Ling was unwilling to be coy and sat on his carriage. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a cover and was unable to keep the kind out. Zhong Cheng tucked the empty sacks out of the way so she had a place to sit.

Although she didn’t have to walk, she was still being blown at by the cold wind. After seeing Lu Junming keep Mo Yan warm with his cloak, he turned towards Mo Ling, who was so cold she was shivering. When she saw him look at her, she glared back.

Zhong Cheng grabbed one of the sacks and laid it on her legs like a blanket, “Just to make you a little warmer,” before whipping his horse to make it run faster.

Lu Junming lightly kicked the side of his white horse, and it started galloping, leaving the carriage in the dust.

They had just gotten to the pond when Mo Yan wanted to get down, but Lu Junming said, “I’ll take you all the way back home.”

After she got down at the front, he told her to get in. But Mo Yan saw that he had no intention of leaving yet.

“Why aren’t you going?”

“I’m waiting for Brother Cheng, I have something to talk to him about.”

“Then wait for him inside!”

“If I wait for him inside, I’m afraid of missing him. Will your sister let him in?”

A glint appeared in Mo Yan’s eye. “Let’s make a bet then! I bet my sis’ll let him in today. If not, you can always find him tomorrow, it won’t take long on horseback.”

Post-translation notes: So I’ve been wondering…how did Mo Yan know it was about to snow?

[1] Although the Soup Song sounds really stupid, it’s an actual song doctors at the time used to teach their apprentices.