Chapter 26: Someone Is Going to Have Bad Luck
After Xingnong left the restaurant, she went to the grocery store and bought two oil lamps, five jin of sesame oil, and thirty jin of white flour. She also bought a three-jin piece of meat to make steamed buns for the villagers who were repairing the house.
This way, the silver on her body was almost spent again.
Xingnong discovered that the oil lamps of this dynasty were still made of copper, not porcelain. Copper conducts heat quickly and consumes more oil. She remembered that there was a type of oil-saving lamp in ancient times. 《It is recorded in Lu You’s “Notes on Living in a Study” that “Don’t use copper lamps for reading lamps, porcelain lamps save the most oil. There are double-layered porcelain lamps in Sichuan, where water is poured into a hole in the rim of the lamp, which can save half the oil.” It is introduced in more detail in “Notes from the Old Scholar’s Hermitage.” She had also seen it in museums. She had to find a way to make some oil-saving lamps.
In a dynasty without electricity, oil lamps were a very important lighting tool.
In the evening, Madam Gu returned home and saw two oil lamps lit in the house, making it bright. Shen Ruoxi and Xingqing were happily cutting cloth and making clothes on the kang. Xinghui was reading at the other end, and there was a set of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table, which looked very valuable at first glance.
Madam Gu almost knelt down!
Did that girl Xingnong go to earn silver again?
Xingnong was cooking in the kitchen.
Madam Gu went to find Xingnong to “question her about her crimes.”
“Did you go to earn silver again?”
Xingnong nodded: “Yes, don’t worry, it’s all spent.”
Madam Gu: “…”
Was that the point?
“Don’t worry, Grandma, nothing happened, right?” Xingnong comforted.
Madam Gu glanced at the children who were busy with their own work under the light. Their faces were full of smiles, and the atmosphere was exceptionally warm.
This was something she had never seen before.
Her eyes became hot.
Wasn’t this kind of scene what she longed for?
Nothing happened all night last night. Today, Xingnong went to the city and brought back so many things, and nothing happened.
Or…that person didn’t care about them anymore?
After all, so many years had passed?
Could it be Ruolan?
Thinking of this, Madam Gu immediately stopped. No, that couldn’t be!
Nothing would happen to Ruolan!
~
Capital City
After Princess Changle came out of the palace, she went to Princess Wuyang’s residence.
Princess Wuyang’s residence was twice the size of Princess Pingyang’s residence. Every flower and tree was a rare species, and every brick and tile was magnificent. But it wasn’t like this before; it was expanded just a few years ago.
In the past, Princess Pingyang’s residence was the most magnificent, but since Princess Pingyang died in childbirth, Princess Pingyang’s residence had become increasingly dilapidated over the past ten years.
Looking at the magnificent Princess Wuyang’s residence, Princess Changle recounted her trip to the palace with mixed feelings.
After hearing her words, Princess Wuyang said: “Mother Empress is right. The matter of the marriage alliance is still early. You don’t need to bring back that pair of illegitimate children so soon. Isn’t this asking for trouble? Wait until there is definite news before bringing them back.”
Princess Changle: “Imperial Aunt, I’m just afraid that she will grow up too thin and ugly, and Zhao Kingdom will not like her. Bringing her back to the estate to raise her for a while and let the momo teach her some etiquette won’t hinder me.”
Princess Wuyang gently twirled the ruby ring on her finger. This was indeed a possibility. After all, over the years, in order to please herself and the Empress Dowager, the Liang family had always suppressed that family. She thought for a moment: “Now that Ren Zilin has gone to Futai County to be the County Magistrate, and that family has just caught his eye, sending someone to pick them up to the capital so soon will probably attract his attention even more. To avoid complications, it’s better to wait a few more months! Besides, we need to find an opportunity for this matter. We can’t be hasty.”
“Imperial Aunt is right. Changle will listen to Imperial Grandaunt and Imperial Aunt.” Since both the Empress Dowager and Princess Wuyang did not support it, Princess Changle could only give up. She was just an orphan, her father was incompetent, and she could only rely on them to gain a future.
Otherwise, if she didn’t listen to them and incurred their displeasure, she wouldn’t even know what kind of family she would marry into in the future.
If only her mother, Eldest Princess Pingyang, was still alive, she wouldn’t have to be so careful! She wouldn’t have to look at the face of a lowly second wife.
She was a descendant of dragons and phoenixes, a member of the royal family!
Look at the other princesses in the capital, who was as useless as her?
~
The next day, early morning.
The Shen Family of Futai County
The family was having breakfast.
A maid hurriedly ran into the main room: “Madam, Miss! The yamen is open! The yamen is open today! I saw Assistant Magistrate!”
Upon hearing this, Madam Li put down her chopsticks and stopped eating breakfast. She stood up: “Let’s go, I’ll go report to the officials now! Arrest that bastard.”
After discussing it with Shen Shihua and Old Master Shen last night, they decided to let Madam Li go report to the officials. After all, Madam Li was an elder and had already caused a scene in court a while ago, making her famous in the county. This time wouldn’t be any different.
So Madam Li went to the city last night to wait.
Shen Mingzhu glanced at the maid: “You accompany Old Madam to report to the officials. Mother and I will wait for you in the carriage. Do you remember what to say?”
✿✿✿
“Yes, don’t worry, Miss.”
Madam Li gave an order: “Let’s go! Report to the officials!”
Several people left the residence.
Shen Mingzhu looked up at the blue sky with the morning glow, it was a good day today, someone was going to have bad luck!
~
Sunrise in the east
Xingnong took a machete, a net, a back basket, and told Xingqing and Shen Ruoxi, who were making clothes, that she was going up the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, Xingnong cut a slender bamboo in the bamboo forest and tied the net firmly to it, extending its length. She would use it to catch pheasants and hares.
This net was picked up by Xinghui after a student from the academy threw it away.
Xinghui would go to the river to catch some small fish and shrimp when he had time.
However, children from every household went fishing, and there weren’t many fish and shrimp in the river.
On a summer morning, the mountains were filled with the chirping of birds.
Morning was the time when animals came out to forage.
Xingnong deliberately walked towards places where there were no human footprints.
Because villagers often went up the mountain to hunt, there were generally not many animals in the places where villagers often moved.
After walking for a quarter of an hour, Xingnong encountered a pheasant.
The pheasant was very alert, as soon as it saw Xingnong, it immediately ran away, flapping its wings and flying up.
However, Xingnong’s reaction was faster and more agile than it. The moment it flew up, the long net directly swooped over.
The pheasant in mid-air was directly covered by her on the ground.
The pheasant struggled hard.
Xingnong dragged the pheasant over, bent down, and grabbed the struggling pheasant under the net.
She weighed it in her hand, it should weigh more than two jin, not fat.
She tied the pheasant’s claws and wings with grass, put it in the back basket, and continued walking deeper into the mountain.
The further she walked, the more lush the grass and shrubs became, obviously no one had come here.
Otherwise, these grasses would have been cut down and burned as firewood.
This time, after walking for a few minutes, she encountered a hare eating grass, which was quite fat.
However, it was far away, Xingnong walked over quietly.
But before she got close, the fat rabbit suddenly raised its head, saw Xingnong, and ran away.
It was also quite alert to be able to grow so big and fat on the mountain.
Xingnong directly chased after it.
The hare ran much faster than the pheasant.
After a few jumps, it hid in the dense grass, and then rushed into a peach grove.
Xingnong was slightly surprised.
How come there was a peach grove on the mountain?
To be continued~
