Pastoral Splendor

"Erhua and Sanhua, come here." Boss Xiao called out with a stern face. When Sihua saw that her father seemed a little unhappy, she quickly led Wuhua and Liuhua into the house. The three little heads peeked out from behind the door, looking timidly at Boss Xiao in the front yard.

"Where did this rice and meat come from?" Boss Xiao pointed to the food on the table. The pale moonlight illuminated the bowls, revealing a layer of oil glistening at the bottom. Looking at the oil, Boss Xiao pounded his chest in frustration: "They even used so much oil! What a waste!"

"Father, this is what Sanhua earned!" Erhua looked at Xiao Laoda with a grin. She had noticed that her father was restless while they were eating, and knew that he was suspicious of where the food came from. She finally asked after the midwife left.

"Sanhua earned it back? What could she possibly do?" Boss Xiao was very skeptical. He looked at Yan Ying with a pained expression: "San Yatou, what exactly have you been doing behind my back? You can't do anything bad!"

"Don't worry, Father, I slaughtered four catties of the old lady's sheep today. I originally intended to take it to Yuzhou City to sell, but then I met the heir of the Prince of Yu. He happened to want to eat mutton, so I cooked a dish for him with mutton. He enjoyed it and gave me several taels of silver as a reward, so I used it to buy things and came back." Yan Ying turned and walked into the house, groped for the oil lamp and lit it, immediately bringing a warm yellow light to the room.

"Ah, the room is so bright!" Rikka clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Third Sister, can we turn on the lights at night from now on?"

Yan Ying nodded: "Of course."

“Sanhua, you’re too extravagant! Save your money as soon as you earn it. Why do you spend it on rice and meat and eat and drink like this? And you’re using lamp oil. Isn’t that throwing money away?” Boss Xiao walked in, still grumbling, but his tone had softened considerably: “We’re not the kind of family that can afford oil lamps. Put them out quickly.”

"Father, please don't be so frugal." Yan Ying held the oil lamp in her hand and slipped past Xiao Laoda. "Knowing how to save money won't make you rich. The only right thing to do is to think of ways to make money. Father, please listen to me and don't be so stingy. Our family will get better and better in the future."

"Yes, yes, Father, just listen to Third Sister, you can't go wrong." Sihua and Liuhua stood beside Yanying and reached out to grab the hem of her clothes: "Third Sister said she would give us meat to eat, and we got to eat mutton."

Upon hearing the word "sheep," Boss Xiao shuddered: "Sanhua, what are you going to do with the sheep from Old Lady Sijin's family?" Yan Ying had earned a few taels of silver, and Boss Xiao no longer regarded her as an ignorant girl. He also wanted to discuss this thorny matter with her: "After all, you killed her sheep, which is unreasonable."

“I’ll compensate her for killing her sheep, but if she tries to take over our vegetable garden, she’s dreaming!” Yan Ying picked up the oil lamp and went inside: “I’m going to see Mother.”

With money in the bag, one can stand tall, but for the old woman with four pounds to try and take advantage of the situation is just wishful thinking!

Aunt Xiao was sleeping soundly. Yan Ying could hear her even breathing. Perhaps because she had already given birth to six children, Aunt Xiao was fine despite being premature. She ate well and slept soundly. Qi Hua was lying motionless in bed. Yan Ying took the oil lamp and went over to shine it on her. Her little face was rosy and her eyes were closed. She was also asleep.

Getting out of bed, Yan Ying raised the oil lamp and looked around. Looking at the dilapidated mud-brick house and the dependent eyes of the little girls beside her, a sense of indomitable spirit rose in her heart. In her previous life, she had studied agronomy and learned a lot of skills. She refused to believe that she could not use her knowledge to lead the Xiao family to wealth and prosperity!

A day later, Aunt Xiao was able to get up and seemed perfectly fine, which put Yan Ying at ease. It seemed that farm wives were resilient; if it were a young lady from a wealthy family, she would definitely be bedridden for a while. After a peaceful day, just as dawn was breaking, Yan Ying, still half asleep, heard rustling sounds from the opposite bed. Opening her eyes, she saw Er Hua already sitting up and getting dressed.

"Erhua, why are you up already?" Yan Ying rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. A sliver of bright light had already appeared in the eastern sky, shining through the pale clouds. A pale pink rosy dawn was flowing in the sky, as if slowly gathering strength, gradually becoming redder and redder.

Through the broken window, Yan Ying could see Xiao Laoda carrying a hoe and a basket, walking outside. She sighed inwardly, thinking, "They really work from sunrise to sunset, so why is the Xiao family still so poor? It's probably because they have too many children." Meanwhile, Er Hua was already up. Yan Ying quickly shook out her floral-patterned jacket, put it on, got out of bed, and followed Er Hua out in her slippers.

"I had a dream last night that someone stole all the money you earned. I woke up with a start and couldn't fall back asleep." Erhua's face showed a hint of fear: "Sanhua, is the place where you hide your money safe?"

Yan Ying smiled and nudged her, "You've never seen so much money before, and you're already so excited. We're going to earn lots of money in the future so we can live a good life, sleep until we naturally wake up, and count money until our hands cramp!"

"That day can really come?" Erhua stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"It will happen, just wait and see." Yan Ying went to the kitchen, took some salt, rubbed her teeth, scooped up a mouthful of water, grimaced, and spat the water out with a "pfft". When she looked up, she saw a young woman walking on the path outside, wearing a dark blue cloth dress and carrying a small bundle on her arm.

"Big sister!" Erhua's eyes widened, and she ran over to her. "Why are you back at this hour?"

"Big sister?" Yan Ying was somewhat surprised; this was the first time she had seen Xiao Da Hua. The woman standing before her had a fair complexion and large, dark eyes, but her face was somewhat thin, making her look less like a woman from a farming family. Yan Ying glanced at her stomach, which was slightly protruding, indicating that she was pregnant. She quickly went over and helped Da Hua inside, saying, "Big sister, it's still early morning."

Erhua brought over a coarse cloth and handed it to Dahua: "Big sister, why didn't your husband bring you back? Why did you come back alone? You must have set off at dawn, right? This mountain road is difficult to travel, why didn't you set off later?"

Xiao Dahua took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had only caught her breath a couple of times when tears started falling: "Erhua and Sanhua, my mother-in-law dislikes me. She wants my husband to divorce me!"

"What?" Yan Ying was taken aback. Seeing Da Hua crying uncontrollably, she grabbed her hand and asked, "What exactly did you do wrong?"

Da Hua sat there shaking her head desperately, her voice choked with sobs, unable to utter a word. Er Hua angrily threw down her handkerchief: "I'm going to find their family right now and get to the bottom of this! Big sister, you're just too soft-hearted, that's why they bullied you. If it were me, I wouldn't let them treat me like a lump of clay, rolling me around and flattening me without saying a word!"

Yan Ying grabbed Er Hua: "Don't worry, we need to find out the situation first."

Xiao Dahua married into a village not far away. Yan Ying had heard Erhua and the others mention it; it seemed she married the grand-nephew of Xiao Wangshi. Judging from Xiao Wangshi's despicable behavior, her grand-nephew couldn't be any better. Otherwise, why would he let Xiao Dahua go back to her parents' home alone so early? Besides, she was pregnant; wasn't she afraid of her falling and getting hurt?

"Big sister, you have to tell us the reason. Why did your husband's family send you back to your parents' home alone?" Yan Ying felt very sorry for Xiao Dahua, whose eyes were red and swollen like peaches from crying. Sending a pregnant woman home at this time was really something the Wang family did!

“Last night someone brought a message saying that Mother had given birth to another daughter. My mother-in-law pointed at me and cursed, saying that I would definitely give birth to a money-losing child, that I was born on Mother’s back!” Xiao Dahua wiped away her tears, as if she could see her mother-in-law’s distorted face, pointing at her and cursing, “You get back to Xiao Family Village and don’t ruin the feng shui of our Wang family!”

"What? He wants to divorce you over this? What did your brother-in-law say?" Yan Ying almost ground her teeth to powder when she heard this. Both her hands were clenched into fists, and you could almost hear the grinding sound. "Even a day as husband and wife is a hundred days of kindness. Doesn't he think about the good things about you? He and his parents are kicking you out the door?"

Xiao Dahua lowered her head and tears streamed down her face. Her husband was also indecisive. He had initially spoken up for her, but after being scolded by his parents, he shut his mouth and squatted down in silence.

"What if she gives birth to a girl? We'll have to raise her for over ten years, and then pay money to marry her off!" The face of the mother-in-law, Wang Zhangshi, flickered in the oil lamplight, a few rays of light shimmering around her lips like the whiskers of a tiger, trembling as if pouncing on its prey. "Our Wang family is doing alright now, but she and her parents are just like that, giving birth to girls one after another. In a few years, they'll have drained our Wang family dry! Haven't you seen what your father-in-law's family is like? If you hadn't been so attracted to her beauty and insisted on marrying her, I would never have agreed to this marriage!"

Wang Zhangshi glanced at Xiao Dahua, whose eyes were red-rimmed, and said, "You'd better get back to your Xiao Family Village and stop causing trouble for our Wang family!"

Xiao Dahua knelt down with a thud: "Mother-in-law, what if I'm carrying a boy? You can't just say that. My mother is my mother, and I am me. Are we destined to be the same?"

"Pah, pah, pah! You still think you'll have a son?" Wang Zhangshi glanced at Xiao Dahua's belly, hesitated slightly, and then her face darkened. "Go back to Xiaojia Village to rest and prepare for your pregnancy. If you have a son, our Wang family will naturally bring you back. If you have a daughter, then you can wait to get a divorce!"

Xiao Dahua glanced pleadingly at her husband, who was huddled to the side, and crawled to his side, saying, "Fugui, say something, please tell your mother to let me stay."

Wang Fugui looked at her, his lips trembled, but he still didn't say anything. At this moment, his father-in-law, Wang Wangcai, tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe: "You should go back first thing tomorrow morning. It's too late today. If we rush her back like this, it will make our family seem unkind. You can stay at home for the night."

Xiao Dahua sat slumped on the ground, looking blankly at her parents-in-law and her husband. They all had long faces, and the dim light cast their shadows on the brick wall, which kept swaying, like ghostly figures slowly approaching her.

...