Pastoral Splendor

"Second Sister, Third Sister, Mother knows Eldest Sister is back and is anxious to get up!" Wu Hua rushed out from inside, her face flushed and beads of sweat dripping down her cheeks. Seeing Yan Ying looking at her with dissatisfaction, she was a little timid: "It wasn't me, it was Liu Hua who let it slip."

"You stay outside and keep my sister company, play with Ye'er," Yan Ying instructed, then hurried inside. Aunt Xiao knew that Da Hua was back and must be worried about her.

As they entered the room, Liuhua was lying on the edge of the bed, her little hands outstretched: "Mother, you can't get out of bed. Third Sister told me to take good care of you. If you get out of bed, Third Sister will beat me."

Yan Ying chuckled. This Liu Hua was really clever, using this trick. How could she possibly hit her? What a little rascal! She stepped forward, pressed down on Aunt Xiao's arm, looked at her haggard face, and said softly, "Mother, you should rest. The midwife said you should lie in bed more. Don't push yourself."

"Your eldest sister..." Aunt Xiao looked at Yan Ying with hopeful eyes: "Is everything alright with her at home?"

"What else could it be? I heard that Mother gave birth to Qihua, so I came home to see Mother." Seeing that Liuhua didn't say what happened, Yanying quickly changed the subject: "Mother, if you are in a hurry to see Eldest Sister, then I want Eldest Sister to bring Ye'er in and talk to you."

Aunt Xiao let out a long sigh, lay flat on the bed, and looked at Qi Hua sleeping next to her with complicated eyes. She reached out and touched her face: "Sigh, another girl. I thought it was a boy because she was moving around so much in my belly. I didn't expect it to be a girl again."

“Girls are good. Girls like us are beautiful, smart, and considerate. What’s wrong with that?” Lingli gently wiped the sweat from Aunt Xiao’s forehead. “Mother, you rest first. I’ll go call my older sister in.”

Once outside, Yan Ying nodded to Da Hua: "Big sister, go and keep our mother company. We'll be going out to work after we finish eating."

Da Hua looked up, her face full of pitifulness: "Should I tell our mother about the Wang family?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Sihua said indignantly. "Father and Mother will eventually find out, so it's better to let them know in advance."

Yan Ying watched Si Hua with a slight smile. Of all the daughters born to Xiao Lao Da, only Da Hua and Wu Hua had a weak temperament; the others were all quite good. Even Liu Hua was showing signs of a fiery temper. That was exactly the kind of temperament she wanted. A good horse is ridden, and a kind person is bullied. If you want to get rich, the most important thing is not to be afraid of trouble. If you are timid and afraid of trouble, you will not be able to accomplish anything.

Seeing Da Hua carrying Ye'er inside, Er Hua bent down and picked up the hoe and basket from the ground: "San Hua, I'm going to check over in the field first. Just call me when you need to go."

Yan Ying responded and dragged a stool to sit down. She kept calculating in her mind. Although she had earned twenty taels of silver yesterday, she had spent more than two taels of it on a lot of random selling in Yuzhou City. She had to be careful with the remaining money. If she didn't produce any more, she would just be living off her savings. The remaining ten taels of silver would be gone in no time.

Sitting on the steps, Yan Ying looked up. The sun had already risen high in the sky, its white rays blinding her. She couldn't help but squint. A scene appeared before her eyes: the mountain after the rain, covered with bamboo shoots and mushrooms, growing rapidly.

Yes, let's go dig up some bamboo shoots today, pickle them, and then take them to Yuzhou City to sell in a couple of days. These bamboo shoots are a way to make money. They grow quickly, and you can get quite a lot from just one clump. They use a lot of oil when cooking, so the people in Xiaojia Village basically don't go up the mountain to dig them. There's no competition.

Yesterday, when she went to Yuzhou City to buy things, she specifically went to several restaurants to inquire, but none of them had ever heard of a dish called stir-fried minced pork with pickled bamboo shoots. Many of the restaurant owners even laughed and scoffed, "Bamboo shoots? What's so good about those? None of the restaurants here have such a dish!"

Since this dish wasn't available here, this was her trump card. Yan Ying smiled contentedly; this was truly good news for her. Bamboo shoots held little appeal for the poor; how could a dish taste good without oil? But for wealthy families accustomed to rich and lavish meals, this pickled bamboo shoot and minced meat dish was a rare and delightful appetizer.

She stretched out her legs and sat comfortably in the chair, her mind racing with calculations. Today she would go up the mountain with Erhua to dig bamboo shoots, and tomorrow she would pickle them. After today, the contents of her jar would turn into piles of silver.

"Third Sister, dinner's ready." Sihua brought over the food and noticed that Yanying was staring straight ahead. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Third Sister, what are you looking at?"

Yan Ying didn't take the bowl of rice. Instead, she suddenly jumped up and ran towards the corner of the yard.

There was a very large tree over there, so big that it would take two people to encircle it. Its leaves were lush and green, casting a cool shade on the ground. But Yan Ying's focus was on a large hole in the tree trunk.

The opening was quite large, about the size of a washbasin, and from the outside, one could vaguely see some grayish-white stuff inside. Yan Ying peered into the opening, then reached out and tremblingly pulled some of the stuff out. Looking at what she held in her hand, she was overjoyed, an uncontrollable smile spreading across her face: "Silver is everywhere in the world!"

In her palm was a cluster of white mushrooms, their caps quite thick, with short, robust stems. Yan Ying stared at the mushrooms in astonishment, hardly believing her eyes. These were button mushrooms, how did they end up in the hole in Old Master Xiao's big tree?

Button mushrooms have a very delicious flavor and are also a great weight-loss and beauty product. They generally grow in places with piles of cow and sheep dung, so it's extremely rare to find them in a tree hollow. Yan Ying held the mushrooms, so excited she could hardly speak. She could use these mushrooms to cultivate delicious mushrooms for sale, and she could also improve the fungi to produce enoki mushrooms, silver enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, and other mushrooms that the people of Da Zhou had never seen before, which would fetch a higher price.

"Third Sister, what are you looking at?" Sihua walked over with a bowl in her hand, and when she saw the mushrooms in Yanying's hand, her eyes widened: "Third Sister, what are these things for?"

"Useful, useful, extremely useful." Yan Ying looked at Si Hua with a beaming smile and patted her head: "This tree in our family is truly a treasure!"

"What's the use of this?" Sihua asked, somewhat surprised. "Third Sister, this thing grows every year, but you never said it was useful before. Why is it useful this year?"

“Times have changed.” Yan Ying smiled as she carried the mushrooms into the house and placed them in a basin. “Si Hua, from now on, our family will have to get money from these.”

"Huh?" Sihua looked at the mushrooms, puzzled. "What are these? How can they make money for our family?" She carefully picked up the basin. "I need to watch them carefully so the chickens don't peck at them."

Yan Ying patted her head: "Stay home with your younger sister, cook lunch, and then your third sister will go out to dig bamboo shoots."

Sihua nodded, placed the basin on the stove, and turned around to see only Yanying's back as she carried the basket. Third Sister was completely different now. Sihua leaned against the door, marveling at how Third Sister had become such a capable person in less than half a month.

Did falling down the mountain last time make her brain sharper? Sihua watched the figure receding into the distance with envy, thinking to herself that if she could fall and become as smart as her third sister, she would really be willing to try. If people are smart, they can come up with ways to make money, increase the family's income, and their parents wouldn't have to work so hard.

Yan Ying walked lightly to her own field. Boss Xiao was plowing the field with great effort. A borrowed ox was pulling the plow forward with difficulty. Boss Xiao was waving a small whip and shouting from behind, while Er Hua was loosening the soil on one side of the field with a hoe.

Yan Ying jumped into the field, grabbed a handful of soil, and examined it. The soil was very sticky and lacked moisture, making a good rice harvest impossible. The only way to achieve a good harvest would be to bring water from the foot of the mountain up and turn the field into a paddy field, or abandon rice cultivation altogether and plant other crops like potatoes, corn, or sorghum.

"Sanhua." Boss Xiao straightened up and sighed, "Tell me about your eldest sister's matter, what should we do?"

"Father, I think it would be better to let eldest sister get a divorce." Yan Ying ran up to Xiao Laoda, her eyes shining brightly: "Our Xiao family can't let the Wang family bully us!"

“But…” Boss Xiao raised his hand to wipe away the sweat: “Your eldest sister has Ye’er, and she’s pregnant again. Our family already has a heavy burden, how can we raise her?”

“Father, the Wang family is too bullying. When my eldest sister was pregnant with Ye’er, they made her work non-stop without rest. Now they’ve kicked her out. Such a family is heartless and ungrateful. Father, are you going to push my eldest sister into that fire pit?”

"But..." Boss Xiao hesitated, looking down at the ground beneath his feet, looking very troubled: "Look at our family, we're almost at the point where we don't know where our next meal will come from. If we add three more mouths to feed, it will be difficult. Besides, your eldest sister is divorced, what kind of good husband will she be able to find in the future?"

"Father, don't say such discouraging things." Yan Ying saw the deep wrinkles on Xiao Laoda's forehead and his chapped skin, and she knew his difficulties. But people are alive, and as long as you work hard, making money is just a matter of words. Yan Ying smiled and looked at Xiao Laoda: "Father, don't worry. Have you forgotten that I earned some money yesterday? I promise our family will get better and better from now on. Just don't let my eldest sister go back to the Wang family!"

Erhua also ran over and stood next to Xiao Laoda, her face full of anticipation: "Father, maybe eldest sister is carrying a boy, then he can take the Xiao surname!"

Boss Xiao's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on his face: "Erhua, you really have a knack for it."

"Why can't we think about it? If my eldest sister gets a divorce and comes back, won't all the children she has have the surname Xiao?" Erhua muttered. "Even if my eldest sister remarries, her second husband's family might not help her raise her first two children."

"Father, how about this?" Seeing that Xiao Laoda was slowly softening, Yan Ying grasped the plow, touched the smooth wooden handle, and smiled slightly: "Father, give me half a month. If I can earn another five taels of silver in half a month, then Father will let my eldest sister divorce Wang Fugui!"

"You can earn five taels of silver in half a month?" Boss Xiao shook his head in disbelief. "Sanhua, don't think that silver is so easy to earn! You earned silver yesterday because you were lucky. The young master liked your cooking and that's why he gave you a reward. But how can a person be lucky all the time?"

“Father, if I say it’s possible, then it’s possible.” Yan Ying smiled and looked at Boss Xiao: “Don’t you trust your daughter?”

"Then let's give it a try. If you can really earn five taels of silver in half a month, not only will I let your eldest sister get a divorce, but you'll also be in charge of this family. You can make all the decisions!" Boss Xiao scratched his head. How could this third girl be so confident? He glanced at Yan Ying and felt that she seemed different from before. Although her smiling eyes were still the same and her appearance was the same, she seemed to have changed a lot inside, to the point that he didn't even recognize her.

...