Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Jia Ronghua knelt on the kang (a heated brick bed), hurriedly using her hand as a broom to sweep the straw mat, and said with a smile, "Second sister-in-law, you've come. Come, sit on the edge of the kang. Look, this kang is full, let me make some room for us."

Hu Xirong looked at Ji Yongfei and laughed, "Yongfei, you have such a beautiful hairstyle. You're so skillful. Unlike Yongling, whose hair is always like her father's and uncle's. They just tie it into a bun and then leave it alone. If you mention styling her hair, it's like they're asking her to die."

Ji Yongfei proudly pouted and said, "I always comb my own hair; I don't need my mother's help."

Jia Ronghua also praised, "Yongfei is so good. Yongling is such a bad girl, she doesn't like to dress up. She's almost ten years old, eleven in the traditional Chinese way, and she doesn't know how to take care of herself. It's really worrying."

Yang stopped scissors and said, "Alright, alright, every child has their own temperament. Get back to work. Yongfei's mother, you've come at the right time. Ling'er got a business for us making medicine pouches. Do you want to take some medicine pouches home to make?"

Just then, Ji Yongling walked in and, upon hearing Yang's words, replied, "Second Aunt, you and Yongfei have come at the right time. We're short-handed here. After Grandma finishes cutting, you two can try making one. If you think it's good, take some back to make more."

Jia Ronghua and Hu Xirong also chimed in, "That's right, Second Sister-in-law, you're skillful, and Yongfei is skillful too, they can definitely do it."

Zhao Yunxia glanced at the cloth in Yang's hand, pursed her lips, and said, "I was just worried that you wouldn't be able to handle it all. After hearing what Yonghua said last night, I brought Yongfei over this morning, thinking I'd help you out."

Ji Yongling smiled gently, picked up a finished sample and said, "Second Auntie knows how to care for my grandma and my mother and me. I was planning to cut the fabric and come to you today, but I didn't expect you and Yongfei to come first, which saves me the trouble of going all the way."

Zhao Yunxia took the sample from her hand, looked at it, and said, "It doesn't seem too difficult, it's just that the embroidery of the characters is a bit complicated, but the rest is not difficult. I will embroider the characters, and Yongfei can help me sew them."

Ji Yongling nodded and said, "Alright, why don't you try making one first, Second Aunt? If it works, take the cloth and needle and thread home and make more... Second Aunt, you won't be doing it for free. I have to pay outsiders, and I pay my own people too. Others pay two and a half coins for one, but I'll give you and Yongfei three coins each, how about that?"

In fact, Ji Yongling had previously considered paying according to the process of sewing and embroidery, thinking that one person would specialize in one process. However, Jia Ronghua rejected this idea, saying, "If you can embroider, sewing is no problem. If you can't embroider, there's no need to hire someone to do it."

Ji Yongling realized that he had been too simplistic. This era was not like the machine production lines of later generations; piecework was more suited to the local conditions.

When Zhao Yunxia heard that she could earn three coins for making a medicine pouch, she was overjoyed, but she kept her face calm and said, "Let's not talk about the money for now. I'll make a few and see how many I can make in a day."

Ji Yongfei also took a sample medicine bag from the kang (a heated brick bed) and said with a bit of arrogance, "This isn't difficult at all! Second Sister, how many can you make a day?"

Ji Yongling was taken aback and said, "Me? I don't need to do anything—"

Hu Xirong stretched her legs, which were crossed, raised her eyebrows, and said with a smile, "Yongling is the manager now, the general manager. She has to manage the medicinal herbs and also take care of us, mother and children. She's very busy!"

Ji Yongfei pouted and asked, "Even if you're the shopkeeper, Second Sister, you're still a girl. If you don't do needlework, how will you find a good husband in the future?"

Yang coughed lightly and said, "Yong'an is still sleeping, don't make a sound. Yongfei, take your needle and thread and go outside to work under the tree with your mother. This cave dwelling is already full of people on the kang (heated brick bed)."

Ji Yongling looked at Yang Shi, took the cloth scraps, needles and thread and the sample, and lifted the curtain to invite Zhao Yunxia and the other woman out of the courtyard. She said, "Second Aunt, you and Yongfei are good at embroidery and will become skilled very quickly. This is the sample and the template for the characters to be embroidered. You only need to make a few stitches along the edge of the characters. You don't need to embroider solid characters, but they should be neat."

Zhao Yunxia and Ji Yongfei sat on low stools outside the window of Jia Ronghua's cave dwelling. They looked at the sample again and found it not too difficult, so they threaded the needle and started working. Before long, Zhao Yunxia had finished embroidering the words on the cloth.

Ji Yongfei pulled her mother's hand, which was about to continue sewing, and said, "Mother, you continue embroidering the words, I'll sew and thread the rope."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yunxia handed the embroidered cloth to Ji Yongfei, asking her to continue sewing and threading the cord, while she began embroidering another piece of cloth.

When Ji Yongling came out, Ji Yongfei already had three or four prepared medicine pouches on her side.

Ji Yongling picked up the medicine pouch that Ji Yongfei had made, looked it over, and saw that the embroidery on it was neat and elegant, the edges were sewn together neatly, and the stitches were fine. She said, "Second Aunt, you and Yongfei are really good at needlework. Let's do it this way from now on. I'll give you two bundles of cut cloth."

After saying that, Ji Yongling went into the cave and took out two bundles of cloth for Zhao Yunxia.

Eager to earn money, Zhao Yunxia and her daughter rushed home as soon as they got the cloth, not even hearing Ji Mantun calling out to them from the side.

When Ji Mantun saw that his wife and daughter ignored him and hurriedly walked out of the yard with the cloth, he knew that they must have received a job. He could only swallow the question he wanted to ask and continue to help Grandpa Ji with the work.

When Ji Yongling returned to the cave dwelling, he saw that a piece of cloth on the kang (a heated brick bed) had already been cut. He asked Yang, "Grandma, which women in the village do you think have good handiwork skills? Are they willing to take on this job?"

Hu Xirong was tying bundles of cloth strips together, saying without looking up, "This is such good work, which woman wouldn't want to do it? She'd definitely be scrambling to take it. But as for the skill, you should ask me, I know more about it than your grandma does."

Yang glared at Hu Xirong: "Yes, you should ask her! Your fourth aunt is known for being a busybody; there's nothing in the village she doesn't know."

Jia Ronghua also laughed and said, "Indeed, your fourth aunt was born the wrong gender. If she were a man, I don't think even the most well-informed people in the county would be as knowledgeable as she is."

"Hey! Third sister-in-law, look at what you're saying. If I were a man, I would have been a general long ago. Why would I be a middleman?" Hu Xirong said unhappily.

Ji Yongling found it amusing and asked Hu Xirong, "Fourth Aunt, why do you want to be a general instead of taking the imperial examination? Haven't you heard that if you become the top scholar, you get to ride a horse through the streets for three days? That's so prestigious!"

"Top scholars are all weak and bookish. It's so much more impressive to be a general. With a horse on the back and a Tartar head hanging at your waist, I'd like to see which petty thief dares to mess with me!" Hu Xirong said, gesturing as if he were pulling the reins and riding a horse, and then touching his waist as if there really was a Tartar head there.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft," the women all laughed.

"Heavenly God, stop making such a strange face. If you can become a general, then this old woman can become a concubine in the palace!" Madam Yang laughed heartily.

"Do you know why your fourth aunt only wants to be a general and not a top scholar?" Jia Ronghua asked Ji Yongling with a mischievous look at Hu Xirong.

Ji Yongling looked at Hu Xirong and said, "Did Fourth Aunt want to emulate Hua Mulan and join the army in place of her father?"

Jia Ronghua lowered her voice, suppressing a laugh, and said, "It's because all the top scholars in operas are fair-skinned, handsome young men. Your fourth aunt, haha, has a nickname that sounds like 'Better than Li Kui'."

Hu Xirong immediately jumped up and down: "Mother, aren't you going to do anything about my third sister-in-law? Humph, so what if she's black? Could Bao Zheng be a just judge if he wasn't black? Look at the plays, the white-faced characters are all treacherous villains, while the black-faced characters are all loyal and righteous." As she spoke, she even made a gesture of stroking her beard.