Chapter 18

Sixth Granduncle is only in his early forties this year, and Sixth Grandaunt is also only forty. They have five children in their family.

The eldest is a son who is already married and has a grandson and a granddaughter. The second and third are daughters, with the second already married and the third, who is only sixteen and getting ready to be married.

It is said that she will be marrying the son of the owner of the big cart shop in town in the spring.

The remaining two are twins, a boy and a girl, who are eight years old this year. They were born to Sixth Grandaunt at an older age and almost cost her life.

It took several years to recover, and she is still somewhat weak. Especially in the winter, she can't bear the cold wind.

Sixth Granduncle used to be a peddler when he was young, working for over thirty years. However, neither of his two sons inherited the peddler job.

Instead, the second son of Fifth Grandaunt family took over in the end.

In addition to their own land, Sixth Granduncle's family also has several acres of fruit trees and mountain land. Initially, they had more, but due to hard times and not making enough money, they almost couldn't pay off the debt to buy the fruit trees and mountain land.

In the end, Song Dingxiang's grandfather helped out by buying half of their land, easing Sixth granduncle's worries.

Because of this, Sixth Granduncle has a special bond with his fourth brother. Even when taking care of the fruit trees, he prefers to do it all by himself and not let his fourth brother intervene.

However, most of the fruit trees in the north are things like pears, hawthorns, sour apples, persimmons, and peaches. These fruits are not easy to store, and if not sold in season, they have to be dried to sell.

Moreover, if not handled properly, the prices can be high, making many households not interested. Some feel that planting grain is better as it ensures food during times of disaster.

But Sixth Granduncle doesn't believe in superstitions. He focuses on taking care of the fruit trees and even bought new peach and pomegranate trees a few years ago, earning a good amount of money this autumn.

"Dingxiang, come in and eat pomegranates! Hey Zhouzi, you've grown stronger just by looking at you, not bad, not bad!" Sixth Granduncle Song Xingzhi was born with a loud voice, and he always greeted people with a smile, no wonder he did well as a peddler back then.

Sixth Grandaunt sat on the warm kang bed, with a quilt covering her legs. She was very beautiful, it was said that she had fled from another place in the past.

At that time, Sixth Granduncle was still young, the only one in the family who hadn't been divided yet, he saw the mud-covered and weak Sixth Granduncle and told his parents about her somehow.

Sixth Granduncle bought Sixth Grandaunt from her parents with a sack of sweet potatoes, and after raising her for three years, he married her. They lived a very harmonious life together.

Sixth Grandaunt was very skilled in embroidery, and many young girls in the Song family learned embroidery from her. She was not only good at embroidery but also knew how to weave cloth.

In the past, she would spin flax or hemp into cloth to sell in the town, which was a major source of income for the family.

Later, because of her health, she stopped weaving cloth, and now the weaving machine was being used by her daughter-in-law, who would buy some cotton and weave cloth for their own clothing and bedding needs. Although it saved a lot of money every year, it was still quite tiring.

"My family also has pomegranates, I'm not envious of Sixth Granduncle's pomegranates." Song Dingxiang climbed onto the kang bed with a smile, cuddled up to Sixth Grandaunt, and took out an orange from the basket, saying, "Sixth Grandaunt, I'll peel this orange for you to eat."

"Since marrying, Dingxiang's mouth has become sweeter." Sixth Grandaunt ate a slice of orange and couldn't stop smiling.

"You just like to tease me," Song Dingxiang shared the orange with Sixth Granduncle and gave the rest to the two kids, "I hear the weaving machine, why is sister-in-law still weaving cloth during the New Year?"

Sixth Granduncle said, "Oh, she is weaving white hemp cloth, it seems that the patriarch of the Li family in the village won't last long. Their family is poor and can't afford to buy cloth, so they exchange things with our family. I think she is close to finishing it."

Song Dingxiang nodded, when an elder in the family passed away, the younger generation wore mourning clothes made of white hemp cloth. White hemp cloth was relatively cheap, but the Li family was indeed poor, with many mouths to feed.

If one elder fell ill one day, another one would be sick the next day. Although their elders were resilient, the patriarch of the Li family was already 85 years old and had been sick since he was fifty, with major and minor illnesses.

What poor families feared most was falling ill, as it cost a lot of money for medicine. They worked hard all year to earn some money, only for it to be spent on medical expenses.

But they had no choice, they couldn't neglect the health of the elderly, or they would be criticized by others.

Sixth Granduncle continued, "Your patriarch is going joyfully, it's better that he goes, to not burden the younger generation."

Sixth Grandma gave him a look and said, "What are you saying? Are you criticizing me?"

Sixth Granduncle quickly tried to appease her, if the children weren't around, he might have acted silly to make her laugh.

Song Dingxiang asked Zhou Yinuo to bring out the last portion of New Year goods for Sixth Granduncle. Sixth Granduncle looked at it and said, "Does your family have a lot of oil residue from pressing oil? Give me a bowl, your Sixth Grandaunt wants to eat oil residue pancakes."

"I'll go get it for you now, Ge..." Song Dingxiang hadn't finished speaking, but Zhou Yinuo had already left in a hurry.

"You're so bossy, even ordering your man around. Lucky that Zhouzi has a good temper, otherwise he might beat you." Sixth Granduncle joked.

Sixth Grandaunt hmphed and said to Song Dingxiang, "Look at you, even my own man can't be ordered around, this old lady will be worn out."

"Oh, my goodness, woman..." Sixth Granduncle wanted to maintain an elder's demeanor, but he was always teased by Sixth Grandaunt, looking quite embarrassed.

Song Dingxiang chuckled and didn't know how to respond, so she simply took a large pomegranate from the table and started peeling it.

Sixth Granduncle took out the gifts they had prepared. They were all food items - two boxes of osmanthus flowers supposedly brought from Tianjin, two boxes of sesame candy, and a basket of eggs.

He said, "No one else has this sesame candy, it was made by us, but it's really sun-dried persimmons. Since your family doesn't lack persimmon treats, we'll exchange it for this instead. Try it later, it's made of honey and eggs, sweet and fragrant, a friend when I was a hawker brought it from Tianjin."

Song Dingxiang naturally recognized this type of sesame candy, which was popular in the region, known as honey candy. It was a very regional snack, made in regions like Hebei, Tianjin, and the Northeast.

In the south, the humid climate caused the candy to melt and become syrup when it got warm, making it difficult to store.

But in the north, during the winter, this candy could be stored outside and frozen for two to three months without deforming.

"Thank you, Sixth Granduncle," Song Dingxiang said with a smile.

Sixth Granduncle added, "Don't mention it, if it weren't for your grandfather helping me back then, I would have been begging for food by now. Let's not talk about this, just enjoy life now. By the way, Zhouzi will be going to the army after the New Year, if you need anything, let me know. I know many people, maybe I can find something for him."

Song Dingxiang replied, "We don't need anything else, and besides, he will just be an ordinary soldier. If he has something good in his hand, won't someone try to steal it from him? Just a few sets of sturdy and durable clothes and shoes will do."

Her rattan armor was almost ready, just needed another soak in tung oil. She had heard of another type of armor called cotton armor, but she had never seen it or knew how to make it, so she could only regret it.

Sixth Granduncle said, "I'll tell Zhouzi, on the battlefield, he must not recklessly charge forward, as swords and arrows have no eyes."

Song Dingxiang added, "My parents have also reminded him several times, Zhouzi is not that foolish. They have also met a benefactor in town, a man named Wang, who is a small official in the army, and Zhouzi will serve as his attendant. But whether he can do well, it depends on Zhouzi."

Sixth Grandaunt softly said, "Zhouzi is blessed, so don't worry too much or give him conflicting advice. It will be even more uncomfortable for him if he is confused about what to do. "

As they were chatting, Zhou Yinuo returned, carrying a basket. Opening the basket, there was a bowl full of oil residue and a packet of fennel, pepper and salt inside.

Sixth Grandaunt chuckled, "Is this fennel, pepper and salt prepared by your mother-in-law? She came to learn embroidery from your sixth grandmother, but ended up learning how to make pancakes. She knows that your sixth grandmother loves this, oh, is it still warm, just fried?"

Zhou Yinuo replied, "When I got home, my mother was just frying this, saying it was prepared for Sixth Grandaunt's."

Sixth Grandaunt said, "Your mother-in-law is a sincere person, even though she can be sharp-tongued sometimes, but her heart is as soft as a ripe persimmon."

Zhou Yinuo smiled and glanced at Song Dingxiang.

Song Dingxiang got off the kang bed, bowed to Sixth Granduncle and Sixth Grandaunt, and said she was preparing to go home.

Sixth Grandaunt didn't insist, just said, "Dingxiang, you haven't come to learn embroidery for a long time. If you have time after the New Year, remember to come."

Song Dingxiang felt a pang in her heart, thinking, "Embroidery? How could my skills be enough to be worth seeing?" But considering her mediocre embroidery skills in the past, she nodded in agreement.

After seeing off Song Dingxiang, Sixth Grandaunt sighed, "This young couple seems so well-matched and nice. The Zhou family, on the other hand, is just not good at handling things or people."

Sixth Granduncle comforted her, "They can live a good life now. As long as he doesn't lose his arms or legs in the army camp for a few years, he will come back as real men. Don't worry so much, if you like worrying, just worry about me more."

Sixth Grandaunt rolled her eyes at him and chuckled.

When Song Dingxiang returned home, she smelled the fragrance of pepper salt in the courtyard.

Zhang shi was preparing the stuffing, which was a mixture of pork fat residue and napa cabbage, for steaming large buns in the evening. Fang shi was frying pork fat residue pancakes, and there were already some nicely fried ones next to her, with a golden brown crust that looked especially fragrant, attracting a few children who were unwilling to leave.

"Dingxiang is back? Quickly, cut some pancakes for these little ones, they look so hungry," Fang shi said with a smile while flipping the pancakes.

Rarely did they fry white flour pancakes at home, let alone with added pork fat residue and pepper salt.

Song Dingxiang washed her hands and cut the pancakes, couldn't resist cutting a piece of the crispiest one for herself and putting it in her mouth. "So delicious, Mom, did you learn this from Sixth Grandaunt?"

Fang shi replied, "Look at you, even more greedy than the kids. Indeed, I learnt from your Sixth Grandaunt, she's a master at making pancakes, all kinds are delicious. Take these slices to the east room to eat with your grandfather and grandmother. Oh, your younger uncle just came back and he's in the room too."

Song Dingxiang rolled her eyes, since she arrived here, her younger uncle hurriedly came back once during her wedding, didn't even drink, and left quickly after the ceremony. Since then, she hadn't seen this younger uncle.

Carrying the pancakes into the room, Zhou Yinuo was seen talking to a young man. The man, upon seeing Song Dingxiang, said, "Oh, Dingxiang. You're really different now that you're married, much more mature than before."

What a handsome young scholar!

——— Author's Note: Song Dingxiang: Everyone says I've matured and grown up, but only I know that I'm already over 80 years old!

——— TNote: Song Dingxiang isn't actually 80 years old—at least not in the usual sense. She passed away somewhere in her early thirties, maybe around that age, but here's the twist: her spirit didn't just move on. Instead, she stuck around, haunting her family home for decades. If she had been alive, she would have hit 80, and maybe that's the milestone her restless soul had been waiting for all along.



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