Chapter 57

In the afternoon, Wu shi brought back a large bowl of meat and vegetables, while her daughter-in-law carried a large plate of steamed buns. Both of them looked happy, discussing how many meals they could make with the food.

Wu shi set down the bowl and called Song Jiaoxing over, smiling, "I saved a chicken leg specifically for you, have a bit to fill your stomach. Tonight, we'll stew eggplants with this dish, all meat, very fragrant."

Song Jiaoxing looked at the bowl of meat and vegetables. Normally, being able to eat so much meat would be a happy occasion, but she was feeling irritable now, saying, "It's just leftovers from others, what's so good about it?"

Wu shi looked at her in surprise, noticing the slight redness in her eyes. She then took her hand and led her out of the kitchen into her room, asking, "Xing'er, what's wrong with you? Are you crying?"

Song Jiaoxing pushed her hand away, angrily saying, "I'm upset, why can Song Zijin marry into such a family, why do I have to marry a peasant?"

"Jiaoxing!" Mrs. Wu quickly covered her mouth, then looked outside a few times, lowering her voice, "What's wrong with you? Weren't things going well before?"

Tears streamed down Song Jiaoxing's face as she cried, "Mother, I feel uncomfortable. I'm better than Song Zijin, I'm prettier, and my embroidery skills are better than hers. But why, why... And Song Taohong, she's so reckless yet managed to become the wife of a county magistrate, what about me? I work hard all day, earn money, take care of my siblings, but what do I have, I have nothing! You don't even let me take the things the Wang family sent, those are things I exchanged for!"

"Xing'er!" Wu shi furrowed her brow, "You see the situation in our family. If you take all those things with you, how will your siblings fare in the future? And the family I found for you is not bad either, he's the only son in his family, his older sisters are all married off, he can also help out at home. The youngest sister below you is still so young, if you have a child, she can help you look after the baby."

"That makes him a peasant too!" Song Jiaoxing wiped away her tears and said, "I don't want to marry a peasant, why is it that they all can marry well, why do I have to marry someone who farms? Even if I have a child, that child will also be a farmer, working hard all their life and barely earning any money. But look at Song Zijin, what has she done? She just has good parents and sisters, so much dowry, even when Song Dingxiang got married, she didn't have that much dowry... She doesn't have to farm anymore, she can live a life of luxury as a wealthy lady. But we all have the surname Song, why..."

Wu shi also cried, saying, "Xing'er, it's all because your father and I are incapable, we have failed you. But you see the situation in our family, your father is the most honest, he only knows how to farm, do you think I'm not worried? I wish I were a man, going out to make more money. Do you know why I insisted on getting a share even if it meant not taking advantage of your aunt? It's all because of Song Dingxiang, she had a falling out with your aunt, but we managed to stay on good terms, and she treated us better."

Song Jiaoxing cried even harder, saying, "But I can't understand, how did Song Dingxiang manage to become so wealthy? Her husband disappeared and she doesn't even know if he's alive or dead, isn't it hard for her to be a living widow at home? And she's always showing her face in public, doesn't she feel ashamed? Mother, I live decently, I just want to marry into a good family in the future... Mother, please go and ask her, she knows Wang Daren in town. Do you remember, it was the Wang family who arranged the marriage for Song Zijin, we both have the surname Song, I'm also her younger sister, mother..."

Wu shi sat on the edge of the kang bed, looking at her daughter who was crying with tears all over her face, feeling a sharp pain in her heart. She prided herself on being smarter than Zhu Shi, being better at socializing and reading people's expressions, and also being more hardworking.

But just because Zhu Shi's daughter married Xu Qiang, the old master and mistress upstairs treated their whole family better.

Before the falling out, Gao shi grabbed things from the house, after deducting the taxes from the harvest each year, gave a lot to the Xu family. During festivals and celebrations, she would ask her sons for money to buy things for the Xu family.

Now that the benefits were gone, but a lot of money had been taken from her pocket.

Now that they had separated completely, she held onto all the things in her house, working with her daughter-in-law at the wool factory, and her pocket was swelling up, making life a bit easier.

But this was not something to boast about, it was like bringing back a bowl of meat and vegetables made her feel satisfied and happy, but her fourth uncle's family, they would kill pigs and make meat dishes, tables filled with meat and vegetables, everyone's mouth greasy.

This time they killed two and a half big pigs, every dish was full of meat, they and their family ate until they were practically stuffed!

Fourth Uncle Si's family eats well all day, and now they have rented out their land, they have a workshop, money flowing into their pockets like water, and they don't have to suffer. And look at them?

They treat getting a few pieces of cloth as if they have gotten something precious, carefully giving out each piece to the children to make new clothes, not wasting even a scrap.

Look at Song Dingxiang, look at Song Zijin, the dresses they wear today are embroidered with flowers, shining in the sunlight as if they were floating on water, and they are all pleated, probably using four or five meters of fabric for one dress!

That's four or five meters of fabric, enough for them to make a whole outfit.

"It's because I have no ability, no ability..." Wu shi murmured, covering her face and crying.

The mother and daughter cried in the room for a while, until the daughter-in-law called them from outside to come and eat, then the tears stopped. Wu shi said, "Ping'er, you bring us a bowl of vegetables and two steamed buns, your mother have something to talk about, we won't go out to eat."

The daughter-in-law responded outside, and soon brought in a bowl of pork stew with eggplant, topped with a large chicken leg, specifically brought back by Wu shi for Song Jiaoxing to eat.

"Mother, what's wrong with you?" daughter-in-law Liu Ping'er asked.

Wu shi wiped her eyes and said, "It's nothing, just seeing other people's daughters getting married, and then my own daughter will also get married, it's hard to let go. I was just talking to Xing'er about it, you all go and eat."

"Come on, Xing'er, you eat something first." Wu shi set the table, placed the bowl on it, and said with a smile, "I steamed these steamed buns, they are warm and soft, very delicious."

Song Jiaoxing was also tired from crying. She quietly took a steamed bun and started eating with the vegetables.

The meat is really delicious, she hasn't eaten meat in over a month, and before that, she only had some meatball soup, but it was already fragrant with just the meatballs. This dish even has large pieces of pork, filling her mouth with oil with every bite.

As she ate, tears flowed into her mouth, tasting salty and bitter.

"Mom, I also want to have the good days of eating meat every day. Mom... I've thought about it, instead of marrying a farmer, it's better to find a wealthy man, even if it's just being a rich man's mistress. As long as there's money, wearing gold and silver, living luxuriously, my own child won't suffer, and I can support the family. Mom, haven't you always wanted me to support my brothers? If I could..."

"Xing'er!" Mrs. Wu couldn't eat anymore, she put down her chopsticks and said, "No one in our village would marry their daughter off as a concubine to someone else, stop thinking about this."

"Mother, that's a lot of money, mother... think about it, if I had money, then my brothers wouldn't have to suffer, they wouldn't have to wear patched clothes, and they wouldn't have to endure my aunt's mood swings. Just a little bit of money leaking out of someone's fingers could provide our family with a luxurious lifestyle for a year."

Song Jiaoxing felt more and more convinced as she thought about it, "What's wrong with being a mistress? Look at Wang Daren's family in town, he has several mistresses, right? They wear such nice clothes, their jewelry is adorned with precious stones, their gold bracelets are so thick. And that Madam Wang, she casually gave away a gold ring..."

Wu shi couldn't help but feel a little tempted after hearing this, "But, but we've already talked to that family..."

"We've just talked, that doesn't mean anything is set in stone yet, right?" Song Jiaoxing's eyes sparkled, "Not having made a decision yet doesn't mean I'm going to get married off. Mother, ask Song Dingxiang, she knows many people and has a wide network, maybe she can find me a good match too."

*

"Fifth Auntie, you wanted to see me?" Song Dingxiang came over from the pickling workshop, wearing a straw hat on her head, her face flushed with sweat.

Wu shi said, "Oh my, why are you still working in this heat? Be careful not to sunburn your face."

Song Dingxiang smiled, "What can I do without being busy? The more I do myself, the fewer people I have to hire, and the less money I have to spend."

She glanced at Song Jiaoxing sitting with her head down beside her, then looked at the pale-faced Mrs. Song, feeling puzzled, "What's going on? Why did you call me back in such a hurry? Is something urgent?"

Li shi forced a smile and said, "She wants you to arrange a match."

"What?" Song Dingxiang was stunned, laughed in disbelief, "Me arrange a match? How would I know how to do that? Didn't Fifth Auntie already find a family she liked? Just find a matchmaker and it's done."

Wu shi glanced at her own daughter, feeling both shamed and embarrassed, not knowing how to express her thoughts.

The room fell into a strange silence, with Song Dingxiang looking puzzled and Li shi simply pursing her lips without saying anything.

Finally gathering her courage, Wu shi said, "Dingxiang, you and Xing'er grew up together after all. I know what Taohong did was wrong, but Xing'er didn't do anything, she was still young back then."

Song Dingxiang became even more puzzled, "I know, but what does this have to do with me arranging a match?"

"It's just that..." Wu shi bit her lip and continued, "It's just that you see, Zijin married so well, but if Xing'er marries into an ordinary family, wouldn't that be laughable?"

"What's so laughable about that? I also married into an ordinary family, my husband is still fighting in the northern lands, who knows when he'll come back." Song Dingxiang worried about Zhou Yinuo.

"Mother, let me speak." Song Jiaoxing raised her head to look at Song Dingxiang, saying, "Sister Dingxiang, I want to marry into a good family, even if it means becoming a concubine. I don't want to live in poverty, I want to live a good life and have my family live a good life. Taohong was so careless, yet she became the wife of a county official. I...I...I'm not inferior to her in appearance or figure, I am skilled in embroidery, I don't want to marry a farmer. Sister Dingxiang, please help me."

Song Dingxiang was taken aback by this and said, "Why would you think like that? Why would you want to become a concubine for no reason? Our girls in this family haven't reached that point, have they?"

Song Jiaoxing said, "You haven't reached that point, Dingxiang, your family is well-off, you have enough money, how could you possibly know what kind of life I live every day?"

"When Zijin got married, my mother stayed up all night to embroider two bellybands for her, using fabric that was sent by the Wang family. Besides that, my family doesn't have anything impressive to show!"

"Your dresses are so big and beautiful, but what about me? I only have two dresses that are presentable, one for winter and one for summer. Nowadays, you don't have to work in the fields, but we..."

"Jiaoxing!" Song Dingxiang furrowed her brows tightly, "What's the use of telling me this? Didn't you see how hard my family worked back then? My father and uncles went over mountains to raise and slaughter pigs, sometimes they couldn't come back at night and had to find any cave to spend the night, did you see that?"

"My mother and aunts' hands would get so frozen washing pig intestines in winter, swollen like carrots, and in pain they couldn't sleep at night, did you see that?"

"When we made canned food at home, we risked all our silver to order jars, if we couldn't make it, we would lose everything, did you see that?"

"When I started the woolen mill, I had to use my own money to cover the expenses, and we ate eggplant with scallion sauce every day, did you see that?"

"Now that my family is living a good life, you all see it and want to compare? Song Jiaoxing, there are no pies falling from the sky, have you thought about how to improve your family's life?"

"Because everyone in my family is busy, my grandmother takes care of all the sewing, my mother works in the vegetable garden from morning till night, my sisters-in-law wake up before dawn to clean the workshop, and they are still cleaning when others have gone home, so tired they can't even straighten their waists."

"You only see us eating meat and being full, but have you seen the children in my family going out every day to gather pig feed, firewood, and cow dung? Have you seen my parents staying up all night to tend to a sick pig? You want to compare with me, what do you have to compare with me?!"

Song Jiaoxing cried out, "That's because my family is poor, we don't have money! If we had money, we could do something to earn!"

"Which family had money at the beginning? Did the money come from the wind? Your family may not have money, but I opened the workshop for you to work, giving you and your mother easy and profitable tasks, just to take care of you. Not to mention me or my parents, let's talk about you and Song Zijin. In the summer, Zijin selling tea, Zijin brewed green bean tea at home, Zijin carried it to the well to cool, and then go to the pavilion to sell."

"What were you doing at that time? My family has a lot of wasteland, Zijin helped with the buckwheat field, with calloused hands, can you compare?!"

Song Dingxiang shook her head at her, "You can't compare, if you really want to earn money, bite the bullet and buy some wasteland, grow vegetables or buckwheat, at least there will be some harvest. But you can't do it, your family is poor, but you and Song Taohong have been pampered, you can't even work in the fields, not to mention comparing with Zijin. Song Jiaoxing, why do you have the right to compare with us?!"

Song Jiaoxing was so angry that she trembled all over, saying, "You never wanted to help me in the first place, that's why you're talking so much nonsense!!!"

Song Dingxiang ignored her, but looked at Wu shi and said, "Fifth Auntie, do you also think I'm talking nonsense?"

Wu shi sat there blankly, her eyes red, shaking her head and saying, "It's not nonsense, it's, it's because we didn't do well... When myd mother-in-law held onto the majority of the food and said it was for splitting the family, she wouldn't let me go out to find work, and all year round I couldn't save much money, living frugally. Jiaoxing, Jiaoxing was spoiled by me. If I had been able to completely separate the family early on, things wouldn't have turned out this way..."

Song Dingxiang sighed and said, "Who doesn't want to live a good life? But isn't the premise of living a good life first figuring out a way, and enduring hardships and struggles? It's not that I don't want to help, Fifth Auntie, the girls in our Song family aren't so bad that they don't have to become concubines."

"Jiaoxing, do you think the concubines in the Wang family in town are living well? But do you know how many they have sold off? Those concubines can't even go back to their parents' home, they are trapped in that house all year round. Their children can't even call them mother, they have no say in their children's marriages. They are no different from servants, can be beaten or sold at will. Jiaoxing, think about it carefully."

Song Jiaoxing trembled, shaking her head and saying, "No, that's impossible, they are kind people, how could they sell off concubines?"

Song Dingxiang bitterly smiled, "From what I know, they have sold off two concubines. One who didn't bear any children for two years, was then sold to a merchant to be a concubine and probably will never come back. Another one who didn't take care of her children properly, angered the old lady who then sold her off, whereabouts unknown. Those women who were sold, do you think they can live a good life? Not to mention the jealousy and sabotage between them, with your personality, you might not last long after entering the door before someone targets you."

Li shi said, "It's better to be a poor wife than a rich man's concubine, the old folks' words still make sense. A legitimate wife stands tall, a concubine can never hold her head up high. Jiaoxing, wanting to live a good life is not wrong, but you shouldn't think of becoming a concubine."

Song Jiaoxing was shocked by the thought of being sold off. What if she couldn't bear children for two years?

What if she couldn't care for her children properly?

If she were sold off, she would never be able to return. Thinking about this, she covered her face and cried.

Wu shi also started crying, saying after a while, "Dingxiang, Aunt knows you are capable and smart, can you help your sister Jiaoxing? We may not be as well off as the Zijin family, but..."

Song Dingxiang said, "Fifth Auntie, do you know what the young master of that family sees in Zijin? He sees that she is capable, and can even read. Although the young master of the Li family is a landowner, he also knows how to work in the fields, and he has learned from my father and grandfather how to take care of fruit trees and grow lotus ponds."

"Why can he sees Zijin but not Jiaoxing? It's because Zijin often works in the fields during the day, helps with sewing at night, and takes care of her siblings when there's work at home. And this family is also fortunate, as the young master Li has just completed his mourning period. But it will be difficult to find another like him."

"But my daughter Jiaoxing also..." Wu shi wanted to say that her daughter was also capable of working in the fields, but she remembered that Jiaoxing refused to marry a farmer, so she swallowed her words.

Song Jiaoxing followed Wu shi back home in a daze, and as soon as she entered the house, she lay down on the kang, feeling like a young lady with a troubled fate, born with a beautiful face but destined for a life of hardship.

She eventually decided to marry into that family, but she insisted on taking the entire set of headpieces with her.

"I can do without the gold ring, but the headpieces were obtained by me, so they must come with me," she said coldly. "Once I am there, no one will take care of me, my brothers also have no abilities, I can't rely on them. I have to think more about myself."

Wu shi really didn't want to give all the headpieces to her. She had already planned that the gold ring would be used by her eldest grandson to marry, two of the largest hairpins from the set would be given to Jiaoxing as dowry, and the rest would be divided for her youngest son's marriage and the remaining portion for her daughter's dowry.

Just right.

"Jiaoxing, about this..."

Song Jiaoxing looked at Wu shi, and said slowly and firmly, "That was obtained by me, exchanged by me! The cloth was used to make clothes for the family, I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything about leaving the gold ring, but the headpieces, I must take them all with me. They are mine! In the future, I can't rely on anyone, I have to show my in-laws that I also have assets, they can't bully me!"

Wu shi looked at her daughter with a heavy heart, and said, "Xiaoxing, how did you become like this? There are so many headpieces, I wanted to leave some for your brother to marry..."

"And what about me, are you just going to ignore me?" Song Jiaoxing coldly smiled and said, "A married daughter is like water poured out, mother, are you not going to take care of me anymore? When Song Zijin got married, her whole family helped prepare the dowry. But what about me? Where is my dowry? Can't I use the things I earned myself as dowry? If you disagree, then I won't get married, I'll go to a temple and become a nun, out of sight, out of mind!"

"No, you can't neglect your brother!" Wu shi still refused, "I will give you two more bedding sets as dowry, forget about the headpieces, I have already picked the two largest for you, they are the best in the village."

Song Jiaoxing looked at Wu shi, her mouth twitched, without saying a word, she turned and left.

*

It had been two months since it rained, the water level in the river had decreased significantly, and the lotus pond only had a thin layer of water left.

Song Dingxiang was busy catching and selling the larger fish, drying the smaller ones, and digging a water hole for them, trying to keep them alive as long as possible. The corn and soybeans didn't grow well due to lack of water, the leaves turned yellow, and they were thin and weak.

The farmers who relied on nature for their livelihood had to pull out the corn that had grown taller than people and replant drought-resistant crops like sorghum and buckwheat, hoping to harvest one more crop before winter came to avoid going hungry in the winter.

Due to the heavy rainfall in the summer, the fruits on the trees did not set well. Apart from some particularly good fruits that were sold, most of them were brewed into wine, and very few were preserved as canned goods.

Due to the drought, the price of grains was also rising, and people who had money were buying grains, not paying attention to eating canned fruits.

In the autumn, the harvest was pitifully low. However, Song Xingyi had already instructed several tenant farmers not to sell grains as much as possible, coupled with the coarse grains harvested in the autumn, at least some people had enough food.

Most of the grains in the Song family were secretly transported to the mountains. The whole village lamented during the dry season, hoping for a heavy snowfall in the winter to prepare for the next year's farm work.

The lotus roots in the lotus pond were also harvested. The drought did not have a significant impact on the lotus roots. Song Dingxiang sent some lotus roots to the Wang family, and the rest were dried or made into lotus root powder.

Lotus root powder could help alleviate hunger, but if it didn't snow in winter, the next year could still face a drought.

During this dry period, the Song Xingren family began to prepare for their daughter's marriage. Wu shi was busy all day, feeling exhausted, but when she thought of her daughter getting married, she gathered her spirits to give her daughter more reminders.

However, Song Jiaoxing was not in the house. After searching inside and out without finding her, Wu shi started to feel anxious as the night fell.

"Where did Jiaoxing go?" Wu shi covered her pounding heart, suddenly climbed onto the kang to open the kang cabinet. The box where the headpieces were stored was empty, not only were the headpieces gone, but even the gold ring was missing.

Wu shi stood stunned for a while, then burst into a sorrowful cry.

The impact of teaching by example on children is significant, Lishi and Song Xingyi would teach their children, but the Song Xingren family did not.