Eldest Sister, Why Haven't You Married Yet Chapter 67

Published at 1st of February 2023 10:16:02 AM

Chapter 67 Harvest

In the golden autumn season, the autumn air was refreshing.

From the south gate of Luohe Prefecture to the south, both sides of the Wuliqiao River’s had rice fields. The golden ears of rice have already lowered their heads. The cool autumn wind blew by. There were rustling sounds. That was the music of a good harvest. It was the autumn harvest season that farmers look forward to most in a year.

Su Family only planted two or so mu of sunflower seeds this year. It had matured.

The dewdrops were still hanging on the dogtail grass on both sides of the path. The bright Big Dipper in the sky was still pointing the way for lost travelers. At this moment, the sky was still dark blue. The east was only showing a faint white belly, but the farmers in Wuliqiao had all gone to the fields.

The family’s seventeen chickens had grown up and could lay eggs. The crowing chickens were still sleeping in the coop. Smoke was already rising from the kitchen. The aroma of round-grained rice congee permeated the small yard and aroused the sleeping people.

You Jin walked into the kitchen after washing up. It was Wu Yer's turn to cook today. Seeing her get up, Wu Yer grinned: "You Jin, it's early. You have to wait a bit for breakfast!" Since the family had three more hardworking teen hands, You Jin handed over the three meals a day that were originally Mrs. Su’s responsibility to the three capable girls. Each of them took turns to cook for five days.

The three girls were all able to endure hardships. Although they have work to do after coming to Su Family, they can eat to content every meal at Su’s house. On top of that, there was meat every day. The work was much easier and faster than when they were at home. So the three girls were delighted.

In the early autumn morning, the well water was cool. After washing her face with cold water, You Jin smiled and nodded. She went into the kitchen and quickly put the bowls and chopsticks on the table. Wu Yer served congee with fried vegetables on the table.

Those who had to get up early to work had all woken up. The five/six little girls all had a good appetite. After a while, they finished half a pot of soft and delicious round-grained rice congee. After the drowsiness of getting up early and the coolness of early autumn dispelled, they held a sickle, carried baskets on their backs, and went to the nearby sunflower field together.

"This disc floret is bigger than my face!" Er Ya grinningly cut off a sunflower disc floret and compared it to her face. Only then, she chucklingly put it into the basket.

Wu Yer also merrily cut off a sunflower. There was quite some weight in her hand. She replied, "Yes! This disc floret is really big!"

You Jin gathered all the manure into this wasteland and fertilized the land. It went without saying, the sunflowers grew well. It can be said to be a bumper harvest.

As the little girls merrily messed around, their work wasn’t delayed. Once the sun rose, the dew on the sunflowers dissipated and more than half of the two or so mu of sunflower field had been harvested.

The sunflower stalks that had been cut down were scattered on the ground. Just waiting to be dried and can be burned into plant ash to fertilize the land. This was already the fifth time that You Jin and the others had carried baskets full of sunflowers back home.

The sun gradually rose and the coolness of early autumn turned into an autumn heat. There were only so many sunflowers for Su Family to harvest. Naturally, they weren’t in a hurry. Looking at the less than half sunflowers left, she picked up the thick cotton handkerchief on her shoulders and wiped the sweat from her forehead.: "That’s it for today. We’ll come back tomorrow morning to cut the rest."

At her words, several people stopped their work, put the sunflowers that had been cut into baskets, and carried them home. On the road, they met several villagers who were pushing carts to bring grain back to the village to dry in the grain field. They greeted You Jin with a smile: "You Jin lass, you’re going home before the sun has risen?"

"That's right, Auntie Wu. Our family is full of girls. So we can't be in the sun!" Smiling, she stepped forward to help Auntie Wu couple with pushing the cart to the door of Su's house. Only then did You Jin stop and waved goodbye to the two. She pushed open the courtyard door and entered.

At this time, Su Family's yard was full of sunflower disc florets in all kinds of size. It made it difficult for people to step on the floor. You Jin moved carefully, for fear of stepping on the sunflowers. She went into the kitchen to fetch hot water and washed up. She changed into clean cotton clothes before coming out to help Mrs. Su take away the clingy Kang-er and let Mrs. Su to take You Zhu and the three maids to the kitchen to continue training.
 

Although Yu Lan had no cooking skills and had never done rough work, she was good at embroidery. She was also wonderful with minding half-year-old babies. Each day, she taught Su Family’s daughters on reading and writing. Her itinerary was quite densely arranged.

You Jin can roughly recognize the traditional characters, but her calligraphy skill was great. In order to cover up her ‘innate talent’, You Jin persisted in learning characters from Yu Lan every day. Not only that, Yu Lan taught the few younger sisters the etiquette rules every day. She had high hopes for each younger sister.

At the beginning, Yu Lan was a little scared when she heard You Jin said that she had to give the etiquette classes. But after living in Su Family for a while, she had seen how capable Su Family’s eldest miss was. So she didn't dare to take her words lightly. She devoted herself to teaching Su Family’s children on poetry, literature, and etiquette. And the children were all well-behaved and intelligent. It didn't take much effort to teach them.

***

A few days after Su Family's sunflowers were harvested, Broker Chen came to the house with good news.

"You Jin, let me tell you, you will be satisfied with the shop this time!" Broker Chen jollily drank a big mouthful of sugar water and then told the good news he brought this time: "It's the grocery store behind the mobile stall where you sell sour plum soup. The family is leaving Luohe Prefecture. So they are in a hurry to sell the shop. As soon as I heard the news, I hurried to find you!"

"Shopkeeper Li’s store is for sale?" You Jin naturally remembered Li Er Shun. After all, she set up a stall selling sour plum soup in front of his store for a summer. "His business is doing well, why did he suddenly say he is going to sell the shop?"

Seeing that she really remembered, Broker Chen smiled: "The news came from Li Er Shun's hometown that his father was gone. He had to go back to pay his filial piety! He isn’t from our Luohe Prefecture. Now his age is high, he wants to return to his roots. So the idea of selling the shop and returning to his hometown came and this happened? As soon as I heard about it, I immediately went to Li Er Shun and asked him to reserve it. You must be satisfied!”

Although Li Er Shun's shop wasn’t big, it got a good location- located at the junction of the east and west of the city. Every day, there were thousand of people passing by the door of his shop. You Jin naturally likes this property. Although it was a little small, such a good location was rare. So she asked: "Then did shopkeeper Li say how much it will sell for?"

Shopkeeper Li didn't say a word, just showed two fingers. You Jin frowned when she saw this: "So expensive?"

She had seen other shops before. The ones that were about the same size as Li Er Shun's were only a hundred liang at most. Li Er Shun dared to ask for a price too!

Seeing her reaction, Broker Chen knew that she found it too expensive and hurriedly spoke: "Li Family's price is a bit higher. But if you really want it, I'll go talk to Shopkeeper Li. Give me your acceptable limit and I’ll discuss Shopkeeper Li. How about it?"

Broker Chen was originally entrusted this matter by You Jin and had watched Su Family make money. Naturally, he favored Su Family.

You Jin thought for a while before answering: "One hundred and sixty liang at most. Any more, forget it." Opening a snack required a lot of money in the early stage. Right now there were fourteen people in her family waiting to eat. She can't take that risk.

Broker Chen mulled for a while before nodding: "Sure. I'll go to the city to talk to Shopkeeper Li."

After saying that, he left in a hurry. The next day, he brought good news.

When Li Er Shun heard that it was the lass from Su Family who was going to buy his shop, he outright agreed to dropping from his initial one hundred and seventy liang. He sold his property that included a narrow backyard and two rooms to Su Family for one hundred and sixty.

Since Li Er Shun gave face, You Jin naturally accepted this favor. The money and goods were happily settled. Broker Chen was efficient in handling these affairs. After another day, he handed over the key and the red deed to You Jin. He even jokingly called You Jin Shopkeeper Su: "Shopkeeper Su, you have to take care of my business more in the future!"

You Jin felt a little embarrassed from his business. Still, there was a faint smile on her face: "In the future, there will be places to custom Uncle Chen’s business!"
 

***

Since the grocery store was to be converted into a snack store, most of the old furniture left by Li Er Shun was no longer needed. You Jin hired a bullock cart to bring all the usable furniture back to Su's house. Afterward, the store was renovated. The windows were pasted with bright paper and greatly increased the light in the store. A few walnut shelves were added and two pots of dwarf pine and begonias were placed in the corner. Compared with the previous dimly lit grocery store, it was really a world of difference.

Yu Lan’s characters were well written. You Jin asked her to write a sign for Su Family's snack shop. Then she asked a carpenter to make a new plaque and hung it outside the door with a piece of red cloth covering it. Once the day of opening arrives, it’ll be unveiled.

Su Family’s shop was about to open. You Jin had even more things to do. She bought beige and lotus-colored fine cotton fabrics back and told Yu Lan about her requirements. Afterward, she told her to lead a group to make two sets of narrow-sleeved tops and pleated skirts for Mrs. Su, You Jin, You Yin, You Zhu, and Er Ya trio. The words ‘Sujiaxiang’ were embroidered on the left chest of the tops.

‘Sujiaxiang’ was the name that You Jin chose for the snack shop.

Yu Lan got deft hands. The trio also knew some needlework. It was a quick process for the four of them to make clothes together. Once You Jin collected enough sweet-scented osmanthus, flour, peas, and other ingredients needed for making snacks and put them in the back room of the shop that was considered as the warehouse room, the clothes were all made. Yu Lan had used the leftover materials to make beautiful little jackets for the few girls in Su Family who didn't have workwear.

Mrs. Su inquired with Mrs. Zhao, whom she had the most contact with recently, about a nearby fortune teller who specializes in counting the day. Eighth day of November was an auspicious day.

In the blink of an eye, it was the fifth day. The whole family including the two little ones came to the shop to make final preparations. However, the shop of about 40 square meters was full of more than a dozen people. It was really a bit crowded.

On the snack shelf customized by You Jin, there was a bamboo plaque with Yu Lan’s writing of the name of the snack on the front of each grid. Yu Lan wrote the name of the snack in beautiful regular font. You Jin was very satisfied with it.

After a few months of tossing and voting within Su Family, there were eight kinds of snack that can finally be put on the shelves of Su Family's snack shop. Namely: Chrysanthemum Crisp, Jujube Mud Cake, Sweet Bean Pudding, Scholar Cake, Osmanthus Mung Bean Cake, Sweet-scented Osmanthus Red Bean Cake, Red Bean Paste Pancake, and Four-color Cake.

Chapter end