Yang Zhaodi extinguished the open flame in the stove and covered it with a special lid, allowing the remaining charcoal to provide more sustained heating.
The house was drafty on all sides, so Zhao Zheng didn't worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.
Immediately, Zhang Xiaoe placed a pottery jar filled with hot water at Zhao Zheng's feet.
Yang Zhaodi then blew out the candles, and she and Zhang Xiaoe took off their outer clothes and slid into the mattress.
However, the two of them only took up a small portion of the mattress, leaving plenty of room in the middle.
It wasn't a big deal; in winter, people in the countryside slept on large bunk beds for warmth. Otherwise, they might not survive the winter.
Even so, people still froze to death on cold nights every year.
"It's so warm, sister-in-law!" Zhang Xiaoe not only ate large white steamed buns made from fine flour today, but also slept in a bed. There was even firewood to heat the room. It was like a dream.
Didn't Yang Zhaodi feel unreal?
Her father-in-law had changed so much that it made her feel unreal.
"Father-in-law, we're out of food. Sister Yueying from the same village has recommended us for laboring at Master Zhong's house in the township. We should go early and come back early, so we'll have food." Yang Zhaodi was still nervous. Her father-in-law was very conservative and didn't allow women to be seen in public, saying it would bring shame to the Zhao family .
Seeing her father-in-law remain silent, she quickly changed her tone, saying, "Then I won't go. I'll go back to my parents' house tomorrow to borrow some food..."
Zhang Xiao'e didn't dare to interrupt; she held the lowest position in the family.
In the darkness, Zhao Zheng sighed softly, "Master Zhong is not a good person. Working as a laborer for him would only make them take advantage of you. Don't go."
"As for borrowing food from your parents' house, that's even worse. I've refused them before. How can I have the nerve to eat the Yang family's food?"
Without waiting for Yang Zhaodi to speak, he continued, "I'll take care of the food problem. Zhaodi, Xiao'e, life will get better and better. We'll have bread and milk."
With that, he turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
"Sister-in-law, what is bread?" Zhang Xiao'e whispered in her sister-in-law's ear. "It sounds delicious!"
"You greedy little cat," Yang Zhaodi said, hugging her sister-in-law. "Go to sleep! We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
She sighed inwardly. Sure enough, her father-in-law was still as concerned about his reputation as before, not allowing them to be seen in public.
She made up her mind. If all else failed, she would go back and borrow food, even at the risk of being beaten.
Now that her husband was gone, she must fulfill her filial duty on his behalf and take good care of her sister-in-law.
This family must not be broken up!
...
The next day, when Zhao Zheng woke up, his two daughters-in-law gave him the last bit of porridge in the house.
In their words, their father-in-law was the pillar of the family, so he must eat more.
Zhao Zheng was deeply moved.
What filial daughters-in-law!
She was determined to give them a good life in the future.
Immediately, he secretly sold over ten catties of firewood piled nearby and bought three catties of rice from the market.
Pretending to take the rice out of the store, he called Yang Zhaodi in. "I was so tired coming home last night that I forgot to tell you two I traded some rice yesterday!"
Zhang Xiaoe's eyes glazed over as she gazed at the white rice, a somewhat naive expression of innocence. "Rice, such white rice!"
Yang Zhaodi exclaimed in disbelief, "Father-in-law, a catty of rice is so expensive right now!"
Zhao Zheng's prefecture was severely affected by the disaster and relied entirely on imperial relief.
Even so, the price of a catty of coarse rice had risen to nine wen, seven or eight times higher than in previous years.
Even at this price, demand still outstripped supply.
Zhao Zheng didn't explain, simply stating that the system market price was two wen per catty.
Of course, there were also special offers of rice costing several hundred wen per catty.
"I know. Make all this rice into rice." He couldn't eat any of the dried vegetable
pancakes.
"Father-in-law, make us some porridge, it'll last us two or three days." Yang Zhaodi thought it was too extravagant.
With three people in the family, two meals a day would last them two days. Now in this famine, if they only had one meal a day, they'd last three or four days.
"Listen to me. Eat well so you have the strength to work." Zhao Zheng picked up his hatchet and went to the yard to sharpen it. He had used this broken hatchet for almost ten years, and it was almost worn out from all the sharpening.
When he had money, he would definitely buy a good, sharp knife.
Yang Zhaodi finished cooking the rice and sent Zhang Xiaoe to close the gate. Everyone was starving now, and if they saw the Zhao family eating rice, they would definitely be jealous.
Furthermore, the source of this rice was very suspicious, and Yang Zhaodi worried. He couldn't buy such good rice just by chopping wood.
"Father-in-law, it's cooked!" Zhang Xiaoe couldn't wait to call Zhao Zheng.
Closing the door, Zhao Zheng looked at the snow-white rice in the earthenware pot and nodded.
After serving each of the two women a large bowl of rice, he served himself.
"Eat,"
he said, and only then did the two women dare to pick up their chopsticks.
The side dish was a pickle made from wild plantain and coarse salt, slightly bitter, sour, and salty. Zhao Zheng forced himself to eat it, as lack of salt would make him weak from physical work.
"Eat until you're full. Save the rest for lunch. Don't skimp on it."
Zhao Zheng put the hatchet in his backpack and walked out.
Yang Zhaodi hurriedly escorted Zhao Zheng to the door. "Father-in-law, don't go too far. Yesterday afternoon, the villagers came to the village and said there were tigers eating people over on Zhuzui Mountain."
Zhao Zheng nodded. Even the two taels of meat he had wasn't enough for a tiger to feast on. Unless he held the Equality of All Beings,
he wouldn't consider hunting tigers.
As he left the house, the sky was gloomy, the wind howled, and it looked like snow was coming. If it snowed, it would mean the end of the drought, but also the beginning of the most difficult days for the people. His provincial capital might freeze to death.
Tightening his clothes, Zhao Zheng walked towards Jinji Mountain. The place where he chopped firewood yesterday had been cleared out. The land with firewood was owned by someone else.
Jinji Mountain was very remote and gloomy. Because it was close to Zhuzui Mountain, man-eating beasts often appeared there, and many people were unwilling to take risks.
But Zhao Zheng was almost dying, so why would
he care about wild beasts? If he really found a wild beast, he would hold the axe in his hand and let it see what a terrifying upright ape was.
He walked for almost two hours before he reached his destination.
At this moment, a yellow shadow whizzed past him.
What the hell?
"Weasel?"
Zhao Zheng gave chase, but after a short while, the cunning creature vanished.
He searched the weeds but couldn't find it.
He roared in anger, but just then, his foot detected something. Looking down, Zhao Zheng was overjoyed. "So you're here!"
He saw a yellow and white weasel caught in a rusty animal trap, its leg broken.
Because Jinji Mountain is home to many wild animals, hunters often set traps and snares here.
Fortunately, the trap had been activated, otherwise he would have been in for a tetanus vaccination.
He weighed the animal and estimated it to be about five or six pounds. After removing the skin, it should be enough for a full meal for the whole family.
[Ding, captured wild weasel!]
[Ding, 90% new, ninth-grade weasel fur, valued at 120 wen, deposit/sell?]
[Ding, four pounds of weasel meat, valued at 60 wen, deposit/sell?]