Liu'er forced a smile and said to Juhua, "If there aren't any, then never mind. Are you going home? I'm heading to Meizi's house, so I'll walk with you for a bit." As she spoke, she glanced resentfully at Qingmu and helped Juhua lift the bamboo basket.
Juhua had no choice but to say to Qingmu, "Brother, I'm heading home now. Make sure you come back early tonight!"
Qingmu stared uneasily at Liu'er, wondering what she really wanted with Juhua. He replied casually, "Yeah, I know! You should hurry home and eat."
Liu'er and Juhua left the ancestral hall's main courtyard and headed west. Juhua remained silent, waiting for Liu'er to be the one to speak.
Liu'er kept trying to work up her courage, but she just couldn't bring herself to speak. Seeing they were about to part ways, she grew anxious and stopped in her tracks, pleading with Juhua, "Juhua, I… I… It's like this…"
She stammered and hesitated for a long while before finally steeling her resolve and saying, "Juhua, I really like your brother. But my mother is obsessed with money and insists on marrying me into a wealthy family. I'm at my wit's end! Can you please pass a message to your brother for me?"
Juhua just watched her quietly, saying nothing.
"Juhua?" Liu'er prompted anxiously when she didn't respond.
Juhua sighed and said softly, "Sister Liu'er, you said it yourself just now. Your mother is obsessed with money. And our family is very poor!"
Tears streamed down Liu'er's face. "Can't your brother think of a way?"
Juhua gave a bitter laugh. "What could he possibly do?" 'After all, Zhang Huai already went to your house to propose, and he was completely rebuffed.'
Seeing that Juhua wouldn't yield, Liu'er took a green sachet from her sleeve and held it out. "Then could you at least give this to your brother? I… I made it just for him."
Juhua quickly took a step back and said sternly, "Sister Liu'er, this isn't a good idea! If your mother finds out… I don't know if she'd beat you to death, but she would definitely come and raise hell with my mother."
'Sigh! This girl is so naive! How can she be so sure my brother would even accept her sachet?'
When Liu'er saw that Juhua was completely unwilling to help, she couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears.
Juhua sighed. "Sister Liu'er, I really can't help you. This will only make things more complicated. I think you'd have better luck trying to persuade your mother. It's always easier to discuss things within the family, isn't it?"
Liu'er covered her face and sobbed, "She doesn't care about me at all. I… I'm out of options!"
'Then how could an outsider possibly help? Does she expect him to elope with her? Although Juhua felt very sorry for her, her own family had a mountain of problems. What right did she have to get involved in someone else's?'
Liu'er cried for a moment, then wiped her tears with a handkerchief and said softly to Juhua, "I'll be going now." Before Juhua could reply, she turned and trotted away.
Watching her retreating figure, Juhua sighed. 'Being beautiful has its own troubles. If she were a bit plainer, her mother probably wouldn't have such schemes!'
Suddenly, she was no longer bothered by her own appearance, having truly let go of the matter. If she were also very beautiful, perhaps her parents wouldn't be greedy like Liu'er's mother, but who knew what other kinds of trouble that might attract?
She hurried home with her basket. From a distance, she saw Zheng Changhe emerge from the courtyard to meet her. He looked her over cautiously, his face wreathed in a smile, and asked, "Did you get it delivered? Hurry in and eat. Your mother's back home too!"
Just as he spoke, Yang Family also ran out, took the basket from her hand and shoved it into Zheng Changhe's, and pulled her daughter close, asking with a smile, "Were there many people at the ancestral hall? Any idea how many days the work will take?"
Juhua couldn't help but smile. 'They're both worried I might have been humiliated, but Mom is so much more tactful than Dad with her questions.' Seeing them so concerned, however, only filled her heart with warmth.
Once they were in the courtyard, she told her parents, "Dad, Mom! I'm fine. I even traded for a soft-shelled turtle! Everyone loved my cooking, and I promised to bring more to share tomorrow. A man named Big Mouth Zhao gave me this turtle in exchange—he said they're very nourishing. And Li Changxing said he'll bring me some eels the next time he catches any!"
Juhua held out the soft-shelled turtle for her parents to see.
Then she said to Zheng Changhe, "Dad, can you butcher this turtle for me? I'll stew it in the clay pot later. I promise, you'll be asking for seconds!" After a moment, she added, "And don't throw anything away except for the guts."
She was afraid Zheng Changhe might throw out the shell and other parts. People here were focused on eating the meat itself; bones didn't sell for much, and fatty meat was prized even more than lean. If he butchered the turtle with that mindset, there wouldn't be much left of it.