Chapter Six Going into Town

  The other two aunts got married and moved to the neighboring village years ago, and they rarely come back. At least Lin He has been here for so long, but except for seeing San Niang and the two kids, she hasn't seen any other relatives.

  On Lin He's side, there were two sons in the family. The elder son, who was now a big uncle, was named Huang Dashan. He had been married for many years and his eldest son was already 12 years old. His wife was also a kind and filial person. There was also a younger uncle who was only 8 years old. The whole family lived in harmony, and since they didn't have too many children, their life was considered quite good compared to ordinary farming families. The Huang family had only one daughter, and now that winter was approaching, Lin He's grandmother wanted her eldest son to send things to his daughter's home.

  Knowing that his daughter's family was struggling, and winter was approaching, he knew they were having a hard time. He brought some things over to help them out. Huang saw her big brother arrive and was overjoyed. She took the things off his shoulders and put them in the courtyard, then asked Lin He to go get a cup of water for her big brother-in-law to drink.

  "Hey big brother, why send so many things over again? You must be exhausted from the trip."

  My elder uncle smiled and said, "It's nothing tiring, it's not far either."

  Lin He poured a cup of water from the house and handed it to her eldest uncle-in-law, calling out in a crisp voice, "Eldest Uncle, drink some water."

  The big uncle patted Lin He's head and said "well-behaved". Da Bao and San Ya surrounded Big Uncle, obviously very fond of him.

  Huang also smiled and asked about some situations at home, "Are father and mother in good health? Was this year's harvest good? Have the nephews and nieces grown taller? Is little brother obedient?"

  The eldest uncle agreed, sat for a while and said he wanted to leave. Huang Shi asked him to stay for lunch before leaving, but the eldest uncle refused, saying he had to hurry back home because there was something at home.

  Huang took out the things in the frame, about five catties of cured meat, ten catties of white flour, two bolts of cloth, and dozens of catties of cornmeal and black flour. When he was about to leave, he took out 200 silver coins from his pocket and handed them to Huang. At first, Huang refused to accept them, but after Huang Dashan said something, Huang's face turned dark, and finally accepted the money.

  Huang Dashan stood there for a while before picking up the empty frame and leaving. Huang's wife watched her brother walk away in the distance, then turned around to look at the large pile of food and supplies in the courtyard. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt in her heart. After all these years of being married, they still had to rely on her family to get them through the winter every year. Although her family was doing alright, it wasn't a good solution for a married daughter to always have to rely on her parents for support. When would this life finally come to an end?

  At night, Lin He and Huang Shi were embroidering under the oil lamp. People here do not eat dinner at night. In the first few days after Lin He arrived, she was extremely unaccustomed to it. Every day when it was time to sleep, her stomach would ache with hunger. However, the regular meals at home were usually not enough to fill her up, let alone having dinner. But as time passed, she got used to eating only two meals a day and going to bed early.

  "Huang said to Lin He, 'Er Ya, tomorrow is the market day. You take San Ya and San Niang to the market to sell these embroideries, then buy three catties of lower-grade cotton back. Today, my elder brother-in-law sent over two bolts of cloth, which can be used to make a thin winter garment for each of you. This year, it seems that winter is coming earlier than usual and it's colder than before. If the children catch cold, it won't do.'" Lin He responded.

  The next morning, Lin He had breakfast and called San Ya to go to San Niang's house to plan to go to the market together. When they were about to leave, Xiao Bao, that little kid, made a fuss and also wanted to follow them.

  Lin He planned to take him, but Huang Shi disagreed, saying that on the day of the fair, there were many people, and Xiao Bao would run around again, and it would be impossible to keep an eye on him. Lin He coaxed him for a long time and said that later she would let the two little children from San Shu's house come over to play with him, and promised Xiao Bao that she would make him the meatballs she had made for him last time before he agreed. The "meatballs" Xiao Bao mentioned were actually Lin He's braised pork belly.

  When Lin He and San Ya arrived at the entrance of San Niang's house, Lin He called out "San Niang". San Niang Zhou Shi walked out, Zhou Shi was petite in stature, wearing a purple coarse linen jacket on her upper body and blue coarse linen pants on her lower body. Although they were quite worn out, they were very clean. Xiao Shan and Xiao Yun were also spotless, it could be seen that Zhou Shi was a woman who managed the household well. Unfortunately, in ancient times, even if a woman was capable, without a man, life would still be extremely difficult to get by.

  Zhou's hand was also holding a basket, and he was still saying to Xiaoshan "Take your sister home to play, don't go out."

  Lin He told Zhou Shi: "Let Xiao San bring Xiao Yun to my house to play with Xiao Bao, Xiao Bao is waiting at home, and my mother is also at home, she can take care of them."

  Zhou's eldest son Xiaoyan was also less than five years old, and Xiao Yun had just turned two. Leaving the two of them alone at home was indeed a bit worrisome, so he agreed.

  "Xiao Shan, you and your sister go to Erniang's house to play, I'll be back soon." Xiao Shan took his sister and left, passing by Lin He and San Ya, calling out "Sister".

  Lin He nodded and patted their heads, saying "Sister will bring you big buns to eat later." Xiaoshan and Xiaoyun quickly responded.

  Zhou Shi said with a sneer, "Er Ya, don't spoil them."

  Zhou Shi knew that Lin He's family was not doing well either, and they had to help them out from time to time. How could she bear to ask Lin He to spend money? Lin He understood San Niang's thoughts: "San Niang, let's go, or it will be dark soon."

  Zhou realized it was getting late and quickly pulled Lin He and San Ya to hurry up and move forward.

  When they walked to the market, it was indeed late. Mrs. Zhou hurriedly took them to the store and delivered the embroidery goods. Mrs. Zhou had ten embroideries, which were said to have been brought together this time because she didn't come to the market last time. Mrs. Zhou's ten embroideries earned a total of 50 big coins. The quality of Mrs. Zhou's embroidery was also very good.

  Lin Hejia had a total of 22 embroidery pieces, 12 of which were made by Huangshi, each selling for 5 cents. Lin He's own works numbered 10, one of which sold for 4 cents, while the others went for 3 cents each, earning a total of 91 cents.

  The owner of the embroidery shop praised Lin He saying "Little girl, your skills are getting better and better. If you can embroider every piece like this in the future, I'll pay you four cents each."

  Lin He sweetly responded with a "Ah, next time will definitely be even better."

  The boss smiled and Lin He and Zhou Shi followed the boss to take some more embroidery work back home.

  They were just about to leave the store when they saw the shop assistant move a sack out, which seemed to be full of scraps of cloth, very fragmented.

  "The rag collector hasn't come for several days, and this is all packed into a sack. Tomorrow there won't be any space left."

  Lin He walked over to take a look at the scraps of cloth. An idea was forming in her mind as she approached the boss and asked, "Boss, how do you sell these scraps of cloth?"

  The boss said "Do you want to buy?"

  Lin He nodded, and the boss smiled and said, "Little girl, if you want it, I'll sell it to you cheaply. This bag will cost you five cents."

  Lin He bought these scraps of cloth for five cents. She also promised the boss that she would leave some scraps for him next time, and she would come to pick them up again.

  Zhou didn't know what Lin He was going to use these scraps for and didn't say much as they walked out of the store, only asking her what was going on.

  Lin He said, "The weather has turned cold, and my mother told me to buy three catties of cotton wool to make winter clothes for the younger ones. However, three catties of cotton wool can't make four sets of winter clothes. I thought of buying some scraps of cloth to take back home, then twisting the scraps together with the cotton wool like making a quilt, so that we can make more cotton-padded jackets and save some money."

  He continued, "I saw others doing it like this last time I came to the collection. I don't know if I can do it successfully. If not, I'll just use these scraps as fire starters. Either way, they won't go to waste." Madam Zhou nodded in agreement.

  Lin He put the sack of rags aside and had San Ya guard it, then went with Zhou Shi to buy cotton. The cotton in this era was really expensive, the best cotton cost eighty cents a catty, which was top-grade cotton, mid-grade cotton cost fifty cents a catty, and low-grade cotton was twenty-five cents a catty, that is, the black cotton, which looked particularly bad but should still have some warmth effect.

  Lin He bought three catties of inferior cotton and went back. Madame Zhou saw it and also wanted to buy some cotton to make winter clothes for the two children, but she was short of money, only having fifty cents left from selling embroidery, and after buying cotton, there would be no more money to buy food, so she thought about it and gave up, going back to alter their old clothes for them to wear.

  Lin He looked at Zhou Shi's gloomy face and knew what she was thinking. "Third sister, don't worry, I'll go back and try to see if this cotton-padded jacket can be made smaller. If it works, I'll ask Mother to make one for Xiaoshan and Xiaoyun each." Zhou Shi nodded happily.