flstandardbreds Chapter 178 Helping Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma Establish Authority
Chapter 178 Helping Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma Establish Authority
The plump woman and man in the kitchen, along with a slightly older woman, worked so fast they sparked as they wrapped wontons, finally feeding the twenty-odd people in front of them.
When it came time to pay the bill, the twenty-seven people had eaten a total of seventy-two bowls of wontons. Da Niu alone ate five bowls. If you can't imagine how much she ate, let's put it another way: Uncle Ma, who hadn't eaten all day, only ate three bowls. And judging from her smug expression, she still seemed hungry. Liu offered her another bowl, but she waved it off. So, it's unclear whether she was truly full or not.
On the way back, Zhang Youtie and Uncle Ma drove the mule cart, with Aunt Ma, Liu Shi, and Xia Yu still sitting in the back. Another oxcart was driven by a man, with ten children crammed onto it. The rest of the people were scattered on either side of the oxcart, carefully protecting the children in their respective carts. Liu Shi peeked out and called eleven-year-old Da Niu and thirteen-year-old Shuan Zhu onto the mule cart. The reason she called these two wasn't because Liu Shi had an overflowing maternal instinct.
These two children weren't very old, but they were a bit older than the other children on the oxcart, so they didn't get on. Another reason was that neither of them had a mother; the other children all had their mothers protecting them, while these two teenagers stumbled along behind the oxcart, looking extremely disheveled. Liu was also a mother, and these two children weren't much older than her own, so she couldn't bear to see them like this.
After walking for more than an hour, the group finally arrived at Zhangjia Village. Because it was winter, it got dark early, and everyone in the village had already locked their doors and stayed indoors to keep warm. So, although there were quite a few of them, no one noticed them.
Upon arriving home, Zhang Youtie and Uncle Ma led the people directly to the pond. The lame couple were uneasy seeing that Zhang Youtie's family had suddenly bought dozens of people, as they were still occupying a room. The lame wife wanted to talk to Aunt Ma about this, but after looking around, she couldn't find her. Watching Zhang Youtie and Uncle Ma busy arranging the people, she knew they wouldn't understand her sign language, so she could only stand helplessly to the side, watching everyone work.
Liu and Aunt Ma were tidying up. Although there was a kang (heated brick bed), everyone needed a blanket. Liu dug out all the old cotton quilts and mattresses from the house.
Among these people were three couples; two couples brought two children, and the other couple brought one child. Of the remaining four women, one mother-in-law and daughter-in-law brought two children (a boy and a girl), and the two sisters-in-law brought three children (two boys and a girl). Since these were all family units, it was easy to divide the bedding among them; each family had one set of bedding and one room. If there wasn't enough space for everyone, there was plenty of straw in the yard; just grab a handful, spread it on the kang (heated brick bed), and then put a sheet on top—that would be enough for everyone to sleep on.
It's just a pity for Gao Shuanzhu and Da Niu, both of them are all alone. Are they going to each have their own room? There are rooms available, but they are still just kids, and Liu Shi is a little worried.
After thinking for a while, they couldn't come up with a good solution, so they decided to let each of them have their own room. However, this meant they didn't have enough bedding. Later, Aunt Ma suggested that one quilt per person would be enough, and they could use half as a blanket and half as a cover. Alternatively, she could give them an extra sheet, and use straw as a mattress. That was agreed upon.
It took the group two or three trips to finally carry all the bedding over. They'd rest today, their first day, and would start work early tomorrow morning; they could deal with any missing items then. As for which family would stay in which room, Aunt Ma would arrange that.
After leaving the remaining tasks to Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma, Zhang Youtie, Liu Shi, and Xia Yu went back first. All that was left was the allocation of rooms and bedding, which Aunt Ma could handle. Moreover, the whole family decided to appoint Uncle Ma as the housekeeper, in charge of all household affairs. The women's affairs were then entrusted to Aunt Ma's management; doing so also helped Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma establish their authority in front of the newcomers.
Back home, Liu boiled a large pot of water, and the family members each had a foot bath basin, sitting around a charcoal basin in the main room to soak their feet.
"Ah...!" Zhang Youtie sighed comfortably as he dipped his feet into the basin of water. "After running around all day, soaking my feet in hot water at night feels so good."
"Dad, have you ever thought about coming back after a long day to take a hot bath?" Xia Yu asked his father, thinking about the bathroom that would be the first thing to be added when building a house after the New Year.
"A hot bath? Of course I'd like to, but it's always inconvenient to take a bath in winter. It's too cold, and you can easily catch a cold," Zhang Youtie said after thinking for a moment after hearing his daughter's words.
"Dad, why don't we build a warm and cozy house? I've heard that many wealthy families have heated walls and underfloor heating. When we build our house next year, why don't we learn to build one too?"
"Okay, we'll do whatever you say, daughter." Hearing Xia Yu say that, Zhang Youtie knew what she meant, so he immediately agreed.
"Xiaxia, I'm thinking of having Daniu be your personal maid. What do you think?" Madam Liu said, looking at her daughter.
"Huh? A personal maid? Mother, I think we should forget about it. You don't even have a personal maid, why would I need one?" Xia Yu shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum when she heard her mother say that.
The thought of having someone follow her around every day, even sharing a room with her at night, gave her a headache. She had a spatial ability; how could she work inside if a maid was constantly with her? No way, absolutely not.
Seeing her daughter shaking her head so vigorously, Madam Liu was afraid she might have strained her neck. She smiled and said, "Being called a personal maid is really just about taking care of your daily needs; she's not really sticking to you every day." She knew her daughter's situation perfectly well.
"Let's not use it yet. She just arrived, and we don't know what kind of personality she has. Let's see how it goes," Xia Yu said, still somewhat resistant.
"Yes, we should wait a while before making a decision. That's what I'm thinking. Let's observe for a while and see what kind of temperament this girl has."
At this point, Xia Yu suddenly remembered something she had wanted to ask at the brokerage earlier that day, but there were too many people and she didn't get a chance to speak.
"Father, Mother, why were these families sold together? Even if there was a disaster in their area, they would only sell one or two people, like Daniu. How could the whole family be sold?"
Hearing her daughter ask this, Madam Liu glanced at Zhang Youtie before answering.
"These families were actually fleeing famine. Their prefecture was under the jurisdiction of the Prince of Ding'an. This summer, the harvest was poor, but instead of reducing the taxes levied on the Prince of Ding'an's territory, they increased them. They had hoped to survive the year with the autumn harvest, but a hailstorm the size of bowls before the harvest destroyed all their crops. The Prince of Ding'an not only did not provide disaster relief, but also increased the autumn harvest taxes. Those who still had some savings felt they could not stay there any longer, so they took their families and left. But as soon as they left their prefecture, they encountered bandits, and most of their property was looted. Later, unable to continue, they sold themselves to a brokerage firm. Somehow, these people were resold to our side. Otherwise, they would not have been able to come all the way here from all over the country."
Hearing what Liu said, Xia Yu still felt somewhat confused, so she asked again.
"Mother, how do you know all this?"
“Oh, you silly girl, you always have to get to the bottom of things. We heard about their increased taxes when we were collecting taxes here, and the broker mentioned it just now. Combining these two things, it’s easy to guess,” Liu said to her daughter with a hint of helplessness.
"Mom, you never told me any of this, how would I know!" Xia Yu pouted and said somewhat dissatisfied.
However, in this era, news was transmitted entirely by word of mouth among traveling merchants and travelers, so if you didn't pay special attention, you really wouldn't know anything.