Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 40

Chapter 40

When they arrived home, Liu Xiufeng poured the contents of the money bag onto the table in the main room, the clinking sound of coins a cheerful sound.

Ye Xi asked her to help count the money, then took the fish to the courtyard, scaled them, removed the gills, and sliced open their bellies with a knife.

As expected, there were golden yellow fish roe inside, filling the belly cavity.

“Mother, these fish are full of roe! I’ll take them out and stir-fry them with pickled radish and chili peppers, a perfect dish to go with rice!” Ye Xi called out.

Liu Xiufeng, counting the copper coins in the main room, smiled and replied, “It’s been a while since we had fish roe. The fish we bought in town weren’t plump enough, no roe inside. Autumn fish roe is very nutritious, you should eat more later.”

After cleaning the fish, Ye Xi threw the inedible gills and internal organs into the chicken coop and took the fish to the kitchen.

He chopped the fish into even pieces on the chopping board, mixed two handfuls of home-dried sweet potato flour with water, and coated the fish pieces with it, rubbing it in carefully, to make the fish tender.

People in Shanxiu Village preferred spicy food, and they loved to use chopped chili peppers when cooking fish, mixing them with pickled red and green peppers and spicy wild peppers for seasoning.

He carefully chopped a bowl of red and green pickled peppers, adding half a bowl of fresh chopped chili peppers.

Ye Xi then went to the courtyard and picked a handful of patchouli leaves. These leaves had a unique flavor, a hint of fishiness. When they didn’t have fish, families would use these leaves to braise eggplant, giving it a fishy flavor.

He also added a handful of cilantro and a few perilla leaves.

After preparing the seasonings, he lit the fire in the kitchen. Ye Xi liked to coat the wok with a small piece of lard before adding the clear and golden vegetable oil.

The wok smoked, and when he added the chopped chili peppers, the spicy aroma filled the kitchen, making him cough.

After stir-frying the base ingredients, he added pickled mustard greens and ginger, then two ladles of water, covered the wok, and brought it to a boil.

Liu Xiufeng entered the kitchen excitedly. “Xi-ge’er, guess how much money we made from selling the fish?”

Ye Xi added firewood to the stove and smiled. “I’m not good at counting, Mother, just tell me.”

Liu Xiufeng held up eight fingers. “Eight qian of silver! Over eight hundred copper coins!”

Ye Xi didn’t expect it to be so much. “That’s enough for us to use for half a year, what a windfall!”

Liu Xiufeng clutched the money bag tightly, tied it securely, and handed it to Ye Xi, instructing him to keep it safe. “Your husband is capable, this is equivalent to our income from a whole season’s harvest.”

Ye Xi smiled and put away the money bag. “He also hunts pheasants and other game. If he’s lucky and catches one or two, that’s also over a hundred wen. He must have saved seven or eight qian of silver these past few days.”

Liu Xiufeng was relieved that the young couple were good at saving money and had accumulated some savings, so they would have money for emergencies.

“Then I don’t have to worry about you two anymore. You have income from the fields, and your husband can also fish and hunt, you’re living a good life. Now it just depends on when you’ll have a chubby baby, so your father and I can have a grandchild to hold.”

Ye Xi lowered his gaze, slightly embarrassed. “It’s harder for young men to conceive than young women, it depends on fate.”

Liu Xiufeng comforted him. “You’ve only been married for a few months, there’s no rush. Your husband is good to you, he won’t pressure you, just let nature take its course.”

Ye Xi nodded. The broth in the wok was boiling. He got up to lift the lid, and Liu Xiufeng sat in front of the stove to tend the fire for him.

He added the golden-fried fish pieces coated in sweet potato flour to the red oil broth and gently stirred them with a spatula. “Mother, have you prepared everything for Brother’s wedding?”

Liu Xiufeng replied, “Almost everything. We asked Wang the mattress maker in the village to make two quilts, filled with this year’s cotton. And we hired Fatty from the next village to be the chef, he was the chef for your wedding feast, so we’re giving him a discount this time, ten wen less.”

Ye Xi stirred the fish in the wok and asked, “What about the menu?”

“Eight dishes, one less than your wedding feast, but five meat dishes, two cold dishes, and one hot soup. No worse than other families in the village, won’t embarrass your brother, and will make Ran-guniang from the Li family happy.”

His mother was well-organized and had everything planned, so he didn’t need to ask any further.

After simmering the fish for a while, he added the patchouli and perilla leaves and scooped out the fish with a spatula.

Just as he was stir-frying the fish roe with pickled radish and green pepper segments, Lin Jiangshan and the others returned. As soon as they entered the courtyard, Ye Shan sniffed the air. “So fragrant! It’s my Xi-ge’er’s cooking!”

Ye Xi, hearing his voice from the kitchen, wiped his hands with his apron and smiled. “Brother, can you even distinguish my cooking from others’?”

Ye Shan helped Lin Jiangshan spread the fishing net in the courtyard to dry and remove the mud and sand. “Every family in the village is probably cooking fish today, but on our way back, no one’s cooking smelled as good as ours, right, brother-in-law?”

Lin Jiangshan agreed, praising his husband’s cooking without hesitation. “My husband’s cooking skills are excellent. I’ve gained a few catties since we got married, all thanks to his delicious food.”

Their combined praise made Ye Xi slightly embarrassed. He brought out a large basin of fish and said, “If you keep praising me, I won’t serve dinner.”

They set up the table in the courtyard and sat down to eat. It wasn’t dark yet, and the cool breeze made the meal even more enjoyable.

As they were eating, Village Chief Zhou came to visit, calling out from the fence gate, “I came at a bad time, interrupting your dinner!”

The Ye family looked up, and Father Ye put down his chopsticks and greeted him, “Village Chief, come in and talk, have you eaten yet? We can add another pair of chopsticks for you.”

Village Chief Zhou waved his hand and smiled. “I’ve eaten, my wife made noodles tonight with sour soup, and I had two large bowls, I’m still full.”

Liu Xiufeng brought out a bowl of tea and a stool. “Sit here, have some tea to moisten your throat.”

Village Chief Zhou entered the courtyard, took the teacup, and sat down. He had been the village chief of Shanxiu Village for seven or eight years, fair and just, and the villagers respected and obeyed him.

Father Ye asked, “It’s rare for you to visit our house, is there something you need?”

Village Chief Zhou took a sip of tea and swallowed before saying slowly, “I came to offer you a job. The government wants to build a new official road outside the village. Two government officials came to inform me the other day, saying that any able-bodied men in the village are welcome to join, helping transport bluestone slabs and dig ditches.”

“That’s good news, Village Chief, what are the wages?” Father Ye asked.

Village Chief Zhou held up three fingers. “Thirty wen a day, with lunch provided.”

This was a generous offer. Working as a laborer in town, carrying sandbags and beams, only earned twenty wen a day.

After he finished speaking, Ye Shan put down his bowl and said, “Village Chief, I’m willing to go.”

Lin Jiangshan also said, “Me too.”

Village Chief Zhou smiled. “I came to your family first because I know you two young men are reliable and hardworking. I know Shan-xiaozi and Lin-xiaozi are both diligent and willing to endure hardship, you won’t cut corners and disgrace our Shanxiu Village when working for the government.”

Father Ye thanked him. “Thank you for thinking of us, Village Chief, these two lads will definitely do a good job.”

“With your words, I’m relieved. Shan-xiaozi is about to get married, right?” Village Chief Zhou had heard from his wife, and they would be coming to congratulate them.

Ye Shan smiled shyly. “Yes, at the end of this month.”

Village Chief Zhou nodded. “Good lad, work hard for half a month, earn some money to buy your new wife some new clothes or jewelry. It’s not easy for her to marry you.”

Ye Shan said, “I will, Village Chief, please come to our wedding feast, and I’ll offer you two bowls of wine.”

Village Chief Zhou still had to inform other families, so he couldn’t stay long. After a few more words of instruction, he left.

It was late autumn, almost winter, and the farm work was mostly done, and there wasn’t much work in town either. The opportunity to work on the official road construction was a pleasant surprise.

Liu Xiufeng smiled. “That’s great, as long as the men in the family are willing to work, we won’t have to worry about money.”

Ye Shan happily thought about buying a new cotton-padded coat for his future wife with the money he earned. She was fair-skinned, with gentle eyes, and she would look beautiful in a bright purple coat!

After dinner at the Ye family’s house, Ye Xi and Lin Jiangshan walked home slowly along the path.

Lin Jiangshan’s large hand held Ye Xi’s hand tightly, warming his palm. “It’s getting cold, your fingertips are cold.”

Ye Xi felt the warmth from his hand and couldn’t help but squeeze his palm.

“Are you really going to work on the official road construction with my brother?”

Lin Jiangshan agreed.

Ye Xi couldn’t help but feel distressed. “The autumn harvest just ended, you’ve been planting winter wheat for several days, and you’ve been busy chopping firewood and hunting these past few days, without any rest, and now you have to work again.”

Lin Jiangshan smiled. “I’m a young and strong man, if I don’t work hard now, when will I? I have to earn more and save up so we can live a better life in the future. Don’t worry, just make sure I have delicious food to eat every day!”

Ye Xi nodded. “Then don’t worry about home, I’ll take care of everything, stock up on food, neither of us will hold the other back.”

When they arrived home, they opened the courtyard gate, and the fawn was already waiting there, greeting them docilely. Ye Xi went to the kitchen, washed a carrot, and fed it to the fawn, which took it gently and went back under the eaves to chew on it.

Before turning off the lights, Ye Xi poured out the copper coins they earned from selling fish and counted them one by one under the oil lamp. There were already two pieces of silver and a few smaller pieces in their savings jar.

“We’ve saved some more money, a total of ten taels and three qian now,” Ye Xi said, carefully putting the money into the jar, then taking out a few hundred copper coins and putting them into the money bag.

“We’ll save the silver to buy land or livestock in the future, and this is for our daily expenses, enough for food and other necessities. We’ll probably need to spend a few qian of silver on New Year’s goods closer to the New Year.”

Ye Xi meticulously calculated their household expenses. “In the twelfth lunar month, we can sell the chickens and ducks in town, that will be another source of income. We’ll keep the pigs for a while longer, until they’re fatter, then sell them, otherwise, we’ll lose money.”

Lin Jiangshan sat beside him, watching his little miser of a husband chatter and calculate endlessly, finally losing his patience. He lifted Ye Xi into his arms, blew out the lamp, and threw him onto the bed.