Carefree Farmwife: Training the Husband, Raising the Bun - Chapter 36

Ying Su took in the scene before her and said to Madam Li and Liu Chuncao beside her, “I’ll handle the rest later. You two should rest for now.”

She took out a silver needle and pricked the blister on Huzi’s burned hand. Pus flowed out in streams. The little bun’s face scrunched up tight in pain, but he stubbornly held back and didn’t say a word.

Ying Su crushed some herbs and applied them to the wound. Stroking his head, she smiled and said, “Baby, well done! But, you know, don’t bottle it up in the future. If it hurts, say it. If you want to cry, cry. Life is short, so you should live more freely.” She didn’t want her little bun to live too sensibly, hurting yet never saying a word.

The little bun’s soft and adorable face showed clear disapproval. “Mommy, I’m not a three-year-old child anymore. This bit of pain will pass if I endure it. A true man bleeds but doesn’t shed tears. I won’t cry!”

After speaking, he even pulled a face at Dazhuang. Remembering how he had just bawled his eyes out earlier, Dazhuang instantly felt embarrassed, his little cheeks turning bright red.

“Stubborn! Men are also made of flesh and blood, not iron,” Ying Su said, pinching her son’s fair, tender cheeks. As for his education, she thought it best to raise him naturally, but she definitely didn’t want her son to be shackled by the thinking of an old-fashioned man.

When the little bun got burned earlier, Ying Su had been so distressed she had rushed up the mountain for herbs without a second thought. Now that he was fine, she could finally relax.

She placed the Jianyang butterflies she had brought back in a cool, shaded spot, then rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and began the final step of making candied hawthorn.

She had already thought of a method for building a drying room. Without modern machinery, she could only construct a simple version by hand. Fortunately, when she was abroad, she had once seen a foreigner’s drying room, so relying on memory, she could more or less piece one together.

The drying room resembled the shade houses used in Xinjiang for making raisins, except those had many small holes and relied on sunlight, while Ying Su’s version was built with wood and stone, plastered tightly with yellow clay, and heated with fire.

It wasn’t big, about one square meter, but since she wasn’t producing in bulk, that was more than enough.

Madam Li and Liu Chuncao had no idea how to build such a thing, so they couldn’t help much. They simply watched in amazement as Ying Su tinkered and assembled a little house. Later, when they saw her set up a fire underneath, at last they found something they could help with. Madam Li quickly rushed over to tend the fire.

The temperature had to be kept between sixty and seventy degrees. At first, Ying Su worried Madam Li wouldn’t be able to control it well, but when she saw how evenly Madam Li managed the flames, not too hot, not too cold, exactly as needed, she let her continue.

The little bun and Dazhuang had never seen a drying room before, so they found it fascinating and stayed nearby watching. Ying Su warned them to stand farther back, afraid they might get hurt again.

After about an hour of drying, Ying Su told Madam Li to put out the fire.

Seeing the candied fruit was nearly finished, Madam Li, Liu Chuncao, and the two children all stared anxiously at the little drying house. Even Ying Su wasn’t entirely confident. After all, the limitations of this era meant there was no freeze-dryer or other machinery to quickly remove moisture.

She opened the drying room and took out the bright red candied hawthorn. A sweet, fragrant aroma instantly spread out, making everyone’s spirits leap. Ying Su turned the fruit over twice, and once the heat subsided a bit, she picked up a piece and popped it into her mouth.

Though the taste couldn’t compare to the candied fruit she had eaten in her previous life, for this time period, it was already quite good. Next, she just needed to put some thought into packaging. 

Once the weather grew hotter, the nobles from the capital would surely come to Yuntai Mountain to burn incense and escape the heat. That would be the perfect time to make a profit.

Ying Su knew how to make glass, and storing candied fruit in glass jars would preserve it best. But “a commoner with jade invites trouble,” without the power to protect such a skill, she didn’t plan to reveal it.

She could only find a way to have carpenters make some finely crafted wooden boxes. But with the summer heat, she wasn’t sure if the candied fruit would spoil.

After Ying Su tasted it, Liu Chuncao and Madam Li each tried some too. Both said it was delicious, though Madam Li felt it was a bit sour. At her age, her teeth weren’t strong, and sour foods made them ache.

But since the candied fruit was meant for young masters and misses as a snack, Ying Su felt this flavor was just right, sweet and tangy, sure to be popular among the youth.

Dazhuang and Huzi stood nearby, staring longingly. Finding it adorable, Ying Su fetched a bowl from the kitchen and served them a portion. 

Perhaps because children rarely had sweets, both of them loved it, asking for more after finishing. But hawthorn was a cooling fruit, and children’s stomachs were delicate. Afraid it would harm them, Ying Su didn’t let them have more.

Before sunset, Li Dalang returned, driving the ox cart. His face was glowing with joy. As soon as he saw Ying Su, he jumped down excitedly and handed the rope in his hand to Liu Chuncao before hurrying over to her.

“Our master agreed! Tomorrow I’m going to bring the wheelchair over. Today, he already had me bring back fifty taels!” Li Dalang’s face showed an expression as if in a dream, as though fifty taels was a sum he had never even dared imagine.

From his chest, he pulled out silver wrapped layer upon layer in cloth, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

Madam Li and Liu Chuncao both fixed their eyes on the bundle. When Li Dalang unwrapped it, revealing the silver within, four ingots of ten taels and another ten taels in loose silver, totaling fifty taels, their jaws nearly dropped.

They looked as though they had never seen so much silver in their lives. The little bun’s big black eyes shone brightly, staring at his mother with adoration. Ying Su curved her lips into a smile, a glimmer flashing in her phoenix eyes. She had already guessed this would be the outcome. 

First, because Li Dalang’s shopkeeper had already accepted the deposit. Second, because the shopkeeper surely wanted to save face against his competitors. And third, since Master Zhao had already given fifty taels as a deposit, she was certain the final payment for the wheelchair would not be less than another fifty.

With this fifty taels, she could soon settle the matter of building a house, and she could also pursue other ventures, giving her little bun a comfortable environment to grow up in. She also wanted to send him to school. She didn’t expect him to win official titles through the exams, but literacy and learning were absolutely necessary.

Even now, though she was an assassin, her knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary people. Learning improved a person’s overall qualities, broadened perspective, and kept one’s thinking from being trapped in a narrow corner.