Carefree Farmwife: Training the Husband, Raising the Bun - Chapter 38

Li Dalang naturally agreed without hesitation. He had always wanted to learn woodworking from Ying Su, but since he was a man, he felt embarrassed to ask directly. Now that Ying Su had taken the initiative to ask him for help, he could conveniently learn some craftsmanship along the way. He was inwardly delighted.

As for the boxes, Ying Su thought it would be best to make them in two styles: square and rectangular. The corners should all be rounded so children wouldn’t accidentally hurt themselves while holding them.

She planned to launch two types of packaging. One would be aimed at children, carved with various cute cartoon animals or characters. Since hawthorn can harm the stomach if eaten in excess, the capacity of this box would be the smallest.

The other type would target young ladies and young masters. The outside would be carved with flowers and plants, giving off a sense of refined elegance. She would even pair it with a few famous poems. By then, it would certainly appear cultured and classy. Just carrying such a box alone would be prestigious.

Ying Su briefly explained her ideas to Li Dalang. He listened with wide-eyed amazement, rubbing his hands, at a loss for words. After hesitating for a long while, he finally said, “The cute animal carvings you mentioned, I… I don’t know how to do those… Flowers and plants I can manage though. I see them often on the mountain, like foxtail grass, morning glories, that sort of thing…”

“…” Ying Su pressed her fingers to her forehead and drew in a deep breath. “For now, just focus on making the boxes. As for the carvings, I’ll draw the designs tomorrow. We’ll carve them then.”

At the mention of design drawings, Li Dalang instantly let out a sigh of relief. He shifted his gaze to the wooden box Ying Su was working on, then suddenly asked, “You know how to draw designs?”

Ying Su only arched her brows in response, not even lifting her phoenix eyes as she gave a small nod.

At that moment, Li Dalang felt an odd sense arise in his heart. It seemed as if the Shen Cuihua standing before him didn’t belong to this village. The feeling confused him. Though it had been some time, he still remembered when his mother had bought Shen Cuihua to marry his Second Brother for the sake of dispelling ill fortune. Back then, she had been timid, shrinking, barely able to string words together.

But now, it was as if she had completely changed into another person, capable of anything, more competent than a man like him. It seemed nothing in this world could stump her.

If Shen Cuihua had always been like this, how could she have ever fallen into a matchmaker’s hands?

Li Dalang stared at Ying Su’s face, dazed for a moment. Ying Su noticed his gaze fixed on her and frowned, her willow-shaped brows revealing a hint of impatience.

Startled, Li Dalang quickly looked away and focused earnestly on her hands. Before long, Ying Su had finished making a wooden box. After smoothing it with a planer, its surface was perfectly sleek, looking rather decent.

Li Dalang wasn’t a poor woodworker to begin with, so he copied the model Ying Su made. Ying Su had prepared three sizes: enough to hold one tael, three taels, and five taels of candied hawthorn.

By the time Liu Chuncao called them for dinner, Ying Su and Li Dalang had already made twenty wooden boxes of various sizes. Seeing them go to such lengths to make wooden boxes just for holding candied fruit, Liu Chuncao and Madam Li couldn’t quite understand.

“These are just some snacks. Wouldn’t paper bags do the job?” Liu Chuncao blurted out.

Of course, Ying Su had thought of using paper bags. But in town, the only options were xuan paper or coarse paper. Everyone knew coarse paper was low-class and ugly, a dull yellow that was used only by pharmacies to wrap herbs, or in the latrine.

As for xuan paper, it was far too thin. While it was perfect for writing and didn’t let ink bleed through, it was completely unsuitable for wrapping candied hawthorn. The sugar inside would definitely soak through and ruin it.

So she had no choice but to take the more troublesome route: producing fine wooden boxes. They were elegant, distinguished their candied hawthorn from the common kind sold in the market, and would appeal to wealthy families willing to try them.

After Ying Su explained this, both Liu Chuncao and Madam Li suddenly understood. Especially Liu Chuncao, who gazed at Ying Su with genuine admiration and praised from the heart, “Cuihua, you really know so much!”

This was something Liu Chuncao truly felt. The more she interacted with Shen Cuihua, the more she realized this woman was like a mystery. No one knew her true origins, yet she possessed knowledge far beyond that of ordinary village women.

Ying Su only smiled faintly. Her gorgeous little face shone brilliantly, making both Liu Chuncao and Madam Li vaguely sense the same thing, Cuihua didn’t seem to belong in this village. One day, sooner or later, she would leave.

Meanwhile, the little bun and Dazhuang were practicing large characters inside the house. The little bun’s cheeks puffed with frustration, he couldn’t stop thinking about those fifteen taels of silver. His heart ached unbearably.

He couldn’t help grumbling in his mind that Ying Su was too free with money. How could she hand over fifteen taels just like that? Of course, he knew deep down that it was right to honor Grandma, but it still stung.

Feeling upset, he lost focus in his calligraphy practice. His eyes drifted toward Dazhuang. He thought, ‘My mother gave your family fifteen taels for nothing. I feel awful, so you’d better feel bad too!’

His eyes rolled mischievously. He picked up the wolf-hair brush his mother had bought him. Ever since Ying Su had given him brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, he carried the brush everywhere, never letting it leave his side. Now was the perfect chance to show off to Dazhuang.

Dazhuang’s eyes lit up with envy at the sight of the little bun’s wolf-hair brush.

Enjoying that look, the little bun’s gloom eased a little. He remembered how the village children used to flaunt in front of him whenever their parents bought them new food or clothes. Every time, he’d feel the urge to beat them up until they cried.

But now, he too had something to boast about, things his mother had given him. And it felt amazing.

Carefully, he wrote the five large characters “Filial piety is the foremost of all virtues” on a piece of xuan paper. Tugging at Dazhuang’s sleeve, he asked with proud arrogance, “Look at my writing. Doesn’t it look better than yours?”

Dazhuang glanced at the characters. Indeed, they looked much better than his own, almost like the teacher’s handwriting. With admiration, he nodded. “Looks great!”

That reaction immensely satisfied the little bun’s vanity. He grinned triumphantly and declared, “My mommy taught me this.”

“Auntie knows how to read and write?” Dazhuang asked in surprise.

The little bun proudly nodded, then looked at Dazhuang’s characters with disdain. “Look at your writing, it’s ugly! My mommy says handwriting reflects the person. Only people with beautiful handwriting will grow up looking good. Since your writing is so ugly, when you grow up no one will like you.”

This terrified Dazhuang. The thought of growing up to look like Li Ergou made his face go pale, tears welling in his eyes.

“I don’t want to become like Li Ergou…” He whimpered in horror, his nose bubbling with a big snot bubble.