novelraw Chapter 439 - 420: Mighty Cleaver (3)
Chapter 439 - 420: Mighty Cleaver (3)
Song Jinxiu is quite attractive, ranked above average among the girls in the village.
Chen the Third rubbed his hands together, nodding as he said, "I know, I’ve been turned down by quite a few girls already, I’m aware of that. But I figured, as long as I’m sincere, who knows, I might succeed this time? Haven’t tried yet, so don’t give up easily!"
He certainly had an optimistic view.
Li Yuzhu said, "Alright, I’ll give it a try."
"Thank you, thank you." Chen the Third said joyfully.
Li Yuzhu said, "But I don’t have time to visit the Song Family today, I’ll go another day. I’ll let you know if there’s any outcome."
"Alright, alright, as long as Song Jinxiu hasn’t gotten married, I’m not in a hurry." Chen the Third said happily.
Li Yuzhu then said, "It’s quite far from here to your Huang Village, let me give you a ride on my mule cart?"
Chen the Third still wanted to secretly look at Song Jinxiu, so he waved his hand and said, "No, I have to sell knives for my uncle."
He clasped his fists to bid farewell to Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu and walked back.
Li Yuzhu lowered the curtain, and Mu Yuanxiu continued driving the mule cart.
Thinking about his request, Li Yuzhu couldn’t help but smile and said, "Aside from his slightly crooked mouth, Chen the Third is better than most people in the village. His features are regular, he’s tall, his family is wealthy, and he’s not in bad health."
"He has a bad temper." Mu Yuanxiu corrected.
"Yes, well, having a bad temper is a big problem; it can scare the girls away." Li Yuzhu said, "We’ll see. Whether it’s good or not depends on Song Jinxiu, not us. I won’t make decisions for Song Jinxiu, I’ll just tell her about this, I won’t say anything else."
.
As the end of October arrived, the weather became increasingly cold.
Although Zhen An Prefecture is a southern state, due to the abundance of mountains and forests, its winters are not warm.
Even though only the plants and trees at the foot of the mountains have yellowed, signaling the onset of winter, the mountain tops are already covered with white frost.
If the wind blows, it becomes even more piercingly cold.
Many early-rising villagers have already donned their thick winter clothes.
At this time, the common people’s winter clothing, lacking weaving, is all filled with cotton.
Wealthy families would buy animal fur to make clothes.
Those skilled at hunting in the mountains would dry animal furs and give them to adept wives to make clothes.
The leopard hunted by the Li Family’s siblings was dried, and kept by the Princess Consort Luling.
A few days ago, she took it out to make a leopard fur cloak for Guoguo, scarves for the family, and hats for Guoguo, Jingjing, and Chai Tianlang. The leftover scraps were pieced together by the Great Princess to make some fabric dolls, which the three children loved.
The Great Princess, being someone who sees business opportunities, reduced the production of sachets and handkerchiefs early in the fall, switching to making gloves, scarves, and hats.
Gloves, scarves, and hats don’t require much embroidery; it’s enough for them to look good in style.
The Great Princess is skillful; the gloves, scarves, and hats she designed are not only colorful but also stylish.
She had practiced her craftsmanship for half a year, becoming incredibly fast with her needlework.
She could make over twenty pairs of gloves a day, and over thirty of the simpler scarves and hats.
Because of Feibudo, these three items were priced higher than sachets.
Gloves were thirty wen per pair, and hats and scarves were fifty wen.
The Great Princess’s income ranged from two to three hundred wen a day, and, when more, from five to six hundred wen. Because her income increased, so did her collection of jewelry.
Since the money was earned by her, the Princess Consort Luling didn’t say much about how she spent on jewelry, keeping half of her earnings saved and allowing her to use the other half freely.
With the weather turning cold, people loved to enjoy hot tea with some pastries and fruits, and the Second Princess’s business picked up again.
The sisters, along with Li Xingsheng, who transported them, became busy once more.
Li Xingmao wasn’t idle with his farm work, as it was the season for harvesting cotton.
With five to six acres of cotton, he couldn’t harvest it all alone, so Li Xingmao paid some village women to help pick the cotton.
The Li Family provided a lunch and paid eighty wen a day for labor.
The three women stood in a row, chatting as they picked cotton, not feeling lonely at all.
They tied a basket about a foot high to their waists and threw the picked cotton into the basket.
Once the basket was full, they would dump it onto a large old cloth spread beside the cotton field.
When the pile of cotton on the cloth was full, Li Xingmao and Uncle Gui carried it into the mansion and spread it on wooden racks to dry.
The quilts used by the family were bought from the market.
The material of those quilts wasn’t top quality, and they weren’t thick either.
Although it wasn’t yet the extreme cold days of snow and ice, which required heavy quilts, the thinner half-old quilts sufficed for now. But on freezing days, three to five pounds of these thin quilts would not be enough to fend off the cold.
Once these newly picked cottons are fluffed, they can be used to make new quilts.
Li Xingmao is busy with work in the fields, Li Xingsheng is busy with matters in the market, and Li Xing’an is not idle either.
He has recently been busy printing books.
This is a task given to him by Li Yuzhu.
They took the manuscript written by Chai Eying and printed it into booklets, planning to sell them in the county town’s shop in the future.
In these days, Li Xing’an and the disabled child staying at the Li Mansion, Liu Yanbai, have been working overtime, having already printed several hundred copies. Once they print a few more to make up a thousand, they will set off to the county town.
The upcoming trip to the county town excites Liu Yanbai. Although he can only use one arm, he has done more work than Li Xing’an.
Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu returned to the Li Family. After she watched Li Xing’an print the books for a while, she went to chat with Princess Consort Luling.
Mu Yuanxiu parked the mule cart and came to help Li Xing’an.
Li Yuzhu entered the North Courtyard Main House and discussed with Princess Consort Luling about Chen the Third wanting to marry Song Jinxiu.
Four months had passed without any mention of the Chen Family matters, and besides, the Chen Family was from a relatively distant village, so Princess Consort Luling didn’t recall the Chen Family.
Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "Mother, last time, the third brother made a joke about matchmaking for Mu Yuanxiu, but the Chen Family misunderstood it as the third brother fancying a girl from that family. The father and son from that family came to our house, do you remember? However, the one wanting to marry Song Jinxiu is not that family’s son but their third son. He’s almost twenty-nine, quite tall, with proper features, but has a crooked mouth. Mu Yuanxiu also said he has a bad temper."
When mentioned about the house that wanted to marry their daughter into the family, Princess Consort Luling remembered.
"Oh, it’s that family... aren’t they the ones who profit from misfortune?" Princess Consort Luling had a bad impression of the Chen Family and didn’t agree to their implicit marriage proposal, "Mr. Song is an upright person, fearing he wouldn’t agree."
Li Yuzhu said, "I think so too. I will only tell Song Jinxiu that Chen the Third wants to marry her, and nothing else. Everything will depend on Song Jinxiu’s own wishes."
"Yes, that’s good." Princess Consort Luling said, "We don’t make a living by matchmaking, we don’t speak for both sides, whether it works or not depends on Chen the Third himself. If we speak well of Chen the Third and trick Miss Song into marrying him, it would harm Miss Song."
Princess Consort Luling abhorred professional matchmakers, something Li Yuzhu only learned after coming to this mountain village.
Speaking of which, the topic shifted to the Xue Family.
The Emperor personally acted as matchmaker, lauding the Xue Family and forcefully imposed it on Li Xingmao.
Whenever the Emperor arranged a match, as long as the woman didn’t have major issues, it had to be accepted.
If he didn’t accept the Xue Family, there would still be Mrs. Zhang or Mrs. Wang that the Emperor would impose on the then Princely Heir Li Xingmao.
Princess Consort Luling agreed, never knowing the various woes caused by the Xue Family, which nearly angered Princess Consort Luling to death.
Li Yuzhu then said, "I remember your reminder, Mother."
.
Chen the Third covered his face and returned to the Song Family’s place.
He purposely walked up to Tian Sanbao, rolling up his sleeves and shaking his legs.
Tian Sanbao couldn’t beat him, cursing wouldn’t work either, only resulting in a beating.
"What are you doing?" Tian Sanbao glared at Chen the Third.
Chen the Third gestured with his right thumb towards the Song Family behind him, his expression arrogant, "No other meaning, Third Master came back to tell you that Song Jinxiu is already mine. Sooner or later, she will be my woman, Chen the Third’s! If you dare make a move on her again, I’ll take one of your arms off and use it as a candle! Hmph!"
Tian Sanbao’s eyes widened, "What? You, you, you... you fancy Song Jinxiu?"
Chen the Third raised his chin, "What’s wrong? Is it not allowed? Third Master came over to give you a heads up out of respect for your honest kneeling here. Don’t be ungrateful!"
Tian Sanbao felt dissatisfied in his heart. How could that dead girl Song Jinxiu be fancied by Chen the Third?
Now it’s hopeless, not to mention seeking Song Jinxiu to plead for help. He was afraid he couldn’t even look at Song Jinxiu now.
Seeing him crestfallen, Chen the Third knew he was scared and happily proceeded towards the Song Family’s backyard gate, continuing to hide and secretly observe Song Jinxiu.
As the sun was about to set, Song Jinxiu carried two baskets filled with dishes, walking out of the kitchen.
She went to the pond to wash vegetables.
On top of the first basket, there was a brand-new big kitchen knife, reflecting a bright, snowy light from afar.
Chen the Third rubbed his chin and chuckled quietly. This girl did understand, huh.
Woman, when harassed by a man, should grab a kitchen knife for self-defense.
If she couldn’t win in a fight, then she should wield the knife.
His old mother defeated the village tyrant back in the day this way, which established the Chen Family’s top position in the village.
When Song Jinxiu was on the road, Tian Sanbao was just finishing his work and heading home.
He rubbed his knees and ran towards Song Jinxiu with a sign on his shoulder, "Jinxiu, wait a moment!"
This time, Song Jinxiu didn’t run.
When he got close, she grabbed the kitchen knife from the basket and slashed towards Tian Sanbao’s head.