Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty-Chapter 40 - 39 Tang Garden

Chapter 40: Chapter 39 Tang Garden

Chapter 40 -39 Tang Garden

Chen Afu went to Mingshui Town early in the morning to buy food ingredients, accompanied by Dabao. Mingshui Town is six miles east of Xiangluo Village, passing through Shangshui Village, and even passed by that noble’s manor.

Mrs. Wang said that the manor is called Tang Garden, and it seems that the owner’s surname is Chu. He was originally from the Capital City, then moved to the capital city, and half of the households in Shangshui Village rent paddy fields from his family. Mrs. Wang heard this from Mrs. Changgen; Wu Changgen and his son are carpenters, and the manager of Tang Garden occasionally goes to Wu’s house to buy tables, chairs, buckets, and basins.

The small road to the town is more than three hundred meters away from Tang Garden, with a bamboo forest and grassland in between. From a distance, one can see the large garden with pink walls and gray tiles, flying eaves and pointed corners, nestled among green trees and bamboo.

That big courtyard stands there, conspicuously out of place. The vermilion gate is tightly closed, seemingly locking away wealth and also blocking the toils and hardships outside.

The mansion was too far removed from her own life, and Chen Afu glanced at it a few times before moving on.

Mingshui Town is not large, with only two streets. Chen Afu first went to a dry and sundries shop, claiming she wanted to buy some luwei seasoning. The shopkeeper pointed to star anise, cinnamon, and three other spices, saying, “These few, plus some Sichuan peppercorns, sugar, and soy sauce to stew together, oh my, the aroma when cooked is fragrant.”

Indeed, there were few seasonings for luwei. Chen Afu remembered many seasonings in ancient times were just medicinal materials.

She bought those few seasonings, as well as some Sichuan peppercorns, brown sugar, and a small jar of soy sauce. The seasonings at home were really too few.

She also bought two small packets of maltose, one for Dabao, and the other to take back for Alu.

She went to the only pharmacy in town and bought some cloves, fennel, cumin, tsaoko, and a few other medicinal herbs for making luwei. She also bought some astragalus, codonopsis, and schisandra, which were good for Chen Ming to consume in a stewed soup.

How expensive, all these things cost her more than four taels of silver. However, it was her own money, so she didn’t feel pressured spending it.

After buying the luwei ingredients, she then bought two kilograms of pork belly, five kilograms of lard, ten pieces of dried tofu, and five kilograms of glass noodles. The money for these ingredients was given by Mrs. Wang.

By the time she got home, it was late morning, and she started to cook and stir-fry. Chen Afu declined help from Mrs. Wang and Chen Ming, with Alu helping her build the fire, and Chen Dabao by her side assisting with handing things over.

Chen Afu stewed the dried tofu, but not the meat. Stewed meat for drinking was a fine dish, but for those doing physical labor, four kilograms were not enough. Pork stew with glass noodles, a big pot of it, was satisfying and filling.

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When the scent of luwei spread, the two boys sniffed eagerly.

Chen Afu thought the dried tofu was about seasoned enough, and cut two slices for their family to share.

In addition, she made a cold cucumber salad, quick-fried Chinese cabbage, winter melon with fried dregs soup, and two-kernel bread. Not many varieties, but plentiful in quantity and good in taste.

Those who worked were happy eating, all saying the dried tofu was fragrant and could be eaten as if it were meat.

In the evening, Chen Ming also praised, “Afu is really an able child, making luwei for the first time and cooking it better than others.”

Chen Afu said proudly, “Of course, this is my special skill.”

She thought to herself, when to go to the wine-shop and see if she could follow the old path of a transmigration woman.

It took only half a month for the six of them to finish the repairs on the house. Although the straw-roofed house was small and particularly rustic, the one-person-high earthen brick wall finally gave Chen Afu some sense of security. This small courtyard, only that wall was to her satisfaction. They opened two doors in the house, one facing outside for the main entrance, and one facing the old house’s courtyard. Now the New Courtyard and the old one shared a mutual earthen-brick wall.

On the day the house had its ridgepole fitted and raised, they held a feast to celebrate. Not only did Chen Agu’s wife, Mrs. Gao, come to help but Chen Alan joined in as well.

Ever since Chen Afu recovered from her illness and even made a unique sewing basket, Chen Alan stopped standing outside the wicket gate when asking Mrs. Wang for advice on embroidery work. She would come into the house and even chat and joke with Chen Afu for a bit.

Chen Alan extended goodwill, and Chen Afu accepted it. Aside from Mrs. Hu and Chen Aju, the others from the main house were not bad. Especially Chen Ye and his son, who worked very hard and genuinely offered their help.

This day, not only did the family invite Chen Ye and his household, but also several clansmen of The Chens, Junior Officer Gao’s family, and the families of those who were building the house. Except for Chen Ye’s family, who all came, other families only sent one or two representatives, yet they still set up four tables.

The day before, Mrs. Wang asked Chen Ming, “Should we invite Hu Laowu? We’re all relatives… If we don’t, your elder sister-in-law will definitely be unhappy.” The family used to occasionally invite Hu Laowu when they had guests over.

Chen Ming said, “If it were in the past, out of respect for my elder brother, I would’ve invited him. But last time when Afu fought with Eryezi, Hu Laowu openly sided with Eryezi and tried to extort money from our family. If he doesn’t recognize us as relatives, why should we acknowledge him?”

Chen Afu also said, “Mom, it’s useless to try to please our Auntie, she won’t remember any kindness. It would be best for The Chens to keep our distance from The Hus; whatever happens in our family, we shouldn’t get entangled with theirs.”

Unexpectedly, during the meal, Hu Laowu had the nerve to show up, with a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy following him. The boy was quite handsome, but there was a sticky quality to the way his eyes looked at people, which made him unlikable. He was Hu Laowu’s only son, Hu Wei.

Truly shameless, with skin as thick as a city wall.

The reason Hu Laowu could strut around the village wasn’t just because he was unbridled, but also because his sister’s husband was a constable in the county town.

As soon as Hu Laowu arrived, he started with flattery, “We’re all family, and you didn’t even mention building a house, otherwise, I would have come to help.”

Even though they found him repulsive in their hearts, no one wanted to offend him to his face, so they humored him. Chen Ming had no choice either; it wasn’t like he could just send Hu Laowu away.

Three tables for the men and one for the women and children were set up under the trees in the two courtyards, which was quite cool. Chen Afu hadn’t taken her seat at the tables and didn’t want to. One reason being that she was the main cook and had been busy the entire time. Another was her annoyance with Chen Aju, who ate more than anyone else and still managed to put on airs as if she looked down on the place. And then there was the repulsion she felt for Hu Wei’s gaze.

Today, they’d prepared pork intestines, liver, and dried tofu; these three dishes were the most popular.

As Hu Laowu ate, he said, “This luwei tastes even better than what I’ve had in the county town, it has a special fragrance. How did you make it?”

Chen Afu stayed in the kitchen, not wanting to deal with him, but seeing him persistently questioning Chen Ming, she finally went out and said, “I bought the spices in town and followed the shopkeeper’s method. That’s how I got this taste.” Then, she relayed the shopkeeper’s words.

Hu Laowu smiled at Chen Ming again, “Afu is truly blessed, not only good-looking but also talented.”

Chen Ming pretended not to hear.

After entertaining the guests, it was time to prepare for the trip to the capital city. In two days, Mrs. Wang would set out with Alu, and when they returned, Chen Afu and her son would move.

According to the doctor, the reason Alu’s leg was lame was that the bones had grown crookedly. There was no remedy for adults with such a condition, but luckily Alu was still a child. If they could break the bone to allow it to regrow correctly, he wouldn’t be lame. But a typical doctor didn’t have this skill, only the doctor at the Qianjin Medical Clinic in the capital city was said to have this expertise.

So, little Alu would not only suffer this time but also have to stay in the capital city for at least half a month. While staying in the capital city, the only option was to live at Chen Shi’s place.

Thinking about the pain little Alu would have to endure made Chen Afu’s heart clench tight.

She had always wanted to meet with Jin Yanzi again to see if it could come up with more green swiftlet nests to ease Alu’s suffering a bit.

All these days, Jin Yanzi had not shown itself to Chen Afu. It hadn’t returned during the day, and it had come back only four times in the middle of the night, each time to the space to deposit the solid gold jewelry it had stolen, leaving as soon as it had done so.

The jewelry from these occasions was heavier and more beautiful than before, the embedded precious stones, cat’s eyes, were bigger and of higher quality. The dazzling array of gold, adorned with red gems and inlaid with green, was absolutely eye-catching.

Even the small strip of green swiftlet nest given to Chen Ming was placed on top of the small parcel containing the broken gold.

……

Thank you to Hera@Qian Lin for the wallet. For some reason, these past few days I haven’t been able to reply to readers’ comments. Each time I try to post, I get the error “The page has not finished loading”…