Chapter 9 - What’s the Point of Chopping Firewood? (1/2)

Proofread by Claire.KK

Dawn.

Ye Xiaoxian carried tools such as a wood knife, shoulder pole and gra.s.s rope to go to the mountain with Xiao Baozhu and Xiao Baofeng to cut wood.

In order to go to the mountain they needed to pa.s.s by a large banyan tree at the entrance of the village. At that moment some villagers sitting under the big banyan tree were holding big bowls, drinking porridge and chatting. When they saw Ye Xiaoxian coming, those villagers began whispering to one another.

“You heard about it? Li Hongmei really married her elder daughter-in-law to her second son, tsk, how brazen she is!”

“It’s said that old Mr. Xiao is going to live apart from them. Last night, he went to the Village Chief to write a statement and sign it.”

“What is on the statement?”

“That row of houses made of earth still belongs to them, plus a piece of earth slope on the mountain and a half mu (a unit of area, about 666 square meters) of land in the field. In addition, they pay 500 copper coins a month as a filial piety, but who knows if they can hand in that amount of money, just judging from the looks of their family.”

“…”

All the villagers in Daliang Village are leather-lunged so even if they lowered their voice, they were still heard by Ye Xiaoxian and the other two.

Ye Xiaoxian just pretended not to hear anything. She didn’t bother to deal with them. Xiao Baofeng was a boy and he didn’t care about such things either. Only Xiao Baozhu was very sensitive, and after she heard those talks she suddenly blushed. Still, she didn’t say anything since now Little Ye had already become a member of their family, and if there was someone to blame, it must be their reckless ma.

…

On the mountain, Ye Xiaoxian and the other two were chopping firewood together.

She came from modern times. Although she worked hard as a cook, it couldn’t compare with the hard work of cutting firewood. Farmers were people who bowed to the loess with their back towards the sky. She had to tie the firewood up into bundles after cutting. Besides, she was not that strong; after she chopped a bundle, she was drenched in sweat and her clothes were soaked.

When she couldn’t even cut down a sapling, she then suddenly threw the axe aside angrily and sat down at the buddle of firewood, puffing.

Baozhu and Baoshan didn’t know why Ye Xiaoxian suddenly sulked. Baozhu hurriedly came to her and asked, “Little…sister-in-law, what happened to you?”