Chapter 55 - The New Year (1/2)

Yu Xiaocao, who had become one of the shareholders of the leading condiment production factory in the future, spent the following days pondering about how to get to her parents to let her out of the house to get some fresh air. That was the only way she could get the chance to add some mystic-stone water around the traps that her father had set. Ay! At times, it was quite troublesome to have overly anxious parents!

However, she failed to achieve her goal in the end. It wasn’t due to her parent’s opposition, but the arrival of another snowstorm. This snowfall wasn’t inferior to that of the first snow. The entire mountain village was covered in a thick layer of whiteness.

At the Yu Family’s old residence, half of the roof had been crushed by the snow. Under Old Yu’s insistence and supervision, the three brothers of the Yu Family worked hard against the snowstorm for three to five days and finally repaired the old house.

Old Yu had fled to Dongshan Village as a refugee with his father when he was still a young child. The Yu Family’s old residence was a two-room cottage made of mud and straw that was built with the enthusiastic help of the villagers of Dongshan Village. It was full of Old Yu’s yearning for his deceased father, as well as his childhood memories. The four siblings of the Yu Family were all born and raised in this old house.

Therefore, even though the Yu Family had moved into the newly built new five-room house, they hadn’t abandoned their old residence. Old Yu would frequently visit the old house. They also made repairs once or twice every year. Otherwise, it would have already become a wasteland.

It had snowed too much, so it was impossible to go hunt in the mountains. Yu Xiaocao’s plan to earn some money before the New Year by catching some game was delayed. Furthermore, the price for goods had also reached a new height before the New Year. Every day, Madam Zhang would sigh deeply while she calculated the family’s food rations.

Fortunately, the whole family was just staying at home during the winter, so they didn’t need to do any physically demanding work. The Yu Family had two meals per day, which were reduced to only eating dry pancakes in the morning and a bowl of disgusting bean paste soup in the evening. Moreover, the coarse grain pancakes eaten for breakfast wasn’t an all-you-can-eat meal.

The men each had two palm-sized pancakes, while the women were only given one piece each. But the children were given even less. Madam Zhang had even stopped giving Yu Caidie a secret portion of eggs. They were a family of over ten people, who couldn’t make any income for the entire winter. During the cold winter, even the family’s chickens didn’t lay much eggs. They were just idly sitting and eating at home, while slowly using up their money. How much money would they have to waste to fill in this bottomless pit?

Madam Zhang glared furiously at Yu Hai and his daughter. If they hadn’t gotten into a debt for that wicked girl’s medical fees, with the money that Yu Hai had earned from selling game, their family would had had enough money for a lavish New Year! Their situation wouldn’t be like right now, in which they had to count their food rations before preparing each meal!

“Second Son! It’s going to be the New Year is a couple days. It just stopped snowing today, so take advantage of this time and go to town to buy some things we’ll need for the New Year! First of all, we don’t have much millet flour. Buy more millet flour back, so we can stock them up at home. Also, no matter what we’ll need to make some dumplings for the New Year. So buy some wheat flour and two catties of meat…”

Madam Zhang made a bunch of requests but didn’t take out any money.

Yu Hai was about to agree when his youngest daughter pulled on his sleeve. He looked over and noticed that his daughter was signaling at him with her eyes. Yu Hai immediately understood his daughter’s meaning. After all, he was already accustomed to being obedient to Madam Zhang for over twenty years. Thus, he fell into a state of hesitation.

However, when he saw his daughter’s pitiful gaze and thought about the resolution he had made to himself recently, he finally said, “Mother, I’ll go to Eldest Uncle’s house to borrow the sleigh—but the money for the New Year goods…”

As soon as money was mentioned, Madam Zhang immediately pulled a face that was even longer than a donkey’s face, “A few days ago, didn’t you go to town to sell game every day? You must have earned a lot of money. Why are you still asking me for money when you have money yourself?! Second Son, there’s no precedent of anyone having private savings within our family! This is a rule that no one is allowed to break!”

“Grandmother, the snow that had accumulated in the mountain forest hadn’t even melted yet, so there wasn’t a lot of game to be caught. We caught very little game during those couple of days! So, aren’t you very clear about how much money we can earn? It’s almost the New Year, so of course we have to pay off our debt first. After repaying the money that Eldest Granduncle lent us for my medical treatment, we didn’t even have enough money for the medication! Fortunately, Doctor Sun took pity on us and allowed my father to buy the medicine on credit! Father! After the New Year, you have to go up the mountain more frequently in order to pay back the dozen or more taels that we owe Tongren Medicine Hall! Our family still needs Doctor Sun to help treat our illnesses in the future!”

Xiaocao knew very well that her father had already made great improvement since he was able to openly ask Madam Zhang for money. So, she interjected and stated everything that needed to be said.

A dozen or more taels? Madam Zhang gasped in astonishment and looked at Xiaocao with a piercing gaze, as if her eyes were daggers. If she could, she seriously wanted to cut that jinx into pieces!

“Tsk! To use a dozen or more taels for a minor illness, it seems like our family really do have someone born with a noble young lady’s life. It’s a pity that she has reincarnated into the wrong family. She has the body of a noble lady without the fate to enjoy it! Oh my, those twenty-something taels is nearly enough for a whole family to use for an entire year while living frugally! Tsk-tsk…” Madam Li clicked her tongue in disapproval as she ceaselessly fanned the fire.

Yu Hai recalled his family’s indifference when his daughter was on the verge of death. They didn’t spend any of the family’s money for his daughter’s illness, yet they still had to endure mocking remarks from them. His expression immediately turned grim and he muttered in a muffled voice, “Eldest Sister-in-law don’t need to worry about what kind of life my daughter has! We didn’t use a single penny of yours for my daughter’s illness!”

“Oh! He’s getting angry at me now! You didn’t spend any of my money for your daughter’s illness, but I, Li Guihua, also didn’t use any of your money for food or drinks! What rights do you have to yell at me?! Do you think that I’ll be easy to bully?” Madam Li wasn’t someone who would suffer any losses, so she clasped her waist and hollered back.

Yu Hai was originally bad at arguing with people, so he didn’t know what to do when he saw her acting like a shrew.