Chapter 585. Guest Residence (2/2)
Jin Xiaohu puffed up his cheeks and reluctantly led them towards the shed for the animals. His family’s residence looked very similar to the residence Xiaocao’s Family had in Dongshan Village prior to their upgrades. It was a decently sized courtyard residence and had a five-room main building. The two side courtyards contained three-room buildings. The shack sheltering their draft animals was on the left side from where they first entered and there was already a strong and hale looking donkey hitched in there.
After the group of six’s horses had all been led into the shelter, the originally large and spacious shack seemed much more crowded now. That large donkey had been squeezed into the corner by Fierce Wind and Little Red and regarded the other strange ‘guests’ timidly.
Hou Xiaoliang retrieved the fodder and fed the horses until they were full. Little Red still acted spoiled towards Xiaocao and managed to beg a few pieces of rock candy to eat. When it saw Fierce Wind staring at it pitifully, it magnanimously gave the black horse a piece of candy to eat. As for the large donkey on the side, who was salivating over its leftover fodder, Little Red revealed a look full of disdain at this ‘country bumpkin’. ‘How is it ah? You’ve never had anything like this before, right? As for me, I’ve eaten this since I was young and sometimes feel sick of it!’
They left Hou Xiaoliang there to take care of their picky horses. Yu Xiaocao and Zhu Junyang had been invited to enter the living area. The old man gave them a brief tour of the residence, introducing the various parts of the house. Although their space seemed large and they had a lot of rooms, they also had quite a few people in their family. His sons, grandsons, and other elderly folks altogether came out to be nine people. Other than Xiaohu, who was by his side, the rest of the men had gone into the mountain. As for his daughters-in-law, other than his third daughter-in-law, who was ill in bed, the rest of them had gone to the wastelands at the foot of the mountain to harvest the corn they had planted there.
Last year, his eldest son had waited in line for a whole day and night at the grain store in town in order to buy the corn seeds that were rumored to produce a thousand catties per mu during harvest. After they finished their summer harvest, they followed the instruction booklet and planted the corn seeds. Although the land at the foot of the mountains was a bit infertile, the corn that grew out of it didn’t seem to be affected by the poor quality soil.
Clearly, this type of crop wasn’t very picky. Their about one mu of land had all grown very well and the corn ears were quite large and plump. Although he didn’t have much experience in planting crops, he could tell that the yield from this crop wouldn’t be very small! They had just reached the harvest season but all of his sons were in the mountains. Fortunately, his daughters-in-law were all hard workers. As soon as it was light out, they set out to the fields to harvest corn.
The other families in the village all kept an eye on them to see how their one mu of corn planting went. They all said that if their family had a good harvest, then, at the start of spring next year, they also planned on going into town to stand in line to buy seeds. That way, the money they had carefully saved throughout the year could be used to buy seeds and improve their families’ circumstances.
“Cough cough...Father, we have guests here? I’ll go make some food…” A sickly matron with a yellow complexion walked out of one of the side rooms after supporting herself at the door sill. She had one hand on her chest as she coughed incessantly. Yu Xiaocao noticed that her face was turning red from the effort and that her breathing was labored. She guessed that this woman likely had something wrong with her bronchioles or lungs.
“Mother, you haven’t gotten better yet. Quickly go back and lie down. They brought their own servants, so if they want to eat anything, they can make it themselves ah!” Jin Xiaohu stepped forward and supported the woman. He used his small body to help his mother support herself. As he walked her back to the room, he even looked back to glare angrily at Xiaocao and the others.
The old man hurriedly tried to explain the actions of his grandson, “My daughter-in-law had gotten a chill from the wind a few days ago. She refused to go see the doctor and insisted on staying at home, nursing herself with some common medicine. Yesterday night she ran a fever. Xiaohu is worried about his mother. Guests, please don’t take it to heart!”
Yu Xiaocao reckoned that this woman’s fever likely worsened her respiratory issues, so she took out a bottle of pills that were used to treat chills and respiratory ailments. She handed it over and said, “These are pills from Tongren Medicine Hall and are used to treat chills and lung ailments. It also can treat coughs and fevers. You should have Auntie take one pill at each meal. After taking it for three days, she should feel much better.”
Xiaocao still had quite a bit of confidence in the pills that she personally made.
“Medicinal pills from Tongren Medicine Hall?” The old man repeatedly waved a hand in refusal. He had gone to the prefectural city to sell fur pelts awhile ago and had walked past Tongren Medicine Hall. There had been many people in line there, waiting to buy medicines. The people said that their pills and syrups cost a few hundred taels per bottle and, despite the high price, were still often sold out. Every time new stock came in, it would very quickly disappear after people scrambled to buy some. The pills and syrups all had an expiration date of one year or later. Any family who had some money would always have some at home. It was better to be prepared!
The tiny bottle of pills in front of him likely cost a few hundred taels. His whole family was good at hunting but, at most, they could make thirty to fifty taels a year. When they were lucky and were able to kill an animal that had a rare pelt of fur, they could sell it for around a hundred taels. Their whole family would need to save money for many years before they could afford to buy such an expensive bottle of pills!
“We were fated to meet by chance, so please take it. Just take it as our rental fees for the next few days! Auntie’s illness should not go on any longer without being treated properly. Otherwise, a small illness could become much more serious.” Yu Xiaocao stuffed the bottle full of pills into the old man’s hands before asking, “Old Sir, where will we lodge tonight? We should unpack our luggage first and then begin to make food. I’m not going to lie to you. We’ve been camping outside for the past few days and we've started to long for some properly cooked food.”
The old man saw that she was sincere in her actions and didn’t try to refuse anymore. He handed the bottle of pills to his grandson, who was already impatient to leave. As soon as Jin Xiaohu got the pills, he didn’t even say a word of thanks before running into the room where his mother was resting to retrieve some warm water before giving her medication.