Volume 4, Chapter 13: Paper Village Former Part (1/2)

The quacks hometown was a village half-a-day south-west of the capital by horse-drawn carriage. She was told it was based at the foot of the mountains.

It was beyond the headwaters of the large river that divided the country into east and west. There was an irrigation channel alongside the river, but weed-like plants were growing on the fields.

When Maomao stared at it, the chatty quack explained to her.

Thats wheat.

Wheat? The irrigation is done quite rigorously.

There are channels constructed around the fields. Does wheat require that much water? Maomao tilted her head. At her feet was maomao, the cat with a distasteful name. It seemed to have had enough of being inside the basket, so it was purring on the quacks lap and peeking out the window.

That is for rice farming use in the summertime. We produce rice and wheat. Two types a year here.

I see.

If its rice, the soil wont get barren even if you produce other crops on the same plot of land.

From just producing crops twice a year, nutrients will be leached out from the soil. However, when it comes rice paddies, the water would carry over nutrients, so it would be hard for the soil to become barren.

Once they came out of the fields, she could see forests. There was a village in that vicinity.

The soil is quite fertile.

She felt it was also fine to not make paper if it was that fertile, but could that part be wrong?

When we moved here, the fields were already owned by other people. Because of that, they left the forest alone without looking towards it.

She was told that as spring water flowed down from the nearby mountain, the forest has an abundance of trees growing that are the raw materials for paper. It was difficult to make large quantities of it, but they had succeeded in selling it in a high grade. The means of transportation was also convenient as the river was close by.

However, there was one thing she was interested in.

She locked eyes with a farmer who was treading the wheat. Was there some resentment at the act of strengthening wheat? She felt the eyes looking this way were strangely sharp and gloomy.

Maomao pretended to not have noticed and continued making sounds of hearing to the quack doctors talking.

When they reached the village, the person who came to greet them was an aunty in her forties. The softness of the corner of the eyes and the dropping of her brows was reminiscent of the quack. She must be the quack doctors younger sister.

When she received the basket with the cat, she petted maomao with squinted eyes. They must have talked about it before.

Oh my, older brother. Welcome home.

Im back.

The quack looked calm at a glance, but his eyes had slightly welled up with tears. It must be because he was back after several decades.

I wish to visit the graves of Father and others.

They must have passed away while he couldnt leave the inner palace. The quack sniffled.

Yes, I understand. That aside,

The aunty glanced at Maomao.

Who is this lass?

She said as she tilted her head.

Oh, is that so, an assistant? Then you should have told me earlier.

(Did I come as an assistant?)

The quacks sister said that. Though she had mentioned her name somehow, Maomao wasnt used to hearing it so she couldnt remember it, honestly. Yup, it cant be helped, so lets call her quack aunty.

The quacks face was accommodating, so he wont reject that part.

The quack younger sister steadily set down side dishes on the long table. They looked delicious. There was steamed river fish with herbs, steamed buns in the steamer, and fried rice that shone gold.

There was a mixture of congee and fish purposely given to maomao. maomao was a cat, and yet she was eating voraciously and shamelessly.

I thought that there was no way you would bring back such a young bride despite you being a eunuch.

Hahaha, theres no such thing.

I know right.

The time the long table was set with lots of side dishes, the quack auntys family showed up. There was a middle-aged man with a towel around his head, and two young men. The middle-aged man was the auntys husband, and she was told the rest of them were her sons.

Brother-in-law, long time no see.

The husband removed his head towel and reverently greeted the quack. The quack doctor smiled and replied, Its been a while. Following the husband, one of the young men came to greet him. However, the other one sat in his seat, ignoring the quack, and started to devour his meal.

Hey, what are you doing without greeting him!

The aunty glared at her son.

Elder brother.

The other young man watched with an air of silence. This here must be the younger brother, and the one with the bad manners would have to be the older one.

The quack nephew-number-one split a steaming bun in half and popped it in his mouth. The insides had pork filling Maomao drooled.

Even if you show respect to uncle, isnt he a eunuch who hasnt come home for many years? Why would you call him after all this time? Whats the point?

At those words, the quack doctor gave his usual troubled smile with his brows lowered. He was used to being blatantly treated as a fool for being a eunuch, but it must be bitter to receive this treatment from his nephew.

Even Maomao got pretty sullen.

To this nephew only, no way was she going to let him eat delicious food. She plomped down on the seat,

Im sorry that itll get cold, so thanks for the meal.

And stole away every bit of the dishes the nephew was about to take.

Aaahhhhhn, the youngster glaring at Maomao was something she didnt know. Maomao knew a manservant and a military official who was way bigger than this guy.

The aunty also seemed quite angry. She distributed congee and soup excluding her older sons share. The husband and her younger son ignored that, keeping clear of the gods.

Maybe he was angry at his familys attitude, the older son took another bun, and quickly left.

After he left the room, the husband lowered his head at the quack doctor as he scratched his head.

Excuse him. He, doesnt know how much brother-in-law has worked for his village.

Its okay. Im fine. Im used to this sort of thing.

The quack said as he scrumptiously slurped his congee.

The words that he was used to, the quack must have used it without thinking, but the quack aunty made a bitter expression at that.

Originally, the quack became a eunuch in exchange for not selling the quack aunty to the inner palace. Even though the quacks parents should have treasured their son more than their daughter.

At any rate, wasnt there something you actually want to say before we eat?

.

In response to the quacks words, the family became wordless.

Maomao was a listener either way, so she had no intentions to stop eating. The seasoning of the steamed fish was good; the herbs also work, it was delicious. She considered having to get the quack aunty to tell her the seasoning for it later.

The husband set down his chopsticks and looked at the quack.

And he slowly lowered his head.

I heard that brother-in-law is a noted physician who only took up the child of the Son of Heaven. And that the Son of Heaven had directly requested for you.