Chapter 194
Lu Gu returned home alone and had just stepped inside when he heard little Lingjun crying from the room.
Shen Yan was standing at the kitchen door, peeling a shriveled pear. The pear had two soft, rotten black spots, neither very large. She cut them out with a knife, and upon hearing the child cry, she hurriedly set the pear aside. She had taken a step forward when she saw Lu Gu coming in from outside, so she smiled and said, "Brother Guzi, you go. My hands are sticky with juice."
They had bought many pears last time, and after being stored for too long, they either shriveled or developed black spots. Over the past few days, they had been peeling and cutting out the bad parts, leaving only this one left to eat.
"Mm, you keep busy." Lu Gu hurried into the room and lifted little Lingjun out from under the blankets. With just a touch, he felt the dampness on the child’s pants - he had wet the bed again.
"Flood’s here," he teased, first cradling the child to soothe him before reaching for the clean small pants and diaper from the nearby chair and laying them out by the bed. He joked with little Lingjun, "Good thing Amu and Dad weren’t in bed, or they’d have been washed away by you."
Little Lingjun didn’t understand. After crying for a bit, he gradually quieted down.
Lu Gu held him and pulled out the wet diaper. Seeing that he had stopped crying, he laid him on the bed to change his clothes. Noticing that the hem of the child’s top was also damp, he simply took it all off, using the shirt to wipe little Lingjun’s bottom and legs clean before quickly dressing him again.
"Wet again?" Shen Yan walked in while munching on the pear, her words muffled as she looked at the uncovered bedding. "Luckily, the weather’s nice today. Wash it and let it dry in the sun, and it’ll be ready by tomorrow."
"Exactly." Lu Gu smiled. Seeing her eating the pear, he didn’t ask her to help hold the child. Instead, he placed little Lingjun in the wooden cradle by the bed to lie down for now while he stripped the bedding.
Thankfully, their family had plenty of bedding - at least two thick cotton mattresses per room, plus two or three thinner ones. In the past, Lu Gu wouldn’t have dared to imagine such a thing. He had only owned one tattered quilt, let alone spare ones for washing. In winter, just having something to wrap himself in was already a blessing.
He opened the chest and took out the previously sun-dried bedding, laying it out one by one. Shen Yan leaned over the wooden cradle, playing with little Lingjun. She held the pear in her hand, and little Lingjun, upon seeing it, made soft noises and stretched out his arms, trying to grab it.
"This?" Shen Yan waved the pear in her hand, clicking her tongue playfully. "You can’t eat this. You can only watch your auntie eat it."
Lu Gu, who was making the bed, laughed and said, "Just tease him. If he cries later, I won’t help. You’ll have to soothe him yourself."
All children were like this, whether it was Zhao’er or Lingjun, they couldn’t stand seeing adults eat. The moment they noticed someone eating, they wanted a bite too. If they didn’t get it, they’d cry. After dealing with Zhao’er’s tantrums before, Ji Qiuyue now always hid to eat snacks that babies couldn’t have. Lu Gu had learned the same, he avoided eating in front of Lingjun.
"Better not. These two are worse than each other. Once they start crying, I can’t handle it." Having endured the tantrums of two nephews, Shen Yan had learned her lesson. If she made them cry, she’d have to soothe them herself, so she moved aside to eat where little Lingjun couldn’t see.
She finished the remaining pear in a few bites and went outside to wash a milk fruit for little Lingjun.
After making the bed, Lu Gu turned and saw little Lingjun lying obediently in the wooden cradle, amusing himself with soft babbles. His chubby right hand opened and closed in the air as if grasping at nothing, while his left tugged at the red thread tied around his wrist - a protective talisman Wei Lanxiang had gotten from the temple. Both Zhao’er and Lingjun had one.
[红绳 (hóngshéng): A traditional Chinese protective charm, often made of red thread and tied around the wrist. Believed to ward off evil and bring good fortune, typically obtained from temples through prayer.]
"Whose little paw is this?" Lu Gu picked up his son, gently holding Lingjun’s small hand and kissing it. Then he called outside, "Yan Yan, bring a basin of warm water."
"Alright." Shen Yan agreed, and soon returned with both the milk fruit and a wooden basin, helping Lu Gu wipe little Lingjun’s hands and face clean with a cloth.
The two of them spent the day at home, tending to the child and washing clothes. By late morning, Ji Qiuyue returned with Zhao’er on her back to cook lunch. Today, neither Shen Yaoqing nor Shen Xuanqing were home, so lunch and dinner would just be the four of them and the two children.
As the sun dipped westward, the number of pedestrians gradually dwindled, everyone hurrying home before dark.
A mule cart emerged from the entrance of Wangli Village, its long shadow stretching across the ground. Shen Xuanqing cracked the whip in the air, urging the mule to pick up its pace slightly.
They had traveled back along the main road, and though he didn’t push the mule to run faster, they were already at Wangli Village, it was time to let it rest a bit.
Only after they had left Wangli Village did Shen Yaoqing, sitting on the back of the cart, speak up. "I heard that when Wang Anzi buys pigs from his own village, it’s two taels and five qian."
[1 taels = 10 qian = 1000 copper coins]
Shen Xuanqing, sitting at the front, chuckled. "That’s fine. Wang Anzi is from their village, so it makes sense he gets it a qian cheaper. Once the piglets at our place grow up, we won’t need to buy from Li Zhuzi anymore."
"Two taels and six qian isn’t too expensive. As long as we sell all the meat, we’ll still make a profit."
Shen Yaoqing nodded. "True. One qian more isn’t a big deal. Later, I’ll ask around in Changnan Village. If there’s anyone selling for two taels and five qian, we’ll buy from them next time. If the price is the same everywhere, Wangli Village is more convenient anyway."
The meat shop primarily sold rabbits, but pork was also part of their business. On opening day, they would slaughter a pig on-site and sell the meat at a slightly cheaper price. Since the weather was cold now, the meat wouldn’t spoil easily at home, so pork prices were relatively high - between eighteen and twenty copper coins per catty. On their way back, the two of them had discussed selling pork at fifteen copper coins per catty for the first two days after opening.
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