The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Aunt Zhang followed in and saw the amount of rice in the bowl, “Yo, Dashan, Aunt Wang just said you wouldn’t know how to live frugally, so she told you not to cook too much rice. Turns out you’re spoiling your wife by only cooking rice for her?”

Aunt Wang also looked into the kitchen, “Hey, it’s unexpected that Su Qingyue, that mute girl, is actually quite blessed. Look at that rice, it’s not even mixed with sweet potatoes. Dashan, you really do treat your wife to pure grains. Your wife ain’t a delicate person, as long as she has food to eat, she won’t starve.

Adding more sweet potatoes wouldn’t hurt.”

Xiao Yishan saw that his wife didn’t respond, thinking she didn’t want to eat. He thought that since she had eaten so many wild apples, she might not be hungry. So he just took a bowl and covered the rice, planning to eat it later in the evening.

Qingyue’s ears were very quiet. She had indeed heard everything and was so full from eating all those apples that her stomach couldn’t fit any more food for now.

Uncle Liu also said, “The Xiao family’s daughter-in-law is so thin, if she doesn’t eat better, I’m afraid she won’t get pregnant.”

Xiao Yishan was embarrassed by the comments from the others but didn’t want to lose his temper. Small game like rabbits and pheasants were sold by whole weight, while larger prey were sold by meat weight after being killed, gutted and skinned.

He weighed the two rabbits and said to Aunt Zhang and Uncle Liu, who were going to buy wild rabbits, “One weighs 5 jin, the other weighs 5 jin 6 taels. It’s still the old price, 12 cents per jin.”

Aunt Zhang looked at Uncle Liu, “Old Liu, give me the one that weighs 5 jin. Auntie Hua asked me to buy them, and she said one around 5 jin would be best.”

“Alright,” Uncle Liu was very straightforward, “Having more meat, even just an additional 6 taels, is a good thing.”

Aunt Zhang asked Xiao Yishan again, “Dashan, is the roe deer meat you hunted still 13 cents per jin? I heard from people who just returned to the village from the town that a hunter sold roe deer meat for 14 cents per jin yesterday.”

The villager Granny Sun, who came to buy meat, was unhappy to hear this, “Zhang’s family, aren’t you trying to get Dashan to raise the price? You must think you have too much money in your pocket, huh?”

Aunt Zhang was not pleased, “What’s wrong? Dashan is an honest person, we farmers are straightforward, and we say what we think. It’s not a big deal if the market price is higher. Do you guys just want to take advantage of Dashan’s family? You’re only buying a jin or two, and it’s just a couple of copper coins more. Is it gonna kill you?”

“Yes, it’s gonna kill us!” Granny Sun said angrily, “Your family has a better life, so you can occasionally buy some meat to compensate. My family doesn’t have it as good as yours. It’s so hard to earn a single copper coin, which could buy a big bun.”

The other villagers didn’t chime in, as everyone’s life was not easy. Wealthier families didn’t care about one or two copper coins, but some families had to be very thrifty to afford a meal of meat. Although the Xiao family was very poor, they lived as hunters and didn’t lack meat, only money and food. Otherwise, how could Xiao Yishan be so strong?

Take Chuan, for example. Although he wasn’t as strong, he was sturdy and relatively tall. It just didn’t make sense why Chuan would faint now and then, and the doctor couldn’t figure out the reason.

Some people wanted to say they should sell at the old price, but then Aunt

Zhang mentioned the market price again. The roe deer Xiao Yishan hunted was not small, and selling one jin for one cent less would result in tens of cents less in total..