Chapter 14: CH 14

The day was getting so hot that even the ducklings were hiding under the shade of the trees, pecking at grass seeds as they cooled off.

Mo Ling saw that Mo Yan’s face was bright red due to the heat, so she took her home. When they arrived home, Mrs. Liang had already sorted and cleaned the herbs Mo Ling had brought back earlier. The dandelions and muskrat root were placed on the floor to dry, while the chinese foxgloves were still in Mo Ling’s backpack.

The book said that the herbs should be dried in the shade, so the three of them carried the herbs under the tree in the courtyard together. They poured out the newly gathered herbs, sorted them, and cleaned them. They were so busy they forgot to make lunch. It was only when Mo Feng returned home for lunch that Mrs. Liang remembered she hadn’t cooked lunch yet, so she hurriedly got up and went to the kitchen.

Mo Feng frowned and complained, “Why isn’t lunch ready yet!”

Mrs. Liang was busy getting firewood to light the fire when she replied, “I was busy and I forgot. If you’re hungry, go eat some biscuits first.”

Mo Feng went to see what his sisters were doing and kicked the ground impatiently, “What are you doing with these weeds? It’s not like you can eat them!”

Mo Ling slapped him on the calf, “It’s not food, but it can be sold for food. Do you understand? ‘Leader of the household’?”

The ‘leader of the household’ was only thinking about the food he could eat at that point in time, and didn’t care where it came from.

At the dinner table, Mo Ling asked about Mrs. Zhang working for the Lu family, and Mrs. Liang bristled, “Sir Lu asked me to work for them before, but working for a military family is too embarrassing, so I refused.”

“It’s too embarrassing? He pays her five taels a month! That’s sixty taels every year!”

Mrs. Liang stopped eating and stared at Mo Ling, “That much for domestic work?”

Mo Ling raised her brows and nodded at Mrs. Liang, “Yes! Aunt Zhang brings home thrice as much money as dad every year.”

Mrs. Liang froze for a moment before saying, “Forget it! Let’s just eat!”

She was clearly regretting not taking the job, but she didn’t want to admit it.

Mo Yan dipped her chopsticks into the sauce and licked it, “Mum, your sauce tastes really good. Can Mrs. Zhang make this kind of sauce too?”

Mo Ling and Mrs. Liang replied at the same time, “Of course not.”

“Then her cooking must not be as good as mum’s either!”

Mrs. Liang raised her head proudly, “Of course!”

“Then mum, ask Lu Junming to come over for a meal!”

Mo Ling nodded towards Mrs. Liang, “That makes sense!”

The main reason Sir Lu had hired someone to help with the domestic work was because of his grandson. If Lu Junming said he wanted a specific person to cook for him, why wouldn’t Sir Lu comply with his wishes?

When he heard that they were going to ask Lu Junming to come over for a meal, Mu Feng vehemently disagreed. The swelling on his cheeks after being beaten up by Lu Junming hadn’t completely disappeared yet!

“Why would you do that!”

Mrs. Liang smiled and looked at her son, “That’s six silver taels a year! Apart from paying your school tuition fees, we can also afford to have meat occasionally.”

Mo Feng shut up when he heard the word ‘meat’. He hadn’t eaten meat in a long time, and was willing to be beaten up again if that meant he could have some.

“But will he accept our invitation?” Mrs. Liang felt unsure.

Mo Yan nodded, “If I’m inviting him, he will.”

“Then say it’s to make amends to him!” Mrs. Liang understood that being full is much more important than saving face.

“Let’s buy some meat and vegetables from the market tomorrow and invite him for dinner!”

The sisters agreed and got up to wash the dishes.

It was so hot in the afternoon that everyone in the village was taking a nap. Mo Yan was also tired, so she took a nap too and woke up feeling refreshed. Hard labour really is better than any sleeping pill.

The chickens knew it was hot outside, so they were crouching under the south wall, scooping up the soil and spreading it over their bodies to ward off the heat.

Mo Yan fetched the book that Mr. Cao had given her and sat under the tree in the courtyard as she continued reading it.

She looked carefully through the pages and found out everyday herbs and spices such as onion, ginger and garlic all had medicinal properties. Even different types of grains could be used to regulate the body if used properly.

If she had a nice father who was a doctor, she definitely would have studied medicine, but Cao Zhang had decided to ignore this good fortune before. Mo Yan had studied history, and knew most officials of this time were nobles. It was incredibly difficult for a peasant to pass the imperial examination and become an official.

It was the evening before she knew it, and Mo Yan wanted to gather a few more herbs. Her sister and Mrs. Liang couldn’t go with her because they had to fertilise the plants.

Her second grandmother was fetching water at the well again. She thought Mo Yan was digging for wild vegetables and asked, “Yan’er, why are you digging up wild vegetables?”

Mo Yan dropped her basket, ran to her second grandma’s side and told her about the medicinal herbs. She replied, “I can help with this. Just tell me which ones you need and I’ll dig them up for you.”

“Aren’t you afraid that Mrs. Ho will find out?”

Mo Yan’s second grandmother smiled and said, “If I don’t tell her and you don’t tell her, she’ll never find out now will she?”

She put her water jar next to the well and followed Mo Yan.

Mo Yan taught her how to harvest the herbs, “The dandelions should be dug up whole with the roots, we just need the stem of the chinese foxgloves but they can’t be broken, the muskrat root…”

The two kept searching when a plant with large leaves which was about two feet tall suddenly came into view. Mo Yan’s eyes brightened, “This is a mandrake. It’s a high-quality medicinal herb!”

Unfortunately, there was only one mandrake plant and it only had a few flowers. Mo Yan looked at it wistfully as she thought, If only there were more mandrakes here!

She straightened up and saw her family’s fields. The two acres of land they had at home wouldn’t grow much food, but if she could use them to grow medicinal herbs instead, they would be worth much more than wheat…

However, she would need Mrs. Liang’s consent and she’d also have to carefully consider which medicinal herbs to grow.

Lu Junming saw Mo Yan at the pond from afar and ran all the way over, “Yan’er, are you here to gather herbs again? Let me help you!”

Mo Yan raised her hand to stop him, “There’s no need. You won’t be able to do this, but I do have something to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“Come to my house for dinner tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“My mum wants to apologise for what happened two days ago.”

“That’s not necessary!”

“Just go, ok?”

Lu Junming was a bit puzzled, but he agreed.

It was almost dark, so Mo Yan and her second grandma went home together.

When they got home, Mo Ling was cooking in the kitchen and Mrs. Liang was shaking a straw basket. It was filled with soybeans she had cooked in the morning and there was white flour on top of that.

After the white flour was evenly distributed, she used a sieve to add wheat bran to the basket, and mixed it with the beans and white flour.

“What’s this for?” Mo Yan asked in confusion.

“I’m making soybean paste. The wheat bran makes the beans ferment faster.”

So this was how soybean paste was made!

Mo Yan took advantage of the remaining rays of light to sort the herbs in the basket. The herbs that had been drying before were gathered and covered with a tarp to prevent them from getting wet by the morning dew.