Chapter 451 - Chapter 451: Egg Drop Soup
Chapter 451: Egg Drop Soup
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Mrs. Song did not feel cold even though it was snowing because she wore thick clothes. Song Yi had earned money and hurriedly bought new cloth and cotton for her.
Mrs. Song made new thicker clothes so that she would not feel cold whenever she went to work in the morning and returned in the evening. She wore her thick clothes, and even her heart felt warm.
It was a product of her son’s filial piety. She was happy to see him working hard to earn a good living.
Being a son was not tiring, and Song Yi was free to care for his parents. Mrs.
Song knew her son would not have had such a job if he had never met Su Wenwu. The Su family arranged this job for Song Yi because they trusted him.
Song Yi was slightly worried about his father and asked, “Father wouldn’t be chopping wood on the mountain now, right? Let’s go home quickly.”
Mrs. Song also felt a little anxious. “Your father hasn’t been able to stay still since his foot recovered. We’ve already told him to rest at home and not go chopping wood again.”
Song Yi was anxious but dared not drive the oxcart too fast, afraid they would slip and flip on the snow. Fortunately, they arrived home before the snow became heavier and the sky darkened.
Soon after reaching home, the snow became heavier. Mr. Song had also just arrived when the mother-son duo got home. He placed another pile of pine trees in the courtyard.
Mrs. Song looked at the heavy snow outside and sighed, “Luckily, we got off work early and got home in time. If we came home a little later, it would be tough for the ox to walk through the blizzard.”
Mr. Song added, “I didn’t expect it to snow today either. You guys came back early. Usually, I’d have already prepared dinner.”
Song Yi and his mother worked in Su Teng Village, leaving only his father at home. Therefore, the older man would cook at home while the duo went to work.
Mr. Song could not stay idle, so he went to the back of the mountain to chop pine trees during the day. Although the profit from pine wood could not compare to his wife and son’s salaries, he could still earn a little to help out. It was better than being idle at home, after all.
He wanted to move around as much as possible, especially now that his foot had recovered.
Whenever Song Yi had free time from work, he sometimes went home for lunch and brought a portion for his mother. Other times, he would stay home to accompany his father. Still, he spent most of his time helping in Su Teng Village.
The Song family’s lives were fulfilling now because the duo could get paid monthly, so they felt extremely at ease.
Mrs. Song explained, “Madam Ding noticed the weather wasn’t good, so she told everyone to go home early. She said it was what Miss Su wanted. We should stop work early before it rained or snowed heavily. She’ll still pay us as usual.
“I returned with Song Yi, but some employees stayed in the dorms because they live far away.”
Mr. Song sighed. “The Su family is so good to everyone. They let you off work earlier if there are storms or blizzards.
Mrs. Song added, “Someone said we’d have spring and autumn breaks. Then it’ll be more convenient for everyone to go home and plant crops during spring.
It’ll also be convenient for people to harvest their wheat and rice.”
Mr. Song became excited and happy when he heard that. “That’s perfect. Then it won’t delay our farm work, so we can grow crops and food.”
“That’s right. I thought I would work at the embroidery shop with eight days of rest a month. I would rest a day every two to three days if I worked according to the schedule. I can’t help much with the farm work if I’m too busy.”
“I thought I could help with the farm work after delivering goods. We won’t delay anything if I have a few days off. I heard Su Fengmao saying that once,”
Song Yi said smilingly, “It should be true.”
Although Northern Mountain Village was quite far from Su Teng Village, Mrs. Song had grown accustomed to going home every night. Since Mr. Song would typically stay home, Mrs. Song would worry about him.
Still, the journey would not take long as Song Yi and his mother would go to and from Su Teng Village together on the oxcart. Their main concern was going home at night to have dinner and discuss their day together.
Mrs. Song would be delighted whenever she shared her happiness with her family. The family chatted and laughed as they started to prepare dinner.
Song Yi liked eating egg drop soup, but his family’s financial situation was less than fortunate in the past, so they could not bear to make it. Since the family’s conditions had improved, Mr. and Mrs. Song wanted to steam a big bowl of egg drop soup for their son to eat.
They would feed him well and give him the strength to work. They were also more willing to use oil and meat for cooking.
The family could only boil their food in the past. They only made very few dishes, with most of them being soup. However, they could occasionally splurge and put oil in their dishes now. They could even make deep-fried food.
Song Yi watched his mother pour peanut oil into the pot and seemed to have thought of something before saying, “Mother, someone said the rapeseed yield would be very high.
“One acre of rapeseed can produce a lot of oil. So, we should plant one acre worth of rapeseeds to gather oil.”
He did not know such things in the past.
Mrs. Song said, “I heard about that while working at the embroidery shop. Every household in Su Teng Village has planted rapeseed to harvest during spring. It also won’t affect their spring crop planting. But we learned about it too late, so we’ll plant rapeseeds next year instead.”
Many people trusted Su Binglan and believed everything she said.
“Yeah, Miss Su will have more rapeseeds in spring. Since the yield will be high, she’ll let us plant them. Still, we must buy rapeseeds from her.”
Mrs. Song said, “The seeds Miss Su sells won’t be expensive. People say the seeds only cost five copper coins per pound. We can plant that one pound on one acre of land.
“Even if someone can’t afford to pay for their seeds, they can wait until others plant theirs before returning a pound to Miss Su.”
Mr. Song was burning firewood when he said gratefully, “Miss Su is such a kind person.”
Everyone often discussed these things when free, whether from the tofu factory or the embroidery shop. Some even thought Su Binglan was a guardian angel who had descended into the mortal world to help them.
Those who worked at the embroidery shop cherished their job very much. The employees worked hard, and no one slacked off. Everyone helped each other, and there were no quarrels because they knew Su Binglan valued one’s character the most.
Even if some had ill thoughts, those thoughts would disappear under the influence of such an excellent atmosphere.
Environments like those could sometimes affect a person. If a group of people were good, the rotten eggs would get infected and turn for the better.
Su Fengzhi also prepared to close his shop early and go home to rest when it started snowing. He was still busy making skewers.
He barely felt the cold after buying the shop and busying himself. Nonetheless, his business had always been perfect. Moreover, he could handle more work since he had hired Madam Liu’s two brothers to help.
Su Fengzhi realized the weather was not good in the afternoon as it looked like it was about to snow. So, he told Madam Liu’s two older brothers to go home early.
There were no weather forecasts in that era, and the farmers who relied on the weather had learned to look at the sky to figure things out based on their experiences.
They could sometimes predict whether it would rain or snow at a glance. Then they would take precautions in advance..