The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Su Qingyue didn’t hear, as planned. After dinner, she brushed her teeth four times. To save salt, she only used a bit of salt mixed with water for the last brush.

There were six willow branches left in the corner of the stove. She gathered them together, as each one was a disposable ‘toothbrush’. She could either go to the river or the village well to find more willow trees. Although the distance was short, her physical condition was poor, so she tried not to move too much. These six branches would be enough for her to brush her teeth three times in the morning and evening.

Xiao Yishan went to the secondary bedroom to get the bowl and chopsticks used by Fourth Brother, cleaned them in the kitchen, and brought them back. The chicken soup on the table was nearly finished, with only a few pieces of chicken left. He put the chicken into a bowl, planning to heat it up for his wife to eat tomorrow morning.

He cleared out the used bowls and put them into the wooden washbasin along with the stove pot that his wife had not completely used for her bath. The water temperature was just slightly warm, so he didn’t need to add any cold water or heat up any more.

We sold 45 jin at thirteen cents per jin, earning 611 cents. We sold two wild rabbits for 127 cents, and four wild pheasants weighing ten jin for 120 cents. In total, we earned 858 cents from selling the game this afternoon.”

“Second Brother, you’re in charge of our family’s finances, so there’s no need to discuss it with me.” Xiao Yuchuan was not particularly concerned. “I’ve already preserved the remaining seven jin of roe deer meat with salt and put it in a jar. And I also managed to sell the roe deer’s skin to Master Yang from our village while cooking. Since the skin had three holes in it, it wasn’t worth much and I only got ninety cents.”

Master Yang was responsible for tanning the fur and skin of the game in the village. Freshly-skin animal hides need a special method of tanning to prevent rot and foul odors. Ordinary people do not have the skill to tan, and even if they could, poor craftsmanship would ruin the fur and kill its market value.

In general, the villagers of Wushan Village would sell animal hides directly to Master Yang while fresh, or pay him to tan the hides properly before selling them in the market.

After some thought, Xiao Yishan said, “Third Brother, I gave the money you gave me to Zhou Fuquan before I went hunting in the mountains. He happened to be going to town, so I asked him to bring two packs of medicine back for Fourth Brother. Fuquan said he had a day-long job in town and would return to the village tomorrow morning. ”

“It’s a good thing you gave the money to Fuquan to buy medicine.” Xiao Yuchuan casually replied.

“Why?”

Xiao Yuchuan glanced at Su Qingyue, who was standing nearby. It seemed like she was listening to how much money the family had made. Thinking of her searching the cabinet for money earlier, he couldn’t help but say, “Second Brother, from now on, let’s not talk about how much money we’ve made in front of our wife.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Xiao Yishan didn’t think there was any issue and said discontentedly, “Are you still holding a grudge against your wife for stealing eight taels of silver?”

“It’s not that…” He rubbed his temples. Now, his wife didn’t seem like someone who would steal from home again. But when he said she was looking for money earlier, she didn’t even deny it. In other words, she really was searching for money again. He would have been willing to believe her if she had just denied it, or remained silent, or even just shook her head.

But she…

He should have told Second Brother about this, but he didn’t want to worsen his brother’s impression of his wife, so he said, “A woman doesn’t understand anything about money. It’s better not to let her know..”