Chapter 16: The Third Temporary Worker
Although Old Man Xu was a man of few words and smiles, his rating was actually quite high.
[Temporary Worker Satisfaction: 95.]
Anonymous Temporary Worker Feedback:
I don’t know what the nobles in these mountains are thinking. To have such a grand house and such a flawless stove, yet call an old man like me to work on them… If I had been careless for even a split second and damaged the noble person’s belongings, how could I ever afford to pay them back!
But thank goodness they are a noble person; the rewards they bestowed were incredibly generous. Regular chicken eggs cost a copper coin each, yet they gave me eight without blinking! They even gave me salted duck eggs, which will save us a good few days’ worth of salt money.
And look at this brown sugar. I don’t know how it was refined—it is so clean and finer than sand, without a single speck of wood shavings in it.
As for this powdered milk, this old man has lived for decades and honestly never heard of such a thing. My old woman didn’t even dare touch it at first. Fortunately, when my daughter-in-law was helping out as a servant in the city, she heard that foreigners love to drink milk tea and dry their milk into blocks; this powdered milk must be a similar thing.
After my grandson drank the milk, he finally stopped fussing. For the first time, he fell asleep within a quarter of an hour of being held. My old woman went into our son and daughter-in-law’s room and said our daughter-in-law could finally sleep soundly and with peace of mind.
Doing this work for the noble person was truly worth it. With all these items, especially that sugar, I’m afraid it’s a treasure that money can’t even buy. My daughter-in-law can’t bear to eat it; she says she’ll keep it and go into the city in a couple of days to ask around. Perhaps she can trade it for even more grain…
Old Man Xu had his own arrangements for his work rewards. Although it differed from what Jian Xingxia had intended, it seemed a short four-hour stint of labor had nonetheless brought a small slice of happiness to Old Man Xu’s family.
Buying all those supplies today had cost a lot of money. Jian Xingxia counted her remaining three thousand yuan of family assets, her heart filled with worry.
She absolutely had to start reclaiming the wasteland and farming. Buying rice and oil was unavoidable, so she would have to skimp heavily on vegetables.
Jian Xingxia made up her mind to hire two temporary workers today.
[Recruiting one temporary worker. Job description: Land reclamation and farming. Work duration: 6 hours.]
It was barely one o’clock right now. The summer sun set late, so if they rushed and seized the time to farm, they could work until seven before resting.
As for the second recruitment quota, Jian Xingxia hesitated for a brief moment before ultimately deciding to call Taoya back. Although Taoya was young and frail, she worked efficiently, was willing to endure hardships, and deeply cherished everything she was given. Jian Xingxia’s heart ached for her.
Furthermore, Taoya had mentioned that her mother was running a high fever, which left Jian Xingxia deeply worried. Catching a cold and fever in ancient times was an exceptionally severe illness that could cost a life at any moment. Taoya’s wage tier wasn’t high; she had only been able to give her just over a day’s worth of medicine, and she had no idea if Taoya’s mother had recovered.
Jian Xingxia decided to forfeit a more efficient, professional temporary worker in exchange for giving Taoya’s mother a sliver of hope for survival.
[Recruiting one temporary worker. Job description: Weeding. Work duration: 4 hours.]
Taoya was young, and walking a mountain path in the dark wasn’t safe. Jian Xingxia struck a balance between “working more to earn more” and “finishing early to take the medicine home.”
The recruitment of temporary workers couldn’t specify individuals, so Jian Xingxia held her hoe and turned the soil, waiting with bated breath.
Meanwhile, at Taoya’s house.
Taoya, who was currently washing clothes, suddenly straightened her back.
Standing nearby and flipping the peach chunks to dry them one by one, Xingya was startled. “Sister, what’s wrong?”
Taoya said with absolute excitement, “The Fairy Sister is looking for me to work again!”
Inside the room, Lin Sanniang was currently drinking her medicine. Shu-ger held the bowl, staring longingly at the brown medicinal decoction inside. He felt that this medicinal soup didn’t seem like regular medicine; it lacked that terrifying bitterness, carrying a fleeting hint of sweetness instead. But Shu-ger knew that this medicine belonged to his mother, and only if his mother drank it would she get better, so that he and his sister wouldn’t turn into little motherless beggars.
Lin Sanniang gently pushed the bowl away, and Shu-ger carefully set it down on the wooden table to the side.
“Taoya, come here,” Lin Sanniang called out to Taoya.
Xingya forcefully nudged Taoya along. “Sister, leave the clothes to me, go quickly!”
Taoya set down the laundry. Inside the room, Lin Sanniang had neatly mended the broken bamboo basket her daughter had carried back the day before.
“When I was mending clothes for others before, there were a few fabric scraps and thread ends left over. I’ve patched up the holes in the bamboo basket and sewed two sturdy shoulder straps for you, so it will be easier to carry on your back.”
Taoya nodded vigorously. “Mmm! Mother, I’m off. Wait for me, I will definitely work hard and bring food back!”
Lin Sanniang looked at her eldest daughter with a heart full of pity. “Go quickly. The master is kind-hearted, so be diligent with your labor. If you get tired, don’t force yourself to keep going. The peaches from yesterday can be dried in the sun and then steamed; once made into dried peaches, they can sustain us for a while.”
Xingya called out from the courtyard, “Sister, I borrowed a bowl of wheat flour from the neighbor auntie. We’ll steam wild vegetable dumplings for lunch!”
Shu-ger added hurriedly, “Then I’ll go sun the dried peaches! I promise I won’t sneak a bite!”
There were no idlers in this family; every single person was fighting for survival.
Taoya hoisted the basket onto her back, threw open the courtyard gate, and sprinted with large strides up toward the mountain.
The old house.
Not long after Jian Xingxia posted the recruitment notice, she heard a familiar, clear call.
“Manor Owner Sister!”
Jian Xingxia stood on her tiptoes, searching for the figure running through the overgrown wild grass.
“Taoya!”
“It’s me!”
Taoya ran with all her might, using her hands to push away the weeds that were taller than a person. She didn’t care even when the sharp edges scratched the backs of her hands, sprinting all the way until she stood before Jian Xingxia. A radiant, unburdened smile finally bloomed on her gaunt, yellow face.
“Manor Owner Sister! Your medicine is far too miraculous! It took effect almost immediately. With just one packet down, my mother’s fever broke. When she was still coughing by evening, I mixed another bowl and let her hold the syrup in her mouth as she slept.”
Taoya said excitedly, “Mother only coughed four or five times throughout the entire night. It wasn’t like before when her fever was terrible, looking as if she would cough her very lungs out.”
Moved by her pure joy, Jian Xingxia let out a massive sigh of relief. “How is she this morning?”
“Mother is much better this morning, her fever is completely gone! I didn’t know I would be able to come back today, so I only mixed half a packet of medicine for her, and Mother said it felt wonderful after drinking it. The sun was brilliant at noon, so Mother was actually able to get out of bed, open the window, and look at the sunshine.”
Taoya was overjoyed. In their region, people who suffered from a cold and fever were strictly forbidden from catching any draft. Not only did the patients dread the cold, but exposure to wind could easily worsen their condition. Yet Lin Sanniang had only taken the medicine for a single day, and by noon the next day, she could already open her window to catch the breeze. Taoya had never seen anyone’s cold get better this quickly among her neighbors.
She was more certain than ever that Jian Xingxia was a fairy.
Jian Xingxia patted the withered, wispy hair on the crown of the girl’s head and asked, “Have you eaten? Are you hungry?”
Taoya shook her head. “Manor Owner Sister, I’m not hungry, I came to work. Sister, do you still need me to pull weeds today?”
“Mmm, still pulling weeds,” Jian Xingxia replied.
There was an endless amount of chores to be done. Although she was currently dirt-poor, she sat upon several mountains just waiting for her to slowly develop them. Right now it was the height of summer; never mind the deep mountains, even the area surrounding the old house was choked with wild weeds that grew taller than a person. She wanted to follow behind Taoya and Old Man Xu to see the cave they mentioned, but she couldn’t even manage that.
Jian Xingxia instructed Taoya, “Just follow along the perimeter of the old house. Wherever there are weeds, tear them out. Once the tall ones are torn down, I’ll hire someone to turn over the roots.”
Taoya answered clearly, “I’ll get right to work!”
After three days, a shred of a child’s natural vitality had finally returned to Taoya. Considering she was only two years older than Hu Ming—Hu Ming still felt like a boy who wanted to play with mud and water, yet Taoya could already nimbly execute farm labor.
As Taoya went off to work, Jian Xingxia lit the clay stove to boil water. There was no running water in the mountains; although the well water was crisp and sweet, it was still best to drink it after it had been thoroughly boiled.
Before the first kettle of water could even come to a boil, there was another disturbance outside the back courtyard.
“Is the master at home? Is this the place looking to reclaim wasteland and farm?”
The bizarre, distorted accent gave her a sudden fright.
Jian Xingxia and Taoya snapped their heads over in unison. There, they saw a person whose hands, feet, and face were entirely pitch-black, staring with a pair of starkly black-and-white eyes, peeking and peering into the yard.
“Ah!”
Taoya let out a sharp shriek. Gripping the tool in her hand, she charged right into the courtyard, shielding Jian Xingxia with her own body.
“A-A monster! There’s a monster! Sister, run quickly!”
