Chapter 236: Why the Sudden Craving?
Today, they were heading to a place called Sanyuan Village. Hearing the name, Wen Yao couldn’t help but joke with Wen Xiuyi, “Dad, is there a place called Sixi Village too?”
Wen Xiuyi had no idea, but the yamen runner driving the carriage overheard and replied with a smile, “Has the young lady been to the prefecture seat before? There really is a Sixi Village. According to the magistrate’s arrangements, Scholar Wen will be going to Sixi Village in a few days.”
Wen Yao: “…” She had just said it on a whim. The original author of the book was truly far too casual with naming, hahahaha.
Soon, the carriage pulled up at the entrance of Sanyuan Village. A good number of villagers were already waiting there. Before she even stepped down, Wen Yao heard people shouting that Scholar Wen had arrived.
As soon as the curtain was lifted—good heavens, it was a sea of people waiting.
Wen Yao nudged Wen Xiuyi with her elbow. “Dad, I didn’t expect you to be quite the popular figure, huh?”
“You wretched girl, stop teasing your father.” After speaking, Wen Xiuyi stepped down from the carriage and walked toward the crowd with a smile.
Wen Yao followed closely behind.
Some villagers spotted Wen Yao and sized her up curiously.
“Scholar Wen, this must be your daughter, right?” someone asked, noticing the resemblance between their features.
Wen Xiuyi nodded. “Yes, my daughter. She came to the prefecture seat to visit me and couldn’t sit still, so she wanted to follow me around for a look.”
Hearing this, the villagers immediately showered Wen Yao with praise.
“This girl really looks lovely and fair.”
“She looks so well-behaved, far gentler than the one in my house.”
“How old is the young lady? Is she betrothed yet?”
Wen Yao: “…” There was really no need to be this enthusiastic.
Wen Xiuyi coughed awkwardly. “The child is still young. What betrothal?”
Seeing that Wen Xiuyi was exceptionally resistant to this topic, the crowd tactfully shut their mouths. After all, this was a man with real ability; offending him wouldn’t benefit any of them.
The moment Wen Xiuyi arrived, he threw himself into his work. Surrounded by a crowd of people, Wen Yao couldn’t even find a gap to squeeze in, so she had no choice but to wander around by herself.
This Sanyuan Village was different from their Gutong Village. The terrain of Yunwu Town was higher and consisted mostly of dry land, but the prefecture seat was much flatter. Here, paddy fields predominated, and many households had ponds right in front of their doors with countless ducks quacking non-stop.
The villagers hadn’t seen Wen Yao before, and those who hadn’t gone to the village entrance to welcome Wen Xiuyi didn’t know she was Scholar Wen’s daughter either. Seeing her wandering alone in the village at such a young age, they assumed she was a lost child from some family.
“Child, have you lost your way or something? How did you end up here?” An old lady about Old Madam Luo’s age asked when she saw Wen Yao approach her doorstep.
If the girl was lost, she figured she could get the villagers to help send her back.
Wen Yao gave a sweet smile. “Grandma, I’m not lost. I came with my dad.”
The old lady blinked. “Your dad?”
“Mm, my dad’s surname is Wen,” Wen Yao said.
Realization dawned upon the old lady. “You’re Scholar Wen’s daughter? Oh my, quickly come in and sit, come in and sit.” As she spoke, she warmly ushered Wen Yao into the house.
Since Wen Yao had nothing else to do anyway, she followed her inside.
There was no one else at home; the old lady was all by herself.
“The family went to the fields to listen to Scholar Wen talk about crops. I’m just an old woman staying back. Miss, please have a seat. I’ll pour some water for you. We folks in the countryside don’t have any proper tea leaves, so please don’t look down on it,” the old lady said as she hosted Wen Yao.
Wen Yao quickly told her not to trouble herself. “Grandma, no need to go to any trouble. Just a cup of water is fine.”
The old lady poured a cup of water for Wen Yao and sat down across from her. Holding the water cup, Wen Yao looked around the room. The house was kept very neat and tidy; though it wasn’t large, it felt cozy.
Thinking about their current old family residence, which was filled with soybean paste everywhere, Wen Yao thought that when she returned this time, she absolutely had to discuss it with her grandparents to build a new house to live in. The current old residence could be entirely converted into a workshop, which would save them from living right alongside their inventory.
Seeing her looking around, the old lady appeared a bit uneasy, deeply afraid that Wen Yao might look down on their poor living conditions.
However, Wen Yao’s face showed not a single shred of disdain, which relieved the old lady immensely.
“Scholar Wen must be very busy. Why don’t you have lunch at this old woman’s house at noon, Miss? Bring Scholar Wen along as well,” the old lady offered.
Wen Yao could tell that this family’s financial situation wasn’t good, as their house wasn’t even as large as the others, and though it was tidy, it was rather broken down. Even so, they still thought of inviting her for a meal, which touched Wen Yao deeply.
“I won’t trouble you, Grandma. My dad and I brought rations; we can just have a casual bite.”
The old lady waved her hands repeatedly. “How can that be? Scholar Wen is someone who has helped us immensely, how can we let him just get by? Sigh, it’s a pity that the village chief invited Scholar Wen yesterday, but he refused to go to anyone’s house. He just chewed on flatbread inside the carriage with the people from the yamen. We all saw it.”
As she spoke, the old lady even wiped away a tear. “Scholar Wen is a good man.”
Wen Yao: “…” Her dad’s image was quite glorious and dazzling.
However, this was a habit her dad had formed back in their previous life. Whenever they went down to the countryside, he never ate at the villagers’ homes. Even if he did, he would bring his own grain coupons or his own rations.
To prevent the old lady from continuing with this topic, Wen Yao shifted the conversation. “Grandma, I see most of the land here consists of paddy fields. Do you all plant rice?”
The old lady nodded. “Mm, this area is low-lying and right next to the Ping River, so everyone plants rice. It’s just… sigh, the harvest isn’t good. It’s like this every year; we can only scrape by. For those households without much land, if they didn’t go out to do manual labor, they probably couldn’t even feed a family of several mouths.”
No wonder the prefectural magistrate wanted to invite her dad over. This truly played right into Professor Wen’s specialty.
Wen Yao didn’t understand the intricacies of farming, but she quite liked this village from what she saw.
“I see every household raises ducks?”
The old lady nodded. “Yes, everyone raises them. Selling some duck eggs normally can also supplement the household income.”
Wen Yao cupped the cup with both hands, rubbing it gently, no one knew what she was thinking.
After sitting at the old lady’s house for a while, Wen Yao saw that she was really about to prepare lunch. Not wanting to cause trouble for others, Wen Yao immediately bade her farewell and slipped away, not stopping no matter how the old lady called out from behind.
When the time arrived, Wen Xiuyi also turned down the enthusiastic invitations from the villagers and slipped back onto the carriage. Together with the yamen runner, the three of them drank water and chewed on the meat pies Wen Yao had made.
After following Wen Xiuyi for these few days, this yamen runner was also improving his meals for the first time.
Truth be told, the meat pies made by Scholar Wen’s daughter were incredibly delicious.
While eating, Wen Yao brought up the matter of this village to Wen Xiuyi. Wen Xiuyi cast a glance at her. “What are you trying to do now?”
“Nothing much. I was just thinking that with so many ducks in our family, we should have quite a lot of duck eggs. Who knew the roast duck shop’s business would be so good that those ducks can’t even live long enough to lay eggs?
Sigh, although Second Aunt and Third Aunt kept a hundred or so ducks to lay eggs, they want to use those eggs to hatch ducklings. They say buying ducklings isn’t cost-effective and it’s better to hatch them themselves, so I don’t even get a chance to touch them.” As she spoke, she winked at Wen Xiuyi. “Don’t you want to eat salted duck eggs? Don’t you want to eat century egg tofu?”
Wen Xiuyi took a look at the meat pie in his hand, and why did a sudden craving hit him out of nowhere?
This brat.
