Chapter 133:
Li Zheng Sen smoked and exhaled a smoke ring, his brows furrowed tightly,
“I don’t know what’s going on either”
“However, she Luo Zhi’er had better pray that she didn’t do anything detrimental to the Old Li Family!”
Zhao Xiaomei inexplicably wanted to roll her eyes at him, lost her appetite for the rice in her bowl, and set it aside.
The next day, Luo Zhi’er got up in the morning and fetched two buckets of water from the river.
She pulled a few handfuls of grass for the mule in the field by the riverside and chopped it up with a knife before throwing it in.
She washed the pig trough clean, disinfected it with high heat, poured some water in for it to drink!
Early in the morning, someone ran to her home to look at the mule. Luo Zhi’er generously let them see it, while Aunt Xie probed indirectly.
Inquiring where the silver for buying the mule came from?
Second Wife asked about the exact price?
Zhao Xiaomei from Li Zheng Sen’s family also came, her eyes barely open.
Seeing the mule eating grass, sturdy and solid, she felt extremely sour inside.
Why didn’t it die of mule plague?
Luo Zhi’er picked up the broom to sweep the ground, without batting an eye, repeating yesterday’s words.
“My dad is still the best to me!”
It was just that Old Luo Tou had given her some dowry back then.
Since going to town was inconvenient, she used it to buy a mule cart for transportation.
It was money given by her dad.
What could they say?
Zhao Xiaomei couldn’t hold back and, seeing the crowd, said a few indignant and righteous words: “San Mao’s Wife, Second Uncle’s Wife has to say a few words to you!”
Luo Zhi’er looked up, gazing at her with a half-smile.
Zhao Xiaomei felt a bit uneasy,
“Your father-in-law and mother-in-law are still in prison, your man San Mao too, yet here you are enjoying life at home”
“This really shouldn’t be, and also, does your mother-in-law know about your dad Old Luo Tou giving you dowry? You’re too selfish—how could you spend it all yourself at a time like this?”
“Your family will need to spend silver in many places later. Even if you don’t think for yourself, you should think for Miaomiao, for San Mao and the whole family!”
“Li Lei still ran off owing a ton of debt!”
“Exactly, exactly!”
Some people were already chiming in!
They spoke so righteously. This couple was cut from the same cloth—normal people would be so ashamed they’d want to bury their heads in the dirt.
Luo Zhi’er didn’t blush or skip a beat, her eyes revealing killing intent. “Second Uncle’s Wife, can you tell me what dowry means? What is it used for?”
Zhao Xiaomei was stumped.
“Since you won’t say, I will. Dowry is money given by the woman’s parents to their daughter, so she won’t be aggrieved at her husband’s home and can live better if she is!”
“Now that I’m Luo Zhi’er in dire straits, which of you relatives has helped me? I used the silver my dad gave me to get through the hardship—what’s wrong with that?”
“But…”
“This is the woman’s premarital property. What does it have to do with the Old Li Family?”
“What does it have to do with your Li Zheng Sen family?”
Her voice grew louder with each sentence.
“As for whether I buy a mule or a horse, it’s my Luo Zhi’er’s silver being spent—who else has the right to point fingers?”
“And there’s a debtor for every debt and a culprit for every wrong. I never heard that Li Lei’s debts were to be filled with this Third Sister-in-law’s dowry money! The government officials released me and aren’t pursuing my responsibility—what are you so anxious about?”
“Tell me, don’t you wish our family all lived badly?”
“This, this, I was just saying it casually, I didn’t mean all that. Look at how sharp your tongue is!”
“Heh! A good person is bullied, a good horse is ridden. You just said it like that—how do the villagers see me?”
“Second Uncle’s Wife, has Luo Zhi’er ever gone to your home to accuse your daughter-in-law of squandering silver?”
“Have you ever taken out your dowry to subsidize your Second Son’s Family? Oh, I get it—is taking a wife’s dowry your tradition?”
“What nonsense? We didn’t take Wei Zi’s wife’s dowry!”
Slap slap slap—face-slapping!
“Move aside a bit, I need to sweep the ground!”
Zhao Xiaomei slunk away covered in dirt and dust!
The others also left dejectedly.
This Luo Zhi’er turned out to be tough. “Hey, how did San Mao’s Wife change her temperament like that?”
“Could it be that last time she fell into the river and got possessed by a water ghost?”
“Nonsense. Her man isn’t squatting in prison? She’s just stimulated! Even a cornered dog jumps the wall, right?”
“Yeah, she must have been pissed off big time!”
Seeing them gone, Luo Zhi’er put the pork bone she bought yesterday into the pot to simmer.
She let Miaomiao sleep for a while longer.
This girl ran herself ragged yesterday, and with all the noise from these people chatting this morning, she still didn’t wake.
Little girl, growing taller, growing brain cells—better to sleep more.
With bone broth simmering in the pot, she steamed rice in another. Seeing Miaomiao still asleep, she thought of yesterday’s idea and started implementing it.
First, select a spot.
She wandered around the yard. The right side was the chicken coop, the left side backed against the hill, and the garden plot below had already been dug by her into a fish pond.
It seemed only this garden plot could be used. In the left garden plot right next to the side room, she began planning to build a bread kiln.
The food at home was too monotonous. Corn flour could not only be made into hard-to-eat corn paste but also used to bake bread.
It could also bake pizza, sweet potatoes, potatoes.
Everything can be baked!
Miaomiao, Muqing, Yunliang—they’d surely love to eat it.
This could be used to make things for themselves usually, and take the finished products to town to sell, maybe adding another income stream!
She recalled the materials needed for a bread kiln: stone blocks, bricks, mud.
The Old Li Family had no bricks and stones. Later, she’d go to the Village Chief’s home to buy some leftover green bricks from their house-building.
Thinking it over, she’d just make a clay kiln directly.
Hadn’t she dug up a lot of clay while digging the fish pond the other day? Use that to build the bread kiln.
Having made up her mind, she started preparing. Miaomiao woke up too.
After breakfast, mother and daughter first went to the Village Chief’s home and bought back two wheelbarrow loads of bricks.
Then they went to the river to pick up some square stones.
Feeling the materials were about right, she found the tape measure at home and measured the foundation dimensions, brick-laying sizes. Generally, three sides needed bricking, and checking her own height, about 80CM would do.
She got out Miaomiao’s paper and pen and started drawing a design sketch.
It was roughly designed as an oval castle, plastered with mud, a bit like a bear’s head, very cute and chubby.
With a chimney, door, and brick stove base below.
After drawing and calculating the position on the ground, she started on the foundation.
Tools were her hands, plus the shovel at home. For smoothing, she’d use a flat wooden board.
Mix clay with water, first lay the foundation with stones and bricks, hang a small stone block with rope, and lay bricks bit by bit, taking care not to lay them crooked.
By the time the bricks were laid, it was almost dark. Miaomiao helped hand her bricks and apply mud.
While stacking bricks, Luo Zhi’er explained to Miaomiao how to make this bread kiln and the principle of baking bread.
Seeing it getting dark, Luo Zhi’er washed the mud off her hands, changed into clean clothes, and reheated the morning bone broth.
She looked at the vegetables in the basket, stir-fried green beans with shredded meat, boiled some noodles, and mother and daughter ate very satisfyingly.
At night, after everyone in the village was asleep, she went out as usual to catch loaches.
Back home already in the dead of night, she gave Miaomiao a bath in the room, wiped herself clean too, changed into comfortable undergarment, and slept comfortably.
The next day, before dawn, she got up. Miaomiao told her to sleep more—it was late when they returned last night!
She hurried to work on the bread kiln first, starting to lay the kiln mouth, which needed an arched tool to support it.
After laying the kiln mouth, she still needed to lay a round furnace body, coat the interior with thick layers of clay.
Then build the chimney above the furnace mouth, and after the chimney, plaster the kiln’s outer layer with clay.
Finally, fill the brick seams of the entire kiln with clay. It was only reluctantly completed by afternoon!
Miaomiao saw this cute chubby black bear clay kiln and her eyes sparkled: “Mom, can we bake bread now?”
“Not yet. Miaomiao needs to go pick firewood with Mom, and this kiln needs to dry in the sun for three days.”
“There are still some fine finishing steps afterward!”
“Oh, so troublesome!”
“Of course it is. Nothing worthwhile is easy—work requires persistence!”
“Yes, Mom!”
She tapped the tip of her little nose.
Her behavior was all seen by the next-door Li Zheng Sen family. Seeing her bustling about, mother and daughter picking stones, mixing mud—they originally wanted to come ask.
But they didn’t have the nerve. His wife had come probing about the mule yesterday morning and got shut down, leaving them very uncomfortable!
His wife came back saying… she could no longer show her face in the village.
He felt a bit helpless too! She didn’t take this uncle of hers seriously at all.
Just as he was speaking, his nephew’s wife was pointing at his nose and scolding him. During her tearful complaint, Li Wei, who had just returned from town on leave, overheard.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
Zhao Xiaomei exaggeratedly recounted the matter to her son. After hearing it, Li Wei furrowed his brows!
How did this Third Sister-in-law change her temperament? He remembered her personality wasn’t like this before.
After catching his breath, he steered the topic to a more important matter, probing his mom:
“Mom, in recent days, has anyone in the village gone to Yumian Tower in town to sell things like loaches or bullfrogs? Or heard of any strange food?”
