Chapter 286: Be Careful
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling was a carnivore, and Xiuhong loved to eat meat, too. Hence, when they came out, they’d brought a lot of meat from home. The meat was all marinated or frozen, so there was no concern of them spoiling at all.
Because they had eaten fresh meat along the way, Mu Yangling asked Zhang Liu to take out all this frozen meat and hand it to the village chief.
The village chief’s family did not expect them to bring so much meat along with them. Unable to react for a moment, they only stared at the frozen meat on the table.
The children of the village chief couldn’t help but swallow their saliva. Although the village chief did likewise, he still pushed the meat back and said, “Keep this for yourselves and save it for eating on the way.”
Zhang Wu glanced at Mu Yangling and said with a smile, “Take it. If the weather doesn’t improve, we won’t dare to stop on the way to cook these meat. I’m afraid we’ll have to eat dry rations. Besides, it’s heavy to bring it with us. We’ve already imposed on you by staying at your house. Therefore, you must accept these things.”
In the end, the village chief’s wife could not resist the temptation of the meat fragrance. She said in a low voice, “Father-in-law, I’m afraid it’s going to start snowing. The guests might stay for a few days.”
That way, they wouldn’t feel bad eating their meat.
The village chief’s wife stared fixedly at the meat. It had been three to four months since she had eaten meat. She’d thought that she would only get the chance to do so on Chinese New Year’s Eve.
There must be more than ten catties of meat on the table, right?
Even if the majority of the meat was given to the guests, they would still be able to eat two or three pieces per person…
Mu Yangling did not know what she was thinking. In any case, the village chief ultimately accepted the meat in the end.
She quickly received something in return, too. The village chief had originally reserved a room for them because she’d mentioned that they were siblings, which meant it was fine for the five of them to stay in the same room.
It was not that the village chief was petty, but their family only had five rooms, and he had three sons and an unmarried daughter. Now that one of his sons was already married, they only just had enough rooms to live in.
The room that was allocated to Mu Yangling and her group belonged to the youngest son. He had asked his youngest son and second son to stay in the same room. But now that Mu Yangling had taken out so much meat and even brought some sweets for his two grandsons, he felt that he should return the favor. Hence, he moved his daughter to his and his wife’s room and let Mu Yangling and Xiuhong stay in his daughter’s room.
He let Zhang Wu, Zhang Liu, and Bowen stay in his youngest son’s room.
Mu Yangling couldn’t ask for more than to have her own space. She hadn’t counted the money after the sheep were sold, as she had left in a hurry.
Hence, now that she had some private space, Mu Yangling got Xiuhong to guard the door. She took out all the silver and counted it.
She had earned 260 taels of silver from selling sheep in Three Springs County and 450 taels of silver from Hu Cai. As for the last batch, she had sold them for 689 taels of silver, making it a total of 1,355 taels of silver. Mu Yangling recorded the accounts in the account book and carefully counted the money. Excluding the silver and copper coins she had brought with her, there was a total of 1,300 taels of silver in the pouch. 55 taels of silver had been spent on buying books and bribing Butcher Qin.
Mu Yangling stretched out the pouch and carefully put the silver inside. Then, she plugged the two holes with two pieces of old clothing.
Xingzhou Prefecture was different from Xingyuan Prefecture. There, banknotes weren’t used. Hence, she didn’t exchange them for banknotes that were easy to carry around in the city. Instead, she used a pouch to store the silver.
1,300 taels of silver sounded like a lot, but it was actually only about 82 catties. It didn’t take up a lot of space, and a pouch was just enough to store it all. In fact, there was even enough room to stuff a piece of clothing stuck in the hole.
Mu Yangling had always carried this pouch with her and never let it leave her side. At this moment, she spread out the blanket on the brick bed and placed the pouch inside to hide it. Then, she called Xiuhong in and instructed, “Don’t let anyone touch this.”
“What should we do when we eat?” Xiuhong asked worriedly.
This was the first time she carried so much money with her, so she was a little flustered.
However, Mu Yangling said with a smile, “We’ll sit at the table later and leave the table earlier. Leave the rest to Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu. Xiuhong, you have to remember that the two of them are our elder brothers now. We, as younger siblings, don’t have to worry about anything.”
Therefore, it was normal for them to return to the room to rest after eating.
When it was time to eat, the village chief’s family would definitely be present. However, if his family wanted to enter this room, they had to pass by the hall where they were eating. She believed that she still had this bit of observation ability.
No one could enter this room without being discovered by her. Most importantly, who would know that they carried so much silver with them and specially came to steal it?
After hearing her cousin’s arrangements, Xiuhong finally felt a little relieved. However, she still nervously paid attention to the outside while eating. Mu Yangling found it funny, but she didn’t reassure her. It was good to be cautious.
After dinner, Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu stayed behind to chat with the village chief and his three sons. Mu Yangling brought Xiuhong and Bowen back to the room.
The village chief’s daughter followed her in to play. When she saw a pouch on the brick bed, she curiously took a few more glances. Xiuhong became nervous. Mu Yangling followed her gaze and smiled. She explained, “These are the things that my relatives asked me to bring.”
The village chief’s daughter nodded. Mu Yangling calmly changed the topic and pointed at the handkerchief in her hand. “Your handkerchief is really beautiful. Did you buy it or embroider it yourself?”
The village chief’s daughter said proudly, “I embroidered this myself. My sister-in-law has embroidery skills and she taught me. My mother said that my embroidery skills are not inferior to Sister-in-law’s now. Do you want to see it?”
Mu Yangling nodded with a smile. “I’m not good at needlework, but my younger sister is better than me. My mother knows embroidery too. We usually learn from her, but we’ve been busy with farmwork this year and have been neglecting our needlework for a period of time.”
The village chief’s daughter said seriously, “Embroidery is unlike other skills. You can’t slack off every now and then. You have to persevere to cultivate this skill…”
Mu Yangling gave Xiuhong a look, and Xiuhong immediately took over. She had also learned from Shu Wanniang for two years. Although she couldn’t compare to her sister, Xiulan, she was much better than her cousin. Soon, she hit it off with the village chief’s daughter.
The village chief’s daughter instantly regretted not meeting her sooner. She held Xiuhong’s hand with both hands excitedly, and her eyes even flashed with tears of excitement.
When Mu Yangling saw this, she leaned against the pillow and closed her eyes to rest. Bowen also listened curiously for a while before losing interest. He stretched and looked out, only to find snowflakes floating in the sky.
Bowen opened his mouth in shock and shouted, “Sister, it’s snowing!”
Mu Yangling opened her eyes and looked out of the window. Only then did she realize that snowflakes the size of chicken feathers were floating down from the sky.
The village chief’s daughter and Xiuhong jumped up in excitement, then put on their shoes and ran out. Mu Yangling shouted, “Put on a coat. Don’t catch a cold!”