CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 54: PREPARATIONS BEFORE DEPARTURE

"I... I don’t know either! Si Ya woke up just now, maybe she was hungry. I heard her crying and went to the room to feed her. I really don’t know who ate it!" The meat was gone, and Er Ya was quite scared. Although the milk was rarely harsh physically, she would punish by withholding food. Their family’s food portions weren’t much to begin with, and Si Ya relied on their parents’ frugality to fill her stomach. If the family was punished, their food would further decrease, and their mother would constantly suffer from hunger pangs.

"Mother, let’s just let it go, okay? It’s just a few pieces of meat, nothing major. I’ll go catch another rabbit next time, won’t that do?" Gu Chengyu saw Er Ya’s face turning pale with fright and sighed. His mother’s nature indeed needed some change. It was their fear of poverty; even a few pieces of rabbit meat could cause such a fuss. This reminded Gu Chengyu of when he was just born, about his mother slipping over an egg. This was the misfortune of the poor.

"Silly boy! Do you think catching rabbits is that easy?" Mrs. Lv thought her son was too naive.

"Mother, hasn’t our family reared many little rabbits? Once they grow up, they’ll have more babies, so there’ll be endless food. The rabbit fur can even be used to make a big coat for you. Mother, I’m sleepy and want to take a nap now." Gu Chengyu could only divert his mother’s focus, rubbing his eyes to feign sleepiness.

"Xiao Bao is sleepy; let’s take a break. Only three pieces left, let me take them to the room! To prevent someone from stealing them again." Mrs. Lv thought painfully about the remaining three pieces from a whole bowl of meat, with hardly any meat on them.

Er Ya watched her Little Uncle and Grandmother cross the kitchen threshold and heaved a huge sigh of relief. As long as Grandmother didn’t pursue the matter further, it was fine. Er Ya’s gaze fell upon her Little Uncle, who was holding Mrs. Lv’s hand. The sunlight formed a halo around him, dazzlingly bright, forcing her to look away.

Just like that, two days passed swiftly. Before dawn, Gu Chengyu was awakened by his father from the bed. Half squinting his eyes, he looked outside the window; it was still pitch black outside. While yawning, he mentally checked the alarm clock in the space he found, seeing the hour hand pointing at four, roughly a little past four o’clock. Since they were in ancient times, the clock in the space didn’t have a reference point, only a rough estimate based on Mr. Gu’s narration, which meant it was around a quarter past the third hour.

It was indeed early! He rubbed his sleepy eyes, quickly got up to dress. He couldn’t dawdle, as his father was going to the county to sell honeysuckle today. He had pleaded for a long time before his father and mother finally agreed. Nearly five years had passed since coming here, and he hadn’t even attended a market fair. To think he was going to the county town first, he had to seize the chance to take a good look and understand this era.

The honeysuckle was brought back and dried for three days. With much sunshine and clear skies, it was packed in sacks after being sun-dried yesterday. It was weighed when brought back, totaling one hundred and sixty-six pounds. This still included a large amount of what Gu Chengyu took from the space to mix in; he dared not add too much for fear of Mr. Gu discovering it. After being bagged yesterday, it was weighed again. After three days of sun-drying, it had shrunk to a little over forty-two pounds, approximately four pounds, reduced to one pound of dry flowers. This was the first batch, with good quality and not severely shrunk. Later batches wouldn’t yield as much, nor would the quality be as good. Five pounds were left for Doctor Li, and the rest were taken by his father.

Gu Chengyu yawned as he got up to wash up. His father was ready, having arranged with Old Wang, who drove the village’s ox cart, to first take them to the town, then find another ox cart from town to the county. Old Wang wished to take them to the county, but the ox he drove was old and could not travel fast carrying people and goods after reaching town. Continuing to the county would be too much; it was better to find a more robust ox cart in town.

As Gu Chengyu finished washing and came into the yard, his father had already loaded the sacks onto the ox cart. His mother was in the kitchen with his sister-in-law making steamed buns to take for the journey, as they did not know when they’d return. It was not feasible to have just him and his father go; the aged were too old, and the young too little, so his mother had arranged the night before for his eldest brother to accompany them. Initially, his second brother wanted to go, but his father didn’t allow it because his second brother was shrewd. This trip’s main objective was to sell ginseng, and Mother feared he would try to calculate the silver coin again.

Gu Chengli was already standing in the yard early, watching Gu Chengyu emerge from the house while yawning. He laughed and said, "Xiao Bao, if you’re so sleepy, better not go. Stay home and rest. We’ll bring you meat buns when we return."

His mother came out of the kitchen carrying the bundle with the steamed buns, "Yes, Xiao Bao, the trip to the county is exhausting! Just going to town takes more than half an hour, then another hour to the county. Even sitting in an ox cart is tiring. Can your little arms and legs bear it?"

Upon hearing he might not be allowed to go, Gu Chengyu immediately perked up. "Mother, Brother, I’ve never been to the county! Just let me go! I’ve never even sat in an ox cart! Father already agreed, he can’t go back on his word."

"Hahaha! If we truly didn’t want you to go, why would we wake you up? You’ve been sleeping like a little piglet, oblivious even if we left!" Said Mr. Gu jokingly as he came in from outside the courtyard.

They were laughing joyously here, but Gu Chengyi in the west wing had long been awake. He had told his father yesterday, wanting to go to the county, but his father didn’t agree. He found it strange; it was merely selling honeysuckle, why must it be sold in the county? Even if his father said there was a familiar medical hall with Doctor Li in the county, allowing them to sell it for more silver coin, the expense of hiring a cart alone would be dozens of coins. This was troublesome, there must be something he’s not aware of.

Gu Chengyi watched the dim light shining on the sleeping He beside him, and a wave of irritation surged uncontrollably as he sat up on the kang. His gaze softened as he looked at his two sons sleeping at the foot of the kang. He also thought about Sanya, Gu Wan, who always liked sleeping with Da Ya from the big house, which was fine since there was no room in the house anyway.

He opened a small gap in the window to look out into the courtyard. It was actually still dark, and the figures in the yard were blurry; only their voices could be heard. The eldest joking with the fifth; Mrs. Lv’s attentive instructions; and his father’s cheerful laughter, all seemed unrelated to him. Putting the window down again, he laid back on the kang. Since the incident last time, his father seemed guarded against him. But he was forced, wasn’t he? If there were a way, who would scheme against their own brother? Is the third not his brother? Even if not from the same mother, they share a father. Besides, what he did wasn’t excessive, was it? Without such actions, how would Father fork out silver? Leaving Mother aside, has Father developed grievances against him too? The more he thought, the more irritated he became, so he shut his eyes, ignoring the happy voices outside.