Chapter 9
Wang Chunhua took the dishes from Li Mingwei's hands and walked away with her, stopping when there weren't so many people around before asking, "Why did you give her a bigger discount?"
Wang Chunhua halted and pointed to a small courtyard to the right of the street: "That's Old Lady Wang's home."
With Li Mingwei's eyesight, she could naturally see that this courtyard was probably older than the Dong Family's.
The gates were closed so she couldn't see inside, she just saw that the tiled roof had been damaged at some point, and was simply patched up with straw.
"Can't even afford to replace the tiles?"
"That's right," Wang Chunhua said. "Her husband died early, she doesn't have many skills, she washes clothes and cooks for others, not only raising her child but even supporting him through school."
"Now her son has passed the county exam and become a scholar, so the county gives him two taels of silver and some rice every month. Her life is better than before, but her son still has to go to the capital to take the imperial exam, so there are still many expenses. She can only scrimp and save."
Speaking to here, Wang Chunhua's face revealed some hopeful expectation: "If our Lei could also pass the county exam and become a scholar, no matter how hard I had to suffer, I'd be willing."
She patted the daughter on her back and laughed, "And find a good husband for our little Yan'er, then I'd have no regrets for this lifetime."
Hmm?
Li Mingwei was puzzled, passing the county exam didn't seem that hard to her, she had even practiced the provincial and palace exams before, her grandfather had graded them for her and said while she wouldn't rank first, she could at least pass and become a Jinshi scholar.
Why was it so difficult for them to even pass the county exam and become a scholar?
She didn't understand, but she also didn't say anything, silently following Wang Chunhua back home.
They had just stepped through the door and hadn't even had a drink of water yet when a group of chattering people crowded around the Dong Family's gates, impossible to ignore.
"What are you all squeezing at my gate for!"
A girl holding shoe pads was pushed to the front, "Sister Chunhua, are you busy right now? If not, let's chat together."
"Yes yes yes, I just learned a new embroidery pattern, sister Chunhua why don't you come learn it too?"
Although she knew they were here for Li Mingwei, Wang Chunhua didn't have the heart to drive them away as the saying goes, "Do not hit a smiling face," so she let them in and brought out stools for them.
Seeing they had brought things, Li Mingwei also took out the handkerchief she was embroidering for the embroidery workshop.
"I'm going to cook, my sister just got here, don't bully her!"
"Sister Chunhua, what are you talking about."
"Right, what do you take us for?"
Wang Chunhua didn't believe them one bit, and gave them a warning look before leaving.
As soon as she left, the girls crowded around Li Mingwei, shooting questions at her one after another.
"What's your name?"
"How old are you?"
"Where's your family from?"
Li Mingwei smiled, "My name is Mingwei, I'm 19 this year."
"Ming? Never heard of that surname before."
"19? I'm already 17, you look younger than me!"
Li Mingwei casually answered all their questions while concentrating on her needlework. After all this was going to be sold for money, she couldn't be distracted.
"You embroider so well, can you teach me?"
Li Mingwei nodded with a smile, "I can, but this is work I took on commission so I can't let you practice on it. Bring your own handkerchief another day and I'll teach you then."
"Okay, I'll come back another day."
Seeing the girl was also continuously working on the shoe pad in her hands, Li Mingwei returned the praise, "Your shoe pad looks very good too, I don't know how to make them."
"Then I'll teach you another day too."
Wang Chunhua peeked out from the kitchen to take a look, seeing Mingwei chatting happily with the neighbors put her at ease.
She quickly finished cooking and called from the kitchen. The girls tactfully took their leave while she politely tried to keep them a few more times before seeing them out the door.
At the dinner table she put an extra piece of meat in Li Mingwei's bowl and asked her, "What do you think, they're good to get along with right?"
"Mm, very good."
"That's good then."
Seeing her face was normal, Wang Chunhua let her eat while first feeding her young daughter before starting on her own meal.
After Li Mingwei finished eating and put down her utensils, she suddenly remembered - "Isn't big brother Dong and little Lei coming back to eat?"
"They're not coming back. Your big brother went to help out at my parents' place, after finishing there he still has to go to his uncle's place. It'll be a few days before he gets back. Lei eats at school."
Li Mingwei nodded, no wonder Dong Shan had taken luggage with him when he left this morning.
She helped clear up the bowls and chopsticks. Seeing Wang Chunhua put the leftovers into a basket and lower it into the well, she looked at the sun - although it was early autumn, it was still rather hot.
"Sister Chunhua, does it snow here in winter?"
"It does, very heavily too. Freezing cold that you want to die! Where you lived before didn't snow?"
"It did too, I just don't know how it compares to here."
After tying up the rope tightly, Wang Chunhua straightened up and looked at the tree in the yard that was already starting to lose leaves. Winter was almost here again! With one more person this year she'd have to stock up on more vegetables.
She looked at Li Mingwei, "You don't have any winter clothes yet right, I'll have to make you a couple later."
Li Mingwei came back to herself. That's right, she didn't even have a decent set of clothes right now, yet she was dreaming of watching the snow. Not freezing would already be pretty good.
"I'll start embroidering handkerchiefs now and earn money for clothes as fast as I can."
Seeing her hurrying, Wang Chunhua smiled, "It's fine, I'll loan you some first, you can pay me back after earning money. Staring at embroidery for too long is bad for your eyes too."
"I can't do that!"
She had already delayed them long enough, the Dongs weren't that well-off either, she couldn't spend their money.
After working hard stitching for many days, Li Mingwei finally finished embroidering that batch of handkerchiefs and over ten pouch bags. She neatly folded them one by one and prepared to bring them to the workshop.
Just as she stepped out the door, she heard a familiar voice.
"It really does look good. I've lost out by not doing anything to her back then!"
Li Mingwei followed the voice and saw it was the few men who had snatched her gold hairpin a while ago. Feeling a surge of disgust, she immediately turned around and re-entered the yard.
Seeing her poor expression, Wang Chunhua immediately walked over with concern, "What happened?"
Li Mingwei shook her head. Wang Chunhua went passed her and directly opened the yard gates. Seeing Wu Dong and his gang, her expression instantly clouded over and she grabbed a wooden staff from the yard, rushing over to whack them.
"Scram! My sister is not someone lowlifes like you should be eyeing! I still haven't settled accounts with you for snatching my sister's dowry! Hurry up and scram!"
The staff smacked towards Wu Dong and his men, the ones who didn't dodge in time still got whacked twice.
The one who got hit couldn't stand the pain and said viciously, "Don't think we won't dare beat you just cause you're a woman."
Wang Chunhua wasn't afraid in the slightest: "Go on then! Go on! If you dare touch me just wait till my husband gets back and see how he finishes you lot off!"
They had just been beaten up by Dong Shan a few days ago and didn't dare act too arrogantly now. And with Wang Chunhua yelling so loudly, quite a lot of onlookers had gathered.
Being stared at by so many people when they were usually no better than street rats made them very uncomfortable. Lowering their heads, they quickly made their escape, waiting to take revenge another day when the chance arises.
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