Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 39 Trading
On a winter night, the wind blew open the dilapidated window, and the falling snowflakes took the opportunity to enter, only to fall onto the dark charcoal brazier and vanish without a sound.

The light that had been flickering in the eyes of the three women gradually faded, and their faces seemed to grow even more haggard.

After Zheng said this, the other women all fell silent and tacitly stopped talking about the matter.

They had personally experienced how unreliable government offices were.

Ever since the "bandits" massacred the village, they have frequently gone to the government office to plead their case.

They wrote several lawsuits and even knelt in the yamen for many days, spending all their money and selling their land to wealthy gentry. But they did not get the truth of their injustice revealed. Instead, their lives became increasingly difficult, and many elderly and weak villagers could not survive because they were too poor.

In just two or three years, all the villagers who witnessed the "bandits" massacre of their village will be dead.

Zheng was not afraid of death, and neither were these women, but they had children.

The children knew nothing. When the bandits came, they were still young and only witnessed their brutality, unaware of the true situation.

That's good; the less you know, the less danger you'll face.

However, this was just their speculation. In reality, those people were too lazy to cause them any trouble, because the imperial court had already made a decision and those "mountain bandits" had been wiped out by the imperial court. What inside story was there?
Zheng tucked her left hand back into her sleeve. The three women were about to get up and go home when Zheng stared at the burning lotus root charcoal in front of her.

“This lotus root charcoal has been burning for a long time,” said Madam Zheng, “and it’s still warm. It’s much better than ordinary charcoal.”

This time, the women all nodded in agreement.

When Chen Ping distributed the lotus root charcoal to them, they didn't expect it to be anything special, but they found it to be much better than wood charcoal when they started burning it.

Zheng brought her hand closer to the charcoal brazier. Tonight, because of the lotus root charcoal burning, the room was exceptionally warm, and Ping-ge'er, who usually shivered from the cold, quickly fell asleep.

She stood by the charcoal brazier, feeling the warmth, hoping the fire would slowly die down so Pingge could sleep more soundly. Moments passed, but the charcoal was still hot.

“Didn’t Ping’er say we could sell lotus root charcoal?” Zheng said. “It’s freezing cold and there’s nothing else to do, so why don’t we try selling this lotus root charcoal?”

Those who can afford charcoal and get through the winter peacefully have no idea how difficult it is to endure the days of shivering and waiting for dawn.

"But this is made of coal."

"Isn't everyone saying that coal is poisonous? Would anyone be willing to buy it?"

After the woman finished speaking, they looked at each other, and soon they saw the answer in each other's eyes.

Even if coal might poison people, people would still try it rather than freeze to death.

After entering, Chen Xingniang, who hadn't spoken until now, said, "Chen Ping said that the one who made lotus root charcoal was the wife of Yang Liulang, who married into the Yang family?"

The poor woman was sold to the Xie family as a corpse by the kidnappers, and then the Xie family arranged a ghost marriage between her and Yang Liulang under the identity of "Xie Shiniang". If Yang Jiulang hadn't discovered that the woman was still breathing, she would have been sealed in a coffin and buried alive.

The Xie family even hired a lawyer to write a lawsuit against the Xie family. This matter spread throughout the entire Daming Prefecture. Some people even said: "There must be a grievance if someone is brought back to life. This is a strange case in Daming Prefecture."

It seems that the Yang family was also the one found to be smuggling foreign goods this time.

The Xie family must be a woman with a tragic fate. Perhaps we can ask the Xie family about the Yang family's case.

“We won’t ask about that case,” Zheng said, knowing what the women were thinking. She immediately put an end to their thoughts, and it seemed as if she was making a decision for herself. “We’ll just sell lotus root charcoal.”

The women understood Zheng's meaning, but without knowing anything about Xie or the Yang family, they all kept their mouths shut.

Zheng said, "I will send Chen Ping to Mr. Tong's place tomorrow." Actually, the children in the village did not want to study, and they did not have the money to teach them to read. It was Mr. Tong who passed through Chenyao Village and found that the children were clever, so he discussed with them and asked them to send the children to his place.

No tuition is required, just bring the child some food.

With nothing much to do in the winter and no need to delay anything, and with charcoal still available at Mr. Tong's house, they sent the children over with that in mind.

Once Mr. Tong leaves Daming Prefecture, the children will no longer be able to learn to read. But now, every day when she hears the children talk about what they have learned and write the characters that the teacher taught them on the ground, even if Zheng doesn't recognize them, she feels indescribably happy. She also has a vague idea that it would be great if the children could continue to learn.

If she could sit at a table and pick up a brush like those letter writers on the street… she would gladly die. Therefore, Madam Zheng wanted to give it a try; even if she didn't earn much money, it would be good if her family could use a few more pieces of lotus root charcoal.

If you sell a lot, you can save some money.

"We don't want to make much money."

"As long as the child has more warm food, that's fine."

As they talked about these things, their expectations grew, and the women quickly stopped thinking about it.

Thinking too much about good things is a bad thing, because it makes life seem even harder to endure.

After everyone finished discussing, they decided that Zheng would go and gather information the next day, and then Zheng saw them off at the door.

Zheng sat back down by the charcoal brazier. She could have slept more soundly by the warmth, but thinking about the news she had heard today and the things she had to do tomorrow, she was no longer sleepy at all.

……

Xie Yuyan slept soundly that night.

Mother Yu took extra bedding from the storeroom and even got up in the middle of the night to add charcoal to the brazier. All this busy work made Xie Yuyan feel truly warm, and she quickly fell asleep. When she woke up, Mother Yu had warmed all her clothes by the brazier.

When Xie Yuyan put on the dress, she even felt a long-lost sense of comfort.

Mother Yu slept in the third room last night. Although it was just one more person, Mother Yu was the person in charge of the clan and knew how to arrange everything more properly.

Before dawn, the clan's main kitchen delivered hot water to the third branch of the family, and the maidservants even helped Zhang Shi light the stove. Normally, the third branch would never have received such benefits, but now that Xie Yuyan was the head wife in charge of the household, the attitude of everyone in the clan had changed. Even if they didn't try to curry favor with this head wife, they certainly wouldn't dare to make things difficult for her. Therefore, when Madam Yu gave the order, no one dared to neglect it.

Madam Yu also found that her work was going smoothly, and there hadn't been any dramatic changes since she moved from Second Madam's side to First Madam's side. On the contrary, she believed that the longer First Madam Xie was in charge of the household affairs, the better things would become, far surpassing Second Madam's and any other person in charge of the household affairs in the past.

Yang Qin hadn't washed his face with hot water at this time of year. He often said that men weren't afraid of the cold, but that was all a lie. At this moment, he wished he could bury his head in hot water. The warm water felt incredibly comfortable on his cheeks. Yang Qin fussed over it for a long time before finally drying his face, then sat down at the table with his sister-in-law and mother, feeling refreshed and relaxed, to eat.

Although he was still eating his mother's porridge and pancakes, Yang Qin found them even more delicious than usual, and he ate the whole meal with a smile on his face.

As Yang Qin slung his cloth bag over his shoulder and prepared to leave, he noticed Xie Yuyan waiting nearby.

"Sister-in-law..."

Xie Yuyan said, "I'll take you to Mr. Tong's place."

Yang Qin wanted to say that there was no need to see her off, but he swallowed the words back. His sister-in-law must have made arrangements, and he just needed to keep an eye on things.

Xie Yuyan looked at Madam Yu: "You also have something to do. Go to Sanhe Village outside the city and see how much broken coal there is in the village, and how much money it would take to buy it all."

When Madam Yu heard that Xie Yuyan wanted to buy crushed coal, she was surprised, but she did not ask any questions. She still couldn't figure out Madam's personality, but she knew that she could not question Madam and could only do what Madam asked her to do in a proper manner.

Mother Yu responded.

Xie Yuyan continued, "Tell the villagers that I will go there tomorrow. In addition to buying crushed coal from them, I will also hire some people to do the work."

Madam Yu said, "This servant understands."

Xie Yuyan handed a money bag to Mother Yu: "This is a deposit, to tell Sanhe Village to stop selling crushed coal."

With the money bag in hand, Madam Yu could estimate that it was at least fifteen taels of silver. She was quite surprised that the third branch of the family, after being suppressed for so many years, could still save up so much money.
Xie Yuyan looked at Zhang Shi: "Today, some men and women from the clan will come. Mother, please accept all the money they bring and have the accountant record the amount."

Mother Yu pieced together everything Xie Yuyan had said...

The old lady said she wanted to take her people on a business deal; could it be coal?

This business... Mama Yu thought it over with her own brain and realized that it was impossible to make money. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that coal was poisonous, so who would buy it?
If the deal falls through, the eldest daughter-in-law will inevitably lose face in front of her clan, making it difficult for her to gain their respect in the future!

(End of this chapter)