Chapter 3: Money Can’t Be Forbidden
After resting for a while, Yang Zhengshan felt a bit more comfortable, but his stomach was growling again.
It was already close to noon, and he had only had a bowl of congee with miscellaneous grains for breakfast, which was far from enough. Yang Zhengshan looked up at the kitchen, knowing that this household only ate two meals a day, and the next meal was dinner. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to hold out until then.
As the saying goes, “Man is iron, and rice is steel.” If you don’t eat, you’ll get anxious.
“Daughter-in-law, cook!” Yang Zhengshan called out without hesitation.
Wang Shi, who was sweeping the yard, was taken aback. “Father, are you cooking now?”
This household usually only ate two meals a day and didn’t have the habit of eating lunch.
“Yeah, from now on, we’ll eat three meals a day.” Yang Zhengshan said calmly, sticking to his original persona.
Wang Shi was shocked. “Three meals a day? But we’re running low on food at home!”
Who wouldn’t want to avoid going hungry? However, with the limited food supply at home, if they didn’t conserve it, they wouldn’t even make it until the autumn harvest.
“I know, I’ll go with Old Xu to the county town to buy some food this afternoon,” Yang Zhengshan said nonchalantly.
He not only wanted to buy food but also wanted to buy some meat, as this household hadn’t had meat for a long time. The original body wouldn’t eat it, but Yang Zhengshan wouldn’t deprive himself either. Moreover, he needed to recover his physical strength, and to repair his martial arts, he required nourishment.
Wang Shi looked at Yang Zhengshan in surprise, but she didn’t ask further. This was the authority of the family head, and as the daughter-in-law, she couldn’t question the patriarch’s decisions.
Soon, Wang Shi prepared a meal, with the main course being cornbread and congee, and a side dish of chopped scallions and eggs. To be honest, it was just two eggs in a large bowl of chopped scallions.
Yang Mingcheng and Yang Mingzhi, who had finished their farm work, came back and looked at the meal on the table with surprise, as if they were wondering what wind Wang Shi had caught that day to make lunch.
“Father told me to make it!” Wang Shi whispered to Yang Mingcheng.
Yang Mingcheng looked at Yang Zhengshan, who was walking out of the room, and wanted to ask why they were having lunch today, but seeing Yang Zhengshan’s wooden face, he could only swallow his words.
“Let’s wash up and eat!” Yang Zhengshan said lazily, not explaining further. As the patriarch, he could do as he pleased, and there was no need to explain to the children.
In a feudal society, the word “filial piety” comes first, and children questioning their parents is considered unfilial.
Yang Zhengshan sat down at the main seat and began eating.
He was really hungry.
The meal Wang Shi made was actually quite ordinary, and if Yang Zhengshan wasn’t so hungry, he wouldn’t have been able to finish it.
This couldn’t be blamed on Wang Shi; after all, it’s hard to make a delicious meal without ingredients. Yang Zhengshan had taken a look at the kitchen earlier and saw that there was only a small amount of lard and salt left, and no other seasonings.
What delicious dish could be made with these conditions?
Now Yang Zhengshan didn’t have the qualification to be picky; having something to eat was already good.
…
Yang Family Village was nestled behind Longqing Mountain, and from the village entrance, one could see the endless mountains to the north and the boundless fields to the south.
Most villagers in the village were surnamed Yang, from the same clan, but Yang Zhengshan’s branch was relatively weak, with only single children in the past three generations, so the original body didn’t have many siblings.
In the afternoon, Yang Zhengshan had Yang Mingcheng harness the ox cart, and they slowly made their way to the county town.
The rural roads were bumpy, and the ox cart’s wheels didn’t have shock absorbers, so the ride was quite unpleasant. By the time they arrived at the county town, Yang Zhengshan felt like he had been shaken to pieces.
The distance from Yang Family Village to the county town was relatively short, only about ten or so miles, but they took half an hour to get there.
This slow transportation speed made Yang Zhengshan unwilling to think about how long it would take to travel hundreds or thousands of miles.
Upon entering the county town, Yang Zhengshan curiously observed the surroundings. Compared to his memories, the county town was quite different, with bustling streets and shops lined up like scales.
This was no tourist ancient town but a real ancient city, with ancient buildings connected in a row, and people wearing traditional clothing, giving off an ancient charm.
The county town was called Anning County, located in the northeastern part of the Da Rong Imperial Dynasty, and only three hundred miles from the northeast border. The north was the territory of the nomadic tribes.
“Do we need to go see Third Brother?” Yang Mingcheng asked.
Yang Zhengshan blinked, remembering that he had a third son who was an apprentice in a blacksmith shop in the county town.
“One trip to the county town shouldn’t go without visiting the third son, right?”
“Let’s go to the market first!”
He couldn’t just go see his son empty-handed, could he?
Recalling the original body’s memories, Yang Zhengshan knew that being an apprentice in a blacksmith shop wasn’t an easy job.
An apprentice was basically a hard laborer, doing all the dirty and tiring work. If they were lucky, they might learn some skills, but they wouldn’t get paid, and only got to eat and live there.
Yang Minghao, who was thirteen years old, had been sent to the blacksmith shop a year ago. Thirteen years old, and he hadn’t even finished elementary school; Yang Zhengshan thought it was ridiculous.
After arriving at the market, Yang Zhengshan bought two stones of grain, some oil, salt, and soy sauce, and finally, ten pounds of pork and some pork bones.
Thinking he still needed to go see his third son, Yang Zhengshan bought twenty steamed buns.
After finishing his shopping, Yang Zhengshan had less than two taels of silver left.
As he left the market, Yang Zhengshan couldn’t help but feel that money was hard to come by.
He still had many things he wanted to buy, but seeing the remaining silver, he could only hold back his extravagant spending.
The blacksmith shop in Anning County had a wide range of services, not only making farm tools but also making weapons like swords, guns, and armor.
The Da Rong Imperial Dynasty was a time of flourishing martial arts, and although warriors were not many, many people practiced martial arts, just like in Yang Family Village, where almost everyone knew some martial arts, which was a tradition of the Yang clan.
In a feudal society, clans were very important, and large clans were aristocratic families, while small clans were local management institutions, each with their own traditions.
Anning County was close to the border and often faced threats from the nomadic tribes, so many people practiced martial arts, which led to many households having swords, guns, and armor.
Moreover, Anning County had Longqing Mountain, where many hunters lived, and people skilled in archery were not rare either.
The blacksmith shop in front of him was the largest in Anning County, with five master blacksmiths and over ten apprentices, and was an enterprise of the Lu clan.
“Old Xiao, what brings you here?”
Yang Zhengshan had just entered the blacksmith shop when he ran into a sturdy man who walked with a limp.
Lu Zhang, a member of the Lu clan, was the original body’s comrade-in-arms when he joined the military. Yang Minghao was able to become an apprentice in the blacksmith shop because of Lu Zhang’s connections.
“Lu Ge, I came to see Minghao,” Yang Zhengshan said with a faint smile.
When the original body joined the military, he was the youngest soldier under Lu Zhang, so everyone called him Old Xiao.
The two were like sworn brothers, and Lu Zhang had taken care of the original body over the years. Unfortunately, Lu Zhang was also injured in that battle and still walked with a limp.
“Minghao, Minghao!” Lu Zhang’s voice was very loud, almost drowning out the clanging sounds of the blacksmith shop.
“Father!”
A sturdy young man ran over, bare-shouldered, with dark skin.
Yang Zhengshan nodded at his third son, then handed Lu Zhang three pounds of pork. “Lu Ge, I’ll talk to Minghao for a bit.”
“Don’t bother bringing anything,” Lu Zhang scolded.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t say much and directly handed Lu Zhang the pork. “I still need to hurry back, so I won’t chat with you for long.”
After saying that, he turned around and left the blacksmith shop. According to the original body’s memories, Lu Zhang was a generous man who wouldn’t mind the three pounds of pork, but Yang Zhengshan was particular about etiquette, and his third son still needed Lu Zhang’s care, so bringing a gift was necessary.
Lu Zhang looked at the pork in his hand, then at Yang Zhengshan, who had left, thinking that he should take better care of Yang Minghao in the future.
Unfortunately, he was only a collateral member of the Lu clan, and this blacksmith shop wasn’t under his control, so he couldn’t do much to take care of Yang Minghao.
“Big brother!”
As they walked out of the blacksmith shop, Yang Minghao saw his father and big brother, with a silly smile on his face.
“How are you doing lately, are you tired?”
Yang Mingcheng still cared about his little brother, and since they had come to the county town, he couldn’t help but ask.
Yang Zhengshan stood aside, watching quietly. He didn’t have much affection for these step-sons, and asking about their well-being was not something he could do.
Moreover, the original body wasn’t someone who liked to talk much, so keeping silent wasn’t against his persona either.
After chatting for a while, Yang Zhengshan handed his third son five steamed buns and a hundred copper coins.
“We’re all good at home, don’t worry!”
Yang Zhengshan patted his third son’s shoulder.
“Take care of yourself!”
Yang Mingcheng drove the ox cart out of the blacksmith shop, and Yang Minghao stood there, looking reluctant to part.
It was hard to be away from home, and seeing family was just a brief reunion.
Yang Zhengshan sat on the ox cart, gazing at the increasingly distant blacksmith shop, and couldn’t help but sigh.
This household was really struggling.
He needed to think of a way to improve their living situation, at least to the point where they could eat their fill and wear warm clothes.
(The chapter ends)
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