Chapter 12: The Warmth of Home

Wen Youshan calculated in his mind and decisively agreed, "Alright, then it's that price. Oh, by the way, Shopkeeper, I also have some domestic chicken eggs, wild chicken eggs, and duck eggs. Do you want to buy some of those as well?"

Wen Youshan pointed to his back basket as he spoke.

The shopkeeper froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "In these times, there aren't many ready-made clothing shops selling eggs. Forget the domestic chicken eggs; how many wild chicken eggs and wild duck eggs do you have?"

Wen Youshan hurriedly gathered the eggs, counted them, and said, "Twelve wild chicken eggs and fifteen wild duck eggs."

"Not many, then. How much are they?" The shopkeeper asked with interest, stroking his two small whiskers.

"Two wen for a wild chicken egg, and two eggs for five wen for the wild duck eggs." Wen Youshan swallowed hard as he quoted the price. He knew this wasn't low and was waiting for the shopkeeper to haggle, but to his surprise, the man thought for a moment and agreed, even telling the waiter to settle the bill with him.

With an excited expression, Wen Youshan clutched the copper coins in his bosom and hurried away, quickly disappearing around the street corner as if he were afraid the clothing shop owner might change his mind if he were a step too slow.

Seeing that it was getting late, Wen Youshan did not continue hawking his wares. Instead, he first went to the county magistrate's office. At this hour, it was somewhat quiet outside the office; after all, it was the magistrate's office, and ordinary people had an innate fear of such places. They would never visit unless absolutely necessary. The bailiff guarding the entrance remembered Wen Youshan; seeing him approach, he only asked a couple of questions before letting him in.

Wen Youshan followed the familiar paths to the courtyard where the legal advisor worked. Once inside, he did not leave until the end of the Wei hour. As he walked out of the magistrate's office, he felt a sense of unreality. He widened his eyes and stared hard to ensure it wasn't a hallucination. Once certain, his pace quickened significantly. Fortunately, he had not forgotten Chen Ningya's instructions to bring some pastries for the children.

By the time Wen Youshan returned from the county town to Yuchang Town, it was completely dark. The shops in town closed in the evening, and at this hour, there wasn't even a shadow of a person on the road. When he finally encountered one or two people, they were also in a great hurry. The carriage driver dropped him off at the town entrance and drove the donkey cart away.

Wen Youshan tidied his back basket and rushed home without a second thought. He had thought the village would be pitch black upon arrival, but to his surprise, as soon as he reached the village entrance, he saw flickering lights halfway up the mountain. In the darkness, those lights seemed to offer infinite hope. Overcome with excitement, he ran all the way. Only when he reached the foot of the mountain did he realize the flickering lights were torches stuck into the earthen slopes. Without even thinking, he knew this was Chen Ningya's handiwork; the children would never have done such a thing.

"Wife, I'm back!" Wen Youshan shouted loudly as he pushed open the picket gate.

Chen Ningya was startled awake. She quickly got out of bed, pushed open the door, and ran out. "What are you shouting for? The children are all asleep!"

"Hehe, I was just too happy!" Wen Youshan chuckled sheepishly.

Chen Ningya gave him a sidelong glance and scolded, "Hurry up and put your things down. I've boiled hot water for you in the kitchen. The weather is still very cold; take a hot bath and drink a bowl of ginger soup so you don't catch a chill."

"No need for that stuff," Wen Youshan muttered without temper, though his feet were extremely honest as they walked toward the kitchen. Once inside, he discovered that Chen Ningya had not only boiled hot water and prepared ginger soup but had also left dinner for him.

Even though it was the same wild vegetable porridge, Wen Youshan still felt a warmth in his heart. He felt as if this home finally felt like a home—a feeling that was hard to describe, yet seemed to provide him with inexhaustible strength, making life seem much more worth looking forward to.

Chen Ningya, who was tidying things in the main room, had no idea that Wen Youshan had thought so much in such a short time. As she took the items out of the back basket one by one, she discovered that besides a heavy package of pastries, there was also a bag of malt candy and a few cold steamed buns.

Chen Ningya put the pastries and malt candy away. After a moment's thought, she decided to put the buns in a basket and hang them up to prevent the good food from being ruined by mice.

By the time she finished tidying up, Wen Youshan had taken the hot water to bathe. Taking advantage of this time, Chen Ningya washed Wen Youshan's clothes.

The couple worked until late at night before returning to their room.

Wen Youshan had been waiting for Chen Ningya to ask him questions so he could gloat, but she remained unhurried, leaving him feeling quite stifled. Finally, Wen Youshan could not help but speak first, "Wife, don't you want to ask me about my trip to the county today?"

Chen Ningya finished folding the clothes and turned back calmly. "Did you get the compensation silver from the Deng family?"

Wen Youshan nodded vigorously, then shook his head.

Chen Ningya looked puzzled. "If you got it, you got it; if you didn't, you didn't. What do you mean? Don't tell me... it wasn't twenty taels?"

Wen Youshan organized his thoughts and said in a lowered voice, "It's not quite like that. The Deng family truly couldn't produce those twenty taels. An ordinary family probably doesn't even have that much in total assets, let alone the Deng family. If they had money, they wouldn't have done such an immoral and wicked thing. The magistrate sent people to their door several times, and after scraping everything together, the Deng family could only manage ten taels of silver. Originally, the magistrate wanted the Deng family to sell their land, but in the end, the village chief of Deng Family Village sought out the town mayor and several village elders to plead on behalf of Deng Laosan's wife and children, saying that without land, Deng Laosan's family would starve to death.

Out of respect for those people, the magistrate reluctantly agreed to a few days' grace period, but the money still had to be paid. Deng Laosan's wife had no choice but to mortgage a piece of sea-field in Wanshui Village to us. I'm not sure how much that sea-field is worth, but the legal advisor said it's worth more than ten taels. If the Deng family hadn't truly been unable to pay, they wouldn't have let us have it so cheaply."

Chen Ningya lost her composure the moment she heard "sea-field." Farmers have farmland, mulberry farmers have mulberry fields, and medicinal farmers have medicinal fields, but what do fishermen have? They have nothing but a small boat. Those in better circumstances might have houses on land, but most fishermen can only live on the water. Sea-fields were a specialty of Qing'an County.

To mention sea-fields, one had to mention the geography of Qing'an County. This area was mountainous and adjacent to the sea. Although the fishing villages were by the coast, it required walking many mountain paths to reach the town, usually taking one or two days for a round trip. Going to the county town was even further. Additionally, with the town holding small markets every three days and large markets every five days, fishermen could not always sell their daily catch in time. But if they didn't sell it, they couldn't keep it; this had become a major problem.

Over a decade ago, a magistrate who was dedicated to the people arrived in Qing'an County, and the sea-field policy was his creation. Citizens could apply to the government to purchase unclaimed land by the sea to develop into sea-fields, or they could lease them from the government by paying a certain amount of rent to the magistrate's office annually. Sea-fields allowed for the diversion of seawater to raise fresh fish inside, which could then be transported to the town for sale during the large market days. Of course, land by the sea was limited. Not only was the number of mu each person could purchase restricted, but even the purchasers were categorized into different tiers. If the fishermen could not buy it all, it would then be offered to nearby villagers, and only after that to outsiders. However, if all the land was sold and fishermen still needed sea-fields, the government would forcibly reclaim the sea-fields from non-fisherman purchasers.

(End of Chapter)