Chapter 238
Chapter 238: Chapter 232 Too Unscrupulous_2 Chapter 238: Chapter 232 Too Unscrupulous_2 “Children, you must listen to your grandparents and your mother at home. Daddy is going out to work, and when I come back, I’ll buy you some tasty treats.”
‘Erhu, our family doesn’t have much to offer. I originally wanted to bring you some of the vegetables we grow in our field, but I heard from Fuquan that your family has all kinds of vegetables, and they are growing fresh and plump in the fields, even better than ours, so I didn’t bring any. These salted duck eggs were pickled by us and we haven’t even had the heart to eat them yet. You take them home for your wife to try. Although it’s not much and can’t compare to the precious gifts you’ve sent us, it’s a token of our affection.” Zhao Liu placed a basket he was carrying into Zhao Erhu’s hands.
“This is perfect, my wife loves these,” said Erhu with appreciation. “She says the salted duck eggs pickled by you two are delicious and authentic; no other family can compare. We’ve just finished the ones you sent last time, and my wife was thinking about pickling some herself but didn’t know the secret to making them so tasty, with the whites just the right amount of salty and the yolks rich and oily.” Zhao Erhu acknowledged that he found the salted duck eggs from his in-laws to be very tasty, but since his little wife enjoyed them, he always let her have them. If she liked the yolks, he would settle for the whites.
“This recipe is a family heirloom passed down from our ancestors; that’s why it has such a unique taste. I wouldn’t tell just anyone, but for your wife, how can I keep it to myself? It just so happens that Fuquan will be going to your house, too, and he knows how it’s done. He can teach your wife, and besides, we still have some salted duck eggs at home. They weren’t ready when we were pickling, so once you finish these, Fuquan can come back for more.”
Feeling guilty for receiving so much from Erhu’s wife without having much to return, and upon hearing that Erhu’s wife wanted the pickling recipe, Zhao Liu didn’t hesitate to have Zhao Fuquan teach her.
As Zhao Erhu was driving the horse cart and nearing home, he suddenly remembered something. He had agreed to his uncle’s request too readily without discussing it with his wife. He worried whether she would be upset, but given the circumstances at the time—without his wife beside him and his uncle waiting for a response—Erhu had agreed quickly because he truly valued his uncle as a good helper. He hoped his wife would listen to his explanation and not hold a grudge over this matter.
Lin Yue wasn’t an unreasonable person. Besides, this situation was different. She wouldn’t get angry without cause. All she wanted was the right attitude. As long as Zhao Erhu took her words to heart, that would be enough. Additionally, she was more than pleased at the prospect of having someone like Zhao Fuquan, a craftsman with woodworking skills, become a long-term worker in her home. Knowing this, she promptly asked Erhu not to let Fuquan work in the fields, but instead to have him start carpentry work for her.
Seeing Lin Yue respond in this way eased Zhao Erhu’s mind. Indeed, his little wife was reasonable. He then arranged accommodation for Zhao Fuquan; Zhao Dahu and his family, along with their several children, occupied two rooms, so Fuquan was placed next to Dahu’s family. Being relatives and honest, down-to-earth people, it was a good match. They quickly grew close, and from then on, they would surely support each other even more.
Seeing how well the long-term workers were accommodated in Zhao Erhu’s home amazed Zhao Fuquan. Nowhere else would long-term workers have it so good. Typically, a group of them would sleep on a communal bedroll on the floor. But Zhao Erhu’s family had just built new rooms, and with so many available, it was fine for each person to have one. Of course, if there turned out to be more people in the future, other arrangements would have to be made, but all this had already been explained clearly in advance, so nobody would be unwilling.
Since Zhao Fuquan wasn’t working in the fields but helping Lin Yue instead, she decided that just like Zhao Dahu and his wife, Fuquan would eat at their home. However, he would still receive the standard food allowance. According to Lin Yue, being a skilled artisan, Fuquan deserved a higher wage, so his pay was increased to two Tiao Money.
In recent days, Lin Yue had designed a variety of boxes for Fuquan to carve, to be used for storing tea or, in the future, soap she intended to make. She planned to use wooden boxes for packaging, as they looked both upscale and attractive without being costly—no need for any especially expensive wood when they could simply cut it from the forest. The only expense was Fuquan’s labor, which made it immensely cost-effective.
Fuquan, who had formally trained as a carpenter and worked as an assistant in a furniture store, was skilled. Despite his imposing frame and seemingly simple demeanor, the work he produced was very fine, earning continual praise from Lin Yue. She designed several new styles of wooden furniture and had Fuquan make them; as the ideas came, she would create stock in advance for convenience. With the Mid-Autumn Festival a couple of months away, Lin Yue also planned to sell mooncakes, designing a special set of mooncake boxes. With so much time ahead, Fuquan could complete them on his own, one by one.
Speaking of the Mid-Autumn mooncakes, a few types included salted egg yolk fillings. Lin Yue had her sister-in-law, Liu, and Sister Chunhua help collect duck eggs from around the area for pickling. Using the pickled egg yolks for the mooncakes was ideal. Therefore, Lin Yue gave Zhao Fuquan twenty taels of silver as payment for the pickling recipe, which he would bring back to the elders of the Zhao Family in Xiaoxi Village.
However, as the egg collection began, some harbored malicious intent, mixing in bad eggs—a troubling act, though these people mostly aimed to make more money. Others, even more unscrupulous, deliberately spoiled good eggs. Knowing Lin Yue needed the eggs for pickling, they steam-cooked them just enough to appear unchanged from the outside. Yet while they appeared to be good eggs now, once pickled, they would undoubtedly turn bad.