Chapter 719 - 371: Purchasing Property

Chapter 719: Chapter 371: Purchasing Property

After they had been laughing and joking for a while, Meizi’s voice came from next door, piercing through the wall and yard. "Li—Jing—Wen! Come on back for dinner!"

Juhua quickly offered, "Jingwen, just stay and have some pig-butchering soup at our place. I’ll have Banli’s father go tell your mother."

But Li Jingwen shook his head emphatically. "Nope! We’ve got meat at our house!" With that, he turned and scampered off, shouting as he ran, "Hulu, come over to my house after dinner and see my little bird!"

Now that life was better, even the children spoke with more confidence.

Hulu watched him run off, then said to Qingmu, "He’s gone, Brother."

Qingmu said, "Now that he’s gone, I’ll play with you. Come on, Hulu, let’s practice our characters." The father and son then got busy on the floor.

Seeing that the main room was getting crowded, Juhua picked up Banli and went into her bedroom to nurse her. Mrs. Wang and Liu Yunlan went to the kitchen.

Huai Zi followed her into the room, holding their daughter. Juhua asked, "Is it all weighed? How much was there?" She was asking about the pork they had sent to Xiatang Market that afternoon.

Huai Zi turned, closed the door, and sat down at the table. "Nine hundred and fifty pounds in total. We kept a little over seventy pounds of meat for the family, on top of the pig’s head, trotters, and offal."

Juhua nodded. These days, pigs were slaughtered at over two hundred pounds. After removing the head and internal organs, one pig yielded about two hundred pounds of meat.

She asked, "Why didn’t you just round it down? We could have kept the extra to cure. We’ll definitely need it during the busy farming season next year."

Huai Zi smiled. "Over seventy pounds is plenty, and we still have all the heads and trotters! Mom and Dad said you can’t eat things that are too salty, so we should cure less meat. When we run out, we can buy fresh pork, and you’ll be able to eat it too."

Juhua pressed her lips into a faint smile, making Huai Zi’s heart stir. She had already removed her veil and announced that the scars on her face were healed. Now, every subtle expression was clear to see. Huai Zi, who had rarely seen her face during the day, was still unaccustomed to it and often found himself captivated by her gentle smile, staring in a daze.

Juhua sighed. While holding Banli with one arm, she unconsciously stroked Huai Zi’s hair with her other hand. "It’ll be better in another year," she said, her face a mask of misery. "Huai Zi, I’m dying for some pickled vegetables with pig stomach, dry-braised loach, and red-braised fish. I bet Mom made pig’s blood stew with pickled greens for lunch today, and I can’t have any of it. My mouth feels so bland."

Huai Zi quickly tried to soothe her. "Just be patient a little longer. Didn’t Mom make pork liver soup? That’s your favorite, isn’t it? And tonight, after we render the lard, we can use the cracklings to stir-fry some yellow-hearted greens with tofu. You love that too."

He kept bringing up mild dishes that Juhua loved, trying to take her mind off her cravings. He would never dare indulge her and let her break her dietary restrictions for those flavorful dishes.

Juhua was merely satisfying her cravings by talking about the food; she would never actually be reckless with her health. She changed the subject. "Have Mom pick out two sets of pig offal, wash them, and blanch them. We can take them to Doctor Yun with some pickled vegetables so she can cook them herself. She loves this dish."

She winced at the memory.

It turned out that Yun Ying was always reluctant to wash pig offal, which Juhua found very odd. Yun Ying wasn’t a squeamish person—as a doctor, she sometimes saw things far more disgusting. So, Juhua had asked her what the deal was.

Yun Ying was a straightforward person, and since she and Juhua had become friends, she no longer felt it was too embarrassing to admit. She confessed that she had once been jealous of Juhua over this very dish. She added that the whole affair must have traumatized her, because now the mere smell of raw offal made her nauseous. Even if someone else cleaned and cooked it, she lost her appetite. That was why she staunchly refused to wash it herself, and instead came looking for Juhua whenever she got a craving.

Juhua was left speechless. Seeing Yun Ying’s guileless expression, she just shook her head without comment. From then on, she never let Yun Ying wash offal again. Whenever her family made the dish, they would either send some over, or they would wash and blanch it for her, so all Yun Ying had to do was cook it.

Huai Zi nodded in agreement. He had assumed Juhua’s kindness was because she thought Yun Ying was too busy. "Doctor Qin and his team are incredibly busy now," he told her. "Jishi Hall is packed with patients every day. I hear many people are even coming over from Qinghui. Some powerful gentleman invited Doctor Qin to Qinghui, but Doctor Qin refused and ended up offending him. In the end, the Fang family had to step in, and Doctor Qin also mentioned the Fifth Prince to finally make the man back down."

Juhua nodded. Yun Ying had mentioned this to her before. The truth was, she and her brother had powerful connections; they just disliked getting caught up with officials and aristocrats.

But as a result, word got out that the two were disciples of the late Master Yun. With the master gone, wealthy and influential families with members suffering from chronic illnesses were desperate for treatment from his renowned students. They actually began buying land near Xiatang Market to build new homes. After all, the area had beautiful scenery, Xiatang Market was thriving, and it was well-equipped with all the amenities for a convenient life.