The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 84

The Xiao family has been in Sichuan for eight months. It hasn't snowed in the dead of winter, but the biting cold wind is relentless. The Xiao family members are afraid of the cold and dare not go out.

The old lady, in particular, caught a cold a few days ago and has been bedridden ever since.

"Mother, please take some medicine first. Nuannuan brewed it herself." Madam Xu brought in the medicine: "Drink the medicine and then eat something."

"Sigh, I'm dragging you down again."

The old lady felt that she couldn't help at all and was only causing trouble for the young people: "I'm too old and useless."

“Mother, everyone gets old eventually, you mustn’t say such things.” Madam Xu gently comforted her, “Only when you are well can we have someone to rely on.”

The old lady patted the back of her hand. All three daughters-in-law were filial and good children, but unfortunately, they had a hard life.

"When I proposed to you, I thought I would treat you like my own daughters, and I told my three brothers to treat you well. I never expected that you would suffer so much."

The three daughters-in-law and granddaughter-in-law had been helping Madam Lin embroider her wedding dress and new clothes before the Lunar New Year.

Because her first embroidered wedding dress received high praise from the guests, Lin Niangzi doubled her embroidery workload, which delighted her but also exhausted her children at home.

The old lady felt very sorry for them, seeing them embroidering day and night, staying up very late before going to sleep.

“Eldest daughter-in-law, you are older than them and have been working hard to manage the household affairs all these years. Don’t stay up late to embroider at night, or your eyes will suffer.”

“Mother, it’s alright. Your daughter-in-law is getting on in years and doesn’t sleep much. She can’t sleep anyway, so she might as well help with some work.” Xu said, “Embroidery is all manual labor and not tiring. The only thing I’m not used to is the dry and cold winters in Sichuan, which make my hands freeze.”

It was so cold that sometimes I couldn't even hold a needle.

Winters in the capital are snowy and cold, but most of the time they don't go out. They keep their houses warm with charcoal burning in the sun, wear fur coats, and carry hand warmers...

“Yes, the climate in Sichuan is dry and cold,” the old lady said. “More than 30 years ago, my husband took me back to Sichuan. It was early autumn then, and the climate was quite pleasant. There were also many fruits. I quite liked it there at the time.”

Who would have thought that, after all these years, she would return here with her daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to spend the rest of her life?

When they visited their master's family back then, they were honored guests. The best guest room in the Xiao family was reserved for them, with delicious food and rare wines on the table, and servants serving them.

When they returned, they couldn't even get through the gates of the Xiao clan.

The Xiao family, which rose to power through this branch of the family, ultimately rubbed salt into her heart with such a cruel gesture.

The old lady had been holding onto this anger for a long time; she just couldn't let it go.

Adding to the woes was the unjust death of the old master, the fact that his children and grandchildren were far away in the northern desert, and the eldest granddaughter was all alone in the capital. Each and every matter was like a fishbone stuck in her throat. She was already frail, and in the dead of winter, she could not withstand even the slightest disturbance.

"After the harsh winter comes spring, and things will be fine when spring arrives and flowers bloom." Madam Xu fed the old lady her medicine spoonful by spoonful.

Suddenly, they heard Xu's exclamation from outside.

"Nuan Nuan, what happened to your face?"

The old lady and Madam Xu were also shocked when they heard this.

"Go check on Nuannuan." The old lady gestured for Xu to stop feeding her medicine.

Xu placed the medicine bowl on the small table in front of the bed, went out, and saw Chunnuan with a dark complexion.

"It's alright, Mother. Sister Wu and I went to buy some nice things."

Chunnuan gestured for Wu to move the things to the kitchen. "What did you buy? Why is your face like this?" Xu was also worried: "Did something happen?"

"These are the charcoal I bought. This is a stove for roasting charcoal; they call it a 'baking' stove here..."

“It’s called a baking basket.” Madam Wu knew that Chunnuan didn’t remember the name: “It’s made of pottery. The young lady said that you don’t have this in the capital.”

“No, we don’t have any, but we can learn how to use it,” Chunnuan said. “Aunt Wu said that people here all use this to keep warm. You wait here, I’ll go get a stove.”

After saying that, she rushed into the kitchen.

Wu lit the fire to cook, and then taught Chunnuan how to light the charcoal.

"You kid..."

Ms. Xu had been a head of a household before and knew how tiring it was to be one. She had to consider everything from firewood and rice to oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. Moreover, given the current family situation, she not only had to support the family but, more importantly, earn money.

All the burdens, big and small, inside and outside, fell on the shoulders of this young girl.

How hard must she have worked to survive?

Xu felt a lump in her throat as she watched Chunnuan's retreating figure.

She thought of her eldest daughter, Chunyu, again.

The Wu family's inner quarters were indeed not very quiet, but their kindness towards Chunyu this time made me change many of my thoughts.

When Nuan Nuan was engaged to the Zhang family, Madam Xu felt that Nuan Nuan was more fortunate. After all, the Zhang family had personally approached the old master to propose marriage, and the two sides only formally discussed the marriage after the old master gave his approval.

The Zhang family's inner quarters are peaceful and quiet, with a good family tradition, and the Zhang family's second son is also a fine young man.

"It's truly unexpected that you can know a person's face but not their heart. When the Xiao family got into trouble, the first thing the Zhang family did was to break off the engagement." Madam Xu said, "Even the old master can misjudge people sometimes."

“Mother, my second sister is a capable girl. A blessed person doesn’t marry into an unfortunate family. It’s a loss for the Zhang family to break off the engagement.” Zhu Lingling said, “Such a good sister will surely find a better match for her.”

“By the end of the mourning period, Nuannuan will be eighteen.” Madam Xu was still worried: “And in Shu, with our circumstances, what kind of good match can we possibly have?”

“Mother, don’t worry. Most families in the capital will weigh the pros and cons. In this remote part of Shu, it doesn’t involve much. My second sister is an outstanding person. Marrying her is definitely a blessing from our ancestors.”

In the kitchen, Chunnuan had no idea that her aunt was going to great lengths to arrange her marriage.

She is learning from Ms. Wu how to use a drying basket.

Although this thing is also a hand warmer, it is clearly different from the hand warmers in Beijing.

Watching Wu pour the still-smoldering embers of the firewood into the drying basket, she felt that this was difficult to control.

"The fire shouldn't be too big, or it will burn your clothes," said Madam Wu. "It's best to wear an apron over the fire so that the heat doesn't escape."

“If you can’t feel the heat anymore after grilling for a long time, just gently turn it over with a bamboo stick, and then you can continue grilling,” Wu said. “There’s charcoal underneath, so it will burn for a longer time.”

"This one is ready, it can be used by the old lady."

"Grandmother is lying in bed, so let's give it to my aunt and the others first."

"You'll get used to it after using it for a while," Wu said with a smile. "We usually don't use it. Firstly, we have to do things every day and keep moving around, so we don't feel cold at all. Sometimes we even sweat."

(End of this chapter)