Chapter 63: Rubber Hair Tie

Li Jinfeng stepped into the East Room and immediately shut the door tightly.

Sun Shi was embroidering a handkerchief inside; seeing this, she bit off the thread end and asked, "Why so flustered? What did you buy for that girl in town?"

"What else? Just the rouge and face powder she's been dreaming of," Li Jinfeng sneered, seemingly unwilling to dwell on it, and changed the subject: "Mother, today in town I heard that wealthy families from the Capital have come to Yong'an Town—they're holding a banquet at Yuelai Restaurant."

Yong'an Town was an old county town, the seat of Yong'an County, governed by the Yong'an County Seat; though remote, it occasionally saw high-ranking officials exiled here.

Sun Shi glanced up at her with a sharp look: "Don't get any foolish ideas. Stay home and wait for your father to return from the imperial exams."

She had long since given up; she no longer cared about the Li family or their affairs, avoided them whenever possible, and devoted herself entirely to waiting for Li Shoude to come back and take her away from this misery.

Then, she would be the rightful scholar's wife, and no one in the village would dare look down on her—not even the Li family would dare to ignore her.

"But, Mother…" Li Jinfeng tried to speak again, but meeting her mother's stern gaze, she fell silent.

What she wanted to say was that while buying rouge and face powder in town, she had seen the Huang family enter Yuelai Restaurant for the banquet—likely acquainted with the nobleman from the Capital.

Thinking of it, she felt a bitter resentment: why should Li Xiufen marry into such a fine family? This should have been hers!

Yet…

She wasn't without a sliver of chance.

With this thought, Li Jinfeng curled her lips into a cold smile, reached behind her sleeve, and pulled out a square-shaped package of cake. "Mother, look what I bought for you."

Unwrapping the oil paper, she revealed eight square pieces of Ruanzao Cake.

Sun Shi's eyes brightened—this Ruanzao Cake was unmistakably from Xu Fuke's shop in town, its fragrance lingering, its taste silk-sweet, and its price far from cheap.

"Feng'er, where did you get the money to buy such expensive cake?" Sun Shi couldn't help but take a bite.

Li Jinfeng cast a sidelong glance at Li Xiufen outside the window, smiled faintly—it was Auntie's money, of course—but she didn't say so.

Sun Shi didn't press further, assuming her daughter had used her own savings; after eating a small piece, she hesitated to finish it, wrapped the rest in oil paper: "Save the rest for you and Jinbao."

Since returning to the Lao Li Family, Li Jinbao's meals had grown meager, unlike when he lived in town.

Li Jinfeng nodded in agreement and stepped out to find Li Jinbao.

…

At this moment, Jiang Xiaoxiao was at home helping her mother process the remaining wild boar meat.

The leftover ninety-plus jin included the hide, large bones, pig head meat, and some offal.

Jiang Wei had set aside all the large bones to simmer into broth later; the hide, being plentiful, was split in half—one half to be deep-fried into crispy fried pig skin, the other half to be stewed with yellow soybeans.

Wild boar hide was coarse and thick; it needed long stewing to become tender and delicious.

The house had two pots: one simmering the pig skin, the other used by Jiang Wei to prepare the ingredients for Ice Cream.

Jiang Xiaoxiao routinely tended the stove, occasionally tossing dry firewood into the hearth.

Today, Zhao Ergou had shoved her on the mountain; her clothes were dirty, her hair tie loose, strands hanging messily over her face, and soon ash clung to her cheeks, contrasting with her round, wide eyes—she looked just like a little tabby cat.

Jiang Wei shook her head, finished making the Ice Cream, then pulled Jiang Xiaoxiao into the courtyard to wash her hair.

It was now afternoon, the sun gradually sinking westward.

Jiang Wei undid the two hair ties—originally given by the Boss Lady when they bought clothes at the Embroidery Workshop, simple strips of cloth, requiring tight tying to hold the hair, far less secure than modern rubber hair ties.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had eaten well lately; her hair was no longer the dry, yellow mess it once was—it had grown longer and thicker, and every morning she struggled to tie it up.

There was no help for it; in this era, the only hair-binding options besides hairpins and hairpins were these cloth ties, and she simply couldn't get used to them.

So when her mother carelessly tossed the ties aside, Jiang Xiaoxiao said nothing.

She obediently let Jiang Wei apply shampoo to her scalp, rub it in, wash it clean, then apply conditioning oil to nourish it again.

Only when Jiang Xiaoxiao was nearly asleep did Jiang Wei finally finish, retying her hair.

Jiang Xiaoxiao slightly turned her stiff neck and faintly heard a crisp, glass-bead-like chime from her hair.

She instinctively reached up to touch her now impossibly soft, flowing hair—the hair tie had strong elasticity, adorned with a bow, and two smooth, round gel-glass beads, translucent as crystal, refracting a rainbow of light in the sun.

Jiang Xiaoxiao paid it no mind; such things were common in the Modern Era—you could buy a whole pack for nine yuan and get free shipping.

After dinner, Jiang Wei told Jiang Xiaoxiao to stay home and complete today's Ability Training, while she herself would go up the mountain.

Today's ditch-digging on the half-mountain had reminded her: the mountain was full of wild beasts—not just deep in the forest, but some even came down to the lower slopes; she needed to set a few traps nearby.

It was getting late; only a sliver of light remained on the horizon, and the villagers digging the ditch were slowly heading home—but Zhao Dasao was still there, shoveling dirt from the ditch into a winnowing basket and dumping it aside.

Her two daughters were still helping; the eldest was only twelve, yet worked diligently without complaint.

Jiang Wei sighed, touched the back basket on her shoulders, and transferred two taels of wild boar meat from her space into it.

"Xiaoxiao's mother, what are you doing here?" Zhao Dasao looked up and saw Jiang Wei, assuming she was inspecting work, hurriedly said: "I didn't come this morning, but I'll work extra to make up for it…"

Jiang Wei cut her off: "Enough. It's late. Go home. It's unsafe on the mountain after dark—wild beasts roam freely."

Hearing this, Zhao Dasao grew frightened, quickly brushed the dirt off her clothes, and stood up: "O-Okay, I'll go home now. I'll come early tomorrow."

She called to her two daughters to head home, and Jiang Wei pulled out the two taels of wild boar meat from the basket: "Take this. Make something good for the children."

"This—this can't be!" Zhao Dasao waved her hands in protest. "This is your wild boar meat—how can you just give it to me…"

Jiang Wei had no patience for such fussing; she shoved the meat into the eldest daughter's arms. "Everyone who digs the ditch gets two taels of wild boar meat. It's the rule. Just take it."

Saying this, Jiang Wei walked toward the distant forest.

(End of Chapter)