Chapter 604: The Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (13)

After the morning exercise ended and breakfast was finished at home, she would go to the braised food stall to help her sisters-in-law for a while.

The braised food stall was set up just in front of the side of the meat shop, neither blocking other shops nor affecting their own business.

On the contrary, after the aroma of the braised food wafted out, it brought quite a bit of foot traffic to the Xie Family meat shop—

At the very least, residents who lived at the end of the town and usually only strolled as far as the town center were attracted by this rich, enticing fragrance to the entrance of the town. While taking away a pound or two of the novel braised food, they would also bring back a cheap leg bone or weigh a few ounces of pork fat to render into cracklings.

And once they knew there was such a shop selling fresh Pork at the town entrance, they would often come to patronize it in the future.

Because of this, the men and women of the Xie Family were all busy beyond measure.

However, no matter how busy they were, no one was ever heard complaining; after all, everyone knew that a busy business meant earning more.

After finishing the morning's work, in the afternoon, Xie Yang would stay at home pondering over stewing some sweet soup or steaming some snacks for her family. This was also something Fang Shi required her to learn, for fear that she would know nothing and be looked down upon by her mother-in-law after marrying into her husband's family later on.

Managing a household is a technical skill; learning it does no harm, and while one doesn't necessarily have to do it, one cannot be unable to.

But it wasn't as if Xie Yang truly didn't know how, so after only a few days, Fang Shi confidently handed over the arrangements for three meals a day, including daily procurement, to her daughter, and even happily praised her little daughter to Xie Rong incessantly for being clever and learning things at a single touch.

Xie Rong grinned from ear to ear: "I just said our dear daughter is the smartest and most blessed in our family."

Fang Shi: "You didn't say she was smart before."

"Ahem, before, that was her being lazy and unwilling to do it, but that doesn't mean she couldn't learn."

Xie Yang did not know her cheap father and mother's evaluation of her. After passing Fang Shi's household management training and taking over the authority of the kitchen with ease, she would take out some of her own stockpiled goods from time to time to nourish the family's bodies.

Slaughtering pigs is actually a very exhausting job. When young, one doesn't feel anything by relying on being strong and robust, but when one gets old, many related illnesses will emerge.

Of course, the most important thing was to change the family's dietary habits—for example, not always eating fatty meat, offal, and meat broth. The less the family lacked meat, the more they needed to supplement with fresh fruits and vegetables.

While looking for various tree saplings and vegetable seeds for the Farm, she also bought a batch of fruit saplings for the family, planting a circle along the pig farm's courtyard wall. Anyway, pig manure had no use in her house, so planting some fruit trees could turn waste into treasure.

Before transplanting, the fruit tree saplings were specially soaked in Spirit Spring Water. Having absorbed enough Spirit Spring, they were not only unlikely to die after transplanting, but the fruit they would bear in the future would be both large and sweet. This was a lesson she had summarized from her previous plane.

In addition, she also watered the family's vegetable garden several times with diluted Spirit Spring. The vegetables grown had large leaves and a fresh, tender texture. Stir-frying them to eat made them crisp and refreshing, simply tasting better than meat.

The family ate more vegetables without realizing it, but they didn't think of anything else, assuming it was the little sister's culinary skills—if she didn't learn, she wouldn't, but once she did, it was astonishing.

The night was the free time that belonged exclusively to Xie Yang. Before going to sleep, she would practice her cultivation while bathing in the moonlight. If it were a rainy day, she would close the windows tightly, lounge on the bed, turn on her small solar desk lamp, read some storybooks, or organize her own stockpiled goods.

Relatively speaking, the busiest person had to be the mistress of the house, Fang Shi.

She not only had to manage the household chores and make braised food, but also had to sew the quilts and clothes for her daughter's dowry.

Fearing she wouldn't finish in time, she even called her two married daughters back to their maiden home to help.

Xie Hao and Xie Miao had one married into the County and the other married to the neighboring town. It wasn't far from their maiden home, but it still took half a day by boat.

But upon learning that their little sister had become engaged and was to be married this autumn, the two sisters didn't say a word; they didn't even bring their children, just grabbed a bundle and returned to their maiden home to help.

Fang Shi was terrified that they had heard the gossip circulating in town—about how the Xie Family, in order to marry off their lazy, gluttonous, and fat little daughter, had gone so far as to include a farm with a hilltop as a dowry. After the eldest and second daughters arrived home, she immediately told them about the incident where the little daughter had found a jar of gold bars and the braised food recipe, and finally said:

"This is why our family gave your little sister a farm with a hilltop as a dowry. Actually, it didn't cost the family any money; it was your little sister who was lucky. On the contrary, our family's braised food stall was only able to open thanks to your little sister."

Unexpectedly, the two sisters' focus wasn't on this matter at all, but rather—

"Mother, is the little sister's partner very good-looking?"

Fang Shi was stunned for a moment: "How do you know? Haven't you met the person yet?"

"Oh no!" Xie Hao and Xie Miao looked at each other.

"We guessed it would be like this!"

"We could tell when she was little that the little sister liked good-looking people."

"Mother, the little sister is impulsive, how could you and Father be so impulsive too! You can't just marry her off because the person looks good! Scholars are accustomed to being glib; we're afraid that once he gets ahead, he won't want our little sister."

"That's right, Mother. It's not that we look down on our own sister, but the three of us sisters are all about the same build, and those scholars studying in the academy all have their eyes higher than the top..."

Before Xie Miao married, she had also taken a fancy to a scholar, but the way that man looked at her was something she still remembered vividly to this day. That kind of disdain made her want to hit a wall or jump into a river at the time.

As for Xie Hao, because her husband's family lived near the County academy, she had heard plenty of gossip about scholars. Some had clearly already married and had children in the countryside, yet still feigned refinement and frequented brothels; others, because of their outstanding looks and literary talent, were taken a fancy to by the academy head's daughter or a Wealthy Philanthropist's young lady, and in turn, divorced their wives in the countryside to marry women who were helpful to their future prospects.

These gossips were previously just watched for fun, but now that they learned their own little sister had actually taken a fancy to a destitute scholar, and given that the little sister herself was... this couldn't help but make them worry.

"Mother, we're afraid the other party doesn't like the little sister in his heart, but can't bear to let go of our family's conditions, so he's only reluctantly marrying her. Such a person, once he passes the imperial examination in the future, might abandon the little sister to marry someone else. At that time, what will you have the little sister do?"

Fang Shi frowned deeply: "That shouldn't be the case... Both of you sisters-in-law have met Er Lang, and you both said his eyes were clear and upright; he doesn't look like someone who would abandon his wife of humble beginnings."

"Those who abandon their wives of humble beginnings, who would carve those words on their foreheads?"

"Exactly, Mother. The gap between the two sides is too large; it's truly not a good match. If you ask me, it would be better to introduce a steady and honest person to the little sister."

"Mother! I heard my eldest sister and second sister are here?"

Fearing that her two sisters would do more harm than good and mess up her Sub-system recovery plan, Xie Yang immediately walked in and interrupted the chat between the mother and her two daughters.

"Little sister? Are you the little sister?"

"Good heavens! Little sister, why have you become so thin?"

Xie Hao and Xie Miao were taken aback when they saw their little sister.

The last time they saw their little sister was on the second day of the first lunar month when they returned to their maiden home. After more than half a year of not seeing her, the little sister had actually become this thin?

"Oh my dear mother, have you been starving the little sister and not letting her eat?"

"..."

Fang Shi was both angry and amused: "Do I dare starve your little sister? Even if I dared, your father wouldn't agree."

"That's true! Father dotes on the little sister so much."

"But how did the little sister become so thin? But don't say, the little sister who has slimmed down is truly beautiful!"

"..."