Chapter 22 — Brewing Wine and Making Jam • Tiewazi
Their fish really did seem to sell well. Ling Jingpeng came back before long; Ling Chenglong didn’t come with him and was probably home helping with farm work. After all, it was the busy farming season—being able to stop by briefly each day was already pretty good.
By the way, the matter with Dawa’s family was basically settled as well. Because Ling Jingxuan had openly declared that he would report the matter to the authorities, the village head, just as expected, didn’t bring anyone to trouble them. Whether the village head or Dawa’s family harbored resentment toward him didn’t really matter to Ling Jingxuan—hadn’t they already hated him plenty? One more grievance wouldn’t make a difference, and one less wouldn’t either.
“What? Twenty wen for one? How could it be that expensive?”
When Da Baozi heard Ling Jingpeng report that those large-bellied, long-necked jars had cost twenty wen each, his little face flushed bright red. His eyes glared fiercely at the jars, his heart aching terribly. Twenty jars—that was a full four hundred wen gone. On top of the other things they bought, today’s fish had basically been sold for nothing.
Ling Jingxuan’s mouth twitched slightly. He secretly shot Ling Jingpeng a look, and the brothers hurriedly carried all the jars into the cellar. Following Ling Jingxuan’s instructions, they swiftly poured in the wild grapes they had prepared the day before, mashed them up, then sealed the jar mouths with cloth wrapped in mud, letting the grapes ferment naturally inside.
“All right. In one month, it’ll be ready to drink. Jingpeng, does the market in town open every day?”
Looking at the neatly stacked jars in the cellar, Ling Jingxuan smiled with satisfaction. If money weren’t so tight, he would have liked to pick more wild grapes to make grape wine. Who knew—this might become the first pot of gold he dug up in this era. Though, to be fair, he didn’t even know whether grape wine existed in this time period.
“Not every day. The market’s held every three days. Tomorrow happens to be a market day. Big Brother, are you going?”
“Yeah. I want to cook the remaining wild grapes into jam and sell it at the market.”
Without explaining much, Ling Jingxuan nodded and picked up what little wild grapes remained. Cooking two or three jars of jam shouldn’t be a problem.
“Can things made from these wild fruits really sell for money?”
Ling Jingpeng asked curiously. He had always thought his big brother was just fooling Xiao Wen.
“They should be able to, right? We’ll find out if we try tomorrow. Oh, and don’t dig the pond in the backyard yet. Let’s save up some more money and hire people to dig a larger pond directly. Dad’s right—there’s only so long we can keep catching fish from Yuehua Gully. We might as well raise our own. It’ll be a steady source of income in the future.”
As they spoke, they arrived at the kitchen. Ling Jingxuan put down the winnowing basket and efficiently started the fire, preparing to cook the jam and rock sugar. Ling Jinghan’s illness couldn’t be delayed any longer. He planned to officially begin treatment tomorrow—one of the reasons he needed to go to the market. The medicinal herbs they had at home were limited; some would have to be bought from the pharmacy.
“Big Brother, teach me how to make jam too, okay? I want to earn money as well.”
Without doubting his words in the slightest, Ling Jingpeng said eagerly. The incident with Dawa’s family had truly convinced him. Ever since Big Brother woke up, it was like he’d become capable of anything. Jingpeng admired him from the bottom of his heart. And although many years had passed, he still remembered how gentle and loving his big brother used to be.
“Heh… sure. Today you can just watch. We don’t have many wild grapes left, and I’m not sure whether the jam will sell for a good price. Let me test the market tomorrow first. If the price is good, we brothers can work together.”
Ling Jingxuan had long planned to teach him how to do business, so there was no reason to refuse. A motivated younger brother was a good thing.
“Mmm. When we have money, I’ll have Father and Mother buy a few more mu of land here and build houses. Then after the family splits, our whole family can live together.”
A bright smile spread across Ling Jingpeng’s face as he helped ladle water into the pot. What he didn’t know was that upon hearing those words, Ling Jingxuan paused. After looking at him for a moment, he spoke casually:
“Life hasn’t been easy for Father and Mother in that household, has it? They still dump everything on them like before?”
“Huh?”
Ling Jingpeng’s movements stopped, his smile freezing instantly. Lowering his head, he replied in a muffled voice, “Yeah. Grandpa’s not too bad. Because of Second Brother, he’s not overly harsh on us. But he basically doesn’t get involved and definitely won’t stand up for us. As for Grandma—you know how she is. She’s never liked Father and Mother. Uncle and Younger Uncle are even worse. Dozens of mu of farm work are all thrown onto Father, and all the housework onto Mother. They dress neatly every day and loaf around, while Father and Mother…”
At this point, Ling Jingpeng’s voice choked up. After a long while, he clenched his fists, raised his head, and looked firmly at Ling Jingxuan.
“Big Brother, I’ll definitely work hard to earn money so Father, Mother, and all of you can live good lives.”
At fourteen, he understood everything—the bitterness his parents endured, his big brother’s grievances, his second brother’s suffering, and the hardships of his two little nephews. He was only helpless because he was too young to make decisions for them.
“Mm. We will. Big Brother will work hard with you. But before that, we still need to find a way to get the old man to agree to a family split. With you helping me these past few days, they’re probably already unhappy, right?”
Ling Jingxuan said firmly, patting his shoulder.
“They started making a fuss days ago. Father and Mother didn’t let me tell you—they were afraid it would upset you.”
Lowering his head, Ling Jingpeng couldn’t hide his gloom. Who didn’t want a family split? Only after splitting could they live better lives. But… with elders still alive, not splitting the family was the norm. In the Qing dynasty, filial piety governed the state; demanding a split while elders lived was considered deeply unfilial. Even ordinary farming households wouldn’t propose it without compelling reasons—let alone a farming-and-scholar family. And Father was especially filial. No matter how hard or bitter things were, he would never dare harbor the thought of splitting the family.
“Is that so? Hmph!”
Ling Jingxuan snorted coldly. He’d seen favoritism before, but who had ever seen favoritism as blatant as in the Old Ling family? Was the second son not a son at all? They’d better pray they never fall into his hands—otherwise…
“Dad, it smells so good! What are you making?”
Just as the brothers fell into silence, Xiao Baozi came running in excitedly. Behind him followed the wolf pup and… a thin, frail-looking little boy about the same age as him.
“You little glutton!”
Ling Jingxuan tossed the stirring stick to Ling Jingpeng, signaling him to keep stirring the jam, which had already begun to thicken. Then he squatted down, affectionately poked Xiao Baozi on the head, and pulled him close while looking at the shy boy behind him. This must be the Tiewa whom Xiao Baozi was always talking about—their only friend, according to what he’d heard.
“So annoying! Daddy always bullies me.”
Xiao Baozi hugged his neck and acted spoiled nonstop. In just a few short days, he had slowly regained the innocence and liveliness a five-year-old child should have.
“Is that so? Then you don’t want to eat it? What should we do then… I was thinking of setting some aside for you to mix with water and drink.”
Raising an eyebrow, Ling Jingxuan shot him a sidelong glance, deliberately looking troubled. Xiao Baozi panicked at once.
“Who said I don’t want to eat it? I—”
“Haha…”
Seeing his anxious expression, Ling Jingxuan instantly broke character and burst out laughing, holding him in his arms. Even Ling Jingpeng couldn’t help laughing along.
“So annoying! Daddy’s bullying me again!”
Realizing he’d been tricked, Xiao Baozi puffed out his cheeks, pushed him away, crossed his arms, and glared fiercely—looking exactly like an angry little steamed bun.
Ling Jingxuan couldn’t help laughing as he pinched his cheek, then casually asked, “Is this the Tiewa you’re always talking about?”
“Mm! Daddy, this is Tiewa! His name is Zhao Tiesheng, and he lives at the end of the village. Today Uncle Zhao went to town to deliver iron tools, so Tiewa was home alone. I invited him to our house to play!”
Completely forgetting that he’d just been angry, Xiao Baozi pulled the obviously shy and introverted boy forward.
“Hello, Uncle Ling.”
Zhao Tiesheng glanced timidly at Ling Jingxuan, then shyly hid behind Ling Wu. His greeting was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz—barely audible. Still, Ling Jingxuan was very pleased. He liked children to begin with, and besides, this boy was his Xiao Baozi’s only friend. As a father, it was only natural to extend that affection.
“Good boy. Xiao Wu, take Tiewa to go play with your brother. When the jam’s ready, I’ll bring some over for you.”
Reaching out, Ling Jingxuan patted both children on the head, then gave Xiao Baozi a light smack on the backside. Compared to Da Baozi—who was frugal but extremely serious about everything—Xiao Baozi was clearly more laid-back. Still, every morning he ran with him, practiced boxing, and now even practiced writing. If possible, he hoped Da Baozi could be like this too. After all, they were only five years old.
“Okay.”
Xiao Baozi nodded, bent down to hug the wolf pup—who was baring its teeth playfully at Ling Jingxuan—then grabbed Tiewa’s hand and left. Only after watching them go did Ling Jingxuan turn back and take over the stirring.
“The Zhao family are outsiders, right?”
Lingjia Village wasn’t made up entirely of people surnamed Ling. According to the original owner’s memories, there were dozens of outsider households. The Zhao family was one of them, though he didn’t know much beyond that.
“Yeah. But the Zhao family’s different from the others. Brother Zhao lost his parents early, and his wife died during childbirth. For several years he played both father and mother, raising Tie Wa on his own. Life was really hard. Luckily, although the Zhao family doesn’t have much land, Brother Zhao has blacksmithing skills, so they’ve managed to scrape by.
“But… three years ago, Brother Zhao suddenly married Brother Han. The villagers thought it was ridiculous for two men to marry, and that if word got out, it would disgrace Lingjia Village. So the clan head and Second Granduncle reassigned them a homestead—calling it an ‘exchange,’ but in reality they were driven out of the village. These past few years, Tiewa’s been bullied everywhere he goes, just like Xiao Wen and the others. It’s really pitiful.”
Outsider families already had it hard. Add to that two men marrying each other, and the difficulties were obvious.
“Hmph. Just a backwater village, yet they act like some noble household. Do they really think they’re some grand aristocratic clan?”
Ling Jingxuan sneered. Even the emperor had married a man as empress—what was their problem? Sure, marriages between men were rare and mostly seen among elite households, where the man married in was often a concubine. But it wasn’t unheard of in the countryside either. Families with too many laborers and too little land would sometimes marry off an unwanted son in exchange for a few taels of silver. Poor widowers with children who couldn’t afford a wife would also take a man to help raise children and manage the household.
This kind of thing existed in almost every village. No one normally looked down on it, much less claimed it brought shame. Lingjia Village really was a prime example of the worst kind.
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Translator: LazyHermitGal
Author: LazyHermitGal
A Lazy Hermit Gal. A little support goes a long way! If you’d like to help me keep creating, you can do so at https://ko-fi.com/lazyhermitgal
