Song Wan Yue went to see Song Ming’s daughter-in-law.
All the families had already eaten and were mostly outside in the cool.
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law, by the light of day, had just started cooking, dragging her tired body along.
Song Gua was howling and cursing in the house, saying that she was dying of hunger and that she had been blind to spend so much silver to buy such an unfilial daughter-in-law back in the first place.
Song Ming was also lying in the house, cursing her for being a grief-stricken woman and for not having bought him back in the first place, for not only having two money-losing children, but also for costing him tens of taels of silver.
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law had long since become numb.
She took the ladle and added water to the pot, while tiny Erma went to carry firewood and light the fire.
Song Wangyue picked up a small stone at her feet and threw it over, landing right at Song Ming’s daughter-in-law’s feet.
Song Wangyue waved at her and Song Ming’s daughter-in-law hurriedly wiped her hands on her apron and limped out of the courtyard, pulling her farther away from the entrance to her house.
Her first thought was that Daya had gotten into trouble, and she asked eagerly, “Is it possible that Daya is disobedient at Young Master Gu’s house?”
She knew that it was Song Wangyue who had asked Young Master Gu to come over that day, and it was she who had saved Daya from this pit of fire.
She had always been grateful, but she didn’t dare go over to say thank you for fear that her mother-in-law and man would find out and run over there to make a fuss and get them into trouble.
“Nothing to do with Daya, the family needs some fresh mint leaves, tomorrow morning you go and pick some for us, you won’t be allowed to help for nothing, I’ll pay a penny per catty.”
“How much do you need?”
“As much as you can pick.”
“I’ve got it, I’ll pick it in the morning and I’ll deliver it when I’ve finished.”
“b*tch, where the hell are you?”
Song Ming came out of the house, not seeing her in the courtyard, and broke into a curse.
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law hurriedly turned around and went back.
Song Ming cursed again.
……
The following day, when there were still a dozen or so servings of cold skin left, Song Shu urged Song Wan Yue and Song San Xiao to go and buy wine.
Song Sanxiao knew all about the places that sold wine in the county.
He took Song Wan Yue straight to the biggest liquor shop, “Boss, a catty of the best strong wine.”
He often came to buy wine, so the shopkeeper recognised him, “Why, do you have money today?”
It was no wonder that the shopkeeper joked with him like that, Song Sanxiao always came with his friends and sniffed around the good wine jars in the wine shop for half a day before he strained his money to buy the cheap wine to drink.
“Are you looking down on people? Our family can earn a lot of silver a day selling cold skins, so what’s wrong with buying a catty of good wine?”
The owner of the shop had asked his staff to buy a cold skin for a few days after it had been sold in the county, and he tried it. It’s not cheap, one serving of cold skin is worth the cost of a catty of poor quality white wine.
“Yo, I dare say the cold skin is your family’s, so you should really buy good wine to drink, you wait, I’ll call you, the shop just good wine, 15 taels a catty.”
“How …… much?”
The shopkeeper was still smiling, “Fifteen taels a catty.”
“That’s too expensive.”
“I only make five jars of this good wine a year, each jar is thirty catties, this price is really not expensive, why don’t you have less, half a catty?”
“Let’s have two catties, and put it in a small wine jar for me.”
Only then did the shopkeeper notice Song Wangyue and see that she was just a little girl of eight or nine years old, standing still.
“Didn’t you hear what my niece said? Go on!”
The shopkeeper was amazed that a little girl could be the master of Song San Xiao, and immediately turned around and went to the backyard, returning a moment later with a small wine jar in her arms.
The shopkeeper was even more amazed when Song Wan Yue took out the silver to pay the bill, and couldn’t help but look at her a few more times. It was only when Song San Xiao carefully carried the wine jar and Song Wan Yue out of the restaurant that he withdrew his gaze.
It was only when Song Sanxiao and Song Wangyue carefully left the restaurant that he withdrew his gaze. Such a small jar cost thirty taels of silver, and Song Sanxiao held it tightly, not even daring to take too big a step, lest he accidentally drop the jar on the ground.
“When we get back, Third Uncle knows what to say, right?”
Song Sanxiao didn’t understand for a moment, “Huh?”
Song Wangyue pointed at the wine altar with her chin.
Song Sanxiao understood, this was for him to help lie!
He couldn’t help but swallow a few times, “Say, say how much?”
“Six taels.”
Sweat broke out on Song San’s small head.
“If Third Uncle doesn’t help me hide it, I’ll say I originally wanted to buy three taels of silver a catty, but it was you who urged me to buy such a good one.”
Song Sanxiao was about to cry, “Yue’er, you can’t always screw your third uncle like this, your third uncle hasn’t even gotten a wife yet, how aggravating it would be if you screwed him over.”
Song Wan Yue used what he had said before, “Didn’t Third Uncle say that it was better to marry a daughter-in-law than to drink? Don’t worry, before grandma kills you, I’ll let you have a few sips of good wine.”
Song San Xiao looked at her sadly, “Yue’er, you’ve changed, you don’t love Third Uncle anymore.”
“As long as Third Uncle doesn’t tell his family, I naturally still love Third Uncle, and when the mint oil is refined and money is earned, I will buy Third Uncle good wine to drink.”
“I’ll take this fifteen taels of wine a catty.”
“It’s a deal.”
……
When they returned home, the two were unanimous in saying that they had spent six taels of silver, and the family didn’t say anything.
Song Wangyue spread the mint leaves that Xu had washed and dried piece by piece in the altar, then poured in the spirits, pressed them with something, covered the lid and put them in the sunlight.
The best way to make mint oil is to use a gla*s bottle, but in this era there were none, so the jar had to be used.
“Is this ready?”
No one in the family went down to the ground, they all stayed at home to watch and were a bit incredulous to see how easy it was.
“It’s done.”
If peppermint oil could be refined so easily, there would be a lot of people making a fortune in the world.
“Yue’er, I said ……”
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are getting into.
The rest of the group followed suit, carrying their hoes to the ground. Xu and Song Lin also turned around and went back to the house, not saying a word more.
“I say, why don’t you let me say something? Yue’er is just fooling around.”
Song San Xiao’s heart was dripping blood at the thought of thirty taels of silver wine being wasted for nothing.
If he had been allowed to drink that good wine, it would have been worth it to die drunk.
“It’s just a few taels of silver, maybe that’s how the mint oil is refined? ”
Song Shu said with no courage, he also thought it was nonsense, but Yue’er had already done so, it was useless to say anything else.
“That’s ……”
Song Sanxiao almost said “thirty taels”, but he swallowed it in a panic, “several taels of silver for the wine.”
“Wine, wine, wine, all you know is wine! It was Yue’er who kept a close eye on you and didn’t let you steal the wine, so you’re not feeling well, are you?”
……
The sound of talking was far away, Gu Yi stretched out his leg from inside the carriage and kicked Xiao Si, who nimbly jumped off the carriage and quickly shouted for Song Wan Yue to come over.
When Song Wan Yue got on the carriage, Gu Yi diligently pushed the plate containing lotus seed pastry in front of her, “Little girl, I just heard your family talking about wine, I have lots and lots of it at home, I’ll have someone bring you a carriage.”
