This plot of land at the foot of the mountain was overgrown with dry weeds. Wasteland was the hardest to cultivate, so the villagers naturally paid it no mind.
“Mother, this is probably over thirty *mu*…” Zhao Ergou mumbled, calculating the cost. “One *mu* of land is eight *wen*, two *mu* is sixteen *wen*, three *mu* is two *liang* and four *wen*…”
Cheng Loanloan’s ears were about to cocoon over. She clutched her forehead and said, “It’ll be easier if you calculate it my way… One *mu* of land is eight *wen*, ten *mu* will be eighty *wen*, thirty *mu* is three times eighty. How much is eighty plus eighty plus eighty?”
Zhao Ergou felt his head was about to explode. He stretched out his fingers to count, but they weren’t enough. He had to squat down and draw on the ground. He didn’t know how to write characters, so he drew eight horizontal lines on the ground, then another eight lines, and finally eight more lines. After carefully counting, he joyfully said, “Mother, it’s two hundred and forty *wen* in total!”
Cheng Loanloan: “…”
If there were more numbers later, even the ground beneath their feet wouldn’t be enough.
She really wanted to teach this boy quick mental math, but she endured and reminded herself that the original owner was illiterate, not knowing a single character!
She had no choice but to guide him. “So, two hundred and forty *wen*, how much silver is that in total?”
This question stumped Zhao Ergou again.
He drew and scribbled for a long time but couldn’t come up with an answer.
Cheng Loanloan was almost dying of impatience, but calmly spoke, “Ten *wen* is one *liang* of silver. Two hundred and forty *wen*, there are two hundred and forty *wen*, right? So how many *liang* is that in total?”
“It’s twenty-four *liang* of silver!” Zhao Ergou’s eyes lit up. “Mother, you’re amazing.”
Cheng Loanloan didn’t want to look at his foolish expression. She opened her mouth and said, “Twenty-four *liang* of silver, that’s not a small amount.”
Zhao Ergou also fell silent. Their family at most only had a few dozen *wen* of silver; they couldn’t even afford one *mu* of land. He didn’t dare to imagine over thirty *mu*.
He spoke, “Actually, our family’s fields are enough. Da Ge, San Niu, and I can farm together, and we can manage…”
“I’m not buying this land to farm,” Cheng Loanloan said. “I’ll tell you my plans after we have the money to buy the land. Let’s go, let’s go home.”
The mother and son walked across the field paths to the main road. At this time, many people in the village were gathered under the large pagoda tree.
“The well is dry, what did the *li zheng* say?”
“What can the *li zheng* say? He can’t conjure water.”
“Today is over, but what about tomorrow if there’s no water to drink?”
“The closest is Cheng Family Village. It takes an hour to go there and back. I wonder if the people of Cheng Family Village would be willing to lend us some water.”
“A little further is Guihua Village. Guihua Village has five wells. They say only one well is dry, so we can go there and see…”
The villagers offered suggestions to each other.
Although there was a place to get water, it was too far. Going there and back took nearly two hours, and they would only get two buckets of water, which wasn’t enough for daily use.
Cheng Loanloan returned home. There wasn’t a single drop of water in the bucket. Fortunately, there was still half a pot of boiled water on the table, so they wouldn’t be without water to drink all night.
Wu Huiniang said uneasily, “I just cooked, and I didn’t realize I used up all the water. I… I’ll go to someone else’s house to borrow some water for Mother to wash her face…”
During this period, her mother-in-law was particularly fond of cleanliness, bathing every day and also requiring them to bathe daily. She was a little afraid of her mother-in-law getting angry.
Cheng Luanluan merely waved her hand. "It's fine if you don't wash for a day. You're pregnant, get some rest early."
The sky grew darker and darker, and the people in the house gradually drifted into sweet dreams.
Before sleeping, Cheng Luanluan spent a few silver coins to buy two chicken eggs, secretly placed them in the chicken coop, and then lay down on the bed to sleep.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Zhao Sidan's excited voice rang out in the house. "Big Huang and Little Huang laid a total of four eggs! So amazing!"
Big Huang was the slightly larger hen, and Little Huang was the smaller, skinnier hen. These were names Zhao Sidan had spent an entire evening pondering over.
These names were within Cheng Luanluan's expectations. The names of the four little boys were also very casual; how much variety could there be in chicken names anyway?